Nerd Church - Of Monsters, Mice, and Men

 

'Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.'

- Holocaust survivor Primo Levi

Friday Fics Fix - Not That Strange

 

'The great fairy incident of 1822 was depicted in many paintings, the most famous of them being The Seelie Siege of London by an unknown painter with a penchant for alliteration.'

 

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is a behemoth of a book.

It's over 1000 pages of alternate history, set in a world where the titular characters are bringing magic back to England, against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.

Friday Fics Fix - Pride Fics Fest: Jack the Lass

Welcome back to Pride Fics Fest! That period in June where I stop pretending straight and fanfiction have anything to say to each other 😉

This post contains SPOILERS for Gentleman Jack, series 1

SPOILERS!!!! OK? SPOILERS

Gentleman Jack is a truly amazing BBC historical drama, based on the life and diaries of 18th/19th Century English Lesbian, landowner, and businesswoman, Anne Lister.

Anne left extensive, coded, diaries - many of which were fairly sexually explicit.

I love this series - a well-written, well-acted, period drama about Lesbians who are complex, flawed, genuine, people. It's so good!

Nerd Church - I Watched Jojo Rabbit: Part 3 - The Bittersweet Tale of Captain K

 

Yes! It's here! The final part of 'I Watched Jojo Rabbit' aka Cee can't stop rabbiting on about this film!

If you want to catch up on Part 1 - which is a general look at the hope and humanity of the film Jojo Rabbit - you can do that here.

Or check out Part 2 - which is me fearlessly facing the uncomfortable facets of history because Taika Waititi made this film - over here.

...Honestly I could've kept talking about this film and issues it brings up for the rest of my life, but let's hope 3 parts is enough!

Nerd Church - I Watched Jojo Rabbit: Part 2 - Facing History

Welcome to the next instalment of I Watched Jojo Rabbit, aka 'Cee rabbits on about Jojo Rabbit!*'

(And no, I could not resist the pun.)

While you don't need to have read Part 1 of this mini-post-series in order to understand this part, I do recommend reading it (which I would do, because I wrote it,) to get a more generalised view of Jojo Rabbit as a film.

You can read part one here.

Jojo Rabbit is a funny and heart-warming film, with a dark and deeply uncomfortable edge.

And this post? This post looks at that darker part of Jojo Rabbit - from the controversial premise to the dark nature of this darkest period of history.

We're gonna get uncomfortable, dearest nerdlets, fair warning.

* = commission link

Nerd Church - I Watched Jojo Rabbit: Part 1 - The Survival of Humanity

(Warning: due to the subject matter of the film Jojo Rabbit, this post discusses: war, Nazis, Hitler, the Holocaust, bigotry, indoctrination)

I watched Jojo Rabbit...

Jojo Rabbit* is a 2019 film written, directed, and starring the legendary Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi.

(It's inspired by, rather than based on, the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens.)

It is a comedy about Nazis.

And yes, you read that right.

It is a comedy about Nazis.

* = commission link

Review! - Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of The Faun by Guillermo Del Toro and Cornelia Funke

 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.

Title: Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of The Faun

Author: Guillermo Del Toro and Cornelia Funke

Genre: Media Tie-In, Horror, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fairy Tales (-ish,) Magic Realism(-ish,) Young Adult (Maybe? Maybe just adult with YA appeal. It's kind of difficult to gage the age range here!)

Amazon USA

From My TBR: 15 Young Adult and Middle Grade Books By Black Authors

 

(Warning: this post references racism and police brutality)

 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.

There are three important reasons for me writing this post:

1. Black Lives still Matter.

2. It's always a good time to highlight diverse books.

and 3. There are so many amazing Black creators out there, who don't always get the recognition they deserve.

So here's a small selection of some of the Young Adult (YA) and Middle Grade (MG) books on my TBR list that were written by Black authors.

For those of you who don't know the book-blog lingo - a TBR is a 'to-be-read' list. Mine is immortal and cannot be stopped. Send help.

For those of you who are British like me, and/or haven't heard the book blogging term, Middle Grade books are those aimed at (roughly) ages 8-12, or 8-14, depending who you ask.

(Quick disclaimer: obviously, I haven't read these books, just their synopses, so I don't know what they're like in terms of content, quality, etc.)

I hope you find something to add to your own TBR, and remember to support Black authors, and other Black creators.

There're so many talented Black authors out there who deserve our attention!

I Watched The Film First! *Gasps* - 5 Books That I Read Because I'd Seen The Adaptations

 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.

