Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutanto
CBR 16 Bingo – Bananas. If a rom-com mixed with a murder mystery happening at a wedding isn’t bananas, I don’t know what is! Like many of my bingo reads this year, this book has been on my TBR for a while, and I used bingo as a reason to finally read it. This isn’t the type of book I’d usually read, but it came recommended and seemed like it could be fun, so I added it to my TBR and eventually picked it up. […]
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
3.5 stars Nowhere Books Bingo: Banned books (Wasn’t published until 27 years after Bulgakov’s death, and only then in a censored version. ) CBR16 Bingo: Cult (cult classic, and there’s the whole Devil and his entourage as a central plot point – that’s pretty cultish, right?) I can’t remember exactly how long The Master and Margarita has been on my TBR list, but it’s certainly more than twenty years. A quick glance on Goodreads shows me that 15 of my friends have rated it four […]
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
I had a couple of reasons for finally trying to track down Boy Swallows Universe. A friend of mine had been asking about Australian Lit last year, and and I had to shamefully admit to her that I hadn’t read this one yet. Then I heard an adaption was going to be released on Netflix. Then I listened to an interview with the author who mentioned the semi-biographical elements to it. (Richard Fidler strikes again.) And that’s the bit that kind of tipped me over; […]
Donna Bell's Bake Shop by Pauley Perrette, Darren Greenblatt, Matthew Sandusky
Bingo 17: Vintage Cookbook about vintage style baking bakery. Donna Bell’s Bake Shop apparently closed in 202, thanks to the pandemic. But before that, it was a Southern-style bakery in NYC. One of the main selling points was the recipes from the name sake Donna Bell, who is one of the owners’ mother. Most of the recipes are pretty straight forward, almost to the point of basic. I kind of have to wonder that if this kind of thing is what the bakery actually marketed, […]
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djeli Clark
Bingo 16: Cult This is “cult” in the sense of member of a guild of undead assassins dedicated to a specific goddess, not exactly in the sense of abusive religious or otherwise controlling organization. The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is a novella centering on Eveen who is a member of the titular guild of killers for hire dedicated to their goddess Aeril. The undead thing is part of the membership; somehow, when you dedicate yourself to this goddess and her cult, you have to die […]
Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
Bingo 15: Scandal Rahela Domitia is the most scandalous Lady in Waiting in court; she’s really got a reputation, and her voice and figure support it, along with the nickname/title “Beauty Dipped in Blood” (apparently she likes wearing white with red accents). Think Evil Stepsister Game of Thrones style. Rae is not so much scandalous as unlucky and probably a little bitter; she’s got terminal cancer at the age of about 20. Rae and her little sister Alice are major fan girls of a fantasy […]
