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Two weeks Wednesday Wrap Up August 31st, 2022
What I Am Currently Reading
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley – I finished the actual story last October but there’s extras I still need to read. And I love Frankenstein! It’s my favorite book <3.
Cannabis Pharmacy: The Practical Guide to Medical Marijuana by Michael Backes – I have recently gotten a medical marijuana card! So yea, I wanna learn things. I use it for chronic pain and stomach problems mostly. I also have anxiety, depression, ptsd, trouble sleeping .. Seriously, i’m a mess of issues. But cannabis is here to help.
What I’ve Recently Finished
BBC Science Focus Magazine by Immediate Media Company London Ltd – I gave it 4 stars. Science magazine. Had nothing to say.
Me and My Dysphoria Monster: An Empowering Story to Help Children Cope with Gender Dysphoria by Laura Kate Dale – I gave this 5 stars. I read it thanks to Netgalley and here was my review for it.
I wish i’d had this as a child. I would’ve had the words and known I wasn’t alone so much sooner.
There are some draft errors (like on one page it says missing words and later some sentences just stop in the middle) but I got this from Netgalley and it is an e-arc draft so i’m not holding that against it.
Nisha is a trans girl. She has a dysphoria monster that keeps getting bigger as she’s misgendered but then she comes out and has support and her monster gets smaller. At first she wanted her monster to just go away but with the help of an adult trans man learns what her monster was trying to tell her, and living as who she is makes her so much happier and confident. It’s a beautiful story and has information for adults wanting to support trans kids after the story. I highly recommend this book!
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc.
Stinetinglers: All New Stories by the Master of Scary Tales by R.L. Stine – This is a collection of 10 stories and I also read it for Netgalley, here was my review.
I really enjoyed this collection over-all! It has 10 stories. I didn’t care for 2 of them personally (but I didn’t hate them or anything) and I really enjoyed the other 8! 3.65 average rounded up to 4
Welcome to the in-between 3.5
Our Little Monsters 2
Skin 3
The Ghost in the car 4
The boy who heard screams 5
Bugs 3.5
How to change your life 4
The bad side 4.5
The hole in the ground 5
The monster maker 2
These are obviously just my opinions, nothing more.
These stories are perfect for kids I think and they are certainly fun to read as an adult to. If you enjoy Goosebumps (or Goosebumps like books) definitely check this collection out. A few of them gave my spine a tingle!
Philosophy Now – Issue 150 by Anja Publications – Philosophy magazine. I gave it 3 stars. Didn’t care for parts of it, had some issues.
What Do I Think I’ll Read Next?
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor -A Science Fiction, going to read this as it’s my book club pick for The eclecticist of eclectic book club. It’s set in Africa and has something to do with aliens. It sounds awesome!
Dracula by Bram Stoker – I read Dracula once years ago and didn’t like it but I think i’ll like it more now and have been wanting to give it another chance and it’s Georga’s pick for our book club, The eclecticist of eclectic book club. I also have borrowed this audible plus book that has a big cast of narrators, including Tim Curry, so I think that’ll help to!
Other Stuff – I don’t even know where to start, struggling to recover from surgery, i’m sick, Antibiotics don’t seem to be helping, my mom had/has the same cold crap but now has some sort of other bug. It’s my husband’s, who passed away Feb 16th 2021, birthday today so that’s making me sad and my period just started today (i’m a nonbinary trans guy btw) and it was a bit late so it’s like it waited for this day in particular and also I had a huge spider (daddy long legger) crawling on my arm earlier! Made me drop my switch (seems to be fine) and scream. And a Dr’s appointment keeps getting pushed back because I don’t drive and my mom’s been too sick to take me. I’m terrified i’m going to get this new bug on top of everything else and I can’t recover from what i’ve got and the surgery as it is!
Sorry it’s all over the place and might not make sense. It’s been a lot, still a lot. So much. I’m exhausted. Please make it stop, I need a break.
Sorry for complaining.
Me and My Dysphoria Monster: An Empowering Story to Help Children Cope with Gender Dysphoria by Laura Kate Dale and Hui Qing Ang Book Review
I wish i’d had this as a child. I would’ve had the words and known I wasn’t alone so much sooner.
