Weekly Wrap-Up | October 2, 2022

[@AccipiterF1]

I just noticed that my library acquired A Half-Built Garden so I'm glad to hear your positive review.

[@aMatoslegustaleer]

I will give AS&SE a go after your review, thanks!

[@sauscony]

I loved A Strange and Stubborn Endurance.

[@anneworks]

Looking forward to the separate review 😊

[@knittygirlone3391]

That top is so nice and it looks great on you!

[@Kalanadi]

Thank you! Someday I'll make another one that isn't quite so cropped 😄

[@LectoraEstherica]

I didn't know the book Endurance, I'll add it to my tbr!

[@verosnotebook]

I loved A Strange & Stubborn Endurance for the same reasons (and also for the portrayal of the main friendship). Also hoping there is more written in this world…

[@Kalanadi]

I also very much enjoyed the friendship between Velasin and Markel!

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

I LOVED strange and stubborn endurance, but yea I am glad the CW is up front in the book and I mention to some people that if they don’t want the graphic on page SA they can probably skip chapter 2 and still get where our character is at for the rest of the story. But I also totally get just not wanting that in your romance

[@Kalanadi]

That's true - that chapter is kind of skippable, and plenty of it is recapped later on in less graphic detail.

[@MaiarBellydance]

Ah yes… the adult dinosaur phase😆Mine was in my late 20s/early 30s after discovering the British sci-fi show Primeval.

[@TheBookFinch]

Well, considering I just finished A Taste of Gold and Iron and hecking loved it, I immediately went and but a library hold on A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, based on your opinion. :D

[@Kalanadi]

I think you will absolutely love A Strange and Stubborn Endurance too!

[@FinalBlowJoe]

I'm glad last weekend was so fun. A Half-Built Garden sounds curious and I'll definitely be interested in your review. The dinosaur book made me smile, not least because I was standing next to you when you bought it. Your enthusiasm for A Strange and Stubborn Endurance was, as always, amazing to see.

[@aliciacampos5789]

Rachel, hello. I completely agree with you about Ali Hazelwood‘s books. I binge read the three novellas and Love on the Brain in September. They were pretty much the same story, but I still mostly enjoyed them. The female character that was stuck in the crevasse in Norway was a real jerk and pretty much ruined that novella for me.

[@Kalanadi]

Yeah, I feel like Hazelwood's female MCs seem kinda ... bratty? Like instead of using their words to get through problems, they'll complain to their friends and explode at whoever they're struggling with, and I don't love that. Love Hypothesis was so fun though...

[@leticiatoraci9855]

The dinossaur book looks really nice, I'll buy books on that series for my sons and nephews. I'm reading the Spy x Family comics lately after your recommendation and I'll check Witch Hat Atelier out.

[@jeroenadmiraal8714]

Rachel, if you're just breaking into your dinosaur phase, I can recommend Steve Brusatte's The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs.

[@Kalanadi]

It's on my list! I'm working on Otherlands by Thomas Halliday right now (sort of nature writing about prehistoric landscapes and the creatures of each era), and then onto some others.

[@jeroenadmiraal8714]

@@Kalanadi that one sounds very interesting, thanks for the tip

[@danielleparkerson6012]

I felt the same about In Defense of Witches and DNFed it, unfortunately. I was hoping for a more organized and linear exploration of witchcraft and the way witches were/are treated and it just...was not that.

[@jcikhop]

I highly recommend the book, Dinotopia by James Gurney. Wikipedia: "set in the titular Dinotopia, an isolated island inhabited by shipwrecked humans and sapient dinosaurs who have learned to coexist peacefully as a single symbiotic society." The art work is stunning, and the story excellent too.

[@Kalanadi]

I've read some of the Dinotopia series! I don't remember much but it was an obsession of mine as an early teen... right before the short-lived TV series started. I was absolutely insistent on trying to watch the TV series even though my family barely had TV reception on a local channel, haha.

[@bethd4739]

Thank you for the review of A Strange and Stubborn Endurance. I have been going back and forth on this one, but knowing your reaction really helps! I'll be able to go into in with that knowledge, and I appreciate your forthrightness about this.

[@amosfamous5836]

thanks Rachel 👍 I'll read 📚 A Half Built Garden next.☝️ Another new author for me. thank you!👋😃

[@Kalanadi]

I hope you enjoy it!

[@ReadBecca]

Glad you took a break to enjoy renfaire! What a grab bag of books, and that dino book is lovely!

[@aneweliseonlife]

I feel very on top of it this week! I also just finished Half Built Garden and started Strange and Stubborn Endurance. I really really liked HalfBuilt Garden, mostly because I was so surprised by it. Her other books were weird Ctuthulu books and they were ok. I was sort of expecting more of the same - but was reading it because it’s a new release and have been trying to read more. Wow. This was also a 4.5-5 stars for me just because it was weird and unexpected, but very good weird! I am loving Foz Meadows book so far too! I am glad your renaissance fair was a lot of fun! I am going to a haunted house for the first time in 10 years (makes me feel old haha) and I am curious about what I will make of it

[@Kalanadi]

Oh that's interesting! I didn't realize Half Built Garden was so very different from Emrys' other books (I mean, I know they're fantasy but I didn't know what kind). I hope she continues in the SF direction because I'd like to read more in that vein. I hope you enjoy the haunted house! I'm way too much of a scaredy cat to try that. My favorite spooky times in the fall are usually just rewatching Practical Magic and eating mini Snickers :-D

[@leetracey9152]

Interesting to me that your two best reviews were for 2 of the 3 books I am never likely to read. I seen the whole plot pacing (for want of a better term) thing in Wicked Fate is one of those things that really burn me up. I HATE when I read the flyleaf which tells me I am getting one story, but the first half of the book (or even more in some cases) is a totally different story - Laurell K Hamilton being one of the worst authors I have read for doing this. The other review was Strange and Stubborn Endurance. I am wondering if your feelings about the sexual assault are because it is treated so differently from the norm, especially in Fanasy, where a rape (usually of a woman) is merely a device to further the story/development of the male mc.

[@Kalanadi]

My enjoyment of Strange and Stubborn Endurance is probably just because of that... it was not a stereotypical situation of "this rape is our character's only motivation and meant to further to plot". It was *about* the process of healing, and learning that love, intimacy, and friendship are still possible after an assault. And that there are good people (and societies) that will stand against horrific behavior.