#book rec from me

[thatdesklamp]

do you have any more levi fic recommendations

I haven’t read Levi fics in SO SO long but yes I do have ones from when I was a real Levi girlie (throwback fr). Some of these I haven’t read in legit years so my memories are pretty fuzzy to say the least, but hey, 2020 me liked them!

‘Spite’ by wellitcouldbeworse3: my #1 go-to always and forever! I was a fan of this fic since, like, chapter 15? Wrote a hugeass comment on each chapter (y’all can probably find me in the comments section) and wrote a whole fanfic of this fanfic. Loved it. If you fucked with the IW angst I would also recommend ‘As the Spark Dies’. Author is lovely and has so so many other banging Levi fics, tell her I say hi :)

‘A River of Three Crossings’ and ‘Dust, Diamonds’ by maokitty: I remember really enjoying them both! The former is incomplete but the latter is complete, both v worth reading from what I can remember (?)

‘To Sing a Song of Steel’ by CaptainDegenerate: anything by this author bangs, but I remember especially enjoying this fic. I’m a fantasy nerd and had recently binged the ‘Mistborn’ series, and I’m pretty sure I remember liking the magic system here??

‘Gestures’ by ChiisaiHeic: I found a bookmark for this fic from like 2020? Past-me said it’s got happy pining and minimal angst. I don’t think it’s finished but I apparently enjoyed it!!

I just checked the Levi x reader tag and realised that these are all mad popular Levi fics already.. damn. Oops lol. Listen I remember when spite was a fledgling fic ok </3

[beatriceportinari]

Brook trout - Origami, one sheet of paper

[bxriles]

I’m sure that this is not a hot take and that a lot of people feel the same way but like…

The question “does it have spice?!🌶️🔥” makes me want to jump off a cliff. I’m out here looking for gothic book recommendations on Reddit, tumblr, and goodreads and WHY is this the first question so many people ask 😭

Look, I love erotica as much as the next person but come on. There have got to be other things that matter when recommending books or choosing to pick one up, my GOD.

[valewritessss]

I need every percabeth shipper out there to read Cardigan by Omnifiasco on Ao3.

[hells-plaid-angel]

 Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

[kissmypoets-hp]

Fanfic Classics (inspired by zeziliazink and bubu0h)

I'm not even exaggerating when I say that these Drarry fics will always be famous to me! I believe I first read these around 2018, and I've reread them multiple times since 🤣 They're hits on AO3 for a reason and I cannot recommend them enough.

Away Childish Things by @letteredlettered

Far From the Tree by aideomai

What We Pretend We Can't See by gyzym

view more fic covers here. art credits below!

Artwork used (in order):

"L'Atre (The Hearth)" by Édouard Vuillard (1899). Credit goes to The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of the Virginia and Ira Jackson Collection in memory of Virginia Jackson.

"Olive Trees at Collioure" by Henri Matisse (1906). Credit goes to the 2019 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

"Corridor in the Asylum" by Vincent van Gogh (1889)

[kulliare]

tagged by @shrips for 9 books you'd like to read in the new year! ty for the tag-- i tag @halfagod @albatrossisland @eponine119 @tru-lyly

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

the absolute Experience of hearing booktok describe one book as THE best five star read you've ever seen that you'll wanna read over and over and over again and then actually trying it and realizing you'd literally eat glass if it meant you got back everything you wasted on it

[phaedraismyusername]

Do you have any book recs for someone in a reading slump? I always had a book out from the library when I was at school, but fell out of the habit and want to get back into it!

Personally when I find myself in a slump I tend to go for short books and novellas to try and avoid that mid-book slog that can happen when I'm not feeling motivated lol

Some excellent fast reads for me were

- Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E Harrow it's only 33 pages and it is legitimately one of the best stories I've ever read lol

- This Is How You Lose The Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar is less than 200 pages and has some of the most romantic language I've ever read if, like me, you live for the yearning lol

- Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W Moniz is a collection of short stories that comes in around 200 pages and has some of my favourite contemporary lit fic stories I've ever read mostly surrounding the Black female experience in Florida. Just the range and quality of writing are just *perfect*

- The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo currently has 5 or 6 books around 120 pages each and are all excellent examples of Asian inspired high fantasy and are real love letters to storytelling in all its forms (the second one is my favourite though I love the tigers lol)

- Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells are a great choice if you like Sci-Fi, the first one All Systems Red is 150 pages and surprisingly funny and heartwarming considering the name lol. I think a couple of the books are full length novels but the first one at least definitely isn't

- or, if you're more of a horror girlie, Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones, Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum, The Country Will Bring Us No Peace by Matthieu Simard, and Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris are all dark weird little 100 page stories that I ate up in one sitting

Hopefully there's something on this list that appeals to you because slumps are so tough to be in and push through so I hope you you find something that helps soon 😩❤️