There are some draft errors (like on one page it says missing words and later some sentences just stop in the middle) but I got this from Netgalley and it is an e-arc draft so i’m not holding that against it.
Nisha is a trans girl. She has a dysphoria monster that keeps getting bigger as she’s misgendered but then she comes out and has support and her monster gets smaller. At first she wanted her monster to just go away but with the help of an adult trans man learns what her monster was trying to tell her, and living as who she is makes her so much happier and confident. It’s a beautiful story and has information for adults wanting to support trans kids after the story. I highly recommend this book!
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc.
Wednesday Wrap Up August 17th, 2022
I know it’s been 2 weeks again since the last one but I had nothing to post last week really. Hell, I don’t have much now.
What I am currently reading
Nothing at the moment.
What i’ve recently finished
Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haban Girma – 5 stars!
This is a wonderful autobiography! I loved how stories from her life was told in the present tense, it felt so much more personal. It’s also infused with humor. You can learn so much from this, in an accessible way and having a nice time while doing it. Please read the discussion questions at the end, they give food for thought.
I have also been disabled my entire life but for entirely different reasons. I am neither deaf nor blind. I do have auditory processing disorder though so when she mentions there was too much noise to make anything out, I relate to that. I can’t make anything out in those situations either.
She’s the first deafblind student to graduate Harvard, and she’s barely 6 months older than me. We still have so far to go, but that’s not meant to take away from how far we’ve come.
What do I think i’ll read next?
Something for netgalley? A magazine? Who knows. Maybe something else.
Other Stuff
Me and my mom are sick. It’s not covid but it still sucks and I can’t get a break because it’s one thing after another trying to recover from intense surgery still and now i’m sick on top of it and my body has a lot of trouble healing in the best of circumstances :(. But the drain sites look better so hopefully in time i’ll get better. If this cold doesn’t turn into pneumonia which they love to do with me. Please, send good vibes or whatever.
Taboo Thursday: Her Stepsister’s Secret by Callista Bree
If i’m doing this taboo thursday thing like I said I am I need to put my money where my mouth is.
Synopsis: Carol and John are about to be married and their two daughters are meeting for the first time. John’s daughter Dina had taken the summer off to visit Europe and she is a bit surprised with all the wedding news. She hadn’t kept in touch much with her father and there were many things that they just kept to themselves. Dina isn’t too worried about the third wife moving in and doesn’t want to be there.
All that changes though, when she meets her buxom brunette stepsister Candace and realizes that the woman has a need in her eyes that she wants to satisfy. Candace is not into girls though and even when she tried to persuade her, Dina has a hard time convincing her. Candace has to see firsthand what she is missing for her to really start to entertain the idea. The two sisters are stuck in a small room together and as the trip goes on, Candace’s needs hit a breaking point and she just needs some relief.
My review: Yes, I enjoyed this. One, incest erotica is more popular than people want to believe and two, I hardly count stepsiblings that don’t even meet each other until they are adults incest. Also, i’m not repeating what i’ve said about fiction isn’t reality. I don’t want to constantly repeat myself, which I struggle not to do.
It’s obvious how much Dina wants Candace from the beginning and it doesn’t take long before it’s obvious Candance is intrigued and wants Dina too even though she pushes back against it initially. I enjoyed the story, what little there is of it, the characters, the tension, the bit of romance and the horniness.
I’d actually be interested in a story of how their relationship works out though I know that isn’t the point of this story.
It’s actually well written, which you can’t always say with these types of stories.
What I didn’t care for is the bonus story. There is an extra story and … it’s a weird tone change. It’s like a Christian erotica. A woman from Scotland ends up going somewhere (the US? The UK? I can’t remember, it was boring to me) to meet her husband to be for some reason (can you tell I wasn’t interested?). There isn’t enough women for the men in the area so he ordered a bride or whatever. Because reasons. He works on a farm I think. There be cows at least.
