WWW Wednesday

1. What are you currently reading?

• The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison (gay mc, fantasy, mystery): sequel to The Witness For The Dead (see below); this is my current read, I'm about 2/3rds done with it already. I can hardly put it down, that hasn't happened to me in a while.

2. What did you read this week?

Graphic Novels

• Full Shift by Jennifer Dugan and Kit Seaton (wlw, modern, werewolves): a fine but unremarkable graphic novel; I found the grumpy/sunshine laid on a bit too thick on the grumpy end.
• The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl by Emily Riesbeck (wlw, fantasy, trans woman metaphor): at Flame Con in August, Emily was sitting diagonally behind me, so needless to say I've wanted to read this since then, and I found it very good. Emily is a writer, she hires people to do the art, and it showed, in that story-wise this was one of the stronger graphic novels I've read. And from the author's mouth, the Porcelain Girl is meant to be a metaphor for being a trans woman (as the author is), and it definitely worked, subtly, in that regard.
• Punk Rock Karaoke by Bianca Xunise (nb characters, modern, found family): I think I would have liked this more if I'd found the art easier to follow; as it was it was a nice "bros before hoes" revenge story on a skeevy dude who tries to steal music from the main character (a Black nb singer/songwriter). The punk vibes were A+++.

Books

• The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison (gay mc, fantasy, mystery): this has been on the top of my tbr since I finished The Goblin Emperor, and I kept putting off reading it because, well, I really didn't like The Goblin Emperor, but I still felt obligated to read this because it was a birthday gift from my wife (I know she wouldn't hold it against me, but). Anyway, people on Pillowfort were like, "no, it's pretty different, you should try," and I let them convince me, and boy I'm glad I did. I really liked this book. It actually explores the interesting world from the other book in a way that makes the world feel real instead of like a painted veneer, and I find the main character much more compelling and the first-person narration quite strong.

3. What will you read next?

Top of my TBR is my next graphic novel from the library, Dead Endia Vol. 3: The Divine Order by Hamish Steele, and my next book is Delta of Venus by Anais Nin. Once I've finished that, I'll have worked my way through every book that was on my TBR when I assembled it in January. Now, granted, it's the TBR of Theseus, so the pile is actually BIGGER than it was then, but at least I've read all the books I started the year with! Is it the same TBR, then? Who knows...