#101: Thriving cardigan.
Pop culture and cosy nonsense for June... *ahem* and July
The front door
Hello and welcome to The Brew.
My unintended reward for reaching 100 issues was to give myself a month off.
To make up for it, here’s my current crochet project:
Library
Books
Books I am currently reading / listening to:
The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon
In a near future, where even the smallest of appliances are sentient, a young Roomba vacuum sets out to save the humans of her house from a rising technological power.
Someone Like Me: An anthology of Autistic gender-diverse and women writers ed. Clem Bastowe & Jo Case
While the ‘ nerdy white man’ stereotype of Autism dominates in media and popular culture, other Autistic people miss out on seeing themselves, their unique experiences, their hardships and their triumphs. In Someone Like Me, edited by Clem Bastow and Jo Case, twenty-five Autistic gender-diverse and women writers explore their experiences – and explode stereotypes.
This groundbreaking anthology ranges from sex, living room dance parties and the natural world to eating disorders, all-encompassing passions and religion. Autistic people of all kinds are invited to find company in these pages – and maybe even see themselves, too.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what.
Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.
Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not.
Unmasking for Life: The Autistic Person’s Guide to Connecting, Loving, & Living Authentically by Dr Devon Price'
Most masked Autistics have spent a lifetime being told how to perform, how to behave, how to carry themselves, what to feel, and how to live. With his previous book, Unmasking Autism, Dr. Devon Price has given them the space and confidence to unmask and embrace their neurodiversity. But no matter where you are in the unmasking process, there is still work to be done. Because Autistic people often fear change, struggle to process unfamiliar situations, and have trauma histories that have conditioned them to avoid conflict, they don't always know how to transform their inner revelations into outer realities. They need more than internal healing - they need practical tools to translate acceptance into assertiveness and interpersonal effectiveness.
In this book, Devon Price helps you advocate for your needs and invent new ways of living, loving and being that work for you
Hearts That Cut by Kika Hatzopolou
In this heart-pounding, much-anticipated sequel to Threads That Bind, Io will face threats even more dangerous and players even more powerful as she discovers what it will mean to follow—or defy—her fate.
Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow
Enshittification: It’s not just you―the internet sucks now. It’s been enshittified. That was no accident, and it’s not gonna fix itself. Here’s how we’ll disenshittify it so we can have a new, good internet.
We are all living through the Enshittocene―the Great Enshittening―a time in which the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are being turned into giant piles of shit. It’s frustrating. Demoralizing. Even terrifying.The once-glorious internet has degenerated into “platforms” that rose to dominance because they delivered convenient and delightful services efficiently and reliably. But once we were locked in to those services, the tech bosses turned on us, relying on our dependency to keep us using the services even as they got worse and worse. The platform bosses did the same to the companies that had flocked to their services to sell stuff to us. Once we were all locked in―businesses and users―the tech companies stripped out all utility, save the bare minimum needed to stave off total collapse.
In Enshittification, Cory Doctorow shows us where it comes from: not the iron laws of economics, or the great forces of history, but specific policy choices made by powerful people who ignored every warning about the consequences of those choices. These are choices that can be undone. Enshittification is a Big Tech disassembly manual, a road map for the seizure of the means of computation. It is a diagnosis, and it is a cure.
Tome & Tome Again Podcast
In episode 22 of Tome & Tome Again podcast we discuss the first volume of Rachael Smyth’s Lore Olympus series of graphic novels, which went nuts on Webtoon several years ago. Listen for discussion on the endless melodrama from the Greek pantheon, beautifully illustrated panels, and other Webtoon recommendations from our comics officionado, Jess!
Webtoon recommendations:
Unordinary by Chelsey Han
City of Blank by 66
Super Secret by eon
TBRs
The Wizard, the Pirate & the Steampunk Librarian by Scott Coon
A House With Good Bones by T Kingfisher
Arborescence by Rhett Davis
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer
Trad Wife by Sarah Langan
If We Cannot All Go At The Speed of Light by Kim Cho-yeop
The Employees by Olga Ravn
The Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung
Molka by Monica Kim
Crafting for Sinners by Jenny Kiefer
How to be a Craftivist by Sarah Corbett
Listen to episode 22 on Podbean, Spotify & Apple Podcasts!
June’s episode (only a month late) is another free read episode 😉📚✨
Lounge
TV
Community (2009-2015)—A staple of twenty-teens sitcoms, Community is about a group of lovable misfits at a community college, featuring many hijinks, heartwarming character growth, and some very meme-able moments. And, because it’s from circa-2009, the occasional problematic dialogue that has not aged well…
But I’m enjoying the rewatch, especially as it’s from the era of TV when they not only made more than one season, but each season was around 20 episodes instead of the perfunctory extra-long 8 episodes. Excellent for crocheting while watching from the couch 👍
And another thing…
Sir Links-a-lot:
Project Hail Mary Knows What Makes Humans Special — And It’s Not Heroism
Martha Wells on Platform Decay, Found Families, and What’s Next for Murderbot
And Lady Memoo:
Find more of my book stuff on Instagram @jemofthebrew and my website Oddfeather.
I create and send The Brew from the lands of the Gunaikurnai people, where I also live, work, and drink lots of hot beverages. I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land, and pay my respects to the Elders, past and present.