#slaughterhouse five my beloved

[paint-it-dead]

-Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

[athetos]

Idk why but I for some reason thought Vonnegut wrote a lot more books than he actually did im actually very sad that there’s only 2 I haven’t read

[all-or-nothing-baby]

so i reckon that john watson's realist "it is what it is" statement in bbc sherlock is almost definitely a reference to erich freid's love poem “was es ist” BUT i also think it's very much an english soldier's version of slaughterhouse five american soldier billy pilgrim's "so it goes" and therefore i am right

[over-fen-and-field]

Okay, so I've had A Hell of a Year beginning with a sapovirus around this time last year that turned into a fun new autoimmune disorder that basically knocked me off my feet for six months (in two three-month rounds.) (I'm doing pretty okay now and the autoimmune thing does actually resolve for some people within a year or two, so fingers crossed). So, I didn't end up setting a formal reading goal, and instead basically just read whatever, whenever, and decided not to be embarrassed about how much potato chip sci-fi I was reading. It was fun! Below I've asterisked all the rereads and bolded the ones that I liked the most.

The Incarnations by Susan Barker

The Golden Compass* by Philip Pullman

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

The Power by Naomi Alderman

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

Monster Theory by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

Cat’s Eye* by Margaret Atwood

Frankenstein* by Mary Shelley

Dracula* by Bram Stoker

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

The Four Things That Matter Most by Ira Byock

Dying Well by Ira Byok

Praying with Jane Eyre* by Vanessa Zoltan

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel Mallory Ortberg

Devil House by John Darnielle

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

This World is Not Yours by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Educated by Tara Westover

Longbourn by Jo Baker

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland* by Catherynne M Valente

Deathless by Catherynne M Valente

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M Valente

This coming year, I've decided that I want to read more classics. If you have a favorite classic (broadly defined), please let me know! Bonus points if you tell me why it's a favorite of yours and, if it wasn't originally in English, if you have a preferred translation that I should check out.

End of year reading round-up! Woo-hoo!

My reading goal for 2023 was to read a book a week – while using very broad definitions of “book” (includes things like plays, novellas, and graphic novels), “read” (audiobooks and radio recordings count, not just written texts), and “week” (sometimes I read multiple short things in a week, sometimes it took me two or three weeks to get through a longer book).  I’m also defining “finished” as when I’m done with the book, but not necessarily when I’ve read every word on every page – I picked and chose chapters a bit from the essay collections, for example, and bounced off a few books halfway through if they just weren't for me or weren't for me at that time. Anything with an asterisk is a reread.  I have these roughly in chronological order of when I finished them, but I tended to be in the middle of several books at once and didn’t keep a good spreadsheet to keep track, so it’s a bit cobbled together from my memory and library records.  Also, please note that just because I read a book, doesn’t mean I agree with or endorse all or even most of the ideas in it.

The Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang

Flight Behavior* by Barbara Kingsolver

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making* by Catherine M Valente

Deerskin* by Robin McKinley

Holy Silence by J Brent Bill

You Don’t Have to be Wrong for Me to be Right by Brad Hirschfield

A Letter in the Scroll by Jonathan Sacks

Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

One Nation, Indivisible by Celene Ibrahim and Jennifer Howe Peace

Chalice* by Robin McKinley

Braiding Sweetgrass* by Robin Kimmerer

Dracula* by Bram Stoker

Hamlet* by Shakespeare

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Here All Along by Sarah Hurwitz

This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared by Alan Lew

The Scientist’s Guide to Writing by Stephen B Heard

Everything is God by Jay Michaelson

The Cooking Gene by Michael W. Twitty

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

The Poisonwood Bible* by Barbara Kingsolver

The Power of Ritual by Casper ter Kuile

Unsheltered* by Barbara Kingsolver

Pride and Prejudice* by Jane Austen

Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner

No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler

Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved by Kate Bowler

Jane Eyre* by Charlotte Bronte

Praying with Jane Eyre by Vanessa Zoltan

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Barrel Fever by David Sedaris

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

Proverbs of Ashes by Rita Nakashima Brooks and Rebecca Ann Parker

The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Staying with the Trouble* by Donna Haraway

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

The Incarnations by Susan Baker

Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire by Rebecca Ann Parker and Rita Nakashima Brock

The Anthropocene Reviewed* by John Green

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi

My Promised Land by Ari Shavit

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Enemies and Neighbours: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel by Ian Black

Dragonflight* by Anne McCaffrey

The Masterharper of Pern* by Anne McCaffrey

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin

Dragonsdawn* by Anne McCaffrey

Overall, I’m feeling pretty good about the list!  There are definitely some themes that pop up again and again, but there’s a nice mix of genres, fiction/nonfiction, length, tone, first-time reads and rereads, etc.  I haven’t set a formal goal for this coming year yet, but I’m hoping to get some off-the-beaten-path recommendations from friends for things that I wouldn’t otherwise have heard about – so, if you have any favorites, I’d love to hear about them!

