#TBR this week

[the---hermit]

here's a link to the free pfd of Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco. It's a 10 pages long essay in which the author talks about his own experience with fascism and then tries to list the 14 elements that make up fascism in all its historical forms.

[bookaddict24-7]

"Collect books, even if you don't plan on reading them right away. Nothing is more important than an unread library."

--John Waters

(I will say, that in this economy, feel free to just treat this as a pretty quote.)

[j-ayne]

☕

[my52tbrchallenge]

We're a quarter of the way through this challenge! 🎆

Week 13 brings us a little something different!

Solitaire by Alice Oseman!

I picked this one up after seeing it on a list of Asexual Representation books, and given that we don't have many available (although that is changing quickly with all the new authors on the market), I just knew I had to have it, and it has ended up in this challenge!

Can't wait to see what it brings :)

-TC

[aroaessidhe]

tagged by @remnantglow - books I want to read in 2025!

man I really haven't been keeping track of upcoming books much and I just pick backlist reads based on vibes/library availability so this is truly first-thing-that-comes-to-mind lol

tagging @thereadingchallengechallenge @profiterole-reads @wearethekat @libraryleopard @lexreadsdiversely / anyone who wants etc etc!

[bubbles-on-the-tide-of-empire]

Oh man the If Books Could Kill bonus episode about Luigi Mangione's Goodreads profile is going to be fucking LIT.

[watermotif]

HI FRIENDS i am once again asking for book recommendations 📚 fiction, nonfiction, poetry, manga, graphic novels, whatever....please let me know what you read and loved recently i am sooo curious!!

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fantasy Books Bracket: Round 3

Book summaries below:

The Machineries of Empire series (Ninefox Gambit, Raven Stratagem, Revenant Gun, and other stories) by Yoon Ha Lee

To win an impossible war Captain Kel Cheris must awaken an ancient weapon and a despised traitor general. Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next. Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress. The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own. As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao–because she might be his next victim. Science fiction, fantasy, science fantasy, space opera, military science fiction, series, adult

The Hands of the Emperor (The Hands of the Emperor, At the Feet of the Sun, and other stories) by Victoria Goddard

An impulsive word can start a war. A timely word can stop one. A simple act of friendship can change the course of history. Cliopher Mdang is the personal secretary of the Last Emperor of Astandalas, the Lord of Rising Stars, the Lord Magus of Zunidh, the Sun-on-Earth, the god. He has spent more time with the Emperor of Astandalas than any other person. He has never once touched his lord. He has never called him by name. He has never initiated a conversation. One day Cliopher invites the Sun-on-Earth home to the proverbially remote Vangavaye-ve for a holiday. The mere invitation could have seen Cliopher executed for blasphemy. The acceptance upends the world. Fantasy, secondary world, politics, romance, adult, series

[duckprintspress]

My 2025 TBR

@hullosweetpea pinged me (on my personal account, @unforth) to do a "9 books I plan to read in 2025" meme, but I'd been meaning to do a post about the silly method I used to make my TBR anyway, so I'm gonna do that instead.

I've never been good about keeping track of books I've wanted to read, but in 2024 when I really started digging in to read a lot, I came up with a plan - I put together a TBR from recently published books (so, from 2023) plus a few books I'd had lying around for a long time - I had an "imminent" TBR on my nightstand and an older "oops didn't get to these yet" TBR that I'd shoved in a bedside cabinet. I grabbed all the old TBR, mixed them together with the imminent TBR, and treated that as my "real" TBR. I then put it in an order that I thought would help motivate me to read the things I was less enthusiastic about (but still wanted to read!) and set about making myself read them in order. I didn't actually manage that - things got shifted as new more exciting releases came out, and when something I was less enthusiastic about came to the top, I often bumped it until I felt up for reading it. But I actually think my flexibility in approach helped cause it meant I didn't stall, and by the end of 2024 I managed to read every single book that was in my TBR pile at the start of 2024.

