#and I want to read the ancillary books again

[baejax-the-great]

Top five books this year? :3

I'm going to group series/authors together or else the list would be like 4 books by the same person.

Ancillary Justice series by Ann Leckie + Translation Slate. These books were really such a fun and satisfying read. I've read a few series recently that didn't/couldn't stick the landing, but I thought this one wrapped up really nicely.

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung. I'd been meaning to read this memoir for over ten years now (since I visited Cambodia), and I finally bought it for myself. The author was a young child when the events of this book happened, so it's a fairly easy read with the kind of descriptions you would expect from a child. It is a heart-wrenching story, and I spent a weekend just reading and crying.

Fitz and the Fool trilogy by Robin Hobb. I think everyone on tumblr has seen my reaction to these books 😭😭💕💕. This trilogy fucked me UP oh my god. Hobb is a freak, I'll never get over it, everyone should read these books, especially if you want to watch one character suffer constantly always for ever and ever and to think "I have no idea what the FUCK these two characters have going on but I'm obsessed with it."

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. This was my first finished book of the year! It's not perfect, but I really enjoyed the fairytale of it all and the mix of characters introduced. Publishing has such a hardon for series these days, and I appreciate a self-contained stand alone story.

Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine. Another book I've been meaning to read for ten years and finally got around to. For a science book, it's very accessible to laypeople, and it addressed a lot of things that irritated me with my own education in neuroscience (imaging studies are stupid, and that one study where they gave monkeys various toys and the female monkeys liked playing with pots and pans showing that kitchen supplies are inherently and naturally feminine...???? Monkeys don't cook.... they don't know what they were for... what the fuck WAS that study and how did a professor tell it to me with a straight face...). It is over ten years old now so somewhat outdated, and I saw criticisms that there are some very similar studies done with regards to race that she doesn't cover, but I kind of think there is value in a researcher staying in one lane. I don't know, I flip flop back and forth on this, but the take downs of the shoddy studies remains valid and it was a satisfying read.

[crossgartered]

LMAO WE KNOW, BREQ

[theinquisitxor]

March 2025 Reading Wrap Up

In March I read 7 books, 1 dnf, and 1 short story, so 9 total things read. I thought it was a good reading month overall, and I read a lot of young adult-- which I don't read much of anymore. I feel like I've aged out of the genre for the most part, but there are a few books/series I still enjoy. Let's get into what I read!

1.World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, 4.5/5 stars. This is a collection of memoir essays and a love letter to nature. Aimee connects a different moment of her life to an animal or aspect of nature. I found her writing very enjoyable and a very refreshing read.

2.Oathbound (Legendborn Cycle 3) by Tracy Deonn, 4/5 stars. One of my most anticipated releases of the year, and one of the few ongoing ya-fantasy series I'm still reading. I had such a fun time reading this, and it had some tropes that I also found very fun to read. I didn't love it quite as much as books 1 and 2, buuuttt it was still solid and very good.

3.Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid, 4/5 stars. If you were like me in the early 2010s obsessed with The Hunger Games and read a lot of the other dystopian books that dominated those years, this is a solid return to that genre but with a bit more of a 2020s lens. The ending is a bit polarizing and I have mixed feelings about it though.

4. The Naming (The Books of Pellinor 1) by Alison Croggon, 5/5 stars. This was one of my favorite books of my early teen years, and one I've been wanting to reread for several years. Safe to say I still loved this book and it stands the test of time. Reading it as an adult I picked up on so much more. I highly recommend this book/series!

5. The Riddle (Pellinor 2) by Alison Croggon, 4.5/5 stars. Unlike the first book, I did not remember anything from this book before my reread. So it was almost like reading it completely new. To me this one was even more emotional and our characters go through some soul-searching. Our main character deserves nothing bad to happen to her ever.

6. Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch 1) by Ann Leckie, DNF. Unfortunately I was bored trying to read this, and I don't really care to see what happens. I first tried the audiobook, and then switched to a physical copy, but neither were able to keep my interest. It's not bad, I just personally couldn't get into it :(

7.Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention— and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari. I've felt for a little while that my attention span and ability to focus is not as good as it used to be (and that smartphones/social media/big tech is responsible) so this was very refreshing to read, affirmed my thoughts on things, and I learned quite a bit on how our collective ability to focus has been damaged. Highly recommend if you feel the same!

8. Wildwood Dancing (Wildwood 1) by Juliet Marillier, 4/5 stars. This was my Random TBR Pick for the month of March, and a book that was on my tbr since 2020. This is a ya-fairy tale retelling that was a mix of several tales set in Transylvania in some unspecified historical period. I enjoyed this and was glad to read another Juliet Marillier book!

9. The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges, 4/5 stars. This is a short story by the acclaimed author, and his imaging of an infinite library containing every variation of the alphabet, and those how search through the library. This had been on my tbr since 2018, so I was glad to have finally read it!

That was all for March!

In April I'm hoping to read:

Finish Pellinor series (books 3 & 4) (prequel at some point?!)

Wildwood Dancing #2

Nonfiction -- Backyard Bird Chronicles maybe?

Random TBR Book -- Child of a Hidden Sea by AM Dellamonica

Whatever else I feel like reading! (maybe attempt The Luminaries ?)

[dayscapism]

Brief review of the Imperial Radch trilogy (highly recommend) - no spoilers

My Rating for all books: 5/★★★★★

With book one (Ancillary Justice) my mind was blown and still swirling years later. At many points it felt like when you're learning the different interpretations of quantum mechanics and you're trying to think of which one might just be *it*. So yes, this book was a bit hard at first to get into, and it was breaking my brain many other times, but it was worth every page. It's a little slow and confusing at the beginning, but the finale, how everything comes together and the sequels are well worth it.

Book 2 is definitely my favourite, but Ancillary Mercy is a solid finale to the trilogy and made me love the characters even more. The ending was unexpectedly filled with a lot of humour and heartwarming moments. Also, our protagonist is such a badass.

And apparently, I have a soft spot for books about AI constructs and sentient ships.

This series just solidified why I need to read more sci-fi. Leckie kept leaving me speechless again and again throughout the story with the theme discussions and political intrigue. The series has very interesting things to say about identity, personhood, colonialism, capitalism, fascism, gender as a social construct, class, and human connection with other people; while also having wonderful characters, great writing, an expansive world and an exciting plot. It's unexpectedly hilarious, too! Which is something I always appreciate in books.

I will need to re-read it again one day because it has many layers and stuff I would like to revisit.

(I was going through a terrible reading slump too when I read the last book, so it took me a while to finish and I think I missed a few things as I was reading it very, very slowly. But not the books' fault! It actually helped me with the reading rut; pulled me right back into the story by the end and they became favourite booksf for me.)

Yes, this trilogy is just as good as its reputation. It deserves so much more love and fame. I want everybody to be talking about it.

[windshorn]

What are you all reading right now? List of things I'm reading and silly thoughts under cut.

I finished "If Beale Street Could Talk" for the first time a few days ago. It was so beautiful and devestating, no words feel adequate. I read "Nicaraguan Sketches"*, I'm reading "Ancillary Justice"**, "The Haunting of Hill House", and re-reading "The Silmarillion" and "Moonwise". Up next I am going to finish "The Open Veins of Latin America" and "Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death, and Art" (which E got me for Christmas ❤).

*once again if anyone has Nicaraguan history book recs please let me know.

**intrigued by it in many ways and trying not to be uselessly hateful but from the nature/scope of the political intrigue I am getting the sense that the author is a 'democratic socialist' type liberal. I can't tell if this is a fair judgement yet but something about it feels very flat. Probably not fair if I can't articulate what it is anyway, I guess it just makes me want to read "The Dispossessed" and "The Left Hand of Darkness" again lol. Has anyone else read it and if so what did you think? PHEW

[cantsomeoneelsedoit]

Undead Unluck Theory

So I've been reading Undead Unluck since the beginning, but I haven't actually ever joined the fandom, (i.e., the contents of this blog may be Old News to everyone and/or everyone hates it and I just didn't realize...) but I was showing the anime to a friend and trying to explain my UU theory, so I googled and couldn't find anyone who had laid out something like this. If it already exists, apologies, but this is my version of what UU is all about.

