Author: Grey

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Review

“Song of the Forever Rains”

E. J. Mellow

I bounced off this book at first—it opens with a very violent scene, and that put me off for quite a while. Fortunately for this book, though, that happened right as I was going into one of my “I need to reread the Circle of Magic books” phases, so instead of completely putting it away, I wound up setting it aside for long enough to forget why I hadn’t finished it, and gave it another go. And as it turns out, it got a lot more interesting from there!

Broadly, what’s sticking with me here at the end of the book is the dreamlike quality of the world. There’s a poetry to it; the titular Forever Rains are a decade-long rainstorm brought about by grief bolstered with magic. Everything about the magic system, really, has that feeling to it—that whatever rules there may be, they only exist to service the story. Unlike most soft magic systems like that, though, it isn’t “the author can change the rules for the sake of the story,” it really feels more like “within this world, magic changes the rules of magic for the sake of whatever story it’s trying to tell.”

It made for a fun read; Lark, the protagonist, is a delight, and reading her interactions with her sisters brought a smile to my face. So, if you don’t mind the occasional bit of violence, I can recommend the book. Check it out.1

  1. This is a Bookshop affiliate link – if you buy it from here, I get a little bit of commission. It won’t hurt my feelings if you buy it elsewhere; honestly, I’d rather you check it out from your local library, or go to a local book store. I use Bookshop affiliate links instead of Amazon because they distribute a significant chunk of their profits to small, local book stores. ↩
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Review

“Uncommon Charm”

Emily Bergslien, Kat Weaver

I might have to go back and reread the first chapter now that I’ve finished this, just so I can understand what all was going on. The point-of-view protagonist spends that whole time talking a mile a minute, and there’s so much background that you don’t know yet that it’s rather overwhelming. Though, given that it’s a scene of someone being dropped off for a new apprenticeship, feeling overwhelmed is probably about right.

There’s a definite mystery vibe to this one, though it’s a cold case, as well as something of a coming-of-age. Really, quite a lot to shove into this short a book. It was an interesting read, though, and at least one reveal had me going back like “oh, that’s what that was about! oh! oh.” Check it out.1

  1. This is a Bookshop affiliate link – if you buy it from here, I get a little bit of commission. It won’t hurt my feelings if you buy it elsewhere; honestly, I’d rather you check it out from your local library, or go to a local book store. I use Bookshop affiliate links instead of Amazon because they distribute a significant chunk of their profits to small, local book stores. ↩
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Review

“Any Way the Wind Blows”

Rainbow Rowell

Oh dear, it has been four years since I read the first two books in this trilogy, no wonder it took me so long to remember who any of the characters were or what had been going on.

That said, after an adjustment period of the first part of the book to remember what was going on and who any of these people were, I quite enjoyed it. There’s solid closure for some of the lingering threads that I remember cropping up in the first book, which was quite nice to see, as well as some additional characters being brought in to add some more to it.

Switching from POV to POV was a bit rough at times, but Rowell used it well—so many opportunities for cliffhangers!

I enjoyed the whole concept of this series, really. It came from another of Rowell’s books, where what these books are was a fanfiction being written by the protagonist of that book. Very clearly meant to be an homage to the whole Harry Potter fandom, without incurring the wrath of She Who Must Not Be Named. But instead of writing the children’s book series, we have the final book and then the epilogue.1 Because, hey, a child soldier? They’re not exactly gonna be in a great place, mentally at the end of their war. Can’t really hand-wave past a decade of trauma. These characters deserve time to work through that.

Anyhow, I really enjoyed this book. What’s not to like? There’s a whole scene that I’d describe as “divorce court in Hell,” which I’d call a B-plot, roughly, but with the POV swapping you can kinda choose whichever plotline you’d like as the A-plot. So many choices! Give it a go.2

  1. The Harry Potter epilogue (and later sequel) being so bad that there’s a whole “Epilogue? What Epilogue?” tag. ↩
  2. This is a Bookshop affiliate link – if you buy it from here, I get a little bit of commission. It won’t hurt my feelings if you buy it elsewhere; honestly, I’d rather you check it out from your local library, or go to a local book store. I use Bookshop affiliate links instead of Amazon because they distribute a significant chunk of their profits to small, local book stores. ↩
Categories
Playlist

Playlist of the Month: October 2024

I think this may be the longest one of these I’ve ever posted? Gosh, it’s almost like I’m trying to distract myself from something.

On a happier(?) note, a reader1 asked me to try sharing a link to the entire playlist on Apple Music, in addition to the per-song thing I usually do, so I’m making an attempt at that; please enjoy the naming scheme I use when rotating these playlists out.

