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raventhekittycat · 1 year

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I recently got a bookstore gift card for graduation, and I was wondering if anyone had any good fantasy recommendations? I tend to like stuff by authors such as Tamora Pierce, Naomi Novik, Trudi Canavan, Shannon Hale, but I've also enjoyed some Madeline L'Engle (I know she's more SF than fantasy) and Dianne Wynn Jones. I also recently read a book by Foz Meadows, who's title escapes me now, that I also enjoyed. I'll take recommendations in other genres as well, but fantasy tends to be my favorite, and I'd love to get a new book or author to dive into!

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fictionadventurer · 4 months

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I love libraries.

I'm browsing the WWI shelves (as you do) and notice a very old book about the war. I glance at the first pages that talk about how one day the war will be over and we'll look at this place and not see any signs of the battlefield.

Then it hits me. And I check the publishing date.

This book was printed before the war's end. Not written. Printed. The physical object was created in 1918, while the war in question was raging and the end was as yet uncertain.

Now I'm standing on the other side of the apocalypse, with this physical link to that era in my hands. I'm living proof that the war did end and life did go on and we can all look at the end of the world as a long-ago memory.

Reading old books is cool enough, connecting our minds and hearts through the ideas of people who lived long ago, but there's something extra profound about holding a copy of the book that comes from the time that it was written. It's a physical link between the past and the present connecting me to those long-ago people. A piece of the past come into the future that gives me the chance to almost take the hand of some long-ago reader, to hold something they could have held, connecting not just mentally but physically to their era, a moment of connection across more than a century.

Excuse me while I go weep.

#books #history is awesome #of course i checked it out #i had no real intent to read wwi non-fic but i couldn't just leave my new friend there it'd be lonely #i want to break out in tears every time i look at it #it's so stupid but sometimes something stupid just kicks you straight in the heart and you just gotta deal #it's old front line by john masefield #i know nothing about it except thinking the author's name sounded vaguely familiar #also the interior design is fantastic #these old books know how to use white space and make something super readable #if you must know i was in the wwi section because i was at the history museum the other day #and saw a local author had a book of wwi letters #thought i'd see if the library had it #looked at the selection of non-fic surrounding it and thought of the wwi persuasion #saw many books that could be useful #and thought 'oh no this looks like fun'#it won't go anywhere i know i won't be able to focus long enough to do real research #but darn if it wasn't an appealing little daydream

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tea-cat-arts · 4 months

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Shen Yuan getting transported into pidw isn't "the system punishing him for being a lazy internet hater," but instead representative of "step 1 of the creative process: getting so mad at something you decide to go write your own fucking book" in this essay I will

#svsss #scum villian self saving system #shen qingqiu #shen yuan #the fact that people think scum villain #-a series that examines and criticizes common tropes in fiction-#is somehow against criticism or being a little hater is wild to me #especially since shen qingqiu never gets punished for being a hater #heck- he's still a little hater by the end of the series #he mostly gets punished for treating life like a play and like he and the people around him are characters #(or in other words- he suffers for denying his own wants and emotions and his own sense of empathy)#I think some of y'all underestimate how much writing/art is inspired by creaters being little haters #like example off the top of my head-#the author of Iron Widow has been pretty vocal about the book being inspired by their hatred of Darling in the Franxx #I think my interpretation of Shen Yuan's transmigration is also supported by the fact that this series is an examines writing processes #side note- though i understand why people say Shen Yuan is lazy and think its a valid take it still doesnt sit right with me #i am probably biased because my own experiences with chronic pain and depression and isolation #but ya- i dont think Shen Yuan is lazy so much as he is deeply lonely and feels purposeless after denying parts of himself for 20ish years #like yall remember the online fandom boom from covid right?#being stuck completely alone in bed while feeling like shit for 20 days straight does shit to your brain #the fact that no one came to check on him + he wasn't exactly upset about leaving anyone behind supports the isolation interpretation too #+in the skinner demon arc he describes his life of being a faker/inability to stop being a faker now that he's Shen Qingqiu #as “so bland he's tempted to throw salt on himself” and “all he could do is lay around and wait for death” (<-paraphrasing)#bro wants to be doing stuff but is stuck in paralysis from repeatedly following scrips made by other people #another point on “Shen Yuan isn’t lazy” is just the sheer amount of studying that man does #also he did graduate college- how lazy can he really be #he doesnt know what hes doing but he at least tries to actively train his students #and he actually works on improving his own cultivation + spends quite a bit of time preping the mushroom body thing #+he's experiencing bouts of debilitating chronic pain throughout all this #but ya tldr: Shen Yuan's transmigration is an encouragement to write and not a punishment and also i dont think its fair to call him lazy

