@bookstodon Another really good graphic nonfiction book I've read recently, and recommend, is WE HEREBY REFUSE, regarding the Japanese-Americans forced into concentration camps in WWII.
The story addresses a common victim-blaming response to the plight of others: "Why didn't they fight back?" It's almost always the wrong question, even though indeed, they did fight back. Victim-blaming is a pernicious permission structure, allowing us not to care about terrible events that happen to other people.
@fifischwarz@boeken@bookstodon
When I read it, I saw it as two different books, which should never have Bern synthesized. The first half was funny for the "extremely online" set like me, but it wasn't a story. It might have worked better as a separate project, with an illustrator, something along the lines of an Allie Brosh book of illustrated musings.
The second half switched gears so dramatically, I did not know what to think. Maybe the author meant to show that you're going along, living your life, and BAM! one terrible event can change your focus and your whole world, but the author never made the segue. The result is that neither half works.
@bookstodon Recently, Libby has changed (for me). I can no longer return an e-book directly through Libby, if I have sent it to my Kindle. I have to return it through Kindle. Is this also true of other e-book library services?
@bookstodon For #HolocaustRemembrance2024 I just finished a graphic novel by Leela Corman called Victory Parade. It's an emotionally difficult read, but also an important one.
It centers bigotry and trauma, and is placed in the waning years of WWII. It's amazing how much crap American women in the war effort workforce had to put up with. But absolutely nothing is more horrifying and devastating than the artist's excellent rendering of the Holocaust. A worthwhile hard read.
@bookstodon Blackstone Publishing is really putting out some good work of late. I recently picked up Lilith, by Eric Rickstad, and was pleasantly surprised by the strength of the writing and the fearlessness of the highly topical plot.
Okay, @bookstodon I have the full list of comps (If you liked this book, you may also like this other book). It's very very long, so I alphabetized the first books in each pairing, if that helps at all. Without further adieu: BOOK THREAD
1000 Best Books to Read Before You Die // Read This Next // The Western Lit Survival Kit
11/22/63 // Fatherland
The 1619 Project // Four Hundred Souls
1984 // Julia
1Q84 // The Bone Clocks
After Annie // Swim Home to the Vanished
Aftershocks (Kloos) // Nova (Delany)
The Alice Network // The Lost Girls of Paris
All Our Wrong Todays // Bridge (Beukes)
All The Birds in the Sky // Midnight Robber
All The Light We Cannot See // The Paris Library
All The Names They Used for God // New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color
American Delirium // The Burned Bridges of Ward, Nebraska
American Gods // Sorrowland
American Prometheus // The Cassandra (Shields)
Annihilation // Roadside Picnic
Apeirogon // Immortals of Tehran
Appleseed (Bell) // The Red Garden
Ariadne // Clytemnestra
Ascension (Binge) // High Crimes (GN) Sebala
At Night All Blood is Black // Hangman (Binyam)
Awayland // The Summer People
Babel // The Starless Sea
Bad Cree // Crooked Hallelujah
The Ballad of Perilous Graves // The Black God’s Drums
The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World // And at my Back I Always Hear
Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance // Other Birds
The Beauty of Your Face // The Topeka School
The Beekeeper of Aleppo // The Wrong End of the Telescope
Before We Were Yours // The Home for Unwanted Girls
The Best of Me (Sedaris) // The Fun Parts
The Binding // The Kingdoms
Bird by Bird // How Not to Write a Novel
Birds of America // Your Duck is my Duck
Black River Orchard // Red Rabbit (Grecian)
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman // Kaleidoscope (Selznick)
Bliss Montage // Gods of Want
The Bloody Chamber // Red as Blood
The Body is Not an Apology // Full of Myself (GN)
The Bone People // The Whale Rider
The Book of Fire // Harrow (Williams)
The Book of Lost Names // The Book of Lost Friends
Book of Night // Hex Life (Golden)
The Book Thief // The Librarian of Auschwitz
Broken (Lawson) // Solutions and Other Problems
The Broken Earth Trilogy (Jemisin) // The Earthsinger Chronicles (L. Penelope)
Caste // Read Until You Understand
Cat’s Cradle // The Crying of Lot 49
A Certain Hunger // Tender is the Flesh
A Children’s Bible // How High We Go in the Dark
Chouette // Blue Hour // Reproduction
Cloud Atlas // Cloud Cuckoo Land
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena // Magenta (Foden)
Crow Mary // James (Everett)
Cuyahoga // Attack of the 50 ft. Indian
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed // Zombie Sharks With Metal Teeth
Dark Matter (Crouch) // The Space Between Worlds
David Copperfield // Demon Copperhead
The Days of Afrekete // In the not Quite Dark
Deacon King Kong // Black Bottom Saints
Dead-end Memories // Things That Fall From the Sky
Dear Edward // The Book of Two Ways
Dear Life (Munro) // The Relive Box
Death Valley // Where Echoes Die
Detransition, Baby // Manhunt
Dinosaurs (Millet) // I Love You, But I’ve Chosen Darkness
Dinosaurs on Other Planets // Reptile House
Disappearing Earth // Hold The Dark
A Discovery of Witches // Middlegame
The Dog Stars // A Beginning at the End
The Dovekeepers // To The Edge of Sorrow
Dr. No (Everett) // American Mermaid
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead // Remnant Population
Drowning Practice // Flood (The Reset #1) Greene
The Dutch House // The House of the Spirits
Eat The Mouth That Feeds You // This Wicked Tongue
The Echo Wife // The Ones We Choose
The Employees // Genesis (Beckett)
The End of Men // The Men
Everything I Never Told You // All That’s Left Unsaid
Exhalation // Memory Wall
Far Out (Guran) // Love After The End (Whitehead)
The Fell (Moss) // Burntcoat (Hall)
The Fervor // Hex (Knight)
Fever Dream // The Ones That Got Away
The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America // Baking with Kafka
The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of The Whole Stupid World // OMFG, BEES!
