Lady Business

Di talks about science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction on her Booktube channel BookishDi and is one of the founders of the SFF book and fandom discussion show Stitch & Bitch. She can be found on BlueSky talking about books, politics, and women's sports.

On Wednesday, April 16, the UK Supreme Court issued a ruling on the legal definition of “woman” that excluded trans women. This case challenging the Equality Act was funded in large part by JK Rowling, and she celebrated the ruling with a series of disgusting, transphobic tweets. This is just her latest action to stigmatize trans women and destroy their ability to exist in public life in the UK. Coincidentally, the same day, UK based subscription box Illumicrate announced a special edition of the upcoming book, Rose in Chains by Julie Soto. This novel is based off of her hit Draco/Hermione fanfic, "The Auction", the premise of which is Voldermort winning the war and Hermione being sold into sexual slavery to Draco Malfoy. But don’t worry, he’s a good fascist and treats her well enough that she’s willing to defend the nice Nazis (I mean Death Eaters) when their actions come to trial. Plot points and names that directly identify it as HP have been changed for the trad pub release, but at its core it is still Harry Potter fanfiction.

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In the last few years I’ve become a fan of Chinese dramas (aka c-dramas), especially The Untamed. I'm a white American and I didn't grow up watching dramas, but I've come to love them. I enjoy how they mix small, tender moments with action and heartbreak. These are shows that can evoke the whole range of human emotions. I've done a lot of new things as part of c-drama fandom, including writing fanfic for the first time. I've made a lot of new friends via fandom and it's changed my whole experience of social media. But the aspect of my fandom I want to talk about here is that it’s gotten me reading and loving academic history again. ( Read more... )

Jenny is the funny and insightful co-host of the Reading the End bookcast. She blogs about books and other sundries at the very entertaining Reading the End, where you can go for even more book reviews, lists, and interviews! She is also an excellent goal setter and loves a hot plate of cheese fries.

In honor of April Fool’s, I’m highlighting YA protagonists who will fool the heck out of you! And so that you won’t think I’m cliché and repetitive, I haven’t even included Eugenides. I have read books not written by Megan Whalen Turner, and the rumor that I only care about books by Megan Whalen Turner is hurtfully false. ( Read more... )

( Anticipated YA Releases )

Jenny is the outstanding and percipient co-host of the Reading the End bookcast. She blogs about books and other sundries at the very entertaining Reading the End, where you can go for even more book recs in genres other than YA. She is also a champion citizen and loves a good order of cheese fries.

February can be a tough month for ace and aro friends, and I’d like to take a quick sec to say that I see and love y’all. And so for this February, I wanted to share a rec list of YA books that don’t have any sex or romance in them at all. Consider it a companion piece to my February 2018 column in which I made a list of YA novels where the youths bang and it still works out okay. ( Read more... )

( Anticipated February YA Releases )

Jenny is the splendid and prodigious co-host of the Reading the End bookcast. She blogs about books and other sundries at the funny and entertaining Reading the End, where you can go for even more book recs in genres other than YA. She is also a champion library patron and is kind to all librarians.

We have reached the spookiest of months, and I have brought you an old/new pairing of the fluffiest Halloweeny books imaginable. If we’re being honest, I must admit that these are middle grade, but it’s been a rough month, and next month’s going to be rough too. If ever there were a time for this column to skew younger, now is that time.

I read Ursula Vernon’s Castle Hangnail this year and immediately raved about it on my own blog. Not satisfied with a single medium for my enthusiasm about Castle Hangnail, I have elected to share it in this column too, as a pairing for my favorite Eva Ibbotson book, Which Witch? (1979)



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Which Witch?, by Eva Ibbotson, hits many of the same notes, with a cast of characters who ostensibly serve Evil yet are delightful and strange and kind. The wizard Arriman has no prospects of finding another dark wizard to replace him, and so he resolves to make one: He establishes a contest to find a dark witch for a wife, with the intention of having a baby with her who can become the next great sorcerer of evil. Belladonna desperately loves him—but unfortunately, she is the whitest of witches and can’t blight anything. She mostly makes flowers and takes care of animals.



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Anticipated October Releases

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Get at me in the comments for the YA books you’re anticipating this month!