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fluentisonus · 2 months

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I've said this before but valjean's view of the bishop throughout the book gets me so bad because like. he knew him for what, a day maybe? and it absolutely had a vast & profound & positive impact on him. but then he goes on to spend the whole book comparing himself to his idealized vision of the bishop & finding himself wanting & feeling guilty and miserable about every petty or selfish thought that crosses his mind. but it's so fucked up because like we as the readers know the bishop better! we've read the whole first book and we know he came from a privileged & wealthy background, that he was a rake when he was young, it wasn't til he was in his 40s or 50s to have some sort of change of heart & become a priest (a similar age to valjean when he met him!), that he has moments that seriously shake him, that he has some dubious politics left over, that he still has moments of pettiness he has to work through on the page (his initial approach to the member of the convention, e.g.). and also he's just kind of a weird old guy (affectionate). and like this is not to criticize the bishop, I think he's a genuinely really good guy, just that while the bishop has a realistic view of himself & his past ("he described himself with a smile, an ex-sinner,"), valjean is not getting any of this except maybe like. what would be mentioned in the newspaper when the bishop died. so his whole view of him is of this one shining moment where he changed his life and he feels he doesn't live up to that. which is sad! because the bishop understood him more than he realized & wouldn't have wanted him to feel that way

#haven't edited this post so hopefully it makes sense #there is also something to be said for the other way that i think valjean comparing himself to the bishop unfavorably is unfair because #like the bishop is very much coming from a place of privilege & respect & authority not just in his background but in his current position #which is not to devalue any of his truly good work ofc!! but just that in many ways it's Easier to be good & charitable & humble & kind etc #if you're coming from a place of security y'know? <- and this is something the narrative of the book gets even if jvj doesn't #thoughts #les mis #anyways this is one of the reasons why the bishop sections are important & any abridgement would make the text poorer

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aroaceleovaldez · 7 months

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Something something Jason feeling like he doesn't quite fit as "Greek" or "Roman" as a metaphor for bisexuality, particularly the semi-canonical bi-coding in his half of experiences during the Cupid scene and how Favonius and Cupid speak to him in parallel to the scenes confirming Nico is gay.

Something something the camps as metaphors for traditionally acceptable forms of relationships and Nico living as a rogue outside of them, rejecting expectation (ergo in himself representing a metaphor of queer identity and living outside of boxes and defined/usually hetero-allonormative/binary ideas of what love/relationships should look like) versus Jason struggling with the expectation to conform to a label and even discussing with Nico both of them remaining at CHB together.

Something something the inverse of Jason shifting away from the camps after he breaks up with Piper, feeling lost and unable to find a place between the camps as he begins to explore his queer identity properly for the first time versus Nico only remaining at CHB because he has entered a relationship. In this essay I will-

#pjo #riordanverse #jason grace #nico di angelo #analysis #i know ive semi-rambled about this before here #but i was thinking about it on the discord the other day #for those in the discord forgive it being mostly copy/pasted from my rambling lol #i say ''semi-canonical bi-coding'' re: the Cupid Scene because. well. it's in the text! it's pretty overt!#which means it's pretty canon but nobody ever really discusses it and Rick has never acknowledged it #but also he never acknowledged Reyna's aspec-coding until a rare instance of him responding to q's on twitter #(that chain was also specifically sparked by me in that instance - due to him replying to my open letter about aspec coding in the series #- which i still find amusing cause it is SO obvious he didnt read it)#and he only like once acknowledged his mostly unintentional aspec-coding of the Hunt on goodreads #and very frequently goes ''death of the author - whatever i say outside the books is irrelevant and doesnt matter. read it how you want.''#''if you can get it out of the text then there's your canon.'' which i respect. reject ''word of god'' canon embrace analysis

