Showing posts with label historical fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historical fiction. Show all posts

Tuesday 1 November 2016

Month In Review(s) - October 2016

October is over!!! And I'm sure most of you are currently stuffed with sweets and/or chocolate from Halloween.

So, without further ado my dearest nerdlets - let's get this wrap-up started!









October was a pretty cr*ppy month for me, depression-wise, but I'm lucky enough to have a) family, b) The Bestie, and c) all of you guys.

Seriously, I appreciate you guys a butt-tonne! You make me smile :)





And even though someone who I once considered cool - a fellow bookworm in fact - unfollowed me when I tweeted about LGBTQ+ things, the number of people actually doing that has reduced from what was happening last month.

This is possibly because I've put Sexually Fluid/Queer on my Twitter bio - so the a*shole bigots probably aren't following me to begin with.






And the very lastest day of this month saw my two-year blog anniversary! And with over 40k pageviews over all, and over 7k pageviews this month, DORA is still going strong (and I'm so surprised and happy, you honestly wouldn't believe it!)






So, to the books I reviewed this month:




Young Adult




Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley - historical fiction, LGBTQ+ (F/F)




Adult




Star-Shot by Mary-Ann Constantine - magic realism*, sci-fi* (*ish)



Comics/Graphic Novels





Bread and Butter #1 - contemporary

Tuesday 18 October 2016

The Greek Mythology Tag

I was tagged for 'The Greek Mythology Tag' by both the lovely Emily @ The Paperback Princess and the fantabulous Tina @ As Told By Tina.

Go check out their awesome-sauce blogs because they officially rock!











Zeus - God of the Sky: Favourite Book of Your Own Category




I am going to pick the uber-specific category of favourite vampire detective novel (yes, yes this is a thing; a thing that I read; do not judge me until you've tried my way of life.)

My favourite vampire detective novel is the first in Tanya Huff's Blood books: Blood Price (UK - US.)








Not only is there a vampire detective who writes romance novels in his spare time, but he's also the illegitimate, bisexual, son of Henry VIII - really, what more could you want?!

Plus, this is the series that really got me hooked on urban fantasy - though, unfortunately, it's no longer easy to get hold of copies in the UK (argh!)








Hera - Goddess of Love and Fertility: Favourite Book Couple




At the moment, I'm shipping Linda and Sarah from Robin Talley's Lies We Tell Ourselves (UK - US,) to the point where they're nearly at OTP status right now (plus, canon F/F romance!)









You can read my review of Lies We Tell Ourselves here.



(Fangirling notes:

Shipping = wanting characters to be in/approving of romantic relationships.

OTP = One True Pairing. A relationship you will defend to your last breath. Despite the name, most people have several OTPs.

Canon = Official.

F/F = same-sex female romance.)










Poseidon - God of the Sea: Book that Drowned you in Feels




The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (UK - US.)







I really don't think I need to say any more.









Athena - Goddess of Wisdom and Handicraft: Series with the Best World Building




The Hollows series by Kim Harrison does such a great job of setting up a post-tomato-apocalypse (I kid you not,) urban fantasy world, where vampires, witches, etc. are living out in the open.

Plus LGBTQ+ characters! :)











Hades - God of the Underworld: Book with a Dark Plot




OK, so many I could go for here... you know I like the gothic-y-ness...

I'm going to go with Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist (UK - US.) This is definitely not one for the faint of heart.






Even those who've seen either of the film adaptations will be surprised at the brutality and grit of this book, as well as the hugely uncomfortable plot-aspect of the paedophile who is manipulated by our vampire-child, Eli.

Scandinavian horror is a step past Scandinavian noir - though (in this case at least,) exceptionally skilled. You have been warned.








Aphrodite - Goddess of Love and Beauty: 2016 Release with the Most Beautiful Cover




I don't know - a lot of the time, the UK has different covers to other countries anyway...

Oh! I know! The cover of graphic novel The Beauty, Vol 1 (UK - US.) Wow, that is still one of the most striking covers I've seen.





You can check out my review of The Beauty, Vol 1 here.










Ares - God of War: Most Violent Book you've Read



Hahahahahahahaha - OH MY GOD, do you know who you're talking to????

All of the gothic-y-ness often leads to the stabbage. #TrueStory.

It's really hard to measure one type of violence against another, but I'm going to go with The Crow (UK - US) here.







A legendary graphic novel, this includes rape, violence, and a core of pain, melded with James O'Barr's poetic skill and ability to somehow make bleak scenes beautiful.









Hephaestus - God of Blacksmiths: Scorching Hot Character



Loki. Obviously.








(When Loki is Lady Loki, she's also pretty damn hot; #JustSaying)









Artemis - Goddess of the Hunt and Fertility: Kick ass Female Character



Red Sonja - that famous comic heroine who is so often de-clothed and subjected to out-of-character actions by unskilled, misogynistic, hands - is, at her very heart, the woman who will save a kingdom and cut the hand/thing off a molester on the same day.











Apollo - God of the Light and Healing: Sequel that Redeemed a Series


Actually can't think of one right now - my brain is just throwing white noise at me. Sorry!











Hermes - Messenger God: Book with the Best Message



Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig (UK - US.)






Why? Read my review.








Hestia - Goddess of the Home: Book that's the Most Relatable


Luna The Vampire: Grumpy Space by Yasmin Sheikh (UK - US,) because I, too, am a grumpy millennial space vampire.





You can check out my review of Luna The Vampire here.








