@bookstodon@bookwyrm
If you read large print or dyslexic font paperback books do you prefer this to be indicated on the cover (say on a banner at the top) to help you identify the accommodation?
I compiled a quick poll based on different perspectives I've read.
➡️ Please consider sharing to help me reach more readers.
Doing a pinned #Books thread of my reading for 2024. Goal is 40 books, which is for sure low, but I also believe in playing games on "easy" mode. Audiobooks count, sorry.
Feel free to mute this if not your ball of wax.
Book 3/40
The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr (audio, RBTA)
Work, capitalism, food. 4*
My Dad worked in grocery all his adult life, so this had particular appeal. Learned a bunch about trucking scams and pay, berries, Trader Joe (the person), Trader Joe's (the Aldi company), the Whole Foods Bowery seafood counter, and enough about shrimp and slavery for a while. It is almost too much, as any of these could be its own book. #books#bookstodon#nonfiction#food
Book 4/40
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Fiction, War On Vietnam, 5*
A great story about a communist spy during the War On Vietnam and immediately after. Compelling tale of war, how we see people, how we see ourselves, and the divisions inside us. The writing style is amazing and I bomb-ran through the last 50 pages. Looking forward to the series. #books#bookstodon#fiction
The style felt a bit too self-consciously irreverent in places, but this was still hugely enjoyable. I'm fairly knowledgeable about medieval history, and it's impressive how much territory Janega covered in such a short book written for a general audience. She made an interesting argument about how misogyny and patriarchy perpetuate themselves, even though the specific stereotypes about women change.
My first ebook of 2024. I really loved both the concept and execution of this. Mason's prose is strong and chameleonic across the different chapters. I found several of the characters extremely compelling, though the ending was too neatly symmetrical. It's my one major gripe with the entire "interlocking stories" lit fic subgenre. Still a compelling experiment in combining historical fiction and ecofiction.
The most impactful nonfiction I have read in a long time. An informative deep dive into some unsavory corners of the internet combined with an examination of the cultural significance of doppelgangers. It has led me to reframe some of my assumptions about conspiratorial thinking and the intertwined nature of various historical and modern oppressions. Feels like a political therapy session: raw but productive.
Book 8 of 2024: My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris
5 stars
I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long time. Gorgeous art, a compelling mystery, two fascinating historical settings, queer themes, nuanced characters, and a loveable child protagonist who feels painfully real. It ends on a cliffhanger, but luckily I only have to wait a few months for the sequel!
As an agnostic, this meditation on faith and suffering was interesting and sometimes frustrating. The prose was sparse but quite lovely, and I enjoyed the epistolary passages. I found the protagonist self-absorbed and unlikeable, though that was probably intentional. I would have enjoyed a deeper dive into the colonialist implications, as well as the hybridized form of Japanese Christianity which is only hinted at.
This book truly has it all: feminist sci fi, compelling characters, a mysterious virus, a spy plot, a sweet queer romance, and anti-capitalist, anti-colonialist politics. I've also read Griffith's medieval historical fiction and it was so fun to see her tinkering with similar themes in a completely different setting. A sequel seems unlikely at this point, but I live in hope.