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odo-apologist · 3 months

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Thinking about Out of Time, specifically the ending, which, in my opinion, is one of the best Rimmer scenes of the franchise. It's one of those moments- like his sacrifice for Nirvannah in Holoship or his insistence that Lister burn his soldiers in Marooned as a gesture of friendship- that hint at the potential that he has, deep down, of being noble, heroic, kind. What's particularly interesting about this scene, though, is that up to this point, Rimmer has often been shown as having a fascination with power, with militarism and fascist aesthetics. This is among his worst, most dangerous traits. You see the extreme outcome of it in Meltdown, what I think is Rimmer at his most abhorrent; he is the cause of the death of an entire group of people all because he wanted to live out his power fantasy of being a strategic military general, watching the battle at a distance like he describes in Marooned. Of course, as others have pointed out in their own posts, Rimmer's desire for/adoration of power likely comes more from his desire to be loved and prove he's deserving of love, but its consequences can be horrific. In Out of Time, when he encounters a version of himself that is an *actual* fascist sympathizer/apologist, he is disgusted. He is the one who wants to fight and who says, "Better dead than smeg." Whereas his future self says he would rather die than live like rats as the present crew do, our Rimmer would rather die fighting than live a life of ease and comfort while rubbing shoulders with bloodthirsty, power-crazed dictators.

And I think it's really interesting that the episode before this one is Rimmerworld. The aspect I often think about (that I wouldn't be surprised a lot of other fans also often think about) is Rimmer's 550+ years of imprisonment. It's such a disturbing concept, being kept in solitude for that inconceivably long, that its apparent dismissive treatment as a joke and lack of any real impact on Rimmer haunts me a little bit and I'm glad there are a few fics out there that explore the aftermath more thoroughly. But before he ends up in that situation, he 1. Abandons the others- the seemingly only people who have ever come close to caring about him- to die, leaving them to flee in an escape pod, and 2. Creates a civilization of clones of himself that he clearly bases off of the Roman Empire (a notable inspiration for many fascists). The first is significant because it shows the contrast between his cowardice in that situation and his lack of it in Out of Time. But the second point here, about the creation of his civilization, may show why that contrast happens between episodes, the reason for it. The civilization of Rimmerworld, based on an obsession with power, inspired by what we can assume is Rimmer's own idealized view of the Romans and empire in general, is the same that causes his centuries of suffering. So the next episode, when he sees another version of himself willing to get along with the kind of people like those who imprisoned him (who, albeit, were also versions of him)...I don't know, maybe the events of Rimmerworld did have some notable effect on him after all, at least for a while; maybe that's why he was so sure in his decision that the crew fight even though he knows they'll die trying.

Or maybe I'm just being ridiculous and overthinking things

#Sorry! having Thoughts and had to ramble about them #Also I'm blanking on if Rimmer still shows intetest in dictators and the like after series 6 #There are still episodes about his admiration with authority (Officer Rimmer Mechocracy etc.)#But besides a comment in Timewave Kryten makes about him collecting figurines #I can't recall many others #Red Dwarf #Arnold Rimmer #Original Post #Oh wait! I remembered he has books listed on his revision timetable in The Beginning #can't recall who by though and I'm too lazy to look it up right now lol

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bookcub · 2 months

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Chappell Roan Book Rec

like many other, I am currently obsessed with The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess so here are a few book recs based on the songs!!

(you can message me for questions about content warnings!)

Femininomon

A Guest in the House by E. M. Carroll (horror graphic novel)

What happens when you marry a mediocre liar and there's a ghost you are definitely attracted to in the house (that might be his dead wife)?

Relevant lyric: Stuck in the suburbs, you're folding his laundry/Got what you wanted so stop feeling sorry

Bonus Rec: Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger (adult steampunk romance)

Red Wine Supernova

Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stenz-Waters (adult romance)

Imagine inheriting a sex toy shop with a enchanting stranger who you feel incredibly connected to. . .

Relevant lyric: I heard you like magic/I got a wand and a rabbit

Bonus Rec: Sunstone by Stjepan Šejić (adult romance graphic novel)

After Midnight

Ash by Malinda Lo (YA fantasy)

I had to choose a queer Cinderella for this one, especially one whose mother warns her away from the forest at night.

