Book Shelf: Things I’ve Read Recently

Book Shelf is the home for my reading habits, excerpts, Q&As, chats, thoughts, reviews, and anything to do with my first great love: reading.

Ever since I was a little kid I’ve loved reading. In fact, as a child I made adults mad with how much I read. I read at the table. I read on the bus. I read when I was walking. I read when people visited. I read at school. I read in bed. I still do all of that, of course. Now there’s just no one to get me in trouble.

Thanks to the joy of the LA Public Library, the Libby app I’ve replaced a non-zero percentage of my doomscrolling with doom-reading. And I’m lucky enough that I do get sent early e-galleys and even sometimes physical ones, thanks to writing about books.

Over the years I’ve gotten to write about books at some brilliant outlets like IGN, Nerdist, R29 and Polygon. But it’s harder than ever to get books coverage picked up, and that’s why I created Rosie Recommends and now Book Shelf! This edition I’m doing a light lift: writing a little about some books that I‘ve read recently. Enjoy.

Charity and Sylvia

• by Tillie Walden

I’m a known Tillie Walden super stan and have often correctly called her one of our best living cartoonists (and we’re better for it!)

I was lucky enough to get an early copy of the prodigious artist’s first adult graphic novel, the charming and dense (based on real life) historical romance Charity and Sylvia. It’s hard to express just how much I needed this book, even though I didn’t even know it was coming out. Tillie Walden is a generationally talented storyteller and she brings this deeply researched real-life lesbian romance to life in a way that feels natural, beautiful, and utterly beguiling. It‘s the kind of historical document that celebrates love, queerness, and the fact we’ve always been here, simply by telling a true and real story.

Purple Smoke Distortion

• written by Kohei Kadono
• art by Hirohiko Araki

I adore anime and one of my favorite series is the absolute homoerotic fashion-forward insanity of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. The most recent cowboy themed season of the show, “Steel Ball Run”, just dropped on Netflix, and Viz has a delightful new light novel translation releasing this month for fans who can’t get enough of the fantastical Joestar family and their inter-generational genre-skipping adventures.

Originally released as Purple Haze Feedback in Japan 15 years ago, this story takes place after the events of Part 5, Golden Wind and centers of fan favorite rogue Panacotta Fugo (welcome to the joys of JoJo’s naming conventions new readers.) Following his beautifully dressed adventures in the sun drenched streets of Italy, Panacotta finds a chance for redemption in the form of a killing spree to take out the drug syndicates that used to be the beating heart of the crime family he once served.

I love reading light novels and any extra text and books that expand canon that I love. This is my first dip into the JoJo’s novels but I’ll have to catch up as this was a OTT delight.

Between Two Fires

• written by Christopher Buehlman

My X-Ray Vision co-host Jason Concepcion was the one who put me and many of our listeners onto Christoper Buehlman’s incredible fantasy novel The Blacktongue Thief a couple of years back. So I was already excited for this medieval horror before it went completely viral and became an unstoppable genre juggernaut.

As usual my to read list piled up and it took a long bath for me to finally crack into this absolute masterwork. It’s hard to describe how quickly I was pulled into this supernatural Lone Wolf and Cub riff when a grizzled soldier finds a seemingly divine child in the nightmarish landscape of plague ridden Britain. The sort of haunting horror book that drags you under and never lets go. Warning though: this is an absolutely brutal read in year when the end of the world feels closer than ever.

The Drop

• written by S.R Masters.

When it comes to catchy specifically to me concepts, I’ve likely never downloaded and started an arc quicker than when I received the pitch for The Drop. A trapped room murder mystery and a multi-timeline thriller set at the tip of an immense 200m tall rollercoaster?!? Count me in.

It is a near perfect set up - somewhere between Goosebumps and Black Mirror - that leads to a truly exhilarating read which kept me hooked until the very end.

That said, those of you who know me and my will find it funny I recommended this if you pick it up as the engaging twists and reveals contain Saltburn levels of anti-working vibes. But I’m still recommending it because I know that not everyone cares about that stuff and I still enjoyed the ride, pun fully intended!!!

If you have a book you want me to consider to read/feature hmu - info@rosieoliviaknight.com

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