Hello! And welcome back! This is going to
be my August wrap up. August... kind of got
away from me. I spent most of it down in Washington
DC, dealing with a family emergency, that
has since... mostly gotten better. Um. Everyone's,
at this point, okay, but they weren't for
a while, and it was very stressful. And I
did not read much as a result. I started to
eventually. I got - I got three things read
in August. Most of which happened in the last
like, week. It is now September, my birthday
month! So I expect lots of birthday wishes
in the next couple of weeks, in the comments.
ANYWAY! First thing that I finished in August
was The Power of Ritual by Casper Ter Kuile.
And, quick bias note, off the bat, uhh...
Casper is one of the co-hosts of Harry Potter
and the Sacred Text, which I've talked about
quite a few times on this channel. It's one
of my favorite podcasts. I already went into
this like, 1) I had an idea of what he was
gonna be talking about, and 2) I already like
him. Already on his side, in terms of enjoyment
of the book. I also listened to the audiobook,
which for me was even better, because it was
just like listening to a really long podcast,
uh, of Casper! I read this while I was down
in DC, so it was very like, cathartic in a
lot of ways. To just be talking about ways
to bring spirituality into your life, into
like a secular life. Mostly I just feel like,
I love the practices that Casper and Vanessa
do on the podcast with their sacred reading
of Harry Potter, buuut I don't know how to
make those things something that's applicable
to my life. And that's pretty much what the
book is about, it's about bringing sacred
practices into your life, even if you don't
necessarily attach them to "God." Or, the
Christian god, or a specific religion's god.
It talks a lot about sacred reading, it talks
about like, ways to make things that you already
do in your life sacred. How to like, infuse
them with more meaning. I'm not describing
this very well. But long story short, it's
about like, infusing daily things that you
do, daily rituals, with more meaning to give
yourself like, connection to the world. Like,
it's for people who are like, "spiritual but
not religious." And I think that works really
well. I would really recommend it. Casper
comes from a more-or-less Christian background,
but he did go to Harvard Divinity School,
so he is aware of more than just a Christian
background. So he's not coming at it with
just like, "Ex-Christian White Boy" perspective.
I gave it 4/5 stars, and it was a little bit
more "self-helpy"... than I expected. I was
expecting, I don't know... A bit more detachment
from it all, but in retrospect, thinking about
that, like, that's ridiculous. It's the whole
point, is about connection, and community,
and bringing people together, so of course
it's like, "LET ME HELP YOU!" 'Cause that's
how Casper is. I also think that right now
was a pretty good time to read it, because
y'know, life is hard. And finding a connection
to something bigger than yourself, even if
it's not ~*god*~, is kind of very comforting.
I mean, if it sounds interesting to you, I
would recommend picking it up, but if you're
just like not interested in religiosity or
spirituality, it's not for you. But I loved
it! And, 4/5 stars. The next book that I completed
in August, I read through most of July and
then a little bit in August, and that is Empire
of Sand by Tasha Suri. I gave this 3/5 stars.
This is the ARC from 2018, so I hope that
the finished copy is like, a little bit...
better? But yeah, I was just sort of um...
Underwhelmed, and a little bit disappointed
by it. Because I've heard so much good...
press, good buzz for it lately, that I decided
to pick it up! And I just... was like, okay,
it's fine, in the end. So this book is about
a noblewoman named Mehr, who's mixed race
in the context of her world. There is the
Empire of Ambha and there is the sort of native
Amrithi people who live in this world. And
she is mixed between these two, her mother
was Amrithi, her father is Ambhan. And...
it's a little bit about colonialism? But basically,
the main character gets stuck in this arranged
marriage. Um, and she gets taken away from
her home to uh, help the religious leader
of this world, control the world, basically.
And... I love the concept, I love this premise,
it's fantastic. I love a good arranged marriage-to-love.
I love politics being important to a fantasy
world. And then, the fantasy world itself
is fantastic. That is probably my favorite
thing about the whole book. It's that this
fantasy world is so vivid, so well-crafted.
Suri is clearly drawing from South Asian like,
history, mythology, geography, all of it!
It's very vivid as a result, because she's
building so much off of something real, but
twisting it to make her own, new thing! And
it works so well! Absolutely loved that. Where
it falls short for me is in the characters
themselves. They don't do... much... Like
the main character, she like Does one thing,
in the whole book! And it's right at the end!
Partially that's the world, but partially
that's also the character development. It's
like, you get told that Mehr is this spunky
girl who knows how to twist the system to
her benefit, and then she just literally never
does that. (*Snort*) I just found her, and
then her love interest, to be unbearably boring.
They, like, their romance was boring. Each
of them individually was boring. I felt a
little bad for them, 'cause they were in a
really bad situation, but nothing hit emotionally.