Relevant lyric: This is what I wanted, this is what I like/I've been a good, good girl for a long time now

Bonus Rec: A Restless Truth by Freya Marske (adult historical fantasy, sequel)

Coffee

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec (adult fantasy)

When your ex is the trickster god Loki and you have prophetic futures, you know you can never just have coffee.

Relevant lyric: Here come the excuses that fuel the illusions/But I'd rather feel something than nothing at all,

Bonus Rec: Seven Days in June by Tia Williams (adult contemporary)

Casual

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi (adult gothic)

Remember that toxic homoerotic best friend you had a child? Who believed in magic and was also the most manipulative person you've ever met? It never was a casual relationship, was it?

Relevant lyric: Hate that I let this drag on so long, you can go to hell

Bonus Rec: Ben and Beatriz by Katalina Gamarra (adult romance)

Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl

A Spindle Splintered/A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow (adult fantasy)

Entering the fairy tale multiverse always leads to the strangest (and funnest) relationships (platonic and romantic) of your life.

Relevant lyrics: We're leaving the planet and you can't come

Bonus Rec: Cash Degado is Living the Dream by Tehlor Kay Mejia (adult contemporary)

HOT TO GO!

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz (graphic novel)

What if I dressed up as a count to inherit my father's fortune and you were a princess and we both liked grilled cheese???

Relevant lyric: I could be the one, or your new addiction/ It's all in my head but I want non-fiction

Bonus Rec: Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

My Kink is Karma

Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan (adult historical romance)

She said, let's destroy my terrible nephew's life, and how could you say no to such a romantic proposal?

Relevant lyric: Wishing you the best, in the worst way

Bonus Rec: Girl Serpent Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust (YA fantasy)

Picture You

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall (adult historical romance)

Oops, I faked my death and reinvented myself and you were way more distraught than I thought you would be. . .

Relevant lyric: Do you picture me like I picture you?/Am I in the frame from your point of view?

Kaleidoscope

The Scapegracers by H. A. Clarke (YA urban fantasy)

What if we formed a coven and what if we were all a little in love with each other?

Relevant lyric: And love is a kaleidoscope/How it works we'll never know

Bonus Rec: The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe (YA thriller)

Pink Pony Club

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang (graphic novel)

He was a drag queen, she was a seamstress, can I make it anymore obvious?

Relevant Lyric: And I heard that there's a special place/Where boys and girls can all be queens every single day

Bonus Rec: Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (YA historical)

Naked in Manhattan

Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake (adult romance)

Isn't it romantic, designing a house with someone with your entirely opposite tastes?

Relevant lyric: Boys suck and girls I've never tried

Bonus Rec: Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust (YA fantasy)

California

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers (adult contemporary)

If a PhD can't save you, maybe a drunken marriage in Vegas can?

Relevant lyric: Cause I was never told that I wasn't gonna get/The things I want the most

Guilty Pleasure

Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner (adult romance)

Fake dating your boss? 0/10 recommended. . . right?

Relevant lyric: I want this like a cigarette/Can we drag it out and never quit?

Bonus Rec: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming (adult fantasy romance)

Bonus:

Good Luck, Babe

Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni (adult contemporary)

Relevant lyric: You'd have to stop the world just to stop the feeling

Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie (YA contemporary)

#chappell roan #my book recs #book recommendations #the rise and fall of a midwest princess #musical book rec #its also a mostly queer book rec #queer books #mostly but not all!!#MOST #some of the bonus ones arent #idk what other tags to use #booklr #book rec list #my book recommendations #i also havent read one of these books but i want to #and i like the authors other books #musical book recs

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hells-plaid-angel · 4 months

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Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

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heph · 9 months

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do you think gale shadowheart and wyll would share smut recommendations with each other? based off that one party banter of wyll and shadowheart sharing lines from a smut novel they read

Yes! I have thoughts about this!

I think Astarion mostly reads non-fiction, books that inform him about the world around him, books about certain types of magic and bits of history. He reads a lot of it, but doesn't remember most of it. I think he reads mostly to forget his miserable existence back in Cazador's Palace.