[fuckyeahgoodomensfanfic]

Good Omens Fic Rec: Postcards From Paris

Crowley has just moved into his Mayfair apartment and finds a postcard addressed to the previous tenant. With no return address, he's left to collect and read the mysterious A.Z.F.'s adventures across Europe, where he hunts for bizarre bibles and rates ridiculously expensive wine in his free time. The question is: How will A.Z.F. react when Crowley finally gets his return address and writes back? It was different, he knew, to accidentally read someone else’s postcard versus intentionally perusing one in place of good newspaper over coffee. Crowley decided he was allowed that indecency, to balance out the good deed of safeguarding the mail in the first place. He kicked his feet up onto his desk, scooped up the takeaway coffee that was brought around by their newest intern, and settled in to read some of the most densely crowded handwriting he’d ever laid eyes on.

Length: 12,331 words

AO3 Rating: General Audiences

Best for: Safe in Public, Pick-Me-Up, Fluff, Human AU

Triggers: None

Read it here, fic by ghostrat

*Minor Spoilers* I am hurrying to write this post before it hits midnight in Australia so that I can say HAPPY BIRTHDAY @mrghostrat!!! Bilvy is one of my favorite creators here, not only for their amazing art but because they back it up with excellent writing every time. I genuinely am so impressed with the amount of work they do, I can't imagine how it all gets done so quickly with this level of quality. Thank you for all that you do, and I hope that you had a great birthday!

Anyway, you're here for the story! For it's length, this is such a rich story. You quickly fall into this world as our anxious and lonely Crowley starts receiving postcards that belonged to the previous tenant from the mysterious A.Z.F. Soon he starts writing back, and well, you can guess how it'll go. What Bilvy does so well, is take some pretty standard romance tropes and finds a way to do them uniquely and at 100. Every one of their stories feels like it could be a real rom-com and I mean that as a compliment. The pacing, the dialogue, the little details all come together and make their stories so engaging.

This is such a sweet treat, it's a perfect pick-me-up. You just can't help being charmed by this story. Completely safe in public, the only thing you'll need to worry about is how much you'll be smiling during this. Happy Birthday Bilvy, we're so lucky to have you!

I can't post about them until they are finished, but you guys should also be reading Big Name Feelings and And They Were Streamers! They're so good!

Read it here, fic by ghostrat

[guardian-angle22]

Thank you to @heartstringsduet & @liminalmemories21 for tagging me in a revival of Fic Rec Friday! I wasn't sure what fics to pick for this one so I went through my history on AO3 and here are all of the completed 911LS fics that I read (or re-read) in the month of May!! (if I also added the WIPs or the fics from other fandoms we'd be here all night so I narrowed it down 😅)

◆ Meet me in the afterglow by @mi1kc0ffee (Words: 2.9K; Rating: E)

So maybe Carlos is just a bit upset that his new boyfriend isn’t into cuddling after sex. Or, TK experiences aftercare for the first time.

◆ The Shadow of You by @littlemissmarianna (Words: 798; Rating: G; TW: discussion of grief & canon character death)

TK should be safe in the grocery store, and yet, Carlos feels himself begin to panic when aisle after aisle turns up empty. The cans and boxes are in perfect rows on each shelf, and the strangers seem friendly enough when Carlos passes by them…but TK has vanished.

◆ Hold me too close by @paperstorm (Words: 1.8K; Rating: T; TW: discussion of grief & canon character death)

“Hey, baby,” TK whispers, soft enough that were they a few inches further apart Carlos might not be able to hear him. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to make you cry.” Carlos’s lips curve into a small responding smile and he shakes his head. “It’s okay.” He tilts his chin forward, asking for a kiss, that TK gives him readily because he thinks it would hurt like having a limb ripped off if he didn’t. Carlos’s lips are smooth and damp against his, wet with the salt from his tears. “Wanna go for a walk?” TK asks when they part, and Carlos quickly nods. - A small extension of the scene after Tommy sings at their wedding.

◆ Five fingers on each hand by @sloganeeer (Words: 323; Rating: G)

Carlos didn’t put a shirt on last night, after, and TK gets to rubs his palm over the short curls of Carlos’s chest hair. “You wanna?” he asks. - Or, TK wakes up with his husband.

◆ love in a series of bursts and inches by @lemonlyman-dotcom (Words: 35K; Rating: G)

It’s Eid 2024 and Tarlos is preparing to host Marjan and her parents for a celebratory dinner at the loft, where they will be meeting Joe for the first time. Over the night before and morning of Eid, both TK and Marjan reflect on the past four years in Austin, and the Eids they’ve spent together building a bond as found family.

◆ breathing deeper than i've ever done by @your-catfish-friend (Words: 4.6K; Rating: E; sweat/scent kink)

Carlos smells good, and TK has feelings about it.