Hallelujah Anyway – Luke Sital-Singh on Hallelujah Anyway – Single

Machine Learning – J. Maya on Machine Learning – Single

Under The Surface – Sultan + Shepard & Nathan Nicholson on Endless, Dawn

Let Me Drown – Orville Peck on Bronco

Daytona Sand – Orville Peck on Bronco

Carson – Harry Strange on Carson – Single

Bones Shake – Hazlett on Bones Shake – Single

Believe Again – Luke Sital-Singh on Believe Again – Single

The Age of Believing – Aron Wright on The Age of Believing – Single

I Don’t Want To Lie (living room floor version) – Yoste on I Don’t Want To Lie (living room floor version) – Single

Stay High – One Room on Lagoona

Stay Out of Trouble – OPLURE on Stay Out of Trouble – Single

I AM BLACK – BERWYN on I AM BLACK – Single

Little Bit of Magic – Thorin Loeks on Little Bit of Magic – Single

Little Homies – Vince Staples on Dark Times

Louder – Kygo, Julia Michaels & Chance Peña on Louder – Single

Far As I Can Go – Ian Harrison on Far As I Can Go – Single

Neptune – Beauvois on Dimensions – EP

Asymmetry – Axel Flóvent on Away From This Dream

Zzz – EDEN on Zzz – Single

Pink Pony Club – Chappell Roan on Pink Pony Club – Single

places to be – Fred again.., Anderson .Paak & CHIKA on places to be – Single

My Kink Is Karma – Chappell Roan on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess

Swallows – Bailey & Lonely in the Rain on Swallows – Single

Tamly Maak – Amr Diab on Tamally Maak

Good God, Hot Damn – Hayden Blount on Good God, Hot Damn – Single

ten – Fred again.., Jozzy & Jim Legxacy on ten days

All-American Boy – Steve Grand on All American Boy

5ever – EDEN on 5ever – Single

Sad Girls (feat. Rema) – Clean Bandit & French The Kid on Sad Girls (feat. Rema) – Single

28 – Zach Bryan on The Great American Bar Scene

Moon River – Aquilo on A Quiet Invitation To A Hard Conversation

Edge of Saturday Night – The Blessed Madonna & Kylie Minogue on Godspeed

i think you can save me – Dimside on i think you can save me – Single

Dance (‘Til You Love Someone Else) – Sam Smith on Love Goes

My Mind (Now) – Paris Paloma on My Mind (Now) – Single

Devil on My Shoulder – Dylan Marlowe on Mid-Twenties Crisis

Calamity Song – The Decemberists on The King Is Dead

Sabrina (I Am A Party) – Fred again.. on Actual Life (April 14 – December 17 2020)

Instant Crush (feat. Julian Casablancas) – Daft Punk on Random Access Memories

Eat The Acid – Kesha on Gag Order

O Superman (For Massenet) – Laurie Anderson on Talk Normal: The Laurie Anderson Anthology (Remastered)

The Great American Bar Scene – Zach Bryan on The Great American Bar Scene

Oklahoma Smokeshow – Zach Bryan on Summertime Blues – EP2

peace u need – Fred again.. & Joy Anonymous on ten days

.seven – Fred again.. on ten days

Fólk fær andlit – Hildur Guðnadóttir on Fólk fær andlit – Single

where will i be – Fred again.. & Emmylou Harris on ten days

Silence in the Suburbs – George Pippen on Silence in the Suburbs (Reimagined) – EP

Chariot – The Midnight on Chariot – Single

Timeless – The Weeknd & Playboi Carti on Timeless – Single

Willfully Blind – Max McNown on Willfully Blind

When Evil Follows – Midnight Danger on When Evil Follows – Single

Dicked Down in Dallas – Trey Lewis on Dicked Down in Dallas – Single3

Midnight Ride (feat. Kylie Minogue & Diplo) [Sofi Tukker Remix] – Orville Peck on Midnight Ride (feat. Kylie Minogue & Diplo) [Sofi Tukker Remix] – Single

can’t sleep – Dimside on can’t sleep – Single

What If Nothing Breaks? – Snow Patrol on The Forest Is The Path4

Shorter Than A Night – Petit Biscuit on Discipline

Dancing In The Dark Alone – Deepend, Carston & Horxata on Dancing In The Dark Alone – Single

Cruel Unusual – Otherwish on iii, Empty Spaces

just stand there – Fred again.. & Soak on ten days5

The View Between Villages – Noah Kahan on Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever)

Pocket (Montreal) – EDEN on Friday Night Song – EP

Hold You – CRi on Hold You EP

When No One’s Watching – Charles Fauna on L I M B O

Fade Into You – Vide on Fade Into You – Single

fear less – Fred again.. & Sampha on ten days

NATURAL – Cameron Hawthorn on NATURAL – Single

Watch Me Trying – Harry Strange on Watch Me Trying – EP

Samradh Samradh – The Gloaming on The Gloaming6

Permanently Lonely (From “Skincare”) – Orville Peck on Permanently Lonely (From “Skincare”) – Single

I Don’t Wanna Leave – RÜFÜS DU SOL on Surrender

Say Adieu – Lonely in the Rain & Yorina on Say Adieu – Single

Somewhere – Harry Strange on Somewhere – Single

Like Whiskey – Dixon Dallas on Happy Anniversary

Chalk 1.3.3 (2017 Export Wav) – Flume & Jim-E Stack on Arrived Anxious, Left Bored

Bystander – robrobrob & Tailor on Save Me – Single

Loading – James Blake on Playing Robots Into Heaven

Manifest – Russ on Manifest – Single7

Desperate Guy – Isak Danielson on Desperate Guy – Single

My Youth Is Fading Away – Petit Biscuit on Discipline

Driftwood Choir – Ed Prosek, Portair & Driftwood Choir on Driftwood Choir – Single

