BUFFBOBA

The sun was shining. The heat waves were waving. The snacks were being bombarded with flies and gnats. The coffee and teas were iced. And books… Books were READ.

I spent SO MUCH time reading this summer. In fact, I think my summer overall could be defined with these three activities: Reading, gardening, and working out. If I wasn’t doing one of those three things, I was probably working or sleeping.

There are SO many books to get into. So let’s just dive right in!

Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers

This duology (‘A Psalm for the Wild-Built’ and ‘A Prayer for the Crown-Shy’) follows a nonbinary tea-monk and their friend, a Robot in an age without want (I didn’t know what the term post-scarcity meant, until reading this book).

In this world, robots became sentient, but are long lost stories for most living people– they’re said to live in the wild but no one has seen one in a very long time. Until a robot discovers our main character, the Tea Monk, and the two begin something of a tour around their region to ask, “In this post-scarcity world– what do people need?”

It was such a heartwarming read, and there were a few moments that made me reflect on a few thoughts that I had about myself. Also I cried a little bit. I love a book that makes me cry a little bit.

If you need a palette cleanser, or maybe just a reminder that you are enough, go give it a read.

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

If there are two things I love, it’s romance, and also ORCS. This had both.

The story follows an adventurer who retires to open a coffee shop, and the challenges that come with setting aside an old chapter of your life so you can live presently in the new one.

It’s got coffee. It’s got smooching. It’s got adventurers. What more can you ask for?

The Dream Harbor Series, Books 1-3 by Laurie Gilmore

Sometimes you get to hankering for a little bit of fall coziness in the middle of the summer. Don’t “@” me. I will not be accepting questions about that at this time.

HOWEVER. I will be accepting questions about this book series because I ALSO HAD QUESTIONS.

I was bamboozled. I thought that I was picking up a cute ‘finding ones self’ story when I picked up ‘The Pumpkin Spice Cafe’ , and set aside the death-spice themes in the name of my quest for cozy! What I got instead was a very steamy, smutty romance book.

Yeah. That’s right. The three that I read, “The Pumpkin Spice Cafe”, “The Cinnamon Bun book Store” and “The Christmas Tree Farm” were all smutty romance books. Every one. And you know what? I bet the rest of the series is a bunch of smutty romance disguised as cozy cute stories too.

AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE? I’mma read ’em.

They feel a little bit formulated so far, but the main characters all have their own personalities, and the romantic interests vary in ‘type’ (aside from all of them being hunky and hot). I found the main character from “The Christmas Tree Farm” to be particularly endearing (a spoiled “help me” girlie who realizes she has to stand on her own two feet) as someone who has had to go through the buckle-up-buttercup-bootcamp in order to be a better person before, too.

They’re cute. They’re smutty. They’re a light read. I’m hooked.

A Lonely Broadcast (Books 1 & 2) by Kel Byron

I originally heard this story on a creepy pasta podcast that I sometimes listen to with Broba. This story started out as a reddit scary story and eventually got published as it’s own book series.

The tale follows an radio broadcaster in a tower along the edge of a forest where… Things get kind of weird. And by weird, I mean horrific. In all of the best ways, of course.

It’s like if Welcome to Nightvale had a love-child with Appalachian horror.

The characters are endearing and wry– sometimes the humor is a bit on-the-nose, but I didn’t mind– and there’s a sadistic joy in the unraveling of the mystery around the small mountain town of Pinehaven.

This is a horror book though. So if you’re squeamish, and don’t enjoy body horror, themes of death, etc– be mindful about picking this one up.

Tales from the Gas Station (Books 1 & 2) by Jack Townsend

Sometimes it’s the odd, boring jobs that turn out to be the most interesting. Or maybe it’s the people that make that job more interesting. Either way, this book series makes working the overnight shift at a Gas Station seem… Kind of rad.

In a small no-where town, where odd things happen and everyone just seems to take it in stride, Jack– a chronic insomniac and lowkey unreliable narrator– works at a po-dunk gas station where the garden gnomes move, extra rooms keep popping up, and also there’s a garden of human hands out back.

Jack himself is a rather sort of stoic sort of person, taking everything at face value and trying not to think to much about how unhinged everything is, and the rest of the characters are eccentric, sometimes (not-so-) borderline psychotic townies. But hey, maybe you’d also be a bit dotty if an old god decided to take slumber underneath your night-job, too.

This story, like A Lonely Broadcast, started out as a reddit scary story, if I’m not mistaken. This was another one that was covered by that podcast I was listening to with Broba (I’m starting to notice a trend in books that I’ve read that started as some kind of internet serial….).

I’m eagerly awaiting book three and also I guess now there’s a book four? I’m counting down the on-hold queue on the Libby app. HURRY UP PEOPLE. I WANT TO READ ABOUT THE UNHINGED SUPERNATURAL GAS STATION AGAIN!

First Generation Farming by Chris Newman

Have you ever heard of FarmingWhileBeige? I love that guys videos about farming, his political takes, and his comedy react shorts on Youtube. So much so, in fact, that when I heard he had a book, I decided to get it.

