#yeah I'm rereading the goldfinch

[heroes-by-david-bowie]

*at Donna Tartt's window* *breathing hard* I just wanna talk.

[azarinka21]

My relationship with Tharkay as a character and especially with Willzing (is that the shipname??) is the funniest thing that has ever happened to me 💀

I first read Temeraire when I was maybe twelve (I wasn't very smart from all the political shenanigans and battle tactics, but I enjoyed dragons, so success?) and when Tharkay was introduced I was like 'cool dude' and that was about it. Since then I read Temeraire once more and then nothing for a while before I went back to it last summer and became obsessed (the years have done wonders, hah). That was also the first time I somehow got into the Temeraire fandom (which is sadly small) and fanfiction, which is also not enough for my taste, but they are real treasures 🙏

But wait – even then I wasn't particularly impressed with Tharkay's character or the ship. 'Yeah, Tharkay is cool and the ship is cool, I guess' but that was the end of it 💀 I literally couldn't care less if I read Tharkay/Laurence, Granby/Laurence, Jane/Laurence or Napoleon/Laurence (though I'm always wary there because the fanfics are usually completely wild).

And now I recently started my fourth reread (I said third in another post, but whatever) and THERE, THERE IT BEGAN. JUST. OH. MY. GOD.

"Laurence, what are you doing?"

'...and Laurence knew him; knew him and knew himself.'

BRO, THIS IS THE GAYEST SHIT I'VE EVER READ IN MY LIFE AND I HAVE THE ULTIMATE BRAINROT AND OH MY GOD, GIVE ME MORE THARKAY×LAURENCE CONTENT AJJSKDJDKDKSKMDMEEMMEJSJ

Within a FEW days, something in my head switched from lukewarm indifference to this ship to absolute OBSESSION, which I experienced last time with Boreo from The Goldfinch, like WHAT 😭

WHY THESE TWO ARE LITERALLY SOULMATES?! AND WHY IS THARKAY THE ONLY PERSON WHO GIVES MORE TO LAURENCE THAN HE DOES TO HIM (unlike any other situation where Laurence is literally incapable of being selfish in any way)?! WHY DO THEY UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER SO WELL EVEN WITHOUT WORDS? WHY DID THARKAY OFFER TO LIVE WITH HIM, OH MY GOD, JSJXKDKSMD, OH MY GOD HOW COULD I MISS THIS 😭😭😭🙏🙏

Um. So. I'm very full of emotions about Willzing, I'm sure you all understand 🥰

[icarus-suraki]

Book asks!!

11. What book(s) have you read more than once?

13. What very popular book do you dislike/refuse to read?

21. What book needs to be a movie?

(11) What book(s) have you read more than once? Geeze, there's a lot. But, since tomorrow is Bloomsday, I'll say that my favorite party trick is to say I've read Ulysses, and I've read it more than once. ("And they all moved away from me on the bench there, with the hairy eyeball…")

Besides that, Catcher in the Rye (still waiting for my assassination assignment), Fahrenheit 451, Slaughterhouse Five, A Wild Sheep Chase, City of Bohane, Night Watch, Godchild (manga), I've probably reread books in chunks but not cover-to-cover, I'm forgetting a lot, and I'm currently rereading Out by Natsuo Kirino.

I also had a lot of children's books read and reread to me, but that's sort of a different question?

(13) What very popular book do you dislike/refuse to read? Pretty much anything by Donna Tartt.

Like, I've read a lot of popular books that I've hated but I've read for professional reasons to understand what they are, why they're popular, who might like them, &c. I've read the entire Twilight series, I read 50 Shades of Grey (so Twilight fanfic), gimmicky cozy mysteries, New Age schlock, evangelical Christian inspirational fiction, chick lit, chick lit: beach edition, straight-up romance novels… And that's been really useful professionally.

But I just cannot fuck with Donna Tartt--and my reasons are so petty: the Dark Academians were so all over her dick some years ago and being pretentious about her novels and whatever whatever and 1. it reminded me of when I was young and pretentious, which made me cringe in remembrance and recognition and 2. if that's the fanbase, I don't want to join.

So at the height of The Goldfinch fandom, I'm over here pointedly not reading it, even when colleagues and patrons are like "I was so sure you would have read it!" It's because I wear black turtlenecks, right?

And now I just have a grudge lmao.

(Vine voice: 21) What book needs to be a movie? 90% of the time, movies based on books just disappoint the hell out of me. Like, you have to really separate book and movie--sometimes you, the viewer, have to separate them; sometimes the director or writer does that, like in the case with The Shining and The Shining. Both very good! But they aren't really the same thing. Same thing with, like, Naked Lunch: that's two whole different stories with weird connections between them. And, maybe a controversial opinion, but the mood in Inherent Vice (book) and Inherent Vice (movie) were so wildly divergent that they were two different things too. And, yeah, I was disappointed by the Dark Tower movie, but I think a lot of people were.

