#nonfic shit

[spacewives-in-spacetime]

Making OC's is the most amazing thing ever

I've got Nexus, a lesbian who's learning magic along with the knowledge of cracking codes. She has a sibling, Hellaya who's enby and aroace. They're the one teaching her magic bc they're fucking awesome.

[dreamalottie]

.

[adlibitur]

time to pick my monthly audiobooks 🫡

[queer-reader-07]

favorite books

congratulations! you've unlocked the special interest!

since you said books (plural) who knows when this list will end!

my forever number ones:

Dune by Frank Herbert - this is like my one fav i can never quite articulate because it's just. so perfect to me. it changed my life though and i love it with my whole heart.

The Feeling of Falling in Love by Mason Deaver - this is the book i'm known for. this is the book i've gotten enough people to read that i've lost count. this is the book i've gained friendships because of. it's a t4t YA romcom that is equal parts tender, loving, emotional growth and absolute tomfoolery. i love it so dearly i genuinely cannot express to you how much i love this book it is my main special interest outside of chemistry i am being so serious.

sci fi & fantasy favs:

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler - ok it's more spec fic than anything but you get the point. this book is about radical hope and its importance in the face of despair and oppression. set in 2024, written in the 90s, required reading if you haven't already. also "god is change" fundamentally altered my approach to deconstruction so there's that too.

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake - like a gaiman novel but written by a good person! very gay, very messy, literal games of the gods. your main character is a vampire real estate agent and she wants to sell this haunted house but the ghost haunting it won't leave. the godson of Death is like a cunty asshole but you also kind of love him? god it's an insane premise and i LOVE it.

The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams - this is what epic fantasy should be. the MC is like what if indiana jones was a Black lesbian and it absolutely rocks. empires on the brink of collapse, potential incoming apocalypse, running from the authorities, all the good stuff.

contemporary and litfic favs:

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong - i read this for the first time as a newly discovered queer 15 year old in my gender in lit and film class and my one memory from that experience is hearing my teacher read the line "do you think we'll be fags forever?" out loud and me immediately crying. i've since reread it and that line still ruins me, but it's also just a phenomenal exploration of queerness in the midst of being raised by and being an immigrant in White america. vuong writes this novel as a letter to a mother who the author knows cannot read english, which is art if i ever saw it. vuong is a poet writing prose and it shows in the most beautiful way.

If You Still Recognize Me by Cynthia So - this is for the fandom girlies (gn)!!! there's a bit where our MC says something to the effect of "i can't wait to read her fic and type out a comment saying 'i hate you for ruining my life!!' when really i mean 'i love you i love you i love you'" AND IT GOT ME IN MY FEELS. anyway this book had me like that one spider-man meme.

Old Enough by Haley Jakobson - i bring you an excerpt from my review: This novel is for the cringefail queers. It's for the young queers. It's for the queers who tried a little too hard when they came out. It's for the queers who tried to hold onto their closeted life in one way or another for a little too long. It's for the queers who feel that they never really came of age; the ones who maybe still are. What I'm saying is, this book is for me. It's about me in many ways.

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin - a queer classic for a reason. this novel explores masculinity through repressed queerness and self loathing and i think it altered my brain chemistry in the process. such a poignant and tragic piece of literature.

nonfic favs:

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin - this book unironically changed my life, baldwin is a genius. my copy is marked up to shit and i'm sure when i inevitably reread it i will mark it up even more. i immediately described this book as "timeless and thought provoking" upon finishing and i stand by that. this book was published over 60 years ago but so much of it still rings true. it's largely memoir, told through letters. it touches on race, masculinity, religion, and in many ways, radical hope.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y Davis - required reading for any leftist in my opinion. this emphasizes the important of collectivities and community care when organizing and fighting injustice. genuinely this novel reshaped the way i view community care (what it means, how to do it, etc etc). a foundational text on abolition and organizing as well. it emphasizes how freedom movements and fights for liberation are inherently connected. this book's thesis is "freedom for all or freedom for none" and by god it does a damn good job of communicating that.

“Whenever you conceptualize social justice struggles, you will always defeat your own purposes if you cannot imagine the people around whom you are struggling as equal partners.”

