Lat’s Eight Books of Hannukkah Gift-y List!

Posted December 18, 2022 by geograph in Uncategorized / 1 Comment

Lat’s Eight Books of Hannukkah Gift-y List!How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow
Published by HarperCollins on November 1, 2022
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Holidays & Celebrations, Young Adult Fiction / Romance / LGBTQ, Young Adult Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Young Adult Fiction / School & Education / College & University, Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / Dating & Sex
Pages: 384
Source: Booksweet
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Stonewall Honor author Jake Maia Arlow delivers a sapphic Jewish twist on the classic Christmas rom-com in a read perfect for fans of Kelly Quindlen and Casey McQuiston.

It all starts when Shani runs into May. Like, literally. With her mom’s Subaru.

Attempted vehicular manslaughter was not part of Shani’s plan. She was supposed to be focusing on her monthlong paleoichthyology internship. She was going to spend all her time thinking about dead fish and not at all about how she was unceremoniously dumped days before winter break.

It could be going better.

But when a dog-walking gig puts her back in May’s path, the fossils she’s meant to be diligently studying are pushed to the side—along with the breakup.

Then they’re snowed in together on Christmas Eve. As things start to feel more serious, though, Shani’s hurt over her ex-girlfriend’s rejection comes rushing back. Is she ready to try a committed relationship again, or is she okay with this just being a passing winter fling?

note: mom if you’re reading this don’t buy me these I already own them all, thanks. this is for OTHER people. I am writing FOR AN AUDIENCE. if that audience were made up of people Exactly like me. basically, if you think I usually have good opinions about books, then you should buy these books for the people on your list.

HOW TO EXCAVATE A HEART
Look. This is a book set during winter break and it’s about two sapphic Jewish girls. There is also a corgi. It’s ADORABLE. Arlow’s young adult voice is perfect.

Lat’s Eight Books of Hannukkah Gift-y List!The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix
Published by Simon and Schuster on November 1, 2022
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction / Fantasy / Wizards & Witches, Young Adult Fiction / LGBTQ
Pages: 480
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An instant New York Times bestseller!

Love and duty collide in this richly imagined, atmospheric young adult debut about a witch whose dark powers put her at the center of a brewing war between the only family she’s ever known and the enemy who makes her question everything.

Monster. Butcher. Bloodwinn.

Ranka is tired of death. All she wants now is to be left alone, living out her days in Witchik’s wild north with the coven that raised her, attempting to forget the horrors of her past. But when she is named Bloodwinn, the next treaty bride to the human kingdom of Isodal, her coven sends her south with a single directive: kill him. Easy enough, for a blood-witch whose magic compels her to kill.

Except the prince is gentle, kind, and terrified of her. He doesn’t want to marry Ranka; he doesn’t want to be king at all. And it’s his sister—the wickedly smart, infuriatingly beautiful Princess Aramis—who seems to be the real threat.

But when witches start turning up dead, murdered by a mysterious, magical plague, Aramis makes Ranka an offer: help her develop a cure, and in return, she’ll help Ranka learn to contain her deadly magic. As the coup draws nearer and the plague spreads, Ranka is forced to question everything she thought she knew about her power, her past, and who she’s meant to fight for. Soon, she will have to decide between the coven that raised her and the princess who sees beyond the monster they shaped her to be.

But as the bodies pile up, a monster may be exactly what they need.

THE ONES WE BURN
This is themed around the eight nights of Chanukkah. Because you burn candles, get it? It’s also a heartwrenching book about a young lesbian figuring out how to deal with abuse. Also she has to kill people for magic reasons. It’s a metaphor for chronic illness. Also politics happen. AND it’s by a Michigan author!

Lat’s Eight Books of Hannukkah Gift-y List!Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White
Published by Holiday House on June 7, 2022
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Dystopian, Young Adult Fiction / LGBTQ, Young Adult Fiction / Monsters
Pages: 416
Booksweet link.

A furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors.

“A long, sustained scream to the various strains of anti-transgender legislation multiplying around the world like, well, a virus." —The New York Times

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.
 
But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.    
 
Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own. Perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and Annihilation.

 
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year

"A defining voice of our generation." –H.E. Edgmon, author of The Witch King
"Hands down the best YA horror book I've read." ­–Aden Polydoros, author of The City Beautiful
"A chimera of horror, romance, and something stranger." –Rose Szabo, author of What Big Teeth
"A timely and riveting tale." –Ray Stoeve, author of Between Perfect and Real

HELL FOLLOWED WITH US
This is my #1 book of 2022. It’s very gory. It’s about a trans boy escaping the fascist death cult that raised him and turned him into a bio-weapon. It’s a book of queer rage and ultimately queer love. I think everyone everywhere should read this book.