Undead Unluck is a story about writing.

Spoilery things ahead!

The most important thing to know about Undead Unluck is that it's a story-within-a-story. An embedded narrative. Our characters are stock archetypes who are barely on the cusp of learning that they are in a story.

The main story outline stays the same as the author goes through various iterations and edits (aka Loops), testing out new ideas and often scrapping them. Characters evolve into different versions of themselves as the author edits. Our settings are varied as if the author were trying to fit all kinds of different genres into one story. AND THEY ARE!

Suggested listening, btw:

The Author, AKA God, adds variables to the story in the form of rules.

For example, a children's book about a goldfish has no need to mention that there is an entire galaxy of stars in the sky. The goldfish doesn't need to know. The readers don't care. It's irrelevant. That rule can be omitted from a story.

When the author changes the story, for instance, to make the story about a goldfish who goes into outer space, suddenly they need to add the concept of a galaxy, along with all the ancillary ideas (i.e., UFOs).

With their pencil eraser or backspace button, the author changes the reality for ALL of the characters in the work, so that the existence of outer space becomes a Known Thing in-universe. No biggie. It's always been that way, as far as they know. The instant the author changes something, it's done.

This Hand of God kind of author appears in other ways, like the way the Union members arrive via a crack in the sky. They literally fall from the sky like characters in the Barbie movie.

The crack in the sky is a wall-break, but it's not the fourth wall that's broken. It's the wall between the author and the characters!

Remember that cartoon where Daffy Duck argues with the animator's hand? Characters are just playthings for the author. They can be dressed up or imperiled just because.

When you begin to read UU from this perspective, some characters seem more sentient than others.

The characters are tired of being screwed over. They're tired of suffering. They're tired of being tested for no reason. Can't God just give them an easy life? Do all characters hate their authors this much?

Ragnarok is when the author effectively overturns the dollhouse and starts a new story with the same characters, settings, and themes, but adding the kind of slight variations that an author's idle mind might create. The basic "frame" of the dollhouse remains, but we can try out new scenarios like:

"What if X met Y in another time or place?"

"How would X be different if they'd grown up in a harsher or easier environment?"

"What if X was a villain?"

And so the author begins again, pitting their characters in new situations to observe and see how they react. Authors love that shit. Just look at all the ask blogs on tumblr!

Authors enjoy looking at their characters from new perspectives. Even the bad ones! Many times, an author has had a character (say...Victor) in their imagination for a long time, but the character evolves into a slightly different version of themselves (Andy). It's natural to want to keep both versions of this character. And since this is the author's dollhouse, they can do whatever they want, even if this confuses and disturbs Andy/Victor.

Victor and Juiz are, I think, God's starter OCs. Their story is one of seriousness, mystery, and a romance with unresolved tension. They want to be together; we want them to be together; but the author won't let them be happy because keeping that tension burning is what makes the story good. Of course they had a falling out! Of course they're eternally separated in a tragic and beautiful way. After all, they were the main characters for a long time.

You're probably saying, "This theory can't work because we've SEEN God! We've seen Luna!" My idea is that Luna and God are two aspects of the author.

God (Sun) as the author as a writer: Makes brutal changes, can delete everything, loves to start over and test the characters in different environments, never satisfied with the ending.

God wants to make things HARDER for the characters because they are trying to write an interesting shonen story.

God (Luna) as the author as a reader: Authors also like to sit back and read their own works. Sometimes they have a nice cup of tea with them. The tea signifies that Luna is acting as a reader.

Luna, as a reader, has gotten attached to the characters. They want them to succeed. They are trying to make things EASIER for the characters bc they're emotionally invested in the story. Luna also keeps the memories of past rough drafts in the form of artifacts that can be used to bring back discarded story elements.