Oak Island – Zach Bryan on The Great American Bar Scene

I’M DROWNING – BERWYN on WHO AM I

Sunrises (feat. Shaun Holton) – Max Cruise on Sunrises8

glow – Fred again.., Duskus, Four Tet & Skrillex on ten days

Midnight Drive – HurricaneTurtle on Midnight Drive – EP

Von dutch – Charli xcx on BRAT9

Hold Me In The Fire – Snow Patrol on The Forest Is The Path

Dancing In The Flames – The Weeknd on Dancing In The Flames – Single

Oh My Love – ConKi on Oh My Love – Single

S P E Y S I D E – Bon Iver on SABLE, – EP

always – Dimside on always – Single

Heaven On Earth – Hayden Blount on Heaven On Earth – Single

On Your Own – Shallou & ARDY on 24, summer – EP

Doblexxó – J Balvin & Feid on Rayo

Travelers – Echo Wolf & jacket. on Travelers – Single

Ocean Waves (feat. Sheilu) – SRTW & nourii on Ocean Waves (feat. Sheilu) – Single

We’re Ok – Yoste on We’re Ok – Single

Years That Fall – Snow Patrol on The Forest Is The Path

Maps – Yoste on Maps – Single

90 days – Dimside on 90 days – Single

Either Way – Thorin Loeks on Either Way – Single

the warmth – Paris Paloma on Cacophony

i saw you – Fred again.. on ten days

Towers – Zach Bryan on The Great American Bar Scene

Sweat – Isak Danielson on Sweat – Single

backseat – Fred again.., The Japanese House & Scott Hardkiss on ten days

Friday Night Song – EDEN on Friday Night Song – EP

Talk talk featuring troye sivan – Charli xcx & Troye Sivan on Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat

Sorry 4 The Wait – Lil Wayne on Sorry 4 The Wait

Heavy Is the Crown – LINKIN PARK on From Zero

East Side of Sorrow – Zach Bryan on Zach Bryan10

Surrender – Kygo & Fred Well on KYGO

Haku – Yoste on All’s Well and I’m Worse Than Ever

Going Deep – Yardhand on Move 2 – EP

Nothingleft – Yoste on All’s Well and I’m Worse Than Ever

hourglass – Le Youth, Lexer & Bailey on & – EP

All My Fault – Swimming Paul & Thals on All My Fault – Single

Sympathy is a knife – Charli xcx on BRAT

The River – Ed Prosek, Portair & Driftwood Choir on The River – Single

Afterglow – Goth Babe on Oregon Coast – Single

Isla – Yoste on All’s Well and I’m Worse Than Ever

Totoro – Yoste on All’s Well and I’m Worse Than Ever

AETERNA – Coldplay on Moon Music11

Lonely – Yoste on All’s Well and I’m Worse Than Ever

Teenage Luv – Lost In Pacific & Hadar Sopher on Teenage Luv – Single

Ecstasy Homosexuality (Radio Edit) – The Irrepressibles on Ecstasy Homosexuality – EP

Break My Love – RÜFÜS DU SOL on Inhale / Exhale

Royal We – Janani K. Jha on Royal We – Single

  1. Apparently I have readers? Hello, readers! ↩
  2. I vehemently disagree with some of the Lyrics Genius analysis of this song. Not enough to make an account and write up my own, but still. ↩
  3. I don’t know how I feel about the fact that I know all the lyrics to this already. ↩
  4. Good for singing/sobbing along to in the shower. ↩
  5. I’ve got a few songs in various playlists that I just skip immediately right now, but can’t bring myself to remove. This is one. “Haven’t heard your voice for a while” ↩
  6. Pretty sure I stole this off my friends’ wedding playlist. It’s a vibe. ↩
  7. “That’s what I call foresight, that’s what I call manifesting” is fun to sing along with. ↩
  8. I’ve finally given in and made an entire separate playlist for this vibe of track. Y’know, the kind of thing that you’d hear as background music during a car chase scene set in 1980s LA? ↩
  9. Yes, yes, I know, I am extremely late to the brat summer ↩
  10. A little bit too on-the-nose at the moment, but when I’m in the mood for it, a good one. ↩
  11. New Coldplay? In 2024? Weird in several ways. ↩
Categories
Review

“The Naturalist Society”

Carrie Vaughn

This was one of the free books that Amazon hands out every month as part of Prime, which meant my expectations were low—there’s the occasional gem in there, but on average, those books tend to feel rather bland. They’re aimed at the widest possible audience, so of course they’re generic.

This, though? This was a delight. The fact that two of the three protagonists were a gay couple was already putting it in the top 10% of Free Prime Books for me. That trio felt something like a Venn diagram to me—these two are queer, these two come across as being autistic, these two are part of the upper class but looked down upon for not being old white guys. It feels all the more progressive for being set in the late 1800s; everyone is so concerned with scandal, and for the majority of the book the scandal is simply that gasp, a woman is interested in science? Doesn’t show know that’s not a feminine interest? The shame!

I almost bounced off this book, at the beginning. It’s a rough time for me to be reading a book that has a scene of someone listening to a loved one breathe their last. I’m glad I kept with it, though—not just because of the aforementioned delightful setting and characters, but because so much of the book was about Beth fighting for her right to grieve, and doing so in the way that was right for her.

