#books books books!

[gollancz]

It's Gollanczfest day!! And even if you can't make it, there's still a treat to be had.

Grab 40% off your order in our online store, and get yourself some exciting goodies!

Just use the code GOLLANCZFEST2024 at checkout. Ends midnight 18/03/24, discount applies to RRP only and excludes selected special editions.

Then you can channel Jean Luc and his saucy man-cleavage.

[misscrawfords]

12, 16, 38

12. Tell one book story or memory (what you were wearing when you were reading something, someone saw you cry in public, you threw a book across the room and broke a window, etc.)

Already answered, but here's another one. Well, I've been just thinking and I have lots of memories associated with particular books and moments but a lot feel poignant or sad in some way now, so for a simple but happy one - I remember reading Persuasion for the first time as a teenager in the back garden. I'd got my dad to leave a corner of the lawn unmown so I could live out my fantasies of lying in long grass reading books and I remember doing just that the first time I read Persuasion.

16. Rant about anything book related

I'm gonna weigh in on Ali Hazelwood. I'm not actually a big romance reader - I tend to get my fix from fanfic; I'm often disappointed by actual published romance novels. But I really like Hazelwood's books. She's totally derivative and has in many ways written the same book three times over which is starting to bother me but I like several things about her books: 1) the focus on academia and nerd loving characters - I'm not in STEM myself but I respect her commitment to some level of reality of what that world is like and that her characters (whatever else they may be) are academically intelligent and inhabit a world that feels quite familiar to me. 2) her heroines are often successful human beings (debatable) but with little romantic experience not because they're blushing virgins saving themselves for marriage but because they're just doing other things, Olive especially is pretty clearly demisexual- this is unusual rep and I love it and find it relatable. I find romance novel heroines really unrelatable because they are either pure and Christian (or Christian coded) or highly sexual. Yes, I know, I probably need to read different books but I do struggle to find ones where the subject matter and writing style both appeal. 3) They're easy to read - I don't mean that in a bad way - they're both easy page-turners AND I don't keep stopping because the writing irritates me and jarrs.

Why do I care enough to write about her specifically in this rant? Well, she's a published Reylo author and people who hate the fact that Reylo fanfic authors are currently doing very well in publishing and on booktok go out of the way to sneer and hate her specifically. I'm not trying to make out that her writing is greater or more profound than she is but I think it is so small-minded to resent someone's success because they have managed to capitalise on their writing talent and made the move from fanfic to traditional publishing, just because you don't like a ship. As people in fandom, we should be cheering her on and her fellow newly published and popular authors, no matter our feelings on Reylo.

(Not even going to weigh in on booktok. I have no idea; I don't have tiktok and I don't want to get it. If people are reading and sharing thoughts on books then that has to be good at least to some extent.)

38. What qualities do you find annoying in a character?

Prooooooobably similar to what I find annoying IRL: being completely self-obsessed and lacking self-awareness. At least IRL such people can't help it but I guess in fiction, it's particularly annoying if the author is also unaware of it. Obviously a self-obsessed character who lacks self-awareness can be a wonderful (comic?) character in the hands of a self-aware author, but I mean those protagonists that are meant to be relatable and sympathetic to the reader but the author doesn't realise they're actually a boring, narcissistic turd. So I guess ultimately what I find annoying is a character created by an author who doesn't fully interrogate the character and understand their flaws and then either have them work on those flaws or, in line with the tone of the novel, fail to work on the flaws.

[valeriianz]

About Me Books

Rules: 10 (non-ancient) books for people to get to know you better, or that you just really like. (what classifies as "non-ancient"? lol)

tagged by @mathomhouse-e @academicblorbo and @seiya-starsniper

ahhh i'm not as big into reading as i used to be :') not sure if i can find 10 books to define me... but i'll try my best. here's a list of books that made me sit down for a while and/or yell about online...

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. anyone looking to get a little insight to the restaurant industry from the POV of a chef, this is the book for you. it's gritty and real and all narrated by Bourdain's dry, dirty, and dark humor. it's an easy read and for someone like me (who can't really stand kitchen TV shows or movies because that's the life i live) it is actually palatable and i really liked it.

We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman. i only recently read this book last year and it blew me away. it is everything i want in a character story. it follows a young, bi woman, who's an up and coming play writer in NYC. she had done something so terrible she ran away to California to squat on an old friend's couch. while she's there, she meets with a woman who's shooting a documentary and while the protag gets involved and helps out, she realizes that it's... not a good situation. all the while hints are dropped about what she did in New York and-- its very relatable to me personally: running away from your problems, thinking if you bury it and dont talk about it, it will go away. distracting yourself into something else but it digs up old ghosts and forces you to make an uncomfortable decision... but its ultimately good for your growth and maturity. it's a fantastic read if you like character stories.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. read this book February last year and once i was finished, immediately fell into the deep, dark hole that was Greek Mythology (i never was properly taught about the myths. i was assigned the Iliad to read for my English minor, but had just skimmed it like the lazy 20-year old college student i was). and throughout 2022 (up until October when i watched The Sandman) Greek Mythology was my entire personality. and while this book takes A LOT of creative liberties (esp with Patroclus, dear god) i still love it to death. it's gorgeous and so poetically written.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman. we've come into the first (and only) YA novel on the list lol. i haven't reread this in probably a decade, so i'm not sure if it still holds up. but if you like dystopian stories, boy howdy do i got a fucking unique one for you. i found a really good article about it that starts with a perfect summary: "...follows three teens on the run from a government that believes “unwinding,” or body harvesting, is an alternate solution to abortions and unwanted teens... Although controversial in topic, this disturbing novel inspires deep thought about organ donation, abortion, and one’s personal right to make decisions regarding his or her body." it's so captivating that i had started writing a short film screenplay for it in college (that of course i never finished). i read this when it first came out in 2007 and i still own my original copy.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. oof. so, this is one of those books that one read through was good enough for me, but it left me with such an emotional impact that i just had to own my own copy of it. if you dont know the book, it's a character story about guilt and redemption. it's set in 1970s Afghanistan and then again about 20 years later under Taliban rule. it's extremely hard to read (not just because of the subject matter, but it's also... incredibly dry). it starts off SO strong, falls in the middle (enough that i almost gave up) but then shoots off like a bullet during the last quarter of the novel. it's. phenomenal. heartbreaking and empowering and just such a good and believable story. (also the film adaption was done very well!)

