I love the holidays, because they let me do something I usually don't take the time to do: browse itch.io for short stories and find gems like this one. I need to read her other stuff.
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Currently interested in queer books and obscure comics [he/him]
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Llaverac commented on an arrow for the king by Linnea Sterte
Llaverac finished reading Exercised by Daniel Lieberman
TFW you start a book because the topic genuinely interests you, only to realize halfway through that a well-written longform article would have satisfied your curiosity (but you have to finish the book anyway).
Llaverac rated Hibernation Guide for Rabbits and Hares: 5 stars
Hibernation Guide for Rabbits and Hares by L. Adassovsky
Rabbits don’t hibernate...Do they? Every winter, Gentiane opens her hotel to rabbits seeking refuge from the cold. Instead of staying …
Llaverac rated Home by the Rotting Sea: 5 stars
Home by the Rotting Sea by Otava Heikkilä
The Väki are giants, and much feared and loathed by us humans. When territorial tensions threaten to break out, the …
Llaverac rated Hearth's Haunting: 5 stars
Hearth's Haunting by Jean Wei
Ted’s life is definitely picture perfect; new job, new apartment. Everything is definitely, totally, extremely fine. Everything is good!!! Except… …
Llaverac rated Goodbye Apple Island: 5 stars
Goodbye Apple Island by C.R. Chua
Before saying goodbye to life in Apple Island, Lucas goes on one more adventure with his long friend to investigate …
Llaverac rated Peau d'homme: 5 stars
Peau d'homme by Zanzim, Hubert Boulard
Sans contrefaçon, je suis un garçon ! Dans l’Italie de la Renaissance, Bianca, demoiselle de bonne famille, est en âge …
enne📚 reviewed How to Keep House While Drowning by K. C. Davis
How to Keep House While Drowning
4 stars
How to Keep House While Drowning felt like a distilled therapy session about cleaning. I saw this recommended on fedi somewhere, and felt like this was useful for me to read right now. It's less "here's my life hack productivity advice for folding shirts" and more "here's some better ways to think about and emotionally approach taking care of yourself and your space". (Honestly, this is probably the more valuable thing.)
A bunch of thoughts I enjoyed that stuck with me: * cleaning is morally neutral * your space exists to serve you (do you hang clothes on a chair? if that works for you, then that's awesome) * interrogating preconceived notions of what cleaning looks like * prioritizing health > comfort > happiness in care tasks (and cutting out perfectionism saying you have to do all of these things all of the time) * balance in care tasks between …
How to Keep House While Drowning felt like a distilled therapy session about cleaning. I saw this recommended on fedi somewhere, and felt like this was useful for me to read right now. It's less "here's my life hack productivity advice for folding shirts" and more "here's some better ways to think about and emotionally approach taking care of yourself and your space". (Honestly, this is probably the more valuable thing.)
A bunch of thoughts I enjoyed that stuck with me: * cleaning is morally neutral * your space exists to serve you (do you hang clothes on a chair? if that works for you, then that's awesome) * interrogating preconceived notions of what cleaning looks like * prioritizing health > comfort > happiness in care tasks (and cutting out perfectionism saying you have to do all of these things all of the time) * balance in care tasks between people being less "am I contributing enough?" and more "am I taking advantage of someone else?"
Llaverac finished reading How to Keep House While Drowning by K. C. Davis
Llaverac commented on The Ghostkeeper by Johanna Taylor
The story had a lot of heart and, on the whole, I liked it a lot. However, even though the main character is literally a therapist for ghosts, I could have done without all the therapy-speak that he or some other characters use, especially outside therapy sessions.
el dang reviewed The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
Weird, inventive, and pointed commentary at the same time
5 stars
I tore through this book, and might just re-read it immediately, which is something I never do.
It starts out as a fantasy story that feels exceptionally weird because Chandrasekera's willing to do his world building / exposition very slowly. I kept going through a lot of confusion because the writing itself is just so beautiful. And then gradually as the exposition falls into place it becomes clearer that the book is at least partly a critique of religious fanaticisms and chauvinisms... but each time I felt I really had a handle on the book something in its world would shift - either the protagonist learning a new piece of his own story or a significant detail the the author waited until a dramatic moment to show the reader. Even the ending feels like another instance of that, and it is a relatively unclear ending, though it fits the whole …
I tore through this book, and might just re-read it immediately, which is something I never do.
It starts out as a fantasy story that feels exceptionally weird because Chandrasekera's willing to do his world building / exposition very slowly. I kept going through a lot of confusion because the writing itself is just so beautiful. And then gradually as the exposition falls into place it becomes clearer that the book is at least partly a critique of religious fanaticisms and chauvinisms... but each time I felt I really had a handle on the book something in its world would shift - either the protagonist learning a new piece of his own story or a significant detail the the author waited until a dramatic moment to show the reader. Even the ending feels like another instance of that, and it is a relatively unclear ending, though it fits the whole mood of the book enough not to be frustrating.
To be clear: I like this kind of storytelling better than spending pages and pages on worldbuilding before anything happens, and all loose ends tied up by the conclusion. It just needs a damn good writer to make it work, and Chandrasekera is one. I also never felt like I was more confused than the protagonist himself, which I think is how the book managed not to fall into feeling like a cheap trick.
After reading it, I read up on the story of Rāhula, and realised that many more details in this book are clearly-intentional references to that than I'd picked up on. And I read some Sri Lankan history and realised that much of what felt like echoes of Myanmar or Israel were more direct references to specific aspects of Sri Lanka's civil war. Part of why I want to re-read is to have those things in mind, but I think it's also a strength of the book that it works as a more general allegory too. I think I would advise other readers to go in the same order as me: dive into the book first, and catch up on its references after.
Llaverac commented on Sainted Love by Steve Orlando
It makes me so mad, seriously. A creative team made of established creators, alt covers drawn by some of the hottest queer male artists and the result. IS. JUST. MID. It's basically this thread.
Llaverac finished reading Right Story, Wrong Story by Tyson Yunkaporta
Right Story, Wrong Story by Tyson Yunkaporta
Sand Talk, Tyson Yunkaporta’s bestselling debut, cast an Indigenous lens on contemporary society. It was, said Melissa Lucashenko, ‘an extraordinary …