Lat’s Eight Books of Hannukkah Gift-y List!A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Published by Tor Publishing Group on July 13, 2021
Genres: Fiction / Science Fiction / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Science Fiction / Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic
Pages: 160
Booksweet link.

Winner of the Hugo Award!

In A Psalm for the Wild-Built, bestselling Becky Chambers's delightful new Monk and Robot series, gives us hope for the future.

It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.

One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered.

But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.

They're going to need to ask it a lot.

Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

A PSALM FOR THE WILD-BUILT
“In a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?” This is a book about a nonbinary monk who meets a robot and searches for meaning.

Lat’s Eight Books of Hannukkah Gift-y List!Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell
Published by Tor Publishing Group on November 1, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Science Fiction / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Science Fiction / Space Opera
Pages: 320
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Ocean's Echo is a stand-alone space adventure about a bond that will change the fate of worlds, set in the same universe as Everina Maxwell's hit debut, Winter's Orbit.

"I inhaled this one like I needed it to live." —New York Times Book Review

Rich socialite, inveterate flirt, and walking disaster Tennalhin Halkana can read minds. Tennal, like all neuromodified “readers,” is a security threat on his own. But when controlled, readers are a rare asset. Not only can they read minds, but they can navigate chaotic space, the maelstroms surrounding the gateway to the wider universe.

Conscripted into the military under dubious circumstances, Tennal is placed into the care of Lieutenant Surit Yeni, a duty-bound soldier, principled leader, and the son of a notorious traitor general. Whereas Tennal can read minds, Surit can influence them. Like all other neuromodified “architects,” he can impose his will onto others, and he’s under orders to control Tennal by merging their minds.

Surit accepted a suspicious promotion-track request out of desperation, but he refuses to go through with his illegal orders to sync and control an unconsenting Tennal. So they lie: They fake a sync bond and plan Tennal's escape.

Their best chance arrives with a salvage-retrieval mission into chaotic space—to the very neuromodifcation lab that Surit's traitor mother destroyed twenty years ago. And among the rubble is a treasure both terrible and unimaginably powerful, one that upends a decades-old power struggle, and begins a war.

Tennal and Surit can no longer abandon their unit or their world. The only way to avoid life under full military control is to complete the very sync they've been faking.

Can two unwilling weapons of war bring about peace?

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

OCEAN’S ECHO
This is a really crunchy sci-fi book for romance readers, or a very romantic book for sci-fi lovers. It honestly reminds me a lot of very good internet original fiction that I have read on fictionpress.com. There’s angst! There’s space! They have to pretend to be soul-bonded! It’s got the tropes, and it has the writing to back it up. Everina Maxwell is super great.

Lat’s Eight Books of Hannukkah Gift-y List!If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio
Published by Flatiron Books on April 11, 2017
Genres: Fiction / Coming of Age, Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Pages: 358
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“Much like Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, M. L. Rio’s sparkling debut is a richly layered story of love, friendship, and obsession...will keep you riveted through its final, electrifying moments.”
—Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest

"Nerdily (and winningly) in love with Shakespeare...Readable, smart.”
New York Times Book Review

On the day Oliver Marks is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell it.

A decade ago: Oliver is one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place of keen ambition and fierce competition. In this secluded world of firelight and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extras.

But in their fourth and final year, good-natured rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night real violence invades the students’ world of make-believe. In the morning, the fourth-years find themselves facing their very own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, each other, and themselves that they are innocent.

If We Were Villains was named one of Bustle's Best Thriller Novels of the Year, and Mystery Scene says, "A well-written and gripping ode to the stage...A fascinating, unorthodox take on rivalry, friendship, and truth."

IF WE WERE VILLAINS
This is a MURDER MYSTERY set at a WEIRD ART COLLEGE where they just do Shakespeare all the time. It’s incredible. There are twists! There are turns! The main characters speak in a dialect that is half Shakespeare quotes. It’s the dark academia book you were looking for. I finished this book while waiting for the bus and awkwardly cried at a bus driver. I extremely recommend it.