Wyll and Shadowheart I think love their romance novels, spicy or otherwise. From fictitious Bawdry to fluff friends to lovers ^_^

My boy Gale stays flexy and likes both types! So he can have a book club w the romance girlies talking about the intricacies of the romantic novel of the week as well as a private one with Astarion to discuss stuff like history, where Astarion just listens to Gale info dump and occasionally asks questions or adds on tidbits to keep the conversation going

#i also think as fun as the romance book club is. gale probably prefers non fiction books too #the man likes his studies #and both astarion and gale wish to be more powerful #i need them to debate angrily about the meaning of certain words in books about magic #yelling at each other about the meaning of spells and authors intentions #gale is quieter in the romance novel discussions not bc hes shy but bc in groups of more than 2 he probably cant info dump as hard #heph answered

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aroaessidhe · 2 months

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2024 reads / storygraph

Our Lady Of Mysterious Ailments & The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle

books 2 & 3 in the Edinburgh Nights series

paranormal mystery set in a climate-ravaged future Scotland, plagued by ghosts and magic

follows a 15yo Black girl who’s finally gotten an in to learn scientific magic properly - but it turns out to be an unpaid internship, so she has to take more jobs delivering ghost messages and investigating mysteries to take care of her gran and little sister

in book 2 she’s investigating a strange illness centred on a magic school for boys

and in book 3 she’s attending a global magician conference held in a creepy castle - when someone’s murdered, and they’re locked in until she figures out the culprit

Zimbabwean magic, friendship, disabled characters, no romance (so far)

#The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle #Our Lady Of Mysterious Ailments #Edinburgh Nights #T.L. Huchu #The Library of the Dead #really enjoy this series!#the worldbuilding is very interesting - kinda combo climate-ravaged future but also in some aspects societally it feels kinda 1800s #(especially with the vibe of the mystery/paranormal elements)#I saw that the author (who is from Zimbabwe) describe it as ‘if edinburgh was a third world city’ which actually makes a lot of sense #Also I have to make the wendell & wild x lockwood & co comp again #I felt like book 2 was a little all over the place? I slightly lost track of the other-realms stuff lol #I really loved book 3 though - definitely more direct plot-wise #I like how it explores her journey through learning that the magic society is just as corrupt and shitty as anything else and maybe she #doesn't want it after all. as well as how the stress of everything is getting to her is causing panic attacks #love the scottish accent in the audiobooks!#so many interesting different supernatural elements. yay for sidhe in book 3 (tho only briefly)#hold on. do the book covers reflect the colour of her locs. (ok not quite for book one which is usually blue but there is a green variant)#ok I did say no romance but also I can’t tell if I’m just imagining Something between ropa & priya bc in book 3……they had some moments.#I mean I enjoy them as platonic moments also but just noting here in case it DOES turn out to be intentional and something that happen??#also fair warning the promo for book four seems to spoil somehting that's not even in the blurb??#aroaessidhe 2024 reads

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asexualbookbird · 3 months

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Immediately forgets everything that happened in June. Uh. I threw a tea party! Finished a knit hat! Did one (1) queer corvid piece! Started playing baldurs gate! Read some good books! SAW SOME SANDHILL CRANES!!!! Found new enrichment in the form of a new walking route! A busy busy month! Didn't read as much as I intended, but I did get to check off five more books on my Reading Books I Own chart so I call that a win.

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakranorty ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- WHAT A FUN BOOK! "Adventure" is the perfect word for this. Yes, it's a trilogy with only one book out, but this also works so well on its own, as individual books SHOULD! It's its own little thing. Wrapped up neat and tidy with little threads to pick up in the future. I had so much fun and the audiobook was a DELIGHT, I want to read it again immediately.

The Novice by Taran Matharu ⭐- This has been sitting on my shelf since its release. It moved homes with me. It will not be doing so again. Bland, generic, poorly written. Proof just because you were an internet success, doesn't mean you don't need an editor. Also proof that publishing is about Luck and Connections. I know goodreads ratings mean Nothing, but come on. Why is this one so high. Did people really enjoy it that much? HOW??

Translation State by Ann Leckie ⭐⭐⭐⭐- Okay. Look. This was not my favorite Leckie novel. In fact it very well could by me least favorite Leckie novel. HOWEVER. Even then, it was still fun and enjoyable. I wish it ended differently, but I still loved all the characters and how they interact. I do want to reread this as well, because I remember enjoying Ancillary Justice more the second time around and I wonder if the same will happen here.