I don't think either Sun nor Luna truly understand that our characters are capable of suffering, btw.

Luna and God are in a competition with themselves, just like the internal struggle of an author as they want to:

Create an interesting story that will be a success. To get the story "right" and fully explore all the possibilities

but also

2. Just have fun with the characters and help them reach the end of the story.

Killing God means finding a final end to the story so that the characters can have a stable existence. The characters can achieve this by resisting the author's attempts to rewrite.

So, that's the gist of my insanity. I have a bit more in the drafts if anyone is interested in hearing more. I would enjoy doing a read-through blog someday, but I thought I might test the waters with my theory first.

[goodgrammaritan]

10 things for (maybe?) 10 people you’d like to know more about

Tagged by no one, but I saw it and I like taking about myself.

Last song: "Better Not Wake the Baby" by The Decemberists from their album "What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World"

Last book: Finished? System Collapse by Martha Wells. I love Murderbot so much. Currently reading? A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (loving it!) and Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (20% in and FINALLY getting a sense of what's happening).

Last movie: The Wild Robot, I think.

Last TV show: Dungeon Meshi.

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: I have a definite sweet tooth, but it can get overwhelmed and require factory to follow. My niche is a combination, chocolate-covered pretzels or something.

Relationship status: Married almost 12 years now, still having fun. (Except when he's away on a 6-week work detail out of state, this currently sucks.)

Last thing I searched: Gulf of Mexico. *sigh*

Current obsession: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend songs and polls. Why was my beloved show about mental illness x musical theater removed from streaming?

Looking forward to: Seeing Hadestown again when the tour comes through. My niece's ninth birthday party. My husband coming home in (*checks*) 4 weeks and 1 day.

Tagging some folks. Only do this if you want. No obligation whatsoever. @mckitterick @bugs-are-buddies @annmcn @amav24 @r2-d2-soon @koala-bookworm @bareboneswitch @catchandelier @mariposagal

[dxitydoo]

Picked up Translation State from the library, having never read any of the Imperial Radch series before (I realised pretty quickly there were bits I was missing but I read enough series in my youth second book first to make do and I do now have Ancillary Justice on order from the library).

Anyways I have many feelings about the three of them (especially Qven and Reet ngl).

I hope there’s another book where we get to see them again at some point coz I don’t think this book is gonna be leaving my brain any time soon.

The discussions of gender??? And how it pertains (or doesn’t, as the case may be) to other species in the universe and how ppl are dealing with that (or not, as the case may be)?? Chefs kiss. I want more sci fi to explore this kinda stuff.

Anyways I’m greatly looking forward to being able to pick up book 1 from the library as and when it comes in.

[alackofghosts]

a little while ago @crackinthecup tagged me in this bookish meme, which i have been saving for a rainy day - apparently a very literally rainy day in this case. thank you friend, i do so enjoy rambling about books <3 also tagging @hong-ara, @gloriousmonsters, @fatalism-and-villainy if you guys fancy having a go at it (and anyone else who wants to, i love reading others' opinions on books too)

An estimate of how many physical books I own: um. at least 2000. mom did some inventory once all the way back in 2006, and this was the point at which she got bored of it. i have always lived in a library and even though that many books has certainly been a nuisance, i also find it difficult to imagine a living space without them

Favorite author: honestly a weirdly difficult question. i feel like while i do read a lot for the style of prose, i don't very often go on a frenzy to read everything by the same author. but of course you all know my deep and abiding love for richard brautigan and lately i've been so obsessed with mary oliver. ...picking poets for this is easier :')

continued under the cut

A popular book I’ve never read and never intend to read: it feels funny to say this because i have literally not even once encountered talk of this author on tumblr Organically - which tends to be my benchmark for popularity - but seeing as she's all over every other bookish corner of the internet: i have absolutely no desire whatsoever to read anything by colleen hoover

