February + March Recap
Apr. 10th, 2023 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sleepypapercrownsHello and welcome to spring!
I’m coming to you with a February and March wrap up because life got in the way! At the beginning of March I had a swollen elbow that meant I couldn’t use my right arm at all, let alone rest it on a desk surface. What a great time that was. Anyway, I’m hoping for better days now that spring is truly coming but that being said, last week the weather has been extraordinarily gray and raining so… made I’ll need to have some more patience, sadly. I’m going to try and be quick with this wrap up since there’s quite a bit of ground to cover!
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022, action/adventure)
A movie club with H pick that we only watched half of but I couldn’t stay away from. I watched the second half alone and I’ve got to say that this is easily the best Marvel movie I’ve seen in the last two? three? years. Just some issues with the quality of the CGI as always but that’s because it’s my job to notice. Orcas! Whales! Fun and sad!
Two Distant Strangers (2020, sci-fi/drama)
Ooph. This is a time loop short film that showcases the unending police brutality POC have to suffer from in America. It has stayed with me since I watched it. Truly terrifying and it gets its point across in such a short time.
Persuasion (2022, romance/drama)
Watched this with my mom after we watched about half an hour of a truly horrendous new Netflix romance (Your Place or Mine - just skip it). It was fun!! I guess we fulfilled the promise that people who don’t know the original novel will like this movie. Lovely cinematography too!
The Cat Returns (2002, fantasy/adventure)
Another movie club pick and also H’s first ghibli movie! We both enjoyed it so much, just so incredibly darling. There’s nothing else to add.
The Witcher (2021, fantasy)
It’s been so long since I watched this now that I can’t give you more than the general feeling of fun I had with The Witcher! Jaskier is my favorite idiot/boy and I would already re-watch it.
Love to Hate You (2023, k-drama)
Your standard k-drama shenanigans that I fell right into and gobbled up easily. What a fun, over-the-top time! Although I read somewhere on the internet recently that this should’ve been a BL (according to this user) and I would’ve been twice as happy about that probably.
Abbott Elementary (2021-23, mockumentary)
I just found that the 10 episodes of season two I watched aren’t all there are?! Currently extremely delighted by this turn of events. This is great and it feels like I am last to the hype, as always.
Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire (2016, fantasy)
Randomly decided to check this out from the library as an audiobook and was so surprised?! I was expecting this to be YA fantasy for some reason so imagine my shock when a girl gets her hands cut off. I stood in the middle of my room, vacuum in hand and mouth open! So good!
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun (2021, gay romance)
My second Alison Cochrun this year and I liked it much more than the other one I read. These characters had so much more chemistry and the tv show setting was interesting. But similarly to the first one: the mental health of the main characters, especially the anxiety, is depicted very intensely, which people should know going in, I feel.
Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn(2022, ya fantasy)
Such a let down… I absolutely FLEW through the first book, but what was this? It was so disjointed and chaotic, almost like Tracy Deonn suddenly remembered the magic system she had actually planned and needed to squeeze it in. We were never in one location for more than a couple of chapters, the love triangle was exhausting, I’m so confused. The only redeemable characters are Alice and William because they’re the best.
How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis (2020, nonfiction)
This book is an incredibly gentle and comforting approach to finding ways for you to get your chores done and your house into a state that suits you. Would recommend!
Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield (2022, sapphic fiction/horror)
Very eerie and devastating, especially on the topic of grieving a person who is still there but not really themselves anymore. I loved to see all the flashbacks of Leah and Miri’s relationship, that was just so romantic. The ending though… hm. Not too sure about that.
Murderbot #5 + #6 by Martha Wells(2020, sci-fi)
Murderbot is just so incredibly darling to me. I’ve loved every book in this series so far and am VERY excited for the next one to come out this year. Just a heads up: #6 is actually set before #5 which is the full length novel. I was very confused by this in the beginning because all the character and plot development we’ve gotten in #5 didn’t affect the story at all? So yeah, you could read it in the series order or if you want to have the timeline order read #6 before #5!
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (2019, sapphic fantasy)
I’m sooo sorry about it but I found this book to simply be okay. The world building was rich and intricate but I never found myself truly rooting for any of the characters and since the main narrators spent most of the book apart, it was just not as fun as it could’ve been. Not enough dragons, not enough sapphic love; too much politics and tell instead of show. :(
Set Me On Fire curated by Ella Risbridger(2019, poetry)
Set Me On Fire is a poetry collection curated by Ella Risbridger whom I’ve been following on Instagram ever since I’ve brought her cookbook Midnight Chicken and who taught me to love poetry! This collection is for the exact purpose of giving you a wide breadth of poets to dip in and out of, to find what you like and love and what you don’t understand. Take what you love and leave the rest is what Ella says multiple times throughout the book. I loved it.
River Of Teeth by Sarah Gailey (2017, queer historical fiction)
Every Sarah Gailey Novella I have read so far is incredibly fun and snappy and so was this! Also though, it was incredibly violent. PHEW. Be prepared for that but otherwise great banter, concise story and HIPPOS. What more could you want?
Over February and March I’ve only read about 217k of fic, which is quite the drop compared to January. And I couldn’t tell you why! I’m just not feeling it atm.
