I love murder mysteries & history. Preferably in the same book.
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Lovely thriller that pulls no punches on the striking inequality and corruption in Pakistan while also navigating a story about a stolen mummy. Features a strong femme protagonist. Really enjoyed the descriptions of people & the city of Karachi. Made me want to visit Pakistan!
Set in the 60s, Vera Kelley is a lesbian spy in the CIA who leaves CIA when they leave her hanging during a hairy time in Argentina. She loses her next job when the manager finds out she is lesbian. She turns to being a private investigator putting her spying skills to good use. This book touches upon the US intervention in Dominican Republic and how much it did to prop up a dictator while also being a mystery that touches on the foster care system and how screwed up it is. Really loved the atmosphere setting which felt very lived in and how difficult it must have been for LGBTQ+ folks to be surviving in the middle of it all and yet they did.
When the final four women in competition for an aloof, if somewhat sleazy, bachelor's heart …
I LOVED LOVED this book. Queer love underneath a Bachelor like reality show. Mysterious mythical creature lurking in the background, people disappearing. Perfectly written feminist horror thriller. Unlike the other one I reviewed today, this one does not have people doing silly things and saying "oops" while dying.
The caretaker at an isolated mountain hotel finds herself fighting for her life—and sanity—in this …
Apparently the author set out to write a "feminist Shining" and I dont think this is it. There is something about the white cis-het femme experience that just has been done to death. Cheating spouses, lots of wine-based alcoholism, breaking up with your bestie, constantly having your husband hovering over you and apparently feeling good about it, finally, constantly feeling afraid and yet not been practical in your fright leading to very silly Final Girl scenes.
After reading thrillers by Ramona Emerson, Cynthia Leitich Smith, who all have people who are pragmatic & practical who end up dying, and then to read this where a woman drinks herself & pops pills AFTER feeling scared someone was in the house is just a let down. It reminds me of The Flight Attendant. I was like wtf is this show and yet so many people were raving about it.
The saving grace …
Apparently the author set out to write a "feminist Shining" and I dont think this is it. There is something about the white cis-het femme experience that just has been done to death. Cheating spouses, lots of wine-based alcoholism, breaking up with your bestie, constantly having your husband hovering over you and apparently feeling good about it, finally, constantly feeling afraid and yet not been practical in your fright leading to very silly Final Girl scenes.
After reading thrillers by Ramona Emerson, Cynthia Leitich Smith, who all have people who are pragmatic & practical who end up dying, and then to read this where a woman drinks herself & pops pills AFTER feeling scared someone was in the house is just a let down. It reminds me of The Flight Attendant. I was like wtf is this show and yet so many people were raving about it.
The saving grace for me is that this book does not have copaganda. Thank you. I appreciate that.
@kingrat Thank you!!
An NPR “Book of the Day”
In this one-of-a-kind mystery with heart and humor, a …
This book is extremely white woman coded. A woman who calls her family poor after their bought her a pony? Yes, but does it also punch up? Also yes. This book ties a very amazing thread between prison cells, kill pens for animals, and how animals & humans ALL suffer through callous behavior of humans.
It is also written as a very entertaining mystery! I absolutely devoured it in my insomnia. The hater pony realizes he actually loves his human and did in fact run away abandoning her. He makes a long journey back to her. The end is very Hollywood-ish which is explained by the fact that the author says she wanted to write a movie first but turned it into a book. There is NO copaganda. There is plenty of stories of animal abuse though so be warned. There is sorta a romance but it is very light. …
This book is extremely white woman coded. A woman who calls her family poor after their bought her a pony? Yes, but does it also punch up? Also yes. This book ties a very amazing thread between prison cells, kill pens for animals, and how animals & humans ALL suffer through callous behavior of humans.
It is also written as a very entertaining mystery! I absolutely devoured it in my insomnia. The hater pony realizes he actually loves his human and did in fact run away abandoning her. He makes a long journey back to her. The end is very Hollywood-ish which is explained by the fact that the author says she wanted to write a movie first but turned it into a book. There is NO copaganda. There is plenty of stories of animal abuse though so be warned. There is sorta a romance but it is very light.
I cannot believe I am the first to import this book into the Bookwyrm verse! Go read!
When the death of her aunt brings Liz Remolina back to San Ojuela, the prospect …
It is quite surprising to note that the author is still working on their MFA at San Jose State university. The book is super compelling read. The story is about two sisters who have a bad experience as very young children in a home that they come back to after 10 years or so and confront their fears. There are ghosts & monsters.
