Book 1: The Hidden Life of Trees.

Book 7: The Treasure of the Black Swan. A graphic novel about a shipwreck and the drama trying to figure out who was legally entitled to the treasure. It involves diplomats, lawyers, treasure hunters and US, Peruvian and Spanish jurisdiction. Based on a true story (which I did not read up on until afterwards) it's an interesting and well-told and easy to follow story even though it was clearly a pretty convoluted situation at the time.

Book 8: Vern Custodian of the Universe. A short fun graphic novel about Vern who is having a tough time coping with the earth being a mess. His mom and grandma nudge him into a job at Quasar which... does what exactly? Stuff happens on an interdimensional level and Vern has a front-row seat. This is one of those graphic novels which really feels like it was a lot of fun to draw: quirky, trippy, and colorful, with a good sense of humor and a good heart at the center of it.

Book 9: Haunt Sweet Home. A short novel about Mara, a youngish woman who doesn't quite fit in with her family or life in general. After drifting about, she lands a job on the night shift of a reality tv show about people who buy houses and then find out they are haunted. You'd think it would be tough to find enough people for that, but the crew gives extra haunting nudges along the way. Mara's a bit of a loner and still figuring things out and the show gives her life a temporary focus.

@jessamyn I read that last year and really enjoyed!

@platypus It has a weirdly low rating on Goodreads and I can't figure out why, I thought it was solid.

@jessamyn that's a pity for the author, I agree. I suppose as a novella it might've not had enough content for some people? But I felt the plot worked well to the form and sometimes I need novellas.

Book 9: Haunt Sweet Home. A short novel about Mara, a youngish woman who doesn't quite fit in with her family or life in general. After drifting about, she lands a job on the night shift of a reality tv show about people who buy houses and then find out they are haunted. You'd think it would be tough to find enough people for that, but the crew gives extra haunting nudges along the way. Mara's a bit of a loner and still figuring things out and the show gives her life a temporary focus.

Book 10. Apple Watch for Dummies. I knew this book wasn't going to be great. But I got a used Apple Watch (partner has one, he likes it, was I just reflexively disliking?) & wanted to learn about it w/o watching a video or reading AI slop. I learned HTML from a Dummies guide, how bad could it be? THEY MISSPELLED THE WORD WATCH, for one. Tons of typos. Text which felt copied straight from Apple's marketing. Awful "jokes." I learned about maybe four features and feel dumber for having read it.

@jessamyn well to be fair, does what it says in the tin. You started off smart and it seems like the book achieve its goal!

(I like my Apple Watch.)

Book 10. Apple Watch for Dummies. I knew this book wasn't going to be great. But I got a used Apple Watch (partner has one, he likes it, was I just reflexively disliking?) & wanted to learn about it w/o watching a video or reading AI slop. I learned HTML from a Dummies guide, how bad could it be? THEY MISSPELLED THE WORD WATCH, for one. Tons of typos. Text which felt copied straight from Apple's marketing. Awful "jokes." I learned about maybe four features and feel dumber for having read it.

Book 11: The Joy of Snacking. It's hard when you don't like someone's deeply personal memoir, but I didn't. The front cover of this book made it seem like it was about snacks and... er... joy. The back cover makes it clear that it's about the author's lifelong struggle with some sort of disordered eating, an unhelpful bad relationship, and a confusing relationship with both her parents and her body. And a lot of it was told in a roundabout non-linear style so I wasn't even sure what was going on

Book 12: If Wishes Were Retail. No idea where I found this one. It's a fun book about a disaffected young woman, Alex, stuck with her shitty family looking for a job, any job. And she finds one... working for a genie in a retail kiosk at the mall. He's selling wishes which, of course, gets complicated really fast. He doesn't know much about the human world, and she's got big dreams about going away to college and leaving this all behind. Better than it seemed like it would be, and much funnier.

Book 13: Call Me Iggy. A sweet YA graphic novel about Ignacio, a kid whose parents immigrated from Colombia, trying to navigate being in high school (and Spanish class) with young women who he suddenly has an interest in, and also his jerk older brother. He connects with the spirit of his Colombian grandfather, who mostly helps him with some of this. This book touches on so many useful concepts (various Latinx identities, DACA, a little bit of US politics) and has a good heart at its core.

Book 14: The Locked Room. This is the penultimate book in this series and the plot points are coming in fast and furious. There's not really even that much archaeology in this one. Covid is really center stage and just ramping up. Ruth gets a new neighbor and finds out some interesting facts about her. Then there's a weird connection between a string of deaths that doesn't even get explained that much. I liked it because I'm mostly here for the people but a bit thin on plot.

Book 12: If Wishes Were Retail. No idea where I found this one. It's a fun book about a disaffected young woman, Alex, stuck with her shitty family looking for a job, any job. And she finds one... working for a genie in a retail kiosk at the mall. He's selling wishes which, of course, gets complicated really fast. He doesn't know much about the human world, and she's got big dreams about going away to college and leaving this all behind. Better than it seemed like it would be, and much funnier.

@jessamyn Ok, that was the first current book I've read in AGES. Good recommendation.

Book 15: Silent No Longer: Advancing the Fight for Disability Rights. From the new shelf at my library, written by the CEO of a non-profit company which supports moving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities into supported living situations outside of institutions. Obviously he's got an angle. This book explains both what his company does (and how) but also why it's the RIGHT thing to do. Fewer stories from actual clients than I'd like, but still good overall.

Book 16: Black Arms to Hold You Up. Ben Passmore is a Black anarchist and graphic novelist. This book uses the framing of his mostly-absent dad coming back around and trying to school the slightly-politically apathetic Passmore about the history of Black resistance in the US, and Black armed resistance in particular. No punches pulled. The cops are drawn as pigs, a lot of it takes place in and around the carceral state, all the protagonists are complicated. I knew some of this, not all of it.

Book 16: Black Arms to Hold You Up. Ben Passmore is a Black anarchist and graphic novelist. This book uses the framing of his mostly-absent dad coming back around and trying to school the slightly-politically apathetic Passmore about the history of Black resistance in the US, and Black armed resistance in particular. No punches pulled. The cops are drawn as pigs, a lot of it takes place in and around the carceral state, all the protagonists are complicated. I knew some of this, not all of it.

@jessamyn This is on my bedside TBR right now, looking forward to jumping into it soon!