#send me book recs

[fruitbatfanclub]

welp…..did y’all miss me? i’ve read 7 books in the last 3 weeks. my social media usage has been practically nonexistent, and that’s honestly been such a breath of fresh air. but i still exist….until someone recommends me something good to read.👀

[ay0nha]

It’s payday and I’m going to the library/bookstore to get some books. Right now, on my list to get is:

Beach Read (Emily Henry)

The Lost Apothecary (Sarah Penner)

Tender is the Flesh (Augustina Bazterricia)

I'm trying to widen what genre I read, so please, if you have any recs for good FICTION romance/horror/thriller/etc. Please send them my way!

[themoonunderstoodmydadjokes]

Yush, your blog is still rad!

As for books, well, I'm not exactly reading those genres but here you go anyways:

Lockwood & Co is really nice

Codex Alera

Anything Brandon Sanderson

The Name of the Wind

Department 19

The Legend of Drizzt

The Dark Magicians Guild

The Moontide Quartet

Ravens Shadow

A Dark and Hollow Star

Yeah. Those are some that I personally really like :3

🥹🥹💗💗 thank you friend 💗💗

Ooohhh so many!! I’ll have to check these out 🤗🤗🤗

(Also fun fact, the last person I dated was reading name of the wind and when I saw that in the list, immediately thought of him 😅😅🫣)

[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.

[ash-and-starlight]

BOOKS OF 2024

the list nobody asked for. again <3 i think this time around i read less books than the previous year?? but still 😤 we did it boys we read some fine books. reviews under the cut since i love yapping and i cant be fucked to make a goodreads account

Cromorama - Riccardo Falcinelli this book was sooo cool so engaging so interesting, its a look into the history and science of colors but its also so much more rlly one of my favorite nonfictions of all time

The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells disclaimer I only read this series up to Rogue Protocol, but I enjoyed it, I rlly liked the characters and the worldbuilding and the short novel format and most of all murderbooottt my best friend murderbot. when im in the mood for scifi again ill read the rest asw I prommyy

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong this is one of those books that as u read it you can already tell it will stay with you forever, dont be fooled by the shortness every single line will Kill You. it will kill you dead.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida - Shehan Karunatilaka probably my fav book of the year, it's beautiful it's gripping it's deep it's scathing it's irreverent it has a careful and deeply cultural magical surrealism it has sociopolitical satire it won the booker prize of 2022 and deserved it so much

Fuori le Palle! Privilegi e Trappole della Mascolinità - Victoire Tuaillon ill be hoooneestt I didn't find this uhh as groundbreaking as I was kinda expecting it to be?? but still it was a nice read and the "flipped" perspective to center the myth of """masculinity""" in a feminist text was interesting. also rlly pretty cover

Lavinia - Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula girl u did it again! constantly rising the bar for all of us!! another stunning book that sadly fell victim to the #girlboss tiktokification but DONT LET THAT STOP YOUUU its sooo good. bitches Love pre-hellenistic latin society <333 bitches love even more when the boundaries between story and characters and reality and fiction blur in such a masterful way that Lavinia can have a conversation with Vergil and it doesn't feel not even the littlest bit forced or out of place <333

Exordia - Seth Dickinson Went in for the giant snake alien/human toxic yuri stayed for the weird mystery body horror stuff almost left for the overabundance of USA military stuff that I just can't be bothered to care about. I liked it way less than the masquerade but it Does have all the classical elements that make it a Seth Dickinson book aka fucked up women. Imperialism Critique. the horrors. the trolley problem. being Very Long. etc

Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao wow guys. this book fucking sucked. like I'm speechless. you'd think that with the crazy popular rep it has it would have smth worth salvaging but uhhh- anyway go stream cocoon by corrupter which is iron widow if it was actually good

Fire from Heaven - Mary Renault nothing more special than a cultured fujo and her special golden shiny perfumed blorbo that everyone wants to fuck so bad <333 finally a book that healed my tsoa related trauma, the only thing that could've made it better is if hephaestion discovered brat taming

