5/5⭐ I had to catch my breath with how achingly bittersweet individual lines and overall trajectories were in this book. I love Pillover and was so happy to have a book focused on him, including his sibling relationship with Dimity. #bookspinbingo

5/5⭐ The author's thesis is that magic, religion, and science are three equal parts of a triple helix, all work together, and all are equally necessary for a healthy world view. He does a superb job of defending that thesis via a survey of worldwide practices throughout history and how magical, religious, and scientific thought co-evolve over time. (cont'd ⬇) #bookspinbingo #doublespin

3.5/5⭐ I liked the blending of the Snow White fairytale with the Demeter/Persephone myth and the thematic cycles and mirror motif therein. Some of the relationships and character trajectories moved forward in ways that didn't seem logical given the information we got on the page. Overall though I enjoyed the story, the crafting of the themes, and especially the hopeful ending.

Also the cover art is stunning.

#bookspinbingo #booked2022

Apple grows to be bitten.

Mirrors taught: Perhaps there were always at least two sorts of reality, what you credited, and what was true.

3.5/5⭐ I really like Knight's humor, self-awareness, vulnerability, and straightforwardness. The book starts with some good self-reflection questions. #bookspinbingo #booked2022

2/5⭐ I appreciate the importance of this book's message and setting. Unfortunately I didn't connect with the characters (they seem to have no personalities outside of being gay or being bigoted), and the story was slow and lingered on plot points for far too long. #bookspinbingo

4/5⭐ Muir's writing is so strong: not a single wasted word, meticulously plotted and crafted. The dialogue and humor are endlessly entertaining, especially when Ianthe is involved. Muir teeters dangerously on the knife's edge of overwhelming; just when you think the tension and complexity can't escalate any more, they do...several times over. I can't say I fully understood everything that happened, but I definitely enjoyed the ride. #bookspinbingo

4/5⭐ Some “names“ seem to be just random nouns I can't imagine ever naming someone. Overall, though, this is a great compilation of gender-neutral names, including meanings and thematic shortlists. #bookspinbingo

4/5⭐ The humor in this book is great. It combines reasonable and ridiculous* names into many themed lists with clever descriptions and appropriately titled subsections, playing on lots of popular culture and stereotypes.

*At least, I hope they're meant to be ridiculous; I'll lose whatever little faith I have left in humanity if parents these days are seriously considering names like EPUB, A*da, CarWash, or Generic Surplus.

#bookspinbingo

3.5/5⭐ I really enjoyed this meander through augmented life in Ancient Greek myths & reality, & the connections to later science fiction & technology. Anyone who doesn't appreciate ancient technological thought (and anyone who does) would enjoy these chapters. That said, the book can be repetitive, some of Mayor's assertions seem an interpretive stretch, & there's no strong overall thesis aside from being a thematic exploration. #bookspinbingo

#audiopuzzling

Thanks for the tag, @slategreyskies!

1. Currently very slowly reading the tagged book. It's great, just dense. 🗿
2. Very cold and expecting snowy/icy weather tomorrow. Brrrr. ❄
3. Fluffy sweaters, socks, blankets, and tea! ☕

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

4/5⭐ This book mixes a whole bunch of genres really well. I loved the atmosphere, and the biting dialogue and humor were exquisite. #bookspinbingo

#audiopuzzling

5/5⭐ There are no words to describe how powerful, beautiful, and tightly crafted this book is. I strongly recommend the audiobook narrated by the author. #bookspinbingo #bookspin

4.5/5⭐ *Didn't realize until I got major déjà vu that this book is an updated version of Diehn's Real Life Journals, which I've read. Reposting my review of that book.* Another good journal book from Gwen Diehn. I really appreciated the way it balances practical step-by-step instructions w/ inspirational examples. It covers a wide range of journal content topics & binding/cover methods, & infuses personalization on every page. #bookspinbingo

No one would doubt that I love my children, & even a quantitative social psychologist would find no fault with my list of loving behaviors:
• nurturing health & well-being
• protection from harm
• encouraging individual growth & development
• desire to be together
• generous sharing of resources
• working together for a common goal
• celebration of shared values
• interdependence
• sacrifice by one for the other
• creation of beauty

⬇

The land loves us back. She loves us with beans and tomatoes, with roasting ears and blackberries and birdsongs. By a shower of gifts and a heavy rain of lessons. She provides for us and teaches us to provide for ourselves. That‘s what good mothers do. ⬇

As I grew to understand the gifts of the earth, I couldn't understand how “love of country“ could omit recognition of the actual country itself. The only promise it requires is to a flag. What of the promises to each other and to the land?

What would it be like to be raised on gratitude, to speak to the natural world as a member of the democracy of species, to raise a pledge of interdependence? ⬇

While expressing gratitude seems innocent enough, it is a revolutionary idea. In a consumer society, contentment is a radical proposition. Recognizing abundance rather than scarcity undermines an economy that thrives by creating unmet desires. Gratitude cultivates an ethic of fullness, but the economy needs emptiness. The Thanksgiving Address reminds you that you already have everything you need. ⬇

4.5/5⭐ An excellent book on feminist leadership theory in libraries that says a lot of things that need to be said. I do wish it included more concrete ideas. #bookspinbingo

The library of yesterday can‘t serve the university of today. Continuing to insist on the primacy of collections and the importance of cataloging at the expense, say, of digitization projects, digital scholarship centers, makerspaces, open data initiatives, or high-speed computing facilities may well translate into decreased interest on the part of our communities in what we have to offer. ⬇

In my experience, libraries are open to diverse populations as long as that diversity does not extend to how we behave, speak, or think.