So, for that, and all the other things, I absolutely loved this book. It’s so rare that my “why don’t you just-“ mutterings at the book actually turn out to be what they do, and work great for everyone. If I’ve got my scheduling right, it’s only available for pre-order at the moment, but I think it’s well worth it; check it out.1

  1. This is a Bookshop affiliate link – if you buy it from here, I get a little bit of commission. It won’t hurt my feelings if you buy it elsewhere; honestly, I’d rather you check it out from your local library, or go to a local book store. I use Bookshop affiliate links instead of Amazon because they distribute a significant chunk of their profits to small, local book stores. ↩
Categories
Review

“The Vegetarian Flavor Bible”

Karen Page, Andrew Dornenburg

Once again, the Flavor Bible format is a weird format to read and then write a review of. The first two chapters, before it got into the A-Z list section, were quite interesting to read! I was, frankly, already sold on a nearly-vegetarian diet, so a lot of it felt like preaching to the choir, but I enjoyed the discussion regardless.

The majority of the book continues to feel sorta like sitting down to read through a Wikipedia category page, and makes for an absolutely dismal epub, but it’s a valuable resource nevertheless. I actually ordered myself a print copy to keep in the kitchen in the future… but depending on how that goes, may wind up putting together a database I can query against instead. Last time I thought of Pokemon type charts; this time, I thought of SQL schema.1

Having now bought this book twice, it’s clear to see that I appreciate it, and as such, that I can recommend it, maybe even more than the original Flavor Bible. Check it out!2

  1. Two tables, basically: the keyword, and then a join table from keyword back to itself, with an additional field on it for the level of relationship between the two. ↩
  2. This is a Bookshop affiliate link – if you buy it from here, I get a little bit of commission. It won’t hurt my feelings if you buy it elsewhere; honestly, I’d rather you check it out from your local library, or go to a local book store. I use Bookshop affiliate links instead of Amazon because they distribute a significant chunk of their profits to small, local book stores. ↩
Categories
Review

“Under a Gilded Moon”

Joy Jordan-Lake

Downton Abbey, but make it Appalachia.1

I’m of mixed opinions about this book. It was very well-written; the prose was a delight to read through. But it has that ‘literary’ feel to it; there’s no real closure at the end, a token bit here or there but not nearly enough to leave me feeling like the story has actually been wrapped up. I suppose that’s what I get for reading historical fiction; when the person you want to get their comeuppance is an actual historical figure, you can’t deliver on that desire without breaking the timeline. Alas.

As I said, it’s a pretty book to read; I don’t regret the time I spent with it. I just wish it was a more just world; back to my other genres I go.

  1. I haven’t actually watched any Downton Abbey; I just know that it’s got that above stairs/below stairs split going on. ↩
Categories
Review

“Make Something Wonderful”

The Steve Jobs Archive

I’m really not sure why I bothered being surprised that this book is beautifully-typeset. The story about Steve taking the calligraphy class at Reed shows up a handful of times, it’s very clear that typography was important to him, so of course the definitive book about his life would put a great deal of care into that aspect.

Beyond the typography, though, it’s clear that a great deal of care went into everything, from the selection of photos to the editorial aspect of which quotes to use and in what order. There’s even a one more thing after the index, which is the sort of touch that made me think, this book really knows who’s going to be reading it. The audience of this book is the exact sort of people who are excited about One More Thing, who have fond memories of One More Thing, who dream about One More Thing.

When you’ve lived your life in as much of a spotlight as Steve Jobs did, it’s easy to be quotable. There’s a lot of material available, particularly when the person doing the picking is your official archivist with access to things like your email archive. But I remain impressed with how well-spoken Jobs was, and how poignant some of the quotes were. Hindsight is 20/20, and sure can make someone look prophetic about their own life.

How many of you have seen the birth of another human? It is a miracle. And how many of you have witnessed the death of a human? It is a mystery beyond our comprehension. No human alive knows what happens to “us” upon or after our death. Some believe this, others that, but no one really knows at all. Again, most people of your age have not thought about these events very much, and it’s as if we shelter you from them, afraid that the thought of mortality will somehow wound you. For me it’s the opposite: to know my arc will fall makes me want to blaze while I am in the sky. Not for others, but for myself, for the trail I know I am leaving.

Steve Jobs, speaking at the Palo Alto High School graduation in 1996

I like to think that I’m not all-in on the Cult of Jobs, but there’s no denying that the guy was interesting. The book is free to read online, in a very well-made ebook form, so go check it out.

Categories
Playlist

Playlist of the Month: September 2024

My dad died this month.

When I joined choir, when I got a music scholarship and started the music major, we all joked that nobody knew where the signing talent came from. Wasn’t on mom’s side, wasn’t on dad’s. It’s still a mystery.

It wasn’t until now that I realized, there’s no question of where I got my love of music. Growing up, my dad always had music going. A big hi-fi system in his living room, a rack of CDs beside it; binders upon binders of CDs in the backseat of his car, and my sister and I often had the opportunity to play DJ. He gave me my first MP3 player, and later my first iPod. When ripping CDs was all the rage, he gave me a hard drive with hundreds of gigabytes of music on it — he and his friends had, apparently, been ripping every CD they could get their hands on for months, and that was the fruit of their labors. I got to experience the infinite selection of streaming music a decade before anyone else did.

He wasn’t a perfect man by any stretch of the imagination, but he was my dad, and he loved me.

So here’s to you, dad. I love you, and wherever you are, I hope you’ve got a good sound system.

