Books Are Jazzy

With everything happening this spring both around the world and in my personal life (I moved to a different country!) it's no wonder I've fallen behind on my reading goals. If you follow me on goodreads or keep track of my 2020 reads, you can see that I've obviously still been reading. But with my own books stuck in boxes in storage, I haven't been able to read the books I had planned on for my various reading goals. 

Finally, if I have time I'll try to read the group book Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell!

Are you taking part in the Magical Readathon? If you were a student at Hogwarts, what magical career would you want? Let me know in the comments below!

-Laura

The Disasters by M.K. England 

The Disasters is a stand-alone novel about a rag-tag group of Space Academy wash-outs, centering on the pilot, Nax Hall. Their failure allows them to escape the worst act of terrorism in the history of space colonialism but it also makes them perfect scape-goats. As they flee across space, the crew has to find a way to trust themselves and each other. 

During the course of the story, Nax expresses interest in both male and female members of his crew, but doesn't specifically label his sexuality. I loved the chemistry that he had with both of his love interests and wish I could read more of their stories!

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Carry On is a spinoff from Rowell's earlier book Fangirl, and it follows the enemies-to-lovers trope as seen in the characters of Simon Snow and Baz Pitch, during their last year at Watford School of Magicks.

Carry On is by no means a perfect book, but I enjoyed it because it was laugh out loud funny and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, Wayward Son, when it comes out in September. Anna has talked about Carry On before here and here and she chose it as one of her favorite books back in 2017!

Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

Too Like the Lightning is the first book in a tetralogy (the other books are Seven Surrenders, The Will to Battle, and the not yet released Perhaps the Stars). I've reviewed the first book in the series previously here and read Seven Surrenders in 2018, but I'm still waiting for the last book to be published before I finish reading the series. 

As I mentioned in my original review, I had high hopes for the book when it came to LGBT+ content, but it managed to fall short of my wildest dreams. However, it was still an extremely interesting science fiction story with a societal structure unlike anything I'd ever read before, with its clear focus on gender as a performance rather than an innate aspect of a person and the wide definition for what a family could be. 



Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz



Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe holds a near and dear place in my heart because I'm pretty sure it was the first LGBT+ book I ever read. I reviewed it here back in 2016 when I needed a feel-good LGBT book and Ari and Dante sure does deliver on those counts!

Ari and Dante is the love story between two Mexican-American teenage boys who become friends first and boyfriends, whose relationship is able to span a cross-country move. It was so well-received when it came out that it won the Stonewall Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature in 2013! The author has announced that there's a sequel in the works but so far it does not have a release date.



The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee


I loved reading The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, the first book in a duology, which also includes The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy (and if you preordered The Lady's Guide and live in the States you also had the opportunity to receive and read an extra novella: The Gentleman's Guide to Getting Lucky) I hauled The Gentleman's Guide when I received it in one of the Owlcrate boxes and named it as one of my favorite books of last year  but never got around to reviewing it.

The Gentleman's Guide was a fun romp through historic Europe featuring so much representation that when I first read through it, I was crying tears of happiness. The main character, Monty, is my favorite shameless flirt of a bisexual protagonist; his sister, Felicity, is a whip-smart asexual heroine (the second book focuses on her and I can't wait to read it!); and the love interest, Percy, is a disabled gay person of color. If you're looking for a summery gay road trip novel with a historical setting to boot, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue is the book for you!



Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor


Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is the most recent LGBT+ book that I've read. It was a wild, sexually explicit look into the life of a queer shapeshifter. As a warning, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, is not a young adult novel; instead it is adult literary fiction that plays with a lot of tropes from folk tales and veers into the territory of magical realism.

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl alternates between the reality of the narrative of Paul's life as a college student and fairytales, and deals with changes of various types from the obvious shapeshifting abilities of the main character Paul, to referencing the trope of a changeling child, to a sister giving up her own identity to save her brother's life, and even reimagining the story of the Little Red Riding Hood in which the fox becomes the girl in the red cloak.

