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Reading the End Posts

“Hold Onto Your Hats” Was Good Advice: M&M Readalong

Look, either I have Stockholm Syndrome or the book has really kicked into high gear in this, the third section of our Master and Margarita Readalong. Have I eaten any M&Ms yet? NO, but only because I am boycotting Hershey, Mars, and Nestle until 2020 which is when they’ve pledged to go to all fair-trade chocolate suppliers. But we’re halfway through the book and I appear to have stopped caring if any of it makes sense. I guess that’s the point Bulgakov’s trying to make anyway, right? Community Russia makes NO DAMN SENSE. Now. I will admit that I began…

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Review: The Secrets of Wishtide, Kate Saunders

Note: I received a copy of The Secrets of Wishtide from the publisher for review consideration. I do not read many mysteries. I think the reason is that so many mysteries come in serieses, and as a completist I find this very daunting. (Yes yes I am in love with the Amelia Peabody books, of which there are infinity, but I started reading them when I was like fourteen so it barely counts.) Also, a lot of mysteries feature divorced dude private eyes wandering around thinking bitter thoughts about their exes. Or really gruesome autopsy details. And I don’t like those…

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Reading the End Bookcast, Ep. 68: Sea or Space, Lone Wolves, and Zoraida Cordova’s Labyrinth Lost

Another Wednesday, and proper fall still has not come to Louisiana. Luckily I had podcast editing to take my mind off it. Whiskey Jenny says to please apologize to you all for her slight audible congestion; she was fighting off a very bad cough throughout recording and managed valiantly, all things considered. You can listen to the podcast in the embedded player below or download the file directly to take with you on the go! Episode 68 Peter Freuchen’s appearance on The 64,000 Question What We’re Reading The Fade-Out, Ed Brubaker, The Hairdresser of Harare, Tendai Huchu Mapping the Heavens:…

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Illusion, Michael: The Master and Margarita Readalong Continues

Let’s pause for a moment and wish a very happy 154th birthday to my girl Ada Leverson! She was a friend of Oscar Wilde’s. He adored her and called her “darling Sphinx,” and when he went to jail and such, she stayed his faithful and stalwart friend. Which not that many people did. Wonderful Sphinx! Anyway. Onward. This segment of the Master and Margarita readalong featured a magic show, so if you think that you are going to escape this post without plenty of Arrested Development gifs, you have seriously misunderstood who I am as a person. First up, we…

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No Luke Cage Thinkpieces: A Links Round-Up

Look, I know. I know. You want to read the hot takes on Luke Cage. I understand that’s where you’re at. I am RIGHT THERE WITH YOU. But I have only watched four episodes of the series, and thus I haven’t read that much criticism of it yet.1 You will have to wait for the next one for that sweet Luke Cage talk. Here’s what you can have: A complete history of Addy Walker, who I honestly still can’t deal with the fact that they retired her books and her doll. Hmph. Why clothes for women don’t have any goddamn…

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Roller Derby, World of Warcraft, and (ugh) Scots

It’s time for another romance novels round-up! I recently did an awesome interview with a grad student who’s studying romance novels and feminism, and it reminded me that while I still read romance novels, I haven’t talked about them in quite some time. But in fact, I have been reading some incredibly adorable romance novels that you should know about, so let’s get into it. First up: Roller Girl, by Vanessa North. Tina Durham is a recently divorced former sportsing champion1 who gets a crush on her new plumber, Joe (short for Joanne). Through Joe, she gets involved in a…

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Pontius Pilate For Some Reason: The Master & Margarita Readalong

The time is now, my ducklings! After promising it to us for many moons, Alice of Reading Rambo has commenced her fall readalong of The Master and Margarita. Though no official word has yet been handed down, I am choosing to believe that this readalong is sponsored by M&Ms. You can agree or disagree with me as you see fit. To my extreme shame, The M&M has been sitting on my shelf for six and a half years unread — and what makes it even worse is that my sister gave it to me for my birthday, so not only…

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Review: The Swan Riders, Erin Bow

Note: I received an e-ARC of The Swan Riders from the publisher via Netgalley, for review consideration. The Scorpion Rules was one of my favorite books of 2015, so I obviously snapped up the sequel, The Swan Riders, as soon as it showed up on Netgalley. I cannot talk about this book without giving major spoilers for The Scorpion Rules, so if you haven’t read Scorpion Rules yet, dash off and do that real quick, and meet me back here afterwards. IT IS REALLY GOOD, a take on YA dystopia that zigs when you think it will zag and values…

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Reading the End Bookcast, Ep. 67: Literary Team-Ups and Six of Crows

Happy Wednesday, friends! A packed podcast for you this week, with listener mail and a polar explorers update and much talk of heists, team-ups, and old-time fictional Amsterdam in Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows. You can listen to the podcast in the embedded player below or download the file directly to take with you on the go! Episode 67 What We’re Reading The Swan Riders, Erin Bow The Good House, Tananarive Due City on Fire, Garth Risk Hallberg Bel Canto, Ann Patchett Literary Team-Ups Fingersmith, Sarah Waters (still not convinced about this one) The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien…

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Not a Dumb American: Ethiopia Edition

My Africa reading project is so fun and great that it’s confusing to me it took me three-quarters of the year to reconvene it in 2016. There is nothing not good about it, except I guess the shortage of histories of African countries written by African authors in English and available at my library. But guess what, y’all. That is exactly what I got for Ethiopia, and I couldn’t be more pumped about it. Bahru Zewde’s A History of Ethiopia, 1855-1974 gloriously fulfills all my conditions. It is also real short, which meant that I read each section with extra-heightened…

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