A popular book I thought was just meh: WHERE DO I BEGIN... i've talked about some of these before but a new(er) addition to this list is in the dream house by carmen maria machado which ONCE AGAIN i feel so bad for not being wildly into! i think it's mostly due to the fact that internet at large painted such an interesting picture of it in terms of viewing ones own life/instance of abuse through the lens of different genres/tropes, but actually reading it, each segment was so short and the stylistic exploration didn't really come through. like it wasn't a bad book by any means and certainly covered an important topic and one that people generally shy away from, just. not at all what i expected it to be.

i tend to pick books based on genre and maybe like top few lines of the summary so i can't conjure up expectations, and obviously with popular books that's somewhat unavoidable :')

Longest book I own: extremely boring answer but my dad's bought a bunch of those 1001 books/movies you need to see before you die compilation books over the years and those all hover around the 1000 page mark

Longest series I own all the books to: if we mean series in terms of consistent cast/story, then i think it's the saga of darren shan by... darren shan, which has 12 books that i absolutely devoured when i was 13. otherwise, while i don't own every single goosebumps book (by rl stine), i do have most of them. i was very obsessed when i was 11-12 - these were actually the first books i ever read in english!

Prettiest book I own: um. honestly no clue, my family has never been one to buy books for the covers or for the special edition-ness and even now i feel like i can't picture any of them in my mind lol

A book or series I wish more people knew about: green bone saga by fonda lee!!! ...though again this might be down to the metric i use to gauge popularity, but even so! it has such wonderful worldbuilding and intricate family dynamics and even though i have big big book fear, i practically devoured them

Book I’m reading now: the silence of the white city by eva garcia saenze de urturi. it's pretty good so far! i've had such a year of thrillers and mysteries, i feel

Book that’s been on my TBR list for a while but I still haven’t got around to it: ...ancillary justice by ann leckie. i've started it a couple of times, but the Stars Were Not Aligned on those days. so i wait.

Do you have any books in a language other than English: most of the books i have are in estonian, actually. there's a pretty decent amount in english (mostly due to me...), and a small handful in swedish and finnish.

And lastly, paperback, hardcover or ebook? eboooook. often when i read an ebook i find myself daydreaming of a physical book, but then when i actually read one i find myself getting so irritated by not being able to find a comfy position lol. i also really love audiobooks, for the multitasking value...

[shakespeareaddict]

Summer Reading/Writing/Arting

Thanks so much to @retro-hussy for the tag!

Rules: Follow the directions in bold.

Anyone can join! I’m tagging @alexx-dax, @madelgard (again) and @myurlismisleadingbutsoami, if y’all want to join.

Describe one creative WIP project you’re planning to work on over the summer.

@neumh‘s Imperials server is doing an AU August challenge that I’m really getting into. After that, I’m hoping to finish the next chapter of the soulmate Thrawn/Piett fic and maybe get started on Imptober...

Recommend a book.

I’ll recommend two - well, two series. First is the entire Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells, starting with All Systems Red. Second, the Imperial Radch trilogy (and its sequels) by Ann Leckie, starting with Ancillary Justice. These are great sci-fi on the harder end, slightly dark at points. In particular I love Murderbot’s subversion/reinterpretation of sci-fi horror tropes.

Recommend a fic.

Uhhhhhhh.....I’m gonna go with Snowed Under by @madelgard (frankly everything by her is fantastic but this was such a GIFT). Mads is a brilliant SW writer and her smut is incredibly hot. Also her Espoused series.

Recommend music.

I actually am a big fan of making my own playlists, but one of my perennial favorites is Sea Shanties You Could Theoretically Fuck. Which is not one I wrote at all.

[protoformx]

“Nine People you want to know better” tag game

I was tagged by @gryptids! yippie! ty I love tag game!!!

Last Song: oh jesus uh, I'm listening to putrid mutant by passenger of shit. if you follow that link and don't know passenger of shit just know that it's LOUD

Favorite Color: chartreuse 4 ever it's just always been such a nice color to me. runner ups are bright pinks and purples.

