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Reading the End Posts

The Raven King, Maggie Stiefvater

The first part of this post will not contain spoilers for The Raven King, or indeed for any book in this series. I will clearly mark the end of the non-spoiler-y part of the post, so that you can bail before I start shrieking about specific, spoilery things. I mainly want to tell you what I love so much about this book and this series. The Raven Cycle is about figuring out how to be a person. Or more specifically, how to be a person when your world as it stands is not — is nowhere near — enough. One…

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And After Many Days, Jowhor Ile

One day, Ajie’s older brother Paul leaves their home in Nigeria, and he never comes back. Ajie was the only one who saw him go. And After Many Days is about the loss of Paul and his presence in their family before he goes. I was reading it in between other things (you’ll be hearing about The Raven King on Monday) that frankly I cared about more, and nevertheless I thought And After Many Days was awfully good. It tells the story of a 1990s Nigerian family in a way that makes a faraway (from me) country in an increasingly faraway time feel…

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Peas and Carrots, Tanita Davis

“But Jenny, you should read Tanita Davis! Perhaps this new one, Peas and Carrots!” “Oh, gosh, it seems like she has a sort of middle-grade aesthetic going on, and I tend to prefer older-skewing YA, so I’ll maybe give her a miss.” “Jenny, no really, Tanita Davis, she’s right up your–” “Shhhhh, I’m busy.” FOOLISH FOOLISH FOOLISH JENNY. Have I not yet learned that I should listen to bloggers and their wisdom? Even if I have reservations? Peas and Carrots is about two girls, Hope and Dess, who become foster sisters without either of them particularly wanting to be. In alternating…

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It’s Monday, April 25th. What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday, and I had a smashing weekend! A good friend came to town so we got to break bread (and have some drinks) together and shoot the shit on Saturday. The bookstore had a surprise for me which I will share with you in a moment, although if you know me well or follow me on Twitter you can probably guess what it was. And I made French onion soup for the family on Sunday, and it came out excellent. Oh, I went to the library too. We don’t need to talk about that. I DO NOT HAVE A…

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American Gypsy, Oksana Marafioti

Before I launch into a proper review of Oksana Marafioti’s American Gypsy, a word about terminology. Marafioti never discusses, in the course of her book, her use of the term gypsy. However, many many many Romani people consider it to be an ethnic slur; and when the word appears in the course of this book, it’s more often than not being thrown at Marafioti or at her family as an insult. So although Marafioti herself has said that she’s not opposed to the use of the term, I’m going to stick with Romani throughout this review. And so should you,…

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Reading the End Bookcast, Ep.59: Fantastic Beasts, Night Manager, and Banned Books

Happy Wednesday, booklovers! We know you were psyched to hear about All the Birds in the Sky, but we’ve been unavoidably detained on that front. Instead, you get to hear our thoughts on two literary adaptations: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and the new miniseries The Night Manager. We also take some shots at book-banners1 by way of the ALA’s Frequently Challenged Books of 2015 list. You can listen to the podcast in the embedded player below or download the file directly to take with you on the go. Episode 59 Get at me on Twitter, email the podcast, and friend…

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It’s Monday, April 18. What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday, April 18th, and I am doing my honest best to finish my library books and return them in a somewhat timely manner. I presently have 11 books out from my university library, plus one interlibrary loan, and 2 of those are ready to be returned. I have, yes okay, 27 books out from the public library BUT I am prepared to return 9 of those when I go on Saturday. So there. (I’m fine, I don’t have a problem. You saw that 11 of those, nearly a quarter, are set to be returned?) My main current book is…

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Gay Stuff in Fandoms: A Links Round-Up

Well, it’s been a nice regular week! I knocked out some library books. I killed some caterpillars (my kill count stands at 29 as of this writing). I hung out with some friends. Sampled mac and cheeses from two different restaurants. Just in general living my best life. A history of Gay Batman that is everything Pop Culture Happy Hour listeners have come to expect from Glen Weldon. Also, he adorably puts an apostrophe in front of shippers, bless his heart. Speaking of gay stuff and fandoms (but I repeat myself), Clare of The Literary Omnivore wrote a brilliant and…

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Waiting on Wednesday: Spring YA

You know what’s happening in my neck of the woods, team? Stinging caterpillars is what. They are a pernicious blight upon the land. They fall from the sky onto your head when you are just trying to catch your bus, and their fuzzy tops sting your fingers if you try to brush them off. The spring is wet and full of terrors. All that consoles me in this trying time is the evergreen wellspring1 of YA fiction, of which there is a plethora this spring season. Here are three that I’m particularly looking forward to, in celebration of Waiting on…

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It’s Monday, April 11th. What Are You Reading?

Something glorious happened this weekend, friends. I also inherited seven other glasses exactly like this but with different poisons written on them. Before they belonged to me, they belonged to my great-grandfather, who loved Rafael Sabatini and, apparently, novelty highball glasses. It is really too bad that he and I never met. Over the weekend, I finished up Lamar Giles’s Endangered and Prudence Shen and Faith Erin Hicks’s YA comic Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, then plunked myself down on a sofa and read Åsne Seierstad’s One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway in…

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