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green - this book is part memoir, part love letter to the human story and i loved every moment of it. i think of how john reminds you in this novel that while not being able to see your future may mean not foreseeing the horrors, it also means not foreseeing the joy and wonder that awaits you. i think of how he describes hope as a "prerequisite for my survival" and how that has grown into the core of my politic. i think of how this book taught me that cynicism is unsustainable and we do a disservice to ourselves and each other when we give into it

special categories of favs specifically for the books about being mixed race that made me feel seen and real:

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliot - i wrote a whole essay about this one chapter out of this book because of how much it resonated but, in short: this is a sobering memoir to say the least. elliot tells the story of her life as a mixed race, First Nations indigenous woman through a collection of essays. she covers topics such as colonialism, racism and racialization, and misogyny. there's this one essay in particular that will always stick out to me personally as a mixed person, Half-Breed: A Racial Biography in Five Parts. it explores this specific grief around being mixed, around having privilege your non mixed family doesn't, around having to use that privilege to protect them. it's the best literary explanation i have ever found for the feelings i've held for so long. overall though, this novel is a great example for what i mean when i say the person is political. just, really good all around if you're looking for memoir.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett - i read this book for the first time when i was like 15 and i really ought to revisit it but i remember being stopped dead in my tracks by how accurate the exploration of race in America was. how it explores the way that race is oftentimes less about your personal identity and more about how others perceive you (what does it mean to pass as white? how can and do some mixed people use that ability? what does that say about our society and our history?).

This Place is Still Beautiful by Xixi Tian - many of the same themes as The Vanishing Half but YA and more accessible! this one resonated particularly well with me as it follows two sisters, both White & Chinese, and their experiences with their racial identity. one sister looks "more Asian" and the other looks "more White" and the way that played out felt like a mirror to my life, i saw in them the same feelings i've felt every time someone told me my brother "just looks so much more Japanese" than me. and to see those struggles in a teen, to know that my experience wasn't isolated? it was so meaningful, revolutionary even.

ok that's all for now, i'm almost certainly forgetting some but these are all favs of mine <3

[yeyinde]

Hi! okay i would quite literally inject your writing into my veins if i could, but i wanted to ask you if you have book recommendations, because you just have this incredible way with words and metaphors and UGH. your writing is indescribable, its so visceral and reverent. I genuinely dont have the vocabulary to describe it, im so serious.

so, in that, i would love to know all of your books recommendations, because you seem like someone with incredible taste. (and i mean all, shit you loved, books you hated. anything and everything!)

thank you for gracing the world with your talent <3

ahhh, thanks!!! admittedly, i'm not as well-read as i'd like to be, but i've been trying to branch out since i gravitate more toward poetry, nonfic mythology, essays, and memoirs over novels most of the time. but these are some of the things i've read in the last few months/picked up recently or that stuck with me the most:

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (cheating here because i've read this eight times now but ahhh i could not recommend Achebe more. poetry, essays, novels. read everything. read it all.) In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones The Reformatory by Tananarive Due Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice The Innocents by Michael Crummey Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner Banyan Moon by Thao Thai Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista i think every rec list includes the classics so i tried to avoid adding them, but i also suggest: Battle Royale (Koshun Takami), Half of a Yellow Sun (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie), Kitchen (Banana Yoshimoto), the Xenogenesis Trilogy (Octavia E. Butler), No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai (among others).

[vspin]

uninstalled instagram last week because I found myself wasting precious free time doom scrolling instead of my hobbies and the algorithm was showing me the wackiest shit.

it's been kinda hard to detox which is shocking😳

on the plus side, I've read 2 books this week (including a nonfic) and got Skyrim modded and working.

[digital-chance]

so someone on tumblr was "calling me out" and saying that i was racist and anti-woman and other attacks of character, just for posting a plot diagram.

"you have to know the history and significance behind the plot diagrams tho! make sure to cite your sources!!! >:( "

come on. this isn't an academic thing and arranging a plot shouldn't need sources cited. (unless ofc its nonfic or historical fic).

and do i really need to cite stuff originally meant for me. i made the chart based on observation of others works (i could have cited this yes) and of personal preference.

but do i need to cite something like a plot diagram, which has events that are so commonplace?? beginning point, tension rising segments, climax, and resolution. most every good story has those elements.

its just a plot diagram. i dont know why they had to "correct" me on shit that's public domain and that doesnt honestly matter?? its just a fucking design and it was not up for that style of critique/historical analysis.

this pissed me off so bad. i blocked them and deleted my plot diagram post.

