#Fiction Books

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🍉 Queer Palestinian Books for Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈

🍉 Want to add a bit more diversity to your TBR? Consider reading one of these queer books by Palestinian authors for Pride Month!

🏳️‍🌈 Fiction 🍉 The Skin and Its Girl - Sarah Cypher 🍉 You Exist Too Much - Zaina Arafat 🍉 Belladonna - Anbara Salam 🍉 A Map of Home - Randa Jarrar 🍉 Muneera and the Moon - 🍉 Guapa - Saleem Haddad 🍉 The Ordeal of Being Known - Malia Rose 🍉 The Philistine - Leila Marshy 🍉 Hazardous Spirits - Anbara Salam 🍉 From Whole Cloth - Sonia Sulaiman

🏳️‍🌈 Graphic Novels 🍉 Mis(h)adra - Iasmin Omar Ata 🍉 Where Black Stars Rise - Nadia Shammas & Marie Enger 🍉 Confetti Realms - Nadia Shammas 🍉 Nayra and the Djinn - Iasmin Omar Ata 🍉 My Mama's Magic - Amina Awad 🍉 Squire - Nadia Shammas & Sara Alfageeh

🏳️‍🌈 Non-Fiction/Memoirs 🍉 Are You This? Or Are You This? - Madian Al Jazerah 🍉 Love is an Ex-Country - Randa Jarrar 🍉 This Arab is Queer - (ed) Elias Jahshan 🍉 Decolonial Queering in Palestine - Walaa Alqaisiya 🍉 Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique - Sa'ed Atshan 🍉 Between Banat - Mejdulene Bernard Shomali

🏳️‍🌈 Poetry 🍉 To All the Yellow Flowers - Raya Tuffaha 🍉 The Specimen's Apology - George Abraham & Leila Abdelrazaq 🍉 Birthright - George Abraham 🍉 The Twenty-Ninth Year - Hala Alyan 🍉 Blood Orange - Yaffa AS 🍉 Who is Owed Springtime - Rasha Abdulhadi 🍉 Shell Houses - Rasha Abdulhadi 🍉 Halal If You Hear Me - (ed) Fatimah Asghar & Safia Elhillo

🍉 None of us are free until all of us are free. 🏳️‍🌈

[mostlyghostie]

What I read in March!

Lots of variety, one kids book read to my daughter (I read more than 1 a month to her but this was the only new one!), some fantasy, a brilliant, brilliant sci-fi book where the sci-fi part isn’t important (everyone needs to read everything by RC Sherriff!), a book about walking, a great Jhumpa Lahiri short story collection and a comic you can read free online at Substack.

Also read Carisa Lloyd’s book about grief, coincidentally around the 7th anniversary of my dad dying- I found it enormously helpful, her podcast is great too, as a rec for anyone else in the club.

What did you read last month?

Instagram / Shop

[licksofvenus]

[fatimazainab]

ur honor, i zoned out

[qbdatabase]

Click on the pictures to see each graphic better, or click on the link in the grey bar directly below each picture. All of these lists can be found at the Queer Books Database!

[fallensapphires]

Stories: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911)

I am sure there is Magic in everything, only we have not sense enough to get hold of it and make it do things for us.

[primaballerinaff]

CHECK IN!!

Not sure if anyone comes by and re reads these stories anymore but if you do thank you 🥹 They were a massive part of my growing up and i’ll forever love them ! and now finally after all these years later i’m finally writing my first book!! if you have ig and want to keep up to date my ig is @read.metosleep

hope to see you there for the next chapter of my stories to come !! 💜💜💜🫶🏾 ps if you follow me on ig and you’ve come from one of my fanfics make sure to dm and let me know !!

[wordwanderlustsg]

Enemies to lovers where both the leads are equally ferocious and downright insane >>>>>>>>

[gem-isreading]

Before the coffee gets cold // Toshikazu Kawaguchi ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My review: I originally DNF'ed this book when I originally started reading it a couple years back. But a few days ago I decided to try it again, and now that I am finished I am glad I gave it a second chance. Although it wasn’t ‘perfect’ in my eyes, the twists and underlying messages in the book made me feel something whilst reading. And the ending is like a hidden life lesson in a nice little book.