Last Movie/TV Show: I don't consume much media in general! (one of my irl friends told me I 'lived like a tarantula' when I told him this and it's been amusing me since I heard that so m noting that here.) UH I watched phantom of the paradise again recently though. that's such a fun movie and I'll never be over my mom remembering watching it in theaters when I vaguely described it to her. (she just went 'OH you're watching That One? REally??')

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: SWEET and runner up savory. I like everything sweet kjdsnfjkdsndskjfns i also like spice in like medium amounts but even there I really like stuff that's sweet and spicy!

Relationship status: I love my partner it's niceys to me and likes me and wears cool overshirt.

Last thing I googled: 'plex media server'

Current Obsession: UH I'm really hunting down the second book of the imperial radch trilogy cause I was obsessing over the first one after reading it. I've also been dabbling in opening the game tower unite and playing one of the coin games in the arcade on there for like an hour or two at a time.

Last Book: I'm currently re-reading the murderbot diaries since juice and one of my irl friends just got into them! last new book was ancillary justice however! LOL

Looking forwards to: Going to a Glass Beach concert in April, god willing, with some irl friends! I'm also looking forward to valentines day just cause I !!! just really like valentines day dksjngjksgnkjgn

Tagginggggg these guys: @goraturtle @dpthcharge @robofile @roboticbuild @panicbones @thefoulbeast @occultisthorror @miss-shitstorm @wa-u YIPPIE!!! 9!! Y'all don't gotta do this at all! and as usual, anyone who wants to do this but isn't tagged or is just passing by can always just fill this out and say I tagged em!

[hamstringy]

Books of 2023

this is mostly for me to yell at my lawn about books i want more people to read. my faves are highlighted in purple and have a star (☆) next to them. if anyone wants to suggest books at me........ <3

i did not think i was going to make my goal of 26 books, but then i got put on desk duty at work and discovered audiobooks!

The Traitor Baru Comorant - Seth Dickinson gah!!! Builds methodically and slowly but crumbles apart and hits you on the dick over and over. Cannot believe a guy named Seth Dickinson wrote this (affectionate).

The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison Classic feel-good whump, but don't think too hard about the politics. I would have been obsessed with this as a kid.

☆ Babel - R.F. Kuang ☆ A capital-T Tragedy that made me physically cry! RF Kuang is incredible at writing about colonialism and situations that go horribly wrong.

A Lady for a Duke - Alexis Hall Generally cathartic romance about a trans woman who fakes her death at Waterloo to live as a woman and falls in love with her childhood best friend. I think I am not entirely a romance girlie but definitely a solid book.

Sorrowland - Rivers Solomon Oh baby let's get weird and talk about politics! Contains a mycelium-fueled gay ghost orgy and some very good body horror.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy - Becky Chambers The Monk and Robot duology keeps hitting me over the head with ruminations on all the coming-of-age questions but it offers me tea and a listening ear so I quite love it.

The Stars and the Blackness Between Them - Junauda Petrus I think the prose is well written, but I was definitely left wanting more regarding the magical realism.

Feed Them Silence - Lee Mandelo Again with the slacking on the magical realism. Frighteningly contemporary crumbling relationship and not nearly enough weird bullshit for me.

The Future of Another Timeline - Annalee Newitz I hated this book so much. I really think you could pass it off as the product of a corporate man, that's how shallow it is. It has mega commitment issues with the themes it tries to tackle. Also, if you're going to write a time traveling book you NEED to do at least cursory research???? Women in the 1890s did not wear bras????

No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood A fun and brutal investigation of being chronically online and dealing with personal tragedies. Bonus points for being written by Miette the cat's owner.

☆ Greenwood - Michael Cristie ☆ Incredible multi-generational epic. Cristie knows the story he wants to tell and he executes it near-flawlessly. I didn't love the ending but the rest of the book makes up for it.

Rabid - Monica Murphy, Bill Wasik Definitely an interesting look a the cultural side of rabies, but I wish they had maybe not gone with such a wide array of subjects.

