#and even the goodreads reviews

[kittensandforeheadkisses]

I am NOT going to let a one star review on goodreads ruin the emotional euphoria I got after finishing one of the best trilogies ever

[largishcat]

if there’s one thing i’ve learned from the trend of putting those little quotes on the back of books instead of a summary, it’s that apparently a lot of authors i admire really like books that fucking suck

[gabriestat]

it's interesting how almost every ASOIAF new edition just looks plainly boring with those plain color + golden font covers but if you go look at the ones from the 90s editions the designs are always odd and fun, it went from that to just a cup in the middle of the page and a red background. sighs. how do i blame this on bookstagram/booktok/whatever

[douknowanoah]

OK. All the fandoms here go as follows takes deep breath

Lucifer, Good Omens, The Good Place, Lost in Space, Starship, Expeditionary Force, Epic: The Musical, Thessaly, Percy Jackson

[rosetintedkaleidoscope]

best books i read in 2023:

- comfort me with apples by catherynne valente. fantasy/horror. this is a creepy, dystopian, fairy tale kind of story. some biblical references. the creepiness builds up slowly through strange little details.

- quest for a maid by frances mary hendry. children's historical fiction / fantasy. 13th century scotland & norway. read as a child, completely forgot, then found in a used bookstore this year. it absolutely lives up to my memories: rich with details, from the foods to the clothes to the activities to all the little things you don't really notice that create a sense of another time & place. the loving attention to detail is a big part of why i like this book so much. also excellent characterization.

- nisa: the life and words of a !kung woman by marjorie shostak. nonfiction. okay, if you're following me you've probably heard of this because of @etirabys, whose posts inspired me to read it, but i had to include it anyway. based on interviews with a hunter-gatherer woman, it tells about her life and worldview. moving and immensely fascinating

- making babies: the science of pregnancy by david bainbridge. nonfiction. also immensely fascinating. my ideal kind of science book: readable yet detailed and in-depth, and full of strange facts. strong contender for the coolest nonfiction book i've ever read

- the ladies of grace adieu and other stories by susanna clarke. fantasy. wonderful eerie fairy stories

- we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson. classic, horror. sinister and evocative. one thing i really like is that the characters are likeable and often happy despite the weirdness and the horror. it's optimistic and tragic at the same time, and gives you things to think about even after you're done reading

- murderbot series by martha wells. science fiction. it has an interesting plot and setting and all that, but the main appeal is the character and charm of the protagonist, a robot who hacks itself to gain freedom. all it wants to do with that freedom is watch tv, but dangerous stuff keeps getting in the way

[strawhatboy]

sooooo, I’ve been writing a fantasy novel for some time now, and I finally decided to publish it on Amazon next year. I’m dealing with the absolute mortification of sharing something like this, but I’m going to do it anyway. Anyway, I’ll show you the cover!

[sodrippy]

literate besties have any of you read The Undying Archive and was it interesting? fun? good?

[carriagelamp]

I finished my Chill Falling Asleep Novel and the one I meant to listen to next is boring as dirt so I have given up on it and returned it... now I'm adrift with nothing to listen to (⁠´⁠；⁠ω⁠；⁠｀⁠) save me

[snixx]

middle/high school me didn't form parasocial relationships with celebrities they formed serial parasocial relationships with random lesbian 20-something bloggers with a penchant for being 24/7 haters on increasingly obscure platforms (often that they had abandoned years ago) and would stay up till like 4am every night reading their posts from like five years back and collecting the Lore

[comfortcomes]

i feel like this is such an uncharitable reading of that statement like given the “““context”””” of oscar wildes life wouldn’t you assume that to mean “it pains me that he wasn’t able to explicitly write about the things he clearly wanted to explore in literature because of the constraints of the time that literally put him in prison” . which you can agree or disagree with but it actually seems pretty historically informed

[woodnrust]

Bought a book i've never heard of at full price off a whim only to come home and find that the book has so-so ratings on goodreads . Shoot me?

[volfoss]

like i think it is baffling to me how ive only seen one person ever discussing the immense amount of racism in this book because this is like. shes been powering up her racism in her writing to blast out with this bullshit. like this is so fucking gross.

[paradisetemporarilymisplaced]

wow I hate everything abt the world

[archersgoon]

like okay. in a lot of i guess ""stereotypical"" ya romances there are these very set gender roles like you get the pov girl character who's super special and talented for no apparent reason & often against actual in-text implications & then you have like the mysterious guy who's tall dark and handsome & like the heir to something or whatever the fuck & there's a substantial population who eat that dynamic up. but then you go read finnikin & it's like oh i see you've swapped the conventional roles. & due to being a man people love finnikin in this sort of uncomplicated way? whereas they fucking hate isaboe for having idk. mildly complex motivations & not revealing all at the first fucking hurdle

[sodrippy]

everyone Has to read debt: the first 5000 years im so serious

[pondslime]

book review culture is so funny