Published on: 2024-06-30
I read a lot in June because my yearly reading goal is 30 books and I was only at 11 at the beginning of the month. I defeated my demons and read 3 “short” books in a row. I have problems with only reading short books because I have yet to kill the elitist in my head.
I had a much better time reading than last month, where I endured a terrible novel, The Kaiju Preservation Society. That novel might be fine but I don’t want to read a Marvel movie. I especially don’t want to read a Marvel movie if I thought it would have more substance because it was fucking nominated for a Hugo and won a Locus. Was 2023 that bad a year of scifi? Whatever, I refuse to be any more negative about something ultimately harmless.
Not listed below- I also read the first 2 volumes of Tomie and the entirety of Uzumaki. (Because Shelved By Genre is doing a Junji Ito unit.)
This is a re-read. AND I finished reading it before the Laika Announcement!
I think Susanna Clark is a fucking genius and her two novels are both some of the greatest written work in the human language. I usually recommend people read Piranesi because it’s a shorter novel (at under 300 pages). Versus Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (800 pages).
Piranesi is about a man who lives in an empty labyrinth of rooms and statues that’s flooded periodically by a nearby sea. He only knows of one other person and when the existence of a third living person is revealed, it threatens the peace and science he’s established in his home.
It’s very dreamy and thoughtful and a bit poetic. Susanna Clarke has such strong prose and the subject of the novel is perfect for that.
Despite being online for the rise in popularity of Chuck Tingle, I’d never read any of his work. (I just checked, his first book was published in 2014 and I’ve been on Tumblr since 2012, so my online presence does predate his.)
I really enjoyed this book and thought it was a really interesting take on the subject (religious cults and conversion camps). The effectiveness of the horror elements in this novel were definitely effected by: me being a quick reader (which tends to undercut a lot of tension in books because I just zip right along) and me reading through Tomie chapters at the same time. It’s not fair to say Chuck Tingle’s book wasn’t horror enough when I was also reading Junji Ito at the same time. I do think the novel has very good tension, clear stakes, and a good spooky atmosphere. Whether or not it’s actually scary can be up to you.
I did enjoy the novel. It’s about a girl in a religious cult who begins seeing a demon that seems to draw a connection between her and a nearby conversion camp- even though she’s not gay and has never attended. Chuck Tingle writes unknown/new same sex attraction perfectly.
I received this book as part of a Discord Secret Santa and only got around to reading it this month. I check out a lot of things from the library (like Piranesi and Camp Damascus) and tend to put off books I own until I’m out of library books. This is a slightly random process because I put a lot of books on hold and when they’re available is not up to me, but the great Chicago Library system.
This book is described as a psychological thriller but you should know going into the novel that it’s a very slow burn. It’s terrific, like a trap. You always have an idea of what’s happening, but by the time it’s obvious it’s too late.
The novel is about an old woman named Ruth who lives alone in her New South Wales beach house. She imagines (maybe?) a tiger in her home and the next day a woman from the government shows up to give her assistance. Through the course of the book, Ruth reminisces about her time living with Christian missionary parents in Fuji.
The book is also a bit sad and makes you think about your older relatives. A blurb on the back of my copy says something like “reminds you to call your mom”. Which is true.
Kind of a lot of horror this month. But! I really enjoyed this, it may end up being one of my favorite books for the whole year.
This book is about a couple that loses a child, and then some fallout from that when the lung Magos (the mother) feeds grows into a little furry monster. It’s a really interesting book on grief and belonging. It’s also worth noting that a majority of characters in the book are Mexican (or at least in the case of the monster, born in Mexico City). There are also a lot of LGBT characters. There’s probably a lot of say about those themes and the theme of the work as a whole.
A lot of my thoughts about the book center around the ending, so I find it hard to write a lot here without spoiling anything. Instead, I will say I do enjoy well-written horror books about parental grief. I’m sensitive and should probably enjoy these kinds of works before I have a kid and it makes me too sad to think/red about your children dying.
T. Valentine 2025