The Lucky Red - Claudia Cravens A queer (minor homophobia) Western in the spirit of all the good female country singers.

Persuasion - Jane Austen Oh baby. I get it now.

Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie An unfortunate choice of media means I can't rate this higher. I think it's too hard sci-fi for me to listen to it, so I need to reread it in physical form.

Deaf Republic - Ilya Kaminsky Brutal. Kaminsky is really fucking good at writing about war in a pretty minimalist style.

Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan A book that reminds you about the point of choosing to do something right. Also has the added benefit of teaching me about something I didn't know about (The Magdalene Laundries).

Eartheater - Dolores Reyes Another victim of the audiobook medium. I'm not sure if this is because it was translated or because I was expecting something a bit different, but I didn't really jive with this.

☆ Islands of Abandonment - Cal Flyn ☆ Absolute banger. Beautiful prose, concept that makes me go a bit feral. I want to tattoo this on my brain.

Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros This is not a fair review--I read this because my friend hated it. A deeply unserious and superficial book to me as an avid fantasy person and not a romance person. I wish Yarros had actually gone full hog and actually included disability in the sex scenes at the very least.

The Vanished Birds - Simon Jimenez Genuinely not sure how to feel about this? Sprawling space opera with purposefully unfinished ties. It does make me excited to read A Spear Cuts Through Water though.

Kindred - Olivia E. Butler I get the Butler hype now! Read it.

Flux - Jinwoo Chong A lukewarm positive review here? Very much a deep dive on grief, tech politics, and fandom. Has some weird timeline stuff so I was definitely confused.

Upright Women Wanted - Sarah Gailey Reads like that one ao3 excerpt of Sasuke learning about gay people. It feels like there's next to no world-building or character development. The characters are incredibly juvenile and all the changes happening are spelled out.

The Dragon Republic - R.F. Kuang Lord, this was a deeply intricate trainwreck of a book. Deeply uncomfortable and yet incredibly gripping.

Rereads:

Nona the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, and Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir Decided I needed to listen to the audiobooks of these to inflict maximum damage. Good lord, I am still insane about these books.

Graceling - Kristen Cashore I was obsessed with these books as a 10 year old, and this one still mostly holds up. A good example of romances for little girls who aren't convinced by romance.

[blessphemy]

So, a million and a half years ago, I think on my old blog, you told me I should read Ancillary Justice and like hell yeah, I'm def reading a recommendation from a beloved mutual. And the first few chapters were disorienting in a way my ADHD Did Not Like but. I spent several years Knowing that if I could get past those first few chapters you'd be Right Finally broke the barrier in my brain preventing me from enjoying audiobooks and yeah, you were right. Fantastic book, 12/10, would trap myself in a car with no way to stop the audio without pulling over in order to force my ADHD to cooperate again. Love a character who is both the ultimate failgirl and a wet cat of a man at once (also I've been having a fun time going "wait, what do you mean that's how that's spelled" now that I've seen all the character and place names written down)

fantastic. i remember reccing it to you!!! it was indeed a literal million years but you did muscle yourself into reading that book all right! the imperial radch series was my Obsession for A Long Ass Time. incredible. you've gone through some heroic efforts to read it, that stuff can indeed be kind of dense and disorienting. but man did it just sink its teeth into my mind.

wow this is delightful in many ways... is this book Not simply something that is premium material for Thinking Thoughts Forever??? listen if you ever want to think radch thoughts at me. i am here.

local failgirl is a poor little meow meow. this series is truly full of the Most characters of all time. so many of them are literal war criminals. and i can't stop thinking about them fondly. anaander mianaai my beloved.

also loooolll the audiobook name spelling game. must have been a real trip with these for sure

it's also one of those books that's so enjoyable to re-read... but anyways. i'm glad you did end up enjoying it.

(i finally shook the years-long ancillary justice obsession free by becoming obsessed with the Murderbot Diaries a few years ago. xD)

[themirokai]

For the writer asks: 10, 14, 24! ❤️ Hope you’re having a nice day 💕

Hey hey friend! Thank you so much for the ask! My day has been okay! How’s yours?

