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I have a type of book I like, historical horror / sci-fi / murder mystery. This book fits the bill. I kinda did not like the protagonist but the flawed protagonist worked really well in this book. Quite gripping & vivid. The protagonist returns to the town she was born where 2,000 Black people were disappeared overnight (a true fact: newpittsburghcourier.com/2023/10/19/100-years-ago-blacks-had-24-hours-to-leave-johnstown-pa-one-of-the-most-horrific-racial-injustices-in-western-pennsylvania/). The book imagines a horror background for that with a quite fulfilling end.

Absolutely loved this. I had to read this in one sitting. The horror is gripping & thrilling. I did feel the end was a little too rosy somehow. There are twists & turns that are completely unnerving and amazing. It is a historical horror and the period accurate details are so amazing. This book is about a Black woman in the 60s who is hired by this white-passing Plantation owners. Little does she know what awaits her. I hope someone makes a big budget horror movie out of this.

The premise is so exciting, 3 ghosts hunt their murderer. Unfortunately, there is not much hunting and a lot of reminiscing. In between all this we are shown a police force that is shockingly professional – no phoning it in, following up on clues, etc etc which is a fairy tale as far as reality goes. Definitely not a "thriller" as far as thrills go.

I absolutely loved the Dramatized version of All Systems Red and other Murderbot novellas. I love Murderbot series and how nothing seems to match familiar tropes of Sci-fi robots. I think there are logical explanations (though of course not matching reality) which totally makes this a fun romp to listen to. I also love how the author does NOT do the "blue eyes" bullshit to refer to someone who was attractive. Many of the characters are deliberately darker-toned, not of binary gender, & in relationships that are not monogamous. I love vessels like this to describe a world we want to get to.

I loved this murder mystery that starts slow, taking its time to introduce us to the lives of elder Jamaicans who came to UK a long time ago but by the time we get towards the end there are a LOT of twists and turns and almost felt like a thriller. I did not like that there was this "one good cop" situation once again but it was possible to ignore. I think this book will be good as a limited series IMHO. I really hope it gets that!

Jenny Odell asks a good question about why we should claim Rocks are "not living" and what is this arbitrary distinction between living vs non-living. She mentions how Indigenous people have often found mountains, rocks as worthy of respect not to mention how some rivers have been granted personhood so legal actions can be entered on their behalf.

I did not know West Africa does not have Winter but instead it's called Harmattan where strong dry winds blow. This is a fantasy book that was truly wild to read during Zohran's win because the story in the book is also somewhat similar – set in West Africa where the French did not leave where a French-propped puppet tries to win an election against a popular charismatic Indigenous man. The book was very nice but then I read this author also wrote 2 books about the novels of the noted TERF Adiche so I am not so included to love this.

Some aspects were okay but when they said being clean has shown to be responsible for "autistic spectrum disorders" I bailed immediately. A MAHA book from Australia.

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.