My latest blog post, featuring a few entries from the interesting noir anthology series, Akashic Noir, featuring local author's detailing the dark, gritty side to their cities' personalities. 

So yes, updating last night did not happen. Baking bread while reading did (and it even turned out!). Today I’m at work until 5, which means the bulk of my reading will have to happen this evening.

The Grand Plan to Fix Everything by Uma Krishnaswami-finished
Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson-finished
Pointe by Brandy Colbert-finished
Cold Steel by Kate Elliott
A Moment Comes by Jennifer Bradbury
Flygirl by Sherri Smith
Lost Girl Found by Leah Bassoff
A Bride’s Story 2 by Kaoru Mori-finished
She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear-finished
Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci-finished

Reading time: 11.5 hours total
Blogging time: 30 min total

On to short reviews!

Pointe by Brandy Colbert: This book is intense. Really intense. Also, heartbreaking, unsettling, and beautifully written. Theo’s story had me reading and reading because I couldn’t bear to stop before I knew how it ended. There’s a lot more to unpack in this one, but for now I’ll say that this is a very impressive debut and if you liked Charm & Strange last year, this is definitely one to look for.

A Bride’s Story 2 by Kaoru Mori: I’ve been liking this series of manga, set in Central Asia in the 19th century. It does a lovely job of both showing the characters as products of their time and place, and also not falling into the “any woman before now/any woman from a traditional culture was a repressed doormat!” The story also moves right along, and I love all the details of clothing and place that Mori depicts. A nice lighter break in the middle of some heavy books.

Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear: Everyone has been reading and praising Range of Ghosts since it was published and I finally gave it another try (I had read the first few chapters and hadn’t felt enthralled by them). This time went much more smoothly. Bear’s writing is quietly lyrical, with the kind of understated emotion that I often like quite a bit. I liked the main characters quite a bit, though Temur reads as a bit callous to me in one particular respect (which I don’t want to spoil).

Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci: I was feeling a bit burnt out on heavy books, so I hunted around for something lighter to try. Well. Tin Star is not necessarily what I would call “light”. Its main character, Tula, is beaten and abandoned on a space station by the leader of her colony ship, she has to make her way through an alien world where humans are not very well regarded, and there’s a lot of betrayal or possible betrayal. It’s interesting, in certain ways, and Castellucci uses this kind of staccato narration effectively. But I never felt the slightest emotional connection to Tula or her struggle.