Of course, I then had a completely new pile of books that I'd acquired, been handed by my wife after she read them cause she thought I'd like them, or borrowed from friends.

So, given that this method essentially worked, I of course, inevitably, decided to do it even more for 2025! Even though my TBR going into 2025 is already bigger than my pile was going into 2024, I nonetheless decided to go to the deep dark depths of cold storage - I went up to the attic (where our library is!) and dug out about a half-dozen books that I've been meaning to read; some I've had around for 20 years without getting to them. And I took my existing TBR, and these new books, and I made four piles:

(stupid long post about my TBR follows, behind a readmore)

Pile 1: The Books On The Top. These are the books that either I got most recently and I'm excited for, or that have been on my TBR longest, and I decided to leave them as-is. These are the books I'm either most excited to read or most determined to read.

This pile can basically be treated as my answer to the 9 books meme, even though there are only seven of them. It's also slightly out of date - I took this picture a few days ago, I'm now reading top book.

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish by Xue Shan Fei Hu

The Fall of the House of Tatterly by Shanna Miles

The Missing Piece by Kun Yi Wei Lou

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin

You're Too OP by Yi Xiu Luo

Babel by R. F. Kuang

Dream of the Red Chamber by Tsao Hsueh Chin

Looking at this pile, I think it's pretty obvious which are the titles I bought and which are the ones my wife handed over to me after she read them, assuming you know anything about my usual reading habits (it's danmei. I read danmei, lmao). I yoinked the Chinese classic off my mom's bookshelves, I want to expand my familiarity with the roots of Chinese lit so that I understand more about what I'm reading now.

Piles 2, 3, and 4: The books I'm excited about (left), neutral about (middle), and the books I'm kinda meh about but still would like to read (right).

I took all the remaining books, both more recent and from the cold storage (literally cold storage, our attic doesn't have much heat lmao), and sorted them into these three piles. A lot of the books I'm actually most excited to read aren't out yet; those I'll add to the pile as I buy them, so the final pile will change. I collated these three piles - alternating things I was excited for, things I was neutral about, and things I was meh about - into a final complete TBR.

This is my TBR for the year - not everything I'll read, by any means, but I'll attempt, by the end of 2025, to have read all these books, plus anything else I come across, thus that by the end of 2025, I'll have once again ship-of-Theseus'd by TBR pile. This entire pile, plus sources:

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish by Xue Shan Fei Hu (bought for myself)

The Fall of the House of Tatterly by Shanna Miles (passed over by my wife)

The Missing Piece by Kun Yi Wei Lou (bought for myself)

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin (passed over by my wife - we also have the sequel, though she hasn't read it, and I expect if I like this one I'll probably read that soon after)

You're Too OP by Yi Xiu Luo (bought for myself)

Babel by R. F. Kuang (passed over by my wife)

Dream of the Red Chamber by Tsao Hsueh Chin (borrowed from my mom)

After the War by Stuart Sharp (bought for myself - this is an indie press title from the press I was vending next to at Readercon, it sounds really good!)

Where You Linger and Other Stories by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (another indie press Readercon acquisition, from Lethe Press)

The Fox and the Fallen Prince by Kate East (I traded a badly damaged copy of Aim For The Heart for this book at Flamecon, with a self-pub author who was vending across from me)

Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America by Beth Linker (passed over by my wife)

Most Likely to Summon Nyhiloteph (another Readercon book, an anthology from Ghost Orchid Press)

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (passed over by my wife)

Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (this anthology was on the take a book-leave a book table at Readercon and looked interesting)

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell (from cold storage, though I've not actually had it a long time; this is from a huge stash of queer books I stumbled upon at Goodwill one day and bought...all of.)

