Rachel Manija Brown's Blog, page 108
July 29, 2019
The winner and still champion is...
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The Dogs (Coronet Books)[image error]
I bought The Dogs after randomly opening the other three. I opened Bamboo Hell and it had 2 different racial slurs in 2 pages. I opened Venetian Vendetta and it had "Lucia, you slut." I opened Orca and it had an orca miscarrying.
...I forgot to racism/sexism/orca miscarriage spot check The Dogs. For all I know it contains all three.
comments
The Dogs (Coronet Books)[image error]
I bought The Dogs after randomly opening the other three. I opened Bamboo Hell and it had 2 different racial slurs in 2 pages. I opened Venetian Vendetta and it had "Lucia, you slut." I opened Orca and it had an orca miscarrying.
...I forgot to racism/sexism/orca miscarriage spot check The Dogs. For all I know it contains all three.
comments
Today I browsed a used bookshop
I of course sought out only the most literary, wholesome, and classy works of literature.
Is it just me, or is this book maybe a touch homoerotic?
Genetically engineered evil dogs vs The Mad Italian vs an orca the size of Texas!
View Poll: #22437
comments
Is it just me, or is this book maybe a touch homoerotic?
Genetically engineered evil dogs vs The Mad Italian vs an orca the size of Texas!
View Poll: #22437
comments
July 26, 2019
comments
July 19, 2019
Stephen King Exchange is open for nominations!
![[community profile]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1497869825i/23063418.png)
kingofexchanges
is now open for nominations!Nominate Stephen King-related fandom at the tagset here.
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The Belles, by Dhonielle Clayton
In the city of Orleans, everyone is born gray-skinned, red-eyed, and wrinkly, except for a handful of girls known as Belles. Through a combination of magical or advanced-tech tools and magic or mutant powers, the Belles have the ability to mold the gray people into beauties of any kind, though their work must be re-done on a monthly basis and is very painful.
Unsurprisingly, this creates a beauty-obsessed society and high demand for Belle services. One Belle is appointed the favorite, to serve at court; others are sent to teahouses. But what happens to the old Belles? And if you can make people beautiful, you can do other things to them as well…
The worldbuilding is very vivid. Is this a plausible-to-reality world that has the economics worked out? No. Is this a compelling vision of world that makes sense in its own fever-dream terms? Yes. Teacup pets like kitten-size lions and bears are popular, messages are sent by color-coded balloons, and fairy-tale motifs abound. In terms of atmosphere more than prose style, it’s much more reminiscent of Tanith Lee than of its more obvious inspiration, Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies. I love setups in which it might be magic or might be advanced tech or might be both, and The Belles is all-in with that. Beauty standards are not white-centric, which is nice.
As far as I was concerned, the heroine and her specific story were just a window into the world, and I enjoyed the book on that basis. I have a fondness for this sort of candy-colored decadence. There’s an obligatory heterosexual love triangle but it’s perfunctory, which on the plus side means it doesn’t take up much space. Most of the relationships are between women and girls.
I suspect that this story could have been told as easily and well in one book as the two or more it will actually be, but I’m there for the sequel nonetheless. Bring on the teacup dragons!
Content notes: sexual assault, description of animal cruelty, mild-to-moderate body horror, death of a lesbian character (other lesbian or bi women survive), tabloid headline about a trans person transitioning via Belle that wasn’t negative about it but some readers were offended by how it was phrased.
Plot speculation: ( Read more... )
Spot the fairy tale reference! We have the magic mirror from Snow White, the sleeping princess from Sleeping Beauty, and more that I forget now.
The Belles[image error]
[image error] [image error]
And the sequel:
The Everlasting Rose (Belles, The Book 2)[image error]
comments
Unsurprisingly, this creates a beauty-obsessed society and high demand for Belle services. One Belle is appointed the favorite, to serve at court; others are sent to teahouses. But what happens to the old Belles? And if you can make people beautiful, you can do other things to them as well…
The worldbuilding is very vivid. Is this a plausible-to-reality world that has the economics worked out? No. Is this a compelling vision of world that makes sense in its own fever-dream terms? Yes. Teacup pets like kitten-size lions and bears are popular, messages are sent by color-coded balloons, and fairy-tale motifs abound. In terms of atmosphere more than prose style, it’s much more reminiscent of Tanith Lee than of its more obvious inspiration, Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies. I love setups in which it might be magic or might be advanced tech or might be both, and The Belles is all-in with that. Beauty standards are not white-centric, which is nice.