These five however were still favs:
Accessory by ninamonday (svt, wonwoo/jeonghan)
Misethere by astolat (the witcher, geralt/emhyr)
In Our Line of Work by enjambament (inception, arthur/eames)
The Interpreter by antistar_e (snowpiercer, gen)
RE: Thesis defense issue by kalirush (just… click on it)
I’m coming to you with a February and March wrap up because life got in the way! At the beginning of March I had a swollen elbow that meant I couldn’t use my right arm at all, let alone rest it on a desk surface. What a great time that was. Anyway, I’m hoping for better days now that spring is truly coming but that being said, last week the weather has been extraordinarily gray and raining so… made I’ll need to have some more patience, sadly. I’m going to try and be quick with this wrap up since there’s quite a bit of ground to cover!
Movies
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022, action/adventure)
A movie club with H pick that we only watched half of but I couldn’t stay away from. I watched the second half alone and I’ve got to say that this is easily the best Marvel movie I’ve seen in the last two? three? years. Just some issues with the quality of the CGI as always but that’s because it’s my job to notice. Orcas! Whales! Fun and sad!
Two Distant Strangers (2020, sci-fi/drama)
Ooph. This is a time loop short film that showcases the unending police brutality POC have to suffer from in America. It has stayed with me since I watched it. Truly terrifying and it gets its point across in such a short time.
Persuasion (2022, romance/drama)
Watched this with my mom after we watched about half an hour of a truly horrendous new Netflix romance (Your Place or Mine - just skip it). It was fun!! I guess we fulfilled the promise that people who don’t know the original novel will like this movie. Lovely cinematography too!
The Cat Returns (2002, fantasy/adventure)
Another movie club pick and also H’s first ghibli movie! We both enjoyed it so much, just so incredibly darling. There’s nothing else to add.
Shows
The Witcher (2021, fantasy)
It’s been so long since I watched this now that I can’t give you more than the general feeling of fun I had with The Witcher! Jaskier is my favorite idiot/boy and I would already re-watch it.
Love to Hate You (2023, k-drama)
Your standard k-drama shenanigans that I fell right into and gobbled up easily. What a fun, over-the-top time! Although I read somewhere on the internet recently that this should’ve been a BL (according to this user) and I would’ve been twice as happy about that probably.
Abbott Elementary (2021-23, mockumentary)
I just found that the 10 episodes of season two I watched aren’t all there are?! Currently extremely delighted by this turn of events. This is great and it feels like I am last to the hype, as always.
Books
Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire (2016, fantasy)
Randomly decided to check this out from the library as an audiobook and was so surprised?! I was expecting this to be YA fantasy for some reason so imagine my shock when a girl gets her hands cut off. I stood in the middle of my room, vacuum in hand and mouth open! So good!
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun (2021, gay romance)
My second Alison Cochrun this year and I liked it much more than the other one I read. These characters had so much more chemistry and the tv show setting was interesting. But similarly to the first one: the mental health of the main characters, especially the anxiety, is depicted very intensely, which people should know going in, I feel.
Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn(2022, ya fantasy)
Such a let down… I absolutely FLEW through the first book, but what was this? It was so disjointed and chaotic, almost like Tracy Deonn suddenly remembered the magic system she had actually planned and needed to squeeze it in. We were never in one location for more than a couple of chapters, the love triangle was exhausting, I’m so confused. The only redeemable characters are Alice and William because they’re the best.
How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis (2020, nonfiction)
This book is an incredibly gentle and comforting approach to finding ways for you to get your chores done and your house into a state that suits you. Would recommend!
Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield (2022, sapphic fiction/horror)
Very eerie and devastating, especially on the topic of grieving a person who is still there but not really themselves anymore. I loved to see all the flashbacks of Leah and Miri’s relationship, that was just so romantic. The ending though… hm. Not too sure about that.
Murderbot #5 + #6 by Martha Wells(2020, sci-fi)
Murderbot is just so incredibly darling to me. I’ve loved every book in this series so far and am VERY excited for the next one to come out this year. Just a heads up: #6 is actually set before #5 which is the full length novel. I was very confused by this in the beginning because all the character and plot development we’ve gotten in #5 didn’t affect the story at all? So yeah, you could read it in the series order or if you want to have the timeline order read #6 before #5!
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (2019, sapphic fantasy)
I’m sooo sorry about it but I found this book to simply be okay. The world building was rich and intricate but I never found myself truly rooting for any of the characters and since the main narrators spent most of the book apart, it was just not as fun as it could’ve been. Not enough dragons, not enough sapphic love; too much politics and tell instead of show. :(
Set Me On Fire curated by Ella Risbridger(2019, poetry)
Set Me On Fire is a poetry collection curated by Ella Risbridger whom I’ve been following on Instagram ever since I’ve brought her cookbook Midnight Chicken and who taught me to love poetry! This collection is for the exact purpose of giving you a wide breadth of poets to dip in and out of, to find what you like and love and what you don’t understand. Take what you love and leave the rest is what Ella says multiple times throughout the book. I loved it.
River Of Teeth by Sarah Gailey (2017, queer historical fiction)
Every Sarah Gailey Novella I have read so far is incredibly fun and snappy and so was this! Also though, it was incredibly violent. PHEW. Be prepared for that but otherwise great banter, concise story and HIPPOS. What more could you want?
Fic
Over February and March I’ve only read about 217k of fic, which is quite the drop compared to January. And I couldn’t tell you why! I’m just not feeling it atm.
These five however were still favs:
Accessory by ninamonday (svt, wonwoo/jeonghan)
Misethere by astolat (the witcher, geralt/emhyr)
In Our Line of Work by enjambament (inception, arthur/eames)
The Interpreter by antistar_e (snowpiercer, gen)
RE: Thesis defense issue by kalirush (just… click on it)
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