Reading In/Out 11/18/025
The existence of this post means I have something to report. Hooray!
OUT
Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree - I did manage to finish this one up on Saturday. It was lovely right to the end. The little goblin creature stole the whole show. I was not aware that the author would be in town last night, but I couldn't have gone anyway; I had bells.
Queen of All Mayhem: The Blood-Soaked Life and Mysterious Death of Belle Starr, the Most Dangerous Woman in the West by Dane Huckelbridge - I really enjoyed this. Given that the author is a man, there was a surprising amount of feminist theory involved here. Basically just that as a woman in the wild west, Belle had 2 options: hope for a man to support her, or go out and support herself. Historically, supporting herself would have meant becomine a teacher or a prostitute. Belle was a huge proponent of education, but she wasn't personally equipped to be in charge of a classroom of children. She had a bit of a temper. I particularly enjoyed the locations. A lot of the book takes place in Oklahoma in places I am familiar with: Catoosa, Muskogee nation, Cherokee nation, Stigler, Antlers, Durant, etc. I also appreciated that so much of what we "know" about Belle Starr is based on rumors and fantastical accounts of events. Even her own diary is suspect in it's authenticity. She followed the outlaw code of never implicating yourself or any of your outlaw friends in any illegal activities. The author acknowledged the sources of the information and supplied supporting information if there is any, and any information that would negate it. He also talks about what he believes to be the most likely explanation or event and why, while still acknowledging that there is no definitive answer.
IN
Remember how I had found that the library had a copy of the third book in a series that I wanted to read so I could read the next trilogy in the ongoing series? Well, that turned out to be an ebook, so I will not be listening to that on audio. I had to find a new audiobook after I finished Brigands.
My Roommate From Hell by Cale Dietrich - This is an audiobook I got from Libro.fm as an advanced copy. It follows Owen, a reserved freshman boy who gets to college the first day and finds out his roommate is Zarmenus, the Prince of Hell. Zarmenus is the first demon to go to college on Earth. Hell is not where bad people go when they die, it's just a different realm inhabited by demons. This particular demon is devastatingly hot and has no clue about being a good roommate. The kicker is, if Owen can make it through the semester and show that it is possible to coexist with a demon, she will get him an internship with Google. So Owen has to play nice, even though Zarmenus leaves trash and dorito crumbs everywhere and brings home dates to make out with in be bunk below where Owen is trying to sleep. It's pretty funny, really, even though Owen should just tell Zarmenus he is breaking roommate code instead of being all passive. I'm only 25% into this one, so it has plenty of room to expand.
What's next? I still have a space open for a print read, now that I've finished Bell Starr. I am considering Somebody's Daughter that I mentioned on Friday. I'm hesitating because I just finished a non-fiction book. I am also eye-balling Piranesi. We'll have to see what strikes me when I go to pick up a paper book.