As far as I was concerned, the heroine and her specific story were just a window into the world, and I enjoyed the book on that basis. I have a fondness for this sort of candy-colored decadence. There’s an obligatory heterosexual love triangle but it’s perfunctory, which on the plus side means it doesn’t take up much space. Most of the relationships are between women and girls.
I suspect that this story could have been told as easily and well in one book as the two or more it will actually be, but I’m there for the sequel nonetheless. Bring on the teacup dragons!
Content notes: sexual assault, description of animal cruelty, mild-to-moderate body horror, death of a lesbian character (other lesbian or bi women survive), tabloid headline about a trans person transitioning via Belle that wasn’t negative about it but some readers were offended by how it was phrased.
Plot speculation: ( Read more... )
Spot the fairy tale reference! We have the magic mirror from Snow White, the sleeping princess from Sleeping Beauty, and more that I forget now.
The Belles[image error]
[image error] [image error]
And the sequel:
The Everlasting Rose (Belles, The Book 2)[image error]
comments
July 18, 2019
The Mystery of the Cupboard (Indian in the Cupboard # 4), by Lynne Reid Banks
I read The Indian in the Cupboard when I was ten or so, and while I was charmed by the idea of bringing tiny figures of people (and better yet, animals) to life, even then I thought the portrayal of the Indian seemed vaguely racist. Since I did not have a strong racism-o-meter at that age, I can only imagine what I’d think now and will not be re-reading that one.
I was not aware that there was more than one sequel, and was tipped off that there are in fact five of increasing levels of batshit, and that # 4 largely concerns Omri’s ancestor’s hatred of plastic. So I had to read it to see if it was as bonkers as it sounded. It was even more bonkers!
I had not read the intervening book 3, but it was helpfully recapped in this one. Apparently Omri and his friend Patrick travel to the time of the Indian Little Bear, where he is full-sized and they are tiny, only there is a tornado in his time and when they return they bring it with them and it destroys “half of England” (this is not at all apparent in book 4) and also Omri’s house. Before that Omri’s house is invaded by skinheads who are fought off by a miniature soldier.
In this book, Omri’s family conveniently inherits a house and moves into it literally without ever visiting it first. When they arrive, they are shocked to discover that the antique thatched roof has to be replaced at staggering expense. (Much is made of the expense early on but this is never mentioned again and has no consequences.)
In a bafflingly irrelevant subplot, his cat escapes on the first day, Omri spends tons of time searching for her, then totally forgets about her for the middle stretch of the book, then finds her and also her surprise kittens in the loft, then his friend Patrick falls out of the loft and breaks his leg. None of this has anything to do with anything else in the book.
When their new home is getting re-thatched, Omri discovers the hidden journal of his great-great aunt Jessica (the family relationships are SO COMPLICATED I had to check them all on Wikipedia; I couldn’t follow them at all in the book) which was continued by his great-uncle Frederick. Much of the book consists of this journal.
Everything else is both spoilery and absolutely batshit. Also incredibly melodramatic. And kind of inappropriate for its intended age group. I have to say, you probably don’t want to miss this. ( One word: plastics. )
Truly, a book worthy of the author of Harry the Poisonous Centipede Goes to the Seaside.
I will read and review the fifth and final book if enough of you promise in comments that you will give me some sort of reward, like write me a fic or draw me a sketch or review a book yourself or mail me a plastic figurine or make a donation to a good cause.
The Mystery of the Cupboard[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
I was not aware that there was more than one sequel, and was tipped off that there are in fact five of increasing levels of batshit, and that # 4 largely concerns Omri’s ancestor’s hatred of plastic. So I had to read it to see if it was as bonkers as it sounded. It was even more bonkers!
I had not read the intervening book 3, but it was helpfully recapped in this one. Apparently Omri and his friend Patrick travel to the time of the Indian Little Bear, where he is full-sized and they are tiny, only there is a tornado in his time and when they return they bring it with them and it destroys “half of England” (this is not at all apparent in book 4) and also Omri’s house. Before that Omri’s house is invaded by skinheads who are fought off by a miniature soldier.
In this book, Omri’s family conveniently inherits a house and moves into it literally without ever visiting it first. When they arrive, they are shocked to discover that the antique thatched roof has to be replaced at staggering expense. (Much is made of the expense early on but this is never mentioned again and has no consequences.)
In a bafflingly irrelevant subplot, his cat escapes on the first day, Omri spends tons of time searching for her, then totally forgets about her for the middle stretch of the book, then finds her and also her surprise kittens in the loft, then his friend Patrick falls out of the loft and breaks his leg. None of this has anything to do with anything else in the book.