[buddierecs]

aly's recent reads pt3

here is pt 3 of my recent reads - i haven't been reading a lot of buddie fics recently, but here are some that i have enjoyed lately these fics are mixed rated, so please check the ratings and tags!

i'll tell them put me back in it (and i would do it again) by: paleredheadinascifi "eddie doesn't know how to make his listening history private. buck doesn't know what to do with the words in front of his eyes. chris cannot believe he has to deal with either of them." word count: 4.8k rating: teen and up important tags: idiots in love, fluff and crack, technophobe!eddie diaz, gay disaster!eddie diaz

slaughterhouse by: kithmet "eddie announces he’s leaving. buck, naturally, begins a slow descent to madness." word count: 21k rating: explicit important tags: codependency, possessive behaviour, unhealthy coping mechanisms, masturbation, angst, getting together, freak4freak the elephant in the room never forgets by: exvichan "secrets are spilled and truths brought to light when the 118 and their partners go on a camping trip. oh, and there’s malaphors. lots of malaphors." word count: 19k rating: teen and up important tags: crack, fluff, humour, getting together, camping hopeless, breathless, burning slow by: mostardent "after the coma, buck struggles to feel real and unofficially moves in with eddie." word count: 14k rating: mature important tags: getting together, codependency, mutual pining, light angst, idiots in love, hand jobs dearly beloved by: songbvrd "a story told across five years. eddie finds out buck is marrying someone else and reflects on what brought them to this - and what, if anything, he can do about it." word count: 66k rating: explicit important tags: emotional hurt, character study, second chances, jealous!eddie diaz, found family, adult!christopher diaz, explicit sexual content not even the memories are immortal by: allthatsleft "eddie leaves for texas. buck sees him everywhere." word count: 33k rating: explicit important tags: feelings realisation, codependency, texting, hurt/comfort, pining, first kiss, blow jobs, hand jobs, rimming, spit kink the sweetest apparition by: hyruling "eddie moves to texas. buck keeps accidentally telling people eddie's dead. it goes about as well as you'd expect." word count: 20k rating: explicit important tags: pining, love confessions, crack, angst, codependency, idiots in love, first kiss, first time, sappy sex i know you're gone now, but i'll still want for you by: roephobic "the one where buck leaves and eddie breaks down." word count: 32k rating: teen and up important tags: mental breakdown, angst, therapy, hurt/comfort, TW: mentions of suicide attempt & suicidal ideation, eddie diaz pov, love confessions the bunkroom fic by: exvichan "the station 118 bunkroom has witnessed a lot over the years. private conversations, spats, occasions of affection, joy, and anguish. it’s seen pranks, and games, and camaraderie. it’s even been privy to an unfolding love story or two. it holds the memory of each of these moments." word count: 11k rating: teen and up important tags: humour, fluff, firehouse 118 crew, love confessions, outsider pov all the ashes i've earned by: greenbergsays "spiraling about eddie's announcement, buck gets into a car accident and falls into another coma. this is eddie in the aftermath." word count: 22k rating: teen and up important tags: car accidents, coma, mental breakdown, codependency, TW: referenced suicidal thoughts, character study when you look at me like that, my darling (what do you expect) by: sungodlou "buck and eddie have sex, eddie freaks out. wash, rinse, repeat" word count: 35k rating: explicit important tags: angst, smut, internalised homophobia, gay!eddie diaz, sexuality crisis, anal sex, blow jobs, dom/sub undertones, bottom!buck, top!eddie

[schofielded]

Introduction Post

I’ve had my blog for just over 5 years at this point and this is the first time I’ve bothered to make an intro post :)

But hello all! You can call me A // pronouns are she/her/hers // 22 years old // white // USAmerican (:/) // English major // etcetera etcetera (blog title comes from the Decemberists song Starwatcher)

Here’s a list of things I have been known to blog about or just like in general (ones that are italicized are ones you’ll see more frequently):

