Jack đ reviewed The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
A breath of fresh air
5 stars
Adorable, adorable adorable !!!!! Iâve been meaning to read this for so long. Absolutely precious - love the art style. Just a solid and compact story.
Reviews and Comments
Big fan of cozy mlm romance and xenofiction. Tired, Achillean, but happy to be here!
My goal is to read every published book with a transmasc lead that I can get my grubby little paws on.
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Solid introductory text
5 stars
A great beginning text for aspiring equestrians. I donât know how much use it would be to someone more advanced. The information is easy-to-understand and written in such a way that it isnât patronizing.
I do wish there was at least some form of conclusion - ending everything off with a single bleak page covering euthanasia is a bit blunt.
Jack đ reviewed Milk!: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas by Mark Kurlansky
According to the Greek creation myth, we are so much spilt milk; a splatter of âŚ
Itâs what it says on the tin
4 stars
Really nice microhistory text spanning from prehistory to today. Kurlansky has a knack for making you interested in just about anything, though I wish he had gone more into milkâs ties to modern white supremacy.
Whole-health practices from nose to tail ensure sound horse management and teach lifelong, quality lessons âŚ
Interesting, but probably a bit ho-hum for experienced equestrians
3 stars
Itâs hard to rate a reference book like this when I myself am about the furthest thing from a horse person as you can get. That, and these kinds of things arenât really meant to be read cover to cover. The title intrigued me, and I tend to approach concepts like holistic medicine with a fair bit of skepticism.
That being said, I appreciate the authorâs continual insistence that none of her methods should be used to replace traditional vet medicine. I think people who have horses will probably find the exercise tutorials unnecessary since it involves starting stuff like lunging, so maybe that whole section could have been used for something else.
Still, this was interesting!
Jack đ reviewed A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
Think you know the good guys from the bad? Think you understand the strange energy âŚ
Itâs the reason for the spooky season
5 stars
One of those rare novels that manages to pull off a creative concept with a large cast while keeping its story airtight and controlled. Nothing is left for you to wonder the âwhat-itâsâ on - your questions are answered, and then some. Quite a feat for a book short enough to be read in an afternoon.
When is attending a funeral or memorial service âa must,â and when is it optional? âŚ
Meh
2 stars
While there are some interesting tidbits of advice here, a lot of it is what you would expect. You would be better serviced in getting a more comprehensive modern etiquette guidebook, as they often have a section dedicated to bereavement dos and donâts.
Unlike many other etiquette books written within the last five years, this one is very hetero and cisnormative. Trans people arenât going to find much in the way of specialized advice when it comes to pre-death prep in the wake of ostracized immediate family.
Jack đ reviewed Watership down by Richard Adams
"Fiver could sense danger. Something terrible was going to happen to the warren, he felt âŚ
One of the annual rereads
5 stars
Iâve read this banger of a novel once a year for many years now - it always holds up.
Uncover the captivating backstory of Marguerite Henry, author of Misty of Chincoteague and dozens of âŚ
A real labor of love
5 stars
What a perfect send-off after Iâve finished the Misty books. Friedlandâs earnest passion for the subject matter is infectious and delightful - enough to make even a curmudgeon like myself slowly grow to fall more in love with the ponies of Chincoteague.
Jack đ reviewed Kitto by Harper Fox
Now Lee is free from the malevolent ghost of Morris Hawke, his clairvoyant gifts are âŚ
Solid read overall
3 stars
Itâs not that I didnât enjoy myself on this, because I did, itâs more just that this is more drama than mystery. There is a mystery, donât get me wrong, but itâs not much of one (and I feel like thatâs by design?) Iâm not sure.
Jack đ reviewed Misty's Twilight (Misty, #4) by Marguerite Henry
A history book with no zest
1 star
Maybe I just went in with the wrong expectations, because a title like âMistyâs Twilightâ and knowing this is the fourth and last book of the series led me to believe that this would be all about Mistyâs golden years, rather than a completely different horse. Oh well.
This book was written decades after the third installment, and itâs about a dermatologist dragging her kids to Chincoteague to fulfill her childhood dream of owning an island pony for herself. The entire first third of the book plays out as a bizarre âremember when?â of the characters pointing at things and saying something along the lines âwow, remember when this happened in the book?â
Gone is Henryâs descriptive style - âMistyâs Twilightâ reads as cold and clinical by comparison. I had to double check to make sure this was the same author. Itâs just so passionless.
