juushika

Title: Chain Letter
Author: Christopher Pike
Published: 1986
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 190
Total Page Count: 451,125
Text Number: 1576
Read Because: I was curious to read some Pike after watching the firmly mediocre The Midnight Club; borrowed from OpenLibrary
Review: After a deadly car accident, a group of teens receive a chain letter blackmailing them into increasingly self-destructive stunts. The writing here is workmanlike for sure, but it's hard to begrudge that in such a pulpy book and it allows the more stylized sections (like Alison's attack) to shine. Similarly the characters are uninspired but serve their purpose: their blandness is an entertaining juxtaposition to the increasing tension of their predicament. The mystery is also on the right side of legible. I remember Pike having more gleeful & less morose antagonists/violence, so I'll probably read a few more. But as an experiment in "how does Pike read as an adult" the answer is: utterly unsurprising, but that's not a bad thing.


Title: Shadowplay
Author: Joseph O'Connor
Published: Europa, 2022 (2019)
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 360
Total Page Count: 452,455
Text Number: 1581
Read Because: cribbing off my mother's book club's October reading, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A fictionalization of Bram Stoker's life, managing the Lyceum Theatre under the tyrannical rule of its lead actor, Henry Irving, the model for Dracula. This isn't about writing Dracula, but it's about its inspirations, real and fictional: Irving, the rising homophobia of 19th Century England, and the background anxiety of the Ripper murders; and a sprinkling of namedrops and conjectures which grow gratuitous and offer limited insight into Stoker or Dracula. The good bits are rich, immersive, a nuanced imagining of life in period England. The bad bits made me roll my eyes, and I find this overstays its welcome, with a belabored, maudlin coda. Not mad I read it; probably would've benefited from reading some biographies instead.


Title: The Changeling Sea
Author: Patricia A. McKillip
Published: Firebird, 2003 (1988)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 140
Total Page Count: 453,395
Text Number: 1584
Read Because: fan of the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Local tavern worker finds herself enmeshed in a world of princes, magicians, and the vast magics of the sea. As well established (since I mention it every time it comes up), I don't like water aesthetics; I took an age to pick this up as a result. There's so much that could bias me against it ... but no, it's beautiful. McKillip's evocation of the sea, its awe and beauty and danger, and the very real tension of living a mundane life on the border of something so unfathomable, marries perfectly to a fae-like understanding of magic and otherworlds. And it never hurts that McKillip loves to surround an unassuming female protagonist with numerous but non-competitive attractive, mysterious young men. It's wish-fulfillment, a fairy tale, but so nuanced in execution: emotionally intense and bittersweet. Still not a favorite, and blame that in fact on the water aesthetic, but I'm glad that I finally read it.

Title: Harold and the Purple Crayon
Author: Crockett Johnson
Published: HarperCollins Publishers, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 65
Total Page Count: 323,045
Text Number: 1134
Read Because: personal enjoyment, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: This flawlessly executes its conceit: imagination/creativity is escapism but can be isolating; it's a power and a risk and a solution—and this could be (and sure sounds like!) trite navel-gazing on the artistic process, but it speaks as more make-believe and the vast flexibility of childhood imagination; and the art and tone are entirely without pretension. The art is almost too clean, but the "crayon" makes pleasing smooth shapes, and the animals are delightfully wonky. (I do remember being disappointed to discover that creating art is actually much less forgiving!) I loved this as a kid and I can remember almost every panel, which must be an indicator of a successful kid's book. And it holds up.


Title: Hamlet
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1603
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 323,145
Text Number: 1134
Read Because: Shakespeare reading project
Review: Let's take for granted that there's nothing I can say in a review to add to 400 years of people talking about Hamlet. Instead, I like to play two games: 1) What did I learn this time?* and 2) What themes did I focus on this time, AKA when did I cry?** This isn't my favorite Shakespeare, which is Macbeth—but I fell in love with Macbeth from happenstance and for aesthetic. Hamlet is my second favorite, and easily the play with which I most resonate. 1) and 2) have cumulative effects, and each time I find a new focus within the play I take it with me going forward. My engagement, like the play's themes, reiterate and contradict and think themselves to death. (And I find more scenes to cry at! each time!)

