#Tinx Reads 2023

[tinx-methinks]

Update to this post: tinx-reads-2023

Books I've read since last time:

K.A. Applegate: The Change, The Unknown, The Escape, The Warning, The Underground, The Decision, Megamorphs 2: In the Time of the Dinosaurs, The Andalite Chronicles, The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, The Departure, The Discovery, The Threat, The Solution, The Pretender, The Suspicion, and The Extreme. GOD she does Aliens SO WELL. I care about her Aliens SO MUCH argh. I didn't think I would like the Andalite or Hork-Bajir Chronicles at all but now they're all I can think about ahhhh!!!

Hide by Kiersten White wasn't super good... it felt kinda like the author was trying to rub her own back and the novel wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped.

The Legend of Beacon Swamp by Jacob Peyton had it's moments where it could have been interesting but it was so poorly written that any joy you could still derive from it vanished into the murk.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells was the STAND OUT FAVE from this group of books. All my homies love Murderbot.

Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk wasn't bad and would've been more enjoyable if I'd just read it for what it was but I was thinking about some of the weirdness in the world building the whole time. I think the angels in this universe are evil and also the main character is kinda really bad.

Consequences by Aleatha Romig was pitched to me as erotica. Which it wasn't. Tried to make me think it was romance. Which is wasn't. And then the ending would've been good and interesting if the entire book hadn't been wayyyy too fuckin' long.

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn was a bookclub book that became a real slog. The main character was smug and mean and I really hated the twist in this book. I thought the author was English but it turned out she was from Texas which really shook me though.

Deadly Kiss by Ariel Marie was the first one in a romance series about lesbian vampire princesses. It was alright, but felt a little confused at times. I think I might take a look at the second one in the series though... it was charming and had some decent erotica.

As for Short Stories...

Kakekomi Uttae by Dazai Osamu was super interesting because I read No Longer Human last year and felt like this piece had SO much of the author's personal voice in the place of Judas.

Graveyard Rats by Henry Kutner which I read cause I'm hunting down the short stories from Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities with a friend. Neither of us thought this was very good, however. We both preferred the netflix adaption.

The Autopsy by Michael Shea was fantastic. I enjoyed this one a bunch. I ended up going through the episode again because of it and I love the changes that were made from the text but for me the text had sooo much more to offer with little details in mannerisms. Plus some of the thoughts about death as a personification just really worked for me. I liked this one a lot.

[tinx-methinks]

Tinx Reads 2023

Long time followers will know I post updates to my reading life under “Tinx Reads Year” tags. I realized rather late in the year I hadn’t shared any updates for 2022 despite the fact I read probably 25 novels as well as analyzed and discussed at least 14 short stories, plus read a bunch of books for TTRPGs, and an assortment of Manga and Visual Novels. 

It’s been pointed out to me that I read a lot, which is strange cause I often feel like I don’t get enough reading done. 

I plan on rectifying that by keeping a record of stuff I’m reading a little closer this year, and I’m going to do so using my tumblr. I’m hoping seeing it all in a list will make me feel a little more accomplished. So if you’d like to avoid seeing it (I imagine the post will get quite long) go ahead and block Tinx Reads 2023.

On the other hand if you wanna talk about anything I’m reading I’m always down for that. So this is your open invitation to shoot me a message, especially with a book rec, a comment on something you’ve read too, or a passionate defense of something I didn’t care for that you enjoyed. 

Happy New Year

[tinx-methinks]

EOY book asks - 2, 6, 17, 24 :3

2. Did you reread anything? What?

Yes! Last year I read Dracula Daily, this year I did Re. Dracula which is practically an audiobook of the same thing (fully voice acted! with original songs! its amazing I totally recommend this podcast!).

Also a lot of the short stories Luke and I have been reading are ones that I've read before. Things like "The Lottery", "A Good Man is Hard to Find", and "Masque of the Red Death" were ones I'd already done.

Other than those I didn't do much rereading this year. I keep buying books as I get them read so I always have new ones in my TBR and I never make any progress lol

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

I bought a pretty copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea last year I've been dying to dig into but didn't get the chance. I'm looking forward to doing that this year. I meant to read The Turn by Kim Harrison. It's a prequel to a series I love and anxiously await. I dunno why I keep putting it off. My brain just keeps saying "The Stars. Can't do it. Not today." Also there's a couple I wanted to read but I just didn't buy because I was hoping to see them on sale and didn't or because their popularity meant their coverprice was higher than I wanted to pay or simply because something else caught my eye first, those titles include: I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, Paladin's Strength by T Kingfisher, Ruthless Gods by Emily A Duncan, Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin and The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen.

You'll note a bunch of these are things I already know I enjoy. For some reason it's harder for me to buy a sequel of a book I really like than it is for me to buy a new book I might not like because the Sunk Cost Fallacy guts me much worse so sometimes I end up wanting the sequel for months/years because the fear I won't like it makes the money so much harder to spend lol.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Oh yeah a bunch of them! Animorphs have been super surprising! Murderbot was so good! I didn't expect to like Legends and Lattes or Lavender House nearly as much as I did! I found The Watchers so genuinely creepy! Also I had written off as The Fourth Wing as booktok junk pretty much before I read it but after I did read it I thought it was way better than I expected. I think I can really see what people liked about it even though it wasn't for me.

Books are great for surprises like that.

24. Did you DNF anything? Why?

I almost never DNF a book. I will put myself through unspeakable agony to finish a book. It has to offend me to my core for me to put a book down because I think there's value in a book that's bad. If I find a book bad I really try to figure out what makes me feel that way so I can apply it to my own writing/storytelling...

That being said I am working on a couple visual novels I started last year because while I'm great at making time for books, video games are a whole other story. Sigh.

Thanks for the asks Bec! Love you!

End of Year Book Asks

[tinx-methinks]

I read a lot of books in 2023!

Update to this post.

I am super pumped to report that in the last little bit I read two more Animorphs (The Illusion and The Prophecy). I read the Great Gatsby for the first time. Finished Around the World in 80 Days. I also read Junji Ito's Lovesickness, and Erin Kelly's The Skeleton Key.

Which means my final total for books was a whopping 80 read over the year! Wowza.

Add to that that I read two more short stories (not counting the ones in the Ito collection I included as a book above).

Meaning I read a total of 50 short stories this year too!

It's really cool to see it in numbers. I've never really bothered to keep track before... but I think Luke was right. When someone says I read a lot I tend to demure, but it seems like they're simply correct. This was a lot of books. Sure it would be a lot less if I were employed but I always made time for some reading when I was working so it wasn't like it was none. It would also be less if I were reading full size books over the Animorphs, but still I feel like even if the number of novels were halved it'd still be a sizable amount.

Wild!

I probably won't keep track in 2024. I'm getting married this year and probably won't have time for the first hunk. But I will still talk about any particularly good ones I read in the tag Tinx Reads 2024. I'll probably wanna at least talk about my Animorph feels once I'm done with that. And who knows. Bec wants me to read Warrior Cats after.