Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds (edited by Billy Collins)

For the "book of nature poems" prompt in the Read Harder Challenge, I've been working my way through this illustrated anthology, edited by Billy Collins. This was a suggestion from Book Riot that seemed to be right up my alley, as a birder and bird lover.  I bought it on actual paper and everything, the better to enjoy the illustrations. (Also the library didn't have it.)

The poems themselves skewed a bit male and a bit old-timey for me. I did enjoy offerings from Wordsworth and Tennyson, but I didn't really need Thoreau attempting to rhyme about birds. I would have enjoyed more fresh, contemporary poems and less of the predictable, oft-anthologized authors. (We didn't need two Dickinson poems about robins, especially when one is far superior to the other.) But there are quite a few delightful poems. I particularly enjoyed "Pheasant" by Sylvia Plath and "Grackles" by Lisa Williams.

David Sibley's illustrations and facts about the various featured species added a lot too.  Overall I just wished the poetry were a bit fresher.

She Drives Me Crazy (by Kelly Quindlen)

The queer YA kick continues with this fake dating, enemies-to-lovers offering from Kelly Quindlen.  Scottie is a basketball player not over her ex-girlfriend; Irene is a head cheerleader who she ends up (thanks to car accident related complications) paying to date her.  Hijinks ensue.

I did really like the element of this book that was Scottie trying to get over a toxic relationship and really not shortchanging what that means. Irene is also a great character.  I wasn't completely sold on the chemistry between them, so it ended up being just okay for me.  Still, enjoyable enough for a quick read.

The Key to You and Me (by Jaye Robin Brown)

More queer YA? Who would have guessed! Other than everyone.

(As an aside, I love how every queer YA now advertises itself as "perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli." I did love Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Did not love Leah on the Offbeat. I am going off on this tangent because I also did not love The Key to You and Me.)

I didn't dislike it as much as the Goodreads crew or even notice some of the problematic elements they pointed out, and I actually like that it avoids the "major misunderstandings" trope by having the main characters actually communicate! But otherwise, kind of lackluster. I did finish it, which is a good sign, but was left feeling.... it's fine I guess?

Perfect on Paper (by Sophie Gonzales)

A 2021 version of Dear Lovey Hart, I Am Desperate and I am here for it. In Perfect on Paper, a high queer school student named Darcy Phillips secretly runs an advice column; until one person learns her secret and demands her help getting his girlfriend back.)

The main character is bisexual and grapples with internalized biphobia and not feeling “queer” enough which, as a bi woman married to a straight man, really spoke to me. The representation is great otherwise, too; her sister is transgender and it's never made a plot point in any way, she just happens to be trans. She is a member of the Queer & Questioning club, which adds characters who are pan, gay, aromantic, nonbinary, and asexual as well.

The main love triangle is great; I love the advice column plot (and getting to read Darcy's advice and how she helps people), and the characters are fabulous. (Shoutout to her mom, who is plus-sized and portrayed positively as well.) Basically this book could not have been more perfectly matched to this reader.  Great read!

 

The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest (by Mark Synnott)

As you may or may not know, Into Thin Air is one of my all-time favorite books (I own a slice of a rung of a ladder used to climb Everest). This is the first time I've read any mountaineering book that comes close, and is possibly even just as good. The Third Pole is about a 2019 expedition to try and learn more about the fate of Sandy Irvine, who possibly summitted the north route of Everest in 1924 alongside George Mallory. But both men died in the attempt, and it's never been conclusively proven.

I am fascinated by Mount Everest and it's great to have a book about the northern approach, from the Tibetan side, since so much has been written about the southern route. Synnott is a great writer; his descriptions are vivid and when he digs into the personalities and events on Everest, he does a great job.  (Some of the people he was climbing with tend to be portrayed a bit sketchier.) The story itself is fascinating, especially the role of the Chinese government, which I won't spoil. 

A great companion piece to Into Thin Air, and one I may have to actually purchase someday to add to my small shelf of books that I love to revisit. 

The Space Between Worlds (by Micaiah Johnson)

I found this book via the NPR list of 50 favorite sci-fi and fantasy books of the past decade. I've read 13 of them - I guess 14 now - but not going to try and read them all or anything, just the ones that sound good. And this one did! And it was!

The premise is that you can travel between parallel worlds, but only if the version of you on that world is already dead. So people who have had precarious lives are now the people who can transfer knowledge between these parallel words. The story follows Cara, who is only alive on 8 of the 382 worlds close enough to ours to travel to, and who may not survive on those for very long either.

It's a page-turner, as you might expect, as Cara deals with powerful forces on multiple worlds that ultimate turn out to harbor dangerous secrets.  The premise is super compelling, the world-building is great, and our main character is a bisexual woman of color, which is rad too.  I do want to say as a content warning, a lot of the plot deals with domestic abuse and abusers, and I would recommend avoiding it if that could be triggering for you. Otherwise, heartily recommended!

One Rom, one Romcom

Finished two quick reads this weekend, one romance and one romcom.

Love, Comment, Subscribe (by Cathy Yardley) 

Romance isn't my favorite genre, but I enjoyed the social media hook on this one and so I selected it as my free book for September. (In case I haven't mentioned it before, Amazon gives Prime members one free book per month, which is a fun little perk.) Childhood friends Lily Wang (type A beauty influencer) and Tobin Bui (happy-go-lucky prankster) are social media influencers and end up back in each others' orbit when they start collaborating on videos for their respective channels. I find all the explicit sex somewhat awkward (especially with fanfiction tropes, why the "blown pupils" every time, why)  but these are believable characters with realistic conflict and plenty of chemistry; if you like romance, you could do worse.

Better Than the Movies (by Lynn Painter) 

A young adult romantic comedy that's in part about romantic comedies, which our main character loves (in part because her late mother loved them).  Due to a bet over a parking spot, her neighbor (again with the childhood friend, this time the boy next door) tries to set her up with happily ever after after another childhood friend comes back to town.  The "best friend" character feels quite sidelined but that's my only nitpick. Overall the main characters are delightful, their banter is hilarious and cute, and Elizabeth's inner conflict stemming from the death of her mother is handled sensitively. And of course the meta-layer is delightful as I love both romcoms and meta-ness. This is a definite thumbs up from me. (And of these two books, this is definitely the one I wish I owned so I could read it again sometime.)