Devotion by Anna Denisch (got this self-pubbed title at the Book and Comic Expo at The Shirt Factory last fall)

The Bad Guys Won by Jeff Pearlman (passed over by my dad)

The Dragons of Heaven by Alyc Helms (from cold storage, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get to it @alychelms I've had it on my TBR since it first came out, oops)

(this one I can't remember the title on and don't feel like going to check, but it's a freebie/teaser that the guy vending next to me at The Shirt Factory gave me)

The Gilded Chain by Dave Duncan (from cold storage)

War of the Oaks by Emma Bull (from cold storage)

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender (another Goodwill stash/cold storage book)

The Last Icon: Tom Seaver and His Times by Steven Travers (passed over by my dad; he passes me books about the Mets, in case that wasn't obvious yet, we both love baseball)

Fight Like a Girl edited by April Steenburgh & Christy Lennox (from cold storage; this was my first publication credit! but I've never actually read the whole anthology, oops)

The State of Us by Shaun David Hutchinson (another Goodwill stash/cold storage book)

Vicksburg: 1863 by Winston Groom (from cold storage; I am not only not-so-secretly a baseball fan, I'm also not-so-secretly a Civil War buff)

Sooo... that's 26 books, including some non-fiction that'll probably be slow going. But hopefully I can read it all this year!

But because that's enough... anyone who pays attention to my monthly reading posts or other posts about what I personally read has probably noticed I read a lot of graphic novels, so I can hear you going, "but unforth, there are no graphic novels on your TBR! where are the graphic novels?" and you are right. Because I maintain not one, but TWO other TBRs (three if you count my Libby account) specifically for graphic novel TBRs; I usually read them while reading other stuff.

Pile 1: physical library books and borrowed books.

I actually read Dungeon Critters last night; this is my current library pile, with the four on the bottom all books I borrowed from @tryslora.

Dungeon Critters by Sara Goetter and Natalie Riess

Galaxy: The Prettiest Star by Jadzia Axelrod and Jess Taylor

Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods vol. 1 by Takuto Kashiki

Silver Vessels by Steve Orlando

Ash's Cabin by Jen Wang

Yuri is My Job vols. 8 to 12 by Miman

Ask Me About Polyamory! by Tikva Wolf

Cannonball by Kelsey Wroten

The Flying Ship vol. 1 and 2 by Jem Milton

Signals vol. 1 and 2 by Nika

The Less than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal by E. K. Weaver

How to Be a Werewolf vol. 1 by Shawn Lenore

That said, I'm going to the library tomorrow, so I'll presumably come back with more. I always do, lmao.

Pile 2: Libby

No photograph for this one, obviously, and I don't feel like grabbing appropriate screen captures, but. I have five libraries on Libby ( @queerliblib, the Japan Foundation of Los Angeles, my local library, the New York Public Library, and the Brooklyn Public Library - all these are free for me as a US and NYS citizen) and I'm mostly using them to read manga lmao.

Current Libby Borrows:

I Hear the Sunspot vol. 1 by Yuki Fumino

Yona of the Dawn vol. 5 by Mizuho Kusanagi

Chainsaw Man vol. 2 by Tatsuki Fujimoto

Too Close to Fall in Love by Akira Nakata

Haikyu!! vol. 18 by Haruichi Furudate

Jujutsu Kaisen vol. 1 by Gege Akutami

Kaiju No. 8 vol 5 by Naoya Matsumoto

Libby Holds (titles I'm waiting for - because they have strict due-dates, they'll jump the TBR line whenever the holds come through):

Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba vol. 4 by Koyoharu Gotouge

I Think Our Son is Gay vol. 5 by Okura

I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Spy x Family vol. 3 by Tatsuya Endo

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

How to Be Ace by Rebecca Burgess

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

FANGS vol. 1 by Billy Balibally

Pile 3: The Yaoi Stash + a couple other odds and ends

So early last year I got a text from my brother that he was at a thrift shop and they had a pile of books that "looked like my kind of thing" and a photograph of a bunch of book spines, and I told him to go ahead and buy them all at $1 US a pop and I'd sort through what they were. This is most of those; excluded are a couple that weren't yaoi and I wasn't interested in, and a few that are incomplete cause I don't want to get invested in something like that. I haven't yet read any of this yet, I figure if I ever am low on library books or am just in the mood for some yaoi porn, I'll dip into this pile then.