◆ Silence and Gloom by @wandering-night19 (Words: 13K; Rating: T; TW: PTSD, physical abuse, aftermath of torture & violence)

Carlos is fine. So he wishes TK would stop looking at him with those wide, green eyes like he's something fragile that might shatter at any moment. He's fine.

◆ all is not lost by @strandnreyes (Words: 14K; Rating: M; TW: brief discussion of grief & canon character death)

As they tear through the loft, Carlos gets flashbacks to when he had to do the same for a lost lizard. Twice. Except this time it’s not a reptile, but a very expensive engagement ring that doesn’t even belong to them. They flip cushions and roll rugs and dig through the dishes filled with pretzels or chocolate covered almonds, but even after their home looks like a tornado ripped through it, they’re still empty handed. TK slumps down on the living room floor after a last ditch effort to look under the couch, staring up at Carlos with wide, horrified eyes. “The ring is gone,” he mutters, and all Carlos can do is swallow past his dry throat and nod. Or, a tale of three lost rings

◆ The Rest of the World Was Black and White (But We Were in Screaming Color) by reyestrand (Words: 9K; Rating: T)

TK Strand doesn’t like the world he lives in. The best part of his day is at night when he closes his eyes so he can’t see anything, and the worst part is in the morning when he has to open them again - open them back up to a world that lacks in beauty. He wakes up and everything is just gray. All there is are shades that are making him numb every day that passes without meeting the one person who will bring color into his world. - A soulmates AU where the world is seen in black and white until soulmates share their first kiss

◆ Thirst Trap Thursday by @chicgeekgirl89 (Words: 40K; Rating: M)

When Carlos accidentally sends a sexy picture to a random stranger he apologizes and vows never to text again. But when T.K. Strand receives that picture, he can't help but start texting back. It starts with a thirst trap. It ends with love.

◆ You Keep Coming Back With a Bird In Your Teeth by vaguenotion (Words: 133K; Rating: T; TW: kidnapping, stalking, violence, non-consensual touching)

When a gesture of goodwill is misinterpreted, a patient begins to develop a dangerous attachment to TK. The whole point of the job is to save patients, not to have to be saved FROM them.

◆ The Greatest Gift I’ve Found, The Sweetest Thing I’ve Known by @lemonlyman-dotcom (Words: 7.3K; Rating: E)

“You know, there’s a lot of things to adore about TK. But do you know the thing we love the most about him?” He makes a questioning noise. She points a finger into the dimple in his cheek. “This.” He furrows his brow in question. “Oh, I’ve known you for thirty years, niñito.” He bites back his quip about how he’s not 30 yet, wanting to know where she’s going with this. “But I’ve never seen that smile, not until about four years ago.” “When I met TK.” “When you met TK.” She nods. “We all knew something was different. Even if it took you a while to work up the courage to bring him around. You seemed so light, so happy. We knew something had happened.” He looks over to where TK is chatting away with his abuelita. “He’s a special person,” Carlos says. “He is, but honey. So are you,” Lucy grips his bicep softly. “We love you, Carlitos, and I’m sorry that we ever made you feel like you had to hide any of your specialness from us.” --- Nochebuena at the Reyes house. It's Tarlos's first Christmas as husbands, and the family's first without Gabriel.

[thatdesklamp]

lol my bad, sweets.

When I asked for fics I was mostly asking about jjk fics, but since you don't have those, maybe just what fics really REALLY does it to you in general. Personally I'm in multiple fandoms and I'd appreciate a good read. so really, anything. Like ur fav fics ever and ever.

Muah muah 😚😚

AHHHH I see I see

Yeah I don’t really read many jjk fics! Shocker, lol. Mainly because none of the main ships have really reeled me in (this includes satosugu… sorry, I’m just not a geto girlie…)

As for some general fic recs, I can happily oblige! (Most are haikyuu. That fandom shaped me as a person.)

‘campfire in your chest’ by deanpendragon: my all-time favourite fic ever. The fic that started it all: this is the reason I love friends-to-lovers, folks. Slowburn, mutual pining, everything I’ve tried for with IW was done first and done best here. I have reread this fic so many times that it feels nostalgic now. So, so incredibly beautiful. I will read anything by deanpendragon, but especially recommend ‘the certain things we lack’.

‘Then, Now, and Again’ by buttonstuck: I love so many of buttonstuck’s works but this is probably my favourite: poignant and so realistic, about getting together post-breakup and exploring what lead to the breakup in the first place. I loved the way it used time, and its structure was a huge inspiration for my other fic, ‘Soli Deo Gloria’.

‘Close to the Chest’ by darkmagicalgirl: Again: slowburn, coming of age, and really candid explorations of grappling with homophobia as a teen that did, in fact, make me a lil teary eyed.

