#bringing this back because it's LITERALLY my favorite poem I've ever read

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

huzzah! fresh reads friday be upon ye!

first up we've got a list that I'm literally incapable of excluding, because I was instantly lured in my the phrase funky space sorcerers (my ideal occupation):

the line between sci-fi and fantasy can be delightfully thin in you let it, and I personally love stories that bounce on that line like a truly unhinged tightrope walker. Xiran Jay Zhao's Iron Widow is directly called out as a "genre wreck" (affectionate) on this list, which also contains another one of my faves This Is How You Lose the Time War.

next up: some lesser-known recs based on your favorite BookTok darlings. (for legal purposes I do NOT know what TikTok is, I'm only sharing in case this information is useful to someone else.)

I'm delighted to see Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars on this list (incidentally it's another book that I would classify firmly as a space fantasy, bringing together alien refugees and a deal with the devil in contemporary California)! there's also Meet Me in Madrid, a lovely-sounding queer romance I've never heard of, and that one insane queer romance I've absolutely heard of in which two gay campaign staffers are pressured into fake-dating in order to nab votes for their boss??? what a list lmao.

speaking of lists (as if I ever talk about anything else) here's one for all my poetryheads out there:

Shelly Wong has compiled a list of seven other queer women of color poets to check out, including an "intergalactic expanse" from Brenda Shaughnessy, Aricka Foreman's lyrical debut, and Paige Quiñones’ "fable-like haunting."

next up: I think possibly the first recommendation for comics/graphic novels that I've ever done on Fresh Reads Friday? big oops on my part, I'll try to be more attentive to that in the future (especially since I've been diving back into reading comics myself lately!).

I don't know what the fuck happens in Heartstopper and I'm never going to find out, but if you love a fluffy queer comic then there are some real gems on this list to fill that need. you may have already heard of Bingo Love thanks to Tee Franklin's recent work on the ultra-gay Harley Quinn: The Animated Series: Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour, but have you heard of the roommate/rivals in Fence? or the demon-fighting witch and werewolf in Mooncakes? get to it!

and one more rec I don't think I've ever included before: translated fiction from Latin America!

and as long as we're talking about translated Latin American fiction that takes the reader to strange and challenging places, might I also toss out Mariana Enríquez's The Dangers of Smoking in Bed? it's a spooky and exhilarating collection of short stories, one of the most striking books I've read this year.

[szivtalan]

What kind of books do you think the GOM + Touou academy crew would like/read/enjoy? Because I've fallen headfirst back into KNB AND I ONLY REMEMBERED NOW THAT IT'S CANON THAT THERE'S ART OF KUROKO BEING AN ANCIENT LITERATURE TEACHER?

Oh buddy I can only Hope to not say the worst takes on this because  it’s been So Long since I was heavy on literature asdgj alright here we  go(m), this is part stereotypes and part projection and it’s all heavily  westernized because I am even worse with Japanese lit

Akashi:  likes classics and all compulsory readings. He can cite like a ton of Shakespeare  sonnets and make his fangirls’ knees go weak, has probably played Romeo  in a high school play some way or another (Hamlet is his favorite  because daddy issues, but don’t tell anyone). Reads Coelho in his spare  time, and says that Dostoevsky is his favorite author.

Aomine:  barely finds it in himself to be interested in books, but will always  read the haikus and poems Kuroko shows him. He has a thing for poetry  because it’s easily digestible length-wise, and will only ever read  books that make him laugh in their vulgarity: Palahniuk, Bukowski, beat  generation. Reads manga sometimes, but mostly it’s gravure or basketball  magazines that frequent in his hands.

Kise: also not  really big on reading, but he’s pretty open to YA novel recommendations  from fans/friends. He found Richard Siken quotes on social media once  and wonders why the line “I’m in a car with a beautiful boy” lives in  his mind rent free (honey ur gay). Had a phase where he unironically  liked Fifty Shades and Twilight, I’m sorry, I love you

Kuroko:  omnivore when it comes to book genres, he will read literally anything  just to have another tally mark on his ‘books read’ count (Kagami  figures this out and he stops stressing about what kind of book to give  to him for a present). Usually reads poetry collections, his favorites  are Wordsworth, Anne Carson and novel-wise, Orwell. Reads a lot of  autobiographies too, wants to know more about the way authors lived just  because he wants to be one

Midorima: I feel like Midorima  is more into books about applied knowledge than any kind of fiction?  He’ll mostly be seen with anatomy textbooks, real psychology-related  self help books, books on astrology and social studies, basically  anything and everything that will expand his brain rather than rest it.  He also reads a few autobiographies and discusses them with Kuroko  (that’s the only topic he’ll ever go talk to him about, without anyone  else forcing him to).

Murasakibara: he had that ‘i read too  many books in my childhood now i can’t even read a page’ kind of  burnout and so he read all kind of fantasy series: Harry Potter, Narnia,  Percy Jackson, you name it. He still likes them but he’ll only ever  consume them in movie forms. Also, he’ll probably be seen flipping a few  mangas too - him and Aomine share recommendations sometimes, but  they’ll yell at each other once Aomine brings up slightly sexual genres.

Imayoshi:  he likes fantasy too, but mostly those he considers “smart” or  intriguing. My first thought was the book series ‘Numbers’ by Rachel  Ward, but he’d probably read a lot of Follett and Vonnegut. Likes the  American Psycho novel and psychology-based horrors, as well as handbooks  on psychology (his favorite topics is psychopaths and sociopaths, he’d  probably read Joe Navarro’s handbook on dangerous personalities)

Sakurai: my friend had the same thought as I did, murder-mysteries and romance novels as well as shoujo mangas. He probably unironically has grandma taste in books (pulp fiction, NOT the movie), reads Agatha Christie on the train and in between classes and projects a whole lot into the heroines of romance novels. Gay mood

Wakamatsu: I think he’d read a lot of history + war books, like For Whom The Bell Tolls by Hemingway, Winnetou books, The Art Of War, All Quiet on the Western Front, basically everything that has anything to do with war and confrontation (but that might only be because all we see is him being violent, hot-headed, and a teenage boy). He probably grows out of it once he reads Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut and Generation Kill by Evan Wright and realizes that. Hold on. maybe war has always been fucked up. His favorite manga + anime is Akira.