Demeter - Goddess of Agriculture: Favourite Bookish Setting


I don't know - I tend to forget places pretty easily. Narnia, maybe.










Dionysus - God of Wine and Celebration: Anticipated Release

Ummmm... nothing in particular, in honesty. I have enough books to read right now!

Ooh! I know! There's a new Robin Talley book slated for 2017 called Our Own Private Universe - and I really want to read that!







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Wednesday 5 October 2016

Review Time! - Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Lies We Tell Ourselves title image









Title: Lies We Tell Ourselves

Author: Robin Talley

Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ+ (F/F)


Amazon: UK - USA










A few starting notes:

Robin Talley is fast becoming one of my faves.

After reading As I Descended in September, I kind of... wanted more. So I found one of Talley's earlier books, Lies We Tell Ourselves - and dove right on in there!

That said, I was conscious of the fact that I'm a white woman, writing a review of a book by a white woman, with one of the two points-of-view being that of a black woman, and the major theme being race and desegregation.

So I put out a call on Twitter for any black people who had previously reviewed this book; it felt only right to get a black person's opinion if possible, otherwise it's just us white women talking about a book which has race at its heart.

The lovely Dee Dee @ Will Read For Food answered, and I am uber-pleased to be able to link to her review here :)

Her review is fab, so check it out! I'll also be quoting Dee Dee in the course of my review :)




Premise:


The late 1950s. Virginia.

Sarah is one of the first black students to ever go to the local, previously all-white, high-school.

She and a small contingent from the local black high-school take that first step towards integration; they thought it would be difficult... but did they think it would be this difficult?





black girl pic






To make things even more complicated, Sarah's eye has inexplicably wandered to Linda Hairston - the daughter of the local voice of pro-segregation, and herself an advocate against integrated schools.

Sarah and Linda are on opposite sides of the integration battle - so why, more than anything, do they want to spend time together?





Best bits:


Hrjgtnepthmmkgyrhnlke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DUDES, THIS BOOK!!!!!!

We have complex characters, deep themes, and an F/F love story that doesn't feel as if it was shoehorned in at the last minute.

All that is awesome enough - but Robin Talley can also write, and it's to her credit that she balances all of the different aspects of this book.

Talley does exceptionally well in showing the realities of desegregation, and the general prejudice Sarah's family and friends face.

She doesn't sugar-coat the process of black and white students going to the same school, but neither does she lose sight of integration being the greater good.

This is what Dee Dee thought on this point:

'This is one of those books that I’ll recommend to anyone that says to me that the #BlackLivesMatter movement is doing more harm than good. Once upon a time it was thought that desegregation would do more harm than good as well.'





white girl pic






I loved Sarah and Linda.

But wait, Cee, how can you like a bigoted character?



Because she has a rocking story arc! Because the change in Linda is... I think Dee Dee says it better:

'Linda's character growth was beautiful to witness. She moved from a closed-minded status quo POV to someone who finally thought for herself.' 




Sarah is strong - she struggles a lot with what she's going through: both the attitudes of the white students/teachers, and the fact that she is attracted to girls.

But throughout it all she is strong - and is my new book-girlfriend, because - wow! She rules.





Not so great bits:


Look, this book is heavy (metaphorically - I read the e-book so it was not, in fact, heavy.)

It deals with the harsh realities of this period of history, and doesn't shy away from the sh*t that black people had to deal with just to go to the same school as white people.

As such, it gets violent in places, it gets shocking often, and there's lots of racist slurs - including repeated use of the 'n' word. You've been warned.

Personally, my only problem with this book is the perennial problem with a good book - you can't leave it there! What happened next?!?!




Verdict:


The book! Guys, the book!

Or, as Dee Dee said far more eloquently (seriously, check out her review):

'This book leaves you feeling raw.'





UPDATE 27th November:

Recent discussion of this book has brought up issues with the racial representation in this book - especially the use of the 'n' word, and issues with Linda's early perspective.

While I still love this book, these are valid criticisms that I hadn't caught in my reading - and this is Robin Talley's response to them.

If you have any posts/reviews sharing your concerns with the racial rep. in this book, I'd be more than happy to share/link to them.




UPDATE 27th Jan 2017:

Here's a review from Sammie @ Bookshelves and Biros, discussing problems with the racial representation in this book.














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Tuesday 28 June 2016

Month in Review(s) - June 2016

We're half-way through the year folks! Which is kind of rocking, really, because it means we're that much closer to Christmas.

(I love Christmas!)





Anyway, back to the summer-ish-ness of June, and I can honestly say I read a little bit of everything this month.










Plus it was a pretty fab month blog-wise: I reached over 750 Twitter followers, over 15k blog page-views (ARGH!!!!!) and over 30 Bloglovin followers.




AND JUNO DAWSON LIKED MY TWEET!!!!!!

(I'm a massive Juno Dawson fan - so this was kind of a fantabulously big deal to me.)






So catch up on all my reviews this month with this handy link-list (and I've added cover images, because I spoil you.)




Kids










Young Adult







Say Her Name by Juno Dawson - Horror, Ghost Story
These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly - Historical Fiction, Crime







Adult







Life Blood by V M Black - Romance, Paranormal, Vampires, Novella
Landline by Rainbow Rowell - Contemporary, Chick Lit, Magic Realism, Romance* (*ish)






Graphic Novels






Codename Baboushka, Vol: The Conclave of Death - Spy, Gangster, Thriller, Crime
Klaw, The First Cycle - Young Adult, Fantasy, Superhero*, Paranormal* (*ish - there are shifters of various types and somewhat of a superhero origin story.)