What Moves The Dead by T Kingfisher ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - A reread! To get ready for What Feasts At Night! Even knowing all the secrets, it's still a perfectly bite sized creepy read. My favorite thing about Kingfishers writing is how even with the darkest subjects she still manages to add humor. And it never seems out of place! It's a great breather for the reader but doesn't detract from the tension. Do not recommend reading this while walking through a field of bunnies.

What Feasts At Night by T Kingfisher ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I gave What Moves The Dead four stars at my initial read through, so I wonder if this will ALSO change to five stars upon rereading. I had to read the first few chapters twice for them to stick, and ended up switching to the audiobook which was very well done. I really didn't expect another book about Alex Easton, but I'm hooked now to be honest. I mean, stop putting this soldier in Situations, but also. I want to know what other Situations ka gets into. Angus and Miss Potter are adorable.

The library has a few summer reading games with prizes so my reading in the upcoming months will be influenced by those. Someone said there might even be a local bookstore gift package in the mix and I Want That. I do still want to do the Bone Season updated read, if for no other reason than to get rid of those books so I don't have to pack and move them. Other than that, no reading plans. I've read nearly every book that's on the shelf in my bedroom, which, wow, so it's getting harder to choose what to read. I guess that's a good thing! Leaves more room to reread old favorites.

#bookbird babbles #reading wrap up #monthly wrap up #june wrap up #books #booklr #i dont want to get rid of the bone season books bc theyre the og hardbacks with the GOOD covers #but honestly. i like the anniversary editions so much better #those white covers though......oof lmao #but like. if the book is Bad then who cares lmao #i could probably sell them tbh #i know theyre in high demand in the fandom #or were five years ago #i think the fandom has kind of given up bc it takes so long for each book to come out #and i mean. authors dont owe us anything and all that but.#girl.#ten years since book one released and youre not even halfway through your seven book series #....maybe you are #four books are out?#STILL YOU GET MY POINT #grrm behavior and that is NOT a compliment #anyway. it was an okay month #neighbors suck my health sucks the weather sucks #but the tea party fucked we killed that one #oh also i gave myself a terrible haircut the other night #chop chop!!!!!#my moms like why dont you just go to a professional and i said because im not paying 30$ for them to cut off two inches LMAO #stylists work hard but im broke thanks #ill suffer an uneven haircut for a while if it means i can do other things like buy a silly little boba #id like to dye it soon too and now that all the old blond is gone i should be safe lol

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quatregats · 8 months

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They love each other so much <3

#they're literally married they're so codependent and i'm so happy for them #yes i did start reading commodore don't talk to me i'm in my being unwell about hornblower era #hated the start of that book <3 he's back up to his usual antics (putting up façades and being ungenuine)#wish that forester could understand that whatever he's doing with bush and hornblower is how you write a meaningful relationship #and not just being like 'wow they love each other wow look at that they're married'#barbara and hornblower were kind of fun in beat to quarters but he quickly killed in the first chapter of this book #this passage on the other hand? this is hornblower actually expressing that he loves a person (in whatever sense you want)#anyways i hate him but this was very sweet <3 #perce rambles #hornblower #also hornblower being mean as love language. love it when authors just drop tidbits like that

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mellotronmkll · 18 days

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Well on another note I just read a book in 48 hours because i enjoyed it so much which I hadn't done in a while can you guys tell me some books that you recently or not recently enjoyed so much you binge read it basically anything that you really liked ill check it out because I need to keep this ball rolling

#pleaaaaase give me book recs #i guess to give you some idea the book was the virgin suicides and i did the same thing with middlesex so i think i just really like how #he writes there are a few other authors i know i also always do this with so ill probably get one of their books next or #i will just read the marriage plot but idk i want to branch out also #but i probably will end up getting another book by one of my other favorite authors in the meantime but #i also have a list of random book recs but im not feeling inspired looking at it #like so if theres a book you Really loved and devoured in one sitting and got lost in the writing style and what not Please let me know ...

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greenerteacups · 5 months

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Half of the kingdom for Angelina, Fred and George dynamic! I shan't pretend I understand it but I sure as hell enjoy it!

You and Fred both!