Footnotes from the World's Greatest Bookstores is obviously not yaoi, it's a passed-by-my-dad art book about bookstores. It is, however, a quick read, and I've already read about half of it, so I threw it on this pile too because it had to go somewhere lmao

(blank spine) is actually an art book of MXTX fanart I got at Flamecon

Hero Heel vol. 1 and 2 by Makoto Tateno

New Beginnings by Kotetsuko Yamamoto

A Love Song for the Miserable by Yukimura

Tomorrow's Ulterior Motives by Sakuya Fujii

Love Share by Aoi Kujyou

Love Control by Ai Hasukawa

Star by Keiko Konno

Once Upon a Glashma by Jumiko Sukeane

Passionate Theory by Ayumi Kano

Hot Limit by Akira Kanbe and Minori Shima

Candy by Satomi Suerts

Red by Sanae Rokuya

Anyway. The TL:DR of all of this is I'm anal but if it keeps me reading it's worth it, and that I've got waaaaaaay too much I want to read in 2025.

But anyway, that's the answer to my 9, er, 50-something books I want to read in 2025 lmao.

[caffeinatedcatlover]

The books I’ve read so far and my summer TBR! Already read a few of these since taking this picture (Bride, My Roommate Is A Vampire). What’s on your TBR?

[msbarrows]

Just finished reading Running Close To The Wind by Alexandra Rowland, which I picked up because I'd enjoyed several of her previous books, and I am absolutely recommending this one. It's pirates and espionage and snark and silliness and I love the three main characters very, very much. Avra is adorable, with his anxiety and purposeful empty-headedness (except when he needs thoughts in his head), his little rucksack (that seems more like a bag of holding), his cards, his Luck...

[foxgloveinspace]

I think the thing I love the most about the way the fandom has reacted to tsc is that Kevin is loved the way I have loved him from the very beginning. Like yeah, I meme on him (the way I do Neil and Andrew) but there’s so much more love for Kevin now, and he’s my guy ya know?? I love him so much.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2023: IMPERIAL RADCH by Ann Leckie.

Up next! This came highly recommended by many friends (and also the internet at large when I asked for SFF revenge recs, so thanks!), and I have Tracked Down The Original Covers, so I'm ready to go.

[ohmygoly]

ITS STINITZ DAY. MY FAVORITE SHIP. MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE SHIP.

I was channeling my inner Fitz and was in the kitchen all day. (I made cinnamon rolls and peanut butter cookies that both turned out pretty good!) Due to this I don't have much to offer in terms of Stina and Fitz. I love them though, I'll say that much. I remember in seventh grade I was laughing with my friend in the library because we wanted Fitz to date Stina because no one else loved him and because we thought it was a fitting punishment. Then we wanted them to die.

Seven years later and Stina and Fitz are in my top three favorite characters (I love the characters who are accidentally the most complex and morally grey lol, or misunderstood.) They are also my favorite ship in all of Keeper of the Lost Cities, if for no other reason, than because I love both of them individually so I love their ship the best (Tiana comes next for me lol.) Stina is a nerd at heart, she cares about how society views her, she is accepting of those who are cast out by society while simultaneously pushing away the one who maybe resembles her the most (Dex) because she knows that its too close for comfort. Because she's always been insecure in her status. For the record, I do prefer Stinitz over Stinex simply because I like the way their characters are built together more and because I think Dex does a better job as her plot foil without romance involved.

I think Stina must have initially loved Fitz for all the reasons everyone else did. He was perfect. He had a movie star smile. The closest thing to elven royalty, as Sophie noted. Stina, who cared so much what the others thought of her, who pushed most people away who could've cared for her because she knew that, like Dex, they could also shun her. She would shun them out first. This Stina loved the idea that Fitz' status would prevent her from any social judgment. This Stina loved that winning grin, the boyish naivety, and the shiny exterior he presented to the world. Fitz didn't like Stina at all. If nothing else, he thought her gripe against Biana (as I headcanon) as well as potentially Deck (her known rival) was unnecessary, but he also thought her attitude towards the rest of the school was abhorrent and rude.