Movies: 1917 (2019) (my most beloved), The Lord of the Rings (movies and books), Dead Poets Society, Pride & Prejudice (2005), The Chronicles of Narnia (movies and books), The Hunger Games (movies and books), Knives Out/Glass Onion, Godzilla Minus One, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Shows: The Terror, Ted Lasso, Over the Garden Wall, Avatar: the Last Airbender,

Books: All Quiet on the Western Front, The Odyssey, The Book Thief, Station Eleven, The War of the Worlds, Slaughterhouse-Five

Music: The Decemberists, Lord Huron, the Longest Johns, Hozier, a bit of classical here and there, folk music and stuff with banjos

General: WWI stuff

more to come as I remember them

Don’t be surprised if you see something that isn’t on that list! I also frequently reblog a lot of miscellaneous stuff and things for other fandoms from time to time. And I am VERY prone to rambling in the tags of posts.

Terfs, zionists, fascists, homophobes, transphobes, etc. are unwelcome and will be blocked

Testimonials:

“Very normal about the movie 1917” — myself (I am an unreliable narrator)

“Gives off cryptid energy” — one of my coworkers

“Faramir understander” — tumblr user @leftenantjopson

“You read All Quiet on the Western Front for ‘fun’?!” — my boss

Assigned similar to Wirt Over the Garden Wall by the mutuals

[crepesuzette2023]

Can you recommend me some fics for when John got shot ? Could be a fix it or make it worse or anything in between. Thank you !

Thanks for asking! Your ask made me realize that I don't know *any* fic that shows the murder from John's POV, with John dying in the end. The stories I could think of all deal with the aftermath (often from Paul's POV), or they explore a world in which John survives.

Of course I can imagine why this is the case, but it makes me curious about stories dark enough to stay with John until the end. If anyone reading this knows one they like/admire, feel free to say so.

Here are some favorites of mine:

Ghost Stories

To Nobody by @eveepe. 1981. John visits Paul and Linda. It brings all of them (!) closer together. A brief & potent story about honesty and healing (with a kiss).

I keep recommending this, because it's fucking good: The late, great johnny ace by @midchelle. 1981. Paul makes an album with George and Ringo and George Martin. The genesis of Here Today.

and still they lead me back (@pie-of-flames): John haunts Paul's recording sessions in the winter of 1980. Unfinished (2/3) but I trust this writer to finish this, and it's good.

Close to John's POV

and why the sea is boiling hot (madamboogie). Reincarnation fic (unfinished but currently being updated regularly) in which reborn John remembers the events of Dec 1980 in detail, resulting in a breakdown. This is very well done, and a great read, even if (like me) you start out skeptical of the premise.

Aftermath

I will keep on recommending this fic until someone physically stops me: Miracle Worker (@scurator). 1981. Paul and Robert Fraser after John's death. Making love in the shadow of the great destroyer.

Paul lives his life out of order/homage to Slaughterhouse-Five (Vonnegut), with John's murder the painful anchor point. (how much was mine to keep, @backbenttulips)

Throw the Wine (@savageandwise): Follows John and Paul to John's death, and beyond. Starts in 1968, with some flashbacks. A classic for a reason.

John My Beloved (HerSpecialAgent005). John and Paul through the years in ten chapters. The final chapter describes Paul grieving for—and with—John in a dreamlike dialogue.

Favourite Four-Letter Word (@franklyimissparis): Paul goes for a late-night cab ride a few days after John's murder and buries something precious. Inspired by a very interesting quote.

John survives:

I greatly love my turn to resurrect (@backbenttulips). After the shooting, Paul nourishes John's body and soul back to health.

In Going Nowhere (@inspiteallthedanger), John returns to England after the shooting to recover and mend his relationship with Paul.

[lillamolntuss]

lillamolntuss read 2024… check it out or don’t 🫢

titles in bold are my favorites… thumb down for books i didn’t like okay

🦦

the lost honor of katharina blum - heinrich böll

sir gawain and the green knight trans. marie borroff

the nenoquich - henry bean 👎

cat’s cradle - kurt vonnegut

under the net - iris murdoch

sugar and other stories - a.s. byatt

nausea - jean-paul sartre 👎

where i end - sophie white

the sandcastle - iris murdoch

dansare, konstnärer, älskare: ballets suédois 1920-1925 - karin helander

couples - john updike 👎🤢

the favorite game - leonard cohen

sula - toni morrison

the nice and the good - iris murdoch

sartre: romantic rationalist - iris murdoch

selected stories - katherine mansfield

men in the off hours - anne carson

johannasviten - patrik rochling

when we were birds - ayanna lloyd banwo 👎

waiting for godot - samuel beckett

beloved - toni morrison

the member of the wedding - carson mccullers

all the lovers in the night - mieko kawakami

the master and margarita - mikhail bulgakov

beautiful losers - leonard cohen

iris murdoch for beginners - bran nicol

the maze maker - michael ayrton

the portrait of a lady - henry james

the joke - milan kundera

the black album - hanif kureishi

the bell - iris murdoch

aucassin and nicolette: and other medieval romances and legends - ed. eugene mason

