the mermaid cafe

March! How is that even possible???

Never mind, I have been reading and watching things, so let's do some what I'm doing Wednesday Friday up in here:

What I've just finished
I reread the Trials of Apollo books and liked the earlier ones better this time around, though I still find ( spoiler ) extremely upsetting. Otoh, ( different spoiler ) is great. *g* I kind of also really want a time jump so we can see Estelle rule the world.

I then returned to trying to read The Sun and the Star but I never chose it over other stuff, and it went back to the library barely read. Instead I reread the Magnus Chase books - also enjoyable, and I forgot ( spoiler I guess? )

Maybe at some point I'll try The Sun and the Star again, but it just wasn't doing it for me at this time. (I think it's also possible it was a different reading app and the font just didn't work for me? Idk, ebooks can be weird like that.)

The one major critique I would make of Riordan's books is that there's some really off-putting fatphobia happening, especially early on in the first series, and also the bad guys are always super ugly and misshapen, and I get that some of it is meant for grossout points with middle schoolers, but it is kind of a huge bummer at times. Idk, I noticed it a lot more this time around, especially in the first series and the Magnus Chase books (not so much in the Kane Chronicles, thankfully).

Then I thought about rereading The Locked Tomb, which will probably still happen at some point, but instead I read Paladin's Faith, which I enjoyed, even though there weren't any gnoles. I really liked Marguerite as a narrator. I do long for a Bishop Beartongue epic, and also more on what actually happened to the Saint of Steel and this book definitely took some intriguing steps on that front - ( spoiler ).

Huh, I thought I'd have a separate tag for the World of the White Rat books, but it doesn't look like I do. Hmm...

What I'm reading now
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo, which is the second Ninth House book (but not the Ninth House of TLT). I really only vaguely remember what happened in the first book, but it's slowly coming back to me. I had a lot of time to read the other night while I was waiting for my EKG. *wry*

What I'm reading next
Who can say? I'm just happy to be reading at all.

What I've been watching
I finished Poker Face and enjoyed it a lot. I have seen people complain that the second season would be a retread of the first season and I can only think that these must be young people who don't understand what episodic tv is like, because yes, it is a howcatchem mystery show, so every week there is a crime and every week Charlie solves it! That is the entire raison d'etre of the show! The season-long arc is just deep enough to hang the show on - I don't want it to take over. (the mytharc is always fucked up!) The Judith Light/S. Epatha Merkerson episode was AMAZING, and it took me a minute to realize that the FBI guy was HOWARD from Big Bang Theory. And the Joseph Gordon Levitt/David Castaneda/Stephanie Hsu episode was also fantastic. (As an aside, my niece mentioned that season 4 of Umbrella Academy may be coming soon and the internet tells me August 8, so that is something to look forward to!) Plus, Benjamin Bratt gets SO MUCH GOOD STUFF to do in the season finale, finally, and god he looks good doing it. I am excited for a second season.

I also watched this week's Abbott Elementary and ( spoilers )

What I'm watching next
I am thinking about what I will watch during my recovery, and maybe I will finally get around to The Bear, or Severance, or something else that people have recommended and I have not really felt the urge to see. Or I will rewatch Ted Lasso again. Who can say?

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