The Spear Cuts Through Water - Simon Jimenez beautiful and with such a dreamy magical atmosphere once again I LOVEEE interwoven stories, and I feel like some of the writing's style Choices are so original. it starts a bit slow tbh but I found it impossible to put down from the second half of the book til the end

Voyage of the Damned - Frances White well. it was a cherished super pretty shiny gift from a beloved friend so that's why I finished it but uh. uhhMMMMM uhghhh whhhhfhhmmm uhhhhh hmmmmm uhhhhh. yeah. I'm iconic 💅

Bad Gays: a Homosexual History - Ben Miller, Huw Lemmey ill be honest I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did but its really nice!! its a critique and analysis of white male gayness told through the lives of some Notable Controversial Homos, and I liked how it rlly paints a full picture not only of their lives but also of the socio-political landscape that shaped them and the concept of queernes of the time. only lil gripe tho is why there was only One woman and One Japanese guy then-

[dreamsy990]

aroaces need more books tbh i hate trying to find books with aroace protagonists and just getting recommended loveless over and over again. which is why im here today to recommend you read the murderbot diaries

[froglover7789]

luke and hans friendship is so fun to me and i wish it was explored a little more in canon. like they absolutely yap about their mutual fear of leia and argue about ships and han teaches luke sabaac and luke teaches han some awful tatooinian game that is like horrifying (still workshopping this part) and they go drinking and are stupid and i wish we got to see more of that.

like anh they were so fun.... yap city.... and in esb they cared about each other but also gave each other shit like true friends... i wouldve liked to see that return more post hans carbonite incident bc lets face it. he would give luke so much shit for being a jedi

[butchhamlet]

are there any shakespeare retellings you recommend? i really enjoy retellings but it's also difficult to find ones that like. actually understand the source material... i've read your novella duodecimal and really liked it btw! excellent take on twelfth night :-)

THANK YOU SO MUCH WAH... yes, i can recommend some retellings! i keep intending to make a big post with my recs, actually, but there are so many out there that i haven't read yet... so for now here's an incomplete list:

a thousand acres by jane smiley: the first one that came to my mind seeing this ask. it's a retelling of lear set on an american farmstead, and the adaptation is done beautifully and smoothly--it's just distinct enough from OG Lear that you can judge it as a book on its own but also as a lear retelling. and it's sooooo good. it starts a little slow, but the character work is so excellent and it almost made me cry (i will note that there's a pretty hefty cw on this one but... saying what it is is technically spoilers? but feel free to send another ask or message if you want to know up-front)

the last true poets of the sea by julia drake: books that made me have to turn my camera off in zoom class so i could bawl properly. books written for me specifically. this is a loose YA retelling of twelfth night (looser than some of the other retellings on this list) and it's like. perfect. the teenage dialogue actually sounds like teenagers. every emotional beat clubbed me over the head. the love triangle is present--and done really well; it's not present for drama but because sometimes being a teenager is confusing--but more than that this is a book about the relationship between violet and her sibling, and about mental health, and god it makes me CRAZY. also girls kiss in this one

rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead by tom stoppard: i mean. i think most people into shakespeare know r&gad. but in case you haven't read it yet, it's an absurdist play from the point of view of rosencrantz and guildenstern and it's absolutely fucking brilliant. not sure what else to say about this; you've really just gotta read it

teenage dick by mike lew: another play, this one on the modern side--a retelling of richard iii set in a high school, focusing explicitly on disability issues. kind of more a reimagining than a retelling, honestly, but i really like the exploration of r3's themes and also it's fucking hysterical. although i will say there's a kind of jarring tonal shift in this one near the end, so don't go to it for something 100% comedic

american moor by keith hamilton cobb: okay this isn't exactly a retelling but if you've ever read othello you have to read it. you just have to. please god if you've ever read a shakespeare PLEASE. it's a monologue from the perspective of a black man trying out for the role of othello, half-resigned to being pigeonholed into playing that specific role in a very specific way as directed by a white director, but also half-chafing against that resignation, and also exploring the complexities of loving shakespeare as a black man, and it's soooooo so good