the heart is a lonely hunter - carson mccullers

never let me go - kazuo ishiguro

my autobiography of carson mccullers - jenn shapland

slaughterhouse-five - kurt vonnegut

ballet and modern dance - susan au

twelfth night - shakespeare

the stranger - albert camus

human acts - han kang

tipping the velvet - sarah waters

the unicorn - iris murdoch

the sweetest dream - doris lessing

immodest acts: the life of a lesbian nun in renaissance italy - judith c. brown

the end of the story - lydia davis

salt slow - julia armfield

creation lake - rachel kushner

stone yard devotional - charlotte wood

remarkably bright creatures - shelby van pelt 👎👎👎

wise children - angela carter

[himboskywalker]

Thank you so much for these many recommendations, i will definitely read some of them. I finally ordered lord of the rings, always wanted to do it but I finally did it.

I would love a separate rec list of less new books and overall classics. If you have the time of course. I always have a hard time finding new books for myself or to gift to other people.

Sure! And I'm ecstatic to hear you bought lotr! Another one to be welcomed into my fold! This list is decidedly less organized, but here's a list of more classic/ older works I always recommend or gift to people.

Anything written by our beloved Neil Gaiman. He's most well known, especially in this sphere, for "Good Omens" cowritten by Terry Pratchett, and rightfully so. If you've never read anything by either author, it is absolutely worth the hype, and even if you've watched the tv show, it is so incredibly funny and wonderful. "American Gods" is also phenomenal and very well known from its tv show now, but my personal favorite of Gaiman's is "Anansi Boys." No one does urban fantasy like him, and his works will always be the gold standard for me for this genre.

The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. There's 41 books in the series so it's a mighty undertaking, I myself haven't gotten through all of them yet, I think I have about ten books left. They are so wonderfully funny and philosophical and witty. I don't recommend reading the books in the order Pratchett wrote them, rather there are collections in the series you'll want to read in order. The Death collection and City Watch books are my favorites but there are many more than that you may like better.

"The Princess Bride" by William Goldman. This is one of my favorite books of all time and while the movie certainly gets the vibe, it's a whole different animal. It's just so incredibly funny and fun and smartly written, and I've given it to many family and friends for Christmas and birthday presents.

"The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch. This is commonly regarded as a fantasy genre must and I often vehemently disagree with what's considered a "classic" but I have to side with the powers that be in the lit community on this one. It's just damn well written and character driven in the exact kind of way I love in stories. If you start reading it and think "oh look morally gray thief characters doing a heist" just remember, Lynch published it in '06 and pretty much wrote the template for everyone who has copied him since.

Anything by Ursula Le Guin although I read the "Earthsea" series first and would recommend starting there as well. She just really is that bitch, it doesn't get better written or more observant of life than her. Outside of Tolkien I don't know if there's anyone I admire more as an author than Le Guin. Her prose are not only stunningly gorgeous, but line after line after line hits like a sucker punch to the side of the head for how she makes you see life and yourself in new ways. “Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, only in dying life: bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky.”

The Redwall series by Brian Jacques! I love them so dearly, they're fun and beautifully written and full of adventuring that only forest animals with swords are capable of. I do recommend reading them in order, or at least the original "Redwall" before you dive into the rest of the series, but "Taggerung" is my favorite.

This is a more divisive rec nowadays but Kurt Vonnegut. If you read "Slaughterhouse Five" in school and hated it I don't blame you, it's not my favorite of his and not what I urge people to look to if they want to fall in love with him like I did when I was a teenager. My favorite Vonnegut is "Sirens of Titan" and "Breakfast of Champions." Do look at content warnings for "Sirens of Titan" and I've seen a lot of vitriolic reviews of the book in recent years by younger readers, but I absolutely think it's worth the read and the shining glorious example of what I mean when I say protagonists aren't meant to be liked or morally right.

