Hot Girls Read Podcast

Ayesha

I’m in the middle of reading a couple different books. Let’s start in order – I bought Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher while I was in England. I honestly was pulled in by the old-timey cover, and then the positive Goodreads rating. It’s a cozy fantasy centering around a perfumer and a paladin who knits socks – intriguing, I know! So far, I think it’s a nice read but I’m not in love with it. The struggle I often find with cozy fantasies is often the length. I understand world-building, because yes, it is important. That said, we don’t need to have heavily detailed descriptions, especially if it doesn’t help carry the story forward. It’s meant to be cozy for a reason.

I finally got off the Libby waitlist of Quicksilver, one of the many talked about TikTok romantasy reads. I went in with low expectations with the mixture of reviews I’ve seen and I am struggling with this. I cannot stand the FMC and I’m at the point of rage reading the book just to finish it. It was nice to see that other friends ended up DNF it and that I’m not alone in my struggles. Spoiler-ish – I don’t understand how the FMC can fight so well and kill 3 of the queen’s guards and scale walls of 40 feet, all on a diet of 6 oz of poorly filtered water and barely any food. I know we have to suspend belief in reality when reading fantasy but please be so real! Also, as I was writing this, my brain did go to a weird place where actions like these in a book could prompt girls to follow a similar diet. Not saying this is the author’s intention at all but I can see a scenario where it does give an excuse for poor eating habits but still managing to be really fit…

Finally, like Julia, I’ve started The Artist’s Way (I will be crediting myself for convincing her to start it!). I will say, buy a notebook or two before starting because I was not entirely prepared to use some of the ones that I had. As I write this, I am waiting for my online order to be ready to pick up at my local Barnes and Noble (I went with Leuchtturm journals). Stay tuned for more updates on how I fare with The Artist’s Way and maybe I might reveal some of the Artists Dates I take myself on!

Julia

This past Friday I found myself at the Palais de Tokyo for a zine fair! Now, what is a zine exactly you may ask? As taken from the internet: A zine is a self-published, non-commercial print-work that is typically produced in small, limited batches. I have personally become intrigued by zines because I find them inherently poetic. Maybe it is the way in which they are often designed by hand, so lovingly thought out and put together. The fact that there are only so many that have been painstakingly made. Their small stature, often pocket sized, miniature even. Of course it’s the content itself, often poetry or derivative of poetry, and full of art. Well, anyway, that is all to say I’m a fan of zines, and at the fair, I came across a creator named Ines Cardo and I picked up a zine of hers called Fingers Become Knives. 

A few days later, I sat by the Seine on a sunny afternoon and read it. Fingers Become Knives is a video art piece, recipe, and poem all in one. It talks about mothers, womanhood, colonisation, and self identity. The booklet is a pretty pale pink, and I devoured it in one go. I think I’ll even go back for seconds.