🌱 🍀 Second Sundays March 2024 🍀 🌱

Happy March! 🍀

The weather is eking it's way from warm to hot here in the desert so I'm clinging the mild temperatures while I can.

As we head into spring, I'm starting to formulate some super fun reading plans for the rest of the year. But we all know I'm a mood reader, so we'll have to see how this all actually unfolds.

In the meantime, here's everything bookish that went down in the last 30ish days!

☕📚 March Book Club Pick 📚☕

This month in my Cup of Tea book club we're reading another fantasy classic - The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle! I first read this story in elementary school - pulling a paperback from the spinner in our school library. I remember reading it under my bed and being so sad when I had to return it. I reread the book after I had the incredible good fortune to meet Mr. Beagle at the Phoenix Comicon a few years back. Over the last few months I've been getting the itch to reread it again, so I thought it'd be fun to share the story with others, perhaps for some of them for the first time. We began reading on March 1st, but it's never too late to start. I invite you to come join us!

🌱 February Reads & Reviews 🌱

February was pleasantly a pretty prolific reading month for me, although the books were a mixed bag of new favorites and lacklusters that almost put me into a dreaded reading slump. 😬

Despite being a fan of the film for decades, this was my first time reading the book! 😱Scandalous, I know. I'm pleased to say that I really enjoyed The Princess Bride by William Goldman. I realize most people in these circles will know the story, but just in case there are those not in the know, The Princess Bride is about the true love of Buttercup and Westley and the trials they face. It's full of whimsy and action and fun and truly unforgettable and loveable characters. 

So much of the book and the film are in perfect tandem, including most of the dialogue. I will say there were three particular (though admittedly small) things that were a bit of a letdown for me in the book, which is why I must say that the film was better. 😱 I know. Also scandalous. But true! At least for me.

Honestly though, don't pass this one up. There's a reason it's a classic. It has all of the best elements of a fantasy adventure story wrapped up in a fun, whimsical package. Embrace it, go for the ride, and hopefully fall in love with it as much as I have. 🥰

So this is where things started to take a potentially slumpy turn for me. Your Utopia by Bora Chung is a collection of short stories categorized as horror but honestly fall much more into the literary science-fiction arena. I picked this one up because after trying (and DNF'ing) a T. Kingfisher horror, I wanted to try again - thinking maybe I just didn't have the right book. Unfortunately, this also was not the right book. At least for someone looking for horror.

There are eight short stories in this collection all centered around possible futures humanity could be facing and how those could play out. Of the seven, I only actually enjoyed one story about a little car struggling for survival. I found myself really rooting for it! There were two others that I at least found interesting concepts - one a twist on the common zombie trope (the only "truly" horror-like story in the whole collection) and another about tree hybrids on a dying planet fighting back. The remaining stories were "meh" and best and completely unenjoyable at worst. I nearly DNF'd this one too, but I kept holding out hope that the next story would be better.

My recommendation would be if you're looking for some literary fiction with a sci-fi focus, this could be right up your alley. But if you were looking for a collection of horror stories, your attention would be better spent somewhere else.

Toward the end, this is where the reading slump nearly got me in its firm grasp. White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link is another collection of short stories, but this one is fairytale retellings, and unlike Your Utopia, it actually fits that genre label. That was the first point in its favor. The second point is of the seven stories, four of them were decent, and I actually really enjoyed one of the stories enough to make me want to dig deeper to find the original fairy tale it was inspired by.

The problem though, I was so thoroughly confused by two of the stories that I can't even say if I liked them or not because at the end, I wasn't even sure what had happened. The author includes the title of the original underneath the title of each story, which is convenient, but I had a hard time finding the connections to the original fairy tales that I recognized. This really stripped away some of that enjoyment I'd found, ending up with me finding this book to be a mixed bag.

I'd say the stories that are good are worth picking up the collection at least once and to use as a tool to find the original fairytales, but maybe not enjoyable enough to be a permanent addition to the personal library. (I'm still debating this decision myself.)

After those two less-than-enjoyable reads, I knew I needed something that was short, easy to read, as doubtlessly enjoyable to me as possible, and honestly, beautiful to look at. I needed a graphic novel, and luckily I already knew which one.

The Moth Keeper by K. O'Neill is a middle-grade story about a young girl learning to care for the lunar moths essential to the survival of her village, while yearning to experience something new. It's a melancholy but very sweet cozy fantasy with GORGEOUS artwork. It only took me a few hours to read, but there was so much story and lore and world-building that I still felt full at the end.

An instant new favorite that I will reread again and again.

📚 February Book Haul 📚

So... my book buying ban went out the window. 😅 Why I thought I could make it stick I have no idea 🤷‍♀️ but I have decided that some things just are, and one of those things is I just love and collect books. So here we are! 🤗

From Bottom to Top:

The Tea Dragon Society trilogy by K. O'Neill - I picked these middle-grade graphic novels up in case I find myself in need of another cozy way to avoid a reading slump. Plus, the story sounds just as good as The Moth Keeper!

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien graphic novel - I've had my eye on this for a while to add to my collection of Hobbit editions.

The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang - I've been hearing so much buzz about this indie book that I finally decided I needed to get a copy to find out myself what all the hype is about! Very excited for this one.

A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allen Poe by Mark Dawidziak - so I have a grand plan for this one and the Mary Shelley book. As soon as I found out this was coming out, I knew I was going to want to go down the rabbit hole of how all these gothic horror authors are connected, and I've already learned some new tidbits! But more on that later. 😉

Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan - a story about a sinking city and the struggle between the people and creatures that live there

The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson - the final book in his Secret Projects! I'll probably wait to read this one though because it sounds like it would be of benefit to have read his other Cosmere books first - which I also have a plan for this year. Stay tuned!

In Search of Mary Shelley by Fiona Sampson - see rabbit hole with Poe

Sunbringer by Hannah Kaner - this is the sequel to Godkiller which I read last month. I'm hoping it's better than the first book and it'll be a test to see if I like the story enough to finish and keep the series.

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown - full disclosure: at first I couldn't remember why I'd ordered this book (book nerd problems? 😅) but after reading the synopsis I had the "oh yeah!" moment.

A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft - this was the opposite. I remembered the synopsis but didn't remember the title or to order it, and then I saw it on the shelf and had another "oh yeah!" moment. Seriously. Book nerd problems.

🍀 March New Releases I'm Excited For 🍀

There's really only one this month because the others (Fathomfolk and The Sunlit Man) came out early and they became part of my February book haul.

Katie Cook had been publishing Nothing Special on Webtoons for years, and I'm so excited to see the first volume coming to physical print! I backed her Kickstarter for this one so that I could get the behind-the-scenes artbook and a radish spirit plush. 😁 The comic itself will arrive this month with the other goodies to follow later. Can't wait!