My other thoughts:

This book has made me really interested in reading the other works by Kawaguchi. I am glad I managed to finish this book this year because, although I personally didn't rate it 5 stars, I think I can understand why many people would. The hidden message within the book and what it is trying to make us understand and realise was interesting to me. I think subconsciously that is what made me enjoy the reading experience this time round. When I originally tried to read this book, I was in a huge reading slump and this time round? I think I read this book when I really needed it.

[perregrinstudiessometimes]

Annotating Fiction Books

Here is a Link to my annotating non-fiction post

Step one for annotating is always knowing your purpose. 

For example Someone who is annotating fiction for use in their literature class and someone who is annotating their favorite novel are going to annotate in very different ways.

Your purpose can be as simple as highlighting/tagging quotes that you like or as complex as showcasing evidence for a paper you are writing about the book. Most of my suggestions will be for those annotating for pleasure rather than for class work.

The second step is gathering your supplies.

For physical books this can be highlighters, pens, sticky notes, page flags, index cards, the book/Text For digital books this will include your device of choice (might do an in-depth post of digital texts later)

Depending on how in depth you want to be with your annotating you may wish to create a key, this can be remembered in your head, or written down in the book (or on a sticky note, index card, or reading log). Your key should be based around your purpose (as determined in step 1)

And honestly that’s all there is to it.

Here are some ideas of things to track while reading and things that I do for annotating bellow.

Using highlighters or tags to color code for different types of info (quotes, plot points, bits of the story you want to remember , funny bits, etc.)

Matching tab/highlighter colors to the books cover

Writing comments around the text (in margins, sticky notes, index cards, reading journal)

Keep track of quotes that inspire you. For me this means highlighting well written lines.

Copying quotes and Writing in a reading log to avoid damaging (borrowed) books (you can also use sticky notes if you like the feeling of writing in books. They also make clear sticky notes so u can highlight or write on top of text without hurting your books)

Using highlighters and an index card (or your reading journal) to keep a timeline, track lore, or explore the universe

Use symbols and shorthand to make annotating quicker

And remember you decide what is and isn’t appropriate for your books. You decide what is too much or too little annotating (but also keep future you in mind. don’t make future you distracted by all the annotations on your next reread, if you get distracted by these types of things, I find that if I over annotate it takes me out of the story on future rereads)

[cursed-castle]

organised bookcase

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

Read Palestine Week

🇵🇸 Good morning, my beautiful bookish bats. Can I start by saying a huge THANK YOU for sharing my Queer Palestinian Book post? Seriously, thank you so much. Let's keep that momentum by observing Read Palestine Week (Nov 29 - Dec 5). I've compiled a list of books to help you, along with a list of upcoming events and resources you can use this week and beyond.

🇵🇸 A collective of over 350 global publishers and individuals issued a public statement expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. Publishers for Palestine have organized an international #ReadPalestine week, starting today (International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People).

🇵🇸 These publishers have made many resources and e-books available for free (with more to come). A few include award-winning fiction and poetry by Palestinian and Palestinian diaspora authors. You'll also find non-fiction books about Palestinian history, politics, arts, culture, and “books about organizing, resistance, and solidarity for a Free Palestine.” You can visit publishersforpalestine.org to download some of the books they have available.

POETRY 🌙 Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear by Mosab Abu Toha 🌙 Affiliation by Mira Mattar 🌙 Enemy of the Sun by Samih al-Qasim 🌙 I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti 🌙 A Mountainous Journey by Fadwa Tuqan 🌙 So What by Taha Muhammad Ali 🌙 The Butterfly’s Burden by Mahmoud Darwish 🌙 To All the Yellow Flowers by Raya Tuffaha

FICTION 🌙 Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury 🌙 Speak, Bird, Speak Again: Palestinian Arab Folktales 🌙 Men in the Sun by Ghassan Kanafani 🌙 Morning in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa 🌙 Gaze Writes Back by Young Writers in Gaze 🌙 Palestine +100:Stories from a Century after the Nakba 🌙 Wild Thorns by Sahar Khalifeh 🌙 Out of Time by Samira Azzam