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Title: The Sound of Silence
Author: Katrina Goldsaito
Illustrator: Julia Kuo
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2016
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 323,185
Text Number: 1135
Read Because: personal enjoyment, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: Richly colored, beautifully detailed illustrations of geometric layouts and a vivid, diverse portrait of Tokyo, but the art also zooms and and simplifies to compliment the themes of silence and mindfulness—the moments which lie between and ground the noise of life. (I only regret the obnoxious digital textures.) The narrative isn't especially complicated, but it's playful, gently contemplative, and effective, and because this can serve as child's introduction to Japanese setting and culture it pulls double duty weight. I didn't love this—I like more weirdness and wonder in my picture books—but it's a pleasure.

Title: Tomie
Author: Junji Ito
Translator: Naomi Kokubo
Published: VIZ, 2016
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 745
Total Page Count: 266,515
Text Number: 862
Read Because: fan of the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: After being murdered and dismembered, Tomie comes back to life—again and again, multiplying each time, repeating a cycle of violence by and towards women. This is a profoundly feminist narrative, in the sense that it's about feminist issues: about the jealousy, necessity, praise and condemnation that surrounds female beauty; about inter-community conflict between women, and the violence inflicted on them by men; about liebestod, the relationship between sex and death. It's also a hot mess. There's an overarching premise and occasional interconnected story, but most are one-off experiments with concept, and the concepts aren't as haunting as in Ito's better work; there's internal inconsistencies, some repetition, and it all runs overlong. And I'm not convinced that the actual execution does good by such prickly and complicated themes; among other flaws, it's objectifying—but that they are there, so complicated and so pointed, intrigues me. Thus I am ambivalent, but I'm glad I read the thing.


Title: Julius Caesar
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1623
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 266,615
Text Number: 863
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: To put the iconic murder at the center of the play rather the climax changes everything. Some of the final battle is lost in a script—this would benefit from the energy of production—so the ending somewhat falters. But to explore the absence of Caesar, to shift the focus to Brutus and to consequences, makes for significantly more interesting structure and themes. But I confess this feels something like a dress rehearsal for Othello, insofar as both plays concerns manipulation, motivation, and consequence, and this play can't but pale in comparison. I found it more interesting than personally effecting—but the best of the language is very good.


Title: Semiosis
Author: Sue Burke
Narrator Caitlin Davies, Daniel Thomas May
Published: Macmillan Audio, 2018
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 365
Total Page Count: 266,980
Text Number: 864
Read Because: reviewed by Kalanadi, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Human refugees to an alien planet discovered an unexpected form of sapience. This has a great central concept—alien sapience; consent within symbiotic relationships; the relationship between personhood, body, and community; definitions of first contact and communication—and the extended timescale and diversity of PoVs compliments it well. The secondary thought experiment about community/utopia building is less interesting and compounded by weak dialog (especially glaring in audio). Occasionally, a high concept is sufficiently engaging that the narrative doesn't need to be particularly good—which isn't to say that this is bad (it's fine; overambitious, sometimes, but fine), but I was absolutely here just for the premise and it delivers—it's pulpy, engaging, creative; surprisingly fun, given the political content and darker moments.


Title: Her Body and Other Parties
Author: Carmen Maria Machado
Published: Graywolf Press, 2017
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 245
Total Page Count: 267,225
Text Number: 865
Read Because: multiple recommendations, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Eight stories (some longer, perhaps novelettes) about women's bodies, gender, and sex explored via the speculative. Machado makes fantastic use of metaphor—the women who wear colored ribbons, the women who fade into air, are concepts which exist alongside multifaceted and recognizable explorations of prejudice; the fantastic isn't a poor mimic or mere reiteration, but rather adds depth and distinct, evocative imagery to the conversation. Some of these speculative metaphors don't work for me personally, some are too constrained or on the nose; the focus on sex and gender can preclude other issues—this is pointedly intersectional, but sometimes feels too familiar to other feminist works. But one of the middle stories is effectively regional gothic for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit—and that that exists here says more than I can about the tone of this collection, about its thematic focus, its playfulness and strangeness. It's a memorable debut, effective, intelligent, powerfully written; unsettling, confrontational, but addicting.

