Aubrey Gordon recommended this book, so of course, I had to read it.

When I saw this title in the Netgalley-verse, I was immediately intrigued, as I remembered the My Favorite Murder episode about Belle Gunness. Bruce makes an imaginative deep dive into the background and crimes of the real Belle Gunness and I really enjoyed it, despite the heavy subject matter.

Needless to say, this book is very sad and heavy. Kate continues to feel lost for the remainder of the book and we watch her life fall apart slowly.

I had high expectations for this book and it somehow exceeded them. I have been following Chloe Angyal's Substack, My Pointe Is..., for a few years and have been eagerly awaiting this book ever since she announced she was writing it. Angyal covers a lot of ground with attention to detail, empathy, and nuance in 300 short pages.

I appreciate that Sancton draws from a variety of firsthand accounts – including diaries previously un-cited – and acknowledges and points out the discrepancies between the accounts of different crew members

“Like all perfect moments, this one is ruined by other people.”

Hard same, Maeve.

The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell is a multi-family, intergenerational family drama set in [what is now] Zambia near Victoria Falls, colloquially known as "The Old Drift" in the colonial period. It follows a set of grandmothers (Sibilla, Agnes, and Matha), mothers (Sylvia, Isabella, and Thandiwe), and their children, (Joseph, Jacob, and Naila). Intertwined with the story of the characters through time (1939-2023), is the drone of mosquitoes and the threat of malaria.

Starvation follows Wes, a teenage wrestler whose introduction to disordered eating comes from his ballet dancer girlfriend, Caila, who is also battling an eating disorder of her own.

I have not seen The Greatest Showman, but I am highly suspicious of it. P. T. Barnum sought to profit off people with disabilities, "deformities," and disfigurement, which is certainly not a good look. This book follows a similar "freak show," but makes clear from the beginning that Barnum's business model was terrible and damaging. In addition, Elizabeth Macneal describes other very real people who had been "displayed," including Charles Stratton (a.k.a. Tom Thumb) and Sara Baartman (a.k.a. The Hottentot Venus), for creepy and often racist reasons.

Is Kumiko a werewolf? We never get an answer.

Of Women and Salt is one of my favorite books of 2021, so far. This book focuses on the overlapping stories of immigration in Florida and overlapping Latinx identities. In particular, this book focuses on the difference between the Cuban community in Miami and other Latinx communities.

I am not sure how to describe this book – intense? weird? uncomfortable? This was like a more confusing, modern Monkey Wrench Gang (a compliment, FYI).

As much as I love the ebook loans from my local library, the loan length of popular books is...a true challenge. I had to rush through all 517 pages of *The Once and Future Witches* by Alix E. Harrow in 7 days and I finished it with about 35 minutes left on my loan, so the plot is all a bit of a blur. What I *do* remember from the plot is that it pays real attention to the very real race and respectability politics that were at play in the for-realsies suffrage movement. Stuff You Missed in History Class has several episodes about the women's suffrage movement and I would especially recommend their episode on [Frederick Douglass](https://www.stitcher.com/show/stuff-you-missed-in-history-class/episode/frederick-douglass-50974361).

Kent Haruf is canceled for the grave crime of absolutely destroying my heart.

The growth of their friendship is really wholesome and gave me all the feels. Loneliness and companionship is something to which people of all ages can relate but I appreciate that these characters are elderly.

A quick recap: the Element Games have finished. In the party that follows the culmination of the competition, a dark force rises and threatens the Maresh Empire and the balance of power in all four Londons. Finally all together again, Rhy, Kell, Lila, Alucard, and Holland team up for their biggest challenge yet.

A Frolic Through Fiction has brought me many excellent book recommendations (thanks, Ashleigh!), but From Blood and Ash was not one of them.

I might give it another try in the future

Previously, I have read Aliyah Whiteley's The Beauty and was what you might call "weirded out" by it. "Thoroughly disturbed" is another phrase that comes to mind. Whiteley's newest, Skyward Inn, is another probing insight into what makes us human. The first half of Skyward Inn was not all I hoped it would be. I had a hard time following and did not really enjoy it. The second half, however, blew me away.