The author transitioned after writing this book (so they go by M. M. Olivas now and not what this book club instance tells us). Do read as it's written by a Bay area author too!
I did devour this book. It was super compelling. The book covers a future world that feels significantly more miserable than what we live in today. It does cover how AI can be abused for domestic violence. Ultimately it is a positive outcome for the protagonist. I felt the end outcome was a bit contrived. Nonetheless if you want a distraction this is a good book.
Métis millennial Lucky St. James is barely hanging on when she learns she’ll be evicted …
For Native American Heritage month, i am reading a bunch of books by indigenous authors. This is a fantasy story where witches exist but are being hunted out of existence by witch hunters who are basically harbingers of capitalism. 7 spoons find the right group of women who are necessary to bring about the end of capitalism & the witch hunters.
The author tries to make this inclusive by having a trans woman as one of the protagonists but really why would a witch have to have something femme about them? It doesnt quite make sense to me really. Somehow it feels like this book is veering towards terf-ness by having such a narrow focus on who can be a witch.
Otherwise this is a very compelling read. Easy to keep reading and the trashing of capitalism is a plus.
This is a YA novel and it kinda shows on how tidy everything is but also does not shy away from talking about racism & general bigotry. One of the plot lines is about an "ignorant" white teacher who tries to use stereotypes of Indigenous people in her play and somehow miraculously she understands she was doing racism. I didn't quite understand how that leap happened and I wish the author didn't try to pretend that ever happens that easily because it leads children to believe pursuing the teaching of the racist would lead to a better world which is completely opposite to how racism actually gets eradicated (seeing the world as abundant, working with people of other races, having others who correct them when they do racist things, being praised when they do non-racist acts, incentivizing their non-racist acts).
I definitely enjoyed reading it despite that plot line above. …
This is a YA novel and it kinda shows on how tidy everything is but also does not shy away from talking about racism & general bigotry. One of the plot lines is about an "ignorant" white teacher who tries to use stereotypes of Indigenous people in her play and somehow miraculously she understands she was doing racism. I didn't quite understand how that leap happened and I wish the author didn't try to pretend that ever happens that easily because it leads children to believe pursuing the teaching of the racist would lead to a better world which is completely opposite to how racism actually gets eradicated (seeing the world as abundant, working with people of other races, having others who correct them when they do racist things, being praised when they do non-racist acts, incentivizing their non-racist acts).
I definitely enjoyed reading it despite that plot line above. Has protagonists who are bisexual as well which was really nice to read.
@graue@bookwyrm.social Oh wow! I will add it to my reading pile!
A shadow has fallen over the megachurch in Ogun State, Nigeria: the beloved Bishop Dawodu …
The story is about a SFPD (lol) police psychologist who moves back to Nigeria after a racist encounter with the US police and starts helping his sister try to find out who is trying to frame the mega church pastor there. During the course of this we encounter colorism, outsized influence of church & rampant corruption. The book was really un-putdownable and I had to turn the pages to finish it.
I am deducting two stars for showing police as having a "few good apples" and ending too neatly with politicians & the criminal behind bars thanks to vigorous police. I also didnt like how the only Nigerian character with muslim name has a "funny" way of pronouncing words in English and how the lower class people language is shown to be pidgin and not in a respectful way.
Beth and Fran spend their days traveling the ravaged New England coast, hunting feral men …
The book features a world where people with testosterone get an incurable disease that makes them kill & eat all estrogen-having people. Meanwhile trans people are being persecuted for either having testosterone or wanting testosterone by the TERFs. I am not surprised at all that the Wachowiski sisters decided to make this into a movie. This is gonna be an AMAZING one.
It also ends in a very satisfying manner (with a cameo featuring the most famous TERF alive). I really enjoyed reading it especially the day after the 2024 elections. I am squeamish about reading sex scenes in books and this one has a LOT of them.
Loved this book. This is how you write people working in police without pretending like there are a "few good apples" and pretending like police is what keeps sanity. This book tackles heavy topics of child abuse in churches. I also learned about Larry Casuse who kidnapped the mayor of Gallup (Larry does not have a Wikipedia page) to highlight the plight of Navajo nation people who are tormented in Gallup and he was shot dead by the police. A+++