Title: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1602
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 263,435
Text Number: 853
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: Honestly, I didn't think this was that bad—which may say more about my general expectations from the comedies than it does about this play in particular. Falstaff certainly doesn't sparkle here as he does elsewhere; Hal provides necessary contrast, in tone, in scope, and Falstaff here never rouses the competing emotions, the sympathetic distaste, that makes him so memorable in Henry IV. Here, he is only a laughingstock. The images of laundrybasket, etc. are memorable ones; I'm also engaged by the final tableau, and how the faux-fairies mirror the transformative function of forests in many of Shakespeare plays. Also interesting to me is the women—it's not an unproblematic approach to gender and relationships, but their agency and control is still a breath of fresh air. But the connective tissue, the individual lines and characters, are unremarkable.


Title: Much Ado About Nothing
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1600
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 263,535
Text Number: 854
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: I have less luck with the comedies, so I'm surprised by how well I enjoyed this. Beatrice and Benedick absolutely steal the show; their repartee is vivid and sharp, and the loving mockery at their change of heart is charming. I'm less invested in the Hero plot, but the interplay between the two plots enables the reiteration and alteration that I love so much in Shakespeare's thematic focus; it's playful and complex. This lacks the atmosphere that marks my more favorite of Shakespeare's plays, and I don't know yet if this makes my best of list, but what a pleasure to finally read and I would love to see it performed.


Title: The Night Watch
Author: Sarah Waters
Narrator: Juanita McMahon
Published: Recorded Books, 2006
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 500
Total Page Count: 264,035
Text Number: 855
Read Because: fan of the author, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A story of the intertwined lives of four individuals in London during World War II. Had I realized ahead of time that this were the setting, I wouldn't have read it; it's a historical period I prefer to avoid in fiction. That reservation made it difficult for me to immerse myself, which is something that Waters's work requires. (Audio was also a mistake. The narration is strong, but it's just so long.) This is a melodrama, heightened and lengthened; the living diversity of the queer characters adds depth to the tone, and Waters has a phenomenal grasp of lengthy, intimate scenes, both mundane and dramatic, which stylize the human condition. But I found this laborious. The reverse chronological narration is a gimmick—an intentional, even lampshaded one; it's occasionally effective, but it made me wish for something like the suspense in The Handmaiden. And so: a fine book but the wrong reader; I found it fairly unremarkable.

Title: Inheritance (Adaptation Book 2)
Author: Malinda Lo
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 475
Total Page Count: 258,050
Text Number: 833
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: This picks up directly where Adaptation left off; the duology is effectively two halves of a whole. But it feels different, less of a kitchen sink approach and more cogent in focus, but not in a direction I enjoy; it's concerned primarily with the political fallout of events in the previous book, tedious and stifling, with underwhelming antagonists. (The moral ambiguity of the Imria is more successful.) For better and worse, it's frequently sidelined by the romantic relationships and a navigation towards polyamory—clumsy, talky, but beautifully well-intentioned, and enlivened by tropey moments (including "huddling together for warmth"!) which are satisfying in that corny way. The balance is frustrating and rewarding in equal measure, but worth it on the whole because compassionate, thoughtful relationship negotiation and polyamory (in my YA? it's more likely than you think!) is such a pleasure. I'll pick up more Lo in the future, and given my general apathy to YA that says something.


Title: Henry IV Part 1
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1709
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 258,150
Text Number: 834
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: I hate humor—it's a frequent holdup in my reading—and yet I love this; it's one of my favorite plays. What sets Falstaff apart is his complicated relationship with Prince Hal and also with the viewer. We criticize and adore, reject and embrace, simultaneously; we're invited to argue with the humor, and then shamed for arguing to stridently: Hal's ominious interactions with Falstaff are the beginning of a character arc that Hal intentionally sets for himself but which becomes more complicated and bittersweet than he intends. I find this play more satisfying now that I've finally read Richard II and have a better grasp on Henry IV's background and more context for the conversation about kingship that informs Prince Hal's arc. And I love Hotspur—he's one of my favorite Shakespeare characters, a memorable problematic fav, despite that he appears in a play with such strident competition. This is a superb play, affable and insidious; the clever interplay between the three plotlines, the diversity of tone, the engaging cast, is all a delight.


