The Neurospicy Bean

Unfortunately it’s been a few months since I read this, so I just don’t remember it as well as I would have liked to (though that’s in part because some of the stories just aren’t terribly memorable). So I can’t do a detailed review of each story. The three that I remember most clearly are “Kushtuka” (Mathilda Zeller), “Navajos Don’t Wear Elk Teeth” (Conley Lyons), and “Snakes Are Born in the Dark” (D.H. Trujillo). Each one carried a nice eeriness to it, each in a very distinct way. But oddly, I actually think the major highlight of this book was the foreword by Stephen Graham Jones. I don’t really have the words to describe it, but it is easily the part of the book that has stayed with me the most. There’s an intensity to it, a really excellent take on the horror genre, and a fascinating connection between Indigenous history and horror. All the stories were fine to read, but the introduction is the absolute most important part. If you don’t read anything else, read that. Otherwise, wh

  This was actually more enjoyable than I expected it to be. I was anticipating one of those meandering, plotless books that middle aged white women seem to love, and it certainly wasn’t that. Instead, it was a perfectly pleasing mystery with plenty of clues and even a bit of action. Seemingly unrelated details were smoothly woven together in a satisfying way, and there were nice little relationships that got nods throughout. I did have a few gripes, mainly to do with the various perspectives the author was trying to weave together. The main thing is just that there was no reason to have so many different POVs. At the beginning, I think we heard from almost every single major character, and a couple of characters that seemed like they’d be major but then got shunted off to the side a third of the way in.  One example of this was I believe KJ (yeah, he was presented as a main character in the first several chapters and then became so sidelined that I hardly even remember his name). He w

  There are quite a few reviews saying that this book didn’t meet their expectations in terms of action, which is a real bummer because this is by far one of the best pieces of historical fiction focusing on Chinese women that I’ve read. It’s true that if you’re looking for Treasure Island, Pirates of the Caribbean-esque action, in the vein of The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, you’ll be a bit taken aback by this book. I was definitely expecting something in that vein going in, and it is the genre I typically prefer. It probably should be marketed less as a pirate book and more as historical literary fiction about womanhood and female friendship…that happens to be about history’s most successful pirate. But once you get past all that, this is still a really, really good book. If you remember (or want to look up) my review of the extremely popular Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, there were a lot of elements of that book that didn’t do Chinese women justice, and I would consider this book to

  A perfectly compelling little contemporary novel following the daughter of a famous writer and the secrets she unearths in her quest to become a novelist herself. It does some strong analysis of privilege and the pressure that comes from successful parents, as well as the men who profit off women’s labor. The character arcs were all reasonably well done. But I was just never that engaged or gripped by any of it. Not much beyond that to say here, really – it was fine to read, but not particularly memorable.

  More trans romance! It brings me so much joy! Especially great to see T4T and transfemme representation because those are both things that don’t show up very often in any genre. The basic premise of the book is a pretty traditional fake-dating setup – Jean-Pierre needs a girlfriend in order to inherit his family’s culinary empire, and Luna needs money, so they pretend to be in a relationship. But the rest of the book was brilliantly original and avoided most of the repetitive plot elements that come up so frequently in fake-dating stories. I especially loved the ending. I won’t spoil it, but not only was it not where I expected it to go, it was just so filled with trans joy and screw-the-old-rich-people, it was absolutely lovely. My biggest complaint is that the relationship development didn’t quite ring true to me. There were lovely elements, to be sure – Jean-Pierre nicknaming Luna Claire?? Adorable – but the transition from them being annoyed with one another to attracted to one a