Hallelujah Anyway – Luke Sital-Singh on Hallelujah Anyway – Single

Call Your Mom – Noah Kahan on Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever)

Machine Learning – J. Maya on Machine Learning – Single

Beneath Oak Trees – Dylan Gossett on No Better Time – EP

Can I Ask – Yoste on A Place To Exist

Under The Surface – Sultan + Shepard & Nathan Nicholson on Endless, Dawn

Boys Of Faith (feat. Bon Iver) – Zach Bryan on Boys Of Faith – EP

Kalahari Down – Orville Peck on Bronco1

Let Me Drown – Orville Peck on Bronco

Daytona Sand – Orville Peck on Bronco

Want You (living room floor version) – Yoste on Want You (living room floor version) – Single

One More Light – LINKIN PARK on One More Light

Carson – Harry Strange on Carson – Single

Bones Shake – Hazlett on Bones Shake – Single

Believe Again – Luke Sital-Singh on Believe Again – Single

The Age of Believing – Aron Wright on The Age of Believing – Single

I Don’t Want To Lie (living room floor version) – Yoste on I Don’t Want To Lie (living room floor version) – Single

How Far Will We Take It? – Orville Peck & Noah Cyrus on Stampede

Stay High – One Room on Lagoona

Stay Out of Trouble – OPLURE on Stay Out of Trouble – Single

I AM BLACK – BERWYN on I AM BLACK – Single

Little Bit of Magic – Thorin Loeks on Little Bit of Magic – Single

Little Homies – Vince Staples on Dark Times

Midnight Ride – Orville Peck, Kylie Minogue & Diplo on Midnight Ride – Single

Louder – Kygo, Julia Michaels & Chance Peña on Louder – Single

Far As I Can Go – Ian Harrison on Far As I Can Go – Single

Can’t Just Be Me – Vincent Mason on Can’t Just Be Me – EP

Macbeth – Max McNown on Macbeth – Single

Coming Home – ORACLE & Holochrome on Coming Home – EP

Mother – Allman Brown on Second Son, Pt. 2 – EP

Neptune – Beauvois on Dimensions – EP

Kaya – Yoste on Kaya – Single

Asymmetry – Axel Flóvent on Away From This Dream

Zzz – EDEN on Zzz – Single

Better Without You – Dixon Dallas on Happy Anniversary

Pink Pony Club – Chappell Roan on Pink Pony Club – Single

I Love You Always Forever – Donna Lewis on Now In a Minute2

JOYRIDE – Kesha on JOYRIDE – Single

places to be – Fred again.., Anderson .Paak & CHIKA on places to be – Single

Rhinestone Cowboy – Orville Peck, TJ Osborne, Waylon Payne & Fancy Hagood on Stampede3

Ever You’re Gone – Orville Peck & Teddy Swims on Stampede

My Kink Is Karma – Chappell Roan on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess

Love Me Back – Max McNown on Love Me Back – Single

Swallows – Bailey & Lonely in the Rain on Swallows – Single

Tamly Maak – Amr Diab on Tamally Maak

Good God, Hot Damn – Hayden Blount on Good God, Hot Damn – Single

Until The End – Yoste on Until The End – Single

Circles – Sines of Summer on Circles – Single

Time Well Wasted – The Fray on The Fray Is Back – EP4

ten – Fred again.., Jozzy & Jim Legxacy on ten days

All-American Boy – Steve Grand on All American Boy

Sleeping All Alone – Dixon Dallas on Happy Anniversary

Faded Evergreen – Ed Prosek, Portair & Driftwood Choir on Faded Evergreen – Single

Noor Al Ain – Amr Diab on Noor Al Ain

5ever – EDEN on 5ever – Single

Sad Girls (feat. Rema) – Clean Bandit & French The Kid on Sad Girls (feat. Rema) – Single

Majuy – Hayden Calnin on All Kinds of Light

American Nights – Zach Bryan on The Great American Bar Scene

28 – Zach Bryan on The Great American Bar Scene

Will You? – The Irrepressibles on Be Wild – Single

Bass Boat – Zach Bryan on The Great American Bar Scene5

Moon River – Aquilo on A Quiet Invitation To A Hard Conversation

Where Are We Now? – Orville Peck & Mickey Guyton on Stampede

Want You To Want It – Aquilo on A Quiet Invitation To A Hard Conversation

Don’t Look Down – The Fray on The Fray Is Back – EP

Edge of Saturday Night – The Blessed Madonna & Kylie Minogue on Godspeed

i think you can save me – Dimside on i think you can save me – Single

Dance (‘Til You Love Someone Else) – Sam Smith on Love Goes

Back At Your Door – Orville Peck & Debbii Dawson on Stampede

Heavy – Peach PRC on Heavy – Single

High Tide – Hayden Blount on Good God, Hot Damn – Single

Glowing – Matias Roden on The Plea EP

California Dreamin’ – Diana Krall on Wallflower (Deluxe Edition)

My Mind (Now) – Paris Paloma on My Mind (Now) – Single

Nobody’s Soldier – Hozier on Unaired – EP

I Forgot What’s Love – Petit Biscuit & Cub Sport on Discipline

Chasing Cars – Sleeping At Last on Covers, Vol. 26

OUTLAW – Cameron Hawthorn on OUTLAW – Single

Version of Me – Harry Strange on Version of Me – Single

Devil on My Shoulder – Dylan Marlowe on Mid-Twenties Crisis

Northern Thunder – Zach Bryan on The Great American Bar Scene7

The Way Back – Zach Bryan on The Great American Bar Scene

July – Hozier on Unaired – EP

This Feeling – Axel Flóvent on Away From This Dream

I Had Some Help (feat. Morgan Wallen) – Post Malone on I Had Some Help (feat. Morgan Wallen) – Single