Title: The Girl with No Hands (and Other Tales)
Author: Angela Slatter
Published: Ticonderoga Publications, 2010
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 205
Total Page Count: 258,355
Text Number: 835
Read Because: reading more by the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: 16 dark fairy tales. Many of these are very short, studies in concept explored though Slatter's rich fairytale imagery and straightforward sentence structure. With just one exception (the satirical "The Dead Ones Don't Hurt You" is pretty awful), these are solidly successful but not exceptional. But a few stand out, including those written for Slatter's Masters; these are longer and denser, allowing the voice to shine, and are more complicated in concept and theme. It's no surprise that "Red Skein," a red riding hood retelling which gives women a wolf's power, is my favorite. Slatter has a dim view of women's relationship with men and with sex—understandable, and a natural fit to dark fairy tales, but I side-eye the frequent depiction of sex work as a metaphorical exemplar. Her explorations of relationships between women—the politics of step-relationships, redeeming mothers-in-law, the value of mother/daughter bonds—are more interesting and complex. Form is something of a limiting factor here—novella length gave Of Sorrow and Such more room for characterization and subtlety—but it's solid, and I'd read more of Slatter's short fiction in the future.

Title: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Author: Mary Roach
Narrator: Shelly Frasier
Published: Tantor Media, 2003
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 305
Total Page Count: 256,375
Text Number: 826
Read Because: interest in the subject matter, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: An overview of the various uses—and fates—of human bodies after death. Roach's trademark morbid, self-deprecatory humor is lost on me; it's unobtrusive, but certainly doesn't sell me on her voice (which I think it does for most readers). The compassion and human element are more successful. My favorite parts of this book are about the evolution of dissection and, with it, science's changing relationship with corpses: the disrespect, respect, depersonalization, and thanks with which individuals and institutions treat corpses are all tools for coping with death and mortality; and they're flawed tools, but changing ones. I wish she had applied this insight to mortuary practices, to analyse why certain methods make us squeamish and critique the depersonalization within those in the mainstream; here, as nowhere else, she feels limited by convention and squeamishness. But this isn't my first book on this subject, and I feel like Stiff makes a better beginning to the conversation than a middle; it covers a decent breadth of subjects, but none in any particular depth.


Title: King John
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1623
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 256,475
Text Number: 827
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: This feels like a throwback to the earlier histories (specifically the Henry VI plays): it spends so much time summarizing and condensing events that characterization and theme fall by the wayside, left inconsistent or piecemeal, or simply unremarkable; King John himself suffers most in this, a vaguely unlikable character. The Bastard emerges as a more interesting candidate for protagonist, both because of his immediate connection to the audience in his asides and speeches, and because of his evolving characterization. The women are also intriguing; Constance and Eleanor between them have a confrontational, impassioned vibrancy that much of the play lacks. This is one of the plays I appreciate reading in the context of this project but wouldn't recommend in its own right.

Didn't love this play; did love reading about it after the fact! Historical critical reaction to it is fascinating & also gross. I wrote about this on tumblr; copied below for safekeeping.

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Title: Monstress Volume 2: The Blood
Author: Marjorie M. Liu
Illustrator: Sana Takeda
Published: Image Comics, 2017
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 155
Total Page Count: 256,630
Text Number: 828
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: I like this more than volume one—the routine developments in worldbuilding are out of the way; what progresses is more plotty and more personal to the cast. That said, Maika feels less distinct here; her early characterization is vivid, emotive, distant, angry; her mother issues reiterate that, and the resolution is trite. It's the god which saves things. While perhaps not as vast or strange as I'd like, it's vast enough, strange enough, which improves the tone and keeps that strange central relationship with Maika dynamic and intense. Again, the art is profoundly beautiful—and, perhaps because there's more supernatural/inhuman figures in this volume, it feels less gratuitous. This is an apt continuation, and while I still haven't fallen in love as most readers have, the series is well worth reading.