And speaking of squicky divisive recs! May I tell you about our lord and savior of "oh god I don't know if I can get through this" Margaret Atwood? Most people know her for "Handmaid's Tale" but I first read "Oryx and Crake." Seriously, read the content warnings, but Atwood is known for writing the best of speculative sci-fi for a reason.

Anything by Octavia Butler. My intro to her was through "Bloodchild" which I highly recommend, and I think is the perfect introduction to her brand of unnerving brilliance. She is most well known for "Kindred" and rightfully so.

"Perfume" The Story of a Murderer" by Patrick Suskind. It's weird, by god it's weird, and it's one of my absolute favorite "classic lit" novels. In 18th century France a weird little freak of a guy with a super sense of smell winds up murdering a bunch of people to make perfume. It's fantastic and the quintessential, I will not morally justify this, but boy am I enjoying reading about this little creep.

"Trainspotting" by Irvine Welsh. I also love "Filth" and "Porno" by him. I think Welsh is brilliant at characterization, especially when most of his characters are morally bankrupt and terrible. But what he does best is make you feel for these characters who have often put themselves in these terrible positions. They're just people, and life is shitty, and I don't think anyone writes that better than Welsh.

"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien. O'Brien made a career of writing fictionalized recounts of his time in Vietnam. I love everything he's written, he is one of my favorite modern lit authors, but "The Things They Carried" is his best known work and what I first read of his. It's brilliant and beautiful and sad, and it was the first time I ever had to put a book down and read in chunks because it affected me so emotionally.

Cormac McCarthy, any and everything he has ever written. He's best known for "The Road" of course, and it's certainly worth the read but "Blood Meridian" is my absolute favorite of his. His stuff is brutal and wry and full of the dry irony that only the bleakness of reality offers, and by god is it well written.

And finally I'll leave you with a single nonfiction recommendation. I try to keep those minimal when I know that's not usually what people are looking for when they ask for reading recs. But since I'm giving a list of books I have often gifted, I can't NOT include this one. "Man's Search for Meaning" by Victor Frankl. I read this at 18 and it had a profound impact on how I think and view life. Any time someone I love has gone through a difficult time I've bought them their own copy.“For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth - that Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.”

[satancopilotsmytardis]

what books would you consider essential reading, for any reason? Bulking up my tbr list

Oh here comes the cardinal sin: I'm not a reader. The last book I read for "fun" was a FNAF novel and entirely because unfortunately that franchise owns my soul, not because it's good or enjoyable.

My favorite books are the Six of Crows Douology.

Some books I think are important to read and that I think had an effect on how I personally write are:

Invisible Man by Ralph Elison

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

The Book Thief and I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

(I'm not saying I necessarily enjoyed all of these books or recommend them for every reader, but they were influential for me as a writer)

[moonshynecybin]

do you have any books recommendations? 🙏

okay usually i like to know a general vibe for recommendations bc this is INTIMATE!!! and im actually in a weird place in my reading journey where im trying to branch out and try a bunch of different books in a bunch of different genres bc i got lowkey sick of what i was reading all the time so this is all over the place. whatever fuck it. here are some recent ones in no particular order that ive enjoyed OR at the very least found interesting. most of these are pretty famous i'll be real im not breaking the wheel here. under the cut bc she is long

our wives under the sea by julia armfield. was this book good hmm i dont know. was it kind of fucked up and interesting. YES. some of the prose is legitimately sooo gorgeous and the portrait it paints of the central relationship is intimate and oftentimes heartrending i still think about it which is kind of what you want from a story tbh... a really slow plot (kind of nonexistent) thats frankly more about grief than anything. theres some spooky body horror here so beware

slaughterhouse five by kurt vonnegut. shes a classic for a REASON. do you ever pick up a book that is very beloved and famous. and then get genuinely and pleasantly surprised that it actually rules. happened to me. legit kind of life changing and also made me laugh out loud. if you havent read it get on it

the kingdoms by natasha pulley. read this over the summer and i vividly remember sitting in the basement at my job hiding so i could read one more page i was RIVETED!!! its historical fantasy its time travel its amnesia it is. on a boat. basically like what if fucked up gay love and also magic made france win the napoleonic wars would that be crazy or what!!! and it was!! also read some of her other stuff which is VERY similar and it was like. fine to good. but i LOVED this one

carrie by stephen king. read it around halloween and i enjoyed it more than i thought i would ! some category 5 stephen king sexism but its an interesting 200 page scifi novel with epistolary elements and some great characters i can see how it launched his career into the stratosphere... really good one to start off with reading stephen king if you wanna dip a toe in but are wary of the 1000 page doorstop novels. i say give it a try !

