April Reading Roundup!

One of my favorite hobbies is pleasure reading, and one of my new reading goals is to get into the practice of sharing and reflecting on my reading.

April was a pretty great reading month, pretty heavy on speculative fiction, which is never a bad thing. Here’s what I’ve read. I’m generating a list of common questions to use to share quick impressions and thoughts for each read, though which questions I answer will vary with each book.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (N.K. Jemisin):

Overall Impression? Pure awesomeness, wonderful world-building, epic fantasy, compelling characters.

Striking Quotation? “He would fight even if he has no hope of victory, because to do otherwise was to concede that the stupid, arbitrary assignment of fullblood status had anything to do with logic…” (p.212)

Recommend? Hell yes!

A People’s Future of the United States (ed. Victor Lavalle and John Joseph Adams):

Overall Impression? A spectacular collection of speculative fiction short stories from an extremely diverse crew of writers. I came to it because I loved spec fic by Sam J. Miller, Maria Dahvana Headley, and N.K. Jemisin—and their pieces in here are fabulous, and I left with an extremely long list of new authors to read, including (but not limited to) A. Merc Rustad, Justina Ireland, and Charlie Jane Anders.

Striking Quotations? “There are stories about perfection, but those stories are lies. No one ever made the world better by being perfect.” (Maria Dahvana Headley, “Read After Burning,” p.75)

“Free from conservative hetero understandings of sex and intimacy, Orion and I made magic. Sweaty, consensual, queer magic. Always.” (Gabby Rivera, “0.1,” p.229)

“she should have become a monster a long time ago” (Kai Cheng Thom, “What You Sow,” p.338)

“It’s not retreating to go where people will treat you like you matter.” (Seanan McGuire, “Harmony,” p.373)

Recommend? Over and over and over again!

Dread Nation (Justina Ireland):

Overall Impression? Badass. If you told me a year ago that I would stay up late to finish a YA Zombie novel, I would have been skeptical, but this book is not to be overlooked. I’d say it is a dystopian reimagining of the post-Civil War/reconstruction era but—despite the zombies—it’s probably less dystopian than recent, more reliable histories of what actually happened in that era. Or maybe it just emphasizes that even zombies aren’t as scary as white dudes (see quotation below).

Striking Quotation? “See, the problem in this world ain’t sinners, or even the dead. It is men who will step on anyone in the way of their pursuit of power. Luckily, there will always be people like me to stop them.” (p.435)

Recommend? To anyone and everyone. It’s YA, so read it, and if you have children in your life give it to them too (or read it with them).

American War (Omar El Akkad):

Overall Impression? Great and complex story that is and was worth reading, but a tough and rough read as well. Perhaps especially because the events of a second Civil War, precipitated by secession after a ban on fossil fuels, feels a bit too possible. El Akkad’s character Sarat, however, will stick with me; she’s far from likable (actually, she’s downright horrific) and yet she’s compelling and I just could never quite hate her in spite of feeling like I should.

Striking Quotation? “This isn’t a story about war. It’s about ruin.” (p.6)

Recommend? Yes, with reservations in the sense of: know it could be a rough read. Doesn’t make it any less important, but be prepared. Also content warnings for war, brutality and violence, torture.

With Child (Laurie R. King):

Overall Impression? Definitely a needed change of pace—moving to a mystery, which is my comfort, devour-in-a-weekend choice. But Laurie King’s books are always awesome, in terms of a compelling mystery, great characters who develop in the book and across her series. Plus a lot of feminist and queer things going on.

Striking Quotation? “Kate began to laugh. ‘Being straight is nothing to mourn over, Jules.’ ‘I know, but I always wanted to be left-handed.’” (p.148)

Recommend? Yep, it was a good reading month.

What’s on the shelf, most likely for May?

Wild Seed (Octavia E. Butler; already started); Lot (Bryan Washington); Freshwater (Akwaeke Emezi)