[atinylittlepain]

Ginnn any reading recommendations list?❤️❤️

HI non, thank you for asking :)

im not sure if you're talking fic or non fic so ill give you a little of both

in regards to fic, lemme just share a few authors on here who I've been really excited to read lately:

@macfrog is doing some really cool shit - their dog oneshot was brilliant, and their new series Sweet Child of Mine is already a delight

@chloeangelic is like, the patron saint of refreshingly not-boring smut and tension lol - highly recommend her ongoing series Seeking What is Desirable

@5oh5 has an ongoing series rn called From Eden that's an absolute treat and I can't wait to catch up on it

@dr-aculaaa is literally my favorite steve harrington writer - nobody is doing it like drac, I tell you, so good

@motherofagony is fucking brilliant, just all of their stuff, highly recommend

as for nonfic, here are some authors i'm really excited about rn:

Sam Sax - brilliant, visceral poetry, highly recommend Pig

Jeanette Winterson, but like, her early stuff lol - currently reading Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and thoroughly enjoying it

Sarah Rose Etter - the Book of X was amazing, and im looking forward to reading Ripe as well

Eimear McBride - a fascinating style, very challenging to read but it's worth it in my opinion

i will always always always recommend Max Porter - any of his work - I've read it all and I've loved it all and I aspire to write like he does

[discoidal]

tagged by @keytothevillage to post my fav reads of q2! i havent read much esp if we're not counting rereads</3 but these stand out a bit !

flowers in the attic: very engaging to the point where i just read it everywhere until i finished it. in line at like a cafe or smth reading about kids drinking blood and rotting and such.

some people need killing: nonfic abt the drug war in the philippines. started this in january, finished a month or two ago. a super difficult read, not because it's inelegant—v v elegant and accessible—but bc of the subject. def recommend it to everyone, even non-filipinos.

bukowski in a sundress: im on a mission to finish every kim addonizio book within the year, which includes her prose. honestly not that good of a book but i loved it! had fun, related super hard. kinda dont recommend bc i feel like u guys will judge me

penance by eliza clark: i dont remember if i finished this in q2 but def one of my fav reads of 2024. also engaging, fun, at times thought-provoking, esp since ive been known to be into true crime shit.

thanks for tagging me! i'll tag @liefdesbriefjes @schalotte @schmata @andromerot @carriedhatchet @milo-is-queer and anyone else! feel free to ignore or to join in

[felidaefatigue]

welp 9am and im done my work and am on "shuffle around books in carts in slightly more convoluted orders" duty again T_T

for reference. ive moved all of these books into and out of the same carts multiple times. between sorting nonfic/fic/lp/etc and then further sorting into genre/alphebetical.... i am many sneezes.

this is tehe dumb shit im paid 17$(ish) to do so librarians dont have to lmfao.

[i-will-not-be-caged]

hi Emmett! (I love your name btw) I saw your tags on the post about starting to read again and I thought I would ask you for some help with a couple things, if you don’t mind 💖 (you can reply to this publicly if you think it’ll help other ppl!)

First thing—recs. I am generally a nonfiction person, I LOVE history and pretty much anything across the humanities. I love micro-histories/micro-(humanities analyses??) on any given topic. I love anything about death, Stiff by Mary Roach and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty are two of my FAVES. Because Internet by Gretchen McCullough (linguistics) is also one of my favorite things ever written.

For fiction, I loved My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. Some things I’ve been wanting to read are Bunny by Mona Awad and A Good Happy Girl by Marissa Higgins. I love psychological/dark fiction but not super into thrillers/crime (dislike true crime especially). I also rly love poetry and I love lesbians generally long as they don’t die 😅 (although I’ll read some dark shit too)

Second, if you don’t mind giving some advice—how do you recommend getting into reading? I used to be a voracious reader but twelve years ago I developed chronic migraines along with other health problems, and it made it almost impossible. Now I find it so so hard to focus. How do you advise teenagers to read, especially those who maybe struggle with focus/adhd/etc?

Thank you so so so much for even taking the time to read all this 💖 I appreciate any help you can give!