The only relatively "flawed" side of Fitz Stina got to see would've been in splotching matches. If there was one area Stina was the most relaxed and yet still the most competitive, it was when she got to exercise the skills her father taught her and show everybody else that she was better than them. Fitz would always equal her in competitive rage, so there was never a boring match between the two consistent finalists. The only thing Stina didn't like about Fitz might have been that he always beat her, though she figured she'd try to accept it if they ever really married (fat chance of that).

Even though she wanted him to like her more than others at the school, she couldn't help telling him when he was wrong. He was ignorant, he was dense, "there is no way he actually thinks thats a good idea" -circa around the time of Oblivimyre. In his bias against her, he found this mostly unattractive.

I imagine Stina growing up. We see that she does soften towards Sophie in the later books. I still believe she was friends with her henchmen and some others in a whole other circle of elves, but she didn't have them follow her around as a defensive mechanism and to gang up on Sophie and her friends. All of this allows me to believe that she would also mature in her view of Fitz, in her ability to connect to people, in the way she presents herself. No longer is she as bratty and standoffish. Sure, she's got her rough edges, but she helped birth the alicorns, she cares for animals, she works hard for the Black Swan and demands what she deems right (like Maruca seeing Wylie). In this maturity she sees Fitz as something different. He's not perfect. He's beautiful but not perfect. Everything around him is falling apart, as the girl he liked goes for his best friend, his best friend runs away and makes questionable decisions, and his family is part of a legacy he doesn't want to be a part of. Stina sees that rage and sadness that surrounds him now, as he wants to fight but he's angry at everyone he cares about. Stina understands that. She not only understands all the ways she turned to anger in her dark days, but all the ways Marella was and is turning to bitterness as she deals with her mom, pyrokinesis, and loneliness. The ways Maruca started out colder and bitter, ready to betray a friend, in desperation and insecurity as well. The ways Linh wasn't completely sweet from the start, but the ways she turned sharper as she battled with her brother, partner, and protector leaving to the Neverseen just for her. Because she knows how easy it is to feel ostracized from the world and turn to anger, bitterness, and defensive tactics to cope with it, she can do nothing but see Fitz in a new relatable light. One where he isn't on a pedestal. She approaches him finally, in a way where she doesnt expect him to be perfect.

How refreshing for him. His dad still expects the best, Biana looks up to him, the Lost Cities still wants the elven prince, Sophie wants a supportive friend and wanted the perfect boyfriend, and everyone else just sees "Golden Boy" Fitz as well. Even Keefe might have been so wrapped up in how much better the Vackers were than his own family that he missed a lot of the pressure Fitz was under and was never able to help him ease it as much as he needed. So when Stina comes up to him one day, when they're hosting a Team Valiant meeting at Everglen, to see if he's okay, he lets a little bit of the pressure off. She listens to the tidbits he's willing to give her and tells him that there's no reason why he should think he needs to be perfect in the middle of a war. If Sophie can blow up a Neverseen hideout, then Fitz can even just walk into the meetings a little rougher for wear somedays, if not more. (Maybe use that cane he's been avoiding but definitely needs.)

From here they start talking a bit more as friends. Stina sees his human collection, and being a bit fascinated in humans herself, and having a few friends very interested in the species, she enjoys this very much. He gets to help her take care of the unicorns some afternoons and he realizes how refreshing a workout it is. He also gets to see just how useful she was during the alicorn birth, even though everyone said she did basically nothing. Maybe some days he brings specially baked treats for them, and other days he gets to ride with Stina and family/friends across the Norwegian landscapes on their backs. And he even has his own unicorn at their house now. And Stina has her own mini shelf of books on whatever information she's researching at Everglen, though only most of it is for Team Valiant meetings. He even gets invited to some of the hangouts with the girls, and they all laugh and tease each other and he feels a weight off his shoulders for the first time, that he's starting to feel very determined to keep. Stina is more than just a bully to him. She's a hardworker, a fighter, a lover, a nerd, and insecure in ways he didn't even think about. They both have a lot to learn about not letting others dictate their anger, and not letting society expect perfection out of them, but I think they can get through that together.