You know the voice that's just like: 'you've read the book, now see the movie!'

...that voice doesn't know me at all.

I read a butt-tonne of books. 

Like, I read at the 200-per-year kind of speed.

But I watch loads of film and TV adaps. before I read the book.

Mini-Review! - Dat's Love and Other Stories by Leonora Brito

**This post contains affiliate links for Amazon.com (US). I earn commission from qualifying purchases**

Title: Dat's Love and Other Stories

(Also published as 'Selected Stories)

Author: Leonora Brito

Genres: Anthology, Short Stories, Contemporary(-ish,) Historical Fiction

Buy now on Amazon.com

Review Time! - Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

**This post contains affiliate links from Amazon.com (USA.) I earn from qualifying purchases**

Title: Tipping the Velvet

Author: Sarah Waters

Genres: Historical Fiction, LGBTQ+ (see below for rep,) (Modern) Classics, Romance(-ish)

Buy Now Amazon USA

Really Mini-Reviews! - The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen and The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

I have two reviews for stunning collections of short stories by Asian-American writers for you today dear nerdlets!

Check out my reviews of The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen, and The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu:

Friday Fics Fix - Da Vinci, Like Never Before

'"What did they do to you?" he whispered. "What have you done to yourself?" he added without thinking. Words tumbling out of his mouth like the thoughts that used to tangle in his mind. "What did I do?"'

This week's fic is for a TV show I absolutely adore, and which was cut short too soon after just 3 series.

Da Vinci's Demons is a highly underrated show.

It's basically like Game of Thrones with real historical people, but keeping the weird-a** paranormal/fantasy elements.

So it's kind of like an alternate version of history, with a young bad-boy Leonardo Da Vinci.

Month in Review(s) - July 2018

Where did July go?!

Like... I know sometimes time goes quick, but really?!

I think it's the heat.

I spent most of the month slouching around the house, trying to cool down, and being a generally not-nice person to be around.

Me + heat = grump monster! Lol.

Mini-Review! - The Girls by Emma Cline

(Warning: this post discusses and refers to serious topics such as rape and child abuse. Please be careful my nerdlets.)

Title: The Girls

Author: Emma Cline

Genre:

Adult Fiction*, Historical Fiction*, Crime*, LGBTQ+ (M/F, F/F)*✢ 

*(ish - it's a really difficult book to define tbh!)

✢ The LGBTQ+ and F/F rep isn't great (neither is a lot of the M/F tbh,) see main review.

Amazon: USA

Month in Review(s) - August 2017

August. Yeah, August...

August, for me, was stressful.

My 88-year-old grandfather was very unwell and ended up in hospital, he's better now but we still have to do a lot to make sure he and my grandmother are safe, happy, and as healthy as they can be.

Review! - Chengli and the Silk Road Caravan by Hildi Kang

Title: Chengli and the Silk Road Caravan

Author: Hildi Kang

Genre: Kids/Middle Grade, Historical Fiction

Amazon: UK - USA

Month in Review(s) - April 2017

(Warning: this post discusses depression, and has brief references to suicidal thoughts.)

April started sh**ty for yours truly - as you'll know if you read my March wrap-up, I've been having depression problems again.

So March wasn't too good, and April started out not too good.

But I went to the doctor, who put my tablet dose up, and things are starting to look up.

I've only been on this new dose for just over a week... but man, I feel so much better. I hate it that people are so anti-meds. I'm still alive because of those tablets.

Really Mini Reviews! - 3 #OwnVoices Asian Historical Novels

Over half of the world's population lives on the continent of Asia, without counting people of Asian descent or birth who live elsewhere.

My reading certainly doesn't reflect that, does yours?

Review Time! - The Voices of Martyrs by Maurice Broaddus

Title: The Voices of Martyrs

Author: Maurice Broaddus

Genre: anthology, short stories

Genre (of individual stories): historical fiction, contemporary, sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, vampires, urban fantasy, horror, dystopian, magic realism

Amazon: UK - USA

A few starting notes:

I received a free digital review copy of this book via NetGalley. NetGalley provides review copies from publishers in exchange for fair and honest reviews.

Honestly, I like me some short stories - and I never fail to be impressed by Rosarium Publishing - so I figured, why not? And decided to give this a shot.

Premise:

A collection of voices - an unforgotten collected memory that encompasses the past, present, and future.

These short stories are tales of strength, pain, sacrifice, and life. These are the voices of martyrs.