Book Rant

This episode, we talk about the books that we gifted each other for our annual Christmas book exchange. Jess reads Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, a fantastical tale of Mayan myth and love in the backdrop of early 20th century Mexico. And Vee reads Educated by Tara Westover, a memoir that untangles the deep-rooted threads of brainwashing, gaslighting, and neglect.

Vee’s dogs generously add some background noises, we talk about the joys of recommending books, the narrative liberties of memoirs, Reddit book exchange, comics, mythology and pantheons.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hogswatch, and Merry Candlenights to all!

CW: abuse and gaslighting

Vee reads The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, a regionally-inspired story set in the Alaskan wilderness of the 1920s and fashioned after the fairy tale The Snow Maiden.

Then Jess jumps on and then swiftly off the hype train that is Holly Black’s newest novel, The Queen of Nothing, the last book in The Folk of the Air trilogy about the wicked drama of Faerie. 

We talk about implementing a decimal rating system on Goodreads (and creating our own Rant Reads service), the best times to read, honest stories, the need for fan fiction, unsatisfying endings, Nick Cage, and Vee tries to redeem herself after failing her Contact challenge last episode. AND we unbox our Christmas book exchange!

Episode 4! We’ve come so far.

Jess relishes the treasure that is The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones at a time when this story is most needed, and Vee struggles to find words even remotely adequate enough to describe the wild force that is Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq.

We talk about stories slipping in and through myth and the understanding that stories give our own lived experiences. 

Then we ramble about intentional breaks while reading, reading on a treadmill, bizarre books, well-fleshed out zombies, non-linear wibbly wobbly stories, shapeshifters, uncategorizable stories, made up words, emails from friends, and the unravelling of our very atoms that happens after a good story.

In this week’s episode we talk about speed bumps in our reading (aptly and awkwardly named spreeding bumps), Vee accepts a Contact challenge, and Jess breaks her book buying ban. Also of note: the need for good male role models, ~mood books~, not-quite-fantasy books, Monday meltdowns, The Four Doorways, and our very first fan mail!

Vee reviews La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust # 1) by Philip Pullman, the prequel to the His Dark Materials series: an ageless Gaslamp fantasy whose mundane spy roots plunge unexpectedly into the fairy world. Long live Norman!

Jess reads The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw, a well-written book about ghost witches, revenge, and romance - all unfortunately set at the wrong time of year. Womp womp.

And sorry for the low audio volume. We’re figuring things out. 

In this week’s episode, we delve into the finales of two vastly different fantasy series. Jess talks about Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake (Three Dark Crowns #4), a YA fantasy quartet about sister queens fighting to the death for their crown, amid the tatters of unravelling allegiances and lore. 

Vee fawns over The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin (The Broken Earth #3), an eerily familiar post-apocalyptic world where magical prowess or brute force hold nothing against the sheer perseverance of understanding an(other) that breaks not only the curse of trauma but the world itself. Ugh. How do I even describe this book. It’s perfect.