Anyway they have a week together and all the tension comes from the fact he refuses to do anything until they are married but man is he horny for her. They both want it, she even tries to tease him to make him lose control (he doesn’t), so I just don’t understand the whole “waiting for marriage” thing. I mean you do you, I just don’t get it. And the gender stereotypes. I’m not sure if it was sexist or just not my thing. I’m going with the latter. I couldn’t help thinking the book was saying “Oh, you liked that taboo stuff? Here’s some Christian erotica to cleanse your brain!”. I mean, they do get it on after they get married. I don’t know.
Yea I have more to say about that one because I should’ve written down my thoughts on the stepsister story right after I read it.
I decided to rate it solely on the title story, so I gave it 5 stars.
Taboo Thursday: Garden Gnome Sex Party by Fannie Tucker
by Fannie Tucker
Synopsis:
When Jenny adds a little whimsical flavor to her garden with a trio of gnome statues, she never suspects what’s in store. When the sun goes down, Jenny discovers her new lawn ornaments are ready to get busy, and they know how to use those pointy red hats to please a woman!
Warning: Explicit adult material. Three on one action, hard pointy hats, and gnomehoods as big as any man’s! 3300 words.
My Review:
If you look this up on Goodreads you’ll need the original title of “Garden Gnome Gangbang”. Goodreads also shows the original more risqué cover. You can find it Here. Apparently Amazon didn’t like the word gangbang or the original cover. I can see why but it’s a little disappointing lol.
Anyway, Jenny buys 3 garden gnomes for her garden, her actual garden with real plants, not an euphemism. She places them in her garden and goes to get a book to read. A sexy book that she sits on a bench in the shade of a tree in her yard to read and starts to masturbate. Don’t worry, she has a fence that the neighbors can’t see her. During the book getting and such it seems like the gnomes keep moving, but it must be her imagination, right?
Well she ends up falling asleep so she assumes what happens next must be a dream. The gnomes come over and talk to her! One thing quickly leads to another and the gnomes are pleasing her with their hands and a pointy hat in her pussy. Then she’s pleasing them and their gnomehoods that are the size of a humans penis, no idea how they hid those things when they are only 2 feet tall so their gnomehoods are very much out of proportion, with her hands, pussy and mouth.
The gnomes cum apparently tastes like candy and fizz and looks like rainbows and their gnomehoods taste like gourmet mushrooms with a sweet, earthy smell that reminds her of planting new flowers in the spring. Everyone is happy by the end. She wakes up dressed when she had been naked so she assumes it was one crazy dream but on her way inside one of the gnomes seems to wink at her. It must be her crazy imagination right?
This was hilarious, to me anyway. I gave it a solid 3 “I liked it” stars. It’s short. It’s on KU if you want to read it. I bought it on kindle some time ago because shits and giggles.
Book Review: Joyland by Stephen King
Synopsis: Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.
Format read: Kindle, via Libby
Age group: Adult
Genre: Thriller
My review: I absolutely loved this! This is what I love about Stephen King, the character depth and development. If you are looking for a fast-paced novel, this isn’t it. If you are looking for emotion and character-depth, this is it.
Devin initially has a girlfriend Wendy, she’s a jerk who doesn’t seem to actually care about him and ends up cheating on him and dumping him. Thankfully he gets over her, eventually, it’s hard of course. He worked at a carnival for a summer job and ended up deciding to stay on for the fall, to help clean up the rides and all that happy stuff, and just go back to college in the spring.
I love the cast of characters and getting to know everyone. The landlord where he stays, a place on the beach, the carnival workers, his friends from college, even his dad.
There is a ghost but i’m not calling this a ghost story. He gets involved trying to figure out who killed this girl awhile ago, in the carnival on a ride in the dark. He also gets involved with a dying child and his mother who live in a house on the beach. It’s sad and heart-wrenching and I had so many feels. While I wasn’t a dying child, I was a disabled child and that made some of it hit close to him.
The atmosphere of the carnival was also wonderful. I could feel the mystery, felt I knew these characters and felt for them. I even loved the ending, which doesn’t always happen with a King novel!