Baharak Yousefi, On the Disparity Between What We Say and What We Do in Libraries

This pursuit of neutrality in libraries has, in the past, provided an effective strategy to silence dissent and to secure consent from marginalized groups. [...] And if the norm in North American librarianship is forged by decades of racism, sexism, white privilege, colonization, and institutional oppression, then preserving the norm is an act of injustice.

Baharak Yousefi, On the Disparity Between What We Say and What We Do in Libraries

When users recognize or fear that their privacy or confidentiality is compromised, true freedom of inquiry no longer exists.

American Library Association, Privacy
quoted in Shana Higgins, Embracing the Feminization of Librarianship

To the extent that librarians, whether they have faculty status at their institutions or not, view themselves or are viewed by others primarily as service providers, the implication is that the work done by librarians is ancillary to, in the service of, the real work of the university rather than one expression of that real work.

Lisa Richmond, A Feminist Critique of Servant Leadership

When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.

Toni Morrison, The Truest Eye
quoted in Shirley Lew, Creating a Path to Feminist Leadership

We espouse diversity but the profession remains overwhelmingly white. We purport to care about privacy and stewardship of our data, yet we turn our information over to closed proprietary systems, thereby forfeiting control without fully understanding the technology behind it. ⬇

3/5⭐ It's less about fat quarters than patchworking. The book is not for beginners, which may explain why I found the instructions and layout overwhelming and confusing. #bookspinbingo

Three batches of #LitsyLove mail sent out the last few days and I'm finally caught up! 💖

2.5/5⭐ There's a really nice variety of projects, especially since they all use only a yard of fabric. I like the cutting guide diagrams to reduce fabric waste. But there are few step-by-step illustrations & the text instructions often seem confusing. There's an insert w/ full-size patterns (which is great), so I don't understand why they included a page w/ appliques that need to be enlarged instead of including full-size pieces. #bookspinbingo

2.5/5⭐ There were some fun moments/lines/characters, but nothing felt as fleshed out as Grant's stories usually are. The pacing was off with the majority of the story slow and unresolved points of interest at the end. #bookspinbingo

4/5⭐ I love when Carriger's books focus on a particular household. The pure chaos of all the characters & one person (also chaos) trying to wrangle them is absolutely delightful. Dimity and Cris are so stupid (for each other) & I love them. The empowerment & validation Justice received from literally every character to be herself without fuss (aside from, of course, the paramount business of clothes shopping) made my heart swell. #bookspinbingo

“May we all find our safety and our sparkles, in whatever form they take.“

Ahhhhh such a beautiful sentiment made even more so in the context of the story.

The idea of asking schoolchildren to pledge loyalty to a political system seems exceedingly curious.
[...]
And it‘s not exactly liberty if they force you to say it, is it?

Got my January #bookspinbingo / TBR sorted!

#bookspin 8: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
#doublespin 15: Magic: A History by Chris Gosden

#roll100 24: Queering Your Craft by Cassandra Snow
#roll100 49: The Zork Chronicles by George Effinger

#Booked2022 2: You Do You by Sarah Knight
#Booked2022 4: White as Snow by Tanith Lee

@thearomaofbooks @puddlejumper @cinfhen @barbarathebibliophage @4thhouseontheleft

We are showered every day with gifts, but they are not meant for us to keep. Their life is in their movement, the inhale and the exhale of our shared breath. Our work and our joy is to pass along the gift and to trust that what we put out into the universe will always come back.

We spill over into the world and the world spills over into us.

The young and the old are linked in one long breath, an inhalation that calls for reciprocal exhalation, nourishing the common root from which they both arose. New leaf to old, old to new, mother to daughter—mutuality endures. I am consoled by the lesson of lilies.

Maybe a little breeze came up, maybe a hidden current, or the earth tilting on its axis to slosh the pond, but whatever the invisible hand, my little boat began to rock gently, like a cradle on the water. Held by the hills and rocked by the water, the hand of the breeze against my cheek, I gave myself over to the comfort that came, unbidden.

The tightness of Kimmerer's writing and themes is mind-blowing.

Transformation is not accomplished by tentative wading at the edge.

Ponds grow old, and though I will too, I like the ecological idea of aging as progressive enrichment, rather than progressive loss.

“She read the letters she was purported to have written very carefully, wincing a bit at the grammar. No serial comma, really? What did they take her for? An artist might be a tad lax in her missives, but to drop a comma? How ghastly.“

I do love a good reference in support of the Oxford comma.

December wasn't exactly my best reading month. New year, new month, new slate now though! #bookspinbingo @thearomaofbooks

Today is tomorrow's nostalgia.

(From Daniel Hardcastle's YouTube Video Nerd3 Awards 2021 - Game of the Year)

In English, we never refer to a member of our family, or indeed to any person, as it. That would be a profound act of disrespect. It robs a person of selfhood and kinship, reducing a person to a mere thing. So it is that in Potawatomi and most other indigenous languages, we use the same words to address the living world as we use for our family. Because they are our family.

Only Gail Carriger can finish the physical description of a character with “he now resembled a surprised but cuddly mongoose“ and have a perfect image of a human instantly enter the reader's mind. 😆

Excuse me, sir, your sass is showing.

“Sorry we're late. There was a bit of a traffic snarl on the way into the airport. You know how it is when you have to be somewhere in a hurry.“

“Yes, I leave early.“