When their new home is getting re-thatched, Omri discovers the hidden journal of his great-great aunt Jessica (the family relationships are SO COMPLICATED I had to check them all on Wikipedia; I couldn’t follow them at all in the book) which was continued by his great-uncle Frederick. Much of the book consists of this journal.
Everything else is both spoilery and absolutely batshit. Also incredibly melodramatic. And kind of inappropriate for its intended age group. I have to say, you probably don’t want to miss this. ( One word: plastics. )
Truly, a book worthy of the author of Harry the Poisonous Centipede Goes to the Seaside.
I will read and review the fifth and final book if enough of you promise in comments that you will give me some sort of reward, like write me a fic or draw me a sketch or review a book yourself or mail me a plastic figurine or make a donation to a good cause.
The Mystery of the Cupboard[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
July 16, 2019
Behind the Attic Wall, by Sylvia Cassedy
Twelve-year-old orphan Maggie flames out of a succession of schools, as she’s decided that since everyone will hate her anyway, the best thing to do is make sure that happens immediately to skip the disappointment. She’s then sent to live with two awful aunts and a very strange uncle in a giant house where she discovers two living dolls and a living china dog in the attic.
I read this book when I was a kid and found it memorable without actually liking it, partly because I was very confused by the ending. I re-read it to see if the ending would make more sense as an adult, and also if I’d like it more. (Respectively, sort of and no.)
Maggie has two habits which make sense under the circumstances, but which did not endear her to me. One was her method of pre-emptively making people hate her, which was to be as mean and obnoxious as possible. The other is a mental game in which she explains ordinary things to the imaginary “Backwoods Girls,” who have never heard of anything, while she calls them stupid. This is present throughout the book, and goes on and on and ON for page after page after page. It was beyond tedious.
Her aunts are plain terrible. Her uncle is clearly supposed to be endearing, but he speaks entirely in unfunny whimsical jokes and flights of fancy, and literally never says anything normal ever, not even when it’s clear that his “humor” is confusing and upsetting Maggie.
The living dolls are in an extremely Uncanny Valley in that I think they’re supposed to be slightly creepy but mostly lovable, but came across to me as mostly creepy but not in a scary or fun/scary way. They’re dolls possessed or animated by the spirits of Maggie’s ancestors who died in a fire, and sit drinking imaginary tea and reading the newspaper headline about their death without ever understanding that’s what it is, and having the same conversations over and over and over. This afterlife seems more subtly horrific than sweet to me, especially as the way they keep looping through the same conversations and not remembering things is unintentionally reminiscient of dementia. Or maybe that is intentional, who knows.
Maggie gets angry and smashes the dolls around, cracking the male doll’s head and knocking off the dog’s ear and detaching the woman doll’s leg. She fixes them later, but damaging inanimate but sentient things, especially if they feel pain as these dolls do, is a huge squick/creep-out for me and did not endear her to me.
I like a lot of stuff that’s dark in some way or another, whether it’s scary horror or just deals with dark topics, but this book just felt unpleasant and unenjoyable.
Spoilers!
( Read more... )
Did any of you read this book? Did you like it better than I did? It’s widely beloved and won lots of awards, but appears to be currently out of print.
comments
I read this book when I was a kid and found it memorable without actually liking it, partly because I was very confused by the ending. I re-read it to see if the ending would make more sense as an adult, and also if I’d like it more. (Respectively, sort of and no.)
Maggie has two habits which make sense under the circumstances, but which did not endear her to me. One was her method of pre-emptively making people hate her, which was to be as mean and obnoxious as possible. The other is a mental game in which she explains ordinary things to the imaginary “Backwoods Girls,” who have never heard of anything, while she calls them stupid. This is present throughout the book, and goes on and on and ON for page after page after page. It was beyond tedious.
Her aunts are plain terrible. Her uncle is clearly supposed to be endearing, but he speaks entirely in unfunny whimsical jokes and flights of fancy, and literally never says anything normal ever, not even when it’s clear that his “humor” is confusing and upsetting Maggie.
The living dolls are in an extremely Uncanny Valley in that I think they’re supposed to be slightly creepy but mostly lovable, but came across to me as mostly creepy but not in a scary or fun/scary way. They’re dolls possessed or animated by the spirits of Maggie’s ancestors who died in a fire, and sit drinking imaginary tea and reading the newspaper headline about their death without ever understanding that’s what it is, and having the same conversations over and over and over. This afterlife seems more subtly horrific than sweet to me, especially as the way they keep looping through the same conversations and not remembering things is unintentionally reminiscient of dementia. Or maybe that is intentional, who knows.