Like, you lose a lot when you try to make a book into a movie. You have to take a book that has good imagery and good dialogue and good characters but which won't suffer when you lose the narrative/authorial voice. And voiceovers don't always make up for that.

Since I'm rereading Out, that would probably make a good horror/thriller movie, since it's about a group of women coworkers who cover up a friend's murder of her abusive husband and it just spirals out from there, but I would prefer it to be made in Japan by a Japanese cast/crew/director.

I dunno, I don't really have a book(s) that would be great in film adaptation. I tend to get nervous when a book-to-movie adaptation is announced lmao. I was nervous from 1999 to 2019 while rumors of James Cameron's Battle Angel movie swirled--and then it turned out to be Not Great At All. So it goes.

Ask me things!

[why-the-heck-not]

Do you read any books currently? <33

yeah! Currently rereading Goldfinch (by Donna Tartt) because I read it last summer so it now gives me summer vibes. Also am still reading The People In The Trees (by Hanya Yanagihara) bc started it last summer, so it is a summer-book to me now so couldn't read it during the autumn/winter.

Also am rereading Kafka on the shore bc read it during a spring like 5 years so it is a spring-book, and I just always start to reread it again during the spring (tho I rarely do finish it again lol idk, I read books weirdly) and have now just been continuing reading it.

Also in the process of rereading my fave author's (Miki Liukkonen) work bc he passed away recently. Also he does still have one book coming out during the autumn so that's also partly why (bittersweet excitement over that currently)

Also I'm never not in the middle of rereading A Little Life.

Bacically I'm just reread bunch of things even tho I have a massive tbr-list. Idk, haven't been in the mental capacity to start a new one u know. And books are heavily seasonal for me so gotta read the summer books quick before the autumn books swoop in lol

[adamparrishapologist]

October reads

I know we're already one week into November, but yeah haven't gotten around to but until now, so here a my October reads now, even if a bit late

Red, White and Royal Blue (reread) 4/5

Don't have much to say about this book. It's a good, solid read, the characters are very likeable. Nothing special but definitely worth reading

Darius the great deserves better 4.5/5

Okay I absolutely love the Darius the Great books. The way depression and mental health in general is talked about is just *mwuah* so good. As a person who also suffers from depression and other mental illnesses, it's just really nice to read a book for once where it's talked about without being used in a 'my whole life revolves around my diagnosis but I refuse to get treatment' way. I also really enjoyed the way relationships are presented in a healthy but natural kinda way.

Bungo Stray Dogs vol. 7,8&9 3.5/5

I've already seen the anime and am now reading the mangas, so I'm still reading the volumes that appear in the anime. I'm generally not a big fan of mangas/graphic novels but I always really enjoy reading Bungo Stray Dogs. The plot is interesting (if confusing in the best way possible), the characters are quite interesting and the art style is exactly to my taste

The Raven Boys (reread) 4/5

Okay so I love the Raven cycle series, and it's the only books I've actually annotated with sticky notes haha. The characters, the plot, the writing is just beautiful. The first book isn't my favourite out of the four, but still an incredible beautiful book. There are a few things that bother me throughout the books, like how some racist elements are included regarding Henry Cheng, so ehhh.

Maurice 3.5/5

So this was one of my first attempts of reading an English book written in the 20th century, as English isn't my first language, and it went better then I expected haha. I liked the concept of the books, even though I sometimes found the characters a but frustrating from time to time, but that's probably due to historical context and stuff.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club 5/5

Simply no complaints. I loved the book. I still love it. It was impossible to but down and I immediately fell in love with our protagonist and her love interest. I loved the little snippets of stories out of the life's of her family (especially her aunt) Definitely one of my favourite books from now on.

The Passing Playbook (reread) 4.5/5

I've read this book first in August, then reread in September and now reread it in October again. It's just such an sweet, adorable story, but still touches on some more serious topics. The characters are just really loveable. The writing isn't anything special, and there is definitely room for improvement, but the story is just so catching that I couldn't find myself to care.

Peter Darling 3/5

It was alright. I felt the romance was just really rushed and there was a lot that just remained... untouched, but it was a quick and easy read, and the characters were really interesting and multi-layered.

The Goldfinch 4/5

Okay so I definitely prefer Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History', but I still enjoyed this book. I must say that due to its length, I often considered not finishing it, but I was too invested to actually stop. I don't think I have to go into depth on how incredible the writing is. I really liked the part of Theos childhood, and I think that the book kinda lost some of its potential after the time-jump.

Aristotle and Dante dive into the waters of the world 4.5/5

If i'm being honest, I was really nervous about this book, as most of the times, sequels that were released much later than the first book are often... disappointing. But this was NOT the case here. I still related strongly to Ari and his views, and I was just really happy how many things were tied up that were left open in the first book. The 'Aristotle and Dante' books will forever be one of my favourite books and comfort reads

See you next month

[starsdies]

No, they’re both brilliant so fear not. I read the goldfinch first and was like: yeah, she won’t be able to top this and then read the secret history and was like !!!! They’re completely different but equally amazing. I’m pretty sure the secret history was the last book I’ve read that had me HOOKED. It’s been a long while since I felt like that about a book 😔

i'm in the same boat still with TSH. like. i've reread it with heavy annotations recently and i simply can't read anything else again? i tried reading uhhh "if we were villains" which is obviously good but it doesn't hit the same after TSH. definitely think i'll be picking up goldfinch soon as tartt's style is like right up my alley.