5AM – Amber Run on 5AM (Deluxe) WEB

Calamity Song – The Decemberists on The King Is Dead

Sabrina (I Am A Party) – Fred again.. on Actual Life (April 14 – December 17 2020)

Instant Crush (feat. Julian Casablancas) – Daft Punk on Random Access Memories

Lazy (12: 00 Version) – Elliot Moss & RUBIO on Lazy (12: 00 Version) – Single

Eat The Acid – Kesha on Gag Order

Hurt – Johnny Cash on American IV: The Man Comes Around

Little Talks – Of Monsters and Men on My Head Is An Animal

Sumarið sem aldrei kom – Jónsi on Shiver8

O Superman (For Massenet) – Laurie Anderson on Talk Normal: The Laurie Anderson Anthology (Remastered)

Your Hand In Mine – Explosions in the Sky on Friday Night Lights [Original Movie Soundtrack]9

  1. Went to this concert with my sister. This was the one we both cried through—Peck introduced it as the feeling of homesickness, and not being able to go back. Yeah. Yeah. ↩
  2. music blasting with the top off the jeep over in central Oregon ↩
  3. I’m putting together a playlist for the celebration of life, and both this and the original version are on there. I think he would’ve liked this cover. ↩
  4. I considered putting How to Save a Life on this playlist but couldn’t do it. Time Well Wasted doesn’t have the same poignancy; “and I would have stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life” still hurts too much.
    That whole album is… the feeling of walking down the hall into his office in the house he lived in when I was in elementary school. ↩
  5. I don’t actually know if dad listened to this album at all. I hope he did. It was on my list of things to tell him about next time I talked to him; it seemed like it’d be right up his alley. ↩
  6. This song was already gonna make me sad, so what the hell, why not have the Sleeping At Last version, his covers always turn of the depression quotient. ↩
  7. This was the first country song I could start listening to again. It’s the feeling of fond remembrance, not just sad. ↩
  8. This is just some good “put your headphones in, crank up the volume, and cry” music. ↩
  9. I had tickets to see Explosions in the Sky when they were in Portland, and went to the concert fully expecting to cry when they played Your Hand in Mine. Turns out they did an extended version! More crying than planned.
    I love this band, and very clearly remember dad playing this at night sometimes. I was insomniac as hell as a kid, and this was one of the things that could help me get to sleep. ↩
Categories
Review

“The Unbalancing”

R. B. Lemberger

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one. It’s definitely an interesting world—I’m particularly a fan of anything where the Ancient Magic/Technology gets explained in terms of the current stuff. And the setting is remarkably idyllic… at first.

That’s where my uncertainty comes in; Lemberger created a really beautiful world, one that’s, whilst not perfectly utopian, a heck of a lot closer than ours is. And this story is, fundamentally, about the end of that civilization. Entropy comes for us all, I suppose.

That said, for the setting and magic system alone, I’d recommend reading this one. It’s fairly short, and approachable in that; the names threw me a bit at the beginning, but the naming as a whole makes more sense as the story goes on. Give it a read.1

  1. This is a Bookshop affiliate link – if you buy it from here, I get a little bit of commission. It won’t hurt my feelings if you buy it elsewhere; honestly, I’d rather you check it out from your local library, or go to a local book store. I use Bookshop affiliate links instead of Amazon because they distribute a significant chunk of their profits to small, local book stores. ↩
Categories
Review

“This Way Out”

Tufayel Ahmed

This is a contender for “most stressful book I’ve ever read.” Science fiction and fantasy are easier; when the stakes are ‘the fate of the entire world,’ it’s easy to remember that these aren’t my problems they’re dealing with. This, though, is much more approachable in scale… which means it feels like the sort of thing I’d actually have to figure out.

Boy, am I glad that I’m already on the “going to therapy” train, reading through someone else’s breaking point that gets them to start was rough. Don’t want to be back there, thanks very much.

All that said, I did really enjoy the book. It’s not quite the Hero’s Journey, more of an immediate plummet and then a slow climb back up, but there’s a palpable sense of progress throughout. You can feel the protagonist’s work they’re putting in, and seeing it actually pay off feels very rewarding. Stick with it through the painful beginning, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too.1

  1. This is a Bookshop affiliate link – if you buy it from here, I get a little bit of commission. It won’t hurt my feelings if you buy it elsewhere; honestly, I’d rather you check it out from your local library, or go to a local book store. I use Bookshop affiliate links instead of Amazon because they distribute a significant chunk of their profits to small, local book stores. ↩
Categories
Review

“Through a Darkening Glass”

R.S. Maxwell

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected to. Honestly, most of the way through I was looking at the protagonist like “you’re kinda the worst.” She is, though — bursts into this town and starts nosing around in everyone’s business, digging up the past, and it’s not even a “let’s help people figure this out!” kind of thing, she’s just over here like “I’m an English major and I’m gonna write a book about this!” That said, by the end of the book I was just accepting that that’s what she was like, and she learned some discretion at least, and meanwhile I was having so much fun with everything else going on that I didn’t much mind it anymore.