Some quotes
“You think Okay, I get it, I’m prepared for the worst, but you hold out that small hope, see, and that’s what fucks you up. That’s what kills you.”
I know that from experience. I know it’s depressing, but experience has shown me it is true.
“People everywhere sounded kind of paranoid, but I kept my mouth shut. Later I found out it wasn’t paranoid at all. Mike’s grandfather did have them everywhere, and they all saluted Jesus, the flag, and the NRA, although possibly not in that order. “Grampa said I got over the pneumonia because of God’s will. Mom said he was full of bullshit, just like when he said me having DMD in the first place was God’s punishment. She said I was just one tough little sonofabitch, and God had nothing to do with it. Then she hung up on him.””
Good on her! That’s the dying kid talking, Mike.
“During one of my quick-change transformations into Howie, Dottie Lassen had asked me—pretty much out of a clear blue sky—if I had found Jesus. My first impulse had been to tell her that I didn’t know He was lost, but I restrained it.”
Howie is a dog-costume, a mascot of the park. I’m so going to want to use that next time someone asks if i’ve found Jesus.
““I can’t understand why people use religion to hurt each other when there’s already so much pain in the world,” Mrs. Shoplaw said. “Religion is supposed to comfort.””
I wish I knew what else to say, but I don’t. Yea I saw the book isn’t exactly perfect but it has so much wonderful stuff going for it, so much heart, that I can’t help but love it a full 5 stars.
SPOILERS
A quote
““Okay. Take care of yourself.” He grimaced without opening his eyes. “That’s a laugh. How e’zacly am I s’posed to do that? You got any ideas? Because I haven’t. I got no relatives, no friends, no savings, no insurance. What am I gonna do now?””
Dev had said “Okay. Take care of yourself.” to Eddie in the hospital after he had a heart attack, a fellow carnival worker. Eddie isn’t liked by anyone, he’s grumpy and not nice, but it shows there is more to him and why he’s that way. And to a point, I can relate. Sometimes the hardest people to love are those that need it the most.
Taboo Thursday: Kraken by M. Caspian
Taboo Thursday? I’ve decided I am going to start doing Taboo Thursdays where I review a taboo book. Some might be slightly taboo, some more taboo, but in some way they shall be. There is no way i’ll have something every week. I’d like to have at least 1 a month, but we shall see. I am starting off with this book
Synopsis:
Kraken: A gothic erotic horror with tentacle non-con.
When boyfriend Parker gives him an ultimatum Will never dreams his heart is about to be ripped out: move to a remote off-shore island with him, or call it quits. But Will picks wrong, and now he’s heading into the unknown to fix his mistake. But why do the locals think they recognise him? And why can’t he seem to leave?
Reader advisory: This work of fiction contains explicit sexual activities between men that may offend some people. It also contains scenes of rape, extreme violence, tentacles, and reference to sexual abuse of children.
63,000 words
Available at Amazon for Kindle, and Smashwords in all formats.
My Review:
At first I didn’t think some things made sense. Since finishing it, it makes more sense, though i’m still not sure everything does. Maybe it could’ve been a little more fleshed out but over-all I liked it and had a fun, and horrifying, time.
I initially found the romance weird but eventually it did make sense. It is abusive and there are major red flags, and actually it’s not romance after all. It’s not called a gothic horror tentacle non-con for nothing! I am trying to not spoil anything though.
The characters were varying degrees of annoying. The main character Will was so frustrating, because he was constantly making stupid decisions, like
Some of which I understood but most of them, no. Parker, is a jerk but after finishing it i’m actually thinking not quite as much as he initially appears. Cyrus, well he’s abusive and a powerful cephalopod shifter. You’re not supposed to like him. Cyrus is very controlling.
This story gets more horrifying as you read. It completely says fuck the limits of the human body. Even though Will was frustrating I felt so bad for him because he didn’t deserve what he went through, and some of the frustration (some of it, not all) makes sense later when you consider what he had gone through.
This definitely hits on some kinks, including uh … mine. I was horrifyed, slightly aroused, and wanting to save poor Will all at the same damn time. It felt weird.