As it happened, I stumbled across his work because I was doing a lot of research about gardening and urban homesteading. While commercial agriculture lives as a little romantic daydream in the back of my head, it’s never really been a firm goal in mine for me and my family.

And a good thing, too. Because this book completely put me off of farming in the best way possible.

This book goes over different historical aspects of how modern farming came to be, how modern farming largely works today, social impact, and the economics of farming commercially.

It was an incredibly informational read, and if you’re the kind of person who, like me, got caught up in all of the social media hype about small commercial farms and thought to yourself, ‘I could do that’ — STOP. Take a beat. Then go buy this book. You’ll thank me– and FarmingWhileBeige– later.

Adversary To The Villian by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH I HAD FORGOTTEN THIS WAS COMING OUT THIS SUMMER.

So. Let me talk about this series really briefly. Because I realize that this SOMEHOW MISSED the last BuffBook roundup that I did.

This fantastical romantic comedy series follows a woman, Evie, who ends up desperately needing a job to support her struggling family. She ends up working as the assistant to the Big Evil Bad Guy– The Villain. Huh. Crime does pay. Who knew?!

Evie’s journey, spanning four books by the time we reach ‘Adversary to the Villain’, is one of self-acceptance, setting health boundaries with family, and recovering from past hurt. Also, like, totally falling in love with the most evilest dude in the kingdom and finding a new family in a rag-tag group of evil-doers (who are all, actually, low key good people).

If you appreciated fantastical or historical movies that didn’t take themselves too seriously (The Princess Bride, comes to mind for sure), then go. Pick. Up. This. Book.

1984 by George Orwell

I had the expectation that I would be disturbed and upset when I picked up this Orwellian classic. However, I didn’t really get it until I finished reading it, and sat there in dull silence with a pit of writhing snakes in my stomach.

In a world where fascism is the normal and the large government– Big Brother– sees all, one man rebels. It starts with a journal, and then an affair. Then, he steps into the deep end, and gets caught.

This story doesn’t have a happy ending. There’s no great stand where heroes fell the bad guy. There’s only widespread psychological manipulation, lies, torture, oppression, and the s ystematic reduction of modern language to the masses so that they cannot even describe the world around them.

It was a haunting read, and I still sometimes feel disturbed in moments of peace if I idly think about it.

This classic is a stark warning about the worst in our world. Everyone should read it. Everyone should then, after finishing it, make a promise to themselves to learn as many new words as possible and to hug their families.

Howls Moving Castle by Diane Wynne Jones

After the horrors of 1984, I desperately needed a palette cleanser. Just like in the movie, Howl made his appearance just at the right time. Finally, the book I’d been waiting on for over a month became available and I got to dive into the magic that inspired the Studio Ghibli film.

Sophie, the eldest sister firmly believes that she would be, if she tried to be anything other than the boring and sensible older sister, utterly boring and very likely a failure. She makes hats for her stepmother, helps her family, and that’s that. At least… Until she gets cursed by the Witch of the Waste to be an old woman.

Distraught, and in shock, she leaves her home and stumbles her way into the moving castle of the formidable and infamous Howl. There, she makes a deal with Howl’s fire demon, Calcifer and tries to break her curse while dealing with Howl (and his nonsense).

Most of us know how this story ends. It’s a timeless tale and has been a favorite of mine ever since I saw the movie.

The book is all of what we love about the Ghibli adaption and more. We learn more about Howl and where he came from. We get to see Sophie be even more ornery and, perhaps my favorite part, we get to see Howl and Calcifer bicker like the old friends they are.

The Heir of Venus by Laura Shepperson

This was one of those books that I picked up largely by happenstance. I found it and thought, “Eh. Why not.”

Incidentally, after reading it, I still felt a bit “eh” about it.

I think part of my gripe with the story is that it didn’t particularly feel like it had a satisfying ending. I don’t know if I’ve grown too attached to the fantasy formula that I grew up with, or if maybe this style of story didn’t suit me.

This story follows the story of Aeneas, a son of the goddess Venus, even though it’s told from the point of view from a young woman that he’s being betrothed to (much to her chagrin). And you know? He’s kind of just not a super rad person. But neither was she.

Because of said betrothal, a three-wayed war breaks out. Lavinia, the young woman being married off (by her father who had originally promised to marry her to her childhood friend) ends up learning all about Aeneas’ sordid past from the undercover sister of a woman that Aeneas hurt in the past.

Weirdly, to me, Lavinia ends up getting on board with marrying Aeneas? I guess the people in this story made the best decisions they could? I guess? I didn’t feel like I had someone to root for, and it didn’t leave much of a lasting impression on me.

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

Did you know Howls’ Moving Castle is a part of a trilogy? Well, it is! And this is book two!

In this semi-continuation of a beloved tale, we now take a peak into Abdullah’s life, From humble beginnings as someone with a small rug shop, he receives a magical rug and gets transported to the princess of his dreams! Only, she gets stolen away by a djinn! So he sets out to save her.

Howl and Sophie do make an appearance in the story, even though they aren’t main characters, but the new characters are endearing and fun to read about. The wit is still sharp, and there are moments that I found myself chuckling out loud (and getting bombastic side-eyes from from the Boba-Fam).