Fred and Angie are the type of FWB couple whose reasons for not dating, inter alia, center on both of them just... not really caring that much. Romance isn't a priority for either of them; I think that when they started liking each other, it was a gradually developing case of mutual attraction under circumstances where neither one had time for a relationship. Angelina is busy trying to hold a quidditch team together, and it's hard enough without this doofus beater eating up more of her time than he already does. As for Fred, he's diligently preoccupied trying to put Minerva McGonagall in an early grave, and I think deep down he probably has a 17-year-old boy's healthy terror of commitment, too. But he does respect Angelina a hell of a lot, and he makes her laugh — something that she, as a generally serious person, could do with a bit more of. When he's not making a fool of himself, and she's not busy with the soul-eating job of being the following act for Oliver Wood, I imagine them having a comfortable, lowkey, no-strings FWB arrangement. Like, they were teammates before they were ever involved, and when you've seen someone's ass platonically, it takes the edge off seeing it in other contexts.

George is also here. The twins are such a social unit that anyone dating one of them sort of gets a two-for-one special, but the fact that Angie doesn't take it seriously helps to make things un-awkward. In fact, I think she's actually quite fond of George — he's more chill than Fred is, and a little bit sweeter, easier to get along with — and having known them both since first year, Angie probably understands that if you're involved with Fred, George is going to Be Around. It's like a love triangle where only one leg is romantic, and also everyone is eminently cool and happy to hang out with each other.

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fictionadventurer · 7 months

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March is turning out to be the month where my monthly reading list is, by far, leading me to the best books. Just winner after winner. Books that I not only enjoy, but recognize as quality literature.

Part of this is because I stacked the list with Great Christian Writers I already know I like and who have large bodies of work to choose new books from, but for every book I happen to choose from these authors to be this good is pretty astounding.

And that's not even getting into how exploring the reading list leads me down rabbit holes that also lead me to great books. Like, I picked up my unread children's poetry anthology in the vague hope that there was a Chesterton poem inside that I could use to cheat on that list item. There wasn't one, but I dove into those poems and I've read 2/3 of the book now, and that led me to pick up some Christina Rossetti.

I feel so literary and I'm loving it.

#books #the only dud so far was emily wilde unfortunately #got way too deep into the paralleling fae with demons thing than i'm comfortable with and i quit like 25% through #and i haven't even touched the lewis books yet but i have high hopes #(i keep intending for it to be a sunday read and then having other things to do on sunday)#i'm not going to comment on the books i have read because i'm only partway through most of them #so it'd be better to save it for easter #also this month is teaching me that choosing an author is a better plan than choosing a specific book #it allows for more flexibility in the choices #like i usually have a specific book in mind for each author but if i'm not feeling it then i can branch out into their other work #and it leads to some nice surprises

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aroaceleovaldez · 8 days

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Mark Oshiro confuses me a little bit not going to lie. In the press tour for the first book all they ever talked about was how Nico is their son and Will is fine I guess. Then they said like 2 weeks before TSATS came out that they didn't understand Will's character at all and it's one of the main reasons why Will has so little POV.

Possibly unpopular opinion but I don't think it's a good, encouraging sign when the writer admits to not really caring about the deuteragonist or not even having a sense of how to write them...

Yeah, no. If you have no interest in 1/2 of the POV characters of your book, you REALLY shouldn't be writing it (or at least, not have that be a main character). Especially when the main way TSATS could have been improved is if it was primarily Will-centric instead of Nico-centric. Will basically had next to no established character prior to TSATS! He was practically a blank slate! But all the new stuff we got for Will in TSATS was so clearly disinterested and had no regard for his previously established traits (or the established timeline/canon). Which is annoying because fleshing out Will would have been the PERFECT opportunity to actually incorporate a lot of the topics that Mark Oshiro specializes in as a sensitivity reader, which was the ENTIRE REASON THEY WERE BROUGHT ON AS A CO-AUTHOR!!!!

As TSATS stands, there is no reason for Mark Oshiro specifically to have been the co-author instead of someone else. It's so clearly just a PR move from RR following the huge backlash Rick received due to his response to criticism on how he wrote Piper and Samirah (and Reyna and etc etc). This was immediately following Rick saying he wasn't going to write what would become TSATS because "it [wasn't his] place to." Most of the topics that Mark Oshiro specializes in either weren't relevant at all to TSATS or written very poorly (to downright offensively) in TSATS, so either Mark Oshiro wasn't doing their job or was not able to do their job for some reason, but either way it basically makes the theoretical justification for Mark Oshiro being the co-author/sensitivity reader irrelevant.