It is a strange read. It took me some time to really warm up to the story but I did. I went from “this is ok” to “omg i’m really enjoying this”.
I will never understand the noodle fetish thing though. Is it like, an ASMR fetish? Do people get turned on by ASMR? Or noodles? You’ll have to read it.
It does have quite a bit of typos. Normally I wouldn’t mention a few but it was more than a few. I still enjoyed the story though and that’s what matters.
I also loved the ending. It was emotional and sweet.
So, in short, I found it enjoyable, horrifying, arousing, strange, and emotional. A solid 4 stars from me.
My All Time Favorite Book: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley (and in particular the original 1818 version) is my TOP favorite book. I got really into reading near the end of 2015, and I had always wanted to read ‘Frankenstein’, so I did. I had no idea at the time there is more than one version so I ended up picking up the 1831, more conservative (because pressure apparently) version. Read it, enjoyed it. Later I heard about the different versions and I looked it up, realized I hadn’t read her original version, so I fixed that, and I fell in love!
Possible spoilers for the book down below.
I feel so much for the creature. As someone who has deformities (though not always obvious, because I have a hemangioma which is big and ugly but it’s on the back of my right leg, from my knee to my privates, yes on my right labia. I also have 9 fingers because of a hypoplastic left thumb at birth but had pollicization surgery at age 2 but even though that’s always visible, unlike the hemangioma because pants, people rarely notice that and I don’t even want to count the hand thing because it’s so minor but I guess technically it is? My left thumb now was my index finger originally and still looks exactly like my right index finger, it’s just in the thumb spot. I would get stares and questions, pity and disgust, when I wore shorts or skirts to school because of the hemangioma but I was never going to sweat to death because of it) and is disabled I felt like I related a lot to the creature.
People run from him because of how he looks. His own father abandoned him, because of how he looks. No matter how hard the creature tries, people can not get past how he looks. I understand his eventual anger and frustration, he was treated horribly and all he wanted was a friend. He deserved a friend, but people are so shallow. Am I excusing his eventual actions? Hell no! But none of it had to happen and I can understand his pain (to some degree at least). There’s a bit more to my story that i’m not currently sharing but suffice it to say I want to give the creature a hug and befriend him. My love for the book is why i’m scared to watch any movie “adaptation” because i’ve heard how they get the creature all wrong and everything. If anyone that also likes the book knows of a good adaptation (tv, movie, even another book/story) please let me know because I want to experience it all! I’ll even get around to the other movies at some point, just so I know.
I’ve read ‘Frankenstein’ 5 times, in different editions. I have multiple copies of ‘Frankenstein’. First read was the 1831 version before I knew it wasn’t the original. Then i’ve read a few different editions of the 1818 version where they had different essays/annotations etc. (and one had annotated all the differences between the 1818 and 1831 versions).
I hope to at some point re-read my different editions (and maybe more) taking notes on so many different things!! I’m positive this will be far from my last post about ‘Frankenstein’! Though don’t worry if you don’t care about ‘Frankenstein’, i’ll have plenty other things to post about as well and won’t post all the ‘Frankenstein’ stuff all at once! It’ll take awhile. 🙂 I also got obsessed with learning more about Mary Shelley and highly recommend the book ‘Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley’ by Charlotte Gordon if you want to know more about her and her mother, both amazing women!
Am I obsessed? Maybe. But it gives me such joy to think about!
I also feel a bit weird though that my favorite is a classic as I don’t want to seem snobby. I can certainly enjoy other classics too but I also read nearly everything under the sun. Horror, Contemporary, Romance, YA, Middle Grade, Children’s and more. ‘Frankenstein’ just happened to become my favorite, because of reasons. And no, I don’t think people who love classics are snobs, but I used to.
Honestly I started this post thinking it’d be a “My All Time Favorite Books (so far)” post but it seems better to leave it here. ‘Frankenstein’ is my number one. I’ll make other posts with more. And of course all this is just my personal thoughts and opinions.
Thank you for reading. Leave any thoughts down below!
The particular book above was bought at https://www.oldstyletales.com/ (I think that particular cover is gone now though)
Literary Stoner 