Reading Recs for the Days You Want to Be Samwise, Not Frodo - Reactor

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel like I’m starting a lot of conversations with, “Today has been really rough.” And then immediately shifting to, “I mean, yesterday was, too.” It quickly snowballs from there to a rough week, then month, then year, and then I sigh and move on. Usually, I would think this was just me since it’s a running joke that I seem to be touched by the god of chaos. I don’t do anything to invite it; things just seem to happen to me. Everyone else’s “unprecedented times” are my “very precedented, actually, and I’d like it to stop.” Basically, I sometimes feel like I have main character energy when I want sidekick energy. I don’t want to be Frodo. I want to be Samwise with his potatoes and his chill life in the Shire.

Basically, my therapist has job security, is what I’m saying.

And I know I’m not the only one—rather unfortunately, it feels like we all have main character energy right now and we’re all yearning for the Shire. Everyone is having that rough week/month/year/decade. And I think, if you’re not careful, that kind of constant pressure can turn you into an emotional diamond. That’s no way to live, my friends, because while those shiny hard surfaces repel the bad, they also don’t let in the good. I think the best way to handle this constant Barrage of Awful, even though it’s really difficult, is to stay soft. Stay kind, stay loving. You may feel cooked, but like Samwise’s potato, you can nourish those around you and yourself by being soft and buttery. The only thing a hard potato is good for is throwing at ICE agents. (For legal reasons, I feel like I should say this is a joke.)

Or, as Mary Oliver more elegantly put it, “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” Despair might be being hand-delivered to your doorstep right now, but joy is still there, and tactical whimsy is a tried-and-true weapon against it. Let your body love, my friends. The world is your potato.

With that in mind, we’ve decided to expand the scope here a bit to give you even more tools to fight the good fight—not only will I be recommending books to you, but also shows, webcomics, or other media that has brought me joy, and might bring you joy in turn…

Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes

I’ve been very clear about the fact that I love nothing more than a motley crew, a rag-tag group of adventurers, a found family, if you will. Enter foul-mouthed space captain Eva Innocente and the crew of the La Sirena Negra. Are they all human? No. Does it matter? Not one bit, they’re family. When Eva’s sister is kidnapped by an evil crime syndicate called The Fridge, Eva’s crew is right behind her as she takes on dangerous tasks, all while running from a fish-faced emperor hell-bent on revenge after Eva rejected his advances. Oh, and the ship is full of psychic cats who keep escaping the cargo hold. And Eva has a lot of very inconvenient feelings for the ship’s engineer… Chilling Effect is a funny, off-beat romp of a space opera.

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Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor

Did you ever see that Tree House of Horror episode of The Simpsons where Homer keeps going back in time and tries not to impact anything, only to accidentally sit on a fish and set off a series of events that ruins the future? (The whole thing is a goofy parody of Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder.”) Well, this book is sort of like an extended exploration of that. Madeline Maxwell is a historian who is recruited to work at St. Mary’s, an institution that investigates major incidents in history by sending people back to observe—and only to observe. If a historian tries to change history, history bites back swiftly and violently. While there are some grim moments in the story (I mean, major incidents in history often aren’t pleasant), this book is a well-executed chaotic romp, with a lot of fun to offset the darker moments. Plus, like, there are dinosaurs at one point. If you like this one, then good news! It’s a whole series. (If memory serves, I listened to this one as an audiobook and really enjoyed it.)

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Shadow of a Dead God by Patrick Samphire

You know another trope I love? The down-on-their-luck underdog detective. Only sometimes, that detective is a mage. You know what I’m talking about—the rough-around-the-edges, heart-of-gold person trying to do the best they can in a tough world only to repeatedly and sometimes spectacular fail? Mennik is like that. He’s just trying to do his best in an unjust world, even though he doesn’t quite have the same magical chops as his adversaries. A simple job has made him a murder suspect and now he’s trying to clear his name. The humor in this book comes from Mennik himself—wry, self-deprecating, and definitely being used as a coping mechanism, giving the story a sort of noir fantasy tone at times. I really loved how magic is set up in this book as well, and if you’re looking for a new series, this one is finished and ready for you to dive into!

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Wilde Life by Pascalle Lepas

Okay, so I love webcomics despite the fact that I often forget that they exist and space out on reading them for months at a time. That being said, I return to this one and gleefully binge it. (I also follow the creator on Patreon.) Oscar is a journalist who decides to run away from his life in Chicago to a small town in rural Oklahoma. Which, I mean, that’s a choice, Oscar… Anyway, the house he rents is haunted, but by the charming ghost of a computer girl from the army in the 1940s. Instead of running from the ghost, Oscar approaches the experience with curiosity, which I love. (I mean, he does run for a second, but gets over it.)

The longer Oscar lives in this town, the more he sees, including local witches, a mystical bear in the woods, and a teenage werewolf named Clifford. While it deals with some scary creatures and real issues, there’s a sweetness and humor to it because of Oscar and the family he builds. Also, I honestly love Lepas’ art style. The wallpaper of my laptop is one she drew of Clifford in wolf form years ago that I love so much that I can’t quite manage to ever change it to anything else. While there is one graphic novel you can get collecting the early part of the comics, it’s mostly only online.

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Widow’s Bay, created by created by Katie Dippold (Streaming on Apple TV)

I’ve had several people recommend this show to me, but the best pitch I heard was from my friend who said it was like Parks and Rec if Stephen King wrote it. On one hand, this show is a story of the mayor of a small island who is doing his level best to bring tourism and income to his community. On the other hand, that island is definitely cursed. While the show has a lot of hilarious moments, it also has some honestly creepy ones, too. The creators of this series really understand that true horror is in the anticipation of the Terrible Thing. (Once you watch episode two, where the mayor ends up in the basement, you’ll see what I mean.) The tone, the cast, the setting—everything so far (I’m only part way through the series) has that pitch-perfect feel of show that really understands the story it’s telling.

The details are what really have me dying. For example, in episode two, the mayor finds a bunch of boardgames. One is labeled “Daddy’s Home,” with a truly off-putting vintage graphic, while the one underneath that is “She Shouldn’t Have Said That.” The mayor picks up a game called “Teeth” and when he opens it, finds a set of pliers. It’s funny and creepy and the mayor, portrayed by Matthew Rhys, is a sympathetic and flawed person just trying to do his best. The supporting cast is an absolute delight, not the least of which is Stephen Root, who plays the jaded voice of reason to Mayor Tom’s reckless optimism. If you enjoy horror comedy, you should definitely check this show out.

And now over to you: Have a whimsy-related rec that I haven’t covered, be it a book, movie, comic, TV show, or something else entirely? Please feel free to drop it in the comments below!