Alexander > Recent Status Updates

The Maestro of Small Things by Fransesco Verso feels like all worldbuilding, no plot, until the plot does show up - but it makes me wonder if the first few pages could've been trimmed. 3/5

Oil and Ivory is queer, it's intimate, it's got a good plot, what else can I give it but a 5/5

Anticipation of Hollowness by Renan Bernardo is small, intimate, lovely, and very good. 5/5

Sorry, had to sensitivity read, which meant this took a backseat until I'd finished that. But I have now.
Anyway. For the Snake of Power by Brenda Cooper is a great story about oppression and the differences between the rich and the poor. An enjoyable read. 4/5

YUCK! I've read so much GAY STUFF that I'm DONE now for a while! (Until the next queer book goes ahead and steals my heart, of course, which is probably sooner than later) So let's go and read a STRAIGHT book, just a good ole' fantasy, like Tolkien intended!
Because seriously, the Solarpunk short stories make my soul happy in a way that makes me think, I need some good genre fiction again.
Let's go...

The Soma Earth by Giro Faienza is a little hard to follow: it's very science-based and not all gets explained. 3/5

Orchidacae by Thomas Badlan has great worldbuilding, and that's also pretty much all this short story is, there's fairly little plot unfortunately. On top of that, it's rooted in the idea that the reason climate change exists is because of too many humans, an idea I struggle with. 3/5

Byzantine Empathy by Ken Liu required some Byzantine patience. It's long and longer than it needs to be, I feel. It makes some interesting points, but never quite wraps them up nicely. 3/5

Wasn't planning on reading queer stuff after a Pride Month full of queer YA, but my bag is full of books that are, right now, too complex for me as I'm exhausted from conning for four days, and having to rise early with a fire alarm going off late at night. So. Simple and lovely it is, and I bought this in a book shop in Berlin. Here goes nothing...

Rules for a Civilization by Jerri Jerreat is lovely. It ends a little sudden and there's a lot of description before the plot picks up, but once it does, the feelings it elicits more than make up for it. Though I may be biased, because of my profession. Strong start. 5/5

From one anthology to another! Though I intend to take my time more with this one. One short story a day, and only if I have time (busy week ahead...). Bought this at Eurocon, and decided to start with this as I'm heading home from it, mostly because the book binding and cover are of excellent quality for a fairly low price. Let's go...

The Beauty of the Beast is an interesting retelling, but desire changing a core motivation, very little actually... changes? 3/5
Review of everything - including Hair - follows when I'm home, have slept, and have the time.

Interesting retelling of Bluebeard, not one I see very often. 4/5

Postcontemporary beauty is hard to follow. Might be because I've had very little sleep and am tired of conning. I'll reread it when I'm awake, so the rating might change, but for now it's 2/5

The Princess and the F*** is better. I like stories that focus on what happens after the fairytale. A good, self-contained story, though it didn't blow me away. 4/5

Cinderella in the shoe is a fun twist on the Cinderella fairytale. It's nice and short, and yet, nothing happens during the first two pages. 3/5

Stories feels a little pointless, though the point is clear. 3/5

Apparently this is a short story collection, so I will treat it as such. Hair doesn't feel like a self-contained story so I'll skip that, but Foundations is one, and one I like very much. 5/5, great start. I'll do the rest tomorrow, on the train home...

Bought this at Eurocon, I've never before read anything from Luxembourg - time to get started. A nice and thin booklet to get myself back into fantasy after all the gay stuff :)

I've actually finished another book! But it isn't on Goodreads yet so we'll have to wait for that. In the meantime, here's a book for work that is actually not quite for work - it's not my branch of psychology, but it does sound verrrrrry interesting. So, hit me, while I read a little at quiet corners in Eurocon!

One more Pride Month-book. This was always going to be the closer of my Pride Month binge; because it's black and it's queer, which means it's the perfect book to reread from Pride Month into Black History Month.
After this we're going back to some new stuff. Some year I'll fanatically reread lots of stuff for Black History Month, but it is not now - I'm done with rereading after this, for a while :)

That was one favorite queer duology finished - time to finish the other one! We've still got nine days of Pride Month left and I'm definitely ahead of schedule - because I have just one more book planned for this month, and it isn't the time yet for that.
So, I'm planning on taking my sweet time with this one, which is how Alire Sáenz's work needs to be taken. My favorite Aristotle and Dante. Let's go...

Didn't have much else to say about Voyage of the Damned that I hadn't already said - so I didn't bother updating the review.
Anyway. We've had the murder mystery, now it's time to get back into the cute! Pride Month is just a little over the halfway point and I still got three books I wanna wolf down. I picked the one I still get weirdly obsessive over as the first one. Let's go...

Ugh! All those books I've been rereading for Pride Month... they are all so... disgustingly... CUTE! So I'm going to need a brief antidote before going back to finish all the cuteness. Here it is - this is the queer book I've been teasing about earlier :)

Is it still June?
YES! YES IT IS! So here's my other favorite queer novel for its annual reread!

Let's continue the cute and let's continue that by reading my OTHER favorite queer YA duology... that's right, it's time to go back to Ari and Dante knocking me into next week with their wonderful prose :) Here goes!

Let's continue this romp into my favorites, and continue with a book I reread multiple times and it's held up every time. Let's hope it does so this time too!

IT'S PRIDE MONTH!
And to celebrate that, this month I'll do something I've wanted to do for many many Pride Months already; reread all my queer favorites :D All the ones I reread every year but haven't done so yet, I've planned to do during this month. But I figured I'd start with a book that stole my heart last year.
I have one book lined up that I loved but haven't reread since. Can you guess which one?

I'm almost at my goal for the end of May, I just gotta finish one more book real quick. I have something planned for June (and if you've taken a look at what books I always reread you might have an inkling) and so I have to finish this one real quick. Thankfully, that shouldn't be a problem...

Right. I'm on a bit of a schedule, but that shouldn't be a problem - this is Kelly and her first book read like a train. Let's see if the next one does as well...