All the books I read in January and what I thought of them

I am crowdsourcing this paragraph from the people currently in my common room. It's a new year, and with that comes new books, and new ideas, and new opinions. This month, I read 7 books. I don't have time to give you a good sentence, so just write "get glizzled." No, just write "get glizzled." Get glizzled. I was going to say, if your dad has any questions, I'll field them eventually. Winnie-the-Pooh is in the public domain now. I don't do well under pressure, Clara. That's great. [I am redacting this sentence]. I think I met my protein goal today, so I'm happy. I can't believe you didn't read Six of Crows yet. Clara, you haven't read Six of Crows yet? That's crazy! That's what I've been saying!

✨✨✨

The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein

rating: ⭐⭐⭐

A few weeks ago I underwent an episode of out-of-character delusion where I decided I did in fact like fantasy. I don't have an excuse. We all have times in our lives when we go a little bit crazy. Anyway, I read this book and it made me remember I don't like fantasy. To speak more positively of this book, every character—especially the protagonist—is profoundly sensible and intelligent. The protagonist is part of an organization of (mostly) female scholars that teaches its members to use logical reasoning (and an agreement with the general public to answer each other's questions honestly) to learn everything about everything. Everyone is constantly making smart choices. If you like fantasy, you will enjoy this book more than I did.

⚔️⚔️⚔️

Sirens and Muses by Antonia Angress

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

In many ways this book was similar to the genre I enjoy/dislike about self-destructive women, and in other ways it was a subversion of that genre. The writing style and the way the characters think and act was somewhat similar to the sort of thing I read a lot; on the other hand, I can't seem to stop reading about women who have self-destructive relationship with men, but the women in this book are in a (sort of) wholesome relationship with each other. (I guess there is also a toxic heterosexual relationship, but the book isn't really about Karina and Preston, it's about Karina and Louisa, and Preston is just a supporting numbskull). At least, it seems like the relationship between Karina and Louisa is supposed to counteract their self-destructive tendencies (especially Karina; Louisa is reasonably well-adjusted), but I am still going back and forth on whether I think Karina would be able to solve her personality problems by dating a nice girl. Anyway, it was compulsively readable and every bad thing that happened to Preston was extremely fun to read about. 

This book also asked a lot of questions about what is art, or maybe it was making fun of characters asking so many questions about what is art, and I hope it's the second one because most of the questions were stupid. I don't understand why you have to agonize over the meaning of art when you can just enjoy drawing pretty pictures.

🖼️🖼️🖼️

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I think this book is about how when something really awful (or really wonderful) happens to you, you can never make anyone else understand what it felt like, which is why the author uses wild plot points to explain the trauma of living in the 1930s USSR. An emotionally intense experience feels so crazy that you can't explain it except by sounding crazy. So, anyway, now I'm on a reading-books-where-the-plot-summary-sounds-like-an-erudite-person-playing-mad-libs kick. It wasn't caused by The Master and Margarita; I just realized one day that I wanted to read really wild books instead of high fantasy. I liked the talking cat. I liked the devil. Most of all, I really love the cover. 

🪄🪄🪄

Snow by Orhan Pamuk

rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨

I went for a walk in the snow and I found this book in a little free library. It was just too perfect. This book has also been sledding with me (briefly); it's lived an exciting life as long as I've known it, and I'm not even its original owner. A large part of this book was characters debating the role of Islam in public life and politics, and that was very interesting. The coup was kind of interesting, too. But a lot of it was just interpersonal drama, and that was boring. At first I thought the protagonist, Ka, was cool, and then he spent so much of the book being obsessed with his friend Ipek from school, so now I think he's sort of pathetic. This book just needed to be about 100 pages shorter. I did think the ending was good and everything about the book that I thought was stupid got resolved in a much more sensible way. I also liked the author's self insert character. 

❄️❄️❄️

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

It seems like this series is going to say interesting things about love. Every close relationship in this book is not platonic, not romantic, but some secret third thing (sworn oath between a necromancer and a swordfighter) and I really enjoyed the way Gideon and Harrow's relationship developed throughout the book. The narrator's voice (and Gideon's voice, and Harrow's voice, and everyone else's voice) was amusing and delightful. If it sounds interesting to you to read about lesbian necromancers, and a big house that tries to kill everyone, and skeletons, have I got the book for you.

💀💀💀

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Came for the pre-Victorian lesbians, stayed for the courtroom drama. I actually loved the last ~25% of the book when it turns from the protagonist narrating her life story into a legal drama/murder mystery. Her lawyer is incompetent and should be shot.

📚📚📚

The Secret History by Donna Tartt 

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

My ancient Greek class is so much better than theirs. This would have never happened in my Greek class. This book was compellingly written and compulsively readable, but I am not actually happier for having read it because it is about flawed people treating each other badly, which always make me feel empty inside. The overarching theme is that if pretentious intellectuals spend too much time together, it will end badly, and several people will become alcoholics and/or die. My opinion of Bunny changed wildly throughout the book. On a certain level I appreciate him because he forgets the ablative case exists in Latin and not Greek, and I have also been know to confuse Greek and Latin grammar, which I realize is the most pretentious-sounding problem anyone has ever had. But as the book progressive, he actually becomes unbearable, and I think he deserved what he got. I am unsure why Richard from time to time speaks positively of him. I also have the same criticisms as everyone else, like the characters in Richard's friend group being too similar and Julian not being as prominent as the author and Richard seem to think he is. I sort of like how the book continues for some time after Bunny's death to show how everyone is affected, but it's definitely too much, and I think the last 200 pages could have been condensed into half the length. I swear that's not a spoiler; they tell you from the beginning that he dies.