Filthy Animals // A Minor Chorus
Fingersmith // Once Upon a River
Florida (Groff) // Ghost Summer (Due)
The Forest of Vanishing Stars // The Yellow Bird Sings
The Foretelling // The Steerswoman’s Road
Four Treasures of the Sky // Straw Dogs of the Universe
The Four Winds // The Past is Never
The Fox Wife // The Fox Maidens (GN) // Ninetails (Mao)
A Gentleman in Moscow // The Diamond Eye
Get in Trouble // Windeye
The Ghost Bride // The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
Gingerbread // The Book of X
A Girl is a Body of Water // Shallow Waters
The Girl With the Louding Voice // The Dragonfly Sea
The Glass Hotel // It Came From Del Rio
Gnomon // ZED
Going Zero // We Are Satellites
The Goldfinch // Rules of Civility
Goliath (Onyebuchi) // Thrust (Yuknavitch)
The Great Gatsby // The Chosen and the Beautiful
The Great Glorious Goddamn of it All // Pity the Beast
The Great Reclamation // Okinawa (GN) Higa
The Great Transition // Sucker (Hornsby)
The Guns of the South // The Underground Railroad (Whitehead)
Hamlet // The King of Infinite Space
Hao: Stories // Skinship (Stories)
Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World // Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories
The Harpy // The Forbidden Territory of a Terrifying Woman
Heaven (Kawakami) // Bloomland
Hell Bent (Alex Stern #2) // The Indian Lake Trilogy (SGJones)
The Henna Artist // A Burning
Her Body and Other Parties // Delicate Edible Birds
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever // Meet Me in the Future
The Hero of This Book // Delphi
A History of Burning // Beyond the Door of No Return
A History of Wild Places // Dead Eleven
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy // The Grand Scheme of Things (Strang)
Homeland Elegies // Radiant Fugitives
The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet // Clark and Division
A House Between the Earth and the Moon // The Future
House of Leaves // We Spread
How Can I Help You // Sing Her Down
How Long ‘til Black Future Month? // Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora
Hummingbird Salamander // Blue Skies (TCBoyle)
The Huntress (Quinn) // The Wind Knows my Name
Hurricane Girl // The Last Animal
Hyperbole & a Half // Barely Functional Adult (GN)
I Hold a Wolf by the Ears // The Collected Stories of Shirley Hazzard
I Hope This Finds You Well (Baer) // Dark Testament (Smith)
If I Survive You // How to Learn Jamaican
Illuminations (Moore) // Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick
In The Dream House // [EXTREME CONTENT WARNING]: A Blue Sky
The Invention of Wings // The Yellow Wife
Jackal // My Monticello
Jacob’s Ladder // Little Foxes Took Up Matches
Jesus’ Son // Stone Mattress: Nine Tales
Joan is Okay // Edge Case
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 // Flowers of Fire
Kindred // The Sweetness of Water
The Kite Runner (GN) // Yazidi! (GN)
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women // The Night Tiger
Land of Milk and Honey // In The Quick
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century // Tomb Sweeping
Libertie // Wake (GN)
The Library at Mount Char // The Gone World (Sweterlisch)
Lies my Teacher Told Me // Stamped From the Beginning
The Light Pirate // Lark Ascending
Lighter Than my Shadow // Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body
Like Life // Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea
little gods // The God Child
A Long Petal of the Sea // Last Evenings on Earth
Lore // Olympus, Texas
The Lost Man // The Last Word
A Lush and Seething Hell // Wounds: Six Stories From the Border of Hell
Luster // Speaking of Summer
Magic Hour // The Water Keeper (Martin)
Marguerite (Kemp) // Flowers of Darkness
The Mars House // The Olympus Project
The Mars Room // Chain-gang All-stars
Matrix (Groff) // The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Me Talk Pretty One Day // Assassination Vacation
The Measure // The Wishing Game
The Memory Police // You Feel it Just Below the Ribs
The Memory Theater // Adjacentland // At The End of the World
The Metamorphosis // The Bonus Room
Mexican Gothic // Just Like Home (Gailey)
The Midnight Library // The Other You (JCOates)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream // Shakespeare for Squirrels
Milk Fed // Written on the Body
The Minority Report // Veracity (Bynum)
The Mountains Sing // The Best We Could Do (GN)
Mouthful of Birds // We Show What We Have Learned
A Moveable Feast // The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Munich (Harris) // The Torqued Man
The Murmur of Bees // The Hummingbird’s Daughter
Music for Wartime // What Becomes
My Government Means to Kill Me // Manywhere
The Nature of Fragile Things // Vera (Edgarian)
Neverwhere // Slade House
The Nickel Boys // Home (Morrison)
The Night Circus // Caraval
Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird // Song for the Unraveling of the World
Ninth House // The Book of Love (Link)
No One Left to Come Looking for You // Brooklyn: A Crime Novel
Normal Rules Don’t Apply // The Rock Eaters
The Ocean at the End of the Lane // The Ten Thousand Doors of January
The Office of Historical Corrections // Heads of the Colored People
Old Babes in the Wood // Wednesday’s Child
Old God’s Time // Distant Sons (Johnston)
On Earth as it is on Television // Ripe (Hider)
Only The Beautiful // The Foundling
The Only Good Indians // The Removed
The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done // Away! Away!
