Hi friends!

It's the very last day of July which means...it's almost time to discuss JADE CITY by Fonda Lee!

My schedule is a bit wonky as I've returned home from San Diego Comic-Con and set up a plethora of doctor appointments so we're all going to have an extra week to read before our discussion. The livestream will be on Thursday, August 6th, at 9:45am CST!

As for our August book club pick...I'm looking forward to something spooky. 👻

My friend Jess at The Hexed Library is hosting her annual Summer Scare Readathon! It takes place from August 7th to 16th and she has a host of fun reading prompts:

(There are also some Instagram prompts and cute reading wrap-up templates linked in her announcement video, too!)

Shopping my own shelves a bit, I found a selection of books I'm interested in reading during the challenge. :)

Although, from all the readathons I've participated in, I know I need to give myself at least three books for each category since I rely so heavily on my mood for what I want to read. So I'll be sure to post the full list later!

See you all on the 6th (and earlier, in my super spoiler-y reading vlog)! :)

Tropes are the currency of books nowadays.

In today's publishing and BookTok landscape, it feels like books are expected to be packaged around 1-3 major tropes before readers even pick them up.

And honestly?

I hate it.

Why can't we just let a book exist without immediately labeling every single thing about it?

I remember reading the back of a book and getting excited because it said the main characters hated each other and were eventually going to fall in love. It was exciting because I didn't know exactly how it would happen.

But now, sometimes I feel like knowing the trope before reading takes away some of the mystery.

Instead of a synopsis, we get a list of tropes.

Enemies to lovers.
Found family.
Grumpy/sunshine.
Forced proximity.

And while those things can be fun, sometimes I think they make us focus more on the ingredients than the actual meal.

I also think some of the best books are the ones where the author isn't trying to hit a checklist. They're just writing characters who feel real.

Like...what happened to themes?! I feel like tropes have flattened the way we talk about books. It used to be about more than just "enemies to lovers." It was about the way an author could take a character who was nothing more than ink on a page and make you feel like they were a real person with fears, flaws, dreams, and a heartbeat.

I think that's what makes books by authors like Kennedy Ryan and Abby Jimenez so special. Their books transcend the tropes.

They don't just have an enemies-to-lovers storyline. They have characters with trauma, friendships, fears, dreams, and entire lives who just happen to fall into that dynamic.

The trope is there, but it's not the point.

And I think we've lost a little bit of that in the way we talk about books now.

But...this is coming from someone who absolutely searches "enemies to lovers fantasy recs" on TikTok when I'm looking for my next read. 😂

So maybe tropes aren't the problem.

Maybe it's when the trope becomes the entire identity of the book.

What do you think? Have tropes helped readers find books they love, or have they changed the reading experience?

Hey y'all,

I'm gonna start this off by saying that I actually enjoyed watching The Odyssey. It's beautifully shot (I guess that's what 70 mm meant) and the acting was all very solid throughout. It's the kind of film worth sitting down for three hours.

BUT, I am an English major with disciplines focused on race, sex, and class. Of course I have my critiques. Spoilers for a 2000+ year-old story and its most modern adaptation ahead.

First, let's get into what Christopher Nolan left out:

1. Nobody

   Odysseus tricking the Cyclops by saying his (Odysseus) name was nobody doesn't happen at all.

2. Every other Greek god

   We don't see Poseidon or Zeus or the Sun God. They're all mentioned but never shown on screen.

3. The bed challenge

   Penelope challenging Odysseus to move the bed to make sure he's the real Odysseus (because he knows the bed is immovable) isn't shown in the film. Their resolution was quite soft but not as moving.

Now onto some of the racial dynamics. People complaining about there being BIPOC in the film didn't phase me. We see this all the time. Ancient Greece was a lot more diverse than the faded marble leads us to believe. But that's not what I want to talk about racially here. I think that Lupita Nyong'o is an excellent actress and a great choice for Helen. The few lines she was given were delivered wonderfully. I have some qualms about the scar. Having the only dark-skinned Black woman in the film be visibly scarred as retribution for adultery has some... questionable optics, to say the least. I'm still forming my own opinions there but rest assured, they're not positive.