Title: The Party
Author: Elizabeth Day
Published: Little, Brown and Company, 2017
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 310
Total Page Count: 256,940
Text Number: 829
Read Because: reviewed as similar to The Secret History, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Events at an elaborate birthday party mark the unraveling point of an unlikely friendship between two men divided by their economic backgrounds and united by a shared secret. This namedrops Donna Tartt early on, but feels more like Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley (and its questionable elision of queer attraction and sociopathy) or Hughes's In a Lonely Place (with an antihero PoV manipulating the reader's sympathy and disdain) than it does The Secret History, while possessing the atmosphere of none of these. There is no fragile idealization to balance out the unlikable characters and events; it becomes tedious, and the revelations aren't substantial enough to justify the tortured pacing. The only saving grace is the complexity of the characterization, specifically the way they change in interior and exterior views. But it isn't enough; I considered giving up halfway through, and honestly I should have.

Title: All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries Book 1)
Author: Martha Wells
Published: Tor, 2017
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 150
Total Page Count: 253,185
Text Number: 816
Read Because: reviewed by Kalanadi, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: After hacking itself, this security robot could have killed whenever it wanted; instead, it became addicted to serial media and kept half-assing its job. Social anxiety, escapism, otherness, and a gradual, pessimistic form of self-actualization make for a sympathetic protagonist, but the "Murderbot" name introduces a disaffected, affectedly-causal voice that persists throughout and which I found grating. The plot is slight, constricted perhaps by novella format: adequate action and intrigue capitalize on the bulk of the narrative; I like how this sidelines worldbuilding elements that the protagonist doesn't care about into an evocative, light-handed background, but I wish the bots were better explored. They're insufficiently non-human, a missed opportunity which further undermines the protagonist's arc. I'd call this a case of decent story/wrong reader; I'm not compelled to read the sequel.


Title: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Author and Narrator: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Published: Tantor Audio, 2016 (2013)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 390
Total Page Count: 253,575
Text Number: 817
Read Because: personal enjoyment, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A series of interconnected essays in which an ecologist, Native woman, and mother explores the ways in which these identities inform each other and her understanding of the relationship between humans and the Earth. The structure sometimes lacks direction, is often overlong, but also builds a genuinely complex worldview. Her anger and grief is articulate, the problems are overwhelming, but the thread of hope she finds is all the more affecting by contrast; her understanding is complicated and her influences diverse. My only complaint is: what now? Kimmerer offers a compelling appeal but, like much of the target audience, I come already convinced of the basic environmental premise. Her solution is individual: that we each reform our relationship with the land, that we branch into local community; but explicitly brushing aside government and industrial reform and placing all onus on the individual is insufficient, and that lingering frustration leaves a sour aftertaste.


Title: Romeo and Juliet
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1597
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 253,675
Text Number: 818
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: I'm surprised by how much I love this. Liebestod permeates everything, essential to the sexual and romantic elements even before the play's tone becomes tragic, inseparable from the eroticism, and it's a compelling combination. There's much more wordplay than I recalled, pervasive and not limited to humor; it's a skill Shakespeare has developed elsewhere, but here is applying to characterization and themes in ways his earlier plays lacked. Mercutio is a particular delight, so distinct in so few scenes, without which his death wouldn't mark such a pivotal change in tone. One benefit of reading the plays in chronological order is watching the playwright evolve, and this is spectacular evidence of that: he's using developed skills to set his work apart from his inspirations and sources and, occasionally, his own plays.

My mother and I had similar personal responses: we had both internalized a certain amount of the cultural bias that the play is a ridiculous romance for high school girls, that it's somehow limited by any of these associations, despite that we had both read and/or seen it before. We were both happily wrong, and retroactively angry at—ourselves? society? for the misconception.

Title: Carol (The Price of Salt)
Author: Patricia Highsmith
Narrator: Cassandra Campbell
Published: Blackstone Audio, 2015 (1952)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 300
Total Page Count: 250,605
Text Number: 804
Read Because: personal enjoyment, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A discontented shopgirl becomes infatuated with a wealthy divorcée. Highsmith's propensity for detail, for fully inhabiting singular moments in all their mundanity and profundity, is occasionally tedious (especially in those early discontented sections) and occasionally superb. At best, they're crystalline—evocative, perfectly-preserved glimpses into a woman's personal growth and experience; interior, minute epiphanies which, in their contractions, create a nuanced and private portrait of queer attraction. The plot engages homophobia in painful, even trite ways as it flirts with genre conventions of doomed same-gender romance; it also intentionally subverts them. The last few pages are sublime; they see the themes and tone through to fruition, they're subtle and profound, and they pay off earlier missteps. This isn't a perfect book, but its ending is.