Also, maybe they advance from splotching to real goblin training and their kiss moment is Stina finally beating Fitz in a match and everything he came to respect about Stina just collapsed together as she won and her competitive side matched with his and he realized he loved seeing her beat him at something. That she was really cute when she was actually proud of herself. And it was so pure at that moment, unlike most other moments of Stina's life, that Fitz just couldn't get enough, so he kisses her. Fitz loves smart, adventurous women, and didn't he find one in Stina Heks.

I think I might do another post lol, after I'vecleaned up my kitchen. Cause I've saved some aesthetic photos for them on my pinterest board and I might have stinitz excerpts scattered across my KotLC notes app. @doodle-do-wop

Also, like, give me criticism please. Not like just on my writing but on my character analysis and ship pairing. I want to see how wrong I am lol.

[yohankang]

girl helppp how to stop overworking myself. i promised myself i would finish this thing and take a rest but it didn't happen </3

[cultivating-wildflowers]

You’re on the third book already?? Omg!! Do you mind if I ask your thoughts?

I just started it! My library has the audiobooks 😅 And ABSOLUTELY I will share my thoughts!

First, on the audiobooks themselves, I LOVE the narrator. She does a fantastic job with the dialogue and pacing. My only complaint is that she mispronounces Sidheag's name. She says "sid-hey" instead of "she-ah" (or "she-ak"??).

The books themselves are so so much fun. The cast is obviously the best part, and I love how every character, even the minor ones, stands out. I keep getting a couple of the teachers mixed up, but otherwise they're all very distinct characters who serve the story well. Sophronia's friend group is delightful. And Sophronia herself was a pleasant surprise. Based on her introduction, I was worried we'd get the usual fare of a girl going "Oh, but I don't want to go to finishing school and be made into a lady! I want to wear trousers and climb trees and read books and be independent!" and then sulk for the whole story. Sophronia took it as an intriguing challenge and leaned into the quirkiness, and doesn't complain about corsets and dresses all the time, which I loved. (As the overarching story progresses, she's turning more toward the very special, very cool young person poised to stun the world with her prowess, which I'm iffy about, but I still love her character.)

And I ADORE a good steampunk Victorian setting, and Carriger writes hers so well. Some reviews point out that this is a YA spin-off of an existing adult series, so she spends less time explaining the world of the story, but it doesn't feel like the world-building is lacking; for me it's a perfect balance of explaining some details and letting the reader extrapolate the rest. The characters have relatively historically appropriate sensibilities and tastes and approaches to life (insofar as they can when vampires and werewolves exist), which I really appreciate.

The writing itself? Splendid. There's fun and hijinks balanced by moments of gravity, like when Sophronia realizes this isn't all a game and her actions can have devastating consequences. The pacing flows so well without feeling rushed. I would have liked to see more of the classes, especially in the first story, but it makes sense why those were summarized in favor of developing character arcs.

The only thing that confuses me is character ages. Sophronia starts out at 14, and I assumed it was a young-ish 14, but then about a year later she's already 16 and I don't think there was any mention of her birthday. I do like her being a little older given the developing romance plot line, but I'm still a bit lost there. (Also, this is just personal taste, but it's weird to me that the werewolves are functionally immortal and [I think??] women don't turn into werewolves. Weird choices to me.)

Oh, and I'm not a fan of the grumbling about how restrictive corsets and skirts are but, again, that's mostly personal taste lol.

Anyway, it's all very fun and light-hearted and a good change from the volume of horror I read in October. I would love to hear more of your thoughts on them! But keep in mind that I'm only like four chapters into the third book.