Nine of Swords

An enemy agent caught me vulnerable last night, all cried out over a book. They set me on a styrofoam mounting board, and drove a steel needle four miles long through my skull with steady unforgiving pressure, pinning me down. And then the unbelievable bastard dropped a millstone on top of me and left. So if you need me, you know where I'll be.

Goodreads: So You Want to Talk About Race

"So You Want to Talk About Race" by Ijeoma Oluo

This is the book I needed two years ago. This is the book that family members and friends who say "I'm not a racist, but I don't understand what all the fuss is about" need right now. Most of this was familiar ground for me, but there was plenty of nuance and extrapolation that made it well worth reading. The tone is non-confrontational which (unfortunate that it needs to be this way but) will increase receptivity from the audience who would be best served by reading it.

Goodreads: This Is How You Lose the Time War

"This Is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

(Note the spotting of the rare five star rating.)

This book tore me open, and crawled inside me like I was a human Tauntaun. I ugly cried through the last two-thirds of the book, which I couldn't go to bed until I had finished. So many feels. I believe these are all of them, in fact. I can't guarantee it'll hit anybody else like it hit me. But if you're looking for a scifi Romeo and Juliet epistolary gothic romance that is in love with language and words, then sib you've just hit the jackpot. This story storms through time, all the way in one direction, all the way back the other, and then returns to the middle for the end. It's an amazingly personal story told on an epic scale canvas. Read it out loud, to yourself or somebody else. Feel the words slip around your tongue, brush against your teeth. It's a tactile experience and a literary experience.