(just pls no booktok 😉💖💖💖)

Haha, we must have been sending asks at the same time! I hope you got my other message with things to try. As for specific recs, it sounds like we have pretty different tastes - I’ve only read like two nonfiction books in the past few years, although both were excellent (Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz).

The good news is there’s been a huge boom in sapphic romances in the past few years. Romance was how I kept up my pleasure reading habit during grad school (I love a guaranteed HEA), although there’s a pretty wide variety of quality in the genre. I’m more of an mm reader, but check out Casey McQuiston and Ashley Herring Blake as a jumping off point. I also love Freya Marske’s Last Binding trilogy, the second of which is sapphic.

And I know you said no booktok, but that’s actually where I’ve gotten a lot of good recs; you’ve just got to find your niche. Here’s a couple people you might try:

-pagemelt has super thoughtful recs from a variety of genres and has never steered me wrong

-bookbinch reads tons of queer lit fic and poetry that it sounds like you might enjoy

-haleystewfart is hilarious and has some nonfic recs that make me actually want to pick some up

[batmanego]

nonfic book recs: if you like food writing, The Dorito Effect by Mark Schatzker is a fun one. Also really enjoyed Braiding Sweetgrass & Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer. on the more science side of social science, Garbology by Edward Humes and I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong are v interesting.

ohhh shit i read braiding sweetgrass but i should read gathering moss too! these other suggestions sound super cool. i’ll look into them :J thanks anon!!!

[your-disobedient-servant]

man I wish tumblr would let you switch main blog and sideblog because I'm currently REALLY regretting my decision to be a hyperspecific freak on main and have a sideblog for a mix of other hyperspecific shit (currently Trigun and antelopes) plus random memes plus whatever else I wanna add to my trash pile

especially since my ability to read nonfic (hell I can barely even read light fiction atm) is off to war and I haven't practiced French in ages either so I can't really keep this blog up as I used to :/

but then again they say that you shouldn't trust yourself after 10 pm and it's currently 3 am so

[princeoftherunaways]

2023 book recs! (to read and to skip)

inspired by @deanmarywinchester's incredible rec list and general reading reviews!

RECOMMEND:

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells: I love you autistic androids. forever and ever. I'm pretending the adaptation is not happening bc I don’t think the screen can do it justice so I’m simply enjoying every single page of these books before there’s inevitable show Discourse. I love the plots and the dialogue and just like murderbot I too wish I could be left alone to watch my shows.

Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel Lavery: this book has a couple excerpts on here that make the rounds and piqued my interest and holy shit. if you are trans and queer and probably autistic. read this book as fast as you can. I felt seen in every word and also. Absolutely read to filth.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant (the masquerade series) by Seth Dickinson: I think I finally started this series because of my bestie @ofbowsandbooks (as is the case with so many things) but who's to say. either way I read this towards the beginning of the year and have not stopped thinking about it since. if you read it. please listen to so much (for) stardust by fob. I cannot recommend the specific kind of damage it does to you while rotating baru and tain hu in your mind. just. tailored to me in so many ways (fantasy story about imperialism and masks and lying and the terrible power of math) so I do admit bias there.

Settlers by J Sakai: If you can only read a book or two about understanding why colonialism/capitalism is at the root of all evil...read this book. It's at the top of my general list of political nonfic recs (next to capitalism & disability by marta russell and border & rule by Harsha Walia). I like to describe it as a leftist pov of us history that pulls apart some of the liberal/white "optimism" of People's History of the US.

They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib: I think this was also based on an excerpt I saw on here. I finally started getting into memoirs/essay collections this year and WOW. I mean, even if that genre isn't your thing, you should still read this book. It's just so so good, and utilizes unique topics (particularly music, I love his FOB essay) to explore both small personal moments and larger existential issues.

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon: This is considered a staple of anticolonial movements & education for a reason. Definitely helpful for understanding the global decolonial revolutions of the 1960s.

Decarcerating Disability by Liat Ben-Moshe: An incredible study of abolition from a disability lens. Clear (if a bit repetitive at times) but overall an engaging read that definitely brings a much needed addition to larger abolition texts.

