Vax LB Reads Books
Oct. 3rd, 2025 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lb_leeGetting double vaxxed means we spent yesterday on our ass, reading all our backed up library books. So, what’d we read? (Combining with other books we finished a week or so ago.)
Lilian Faderman’s “Surpassing the Love of Men”: a 450-page monster that took FOREVER to finish. Interesting history about romantic friendship with between women and also a history of lesbophobia, but whoa boy does it show its age from 1981 with its “lesbian feminists are here to save the world, butches and femmes are political throwbacks that we are so above now, we can all choose to become politically correct lesbians.”
H. M. Major’s “the Alien Trace”: pulpy 1984 sci-fi book about a horny cat man trying to find the murderer of his parents on a human trading outpost (and getting copiously laid). Rawlin got this one. The first half was mostly around cat people society, which was interesting and enjoyable... and then the mystery section sagged and dragged, yeesh. At least Goodreads warned us that NOTHING gets resolved in the end, but wow, it REALLY gets unresolved, which is especially annoying when the mystery portion was such a drag. Also, the longer the book goes on, the more the protagonist just acts like a human, which is no fun. Really feels like maybe the second half got rush jobbed.
Steve Pizik’s “In the Company of Mind”: this one was fun! Sci-fi novel about a cyborg multi called the Company trying to escape their abusive (and truly terrifying, in a way hard to do well) zillionaire dad, both as teens in the past and adults in the present. It very much is a “MPD book from 1998,” but there are far worse things than to do that well, and we’ll be putting it on![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
pluralstories. And after the books above, which all had draaaaaagging sections, it was nice to read a book that kept us hooked, wondering what’d happen next! And the plotting was quite satisfying. Thanks, sci-fi library!
Phyllis K. Davis’s “the Power of Touch”: a therapist and former school teacher’s book on the importance of good touch in our lives. Not as good as Tiffany Field’s book on the subject, but discussed vicarious and “inside” touch in a way that was very handy! Research read for Multi Moregasmic.
Sister Dang Nghiem’s “the River In Me”: poetry by a doctor turned Buddhist nun, split in half from before her ordination and after, so you get to see her whole soul journey through poetry. Very good! Fascinating way to explore healing from layers of heartbreak, we don’t even like poetry but found this book enthralling.
Jackarais’s “the Dancing Bones: part 1”: print volume of a webcomic where a pair of lesbian lovers go to explore some eldritch mineshaft tenement that’s infested with rave party skeletons who will convert YOU into a rave skeleton at a single touch and can only be warded off by making lots of noise (so they respect your rave space). This comic is ridiculous and I fuckin love it. Never have the undead been so cheerful and fun and deadly! Very much a book where you just roll with the absurdity, and the mix of comedy and horror is enjoyable.
Lilian Faderman’s “Surpassing the Love of Men”: a 450-page monster that took FOREVER to finish. Interesting history about romantic friendship with between women and also a history of lesbophobia, but whoa boy does it show its age from 1981 with its “lesbian feminists are here to save the world, butches and femmes are political throwbacks that we are so above now, we can all choose to become politically correct lesbians.”
H. M. Major’s “the Alien Trace”: pulpy 1984 sci-fi book about a horny cat man trying to find the murderer of his parents on a human trading outpost (and getting copiously laid). Rawlin got this one. The first half was mostly around cat people society, which was interesting and enjoyable... and then the mystery section sagged and dragged, yeesh. At least Goodreads warned us that NOTHING gets resolved in the end, but wow, it REALLY gets unresolved, which is especially annoying when the mystery portion was such a drag. Also, the longer the book goes on, the more the protagonist just acts like a human, which is no fun. Really feels like maybe the second half got rush jobbed.
Steve Pizik’s “In the Company of Mind”: this one was fun! Sci-fi novel about a cyborg multi called the Company trying to escape their abusive (and truly terrifying, in a way hard to do well) zillionaire dad, both as teens in the past and adults in the present. It very much is a “MPD book from 1998,” but there are far worse things than to do that well, and we’ll be putting it on
pluralstories. And after the books above, which all had draaaaaagging sections, it was nice to read a book that kept us hooked, wondering what’d happen next! And the plotting was quite satisfying. Thanks, sci-fi library!Phyllis K. Davis’s “the Power of Touch”: a therapist and former school teacher’s book on the importance of good touch in our lives. Not as good as Tiffany Field’s book on the subject, but discussed vicarious and “inside” touch in a way that was very handy! Research read for Multi Moregasmic.
Sister Dang Nghiem’s “the River In Me”: poetry by a doctor turned Buddhist nun, split in half from before her ordination and after, so you get to see her whole soul journey through poetry. Very good! Fascinating way to explore healing from layers of heartbreak, we don’t even like poetry but found this book enthralling.
Jackarais’s “the Dancing Bones: part 1”: print volume of a webcomic where a pair of lesbian lovers go to explore some eldritch mineshaft tenement that’s infested with rave party skeletons who will convert YOU into a rave skeleton at a single touch and can only be warded off by making lots of noise (so they respect your rave space). This comic is ridiculous and I fuckin love it. Never have the undead been so cheerful and fun and deadly! Very much a book where you just roll with the absurdity, and the mix of comedy and horror is enjoyable.
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Date: 2025-10-04 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2025-10-04 03:48 am (UTC)Delia is really cool. We loved that she and Meredith both got to take part in taking the villain down! And yeah, the casual poly was really nice too, didn't even remember to mention that!