demon copperhead by barbara kingsolver. recent pulitzer prize winner. its a retelling of david copperfield with a distinctly southern appalachian lens which im always interested in because i am from southern appalachia and frankly the way we get treated in fiction is wild. like hillbilly cannibals who are illiterate coalminers wild. if i ever catch the guy that wrote hillbilly elegy we are throwing hands. but i liked this ! the region does have a long history of poverty and it was interesting to think about that in conversation to the social commentary with a victorian vibe from david copperfield. i mean this is decidedly unvictorian but that was floating in the back of my head at all times reading it so it made me THINK.

giovanni's room by james baldwin. another one where i was like do you see this shit?? this shit is crazy. and the shit in question is one of the most acclaimed and beloved novels of all time. anyways another life changer get on it.

even as we breathe by annette saunooke clapsaddle. another southern appalachia moment ! this one rings VERY true for me actually, despite being a historical novel... written with a lot of love for the area and made me cry a bit cause i was homesick at the time... great mystery and cool local history. also! one of the better representations of the cherokee people ive seen in fiction. which usually im hesitant to like. pin that as a THE major reason you should read it bc the story is ALSO very good but its a central theme of the novel so i thought i should mention it. plus the author is cherokee so she's coming at it with knowledge and care

in memoriam by alice winn. recommendation from a tumblr mutual so i thought id continue the tradition! read it in literally a day so im fuzzy on the details but its about rich eton style english schoolboys getting their spirits basically destroyed in the trenches of ww1... also a gay love story... lots of poetry very tragic but not overly so and certainly very readable... a competent historical gay romance if thats ur thing youll probably enjoy it

the poppy war by r f kuang. interesting bc it initially feels like a historical fantasy novel with a young protagonist going to a magic school and overcoming the odds slash beating the evil enemy story thats been done one billion times. but it is DEEPLY not that. takes the conventions of the genre and kind of refuses to make them reducible or easy to package. deals with war (read the warnings etc). deals with genocide. deals with race. wrestles with the ethics of all of its characters and comes down with some nuance. kind of a slay

and then here's some all time faves that are just GOOD and im reasonably sure anyone would have a good time with:

jane eyre. i have quoted this enough on this blog cmon. also if youre following me youre probably a fan of fucked up relationships so you should go. be with the OG. fly. like its foundational to the GENRE babyyyy

dracula. yayyyyy epistolary novelssss... another "fun" classic along with dorian gray... read em both they slap

the book thief. took me a year to read. made me cry lots.

daisy jones and the six. look at me look AWAYYY from the amazon series look at ME. this is a fun book. and if you are in a reading slump i frankly HIGHLY recommend it bc it is done in the style of like. a documentary autopsy on a fleetwood mac esque band implosion so its told in 100% dialogue as if they are being interviewed. you can read it in a DAY and its FUN and sometimes they CONTRADICT each other which i LOVE

the queens thief by meghan whalen turner. GOD!!!!! all time. all time. straight relationships in fiction that make you crazyyyyyyy and also genuinely delightful twists at the end of each book i LOVED them. i read them all in the pandemic they slayyyy

howl's moving castle. delightful. if you like a silly time in a fantasy world that makes you laugh a lot i would recommend. also the sequel its fun

any terry pratchet novel thank you goodnight

[eqt-95]

19 46 48? :D

Thanks for the ask sides!

19. Top 5 favorite books? (the nerve!)

Edit: i just realized i only listed 4. apparently i don't know how to count

I'm cheating and instead of listing my all-time 5 favorites, I'm naming 5 that fall under the same theme: varying narrative structure. I adore when the story structure becomes it's own character so much. This is in the order that I read them (all are works of fiction):

House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski This is a narration inside of a narration and none of those narrators are reliable. I love it. If you ever read it, you MUST get the physical book. Reading it is filled with footnotes and formatting chaos and the experience is a labor of love. It reads with authority yet nothing makes sense. It has a quality of being sourced yet none of the sources exist. It's magic.

Breakfast of champions - Kurt Vonnegut The narrator is omnipotent. The narrator is omniscient. The narrator is a character. Let me repeat that: THE NARRATOR IS A CHARACTER.

Vonnegut gave this book a C, and I disagree. There was something a bit mundane about the story, yes, but the story-story is never the real point with Vonnegut - it's about all the small themes and satire and dark irony and obscure lines that are bingeable and slurpable and chewable and leave you mulling it over and bring you back to chomp down again and again (imo).

