Music Monday (194): Charli XCX, Lecrae, Tori Kelly, Soul Central

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: I wanted to share another one of my favorite songs from CRASH. Constant Repeat is so good. The whole album is a vibe, and I've had it on repeat. 

Adri: I'm currently listening to In-Ten-City by Soul Central. I  didn't realize that there was an instrumental version.

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to I'll Find You by Lecrae featuring Tori Kelly. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

Quarterly Recap: January-March

 

It’s already April, so it’s time for the first quarterly recap of the year. As always, I’m starting with reviews. 

January Reviews:

• Crimes and Covers by Amanda Flower
• Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
• The Appeal by Janice Hallett

February Reviews:

• Washington Square by Henry James
• Daughters of Chivalry by Kelcey Wilson-Lee

March Reviews:

• All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie
• A Thousand Steps Into Night by Tracie Chee
• A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Other January Posts:

• I Listened to Pop?, Rap?, and R&B? by Tierra Whack
• Happy New Year! It's 2022!
• I'm Back
• Most Anticipated Books & Music of 2022

Other February Posts:

• Short Stories I Read in January
• I Listened to Caprisongs by FKA Twigs
• I Listened to The Gods We Can Touch by Aurora 

Other March Posts:

• Short Stories I Read in February
• Upcoming Music I'm Waiting For (Part 2)
• I Listened to Motordrome by MØ

Looking ahead, I’m probably going to reread The Cruel Prince sometime in the next three months. It’s one of my blogging goals to finally finish that series. It’s been a while since I read it, and I want to refresh my memory of how the trilogy starts before I move on to The Wicked King and The Queen of Nothing. I also want to read The Purgatorio, the second part of The Divine Comedy.

Some upcoming reviews in May and June include Melissa Albert’s next young adult novel, Our Crooked Heats, as well as Shadow Grave by Marina Cohen, and Monsters in the Mist by Juliana Brandt.

Short Stories I Read In February

It’s the twenty-ninth of March. So it’s time to talk about the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in February.

My Double, My Brother by Averi Kurth (Strange Horizons; Issue: 24 January 2022)

To start this month, I read some poetry over on Strange Horizons. One of my favorites from the bunch was My Double, My Brother by Averi Kurth. I liked the way it was written, as well as the way Kurth handled the theme.

Sestina For A friend Misplaced and Recovered by Katy Bond (Strange Horizons; Issue: 24 January 2022)

This was another good piece of poetry. I really liked what Bond did with it. It was lyrical and emotive, and a treat from beginning to end.

Gentle Dragon Fires by T.K. Rex and Lezlie Kinyon (Strange Horizons; Issue: 17 January 2022)

And finally, the short story I read on Strange Horizons was Gentle Dragon Fires. This story was excellent. The writing had me from the first sentence, and the narrator, Let, was one of my favorite aspects about the story besides the fantastical elements. In a lot of ways, the story felt close and personal, emphasizing things that are forgotten—knowledge, memories, traditions, and etc. that fall through the cracks—it was the changing times and the cost of modernization and the consequences of greed that painted the smoky imagery of Gentle Dragon Fires.

From Around the Web...

• Our Opinions Are Correct Episode #100: Journalist Superheroes
• Book Review: She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan (Aigner Loren Wilson; Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 141: February 2022) 

Music Monday (193): Charli XCX, Beyoncé

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: I'm currently listening to Charli XCX's new album, CRASH. Move Me is a phenomenal song, and it's one of the best from the album.

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to the King Richard soundtrack. Check out Be Alive by Beyoncé. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Title: Journey to the Center of the Earth
Series: n/a
Author: Jules Verne
Source/Format: Purchased; Paperback
More Details: Classic; Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: First published November 25, 1864

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble     

Synopsis from Goodreads...

This high-tension odyssey follows three men in an awesome search for the mysterious center of the earth-as they risk their chances of ever returning to the surface alive.

I’ll admit it: I actually forgot that Jules Verne wrote a book called Journey to the Center of the Earth. But once I came across it while making a different purchase, I knew I had to get it too. While thinking about the movie that came out in 2008 (the one with Brendan Fraser in it)—which adapted the book but didn’t follow it exactly (as I realized later)—the more I got excited about reading Verne’s story.

This book was kind of great. The beginning was a little slow, but there was the initial discovery and a lot of preparation as well as travel involved before the titular journey to the center of the earth could actually begin. I didn’t mind the pace though, as it gave a chance to see the characters in their normal lives and get a feel for their personalities (as well as two others in the side cast that are otherwise uninvolved with the main story) before plunging them—literally and figuratively—into the unknown. It was a travel book through and through, but it was also a fantastical and perilous journey.