From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty. just gonna start this one off by recommending all of Caitlin's books. this is her second and it covers Caitlin's relentless pursuit of encouraging "death positivity" by traveling the world to discover how other cultures besides our own, care for their dead. Doughty is a mortician (she also has a fantastic Youtube channel where she does mini documentaries and video essays on death and the macabre) and her writing is filled to the brim with respect, tenderness, and endless curiosity. i love her and share her beliefs.

The Martian by Andy Weir. i'm not much into the adventure genre or sci-fi... but this one took me by genuine surprise. the narrator is so dry and funny, despite his horrifying situation of being stranded on Mars. we work through his attempts at staying alive together, painstaking as it is, while also catching glimpses of what NASA is doing back on earth about the situation. it's soooo cool and fun (and the climax is fucking amazing. i knew the film could never pull it off but boy was i still disappointed in how the film handled it lol).

Lord of the Flies by William Golding. read this guy in high school and it's just always stuck with me. something something man's inherent evil. how even the most sophisticated and promising of us can be reduced to our base instincts in dire situations. how it's not always an adventure, there are real stakes and consequences and... it's just so sad and terrible, almost comically so. as a teenage loner who was horrifically bullied all through middle and high school, this book was my fucking staple. i wore out that paperback.

Circe by Madeline Miller. oh it's another M.M. book lol. listen, Miller owns my entire ass at this point (im so excited for her Persephone book omg) i didn't get around to reading this until i'd finished a ton of Greek myths podcasts and reading The Odyssey so i felt a little more prepared going into it. i love Circe in this book, i love that she's not perfect and has literally hundreds and hundreds of years to fuck up and get better, grow into who she wants to be as a witch and as a woman. going through classic stories through her perspective is also a lot of fun, and my man Odysseus is there for a good chunk of it.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. a book about adventure, self discovery, learning what it means to be free and to govern yourself. being unafraid to be rootless while in search of your Personal Legend. this book reached into my brain and massaged it. if you couldn't tell by now, i'm obsessed with character stories. i am a vagabond in my real life and i can not settle down. this book was written for me lol i enjoyed every word. (it has Islamic/Christian undertones but it's not in your face, which would have been a major turn off otherwise). i listened to the audiobook version of this narrated by one of my favorite actors, Jeremy Irons *chefs kiss*

this took an incredibly long time, but it was a good way to spend my morning, rifling through my bookshelf while sipping coffee haha. and oh god, here we go being unsure who to tag: @tj-dragonblade @scifrey @issylra @hardly-an-escape @teejaystumbles @virgo-dream @watercubebee

[phantom-shell]

Big fan of Dipper "if I ever see you again outside of my nightmares, there is no force in the universe that will stop me from putting you in the ground" Pines

[catchymemes]

[freepunchesintheface]

You cannot convince me this isn’t what happened.

[evilgoodguys]

he’d forgotten how much he missed that smile.

[sourdough-seal]

bingewatching will never come close to bingereading. there is nothing like blocking out the entire Earth for ten hours to read a book in one sitting no food no water no shower no bra and emerging at the end with no idea what time it is or where you are, a dried-up prune that's sensitive to light and loud noises because you've been in your room in the dark reading by the glow of a single LED. it's like coming back after a three-month vacation in another dimension and now you have to go downstairs and make dinner. absolutely transcendental

[twocrpseswewere]

is this anything

[angelofdumpsterfires]

presented without comment

[pikatik]

Wanted to draw that scene from The Book of Bill :D

[nyanaknifegal]

･ ｡ ☆∴ ｡　* 　･ﾟ *｡★･ 　　 ･ *ﾟ｡　　 * 　 ･ ﾟ｡･ﾟ★｡ ☆ﾟ･｡°. *　　ﾟ｡·･｡ ﾟ 　　 　ﾟ *.｡☆｡ ★　･ 　　 * ☆ ｡･ﾟ*.｡ 　　　 *　★ ﾟ･｡ * ｡ 　　　　 ･　　ﾟ☆ ｡

[poptartcatz40]

THE CHILDREN YEARN FOR THE MINES

[molzysketch]

Twitter loved this a lot so I’ll share it here too 👍

pspspspspsp if you guys like gravity falls check out the new shakers at molzysketch.com

[knockknockwhosthereartistism]

I was inspired