Chain-Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah: I read this one after seeing @deanmarywinchester's posts about it. I read it in two days and it knocked me so hard on my ass. Especially as someone who was obsessed with the hunger games in middle/high school. Just. Wow. holy shit. we knew this already but abolish prisons police etc etc and also we have GOT to be done with tiktok. and alexas. and just being okay with casually reposting/consuming videos and images of violence against people of color and and and -

Exile & Pride by Eli Clare: transmasc disabled PNW crew rise up!!!! the trauma of growing up as all these things in a small rural town!!! I have very rarely felt so deeply seen and understood as when I was reading this book. It's heavy emotionally & topically, so warnings there. I did struggle a bit with it but only because of how deeply some of his story reflects my own.

Innocence & Corruption by Aiyana Goodfellow: This book and its author demand a fundamental shift from how we as a society view and treat children. If you are planning on having kids, have kids in your life, are a teacher, etc etc, cannot emphasize enough how important this book is to remind us that kids are people now, and they deserve autonomy, respect, and support.

Honorable Mentions:

he who drowned the world by shelley parker-chan : this was moved down a category only because the book before this one (she who became the sun) is literally just setup for this sneaky gut punch. So as a duology, could be stronger. this book as a standalone? Wow. There's some banger lines and concepts and characters in there. (Wang baoxiang. Just. Oh boy). Definitely fascinating in convo with baru cormorant, and I think a reason it's lower for me as well is because the lens of hwdtw is much more of an internal power turmoil than a study of imperalism, which I'm biased towards interest-wise. I read this purely because of @ash-and-starlight's incredible art, so please go check that out if you read the book - It is absolutely worth the read for their art.

the Black Jacobins by C L R James: I'm a french revolution bitch. it was a special interest of mine as a kid and got me invested in history. that said, we gotta talk about france's fuckery. which is to say, slavery/genocide/colonialism etc etc. This book is somewhat tricky to read at points, especially in keeping track of who's who, but a really incredible explanation of the beginning of Haiti's fight for independence. If you enjoy French or Caribbean history, anticolonial revolutions, and some of the nitty-gritty details of history textbooks, this is for you.

life under the jolly roger by Gabriel Kuhn: who here has seen black sails. (thee gay pirate show. Original edition.) strikes a good balance between an understanding of what pirates have/can/could represent, and absolutely clarity about their actual violence, legacy, and politics. Informative without being drawn in by the romanticism or dismissing its power completely.

the essential June Jordan: Politically relevant and also just lyrically beautiful poetry.

hell followed with us by Andrew Joseph White: trans horror fans w/ Christianity beef, this is for you. I am NOT a horror fan, but it was so well done and resonant with me that I stomached the gore for it and do absolutely recommend. if that’s your thing

DO NOT RECOMMEND:

the invisible life of addie larue by ve schwab: I love VE and am a bit of an apologist for her prose over plot bc her worldbuilding is always so cinematic to me, but this was such a frustrating waste of a brilliant concept. It was just...boring? Neither Addie nor Henry are particularly interesting (Henry's relatable, but again, not engaging as a character) and for someone who's been alive for a long time, I expected more unique flashbacks and worldbuilding. I expected the ten thousand doors of january, but this was not that, although I think at its soul it wanted to be.

the lies of locke lamora by scott lynch - Been meaning to read this forever since it was recommended a lot on here if you liked six of crows. I would say a similar setup (dickension fantasy) but that's about it. Characters aren't that likeable or clever, the action is slow, and I take issue with the ending.

unwieldy creatures by addie tsai - I so badly wanted this book to be good. It was not.

a day of fallen night by samantha shannon - It was fine, it's just such a long book I think time is better spent elsewhere, ya know?

provenance - second ann leckie book that i've finished unimpressed. despite murderbot being top of my list, this similar vibe of sci-fi did not strike me as one with such a unique clear voice. It just felt like a more inclusive version of many average space books.

[medievalfantasist]

In the spirit of @impishtubist's finish your shit December I have finished reading Star Wars: The High Republic: Convergence so now I can concentrate on getting through one more nonfic book before the end of the year.

[awesomehoggirl]

choosing my holiday books rn... starting with invisible circus by jennifer egan, close range by annie proulx (bc i feel so bad that i dnf'd that old ace in the hole) and southern lady code by helen ellis for shits and gigs. gonna choose 1 or 2 nonfic methinks maybe another short story collection and then i should be done