Botany, Travel, and Art, Oh My!
In case you’re not aware, I’ve been doing more bookish content and book reviews over on Youtube, if you’d like to check it out. This review is included in my May Wrap-Up video.
Full disclosure, I was given advance access to the audiobook form of this novel on NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review
Greetings, guys, gals, and non-binary pals! While the main bulk of the blog will remain botany and botany-adjacent, but I’m going to start adding more book reviews to the mix too. We’re going to start here. They’ll show up in Youtube videos eventually too.
Full disclosure, I was given advance access to this graphic novel on NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. The title image to the left is an affiliate link to the book’s Amazon page. Anticipated publication date is August 17, 2021.
Star Beasts is an adorable middle-grade graphic novel by Stephanie Young that takes you through the adventures of the Condor and her crew. The Condor’s inhabitants are from the Earth branch of a vast intergalactic network of beings. There's some intrigue, some touching moments, and some high-impact action.
I was rather reminded of Homeward Bound, meets Star Trek... sort of. It was a great time and really helped me out of the reading slump/weird headspace I was in for the last little bit. I will admit the ending was slightly cliché and slightly annoyed me because it was a bit cliché.
Looking at the cover art again, there’s a lot of references to the rest of the story. Overall, it was genuinely great and I'd definitely recommend it and rated it 4 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Greetings, guys, gals, and non-binary pals and welcome to the first readathon I’ve hosted!
I had fun participating in the Asian Readathon in May and wanted to do the same in June for pride. However, from what I’ve seen, there’s no already-existing LGBTQ+ reading challenge, at least for the month of June. Consequently, I’ve created one. You can pop over to The StoryGraph to participate, or just do so on your own, if you’d like. Also, a heads-up that all book links (including the clickable images) are affiliate links, leading to sales pages for said books. Just so you know that if you purchase something, I get a small commission.
While there are several prompts, keep in mind that you can use one book for multiple prompts,
I’m also going to be selling 10 pride flag inspired abstract paintings, the profits of which will be donated to the Center for Black Equity, which works to improve the lives of black LGBT people, globally. Unless something changes, this will be taking place on Instagram.
Many thanks to The Honeycomb :)
Prompts:
1. Read a book written by an LGBTQ+ author.
2. Read a book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist.
3. Read a book with LGBTQ+ characters/author/etc from your favorite genre.
4. Read a non-fiction book by an LGBTQ+ author.
5. Read a book by a BI-POC author with LGBTQ+ characters.
6. Read a book that is non-US centric with LGBTQ+ characters.
Bonus:
i. Read a book that spotlights lesser-emphasized parts of the LGBTQ+ community (either author or characters) Ex. ace, aro, pan, intersex, etc.
ii. Read a book with an LGBTQ+ focus, written prior to 1950.
iii. Read a book with trans/non-binary characters or by a trans/non-binary author.
iv. Read a book by a new-to-you LGBTQ+ author.
It's meant to be pretty low-stress, so you can use one book for multiple prompts, just please pick books from different authors, and ideally from authors of diverse gender, sexuality, and cultural identities.
For example, I'll be reading ACE, by Angela Chen, fulfilling all the prompts except the bonuses for a trans or non-binary author/characters and being written prior to 1950. Also kind of favorite genre. Non-fiction’s hit or miss for me sometimes.
Hurricane Child, by Kacen Callender, fulfilling the prompts of being written by an LGBTQ author, about (presumably) an LGBTQ character, and being written by a trans or non-binary author. The story follows 12 yr old Caroline Murphy, who is a ‘hurricane child’ or a child who was born during a hurricane and is thus seen as bad luck. It’s a magical-realism middle grade. It looks like there might be some sapphic elements, but StoryGraph is also letting me know there’s content warnings for self harm, homophobia, and racism.
And The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, fulfilling the prompts of being written by an LGBTQ author, about (presumably) an LGBTQ character, and having been written prior to 1950.
I've had a copy of that one for years and have never gotten around to it. From what I’ve heard from other reviews, it’s at least borderline horror? We’ll see.
Other recommendations are The Henna Wars and The Prince and the Dressmaker, which I read for May's Asian Readathon. As a content warning, both had homophobia, the latter much more than the former, though the former has elements of transphobia as well. There is also a running commentary on racism toward our Bengali main character and her family.
If you decide to participate, feel free to use the #ReadLGBTQPride hashtag
Any book-reading method works for this, including but not limited to physical copies, e-books, audiobooks, and braille. If you want to participate in the charity art canvases, links will be below, along with links to information and ways to help regarding the events currently unfolding in Palestine, India, and Brazil.
Hoping you’re all doing well.
-Ryn
Links:
Vaccine info: Othena vaccine registration | Walgreens vaccine registration
Global Issues:
How to help India: https://linktr.ee/hindusamata
How to help Colombia: https://conflictoencolombia.carrd.co/
How to help Palestine: https://twitter.com/slexiecult/status/1390779196125949954?s=20 How to help
Myanmar: https://www.rescue.org/country/myanmar
Anti-Asian Violence Resources: https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/
Social Media Links: https://linktr.ee/AdventuRyn
The Amazing Plant Project Youtube | Twitch | Podcast | Patreon | Redbubble | Goodreads
In honor of Asian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, I'll be participating in the Asian ReadAThon hosted by WithCindy, over on Youtube. Connected to this are giveaways, charity, and the overarching intent to get more people reading the works of Asian authors. And not just during May.
A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston, Illustrated by Silvia Long and geared toward children aged 5-8, or Kindergarten reading level. This book is designated as children’s non-fiction. This book goes through different types of seeds and gives examples of each. Unlike some children’s books the illustrations are photo-realistic botanical watercolor paintings.
We Are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines and kids, Illustrated by Julianna Swaney is written for children aged 4-8, or first to second grade reading level and designated as children’s non-fiction.
The story details the beginnings of a garden from the perspective of the author’s children, starting with a humble fern and growing from there.
The Bad Seed by Jory John, Illustrated by Pete Oswald and is written for children aged 4-8, or Preschool reading level. It’s designated as children’s fiction. The story explores the themes of isolation, pain, and how it can fester and cause additional damage, far and above what the initial pain was, both to the individual themselves and those around them.
The book is described as a mix of The Hunger Games and The Handmaid's Tale, but with bees and while I've not read either, from what I have heard and seen that would be accurate. The story itself was engaging and well written. However, while it is well written and engaging, describing insect society in a manner that you would a human society gets rather grim, incredibly fast.
The contents itself, while somewhat difficult to navigate at first, is informative and useful, each herb entry containing information for that plant’s common, scientific, and folk names, associated gender (masculine/feminine), ruling planet, element, and sometimes deity, and associated magical uses, rituals, and powers.