Title: The Comedy of Errors
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1595
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 250,705
Text Number: 805
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: This isn't the first time I've wondered if I could like play were I not so biased against miscommunication as a plot device (a bias with much justification! but I admit I don't moderate it well); I don't think so. There's not much depth here outside the clever wordplay: no character development, no themes to speak of, just humor—and, mistaken identity aside (the entire play could be one act if bad communication wasn't baked into the premise), most of what's left is unappealing slapstick. At best, this feels like an experiment in tone and wit; it reads quickly. I still don't like it.


Title: Rendezvous at Rama (Rama Book 1)
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Published: RosettaBooks, 2012 (1973)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 235
Total Page Count: 250,940
Text Number: 806
Read Because: reviewed by Kalanadi
Review: An alien generation ship prompts a human exploratory mission. This is in the same school as Weir's The Martian (but, rest assured, better written): a speculative concept explored through boots-on-the-ground problem-solving of broadcasted, discrete crises. It's not particularly graceful in pacing, and has an air of smugness (no one could anticipate/solve this! except these science experts ... and me, the unhumble author!), but it's lively and engaging. The strange, echoing, titanic landscape elevates the tone, although I found it useful to look up cover illustrations in order to get a grasp of Rama's layout. The human element is relatively light; given that this is a book that introduces a female character via the movement of her breasts in zero-g, that's probably for the best. The tidbits of near-future human society are interesting and relatively diverse; the politics are boring and the characters unremarkable. All told, this holds up well; the mystery of its end leaves both cast and reader stimulated but pleasantly unfulfilled. (I've no particular desire to read the sequels.)

Title: Night's Master (Tales from the Flat Earth Book 1)
Author: Tanith Lee
Published: DAW, 2016 (1978)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 210
Total Page Count: 249,225
Text Number: 797
Read Because: reading more of the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A series of folktales chained together by overlapping events and a central figure: Azhrarn, prince of demons and the night. It requires an overarching plot in order to transition from interlinked stories to a novel; there's just enough of one, but it's backloaded and doesn't do as much with the book's themes as I'd like. Trauma is portrayed as a cycle of violence wherein victims become monsters and, therefore, perpetrators; Azhrarn's overarching story ties in to this, but fails to directly confront his role as instigator, undermining the book's cumulative effect. Characters from individual stories aren't especially memorable, but the narrative style and setting speaks to Lee's strengths; the tone is darkly fantastic, the style lush, sensual, sexual; a fluid, dreamlike, mythic space. I didn't connect with this as much as I have books with a similar structure (particularly Valente's Orphan's Tales series, which benefits from tonal and thematic variation), but it's an interesting effort.


Title: Titus Andronicus
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1594
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 249,325
Text Number: 798
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: That any other early plays have been criticized for mimetic rather than diegetic action now seems ridiculous; this is a play defined by its violence. I would love to see it staged—I don't think its effectiveness necessarily hinges on SFX style or quality, but the violence is important. it's in conversation with the play's themes and use of language, particularly violence as action vs. interpretation: how characters understand and internalize what they witness, and how it motivates future violence. Lavinia is central to this conversation but also excluded from it—the profound irony of Titus professing to be her interpreter is devastating. I can see why this play is controversial, I can also imagine some productions are ridiculous; it's also sincerely engaging, visceral, thoughtful, and must be quite the spectacle.


Title: Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Author: Audre Lorde
Narrator: Robin Eller
Published: Tantor Audio, 2016 (1984)
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 190
Total Page Count: 249,515
Text Number: 799
Read Because: personal enjoyment, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A collection of essays, speeches, letters, and various other pieces from a black lesbian feminist poet. The focus of Lorde's work is intersectionality, and her ability to articulate and insist on these overlaps, to explore the complicated ways that they inform her experience and her feminism, is phenomenal. If her arguments feel familiar, it's because it was her work which helped establish them; but these essays don't feel redundant. She puts complicated concepts into remarkably clear language, is self-possessed and self-interrogative, profoundly compassionate and angry, and refuses reductionism even when exploring gendered and racialized archetypes. If anything, her essays feel too relevant; white feminism is still catching up. This isn't perfect in collection—the tone and format is changeable, the content occasionally overlaps, and the tools by which Lorde defines and insists on her identity won't speak to everyone. But the sum effort is far greater than these quibbles.