The worst part is that âŚ
Maybe I just went in with the wrong expectations, because a title like âMistyâs Twilightâ and knowing this is the fourth and last book of the series led me to believe that this would be all about Mistyâs golden years, rather than a completely different horse. Oh well.
This book was written decades after the third installment, and itâs about a dermatologist dragging her kids to Chincoteague to fulfill her childhood dream of owning an island pony for herself. The entire first third of the book plays out as a bizarre âremember when?â of the characters pointing at things and saying something along the lines âwow, remember when this happened in the book?â
Gone is Henryâs descriptive style - âMistyâs Twilightâ reads as cold and clinical by comparison. I had to double check to make sure this was the same author. Itâs just so passionless.
The worst part is that the protagonist, Sandy, represents the worst kind of horse owner (aka stinking rich). She sends Twilight to a trainer for three weeks without doing any kind of background check, nor does she bother to make visits or check in on how things are going. Big surprise, Twilight ends up traumatized and emaciated by abusive training methods. A completely avoidable situation that Sandy only blames the trainer for.
Itâs weird to read about a couple kids visiting taxidermy Misty in the fourth book of the Misty series, right? Iâm not the only one who thinks thatâs weird?
Jack đ reviewed The Chromatic Fantasy by H.A
Jules is a trans man trapped in his life as a nun. The devil that âŚ
An instant forever favorite
5 stars
A rhapsody for gay trans men, gorgeously illustrated, forged into something that feels so wonderfully intimate that you canât stop from reading it cover to cover.
I mean it when I say that this is by leagues and bounds the most beautiful book I own now. From its striking gold foil cover to the surrealist panels waiting underneath, itâs a firework compressed into paper.
Jules and Casper are wonderful characters, and their nonsensical world of medieval tapestries, IPhones, and pillow talk about the Michelin Man make them feel like friends youâve known or lovers youâve had.
Stormy, Misty's Foal is a children's novel written by Marguerite Henry, illustrated by Wesley Dennis, âŚ
Cute ponies, bleakly accurate historical sexism
3 stars
Book #3 of the Misty series once again performs a hard reset on the Beebe timeline, as Sea Star is AWOL (he isnât even referenced - which creeps out Adult Me but Child Me probably wouldnât have minded much, I guess) and Misty herself is back home from NYC.
This one is about a storm that decimates the islandâs town and nearly wipes out the feral pony herd. It doesnât shy away from the bleaker parts of disaster recovery, and I think Henry did a great job in balancing the grim nature of the whole thing for a young audience.
Itâs a little frustrating to see Maureen get shot down over and over again. Literally anytime she says anything in this book, Paul or the Grandparents immediately push back. She constantly laments being both âborn a girlâ and unable to help with the recovery efforts, and nothing ever comes of âŚ
Book #3 of the Misty series once again performs a hard reset on the Beebe timeline, as Sea Star is AWOL (he isnât even referenced - which creeps out Adult Me but Child Me probably wouldnât have minded much, I guess) and Misty herself is back home from NYC.
This one is about a storm that decimates the islandâs town and nearly wipes out the feral pony herd. It doesnât shy away from the bleaker parts of disaster recovery, and I think Henry did a great job in balancing the grim nature of the whole thing for a young audience.
Itâs a little frustrating to see Maureen get shot down over and over again. Literally anytime she says anything in this book, Paul or the Grandparents immediately push back. She constantly laments being both âborn a girlâ and unable to help with the recovery efforts, and nothing ever comes of it. She never gets any kind of comeuppance or moment for herself. Realistic, but still irritating to read knowing the target audience for this book.
Jack đ reviewed Donât Let Go by Harper Fox
What's haunting Lee Tyack? He's moved in with Gideon Frayne, and they're both loving their âŚ
I love my dramatic crime husbands
4 stars
No matter how much I may gripe that this series is paced like a meandering long-term fanfic without an outline, at the end of the day itâs still got my attention and offers up a couple of fellas who Iâve really grown to like.
Gideon and Lee are a sad rarity in mlm fiction. Theyâre in a solid established relationship now, and their dynamic has a strong foundation built on trust and communication. I love their banter and physical familiarity - it makes it almost hard to believe that they havenât even been together for a full year.
Is it a bit soap opera-y at times? Oh, sure, but thatâs the fun of it. Itâs a serialized mystery series with all the fun paranormal trappings.