![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Title: Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence
Author: Claire Saffitz
Published: Clarkson Potter, 2020
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 370
Total Page Count: 371,615
Text Number: 1365
Read Because: fan of the author, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: Saffitz really likes fruits and pastry—even more than I thought, and I've watched all her YouTube content. That makes for repetition for a reader who doesn't share the same tastes, which I don't; nonetheless about a dozen recipes caught my eye, so there's still some variety. (I particularly appreciate all the Jewish baked goods.) The recipes are legible and detailed; the introductions and styling are unfussy. I wouldn't call it a must-have, but I don't own cookbooks and borrowed this from the library, so I wouldn't call anything a must-have. But it's likeable—pleasant to browse, and more concrete and accessible than watching her video content because, let's be honest: I watch those vids to relax, but these recipes I'll actually bake.
Title: A + E 4ever
Author: I. Merey
Published: Lethe Press, 2011
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 215
Total Page Count: 372,390
Text Number: 1369
Read Because: see below
Review: A tall, abrasive goth befriends the androgynous new kid at school. This reminds me of Francesca Lia Block, of Brite and Kiernan's goth and grunge scenes, absent speculative elements save for the magics of queer friendship, longing, and sometimes drugs too. Like Block et al., it's keenly relatable, a little nostalgic, thorny and messy but idealized in a way that suits the themes of longing and self-discovery. The art is rough and the novelty fonts approach unreadable, but the style contributes to the raw, earnest messiness of the relationship. It's so queer! A diverse, unprettied-and-beautiful queerness. The ending is great. I'd've eaten this up as a young adult and, to be honest, still did.
This was a random find in my library's free discards (I checked and they still have other copies). I looked at the cover/manga-influenced art, went "that looks gay??," read the "shares with yaoi (boy love manga) a searing energy of unrequited love" blurb via Lamba Literary Review, went "it is gay!," and took it home with me. I'd never heard of it and maybe wouldn't have found it any other way—a moment of kismet that made every page of this a delight, like fate hid the perfect book just for me directly in plain sight.
Title: The Tea Dragon Tapestry (Tea Dragon Book 3)
Author: Kay O'Neill
Published: Oni Press, 2021
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 130
Total Page Count: 372,520
Text Number: 1370
Read Because: reading the series, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: Greta applies for an apprenticeship, Minette looks back at her prior life, and the cast of the previous volume pay a visit. Festival (book 2) introduced welcome characters and worldbuilding, but its episodic structure made it repetitive and trite; Tapestry benefits from all that's come before, but its structure reminds me of Society (book 1), with a humble scale and gentle character growth. This pacing particularly benefits themes of grief and the character of Minette, and there are elements I love almost as much as I do the first book. It's a satisfying, peaceful finale. And I continually cannot overstate the beauty of O'Neill's art—their work is profoundly loving and kind, and so is the cute, romantic, gorgeously colored art.
Author: Claire Saffitz
Published: Clarkson Potter, 2020
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 370
Total Page Count: 371,615
Text Number: 1365
Read Because: fan of the author, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: Saffitz really likes fruits and pastry—even more than I thought, and I've watched all her YouTube content. That makes for repetition for a reader who doesn't share the same tastes, which I don't; nonetheless about a dozen recipes caught my eye, so there's still some variety. (I particularly appreciate all the Jewish baked goods.) The recipes are legible and detailed; the introductions and styling are unfussy. I wouldn't call it a must-have, but I don't own cookbooks and borrowed this from the library, so I wouldn't call anything a must-have. But it's likeable—pleasant to browse, and more concrete and accessible than watching her video content because, let's be honest: I watch those vids to relax, but these recipes I'll actually bake.
Title: A + E 4ever
Author: I. Merey
Published: Lethe Press, 2011
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 215
Total Page Count: 372,390
Text Number: 1369
Read Because: see below
Review: A tall, abrasive goth befriends the androgynous new kid at school. This reminds me of Francesca Lia Block, of Brite and Kiernan's goth and grunge scenes, absent speculative elements save for the magics of queer friendship, longing, and sometimes drugs too. Like Block et al., it's keenly relatable, a little nostalgic, thorny and messy but idealized in a way that suits the themes of longing and self-discovery. The art is rough and the novelty fonts approach unreadable, but the style contributes to the raw, earnest messiness of the relationship. It's so queer! A diverse, unprettied-and-beautiful queerness. The ending is great. I'd've eaten this up as a young adult and, to be honest, still did.
This was a random find in my library's free discards (I checked and they still have other copies). I looked at the cover/manga-influenced art, went "that looks gay??," read the "shares with yaoi (boy love manga) a searing energy of unrequited love" blurb via Lamba Literary Review, went "it is gay!," and took it home with me. I'd never heard of it and maybe wouldn't have found it any other way—a moment of kismet that made every page of this a delight, like fate hid the perfect book just for me directly in plain sight.
Title: The Tea Dragon Tapestry (Tea Dragon Book 3)
Author: Kay O'Neill
Published: Oni Press, 2021
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 130
Total Page Count: 372,520
Text Number: 1370
Read Because: reading the series, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: Greta applies for an apprenticeship, Minette looks back at her prior life, and the cast of the previous volume pay a visit. Festival (book 2) introduced welcome characters and worldbuilding, but its episodic structure made it repetitive and trite; Tapestry benefits from all that's come before, but its structure reminds me of Society (book 1), with a humble scale and gentle character growth. This pacing particularly benefits themes of grief and the character of Minette, and there are elements I love almost as much as I do the first book. It's a satisfying, peaceful finale. And I continually cannot overstate the beauty of O'Neill's art—their work is profoundly loving and kind, and so is the cute, romantic, gorgeously colored art.