Even though there were scenes and scenarios
that were clearly supposed to be very dramatic
and intense, they all just fell flat for me
because I just wasn't invested in the people
as much as I was invested in the world and
the politics. The other thing that I didn't
like about this was that the middle section
of the book - which is like, f- The arc is
like 400 pages. I checked the final copy,
it's like 500 pages! - but the middle section
of the book is just like, a weird training
montage, for like 100 to 150 pages. Where
the same thing happens over and over again:
Mehr is in this bad situation and she's like,
"I'm gonna have hope and I'm gonna get through
this", and then something bad happens and
she's crushed! And she's terrified! And she
hates this! And it's awful! And then she goes
back to the love interest guy, and they talk
about it, and then suddenly she has hope again.
And just like, the thing, the only thing that
changes about it is like, the thing that's
bad that happens to her. For like 150 pages!!!
And I was about to put it down at that point
because I was just like.......... Can something
happen?! (*Laugh*) Uhm, but then someone else
who read it says that it picks up at the end.
Which it does...??? But not really, also at
the same time. Like, the characters and the
concrete plot of what happens felt very detached
from each other. The plot was interesting
and had narratively interesting points that
I really liked. But the way the characters
enacted them felt very boring. And I just
don't know... how to fix something like that?
I don't know. It was just a really weird reading
experience because I wanted to like it so
much because there were so many parts that
were great! But this one piece of it, of the
characters being unfathomably boring, just
made it impossible to like, REALLY enjoy it.
Um. BUMMER. 3/5 stars. It was like good...
But I was just like, pretty disappointed in
it in the end. And the last book that I read
in August.... I almost said March! Legitimately.
Like I know that there are like, "it's still
March" jokes, but I really almost said March.
The last book that I read in August was Homie
by Danez Smith. And before I get into this,
I need to make it very clear that in my last
video, I think? One of my last videos. Uhm,
when I read, uh, Don't Call Us Dead by Danez
Smith, I accidentally referred to them with
"he/him" pronouns. They use "THEY/THEM" pronouns!
That was my fault, I apologize. I will do
my absolute best to make sure that I am saying
they/them referring to Danez Smith going forward.
My bad. I'm sorry. Anyway... Homie by Danez
Smith! This one was uhm, much more about friendship
- in the Black community, specifically, friendship.
Which, I love that concept! It's such a great
thing! Like, poetry is so much usually about
either community, OR death, OR sadness, OR
love. And this was about the love of friends!
And... I think the concept's great! Ultimately,
I felt like this one didn't hit as hard, for
ME, as Don't Call Us Dead did. There were
poems that I really liked, there are poems
that I just didn't quite get. And maybe I
wasn't supposed to, because I'm not in the
Black community. And like, maybe it would
hit harder for someone who understood more?
That's possible! But for me, it was just sort
of like, there were some bits of universality
that I felt, that were like, about friendship
in the general sense, that like, even if it
was very specific to the Black community,
I could understand how that exact feeling
translates to other communities and their
styles of friendship, and how different communities
talk to and about their friends. Which I loved!
There were also some poems that were about
friends... dying, because of how much police
violence there is in the United States. And
how often I would assume Black people have
that experience, of losing a friend, um, to
violence in this country. I think what I found
the most interesting about the collection
was that it sort of starts in this happy place
of, of friendship, and loving your friends,
and - and a little bit of youth, and a little
bit of just like, love. And it moves into
the anger portion where, uh, you feel Smith's
resentment at losing friends to police violence
and white violence. I thought that was very
well done! Um, I gave it 3.5/5 stars, whereas
I gave Don't Call Us Dead 4/5 stars. They
did a great job with this poetry collection,
but I was just not... Mhm. Not - I was not
picking up what they were putting down for
some reason. Also I'm not great with poetry
anyway. There were things about this while
I was listening to the audiobook - which Danez
Smith reads themself! There were things about
the - the poems that like, sometimes I was
like "THIS is poetry! THIS is what I love
about poetry!" It's complicated, and interesting,
and intricate. And then there were other ones
that I was just kind of like, "This is kind
of like.... NOT what I'm looking for here."
I don't know where that line crosses for me,
but that line, in my enjoyment of poetry,
was crossed during... this... book. That's
just my taste, and ultimately I liked it less
than Don't Call Us Dead, but I did like it.
So, 3.5/5 stars. Currently, I am reading Harrow
the Ninth! (By Tamsyn Muir.) I am so stoked
about it! Look at this beautiful cover! I'm
SO STOKED. I'm not very far in yet, but things
have already gotten batshit crazy. In every
sense. And I don't know where this book is
going. I am so, so, so excited. And confused.
And I love to be confused at the beginning
of a book because then, there's so much and
so many places for it to go! This is the sequel
to Gideon the Ninth, from Harrow's perspective.
And there is a good portion of this that is
from 2nd Person point of view it looks like.
That's weird! And it makes sense because of
what's happening, but it's like, WILD! I am
just really enjoying this so far and I'm just
so nervous and excited for where this goes.
We now get to follow the necromancy princess
in space! There are also some characters from
Gideon that make it to Harrow, and I'm just
so confused and excited!!! So I think that
is all that I have to say. I think that I
have said... ENOUGH! (*Laugh*) And I think
that I will be reading more in September.
There is a couple of books coming out this
month that I'm really excited about, so that's
good. I'm home again, and I'm happy to be
here. I will see you next time, thank you
for watching!
