Happy early Valentine’s Day! Last week there came an article in the New York Times wailing that YA books don’t contain sex anymore. This was a baffling assertion on a number of fronts. The week before that, I wrote and submitted my February YA column for the wonderful blog Lady Business, in which I built a rec list of YA books where the main characters have sex and they’re fine. Because among the many things YA does well is that it sometimes models healthy decisions about sex. The kids are all right. Don’t panic. That column is out today, so…
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Happy Sunday! Despite feeling exhausted and fed up with my choices this week, I realize looking back on it that it included a lot of terrific things. Let’s review, and then y’all can tell me what’s been good in your lives this week. Happy about My new record shelf! This one here: I have been wanting this for a while — ever since I moved, my record player has just been upstairs on top of a bookshelf, and my records have been in boxes — and I finally had the budget available to buy it! I love the way it…
Leave a CommentHappy Friday, friends! When my alarm went off this morning I lay in bed for two (2) minutes wishing not to get up, and I only successfully did get up by reminding myself that I can sleep late tomorrow. I AM SO TIRED. But here are some good links for you to enjoy. Emily Asher Perrin’s Tor.com piece on identifying with uncool characters spoke to my nerdy, rule-abiding heart. Akwaeke Emezi talks about finding a path to a truer identity, through Nigerian spiritual beliefs and Western surgeries. This interview with Jia Tolentino reminds me of so many reasons why I…
Leave a CommentHere’s what happened in January: I had to wear this neck brace that made it impossible to ever sit comfortably. In part because of this, I was very, very cranky in the month of January.1 Every time I thought about going out and doing something, I’d be like “ugh I’m too cranky for that so instead I will stay home and read and that will cheer me up.” But because it was impossible to sit comfortably, staying home and reading did not cheer me up. But because I am very stupid, I did not figure this out until I had…
5 CommentsGUISE I have to say that my month of January was significantly derailed by the thing where a car hit me and I had to start wearing a terrible neck brace because my neck is lowkey broken. And I did not do Something on Sunday, and I do not want y’all to think that this means I am finished with it. I am not finished with it! It is still the Trump presidency and we still need to talk and hear about good things. I have a big one for this week. Y’all are about to be shook. My sister…
14 CommentsHi friends! It’s Tuesday, and I’m over at Lady Business recapping the second episode of the greatest TV show in the world, Black Sails. Stop on by and let me know if you agree with my assessment of Eleanor Guthrie’s true love situation. Or if you haven’t watched Black Sails, my God, please watch Black Sails.
1 CommentLike, seriously. I will never look at a secondary world fantasy the same way again. Jade City, the third book overall and first adult novel from author Fonda Lee, does such a phenomenal job of creating the country of Kekon and its religion and politics and economy and international relations, that it will be very difficult for other books to measure up. So Jade City is set in a fictional East Asian country called Kekon whose primary resource is a magical version of jade. Green Bones are warriors who are trained to use jade to make use of magical powers,…
15 CommentsSo one of my reading resolutions for 2018 was to read more SFF short stories, with the goal of finding a total of three stories that I really love and want to advocate for. As of this writing, I have read nine SFF short stories, which already is way more than I have ever read in a previous year. I will assume that you are duly impressed. Six of these (shut up) have come from the Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017, edited by Charles Yu. I have no apologies to make. I didn’t say I’d be reading all…
7 CommentsIs everyone here familiar with the NPR Book Concierge? The most magical and glorious of end-of-year book lists? And I say that as someone who loves end-of-year book lists and never, ever tires of reading through them. The NPR Book Concierge is the The Millions Book Preview of end-of-year book lists. I get so many book recs from it that it is a Problem. Among them this past year was Gengoroh Tagame’s My Brother’s Husband. It’s about a guy called Yaichi who lives in Tokyo with his daughter, Kana. But their lives change when a large, bearded, lumberjacklike Canadian called…
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