The overall feeling of this book is… a Gordian knot. It actually did a great job of tripping me up; I thought I’d figured out how everything was going to be tied together into one big bow at the end, and I was hilariously wrong. I think that’s about all I can say without it being too much of a spoiler.

Suffice it to say, I enjoyed the heck out of this book. It struck a truly wonderful balance between some Gothic spookiness, a romance arc, some mystery, a surprising amount of comedy, and a reasonably-accurate historical feel. Absolutely worth a read; check it out.1

  1. This is a Bookshop affiliate link – if you buy it from here, I get a little bit of commission. It won’t hurt my feelings if you buy it elsewhere; honestly, I’d rather you check it out from your local library, or go to a local book store. I use Bookshop affiliate links instead of Amazon because they distribute a significant chunk of their profits to small, local book stores. ↩
Categories
Review

“Cosmic Cats and Fantastic Furballs”

Mary A. Turzillo

In general, I enjoy anthologies; it’s a whole bunch of little things, so generally, even if one of them is bad, the next one won’t be. That said, on the occasions where I consistently don’t like them, they’re an edge case in the way I think about books. In general, my rule is that I have to get something like 10-20% of the way through a book before I can determine that I just don’t like it and won’t be finishing it. With an anthology, I instead feel like I have to give each story a shot… and then the stories themselves are, almost always, too short to be worth skipping once I’m partially through.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that I didn’t really enjoy this one. There’s just something about the way that Turzillo thinks, or writes, that didn’t click with me. Oh well, it wasn’t terribly long; on to the next book.

Categories
Playlist

Playlist of the Month: August 2024

Lotta country in this one, I think that may just be what August sounds like to me.

Hallelujah Anyway – Luke Sital-Singh on Hallelujah Anyway – Single

Call Your Mom – Noah Kahan on Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever)

Machine Learning – J. Maya on Machine Learning – Single

Beneath Oak Trees – Dylan Gossett on No Better Time – EP

Can I Ask – Yoste on A Place To Exist

Under The Surface – Sultan + Shepard & Nathan Nicholson on Endless, Dawn

Boys Of Faith (feat. Bon Iver) – Zach Bryan on Boys Of Faith – EP

Kalahari Down – Orville Peck on Bronco

Let Me Drown – Orville Peck on Bronco

Daytona Sand – Orville Peck on Bronco

Want You (living room floor version) – Yoste on Want You (living room floor version) – Single

Midnight Magic – Charles Fauna on L I M B O

One More Light – LINKIN PARK on One More Light

Carson – Harry Strange on Carson – Single

The Hurtin’ Kind – Orville Peck & Midland on Stampede

Down Bad – Taylor Swift on THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY

Bones Shake – Hazlett on Bones Shake – Single

Believe Again – Luke Sital-Singh on Believe Again – Single

The Age of Believing – Aron Wright on The Age of Believing – Single

Miénteme – Orville Peck & Bu Cuaron on Stampede

I Don’t Want To Lie (living room floor version) – Yoste on I Don’t Want To Lie (living room floor version) – Single

How Far Will We Take It? – Orville Peck & Noah Cyrus on Stampede

Stay High – One Room on Lagoona

Stay Out of Trouble – OPLURE on Stay Out of Trouble – Single

I AM BLACK – BERWYN on I AM BLACK – Single

Little Bit of Magic – Thorin Loeks on Little Bit of Magic – Single

Shadow II – Charles Fauna on L I M B O

Little Homies – Vince Staples on Dark Times

Midnight Ride – Orville Peck, Kylie Minogue & Diplo on Midnight Ride – Single

Black&Blue – Vince Staples on Dark Times

Louder – Kygo, Julia Michaels & Chance Peña on Louder – Single

Far As I Can Go – Ian Harrison on Far As I Can Go – Single

Can’t Just Be Me – Vincent Mason on Can’t Just Be Me – EP

In Your Eyes – Sung on In Your Eyes – Single

feelslikeimfallinginlove – Coldplay on Moon Music

Macbeth – Max McNown on Macbeth – Single

Starforce – Saffari on Starforce – Single

Coming Home – ORACLE & Holochrome on Coming Home – EP

Mother – Allman Brown on Second Son, Pt. 2 – EP

Neptune – Beauvois on Dimensions – EP

Kaya – Yoste on Kaya – Single

Asymmetry – Axel Flóvent on Away From This Dream

Zzz – EDEN on Zzz – Single

I’m Your Man – Charles Fauna on L I M B O

Better Without You – Dixon Dallas on Happy Anniversary

Shallow Water – Elderbrook on Shallow Water – Single

Spin My Head – Massane & LeyeT on Visage 7 (Spin My Head) – Single

One Day – HAEVN on One Day – Single

Pink Pony Club – Chappell Roan on Pink Pony Club – Single

I Love You Always Forever – Donna Lewis on Now In a Minute

RA TA TA – Mahmood on RA TA TA – Single

As Above, So Below – Hayden Calnin on As Above, So Below – Single

JOYRIDE – Kesha on JOYRIDE – Single

places to be – Fred again.., Anderson .Paak & CHIKA on places to be – Single

Rhinestone Cowboy – Orville Peck, TJ Osborne, Waylon Payne & Fancy Hagood on Stampede1

Ever You’re Gone – Orville Peck & Teddy Swims on Stampede

Leaving Home – Ian Harrison on Ways To Get On Out – EP

My Kink Is Karma – Chappell Roan on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess2

