Our Thoughts Precisely: December 2023

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Break Notice

It's time for our annual break from the blog. We'll still be around on Goodreads, to answer comments, and (maybe) on social media sites like Instagram. See you all in the New Year and, until then, happy reading!

Monday, December 25, 2023

The Cookie Book Tag (Batch 6; Solo Edition)

It's December 25th, so Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! And Happy Holidays to everyone else! I hope everyone has not only a great day but a safe one.

Today I'm going to participate in The Cookie Book Tag. It's the only book tag we do annually on Our Thoughts Precisely, because it's a fun way to look back at the books we've read. It's a year to the day since Batch 5. Adri usually participates but, this year, she's decided to skip it. Before we begin, here are the more technical details about the tag.

The Cookie Book Tag was created by Nicole @ Sorry, I’m Booked. And you can check out the original tag post here: Sorry, I’m Booked, The Cookie Book Tag.

The rules…

Link back to the person who tagged you + the creator of this tag
Pick a book that corresponds with the cookies theme
Have fun
Tag 1-3 people

Chocolate Chip: A Classic Book That You Love or Really Enjoyed (interpret classic how you want, it can be a classic written 100 years ago or 20 years ago)

Breana: I have to go with The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett. I went back to the very beginning of the Discworld series this year since, previously, I had read a couple of the Tiffany Aching novels.

Thin Mints: A Fandom That You Really Want to ‘Join’ AND/OR a Hyped-Up Book You Want To Read (your source(s) of a book being hyped can be from anywhere)

Breana: A hyped book I want to read is Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell by Suzanna Clarke. I've heard nothing but good things about it, plus Piranesi is one of my all-time favorite books.

Shortbread: An Author You Can’t Get Enough Of

Breana: It's honestly a tie between Katherine Arden, Leigh Bardugo, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Nghi Vo.

Samoas/ Caramel DeLites: An Emotional Rollercoaster (this cookie was hard … so any book that made you feel more than one emotion, strongly. The choice of emotions is up to you)

Breana: This one is easy: The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander. This book is dark, complex, and very sad. It's a tragedy that's inspired by the same history recounted in Radium Girls by Kate Moore. If you've read that book then you know what to expect from The Only Harmless Great Thing.

Oreos: A Book Whose Cover Was Better Than The Story OR Vice Versa, Where The Story Was Better Than Its Cover

Breana: I never really have a good answer for this question, because I don't typically judge books by their covers. If I had to choose one, it would In Search of Perfumes. It's nonfiction. The cover is nice, but, unfortunately, it just wasn't the right book for me in the end.

Tagalongs/ Peanut Butter Patties: A Book That Wasn’t What You Expected (good, bad, or just different, interpret how you wish)

Breana: Prior to reading Ninth House, I'd heard some stuff about it, so I wasn't sure if I would like it. But it ended up being one of the best books I read this year. So much so that I also read it's sequel, Hell Bent.

Snickerdoodles: A Book You May Never Stop Rereading/ Loving

Breana: I actually have a nonfiction book for this answer: The Cult of We by Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell. It's such a good write up about what happened with WeWork. A couple of other books are Starling House by Alix E. Harrow and A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid. It hasn't been too long since I read them, but I already want to go back and reread them.

Bonus: Choose a cookie I didn’t list and make up a question!

Our question from 2018: Monster Cookies have bold flavors and a long and varied list of ingredients such as M&Ms, chocolate chips, peanut butter, oats, and even sometimes raisins. It’s like a handful of cookie types mashed into one monster of a cookie. So… Monster cookie: name a book with a bold and whimsical title or a book title with four or more words.

Breana: I have a couple of books for this one: Adia Kelbara and the Circle of Shamans; Bittersweet in the Hollow, Field of Screams, and Mammoths at the Gates.

That's it for today. We tag you to do the cookie book tag. If you're curious about our original take on the tag and our second, third, fourth, and fifth batch visit the posts HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Friday, December 22, 2023

2023 Favorites: Music, Movies, and TV

The blogging year is coming to a close, and I thought it was time to go over some of my favorite things from 2023. This concerns media—books, short stories, music, movies, and TV shows—that I read, watched, or listened to this year. In this second part, I’m focusing on music, movies, and TV.