Heartburn - Nora Ephron This isn't the most outrageously obscure style, but I can't not include Nora Ephron, my beloved. If you like When Harry Met Sally, this is that on steroids. The narrator spends most of the time speaking to the reader; filling them in with her inner thoughts and comedic turmoil over her failed marriage. The funny bit? It's also supposed to be a cookbook, so recipes are randomly interspersed.

A Visit from The Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan Disclaimer: I read Manhattan Beach before this and I was so turned off that I almost didn't read Goon Squad. I am STOKED I ignored myself.

The narrative style of this book was pure genius to me: each chapter is a different character. This isn't revolutionary, but what feels revolutionary is that: 1. each character's perspective never repeats 2. each chapter is written in the style of that character (POV, prose, everything) and 3. everything is connected but the chapters are not sequential. They all build onto each other from different points in time to establish a world/web of links.

The cleverness and layering of the narration style was, for me, the story. It was in the way the author crafted each character with a unique take and perspective and set of motivations that really drew me in. There was the realness and pettiness and aspirations of the characters paired with the 'how does this all fit together' at play. So many layers and the author spoon-fed NOTHING which made me read more intently. It became a game: I wanted to build a mental map of all the relationships and felt a jolt of excitement when another link was made.

Bonus recommendation: Candy House is the sequel. It has the same qualities (I actually started reading this one first by accident, and the funny thing is that everything would still make total sense if read in the wrong order). Candy House introduced some concepts that I wasn't as fond of, but still absolutely worth a read.

46. Who is your favorite author?

Oooh, this is hard. Can I cheat and say I haven't found my favorite author yet? I've tried for years to pretend Vonnegut isn't my favorite author, but it's Vonnegut. 100%.

48. What line has stuck with you for years? "All this happened, more or less." Speak of the devil. This is the first line of Slaughterhouse-Five, and it's a line worth reading again once you've finished the book.

[idk-sla]

Rory Gilmore Books

I've loved Gilmore Girls for a long, long time, and I've always wanted to try reading the books mentioned in the show. I searched for some titles and put together a list. Some of them I’ve already read, and the good thing is that my current read is on that list too. I’ve thought about doing this before, but I hope this time I can actually follow through. I confess I was never interested in Russian authors before—maybe I was a bit intimidated by them? I guess this will be a good opportunity to change my mind.

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen Moby-Dick – Herman Melville The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger 1984 – George Orwell The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë (current read) Frankenstein – Mary Shelley The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel García Márquez Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Les Misérables – Victor Hugo Brave New World – Aldous Huxley Alice's Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll Little Women – Louisa May Alcott Beloved – Toni Morrison The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne On the Road – Jack Kerouac The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway A Room of One's Own – Virginia Woolf Lord of the Flies – William Golding The Outsiders – S.E. Hinton The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

[nellie-elizabeth]

Book Tracking Check-In 10.4.24

TOTAL "Official" TBR: 100 (95 + 3 not on GR + 2 currently reading)

GOAL 1 BOOKS: OWNED & NOT READ (16 as of 10.4.24, 1 is preordered)

Dawnshard - Brandon Sanderson

The Sunlit Man - Brandon Sanderson

Nona the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir

Mammoths at the Gates - Nghi Vo

The Brides of High Hill - Nghi Vo

The Mars House - Natasha Pulley

10 Things That Never Happened - Alexis Hall

Tender Is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Go Tell It On the Mountain - James Baldwin

Love and Freindship (sic) - Jane Austen

The Unconsoled - Kazuo Ishiguro

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead - Tom Stoppard

The Real Inspector Hound & Other Plays - Tom Stoppard

Morning Star - Pierce Brown

My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante

[What Doesn’t Break (Bells Hells)] - preordered

GOAL 2 BOOKS: BOOK CLUBS! (1 as of 10.4.24)

The Spear Cuts Through Water

GOAL 3 BOOKS: RE-READ OLD BOOKS (23 as of 10.4.24)

Peter and the Starcatchers

Peter and the Shadow Thieves

Peter and the Secret of Rundoon

In Cold Blood

The Wish List

Walk Two Moons

The BFG

Adam Bede

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

The Princess Bride

Olive’s Ocean

The Valley of Secrets

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

Gathering Blue

Beloved - Toni Morrison

Mama Day - Gloria Naylor

The Accursed - Joyce Carol Oates

Ivanhoe - Walter Scott

The Cricket in Times Square

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Slaughterhouse-Five

Charlotte’s Web

The People in the Trees

GOAL 4 BOOKS: CONTINUING SERIES/AUTHORS (Not currently owned/acquired) [60]