The old joke about Christopher Nolan killing off MCs wives because he can't write women is one I can't help agreeing with. Though there are moments where these women shine, like when Penelope tears into Telemachus about the throne, or the iconic "back to your disguises" line from Circe. I can't help but wish to see more. Where's more of the manipulation from Calypso? Why don't we get a bit of nuance with Clymnestra? Can't we see Melantho's autonomy in ratting out Penelope's unraveling rather than it being a means of getting closer to Antinous?

I'll list a few books that have been making their rounds on the booksphere that give a bit more insight into these women and others within Greek mythology. In all honesty, several of these are on my TBR and I still need to finish Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey (I'm on Book 9) AND start her translation of The Iliad.

I'd love to hear what you think about all this in the meantime.

XoXo,

Rae

epistolary adj epis·​to·​lary

1: of, relating to, or suitable to a letter 2: contained in or carried on by letters 3: written in the form of a series of letters

It's official. Ink & Ether has joined the Sunday Letter Project! We are official Letter Keepers now. If you have been following along, you already know I believe books and letters are doing the same kind of magic. Both are an act of reaching toward someone and trusting they will meet you there.

So this week, in honor of the Sunday Letter Project, I want to recommend a few books that understand exactly what I mean. These are stories where letters are not just a plot device. They are the whole heartbeat of the thing.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

Two rival agents, warring across the strands of time, fall in love through letters they hide in tree rings, lava flows, and the bones of things that should not still exist. It is proof that even under the worst possible circumstances, people will find a way to write to each other. If that is not an argument for the Letter Corner, I do not know what is.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Celie writes to God because she has no one else. Then she writes to her sister because she refuses to stop believing someone is listening. This is one of the most devastating and hopeful examples in all of literature of what it means to put your voice on paper even when you are not sure anyone will ever read it.

Dear Ijeawele by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A short, sharp feminist manifesto, written as an actual letter to a friend asking how to raise her daughter a feminist. Proof that a letter can be intimate and political at the exact same time.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

A lighter pick, if you need one. Two people fall for each other through written words before they ever really meet. Sometimes the page really does know before you do.

The Prompt

And now, this week's letter writing prompt for the basket:

Write to a stranger about a letter you never sent. Who was it for? What did you never say? You do not have to send this one either. But maybe, this time, you should.

Get those introduction letter ready! The Letter Corner will be live at Communitea Coffee by Monday.

Learn more about the Sunday Letter Project and how to find a penpal here.

So we had a pretty big order cancellation within the past few days via Bookshop.org and it has me wondering if this is even feasible anymore. I don't know if I should give up on this little dream of mine. Everyone who has contributed so far, I thank you so so much, but we just don't have the traffic that I'd hoped and with that cancellation, we lost out on a lot of sale money.

I'm trying to be transparent. Maybe it's best if I put my focus elsewhere for the time being and stop trying to be a business owner. I have books to write, a book being released next year, and a degree to finish. Not to mention a full-time job.

Sorry for the sad post, y'all, it's just kind of disheartening.

Hope you're all doing well!

Hi folks! Here’s some brilliant Indian short fiction I’ve loved recently, as it’s almost the end of South Asian heritage month. The short stories are both queer too!

Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom by Sangu Mandanna

A fun middle grade action story by the author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. It follows a British-Indian girl who uses drawing to help deal with anxiety. She draws a magical kingdom from Hindu mythology, oppressed by a demon king. But then one day a girl, her demon slayer creation, comes to life and tells her she must come into the world of her sketchbook to help defeat the demon king.

Platform 3 by Arya Gopi

This is a gorgeous short story about two Indian trans women who meet at a train station and connect.

“If we’d been born in different bodies… it would have been easier.”

“But would we have been as kind? As careful with other people’s pain?“

https://outofprintmagazine.co.in/2026/04/04/platform-3/

Fading Out by Bodhitsawa Ray

This is a brilliant, queer short story about an Indian man in quarantine during Covid after flying.

In his claustrophobic space, he has longing visions of his childhood best friend, and fevered, frantic nightmares.

It’s wild how this reads like sci-fi now. https://outofprintmagazine.co.in/2026/07/05/fading-out/

Much love,

Disco