In terms of LGBT+ representation Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is chock-full of it. Paul is queer in every sense of the word: his shapeshifting, but also his relationships and how he moves through them in each body he makes for himself. When Paul shifts into the body of a girl he is only in relationships with other women and when he is in his "own" male body, he has relationships with other men. For a portion of the story Paul, in the form of a girl, moves into a commune full of other queer women. And finally, Paul has the magical powers that many trans or non-binary people unconsciously want: the ability to shift his body to fit whatever he identifies as in the moment. 

LGBT Books I Want to Read:

Check, Please! #Hockey Vol. 1 by Ngozi Ukazu

I picked up a copy of this book when I was in New York this summer for Bookcon, despite only knowing that it was a graphic novel, hugely popular, and LGBT+. Reading through the description of it on Goodreads, sky-rocketed Check, Please! to the top of my reading list.

Check, Please! is the first in a duology based on a webcomic of the same name, that follows a hockey playing vlogger as he moves from his hometown in Georgia to start as a freshman at college and playing on their hockey team. On top of that there's baking and a gay love story! What's not to be excited about? Also the title for Volume 2 was recently released and it sounds even more adorable than the first one: Check, Please! Vol. 2: Sticks and Scones and it will be released in April of 2020!




Kindred: 12 Queer #LoveOzYA Stories edited by Michael Earp


Recently, I've seen myself drawn more and more to collections of short stories and Kindred is no different! Kindred features 12 original queer love stories all written by Australian authors who identify as queer. I am especially excited about Kindred because the author's identify with the characters they are writing about it, making it a collection of #OwnVoices fiction. I'm hopeful this collection presents diversity in a realistic manner, not just in hopes of gaining "points" with readers who are looking for diverse stories.



Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey


Magic for Liars is a just-released book (it came out at the very beginning of June) and I was originally drawn in by the cover! The bright colors made it seem like a perfect summer read, and I was even more intrigued when I read the synopsis and found out that it is urban fantasy (a genre I love) and it reminded me of The Magicians a little. Once I found out that multiple of the characters identify as queer and are spread across the spectrum of morality, I knew I needed to pick this book up as soon as possible. It's currently one of my top choices for books to take with me on my trip to Europe at the beginning of July — all I need to do anymore is buy a copy!

Magic for Liars follows the private detective Ivy Gamble when she goes to investigate a murder at the magical school her sister teaches at... the school Ivy herself never got to, or wanted to, attend. But as Ivy gets more and more entrenched in the mystery at the school, it seems increasingly difficult to return to her mundane life. 


Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan


This Asian inspired fantasy by Natasha Ngan, follows Lei, a girl from the lowest caste in her land as she's chosen to become one of nine trained to become the king's consort. Lei is haunted by losing her mother to the same fate she is in now, and during her training at the palace Lei makes the worst possible mistake she can in her situation: she falls in love. Her romance launches a plot that might change the future of her kingdom. 

I am really excited to read Girls of Paper and Fire because courtly fantasy is one of my favorite genres, and I rarely see lesbian love stories in fantasy novels. I also love reading fantasy stories that are not inspired by a quasi-medieval European setting. 



The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon


The Priory of the Orange Tree is another lesbian love story wrapped inside a fantasy world! Priory is a standalone adult novel with multiple viewpoint characters. Priory also seems to deal with how different cultures form different understandings of ancient events, which I think would be a really interesting form of cultural tension to examine. I have heard so many good things about Priory but the 800+ page count makes me scared to pick it up.


Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston


Red, White & Royal Blue is a romantic comedy about the First Son of the United States, Alex, and Prince Henry of Wales, who fall in love after being forced to pretend to be best friends. This book sounds so cute and dramatic and like a perfect summer read!