With Will, it was HUGE fanon back in the day for him to be trans. Trans!Will and photokinesis!Will were basically the two biggest headcanons for him (both largely popularized by Cherryandsisters). We know Rick is aware of this old fanon because he canonized photokinesis!Will. If we had gotten trans!Will, that would have been great! And then made sense why we specifically got a trans co-author! (Instead, if anything, TSATS canonized Will being cis.) If we had gotten Will being latino, that would have been amazing!!!! And also then made sense as to why they chose Mark Oshiro for the job as a latinx author/sensitivity-reader, versus potentially choosing an Italian co-author since Nico being Italian/Venetian was emphasized so much in the book (and done poorly! Yknow what they could have done to fix that? GOTTEN A SENSITIVITY READER FOR IT)! Based on the themes and focuses actually present in the book, it would have been most logical to get a queer, neurodivergent, Italian co-author or sensitivity reader who specializes in those three topics at least. But we didn't! So why was Mark Oshiro chosen instead when they only specialize in one of those topics? PR reasons. It's blatantly entirely PR reasons and no actual thought or care was put into this book (or, likely, TSATS 2 either).

It doesn't help that we're also actively being told that the published version of TSATS was a rough draft. Or that their editor blatantly isn't doing her job. Or that "The Sun And The Star" was the working title that they just kept cause they didn't bother to make an actual title. And that the final version is full of explicitly last-minute scenes that weren't checked over at all (the final Bianca scene, for one). Or the ACTIVELY ADMITTING TO SOURCING IDEAS AND INFORMATION FROM FANS! That last one is kind of important because at this level of publishing that is a HUGE no-no for legal reasons. You can get into a lot of trouble for that and there is a reason why it is Ye Olde Fandom Law to never try to pitch your ideas or headcanons to the source creator(s) and keep fandom separate from the creators. There is a REASON why Rick Riordan is so distant from the community these days and it's for PROTECTION AGAINST LEGAL REPERCUSSION. Mark Oshiro being the exact opposite while also ACTIVELY ACKNOWLEDGING sourcing concepts from fans does not bode well! It has to do with copyright stuff.

It's just. So. Sighhhhhhhh >->o <- me lying on the floor about all of this. It's sad being able to see the glimmer of what could have been at the very least a decent book underneath all this. If anyone involved in the process had actually cared just the tiniest amount.

#pjo #riordanverse #tsats #the sun and the star #tsats crit #rr crit #mark oshiro #mark oshiro crit #< ?#ask #Anonymous #long post //#i wrote out a whole response to this and them tumblr deleted it. SIGH. re-writing.#sharking Mark Oshiro: YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DEFEAT THE SITH NOT JOIN THEM!!!!!#i do also want to make it clear: i have not read Mark Oshiro's other work so i have no opinion on if they are a good writer or not #and that is irrelevant. i am not judging them based on that at all. if more of the topics that they specialize in as a sensitivity reader #had actually come up/been relevant in TSATS i think it would have been nice for them to have been the co-author and stuff #but as things stand based on what actually ended up being relevant in the book i think another co-author would have been appropriate #or even just. if you keep mark oshiro as the co-author then have *other* sensitivity readers #because as things stand the only specializations that Mark Oshiro has that were relevant in TSATS were mental health and queer topics #and BOTH WERE DONE POORLY. like REALLY BAD. plus the blatant ableism and minor racism and such #i know Mark Oshiro doesnt specialize in neurodivergent/disability topics (though a sensitivity reader for anything riordanverse SHOULD)#but they *do* specialize in racism and it got through. also the fact that blatant ableism got through should also be a bad sign #and yes ''respect the right for bad queer novels to exist'' BUT THATS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE. SMALL-SCALE.#thats for like. indie publishers. it should not be used as an excuse to let an extremely famous straight/cis author write bad queer stories #i want to like Mark Oshiro really really bad. i do. i really do. but RR is not making it easy #anyways after having to rewrite this i dont have the energy to proofread it more than once please excuse any errors

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