🌙 The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher 🌙 You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat 🌙 A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum 🌙 Salt Houses by Hala Alyan 🌙 A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar 🌙 Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa 🌙 Minor Detail by Adania Shibli 🌙 The Woman From Tantoura by Radwa Ashour

NON-FICTION 🌙 Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour 🌙 Strangers in the House: Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine by Raja Shehadeh 🌙 Palestinian Art, 1850–2005 by Kamal Boullata 🌙 Palestine by Joe Sacco 🌙 The Hour of Sunlight: One Palestinian’s Journey from Prisoner to Peacemaker by Sami Al Jundi & Jen Marlowe 🌙 Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History by Nur Masalha 🌙 Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine by Noura Erakat 🌙 The Words of My Father: Love and Pain in Palestine by Yousef Khalil Bashir

🌙 Traditional Palestinian Costume: Origins and Evolution by Hanan Karaman Munayyer 🌙 Mountain against the Sea: Essays on Palestinian Society and Culture by Salim Tamari 🌙 This Is Not a Border: Reportage and Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature 🌙 We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir, by Raja Shehadeh 🌙 Les échos de la mémoire. Une enfance palestinienne à Jérusalem, by Issa J. Boullata 🌙 A Party For Thaera: Palestinian Women Write Life In Prison 🌙 Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, 🌙 Voices of the Nakba: A Living History of Palestine

[c-oldasice]

beauty is terror.

i’m in 70% of the secret history, my pen ran out at around 64%, my mind is going bleh hahahah this book is honestly so good, i’m definitely rereading it soon and already giving it the 5 stars it deserves.

also, the playlists people make for this book are incredible!!! i’m loving it all.

[fatimazainab]

Franz Kafka

[homesickfornowhere]

Books that I’ve read recently and would recommend. 🖤 Part 2

A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson. A reimagining of Dracula’s brides, written in letters to Dracula from his first wife, Constanta. I love anything vampire-related and can’t even describe how much I loved this book.

A God in the Shed by J. -F. Dubeau. A fantastic horror novel set in a messed up little town. A murder investigation, a serial killer, a god trapped in a shed (literally), the occult, ancient evils, blood and gore, and lots of twists and turns.

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang. A historical/grimdark fantasy novel heavily inspired by the Second Sino-Japanese war. Very violent and graphic, but an amazing read.

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. A fun 80s demon possession story set during the satanic panic. A teen girl drops acid, gets lost in the woods, and accidentally gets possessed by a demon — and it’s up to her friend to save her. Gorey and campy.

Maggie’s Grave by David Sodergren. A pregnant woman, falsely accused of being a witch and brutally murdered, takes revenge on a Scottish town centuries later. Fun, fast-paced folk horror meets splatterpunk with an endless amount of gore.

The Island by Adrian McKinty. A tense, fast-paced thriller set in in an island off of the coast of Australia. This book genuinely stressed me out and made me want to bite my nails, but I couldn’t put it down. A bit of Wolf Creek vibes.

Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury. A ghost story and psychological horror with dual timelines. Family drama, a haunted house, toxic parents, etc.

Never Lie by Freida McFadden. A psychological thriller with a great twist. When their realtor doesn’t show up, newlyweds take shelter from a blizzard in a manor that belongs to a missing psychiatrist.

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim. This book and the world within it makes my heart flutter. A dreamy, whimsical fairy tale blended with East Asian folklore.

The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf. An atmospheric mystery/thriller. A writer travels to an isolated farmhouse where two unsolved murders and the disappearance of a girl took place decades earlier, and plans to finish her book while snowed in. Things go down hill after she finds a young child outside and decides to bring him in from the cold.

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati. A retelling of Greek mythology, and such a beautiful and heartbreaking book.

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon. A a high fantasy novel and standalone prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree. Amazing world building, amazing writing, amazing characters, and dragons.

Ring by Koji Suzuki. I’ve always loved the films, both Ringu and The Ring, but I’ve never read the book until now and I highly recommend it if you haven’t either.