Oona Out of Order // The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano
Open Throat // What We Feed to the Manticore
Orange World // What’s Yours is not Yours
Oranges Are not the Only Fruit // Mostly Dead Things
Organ Meats // Dazzling (Emelumadu)
Oryx and Crake // Borne (VanderMeer)
Our Missing Hearts // Paper Names
Our Share of Night // The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina
Our Wives Under the Sea // I Who Have Never Known Men
Out There Screaming // Twice Cursed
Outlawed // These Women
The Overstory // Once There Were Wolves
Pachinko // The Island of Sea Women
Paingod and Other Delusions // The Glassy Burning Floor of Hell
Pandemic (Riddle) // Child Zero
The Paper Menagerie // Beastiary
The Parable of the Sower // American Afterlife
To Paradise // Every Drop is a Man’s Nightmare
The Paradox Hotel // Flux (Chong)
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake // Peaces
The People of the Book // Ghostwritten (Mitchell)
The Pessimists // Why Did I Ever (Robison)
A Phoenix First Must Burn // Crosshairs (Hernandez)
Piranesi // Whether Violent or Natural
Poland (Michener) // Marzi (GN) Sowa
Poor Deer // Brother & Sister Enter the Forest
The Power // Woman World (GN)
Pride and Prejudice // The Other Bennet Sister
Project Hail Mary // Star Splitter
A Psalm for the Wild-built // Light From Uncommon Stars
The Pull of the Stars // As Bright as Heaven
QualityLand // Golden State (Winters)
Quichotte // FKA USA
Recursion // Big Time (Winters)
The Red Arrow // Dayswork
Red at the Bone // Riot Baby
The Refusal Camp // The Jackson Brodie series (Atkinson)
Remarkably Bright Creatures // Sea Change
The Resisters // Trashland
Ring Shout // Friday Black
Ripe (Etter) // The Startup Wife
A River of Stars // Central Places
The Rose Code // Good Night, Irene
Rosewater (Thompson) // Noor
Rubyfruit Jungle // With Teeth
@bookstodon
My most anticipated books in '24, by the month thread: May is always a blockbuster month for book publishing. This year is no exception. Believe it or not, this is my trimmed list:
MAY 2024:
AMÉRICA DEL NORTE, Nicolas Medina Mora
CINEMA LOVE, Jiaming Tang
THE MINISTRY OF TIME, Kaliane Bradley
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST, Alina Grabowski
ARCHANGELS OF FUNK, Andrea Hairston
DAUGHTERS OF SHANDONG, Eve J. Chung
GHOSTROOTS, 'Pemi Aguda
HOW IT WORKS OUT, Myriam Lacroix
SEE: LOSS. SEE ALSO: LOVE, Yukiko Tominaga
THIS BOOK WON'T BURN, Samira Ahmed
ALL FOURS, Miranda
LONELINESS & COMPANY, Charlee Dryoff
LEANING ON AIR, Cheryl Grey Bostrom
WHALE FALL, Elizabeth O'Connor
THE DEEPEST LAKE, Andromeda Romano-Lax
WHEN AMONG CROWS, Veronica Roth
IN REPAIR, A.L. Graziadei
MY FIRST BOOK, Honor Levy
MY DARLING DREADFUL THING, Johanna van Veen
OYE, Melissa Mogollon
BLUE RUIN, Hari Kunzru
THE WEALTH OF SHADOWS, Graham Moore
LONG AFTER WE ARE GONE, Terah Shelton Harris
COEXISTENCE: STORIES, Billy Ray Belcourt
THE INCORRIGIBLES, Meredith Jaeger
A HOUSE LIKE AN ACCORDION, Audrey Burges
A NORTHERN LIGHT IN PROVENCE, Elizabeth Birkelund
CECILIA, K Ming Chang
EXHIBIT, R.O. Kwon
GODDESS OF THE RIVER, Vaishnavi Patel
LOST ARK DREAMING, Suyi Davies Okungbo
PERFUME & PAIN, Anna Dorn
THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD, Stuart Turton