Music

There was so much good music that was released in 2023. My top albums and Eps released in 2023 were: Sweet Justice by Tkay Maizda, So Much (For) Stardust by Fall Out Boy, A Reckoning by Kimbra, Going…Going…GONE! by Hemlocke Springs, Tension by Kylie Minogue, and Feed the Beast by Kim Petras. I also enjoyed Holiday Sidewinder’s Forever or Whatever, Wednesday Campanella’s expansive backlist, The NYChillharmonic’s album 1, and Marina’s The Family Jewels. Along with songs by Halle (Angel), Caroline Polachek (Bunny Is A Rider, Dang, Caroline Shut Up, and Welcome To My Island), METTE (Van Gogh), Doechii (Pacer), Aurora (Your Blood) and Allie X (Black Eye and Girl With No Face).

Movies and TV

I didn’t watch as much this year as I thought I would. For movies, some of my favorites were: Barbie, The Haunted Mansion, and The Portable Door. As for TV, I’ve mostly been watching: Mystery Science Theater 3000, SurrealEstate season 2, Svengoolie, and a number of classic shows like Murder she Wrote.

And, with that, there is my list of 2023 favorites. If you want to check out the first part, you can use THIS LINK.

Happy reading!

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

2023 Favorites: Books & Short Stories

Books

I read a good number of books in 2023 and, overall—besides a few hiccups—I’m pretty happy looking back.

My favorite young adult books and manga were: A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid, Holly Horror by Michelle Corpora Jabes, Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, and Clock Stricker vol. 1 by Issaka Galadima and Frederick L. Jones. For general fiction, my favorites were: Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Ninth House & Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo, Starling House by Alix E. Harrow, The Fatal Folio by Elizabeth Penney, The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland, The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett, and Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo. My three middle grade reads were excellent: Field of Screams by Wendy Parris, Adia Kelbara and the Circle of Shamans by Isi Hendrix, and Totally Psychic by Brigid Martin. And last, but certainly not least, my favorite nonfiction books were: Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton, The Cult of We by Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell, and The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan.

Short Stories

My favorite short stories I wrote about toward the end of each month, for the blog’s Short Stories segment—with the exception of The Lover by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Review HERE). Plus I started reading an anthology this year called The Book of Witches. I'm no where near finished with it, but I still wanted to include stories from it. The ones I liked were: What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata by P. Djèlí Clark, Met Swallow by Cassandra Khaw, and The Nine Jars of Nukulu by Tobi Ogundiran. I read other short stories this year as well, and that includes those that can be found on online magazines like Strange Horizons, Uncanny, Apex, Lightspeed, and Tor.com. I'm linking back to them here, for ease of finding them. And those stories were:

That’s it for today. Up next: Yearly Favorites Part 2. Until then, thanks for stopping by and happy reading!

Monday, December 18, 2023

Music Monday: Christmas Edition

Rules:

Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE

Breana: It's a week away from the twenty-fifth so it's time for our annual Christmas Edition of Music Monday. My pick this week is Coco & Clair Clair's cover of Last Christmas.

Adri: This week I'm listening to Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt.

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to Merry Christmas by Stephanie Mills and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Luther Vandross. Have a wonderful Christmas!

What holiday music are you listening to this week?

Friday, December 15, 2023

Short Stories I Read In November

It’s the fifteenth of December. So it’s time to talk about the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in November.

On the Fox Roads by Nghi Vo (Tor.com; October 31, 2023)

I know Nghi Vo’s work best by The Singing Hills Cycle, a series of interconnected novellas that can be read in any order—as noted in the synopsis of the 2023 installment, Mammoths at the Gates. Since Vo is one of my favorite authors, I was very excited to check out her short story on Tor.com, On the Fox Roads. I loved this story a lot. It’s a historical cops and robbers kind of tale set in the Jazz Age—think Bonnie and Clyde—only there are subtle hints of magic from the mysterious and titular “Fox Roads.” But it’s also something of a character study, especially when I think about how the narrator was handled. Part of On the Fox Roads was their journey of discovering who they are and what they really want, within a journey that was dangerous and also extraordinary. I highly recommend this one!

