Casual Challenge Update

Time for the two month check in

PopSugar

• Reread a favorite – Something New by Lucy Knisley
• Set in space – An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
• Featuring an extinct or imaginary creature – Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
• Own voices – My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
• Two word title – Kid Gloves
• Publishes in 2019 – The Invited
• Item of clothing on cover – The Handmaid’s Tale
• Puzzle or game – The Chain

Knisley’s new book, Kid Gloves, came out this year so I wanted to reread her previous book about getting married before diving into her story about her son. Riser took the power of imaginary creatures a whole new level. Sister is about book about Nigerian sisters by a Nigerian woman. I’m bending the rules for puzzle/game and counting The Chain by Adrian McKinty. A chain of extortion and kidnapping must be perpetuated or the kidnapped child dies. Average quality of writing but a very compelling story.

Book Riot

• By or about a POC in space – An Unkindness of Ghosts
• Alternative history – The Handmaid’s Tale
• Fewer than 100 reviews – All the Sad Songs
• LGBT+ author – Something New

Ghosts was a slave narrative in space that had all sorts of representation. Handmaid’s is the graphic novel adaptation of the modern classic and was as powerful as the original story IMHO. Color plays such an important role so the visual element added to the story so well.

Finding a book I read this year that was published prior to 2019 and had fewer than 100 reviews sounded impossible but apparently, I did it with a graphic memoir. All the Sad Songs is about the importance of music in Summer Pierre’s formative years. Knisley is bisexual and talks about that part of her identity in her graphic memoir about getting married.

Modern Mrs. Darcy

• New to you author – An Unkindness of Ghosts
• 3 books by the same author – Lucy Knisley
• Backlist by favorite author – French Milk

In addition to her 2 most recent memoirs, I also picked up Lucy Knisley’s travel journal French Milk (3.5/5) and her recently released children’s book You Are New (5/5). I’m also counting Milk for the back list title because it was a travel diary from Knisley’s month in Paris in her early twenties.

Reading Glasses

• Trans author – An Unkindness of Ghosts
• Graphic Novel – Kid Gloves
• Tweet at a favorite author – Jasper Fforde

Rivers Solomon appears to be non-binary as far as I can tell but I discovered this book from their ‘awesome books by trans people’ episode so it counts. I tweeted at Jasper Fforde a couple of times while I was reading his latest release Early Riser and he liked the tweets! It was a phenomenal book so I’m glad he noticed me saying so.

Reading Women

• Author from Nigeria – My Sister, the Serial Killer
• Children’s book – You Are New
• South Asia author – Before She Sleeps

I was surprised I was about to check off the Nigerian or New Zealand category. I’m trying to read more children’s books that sound fun to me so I was able to check off that category. Before She Sleeps is about a dystopian world where women in what remains of South Asia are in short supply. All three in this category epitomize the casual challenge since I wasn’t even trying to check off those boxes but somehow it happened.

Battle of Twitterfell

I hate being a Game if Thrones fan on Twitter. Everyone always seems to find something to complain about. Even Roxane Gay joined in on the echo chamber that is GoT fans whining about what they didn’t like. For the Battle of Winterfell, it was mainly this.

• It was too dark
• I couldn’t see
• Uhm, it was badly done

That’s the point.

Battles with close proximity to your enemy, smoke from fire, and no electric lights mean it’s going to be hard to see. The characters couldn’t see and barely knew what was going on. The directors wanted you to understand their struggle amidst the chaos and bring an extra layer of realism to the experience. If everything is well lit and there’s no visual chaos, it cheapens the Hound’s PTSD and Sam’s breakdown.

HBO has more money and production quality than multiple broadcast shows combined. They have the talent and resources to do whatever they like and this was what they decided to do. It was deliberate and I understood it in real time. Apparently, I was the only one.

I made the mistake of trying to tell the army of whines why I thought the show runners made this creative choice. It went about as well as you’d expect it to.

Actual response on Twitter: Guess what? I don’t need realism in a show with dragons

Roxane Gay made this point (and added the unnecessarily bitchy guess what) and a lot of people echoed it. To all of them I say, STFU & STFD.

If realism on a show with dragons is so stupid, you’ll be fine if they cut the CGI budget in half, right? Who needs realistic ice zombies and dragons when they’re all fake anyway. Let’s romp through the uncanny valley. There’s no way you crybabies will whine about that since realism on fantasy shows is unnecessary.

Either you want scary looking dragons or you don’t. Either you want scary looking ice skeleton zombies or you don’t. If you want to cherry pick what should and shouldn’t be realistic, make your own goddamn show. You do not know better than the people making one of the most successful shows on television. If you did, you’d be competing with them instead of whining on Twitter.

Actual response: If it’s supposed to be real, why do they have such nice teeth?