Lat’s Eight Books of Hannukkah Gift-y List!Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
Published by Penguin on April 5, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Asian American, Fiction / Crime, Fiction / Cultural Heritage
Pages: 384
Booksweet link.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize
Named a New York Times Best Crime Novel of 2022
Named A Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by *Marie Claire* *Washington Post* *Vulture* *NBC News*  *Buzzfeed* *Veranda* *PopSugar* *Paste* *The Millions* *Bustle* *Crimereads* Goodreads* *Bookbub* *Boston.com* and more!


"The thefts are engaging and surprising, and the narrative brims with international intrigue. Li, however, has delivered more than a straight thriller here, especially in the parts that depict the despair Will and his pals feel at being displaced, overlooked, underestimated, and discriminated against. This is as much a novel as a reckoning."
—New York Times Book Review

Ocean's Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity

History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now. 

Will Chen plans to steal them back.

A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents' American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible—and illegal—job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago. 

His crew is every heist archetype one can imag­ine—or at least, the closest he can get. A con artist: Irene Chen, a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything. A thief: Daniel Liang, a premed student with steady hands just as capable of lockpicking as suturing. A getaway driver: Lily Wu, an engineering major who races cars in her free time. A hacker: Alex Huang, an MIT dropout turned Silicon Valley software engineer. Each member of his crew has their own complicated relationship with China and the identity they've cultivated as Chinese Americans, but when Will asks, none of them can turn him down. 

Because if they succeed? They earn fifty million dollars—and a chance to make history. But if they fail, it will mean not just the loss of everything they've dreamed for themselves but yet another thwarted at­tempt to take back what colonialism has stolen.

Equal parts beautiful, thoughtful, and thrilling, Portrait of a Thief is a cultural heist and an examination of Chinese American identity, as well as a necessary cri­tique of the lingering effects of colonialism.

PORTRAIT OF A THIEF
“History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now.”

This is a novel about ART THEFT but mostly it’s a novel about the characters who commit art theft. It’s a novel of transition between two times and it’s a novel about becoming the person you are going to become. Also it’s about art theft which is extremely cool. There are also street races. This has also already been optioned by Netflix so like, you can get ahead of the curve on this and read it ahead of time and feel way cool.

Lat’s Eight Books of Hannukkah Gift-y List!Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
Published by Penguin on April 5, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Asian American, Fiction / Crime, Fiction / Cultural Heritage
Pages: 384
Booksweet link.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize
Named a New York Times Best Crime Novel of 2022
Named A Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by *Marie Claire* *Washington Post* *Vulture* *NBC News*  *Buzzfeed* *Veranda* *PopSugar* *Paste* *The Millions* *Bustle* *Crimereads* Goodreads* *Bookbub* *Boston.com* and more!


"The thefts are engaging and surprising, and the narrative brims with international intrigue. Li, however, has delivered more than a straight thriller here, especially in the parts that depict the despair Will and his pals feel at being displaced, overlooked, underestimated, and discriminated against. This is as much a novel as a reckoning."
—New York Times Book Review

Ocean's Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity

History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now. 

Will Chen plans to steal them back.

A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents' American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible—and illegal—job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago. 

His crew is every heist archetype one can imag­ine—or at least, the closest he can get. A con artist: Irene Chen, a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything. A thief: Daniel Liang, a premed student with steady hands just as capable of lockpicking as suturing. A getaway driver: Lily Wu, an engineering major who races cars in her free time. A hacker: Alex Huang, an MIT dropout turned Silicon Valley software engineer. Each member of his crew has their own complicated relationship with China and the identity they've cultivated as Chinese Americans, but when Will asks, none of them can turn him down. 

Because if they succeed? They earn fifty million dollars—and a chance to make history. But if they fail, it will mean not just the loss of everything they've dreamed for themselves but yet another thwarted at­tempt to take back what colonialism has stolen.

Equal parts beautiful, thoughtful, and thrilling, Portrait of a Thief is a cultural heist and an examination of Chinese American identity, as well as a necessary cri­tique of the lingering effects of colonialism.

THE AMBROSE J. AND VIVIAN T. SEAGRAVE MUSEUM OF 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN ART
This book is bout a Probably Haunted art museum told almost exclusively through the curator’s notes on each art piece. But you never see any of the art that’s described, which makes the curator’s notes all the more interesting. Also it’s maybe a murder mystery. It’s definitely haunted though.

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One response to “Lat’s Eight Books of Hannukkah Gift-y List!

  1. geograph

    Yes I am aware that this post is extremely weirdly formatted, but saying “I am working to fix it” is an extreme misreading of the situation (ie I am doing nothing about it).

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