LGBT Books That are *Coming Out* That I Want to Read:

Wilder Girls by Rory Power


Wilder Girls is a female-centric retelling of William Golding's Lord of the Flies. The students of the Raxter School for Girls are placed under quarantine, and as their teachers die off one by one, the girls are left to fend for themselves on their island and to debate whether to break their quarantine or not.  Wilder Girls will be released on July 9th.



Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater


Call Down the Hawk is the first instalment in Stiefvater's new Dreamer trilogy, a spin off based on the character of Ronan Lynch from The Raven Boys saga. Ronan's boyfriend, Adam, has moved off to college and Ronan is still struggling with his "Dreaming" abilities — the power to pull objects from his dreams into the real world. Call Down the Hawk will be released on November 5th.



Tarnished Are the Stars by Rosiee Thor


Tarnished Are the Stars is a sci-fi adventure with an #OwnVoices author. Anna has an illegal clockwork heart and she supplies other sick people with black market medical technology. Her illegal activities catch the eye of the Commissioner's son who starts chasing her down. I received an ARC of Tarnished Are the Stars courtesy of Vicky Who Reads and I can't wait to start reading it and to review it closer to the release date. Tarnished Are the Stars will be released on October 15th.



Crier's War by Nina Varela


Crier's War is a fantasy story suggested for fans of Westworld and Game of Thrones, both of which I adore. The kingdom of Rabu is still feeling the after-effects of their latest war when automatons took control of the human race. Crier, a beautiful Automae, and Ayla, a human servant, struggle to find their place in their world and with each other. Crier's War will be released on October 1st.

I had the absolute pleasure of spending the past few days in Paris. Oh, the warm breeze by the Seine, the sweet chant of French treating my ears and all those pretty views. I could write a novel about all the amazing feelings the city gave me and my adventures, but I'll only concentrate on what is relevant concerning this blog. And that is my little travel reading diary.

On my first day I walked through the blossoming Jardin du Luxembourg and witnessed locals enjoying the sun with a book in hand. This made me envious and I just had to experience this luxury of stopping in the middle of the city's hustle to praise the unexpectedly beautiful weather and get lost in a book. Luckily, I was already on my way to the well known bookstore Shakespeare & Co. Why not treat myself to a new book? With this thought in my mind I traversed towards Notre Dame and the Seine to where the book shop was located -almost in the center of France that is.

I fell in love with this cozy, mystical shop already on my first visit to Paris. I now returned to find myself adoring the walls stacked with books from floor to ceiling, the ladders, the cat, typewriter and allover vibe even more than four years ago. I took my time picking out a book considering what would feel most calling to my soul at that moment. I ended up picking up a collection of stories, Swimmer Among the Stars by Kanishk Tharoor. It was a choice well made as reading one story at each location I would stop at turned out to be just the right dosage per read.

So far the book has been cracked open in Montmartre in a park just below Sacre Coeur, in Jardin du Mars, under the steel legs of the Eiffel Tour, on a bench on Champs Elysées and I remember not where else. These moments, sitting down, breathing in the Parisian air and reading a couple of pages were one of my favourite moments on the whole trip.

Bisous,

Anna

If you are a loyal reader of Books Are Jazzy you may have noticed a trend around this time of year when the leaves dress in all hues of read, orange and yellow: my growing excitement. The simple explanation is that fall is my favorite season. And for me, reading and books are a big part of that.

Now that you've read two paragraphs of text you might be wondering wether I'll be getting to the point any time soon. If you don't understand all this autumn enthusiasm then you will be disappointed to hear that this is plainly a fall appreciation post. If, however, you are on the same wavelength as me on this topic than just enjoy all the cozyness and crispness. 

As an amneds to anyone looking for a little more content to this pumpkin spiced diibadaba of words, I should mention that I am finally holding King's Cage in my hands! And here's a little heads up: my next post will hopefully be a review on a book shop + café here in central Turku. Places like that are rare in Finland so I'm super excited to check it out!