Do you want to stare at rotting teeth and diseased peasants for an hour? How about Tyrion’s nasal cavity? How about literal shit in the streets? How does any of that realism serve the story? Do you empathize with the characters more? Does it build tension or further the narrative? Nope.

The chaos and ambiguity of the battle was deliberate and served a function. You were uncomfortable and disoriented which was the point. Just because you were too dense to see it and too stubborn to try doesn’t make the choice or my argument wrong.

Actual response: It’s not the History Channel.

Duh. The History Channel doesn’t get budgets like this and no one mentioned aliens.

Inevitable response: If we’re all saying the same thing, we’re right.

(I muted that thread PDQ because it turned into a ‘you’re wrong and stupid’ echo chamber fast.)

That makes you loud, not correct. Just ask the people at Fox ‘News.’

Could it have been a tiny bit brighter? Sure. Like 10% would have helped without losing the intent. Given the style of argument was “I’m right and you’re stupid,” I was disinclined to concede even that much. Strange how being rude and condescending can make someone not give a flying, swimming, or walking fuck what you have to say.

I’m almost looking forward to the show being over because I’m sick of everyone finding something to complain about on Twitter.

You could compliment the attention to detail, the dragon fight in the stars, the throwbacks to season one, or the fantastic acting. The echoes to earlier seasons were so much fun. A remarkable number of characters didn’t die.

Nope. You’ve got to find something to complain about and whine as much as possible if anyone dare disagree.

Before She Sleeps review

Before She Sleeps takes place in a world after massive nuclear war. The coastal winds on the Persian Gulf kept that region safe so a society is rebuilt there with fantastic futuristic technology. This former desert has been converted into such an oasis, it’s called Green City. But there is a dire shortage of women. A violent strain of HPV has killed so many that women now must take multiple husbands and produce as many children as possible. Rebellion is met with death in this strict society.

Some women risk it to have a better life than that of a trapped breeding mare. They provide the rich and powerful men of Green City with companionship. Their leader is able to keep them safe but such a tenuous life cannot last forever.

I had to do a bit of Googling to get a sense of where in the world this story takes place. I’m very unfamiliar with the Middle East so this was an interesting glimpse of what dystopia would look like in that culture. It’s a repressive regime where one woman shares many husbands. The same technology that allows for so much ease and comfort also allows for easy tracking of its citizens.

Shah is subtle in how she illustrates the repressiveness. She shows you as part of the story rather than spelling it out explicitly. I really appreciated this. You see it in the tension of the characters and how they interact with the world.

Shah’s focus is also limited to a handful of characters. We see the world through their eyes as their actions ripple through the world around them. This results in some semi-opened ends. I had a few questions that weren’t explicitly answered but Shah chose not to hold your hand so you have to figure it out for yourself.

I would definitely recommend this. It fits nicely into the riding niche of dystopian feminist fiction. 4/5

March Wrap-Up and April TBR

Stuff

March Wrap-Up

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

A slave narrative on a spaceship. Representation abounds in this epic tale. I would have liked more exposition and more of a wind down at the end. So many things were building to that and it wrapped up too quickly for that. 4.5/5

Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride by Lucy Knisley

A reread of her graphic memoir of finding her way back to her partner and tying the knot. 5/5

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

I won this piece of excellence in a GoodReads giveaway. I did a full review here but it got 4/5 stars.

Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos by Lucy Knisley

Her graphic memoir about pregnancy, miscarriage, and giving birth. It’s interspersed with fun facts, personal struggles, and ugly realities. 5/5

My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

I hopped on the hype train to see a dysfunctional family in Nigeria. It was interesting and well written but not my jam. 3/5

April TBR

March was the month of the library holds. I had 4 come in inside of 72 hours. I’ve got 3 left and I triaged them by the size of the waitlist.

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde

His stuff hovers between magical realism and genre fiction levels of weird. I’m a third of the way in and enjoying it very much.

Trump Sky Alpha by Mark Doten

The next in the hold triage line, it’s a post-apocalyptic parody-ish tale of our current shit show reality.

Before She Sleeps by Bina Shah

Dystopian fiction with subtle feminist vibes. There’s 2 copies and 1 person on the waitlist so I might be able to renew it when the due date calls.

Spring Time in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedeti

I won a giveaway for an early release of this South American novel. It deals with the effects of corrupt politics on one family.

Because my TBRs regularly go the way of the dodo, I want to try something different. I’m going to pick 5 fiction books and 5 nonfiction books that I’m going to pull from

Fiction

• Springtime
• The Chain by Adrian McKinty
• The Binding by Bridget Collins
• Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View
• Four Dead Queens by Astrid Schlote

Nonfiction

• Fear by Bob Woodward (no, I still haven’t finished it)
• The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
• My Boyfriend Wrote a Book about Me by Hilary Winston
• Lizz Free or Die by Lizz Winstead

Barring more surprise library holds, this should be contain my April wrap-up.