Jennifer Crispin || Dancing Star Press
@greeniezona
Enthusiast of too many things, especially books, fungi, rainbows, MDZS, people so hyper-focused on their interests they open a whole museum/shop/press about it. Managing editor at Dancing Star Press. She/her
6. Books I read last month: (Books listed in alt text)
My last category is the non-category of other books I wanted to yell about. Some of these have review numbers so low it is an ACTUAL CRIME. A crime against me. Luckily for you I believe in restorative justice.
Third category: books in translation I know it's #WITmonth and these aren't EXCLUSIVELY women in translation, as two of them have multiple authors, but they each INCLUDE women in translation.
Second up, surprising no one: trans books! All of these are also tiny presses or self-published. I FEEL LIKE I YELL ABOUT THESE CONSTANTLY ALREADY!
Okay, first up poetry. I noticed review numbers for poetry seemed to be low overall. But still, for these books those numbers seemed EGREGIOUSLY low, especially considering how much I loved them!
FIrst of all, there were FOUR books that I have read since the beginning of 2024 where I am STILL the only person who has reviewed them (on StoryGraph)*. Even though I feel like I have yelled about two of these online A LOT.
As I mentioned, I spent a lot of my down time on vacation doing data entry for a project to graph the number of StoryGraph reviews for all of the books I read in 2024, 2025, and this year so far. This was inspired by a friend on bookstagram and I just copied her graph format.
Here is a stack from my owned/unread shelves. Yes, I have more of these, too, but I will try not to be distracted by them.
The first stack of books is from the library. And yes, I have more holds that have not come in yet, so this is not even really all of them. Organized by country/continent because I am trying to read more from the Global South. (as always, books listed in alt text)
Did you know that this is moth week? Did you know that you can go out in your backyard at night, shine a flashlight at a white sheet, and take pictures of weird-ass moths like this one?
Two books I started reading today to distract myself from how cranky I am about all the (suspected) AI in my submissions pile. (Now that I have a better idea what to look for.)
I really wanted everyone to leave with a book they would actually like, so first I ordered slightly more books than guests I expected, and also I wrote up little descriptions for each book, so that I could pitch the stack to them before everyone chose what they wanted.
Now, this isn't just a list of my 10 favorite books, these were chosen with my guests in mind: both the kinds of books I thought they would enjoy, but also tending toward more recent, smaller press, less well known books that they wouldn't all have read already.
So.... My 50th birthday party was this weekend. It was a quirky, offbeat affair, just like me. But the most unhinged part of the whole thing was that I decided to buy 10 of my favorite books to give away as "prizes" for participating in various nonsense.
I am not allowed to show you pictures of my daughter's first professional haircut (she has bangs! and layers! it's such an amazing difference!) So instead I bring you turtles on turtles on turtles, except the closer I get to the turtles, the fewer of them there are.
Since it is my birthday and all and I almost never share photos of myself, have four hastily chosen photos representing my life.
It was my favorite book club this week, and once again I came in absolutely feral with my book rec, this time for Estro Junkies by Talia Bhatt & Beth Leigh-Ann.
And the real glory of the night, a Luna moth!
I wouldn't have missed this, though, this trunk was just covered in coral fungi!
If I had not stepped off trail to take a picture of a very boring bolete mushroom (the pictures of it were not great), I would have missed this coral mushroom in the leaf litter! #FungiFriends
I am still bad at identifying trees, but sassafras has such unique and recognizable leaves!
Hemp dogbane is one of my favorites. Even though it is poisonous to not just dogs, but also cats, horses, and humans.
Wild blueberries growing everywhere! These are likely lowland blueberries.
I get very excited whenever I realize I have gotten familiar enough with another plant to identify it before the flowers emerge. This is Joe-Pye Weed.
The whorled loosestrife above is a native species, as is the winterberry holly here.
Last night I took in the woods at dusk for my stupid mental health (it's not good right now, babes.) I endured many mosquito bites to bring you these pictures.
Post 4 female characters you love and pass it on.
Weird Plant Bullshit (affectionate) I heard @macey.bsky.social say the phrase "weird plant bullshit" on a podcast ONE TIME and I am never giving it up. Ever.