Maggie gets angry and smashes the dolls around, cracking the male doll’s head and knocking off the dog’s ear and detaching the woman doll’s leg. She fixes them later, but damaging inanimate but sentient things, especially if they feel pain as these dolls do, is a huge squick/creep-out for me and did not endear her to me.
I like a lot of stuff that’s dark in some way or another, whether it’s scary horror or just deals with dark topics, but this book just felt unpleasant and unenjoyable.
Spoilers!
( Read more... )
Did any of you read this book? Did you like it better than I did? It’s widely beloved and won lots of awards, but appears to be currently out of print.
comments
July 15, 2019
The Wilder Plot, by Stephen Krensky
A high school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a school election set off a tangle of plots worthy of the Bard himself. Charlie Wilder has stage fright, but gets cast as Lysander as a result of machinations by another student (Greg, currently running for class president) in revenge for a prank Charlie played on him. Charlie’s efforts to escape the role lead to an increasingly complicated web of misunderstandings, romantic entanglements, plots, counter-plots, and counter-counter-plots.
I read this book as a kid and remembered it being really funny and well-structured. Upon re-reading… it is! In fact I’m even more impressed now with the handling of a very large cast in a short middle-grade novel.
My favorite bits were Charlie’s clever plots to get himself fired from the cast, first by being as bad as possible and later by breaking the school rule against negative campaigning by putting up posters after hours with slogans like WHY WAIT? IMPEACH GREG NOW! and Priscilla “Pages” Lodge, who loves melodramatic YA novels and becomes convinced that Charlie is dying after spotting him entering a doctor's office (to try to get a medical excuse to not do the play), and keeps hopefully trailing around him and offering her shoulder to cry on, to his bewilderment.
Pages was reading Don’t Blow This Life, You Can’t Go Back For Seconds, about a wealthy and spoiled New York teenager whose parents are trying to save their marriage by adopting a refugee child every two years. The central character, Alexis, had just dyed her hair purple, so naturally the story had Pages’s full attention.
The Wilder Plot[image error]
comments
I read this book as a kid and remembered it being really funny and well-structured. Upon re-reading… it is! In fact I’m even more impressed now with the handling of a very large cast in a short middle-grade novel.
My favorite bits were Charlie’s clever plots to get himself fired from the cast, first by being as bad as possible and later by breaking the school rule against negative campaigning by putting up posters after hours with slogans like WHY WAIT? IMPEACH GREG NOW! and Priscilla “Pages” Lodge, who loves melodramatic YA novels and becomes convinced that Charlie is dying after spotting him entering a doctor's office (to try to get a medical excuse to not do the play), and keeps hopefully trailing around him and offering her shoulder to cry on, to his bewilderment.
Pages was reading Don’t Blow This Life, You Can’t Go Back For Seconds, about a wealthy and spoiled New York teenager whose parents are trying to save their marriage by adopting a refugee child every two years. The central character, Alexis, had just dyed her hair purple, so naturally the story had Pages’s full attention.
The Wilder Plot[image error]
comments
July 13, 2019
Catnip Madness!
The other day I had a nine-hour power outage due to work on the electrical pole near my apartment. I moved everything in my fridge into coolers, then moved it back into the fridge when the power came back on. (I'm dependent on refrigerated medication and also into emergency preparedness, so I had a lot of coolers and icepacks on hand.)
Somewhere in the scuffle, a plastic bag filled with catnip got left out of the fridge. I awoke the next morning to this disgraceful scene of debauchery:
SHAME.
comments
Somewhere in the scuffle, a plastic bag filled with catnip got left out of the fridge. I awoke the next morning to this disgraceful scene of debauchery:
SHAME.
comments
July 9, 2019
Dear AU Exchange Writer
I'm requesting fic for everything. But if anyone feels moved to give me an art treat, that would be delightful!
( General Likes. )
( General DNWs. )
( Dark Tower - Stephen King )
( The Leftovers (TV) )
( Punisher (TV 2017) )
( 'Salem's Lot - Stephen King )
( The Stand - Stephen King )
comments
( General Likes. )
( General DNWs. )
( Dark Tower - Stephen King )
( The Leftovers (TV) )
( Punisher (TV 2017) )
( 'Salem's Lot - Stephen King )
( The Stand - Stephen King )
comments
