pickTruly unique in a way I know I'm going to struggle to do justice to.
First, please, please, do a tandem read on this. The audiobook is read by the author, whose voice is both genuine and a completely beautiful surprise. Her way with words will make you want to have the print in front of your eyes at the same time.
The format is quietly groundbreaking, taking moments to discuss the form, function and life cycle of plants, trees, 1/?
“America may say that it values science, but it sure as hell doesn't want to pay for it.“ 😞
Favourites from the first half of 2025.
Upon reflection, these are the most powerful, memorable, beautiful, enjoyable reads from January to June .
From the top left to bottom right:
Non-fiction memoir and general, graphic novels, art non-fiction, poetry, picture books,
Fiction: fantasy, sci fi, contemporary/historical, crime, horror
pickGiggles aplenty. 😁
Highlights from this volume include:
Woman huffing kitty cat, then adopting/absconding with the one in the cat cafe that reminds her of her husband
Medical professional critiquing the drama set up by Tatsu and Miku to entertain a kid in the hospital
Of COURSE, the continuing adventures surrounding a retired mob boss and his darling dog Pinky
Competitive haiku with the adorable father-in-law along for the ride
pickAbsurd in a way that leaves me grinning.
Fave of this volume was of course dogs + mobsters episode.
Other highlights include:
Food that transports via sense memory people back to moments in their past that wreak emotional devastation in the most entertaining way possible
The flair with which house husband and nerd team up for the pursuit of prizes
Poor Masa repeatedly ending up that worse for wear thanks to the power couple's good intentions
Never heard neutering phrased quite like that...🤦🏼♂️
pickStunning art, the quality of the narrative varies.
Town Mouse Country Mouse is a reproduction of the original tale with glorious detail in both the nature of country mouse and the luxuriously cozy surroundings of city mouse, not to mention the various other animals in their imaginative ensembles. Top notch way to engage with a classic.
1/?
Beautiful, the colour and the detail.
pickWonderful. The ART! The rendering of nature, the detail in both the borders and background and central figures on each page, the use of colour, the expression on the little turtle faces! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT. And of course, a great message contained within the narrative. So grateful Jan Brett was recommended to me.
Just gorgeous. And the meeting of Mossy and Scoot, so cute! 🥰
pickA lovely time, with just a sprinkle of bittersweetness among the flights of fancy. I enjoy the visual design choices, colours vibrant in memories and more muted in present, the pink standing out throughout, and the choice to make the story almost, but not completely, word free.
pickOverall, a pleasant experience. I'll admit I was confused to start with, as the author has produced works of fiction related to the Vinyl Cafe radio show, but this collection is essays rather than short stories.
A lot are simple moments, what I might term as palate cleansers, but they do occasionally get more involved, heavy, moving, discussing the author's past and present as well as that of Canada and Canadians. 1/?
...“as if I had run my hand across the entire country like you would a piano.“
I love the way that description engages the senses.
...“the deadfalls are part of the beauty.“
Suddenly my love of old graveyards and old forests are linked. What a wonderful way of seeing.
🍃☀️
pickEverything I wanted it to be.
The focus is on Black cinematic horror, but to address the subject well, it also dips into Black cinematic history beyond horror, and the Black experience in America, historical and present day. There is some coverage of international releases, but the book is primarily talking about US films and the minutiae reflecting the particular racism of each decade as it affects the output of Black horror cinema, 1/?
“ritualistic discharge“ is going to stick with me.
Trying to picture myself telling the embodiment of Spring (in my head that's Persephone) to “Get over yourself. Give me the flowers.“ 🫢😆💐
WTF?! 😆 Yeah, I'm going to spend half this book outraged and the other half in hysterics of one kind or another.
pickSuperb silliness continues...
Highlights include:
Halloween costume contest
Fighting a cold with memorably aggressive imagery
Could NOT stop cringing during the attempts at rap, I think that was intentional?
pickExquisite. Enchanting. The most beautiful immigrant story I've encountered, bursting with Tan's fantastical creations. Feels sort of sacrilegious to sing the praises in words, of a story told entirely in images to such powerful effect, but it's what I got! I'm now going to reread it.
If you somehow haven't picked up Creature by this artist/author, highly recommend.
⚠️Images of forced child labour, war, death, major injury
Today's 'scratched my brain just right' sentence. 💭
pickA marvelous time, loved as much as the other poetry collection I read by this author. I love the design decision to show the word, the letters falling down I to the other words constructed, on a page with the artist's embellishments, and the poem in standardized formatting on the next page, along with the colour differential, white for the art pages and red for the constructed poem pages. 1/2
panMostly mourning the lost potential in the premise.
Despite the extensive amount of the story delivered by an unlikeable narrator, I can see so much here that would have really worked for me if handled differently.
The author writes well, but seems to often choose to write in an attempt to shock the reader, but in ways I've encountered before, that only leave a bad taste in my mouth. 1/?
pickHonest, pragmatic, vulnerable.
Subjectively, I can say, as an atheist who has previously dabbled in neopaganism/Wicca, there was a lot of relatable content in here.
But there were also a multitude of experiences and thoughts that stretched my credulity: I couldn't follow the author in all of her reasoning, interpretation, anxiety, over-thinking, and what appeared to be emotional trauma, occasionally leaking out during her practice. 1/?
Demon smurf summoning! But not really? 🫣
The hazards of over-reliance on textual interpretation...
Jahren covers the struggle for funding and recognition as a student, a scientist, a professor, a woman. Her personal mental health concerns accompanying her journey as a human, a scientist, and a pregnant woman, the mania and self-harm, the medication that improved life. Her relationships, loneliness staved off by one parent if not the other even as both 12h
I think it's fair to say a significant portion of this book touches on the tandem journey her friend and colleague Bill is on as they struggle to build labs and deal with multifarious challenges. I should say that their banter/escapades runs the gamut between hilarious 12h
It's clear from the epilogue that Jahren wants every person who reads to do what they can for trees, especially seeing that there are more planted, but I think that there are several things that comes through clearly for me, which given what I'm hearing from the States these days, are unlikely to have become lower priority in the nine years since this book was published 12h
Women in science need more support, a matter of changing views as well as more tangible efforts which I'm sure there are professional organizations to spearhead
Continuing de-stigmatization of mental health concerns, and funding of health care and research, which will improve odds of accurate diagnoses and treatment 12h
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