Some personal highlights: "Frequently, when speaking with men and white women, I am reminded of how difficult and time-consuming it is to have to reinvent the pencil every time you want to send a message." The interview with Adrienne Rich, which provides useful context about Lorde's life and contains a firm and mutually respectful conversation about the emotional labor that minority individuals are not obligated to perform in these discussions. Compelling, disquieting explorations of intra-community discrimination; "the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." Her work to preemptively claim aspects of her identity, that they cannot be weaponized against her. Lorde has a knack for a powerful, quotable line (it makes sense, given her background in poetry); these lines are even better within the context of a complex, passionate argument.


Title: Richard III
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1597
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 249,615
Text Number: 800
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: This is the first play in my chronological readthrough which feels like Shakespeare as I know him—the first which is truly phenomenal. (Is this influenced by my having studied it previously? probably, but I don't care.) Richard is fantastic, particularly his use of language and his rapport with the audience, but also the humor of his shortcomings; he's a compelling study of an antihero, and of the complicated relationship between antihero and audience. But it's the women that push this play above and beyond: the seduction of Lady Anne is keenly unsettling, and set in effective counterpoint to the less successful persuasion of Queen Elizabeth; Margaret is dynamic, and her conversation with the Duchess of York and Queen Elizabeth is a rare moment of centralizing women—imperfectly, but effectively, especially as their conversation functions as a reflection of the entire tetralogy. It's a complex, vibrant, coherent play, and it's those exact elements that draw me to Shakespeare's work.

Title: An Apprentice to Elves (Iskryne World Book 3)
Author: Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
Published: Tor, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 335
Total Page Count: 247,745
Text Number: 791
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: At long last, war with Rhean comes. The second most interesting thing in A Companion to Wolves (the first is its interrogation of the companion animal trope) is the issue of gender—a society more diverse and, perhaps, enlightened than its real-world equivalent, but profoundly affected by sexism, with a narrative that confronts that issue. Here, all the PoV characters are directly impacted by sexism, and it's a change that centralizes the issue. It interacts with worldbuilding but also with multiple character arcs; The Tempering of Men depended on the central romance for its near-only emotional investment, but they're abundant in this book. Earlier sections drag, the end is rushed, and it doesn't live up to ridiculous id-indulgences of first book—but this is the sort intellectual/emotional engagement that I came looking for, and it's a satisfying end to things.


Title: Henry VI Part 2
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1623
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 247,845
Text Number: 792
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: This is a profound improvement: less petty bickering, clearer motivations, and a stronger interpersonal focus (exactly what I wished for after Part 1) mean more to latch onto, which grounds the length and large cast. Even the action scenes works better here, primarily because the grotesque treatment of corpses gives weight to the violence. Margaret—simultaneously more observant and self-interested than Henry, without the short-sighted egoism of his adversaries; apparently mundane, but capable of such emotional excess (foiled by Eleanor's superstition and self-possession)—is what makes this play, for me. Her dynamic with Suffolk remains engaging and her contrast to Henry is my favorite of the play's themes. This was a pleasant surprise, especially as a Part 2.


Title: Under the Pendulum Sun
Author: Jeannette Ng
Published: Angry Robot, 2017
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 410
Total Page Count: 248,255
Text Number: 793
Read Because: reviewed by mrissa, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A Victorian woman joins her Reverend brother's missionary's work in fairyland. The tone here is dark, fantastic, a little whimsical; the theological focus sets it apart, and while not always accessible it's distinctive and fundamental to the setting and characters. But the craft is lacking in numerous little ways—a backload of twists and revelations, supporting characters and subplots that feel more utilitarian than real, and the language simply isn't robust enough for the content—and while none of these alone condemns the book, the cumulative effect holds it back. I look forward to Ng's next book; I think she has such potential, and just wants for more experience.

( Space whale quote from Under the Pendulum Sun, for safekeeping. )