#six-of-ravens

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

hi! for the book asks: 4, 6, 10, 11? or any of your choice if those have already been asked lol

hiiii thanks for your patience, my ducks are in Scatterplot Mode (as opposed to Linear) at this, the end of the year, but i appreciate the ask!! referencing this post.

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

i really enjoyed both books i read by Em X Liu! i read their sci-fi hamlet retelling first and immediately turned around to buy their wizard customer service urban fantasy novella--definitely gonna be keeping an eye on them!

also Jessica Johns ripped my heart out with BAD CREE, and Declan Donnellan cracked my brain open with THE ACTOR AND THE TARGET (i ordered his new book but it's on backorder), and Hildur Knutsdottir gave me book-related nightmares for the first time in a LONG time with THE NIGHT GUEST (massive cw apply).

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

okay so it remains to be seen if i'll finish off my "24 in 2024" list (still pending: THE SPIDER AND HER DEMONS, SELF-PORTRAIT WITH NOTHING, and UNEXPECTED PLACES TO FALL FROM, UNEXPECTED PLACES TO LAND fuck those titles get LONG huh), but! i really did want to read HOUSE OF LEAVES before NaNo and absolutely did NOT get to it, so! that's on next year's list--thankfully it'll still be writing project related, and i do love me a good weird fucked-up puzzlebox book.

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

ooh this is tough and also i apparently didn't read a TON of new releases this year?? who am i--i think i have to go with THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST by Premee Mohamed, which was just SO directly up all my alleys. also deeply fucked up, but i enjoyed the hell out of it!

11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

ah yes okay this is more my speed (apparently i'm mostly reading a couple years behind, lately). i really enjoyed NK Jemisin's THE CITY WE BECAME and THE WORLD WE MAKE, and i reread LEECH by Hiron Ennes and holy SHIT does that one hold up REALLY well on the reread! i gave both of those (we're counting the duology as a Unit) five stars on goodreads. and, again, THE ACTOR AND THE SPACE rewired my brain--hugely recommend.

thanks again for asking!!

[ineffablelvrs]

"who fell first who fell harder" i actually need them both to be down horrendously bad for each other. hope that helps

[dcvina-claires]

i love it when a piece of media is like: is there anything more painful than knowing your sibling? is there anything more tragic than knowing they are the only person who will ever share the same experience as you? they were the only constant in your life. they were there since birth and now, no matter how they betray you, you will still love them. you will always feel the need to protect them even if you can no longer bring yourself to talk to them. will anyone else be able to understand? will anybody be able to love you and hate you and fear you the same way a sibling loves you and hates you and fears you? no, probably not

[megzilla87]

Had some fun suggestions over on twitter to pick characters and enjoyed this little exercise!

[seafoamandtragedy]

Why does posting for a new fandom feel like walking into a bar and having everyone just stare at you. Like I'm sorry I'm new here pls don't hurt me

[incorrect-soc]

Tell me...

... I'm wrong

[hoperays-song]

I don’t think you’re getting it guys, there are two types of found family: the organized type, with “I chose you and I choose us’, healing together, and nurturing vibes, and the chaotic type, which mainly falls into the “good luck getting rid of me now” category like bringing home stray cats does.

Sometimes it’s just one, other times it’s both combined in some way. And both options are so fucking amazing.

[squash1]

the agenda in question:

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Andrew Minyard- All for the Game by Nora Sakavic

Nina Zenik- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

[chaoticmiserablelover]

My taste in books: sad queers being unhinged.

[stringcage]

There is always something so delicious about the second book in a series

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

24 in 2024

i haven't seen any of these floating around yet, so i thought i'd get one started! here are 24 books i want to read in 2024 (and a bonus readerly goal):

Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives by Sarah Williams Goldhagen

Obsolescence: An Architectural History by Daniel M. Abramson

Offended Sensibilities by Alisa Ganieva

The Night, The Night by Rodrigo Blanco Calderón

Dayswork by Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel

Dawn by Sevgi Soysal

Trashlands by Alison Stine

The Girl in Red by Christina Henry

How to be Eaten by Maria Adelmann

The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories edited by Yu Chen and Regina Kanyu Wang

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

Black Tide by KC Jones

A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys

The Ambergris Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer

The Great Cities Duology by NK Jemisin

The Spider and her Demons by sydney khoo

A Shining by Jon Fosse

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology edited by Vince A Liaguno and Rena Mason

Self-Portrait with Nothing by Aimee Pokwatka

Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin

Unexpected Places to Fall From, Unexpected Places to Land by Malcolm Devlin

Always North by Vicki Jarrett

At the Edge of the Woods by Masatsugu Ono

Bonus Readerly Goal: i'm gonna try REALLY hard to only buy a book after i read five (5), this year (pre-orders DNI). gotta get that backlist under control SOMEhow, right??

notes on the color-coding: the green books are Just Because books (with a couple little red riding hood adjacent retellings in there, which is writing-project-related). a few of these came in a translation subscription box, and i am Interested in Architecture, and i'd love to read more of both this year.

the blue ones are bookmarked for nano prep (i wanna write something fucked up about space this year, i think, it's still cooking). i know it's early for that, but The Vibes™ have to marinate for a while. will probably add some haunted house books to this part of the list!

lastly, the purple ones are driscoll adjacent! filling my words well with related vibes worked well, this year, and i want to do that again next year. since i read through the entirety of my previous ~driscoll vibes~ stack last year, i've been restocking it, so most of these are very recently purchased.

(please note that all this color-coding/explanatory text is absolutely optional and Extra™, if you want to play--you can add it if you'd like, but by no means feel Obligated To Do So lol)

tagging @asexualbookbird, @six-of-ravens/@sixofravens-reads, @agardenandlibrary, @freckles-and-books, and anyone else who wants to play!

[derangedthoughtssideblog]

when I finally have friends who like reading but I can't ask them for book recs because these mfs like everything and can't be trusted

[dcvina-claires]

please put emphasis on platonic soulmates in media. on unconditional love and loyalty based off of pure friendship. on heart wrenching breakups between best friends that change their lives. on knowing someone else better than they know themselves. on being a shining light for each other and finding happiness in the darkest places. on fighting side by side until the end, because a lover may visit your grave but your best friend will be in there with you

[lusinzak]

Not me becoming part of a fandom with traumatized, gay characters that have a found family. Again... Yep, definitely not me.

[nope-nora]

Richard Siken, “You Are Jeff” | Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch | R.F. Kuang, Babel: An Arcane History | Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story | Benjamin Alire Saénz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe | Maggie Stievater, Call Down the Hawk | Olivie Blake, The Atlas Paradox