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

The thing that comes immediately to mind that I got lodged in my brain and haven’t been able to stop thinking about is Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice series because I just read the latest installment in the series. Specifically the relationship between the AI ships and their captains or favorites is something that I’ve spent a lot of time rotating in my mind.

With my own writing it’s definitely the two multi-chapter stories that I started posting but never finished, one is Arcane, the other Star Wars. Interestingly (maybe) both stories are “getting together” fics where I’ve never managed to write the last chapter where they, you know, actually get together. 🤷🏻‍♀️

14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?

I do in theory, but in practice I haven’t been reading many books in the past few years and I’ve mostly been buying e-books. I don’t recall who never returned things I leant them back in the day.

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

Sometimes I’ll reread or rewatch part of canon that I want to reference but other than that none. Zero. Unless you count thinking about things in the shower or as I’m falling asleep as “prep.” If I need to research something I will grudgingly do it while writing.

Thanks again! ❤️❤️

[bonesfool]

Pros and cons for each

Foundation:

Pro- it’s my mom’s favorite book and a foundational sci fi text I, known sci fi lover, have not read

Con- the same mom has actively recommended I not read it because “it takes forever for the whole thing to pay off”, I’m not sure if I’m ready to invest in a new big series so soon after finishing stormlight archive

The Reformatory

Pro- I think horror could be fun for me rn and I’ve enjoyed Due’s short stories

Con- i don’t know if I can handle another really depressing book rn

The Round House

Pro- I just finished my third Erdrich novel and loved it, solidifying her as one of my fav authors

Con- said Erdrich novel was so depressing and had such a hopeless ending which I respected as an artistic decision but oh god idk if I can do that again

The Marriage Plot

Pro- book I’ve never read by my fav author

Con- I don’t love romance

Ancillary Justice

Pro- cool sci fi series I’ve had strongly recommended to me by several other sci fi enjoyers specifically for its world building, I have the whole trilogy

Con- i don’t know if I want to lock myself in to a trilogy rn

Frankenstein

Pro- it’s Frankenstein. Also I haven’t read it since I was like 15 and would be interested to see how it improves when I read it with an adult brain

Con- I’ve read it before and I’m trying to do less re-reading/watching/listening lately

[rats2]

tag thang @batteryoperatedtrashcan tagged me in uh. "ten people to know better" ?

last song: i have to go check... its The Slur Song by Bigfoot's Biggest Fan. great song, really awesome. would recommend. just play it. :)) do it.

fave color: red ♥️

last book: im rereading Ancillary Justice again. i finished rereading the Murderbot Diaries books and wanted to compare that depiction of an outside perspective on emotions and expressions to Justice of Toren's. also i just like to read about ai with emotional problems <3

last movie: I guess it was Alien? i should rewatch that movie again. i love horror.

last show: uh. guess I'd say it's also Yellowjackets cause i was sorta half paying attention while Ham was watching it in the same room. scary. i like it so far. messy women yayyyy.

sweet/spicy/savory: hmmm I guess on their own of flavor profiles i prefer sweet, but honestly i love sweet-spicy combos, especially if its also a little salty. sweet-savory is a close second.

last thing i searched online: uh. let me check.. nothing interesting. just "mta queens bus schedules". wanted to check out something a friend said about new buses there.

current obsession: the Yakuza games !!!! ive been watching a streamer duo (FrankenBugs; facefullabugs on twitch) play through Yakuza Kiwami and am losing my mindd about those gay middle-aged men. its awesome. I started playing kiwami 1 for myself and have been greatly enjoying the combat system & skill trees. i <3 efficient clown violence

looking forward to: uhhhh. guess im excited about the weather slowly getting warmer so i can vary my outfits again. its finally creeped out of being below freezing every day 👍

oh. i guess also my birthday next month lol. 21st birthday bash yoppy.

not tagging anyone bc im shyyyyy. free invitation to do whatever you want forever.