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Monday, October 16, 2023

Book Round-Up

At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien: I'm working my way through the metafiction canon. This was a bonkers satire of Irish folklore, literature, and culture; it includes three beginnings, three endings, constant digressions and asides, and most amusingly, an author put on trial by his characters. It's not the easiest read but it was fun. Someday I'll be ready to tackle Ulysses!

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang: Like The Plot, but with fewer murders and more wokeness. It's a brutal satire of publishing, book culture, and racism, and Kuang threaded the needle perfectly with a protagonist who is by turns sympathetic, frustrating, and monstrous. I loved it.

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs: This was loads of fun -- a novel take (har har) on the creation and use of magic books, along with some family drama and long-buried secrets. I found the writing style to be a little melodramatic, but I stopped caring a few chapters in. I look forward to Törzs' next book.

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