Her Heart’s Captain by Elizabeth Mansfield

I had mixed feelings about this one.

The premise is that a young woman named Jenny is rescued from a small-scale dicey situation by a naval ship captain named Tristam. Only, she later ‘finds out’ from her younger brother– who is apprenticing on that same captain’s ship– that the captain is some kind of brutal monster.

It later comes out that he’s actually supposedly not a brutal monster, but that the younger brother was being a bit of a crybaby about all of it. They smooch and live happily ever after.

Alright. Well. But why is the brother still on the ship? Isn’t that like a conflict of interest? I realize that I’m probably applying modern sensibilities to a historical fictional romance but I was kind of baffled by the whole thing.

I dunno. I wasn’t sold on the whole thing. But it helped me pass some time until the next book on the list became available at the library.

House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

THAT’S RIGHT ANOTHER HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE BOOK. Did you think I was DONE?! FOOL!

Well. Okay. This one really is the last one, I’m sad to say.

In this third and final installment of the Howls Moving Castle series, a young woman is asked to look after a family member’s very magical house while he goes away to receive medical treatment from the elves.

Our main character, Charmain, is notorious for saying “to hell with real life! I want to read!” (isn’t that relatable?) and thusly isn’t particularly well known for being responsible.

Responsibility finds her, however, and she learns how to cope with with managing the strange house with all of its quirks and mystical twists and turns while also working with the great! and terrible! Sophie, Wizard Howl and the fire demon Calcifer on behalf of the king to find a lost treasure.

As always, Diana Wynne Jones continues the timeline of Howls Moving Castle with wit that made me giggle and kick my feet while I was reading– because I’m a child at heart and fantastical adventures with happy, topsy-turvy endings are perhaps my favorite genre of story. I can’t wait to read her other books (even if there’s no Howl).

The Ballad Of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron

When browsing my local bookstore, I remember picking this up and seeing the words “feminist adventure” on the back and saying– out loud– “feminist adventure? I’m in. Say less,” before promptly marching up the counter to buy it.

I’d never, before now, considered myself much of a swashbuckler enjoyer. Which seems silly in retrospect when I look back at the kind of adventurous stories that I’ve read in the past. Because, duh. Of course I like sword fights and high tension stories. Why I never thought to read something to do with pirates is beyond me, now.

Jacquotte Delahaye is something of a real-life historical legend– it was said that her and her crew of pirates took over Tortuga, founding the Freebooter Republic. It’s said that she was a legend and not a real person. I choose to buy into the bad-ass lady pirate hype and hope that maybe, just maybe, she was.

In this historical fiction, Jacquotte flees her hometown of Yáquimo and abandons her career as a shipwright after getting pulled into the political scheming of her father and once-childhood-friend as a wanted criminal by stealing a ship with her closest friends and the wife of the local governor (Jac, I see you, Miss Steal-Yo-Girl).

The group of close friends gets caught up with a notorious pirate captain and take on a pact of indentured servitude in exchange for their lives. Things happen. Then more things happen. Girls kiss girls. Boys kiss boys. Friends stay friends. Some friends die. Some friends run off with preachers’ wives.

It all makes for a humorous, thrilling, and very pro-queer tale. I loved it!

Nod by Adrian Barnes

Want to be sad? No? Too bad. We’re talking about a book with a sad ending.

The premise behind this book is that suddenly, most people can’t sleep anymore. They try, and they fight to, they use drugs and and and– but most people just can’t sleep. Since humans have this thing where they need to sleep in order to, you know, survive, this sets up the story to take place in a sort of a world-ending apocalypse scenario.

Things get weird. The character we follow, Paul, is someone who can in fact, sleep, and we sort of follow along for the ride of watching the world sort of crumple in on itself– including his partner/girlfriend. Society goes off the rails– but not in a high-action sort of way. I was left with the impression that the collapse of everything we know and experience today was remarkably mundane.

There were a lot of unpleasantries in this book. Scenes that I read that made me uncomfortable. There were also times that the book felt a bit pretentious. That’s okay. I think that it’s alright to enjoy books that do both. I think that enjoying a book because it makes you feel a bit sad, or lonely, or pitying, at the end of it– it’s still a book that made you feel something. It’s still good art.

I’d say that if you don’t mind uncomfortable, sort of experimental/tangential reads, give it a go. I’d say it maybe isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay too.

Fall Reading? Anyone?

I don’t know what I’m picking up next. I have stacks of books from my many trips to the bookstores and library sales over the summer, and my reading tastes have become an unhinged grab-bag across a wide spectrum of genres.

My poor bookshelves might be reaching a critical mass. I may need to purchase more. Oops.

Oh! Also! I got Pirateaba’s “The Wandering Inn” book 1 (parts one and two) IN PHYSICAL FORM NOW! AHHH!!! Check out your local book stores (and if all else fails, B&N or Amazon) if you want a copy! I have no personal stake in this (#NotASponsor) other than I really just love the series so much and I’d love for it to do well so more of the books get published!

Go forth, and read your hearts out everyone!

Until next time!
CHEERS!