In the meantime, light your candles and sink in to your scarves with a book in hand.

Fall essential: anything Harry Potter

-Anna

There was so many things I loved about the book that I really don't know where to start. Maybe at the beginning? Well, from the beginning I got a strong sense of Alice in Wonderland vibes. I don't know wether that's for the protagonist's first name, Alice, the whole idea on venturing into a magic land or something more, but I found it gives the story a very cute childlike playfulness. 

This same colorful theme is very strongly present in the whole of the book, the setting, the characters, the plot and most delightful of all remarks, the language. I loved how the words played together like they were the notes that form a beautiful melody, and how the structure gave the music its nuances and dynamic. Altogether the text is very much like a poem. Personally, literature like this is something I admire very much and love to read. In this particular instance I fell for the use of synaesthesia. For example: the smell of sunshine, shoes so shiny one could hear them glitter. So beautiful! Such music"

A melody can't form a song and a poem can't form a point without content. The story, as I already mentioned was quite adorable. But even with the ring of childhood, I discovered some points of meaning. The most important being the most obvious one: selflove and acceptance. It is a topic that Alice struggles with throughout the plot.

Last note on this book before anyone gets bored reading this, is the narrator. She (he? it? I resonated with a she) tells the story like she had heard it from Alice and Oliver later, trying to remember and understand events, actions and thoughts. Most explanations are in fact her own interpretations of things. This was the cream to the cake for me (I mean this as a good thing though if you know me well you would have misunderstood since I don't like neither cake nor cream) and it gave the piece its final finish, the conductor of the orchestra of words.

All in all, long story cut short, I really liked reading Furthermore and absolutely think you should too.  If not for any other of my points at least for a joyful 400 pages.

-Anna

Last night my dad and I watched the Oscar winning movie The Reader, which is a historical fiction film that tells the story of a boy and an older woman. The woman is charged guilty of working front line in the horrors of Nazi German camps years earlier. The boy often reads to the lady and literacy is all in all a key factor in how the plot plays out. 

Then, this morning, after a well slept night of our unconscious twisting and turning around the topics of the film, we discussed the movie. We also talked about how we had different angles coming in to view the movie based on our own knowledge and experiences of the history portrayed in the film. The conversation was a really heartfelt one, which spiralled out to all kinds of books more or less associated with the original topic (The Book Thief, All the Light We Cannot See and COUNTLESS others where mentioned ;)). But all in all it was so nice to discuss these different books we had read, what thoughts and feelings they had aroused in us, and how they had affected the way we view life and especially in this case, the movie. 

It is hardly a a thing I remember to be grateful for -being literate, having practically unlimited access to millions of books (without censorship), and having people around me to share these things with. It's just one of those things we take for granted too often. So I would like to remind all you book worms out there to embrace every story you pick up, every line your eyes run over and every new thought they throw your way. It really is quite magical! And I mean that without trying to sound sugar coated or cliché.

-Anna

Here are my top reads of the year according to the ratings I gave them on Goodreads. This year I feel that even now that I'm looking back on them, the ratings are accurate and give a good overlook at my reading year 2016. So here we go:

When it comes time to do my end of the year recaps I've noticed that how I rate a book immediately after reading it has very little to do with which ones I want to highlight as my favorites of the year. Even though a book might not have been worth 5 stars, it might have affected my thought processes or how I view the world and thus had a huge effect on my life and/or year. Thus, I don't tend to look at how I've rated a specific book when I decide which ones to feature in this post year after year. So here, in no particular order are my favorite books of 2016:

1. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor 
3. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
4. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
5. The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye
6. A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
7. Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi
8. The Devourers by Indra Das
9. The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace
10. My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
11. Naive. Super by Erlend Loe
12. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
13. The Utopia Experiment by Dylan Evans

We hope you all had a wonderful year in terms of reading! Share down below your favorite books of 2016 and what you're most looking forward to reading in the new year! 

-Laura and Anna