exit, pursued by a bear by e.k. johnston: this one is kind of cheating because it's not really a retelling, in that it has next to nothing to do with the winter's tale except that there is a hermione character and a leontes character and a paulina character. i still think it's a very very well-done YA book, though, and one of the only ones i've read that deals head-on with abortion

foul is fair by hannah capin: okay, i will admit i read this one some years ago when i was more into YA, so i'm not sure i would still go crazy over it now, but the plot of this book is that the modern lady macbeth character gets assaulted by a guy at a party and decides to kill everyone who let that happen. and then she does. and idk i read it in two days it felt like being on crack

the wednesday wars by gary schmidt: this one is DEFINITELY cheating, because this isn't a retelling of anything. but if you like shakespeare and you're open to reading historical fiction about a kid in the 60s using shakespeare as a lens through which to understand the chaos of his life (from the vietnam war to his school crush)... it's so good. it made me nearly sob. beautiful book

i'm also a fan of ryan north's shakespeare choose-your-own-adventure books, but those aren't exactly retellings and also the humor will probably not work for everyone. but i like em <3

and finally, i would be remiss not to shout out the fact that @suits-of-woe wrote an INCREDIBLE retelling of the two gentlemen of verona that, like, redeemed the fact that that play exists. if you've read that play and you thought, "wow, i wish this were explicitly homoerotic, or not a rape apologia, or good in any way," you will LOVE macy's book. unfortunately it isn't fucking published yet but WITH YOUR HELP--

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Question for the horror fans in the room

where are you finding new horror books to read or getting recommendations?

I get a couple of newsletters from horror publishers but they never seem to spark my interest and most of my favourite writers seem to be taking breaks (or have very recently published books) and I'm feeling that horror itch but I'm having trouble finding new things that intrigue me

moving these tags to the body of the post: feel free to send queer or women-focused recs to my askbox. don’t recommend me Stephen King, I’ll cry

edit - June 26th 2024: I’ve got enough horror recs for now ^.^ thank you to everyone for your help <3

[satosktty]

nepo baby gojo is always such a good taste especially if he's interested in something art-wise—this child sitting front row smiling with his two ( reluctant) friends that seem guilty, wearing bows created out of hair he decided to impulsively grow because of his access to all these extreme hair care treatments that keep it full and lush only to cut it short again until he decides he wants to another cool look. he has a constantly updated fashion blog where he's showing that he has everyone's wishlist couture and trampeezing down soho in the most outlandish but appealing vestimentary.

you can occasionally catch him in pictures with his emo friend dying their hair and the media is currently pissed that his attire was covering second row journalists seats at a dilara findikoglu.

the very worse part is the media cannot label him talentless. spoiled? absolutely even the most capitalist supporting beings are tired—but talentless? unfortunately not. his blog is often filled with his art and covers of electronica music especially imogen heap and he's good —

so good that even a boy that goes to school with satoru can't stand him. they're both of equal fields when it comes to academics and their shared interests but sukuna can't help but wonder how is someone that good at everything they attempt? maybe he starts hanging around satoru more... it's normal of course, they similar interests. maybe he starts going with satoru to restaurants when his other friends are busy, maybe sukuna and satoru show eachother different ways to experience life

[catter-bug]

Just finished reading Legends and Lattes and it was an absolute delight!

[slightlyrebelliouswriter23]

tragic that when i type in 'love theoretically' into the search bar on tumblr dot wtf, i just get a bunch of posts about theories, and nothing about the tooth-rotting hand-warming cup-of-tea book that is Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood :(

[aspiring-hobbit]

I’m drowning in a sea of audio dramas and I put 95% of the blame on Mr. Alexander J. Newall

[rosies-riveters]

Darlings, I got a library card. It’s been at least 20 years since I’ve had one. I’m so excited. 🤩

[mediocrearistophanes]

me searching the internet for scraps of Elorcan

[peachypersephonesworld]

Them: Reading smut is not going to fix your problems

Me: It doesn’t hurt to try