Skylis > Recent Status Updates

library hold finally came in again. the pop culture references feel cheesy but the critique of engineering education and practice is still condemning

pregnancy horror in two flavors recently-
you weren't meant to be human: pregnancy is against protagonist's will, makes him horribly dysphoric. time spent pregnant is agonizingly long

trad wife: pregnancy is so desperately desired, protagonist has sex with a well cryptid, telling herself it's a sign from God. speedruns through 1st and trimester in 1 day

pregnancy horror in two flavors recently-
you weren't meant to be human: pregnancy is against protagonist's will, makes him horribly dysphoric. time spent pregnant is agonizingly long

trad wife: pregnancy is so desperately desired, protagonist has sex with a well demon, telling herself it's a sign from God. speedruns through 1st and 2nd trimesters in 1 day

I love the horror genre

me: hm, this might be a fun pregnancy horror
me at chapter 7: WATER WELL HORROR TOO?! HELL YEAH

I have a great love for pregnancy horror plots/subplots in my feminist stories, and this fever dream-like pregnancy for mushroom symbiote Nicole does not disappoint

this is sporror Bluebeard/Comfort Me with Apples + Stepford Wives in a post-apocalyptic gated community so far and I love it. some great imagery so far. example: "the door is open, a wide rupture exposing the intestinal darkness of the hall." yum yum, keep giving me this body horror imagery atop the regular serving of body horror

whichever member of the marketing team comped this to Jia Tolentino, how dare you mislead me like this. still reading, but had to drastically adjust my expectations

i can confidently saw i *love* Claire Oshetsky's writing. holy moly. this story is sad and peculiar and i absolutely love it

I finally got a bit invested in this around 55% in, mostly for the escape plan and the side characters. there are occasionally some good lines. Mattias gets all the comedic relief lines when he talks to Benino after the police encounter. still not living this, but no longer dreading picking it up

i've moved to 1.5 speed so I can get through this faster. it's a fun test on my Spanish comprehension skills. i'm not especially interested, still, this is feeling a bit rainbow paintbrush-y rn. hoping there's something to sink my teeth into soon

finally hitting some of the wit, the Baconist scene was hilarious as a parody of Jehovah's Witnesses doorknocking

extremely didactic, but also I don't mind the speedrun of anarcho-commumist talking points as refreshers. not caring to much about the characters, but excited to hear about decisions and ways people go for consensus

narrative voice is not what I was expecting based on the cover. should have read more about it. alas, I am locking myself into finishing this for the sake of book club

starting to realize one of my book tastes is domestic fiction starring mothers or women disliking and distrusting their husbands, often with some magical realism and self actualization involved, and often alao weird girl fiction (e.g. Nightbitch, Comfort Me With Apples). this is very in my niche and i'm having a good time

the body horror in this is good stuff

things maybe are getting better. I love Fern's fixations and the casual nonbinary rep with the neighbor, but this has been a bit flat so far.

I likenthe precocious kid narrator so far, she's not too over the top like Flavia de Luce, and things feel a little weird and fun with the supernatural ghosts here. i'm intrigued so far

continuing to enjoy this more on the second read. the flirting is so backhanded and fun

refreshing for book group, and blessedly able to concentrate on the book this time. the reading experience is much better now that I have a more solid foundation for where things started. good fun so far, loved the bath house deal making and the looming Duke with seaweed bangs draped over his boulder of a head

my expectations are currently being exceeded. I love Louise, Harper, and Abigail's interests and concerns. excellent weird girl fiction, made me laugh out loud multiple times already

my hold has come in, I am jubilant. "they had not volunteered that year for the town's winter food drive, the Christians for the Cure walkathon, the Three-legged race for Three-legged dogs, Applebobbing for Autism, or Knitting for Narcolepsy."

enjoying the coming of age/growing up Andy is going through after she tells her secret(s), and her realization of how purity culture affected her Portland lesbian community. and enjoying yhe complications between her and Ryan. not sure i especially like this book, but it's still solid, and the nostalgia is hitting big.

only just now read the market copy for this and feeling iffy about where things will go, but the story and writing are fine so i'll see how it turns out.

there are still 2 hours left in this audiobook and it appears the suffering is neverending (in a good way). some authors would have ended things at one of the many possible drop off points up to here, but Stephen Graham Jones is a master, improving and deepening the horror and emotional torture to his characters. this is incredible 😍

big catharsis for me after the Atthur campfire scene. this is some powerful social horror

at 30% in, I started reading at 1.5 speed. theres have been a few funny lines, but this isn't for me so far.