Wants to read Magical Negro
book
Finished reading A Dark and Drowning Tide
Wants to read The Phaeton Report
Wants to read Un pianista de provincias
Finished reading A Darker Shade of Magic
Wants to read A Day of Fallen Night
Finished reading The Priory of the Orange Tree
Finished reading Witches Steeped in Gold
Finished reading An Unkindness of Ghosts
Rated Head Full of Joy 6/10
Edited 67d ago
Finished reading Yellow Jessamine
Edited 84d ago
Finished reading My Cat Yugoslavia
Finished reading The Dawnhounds
Rated Light Dawning 4/10
This was not for me, but people who like bleak fantasy may find this to their taste.
Finished reading Three Bags Full
Finished reading Daughter of the Moon Goddess
Reviewed Summary and Detail Review of The Lessons of History by Will Durant and Ariel Durant
<a href="https://smus.com/books/the-lessons-of-history-by-will-and-ariel-durant">Full review on smus.com</a>
Finished reading The Dragonfly Gambit
Finished reading The Oleander Sword
Rated Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire 9/10
<div>Since the publication of this book in 2022, contributor Refaat Alareer was killed by an Israeli airstrike in December 2023. He wrote the poem you may have seen, "If I Must Die." <br><br>Contributor Mosab Aubu Toha was arrested in November 2023 while trying to cross into Egypt with his family. He was released three days later after international pressure.<br><br>Contributor Israa Jamal was still trying to leave Gaza with her family as of May 10, 2024, when yet another Israeli strike in Rafa required them to evacuate to a different area. I am unsure if they made it.<br><br>Other writers from this collection are still alive and writing about Gaza, but I couldn't find current information for all of them. I hope they are safe.<br><br>If you would like to know more about Gaza, to read Palestinian voices discussing the struggles and hopes they have for their homeland, this book is worth the read. (As of right now, Haymarket Books has the ebook version for free on their site.) It's a mix of academic writing, personal essay, poetry, and photographs that cover a wide range of subjects while still making it clear that the occupation needs to end. I admit to glazing over a bit in the AI chapter, and sometimes the academic portions were not exactly clicking with me, but that's a Me problem. Overall, very glad to have read this, and I learned a lot.<br><br>Ceasefire now. Free Palestine.</div>
Finished reading Let the Mountains Be My Grave
Rated Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 10/10
<div>Would you believe that I've never read this until now? When I was a kid, my mom made the "mistake" of recommending it to me, her weird baby-goth, Christopher Pike-reading, contrary child. You tried, Mom! Sorry!<br><br>But a few years ago, I picked up this movie cover version for free during one of the annual times the local school district gives away books they are pulling out of circulation (aka Magical Free Book Day). I imagine they decided that a 1994 movie adaptation was not enough to pull in 2010s teens. I remember watching this movie at some point, and I also very much liked the 2019 version directed by Greta Gerwig. So when our local library's reading challenge this year had the category "Classic You've Been Avoiding," I knew it was time.<br><br>And it's great! Books find you at the right stage in life. When I was younger, I would have absolutely bristled at the moralizing and deification of homemaking, but as someone over 40, I can now see that it's not so much a "be a good wife and mother" book as it is a "create the close community you would like to see in the world." The Marches and the Laurences are not as old-fashioned as one might think at first glance. Now I sincerely would like to read <em>Little Men and Jo's Boys.</em></div>
Wants to read In the Company of Men