[weltonreject]

Hi!!! How are you?? It feels like we haven't talked about books in a while!

I've been on a bit of a high fantasy kick lately, which is incredibly unusual for me. I did get a gorgeous copy of The Great Gatsby today as a little reward for myself. I'd applied for a dream job I thought was a bit out of my reach, but I got an offer letter today! Nervous about quitting my other job, but I'm super excited to start fresh with a job I'm passionate about.

I keep trying to hunt down some good dark academia books that I haven't read yet, but it's getting harder to find ones that aren't incredibly white and straight. One of my subscription boxes I do every month has a dark academia theme for August, so fingers crossed that the book in that is awesome! I know it'll include some items related to If We Were Villains and The Secret History, which will be lovely to add to my art and decorations I have on my bookshelf.

Excited to hear that you're recording episodes about The Goldfinch! Admittedly, I haven't read most of the books you talk about on there, but I originally found your blog through your Theo/Boris fics, so I'm looking forward to listening to your thoughts on the book.

Sending good vibes as always!!!!!

-ch

CONGRATS ON YOUR OFFER LETTER! That's fantastic news-- let's bring that energy into august! That is just-- OH I love it. Congrats my dear. You deserve this new adventure.

High fantasy is something I know nothing about so I hope you are having a lovely time reading it. And what copy of Gatsby did you get-- I feel like I've seen some new covers floating around, and they are beautiful.

And yeah dark academia has that habit huh. BUT I have been seeing a lot of things about Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé! And it looks really good-- I've seen it at every bookstore I've been to in the past few weeks, I just haven't gotten a copy yet (my advisor says no more contemporary books this term....) Also if you haven't read iwwv or tsh yet OH i await your thoughts i do love them. And if you have GOD aren't they just.... peak!?!

That's exactly why I started doing tgf this month (even though i meant to do it in sept); I figured a lot of those books were super niche and I wanted to bring back something people here have read! I'm really enjoying the reread and hope to upload the episode tonight!

Sending you love xo

-M

[worthyking]

omg thanks for the tag <3

last book I bought: on earth we're briefly gorgeous (bought todayyy)

borrowed: i don't really borrow? does from the library count? if it does then a biography on Walt Whitman last semester

was gifted: (it's actually still on the way but) the inheritance games

gave/lent to someone: lent Misery by Stephen King to my grandma and i think she'll be dnfing it

started: just today i started King Lear and Fight Club

finished: yesterday i finished both my Our Violent Ends reread and The Westing Game

gave five stars: ummm. ooh ah probably Julius Caesar which yeah.

didn't finish: the dragon republic. (i DO plan on eventually going back to it but. it's been a second.)

personal recommendations: I'm very bad at recs but. the goldfinch, the Raven cycle, the great Gatsby, a midsummer night's dream

tagging @yxvz @wingedshoes @brydeshit @dorianslayyy anyone else. if y'all want??

Super superrrr psyched that @everyforkedroad recommended that I give this a shot how exciting!!! I almost exclusively read queer fiction, I swear I keep trying to branch out but there's so much EPIC queer content...

So, that being said...

The last book I bought was: Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (Southern Gothic queer horror story- slow burn romance and just so, so beautifully written.)

Borrowed: Drag Teen by Jeffery Self. (Cute, very cute story.)

Was Gifted: A Little Life By Hanya Yanagihara (It counts if I gifted it to myself, yes? Had them gift wrap it and everything) Also, it broke my Little heart. I still find myself muttering quotes from the book randomly in utter disbelief.

Gave/Lent to Someone: The Woman Who Made Me Feel Strange by Anna Ferrara (Such a good book- part of a trilogy, if I'm not mistaken and I plan on reading the other two soon BUT THE FIRST ONE WAS epiCccc)

Started: You Owe Me A Murder by Eileen Cook (Not a queer book- like I said I'm trying to branch out- and it's a thriller sort of crime thing? Not too bad so far)

Finished: We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (Whew.)

Gave 5 Stars: The Library on Mount Char by Scott Hawkins ( One of my favourite lines: "I'd drop-kick the baby Jesus for a Marlboro." That is all.)

Didn't Finish: Avatar, The Last Airbender: The Shadow of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee (Things became intense and I got scared- I will eventually go back to it but first I intend to forget what made me stop reading in the first place.)

Personal reccomendationsssss cus I also love recommendations: They Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson. Supernatural horror vibes with an amazing, epic woman of colour as the main character. Couldn't reccomend it enough.

Soooo, it'd be super cool if @use-your-words , @squash1 , @envyclearlace anddddd @crownamedtod shared their recently reads etc as well. anddddd anyone else!💜💜💜