‘Written in the Stars’ by Quixoticity: the pining. The pining. I remember reading this and thinking—oh, God, this is what I was going for with IW. I love soulmate aus with worldbuilding and angst and complexity (again, if you’ve read SDG you’ll know lmao) and this fulfilled everything.

‘Hemingway Can Suck It’ (orphan account): okay, this is just so funny. The premise is just giggle-inducing and I had to stop so many times to do the whole kicking-feet thing.

‘Spite’ by wellitcouldbeworse3: if you’re looking for a Levi x reader, literally look no further. I have such a soft spot for this fic (spot me in the comments!) but it truly is *that* levi fic from *that* levi author. A plethora of other fics, too (let me recommend ‘As The Spark Dies’ if you enjoyed the angst of IW).

There are so many more but these are the ones I’ve got off the top of my head. You’ll be able to tell that I have a genre of fic that I like, lmao. (I’ve also done a book rec list if you’re interested—it should be under the ‘book rec from me’ tag below) <3333

[thenightshadowqueen]

Hey if you’re intrigued by Hornchurch (Andrews and Betruva) then you should read Vicious by V.E. Schwab

[greenerteacups]

Hi GT,

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but I absolutely love the recs you've given (you've introduced me to tomione, and I love it!) and I was wondering if it's possible to give you some recs in return? There are some books and fics that definitely have dramione / got vibes, and I was wondering if I could share them with you!

So glad you've enjoyed them! Feel free to rec me anything you want. I've read most of the classic recs in terms of fic and adjacent content (Cruel Prince et al), but I'll try anything that's well-written. My tastes run towards weird and/or audaciously creative stuff, and I can forgive a lot of weaknesses in plot on the grounds of (1) ambition or (2) character work. My turnoffs are instalove, protagonists who can't fail, and most Y/A (I'm not a hater, I swear, I just need characters who can say "fuck" when their leg gets chopped off.)

I'm also a fan of weird and fucked-up dynamics.(Wuthering Heights was my favorite book for a while, and as a teenager I wrote an AU in which the book ends on a long sex scene where Heathcliff fucks Cathy's ghost and then immediately gets murdered by Catherine 2.) Obviously, I am very normal.

[finalgirlsamwinchester]

assorted quotes from the introduction of Monstrous Children and Childish Monsters: Essays on Cinema’s Holy Terrors

[azure-clockwork]

How Does it Feel to Read Classic Sci-Fi?

Orson Scott Card: Two of the most interesting books you’ll ever read if you’re willing to look past a handful of things. And then you find the planet of Chinese people who worship having debilitating OCD. And the Mormonism. And the fact that the author is wildly homophobic and ought to read his own books.

Robert Heinlein (or at least the Wikipedia Summaries): I guess that’s a neat concept—oh, it’s a sex thing. Um. Gotcha.

Ray Bradbury: Man, I gotta read this thing for class huh. Well here’s hoping it’s good! *three hours later* oh. that’s why he’s famous. this will stick with me forever and I will never look at the phrase ‘soft rain’ the same again. christ. And then repeat 3x.

Isaac Asimov: Wow, this is such an interesting concept! I wonder how the exploration of it will influence the plot! Wait, hey, are you going to add any characters? Any of em? No like, with character traits other than ‘robot psychologist’ and ‘autistic’ and ‘woman’? None of em? No, ‘detective’ isn’t a character trait. Those are all just facts. Aaaand now I’m bored.

Ursula K. Le Guin: Hah, get a load of this guy! He’s never heard of nonbinary people before. Lol, what a riot; how dumb do you have to be to comprehend that these people aren’t men *or* women actually? Oh, wait, what’s happening. Oh shit, it was about society and love and learning to understand each other? And now I’m crying? And perhaps a better human being for it??

Andy Weir: Alright, this guy’s a really good writer. Funny, creative, knows so much engineering stuff…ooh, a new book! …I guess he can’t write women. Well, he wouldn’t be the first sci-fi writer…ooh another new book! And it’s more engineering problem solving and—wow. It’s not just women he can’t write. Please stop letting your characters talk to each other.

Lois Lowry: Oh, I remember this being fun when I was a kid! Wouldn’t it be fucked up to not see color? …upon reread, it would be fucked up to have your humanity stripped away, replaced with a tepid, beige ‘happiness’ for all time. Yeah.

Tamsyn Muir (let me have this ok): Haha, “lesbian necromancers in space” sounds fun. Lemme read this. Oh wow, yeah, this is right up my alley. OH GOD WHAT. NO. FUCK. OH SHIT WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING AND WHY IS IT REFERENCING THE BOOK OF RUTH AND HOMESTUCK BACK TO BACK!!! AHHHHHHHHH!! Now give me more please.