From around the web…

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Title: Starling House
Series: n/a
Author: Alix E. Harrow
Source/Format: Purchased; Hardcover (Barnes & Noble special edition)
More Details: Fantasy; Gothic; Horror
Publisher/Publication Date: Tor Books; October 3, 2023

Goodreads Amazon Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot. Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home. As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares. If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.

The story begins with the line: “I dream sometimes about a house I’ve never seen.” pg.1 That was the only hook I needed to get interested in Starling House, Alix E. Harrow’s latest novel, released on October third. I rarely preorder books, but I walked away from the excerpt on Tor.com (Read Here) knowing that—like my experience with a snippet of Suzanna Clarke’s Piranesi—it was a book I needed to read. This gothic house story is pretty aligned to what I’ve been reading this year; think A Study in Drowning. And like Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood, the creepy, dark fairy tale at the center of this story (The Underland) is only one hint toward the mysteries—misfortunes, and magic—that seemly only befalls the small town of Eden, Kentucky.

I took my time with reading Starling House, because it was the kind of story that I like to linger with and make sure I’ve caught all of the subtext. And, oh boy, did this novel have so much detail to sink my teeth into.

This isn’t a dual timeline, but there was a story from the past that was just as relevant—if not the whole beginning—of…well everything. The juxtapositions were frequent, and it was something that was done quite well. One aspect that’s stressed throughout Opal story is how easy it is for people to fall through the cracks, and for others to look away from uncomfortable situations. For instance, you see that throughout the book how the truth was buried within the different tellings of the same story.

Retribution and revenge; right and wrong; duty and choice—the lines were easily blurred. No character was simple: they had serious depth when it came to their respective versions of moral complexity. Take Opal, the primary perspective. The synopsis on the dust jacket describes her as “orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic, and part-time cashier.” It’s a pretty good list to sum up the core aspects of her character. And deceit was a kind of armor for her. The story digs into into that by putting her in increasingly difficult—and strange—situations. It peels back these outward layers and forces her to be honest with herself, with others, and about working on her communication with even her younger brother, Jasper. Opal was a fascinating character to follow. Among my other favorites were Arthur, Bev, Jasper, the cat, and the titular Starling House.

As I’ve said before on Our Thoughts Precisely, I love a good house story, and Starling House is one of my favorites. The magical aspects can feel very slight, almost vague, with how tightly they’re woven around the everyday issues that plague Eden. But Starling House—the actual house—was slowly revealed as its own character. It was a dark, dreary place; a labyrinth of locked doors and decay. And I loved every scene spent in its hallways and rooms.

At the end of the day, Starling House is one of my favorite reads of 2023.

Monday, December 11, 2023

Music Monday (267): Pentatonix, Mariah Carey with Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson

Rules:

Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE

Breana: It doesn't feel like the holidays without at least one Pentatonix song. I love their music just as much as I do Mariah Carey's for this time of year. Check out Pure Imagination/Christmas Time Is Here!

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to Oh Santa! by Mariah Carey featuring Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

Friday, December 8, 2023

The Friday 56 (243) & Book Beginnings: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE **Note: Freda @ Freda's Voice is taking a break from The Friday 56; Anne @Head is Full of Books is hosting for now.**

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot. Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home. As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares. If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.

Beginning: "I dream sometimes about a house I've never seen. I mean, pretty much nobody has."

56: "The only reliable measurement of time is the state of the place."

Comments: I wanted to do one last Friday 56 & Book Beginnings before the year was over, and it's for Starling House. This is the first book I've read by Alix E. Harrow, and I loved it. What are you reading this week?

Monday, December 4, 2023

Music Monday (266): Nick Phoenix, Mariah Carey

Rules:

Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE

Breana: My pick this week is All Hang The Lights On Christmas by Nick Phoenix. I wasn't expecting this song to come up on Two Steps From Hell's channel, but I love how festive it is.

Adri: Last week, I wrote about how I can only dream about Holiday/Christmas House music. Yes, that pick was house, but I wanted more. I had certain sounds in mind. Well, though I was trying to find artist that aren't on my typical holiday playlists, that search took me back to Mariah Carey. So my pick this week is Joy to the World - Flava Mix.