Love Me Back – Max McNown on Love Me Back – Single

High (Slowed + Reverb) – ORYL on High – Single

Stockholm (Hidden Tapes Remix) – Penny & Sparrow on Horse Color Two

Swallows – Bailey & Lonely in the Rain on Swallows – Single

Tamly Maak – Amr Diab on Tamally Maak

Unfair Love (feat. Shaun Holton) – Max Cruise on Unfair Love (feat. Shaun Holton) – Single

Composure – Charles Fauna on L I M B O

Good God, Hot Damn – Hayden Blount on Good God, Hot Damn – Single3

Feel It All – Chance Peña on Feel It All – Single

Leave With My Love – ayokay on Leave With My Love – Single

Until The End – Yoste on Until The End – Single

ESE VATO – DOMELIPA & Ozuna on ESE VATO – Single

Circles – Sines of Summer on Circles – Single

Time Well Wasted – The Fray on The Fray Is Back – EP4

ten – Fred again.., Jozzy & Jim Legxacy on ten days

All-American Boy – Steve Grand on All American Boy

Sleeping All Alone – Dixon Dallas on Happy Anniversary

Dior – Kirky on Dior – Single

why did you invite me to your wedding – Kevin Atwater on why did you invite me to your wedding – Single

Faded Evergreen – Ed Prosek, Portair & Driftwood Choir on Faded Evergreen – Single

Close Your Eyes – Matias Roden on Close Your Eyes – Single

Places – Elderbrook & Shimza on Another Touch

Noor Al Ain – Amr Diab on Noor Al Ain5

Dusk – ford. on (The) Evening

Hurt – Sleeping At Last on Hurt – Single

Banadek Taala – Amr Diab on Banadek Taala

5ever – EDEN on 5ever – Single

Sad Girls (feat. Rema) – Clean Bandit & French The Kid on Sad Girls (feat. Rema) – Single

Hesitate – Golden Vessel & Emerson Leif on Hesitate – Single

Paper Money (feat. Elliott Skinner) – Clothing on From Memory

Majuy – Hayden Calnin on All Kinds of Light

American Nights – Zach Bryan on The Great American Bar Scene

Babe, I’m All Yours – Garrett Kato on Babe, I’m All Yours – Single

28 – Zach Bryan on The Great American Bar Scene6

Addicted – Does it matter & Francis Skyes on Second Hand Love

Ketamine (feat. Tobe Nwigwe) – Penny & Sparrow on Ketamine (feat. Tobe Nwigwe) – Single

Will You? – The Irrepressibles on Be Wild – Single

When the Sun Goes Down – Axel Flóvent on Away From This Dream

Bass Boat – Zach Bryan on The Great American Bar Scene

Moon River – Aquilo on A Quiet Invitation To A Hard Conversation

Where Are We Now? – Orville Peck & Mickey Guyton on Stampede

Want You To Want It – Aquilo on A Quiet Invitation To A Hard Conversation

Is What It Is – Chance Peña on Is What It Is – Single

Garden – Charles Fauna on L I M B O

I Love You’s – Hailee Steinfeld on I Love You’s – Single

Magnétique – LukHash on Magnétique – Single

WE PRAY – Coldplay, Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna & TINI on Moon Music

Don’t Look Down – The Fray on The Fray Is Back – EP

Into Dust – Mazzy Star on So Tonight That I Might See

Edge of Saturday Night – The Blessed Madonna & Kylie Minogue on Godspeed

Razones – Ozuna, Anuel AA, DJ Luian & Mambo Kingz on Razones – Single

i think you can save me – Dimside on i think you can save me – Single7

Capilano – OCULA on Lost Horizon – EP

Enhorabuena – Manuel Turizo on Enhorabuena – Single

Charlie Brown – Rolipso on Charlie Brown – Single8

Dance (‘Til You Love Someone Else) – Sam Smith on Love Goes

Doja – Central Cee on Doja – Single

  1. Oh, this hits ↩
  2. The songwriting on this is just perfect, truly. ↩
  3. Very fun to sing along to. ↩
  4. Honestly, this EP is perfectly titled. ↩
  5. Been doing a bit of music recommendation swapping with some coworkers, so far I’m delighted by how well it’s working at getting me to listen to new stuff. ↩
  6. Really been enjoying this album by Zach Bryan! ↩
  7. Very Fred again.. feel to it, on the more ‘chill’ end of that spectrum. ↩
  8. return of the yodelstep ↩
Categories
Review

“Shards of Honor”

Lois McMaster Bujold

Somehow I had mixed this up in my head with the Honor Harrington books. Which isn’t much of a mystery; it’s space combat sci-fi, it’s got “Honor” in the name, easy enough to conflate.

That said, “Shards of Honor” was a good read; it’s got some Star Trek vibes in the beginning, but getting into the actual Space Combat Sci-Fi parts, it has a whole bunch of different vibes to it. The latter story arc got surprisingly comedic; I think it’s just the protagonist having a solid sense of humor as she faces adversity.

All in all, I enjoyed the read! Give it a go.1

  1. This is an Amazon affiliate link – if you buy it from here, I get a little bit of commission. It won’t hurt my feelings if you buy it elsewhere; honestly, I’d rather you check it out from your local library, or go to a local book store. I prefer Bookshop affiliate links to Amazon when possible, but in this case, the book wasn’t available there, so it’ll have to do. ↩