#and the first book is a SLOG

[tacosaysroar]

I almost didn’t catch this one @busylivinnow!

Again, I could put SO many things on this list, but I’m going to limit myself to books that made a big impression or that I’ve continued to think about over the years.

1) Great Expectations, Charles Dickens. I’ve read it at least four times and I’ve seen most of the movie adaptations (which never measure up). There’s just something about Pip, so desperate to be loved and accepted and going about it in exactly the wrong way. (Also, come on. Miss Havisham and her super toxic influence on Estella is so compelling.)

2) The Long Walk, Stephen King (originally under Richard Bachman). This one I’ve read at least a dozen times. At least. It’s very reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” but we get a much longer, much slower descent into the consequences of that sort of system. It’s so beautifully and horribly accomplished. I don’t think I’ve ever managed to read it without crying.

3) The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien. This is a collection of short stories about the Vietnam War, based on his own experiences. (One of several, I think. He had lots to say on this subject.) The Vietnam War is one of those historic events I find so perplexingly awful. The fact that you could sit in front of the news at night with your family waiting to see if your birthday (or your brother’s or your boyfriend’s) was called. That we sent sweet, 18-year-old boys with no life experience to die or be traumatized against their will. That’s so dark and dystopian.

4) The Road, Cormac McCarthy. Speaking of dark and dystopian, this post-apocalyptic quest story crosses my mind often. There’s a scene where he finds a coke while scavenging and lets the boy have it. Because he’s never had one before and likely never will again. Not an uncommon idea for that genre, but the execution was very good and the language of the book is highly stylized, almost like a very long poem. That scene comes back to me sometimes.

5) City of Girls, Elizabeth Gilbert. It’s got 1940s fashion, sex, the New York theater scene, and the very smart, dry humor Elizabeth Gilbert is SO good at. I’ve read this one twice so far, but I’m sure I’ll read it again.

[fictionadventurer]

Potential May Reading:

Once a Queen by Sarah Arthur

Pioneer Girl: The Path into Fiction

"The Moorland Cottage" by Elizabeth Gaskell

One of the Glen St. Mary books in the Anne of Green Gables series

Something by G.K. Chesterton

Something about Lincoln and/or the Civil War

Something about art

[communistkenobi]

started reading lineages of the absolutist state and literally feel like this gif

[maranull]

i don't blame ggrm for the storybeats i dislike in elden ring. i blame his name for bringing in a certain kind of fan that hears any criticism or joke about their favourite author and goes insane.

i know it's for advertisement but i really wish he was part of the creative process silently, then slowly let out that "oh, yeah, that famous western author also helped on that famous japanese game, ain't that neat?"

[astromechs]

people really hyped up the lesbians in the locked tomb and their relationship is barely even given time to develop in the first book before [SPOILER]

[hopecomesbacktolife]

when you’re reading a book that’s already mostly bad less than halfway through so you go to check the reviews on storygraph and see lots of “the first half was better but the second half of the book was a letdown” “second half of the book brought down the rating on this one” “was so disappointed with the latter half of the book”

[mermaidhugs]

Looking forward to reading six of crows

[coldflasher]

look i don't usually go here but in honour of interview with the vampire season 2 and the recent uptick in vampire/buffy-inspired AUs i've seen floating around on my dash... eobarry interview with the vampire AU?? 👀

eobard is lestat, as if that doesn't go without saying

[gabrielsantar]

did dan abnett's editor just drop off less than 100 pages into the alpha legion book or what, why did the quality drop off so suddenly literally as soon as john grammaticus was introduced - or is that just what the inside of grammaticus's head is like

[mr-independent]

you know, its not brought up in fics often but ted is extremely well read. he doesnt brag about it, but hes read everything from f scott fitzgerald's b sides to ayn rand's doorstoppers to the sixteen book Ender series, etc etc etc. Ted reads about as much as we see Beard reading (which. in my head is a trait that was passed on, a new focus to sharpen the mind and keep him out of trouble and his mind off drugs, something Ted offered up as a coping mechanism for when his own dad died, a way to have fun and adventure and escape without ending up in jail like Ted himself had a handful of times before, scaring the bejeezus out of his ma.)

this turned into a mini fic and i lost my train of thought but point is, Ted reads So Much and more people need to pick up on this in fics please and thank you.

[charlieslowartsies]

i freakin binge read a book all evening and forgot to eat. hey ADHD WHEN I SAID I WANTED TO READ MORE I DIDNT MEAN GIVE UP A LIFE FUNCTION CMON MAN

[theater-of-dimensions]

please, that's my emotional support 10+ book long children's fantasy series I haven't touched since 2010

[fictionadventurer]

Rejoice with me, for I have finished reading all the appendixes of The Lord of the Rings! With this, my trilogy reread is complete, and I am ever-more-firmly convinced that Johnny Tolkien was a massive nerd.

[13eyond13]

.

[unnonexistence]

if i dont read enough fucked up sci fi & fantasy books i'll get stressed and start pulling my feathers out

[rogue-coyote]

can anyone explain to me why tolstoy is so obsessed with talking about even teeth. i mean i have my assumptions (that it's an indicator of class) but i can't say i know anything about russian history beyond whatever is attached to the cold war