Discworld [11]

The Locked Tomb [1] *1 upcoming

Red Rising [4] *1 upcoming

Neapolitan [3]

Cosmere [3]

Critical Role [4]

After Cilmeri [5]

Priory of Orange Tree [2]

Hands of Emperor [2]

Dickens [1]

GO Graphic Novel [1]

Skyward [4]

Sanderson Other [1]

Saint of Steel [2]

Dan Jones History [2]

Random Library Books [3] *Bright Sword, Housekeeping, Penance*

Kate Alice Marshall [1]

Gods of Blood and Powder [3]

Lavender House [3]

Emily Tesh [1]

Philippa Gregory [3]

—————————

My Reading Stats in 2024 So Far: 70 TOTAL

GOAL 1 BOOKS: OWNED & NOT READ [27]

Promise of Blood

The Mighty Nein Origins - Fjord Stone

Words of Radiance

The Last Hero

Harrow the Ninth

The Narrow

A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings

Edgedancer

Red Rising

The Crimson Campaign

Lord Byron’s Novel: The Evening Land

Mistborn: Secret History

Night Watch

Arcanum Unbounded

Golden Son

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

How Long ‘Til Black Future Month

The Mighty Nein Origins - Beauregard Lionett

Into the Riverlands

The Autumn Republic

Apostles of Mercy

The Mighty Nein Origins - Caduceus Clay

No One Can Know

The Dispossessed

The Wee Free Men

The Adventure Zone: The Suffering Game

Oathbringer

GOAL 2 BOOKS: BOOK CLUBS! [16]

The Robber Bride

The Glass Hotel

Wylding Hall

The Unsettled

Babel-17

When We Were Orphans

Trust

The Riddle-Master of Hed

The Emperor and the Endless Palace

Prep

Parasol Against the Axe

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Greta & Valdin

Anatomy: A Love Story

The One

Tom Lake

GOAL 3 BOOKS: RE-READ OLD BOOKS [18]

The Magicians Nephew

The Hobbit

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Cages

The Horse and His Boy

Prince Caspian

Crime and Punishment

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Blithedale Romance

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The Silver Chair

The Last Battle

The Left Hand of Darkness

The School Story

Our Only May Amelia

The Host

Bud, Not Buddy

The Girl Who Played With Fire

GOAL 4 BOOKS: CONTINUING SERIES/AUTHORS [9] (Most included in Goal 1)

The Rise of Kyoshi

The Shadow of Kyoshi

Dark One

Dark One: Forgotten

Ninefox Gambit

Paladin's Grace

Skyward

Immortality: A Love Story

Paladin's Strength

[runningandraisingmyheathens]

I read a lot of books this year.

It’s hard to pick a favorite. My top picks are Anna Karenina, the Murmur of Bees, Beloved, the Color Purple, The Moving Toyshop, Slaughterhouse Five, Things fall apart, a canticle for Leibowitz, the Ransom trilogy, Everything Sad is untrue, and Kristen Lavronsdatter.

Top picks for books I read to the kids-beyond the very, very far north and its sequel, Ahisma, the graveyard book, when the sea turned to silver, the mysterious howling, and the insignificant life of a cactus.

I’m glad I’ve managed to get back to my pre kid reading habits, and that I’ve opened up to reading older books.

[l4venderm3nace]

about me

hellooo! I love to read, make fanart, and make edits :) feel free to follow my tiktok (@/l4vender_m3nace) if you're interested in my edits, and follow my insta (@/fragment_of_sappho) for fanart.

☆ Some of my favorite books: Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde my beloved), The Secret History (Donna Tartt), and Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut). I have a looot on my list, and hope to finish all of them! I eat up anything to do with obsession.

☆ Currently reading: Crime & Punishment (Dostoevsky), Nausea (Jean-Paul Sartre)

☆ Reading Next: The Plague (Camus), The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky)

☆ I also love music! Some of my favorite artists are Hozier, Boygenius, Phoebe Bridgers, Big Thief & Rainbow Kitten Surprise.

☆ Interests: Stranger Things, tlou, Good Omens, Dexter, and Loki. YELLOWJACKETS.

☆ Hyperfixations: Hannibal (!!!), Hozier (!!!).

☆ Identity: transmasc dyke (he/they)