friedenthusiastdetective

[friedenthusiastdetective]

Hiii it's me, I'm obsessed with y'all's podcast! I've listened to the intro then am this close ( ) to being finished with the first 6 chapters and can't wait to listen to the first episode!!!!

I love the book so far and I LOVE that y'all exist!!!!!

We're coming to you from outside the walls!

Buckkeep Radio took our Realm of the Elderlings cosplays to Katsucon.

The Fool: @chewybreadcosplay | chewybreadcosplay

Amber: me, @tawnyfool | barnyardjester

Lord Golden: @scienceofdiscontent | Darth_Rachel

Fitz/Tom Badgerlock: UncannyRobot

[friedenthusiastdetective]

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you, I can't wait to start listening!!!!

I am beginning to read Robin Hobb

And really, really, really want a reading group/reading buddy!!!!!!

Anyone!? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller???

(I am about 50 pages into Assassin's Apprentice, with plans to read the whole damn thing. :) )

[friedenthusiastdetective]

Since the whole thing with NaNoWriMo has gone down, I've noticed that one of their former sponsors, Ellipsus, has cut contact with NaNoWriMo because they do not support their stance on AI; I didn't know what Ellipsus was, but upon further research I've found that they are a writing platform that works a lot like Google Docs and Microsoft Word, only with a heavier leaning on the story-writing aspect and connecting with other writers - and they also completely denounce any use of AI, both in the writing process itself and in the use of their platform. I really appreciate that.

Since this is the case (and since I've noticed Google has begun implementing more AI into their software), I've decided to give Ellipsus a try to see if it's a good alternative to Google Docs (my main writing platform). It's completely free and so far, I've found it simple to use (although it is pretty minimal in its features), and I really like the look of it.

I figured I'd spread the word about this platform in case any of you writers would want to give it a try, and if you do, let me know how you like it!

[friedenthusiastdetective]

it's actually okay to not read for a while. it's okay to only read one or two books a month. it's okay to not have a yearly reading goal. it's okay to read books that aren't all over the internet. it's okay to get books from the library or kindle and not buy a copy after.

[friedenthusiastdetective]

I find it weird how SJM has written the same story line multiple times. How the main love interest (Rowan, Cassian and Rhysand) get the main character to their very breaking point and then help them to get better.

It makes me think the way that they help the main character (Aelin, Nesta and Feyre) to get better is by also kind of shaping them to be how they want them to be.

[friedenthusiastdetective]

I am beginning to read Robin Hobb

And really, really, really want a reading group/reading buddy!!!!!!

Anyone!? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller???

(I am about 50 pages into Assassin's Apprentice, with plans to read the whole damn thing. :) )

[friedenthusiastdetective]

I wish crescent city wasn’t written by sjm cause I actually really like it 🙃

[friedenthusiastdetective]

I'm so mad about the "don't make booktok political " trend

Yall disgust me

Yall are fucking traitors

I don't believe in wishing harm but God I wish Trump will ban your porn, God I wish they would burn every sjm book and ever "blank of blank and blank" book and the fucking hockey porn and dark romances, and maybe you fucking assholes would get inside your stupid thick skulls that as a woman your fucking existence is political

But no

They won't attack you, you all are a white women, they will protect you, a big part of their ideology is that you are above all harm, you are the teason they need to protect the future so you can be their trad wifes and birth more aryan babies, they maybe will ban one or other books but let's be real mommy erotica will still exist

No

The ones who will pay for this is queer kids, black kids and immigrants

I'm disgusted by you

You sold all of us for pieces and now are trying to pretend everything s fine and dandy, it will be fine for you

So enjoy your peacce and reads ignore the screams they won't come for you

[friedenthusiastdetective]

Hot (i think?) Take but we need to stop letting booktok authors normalize putting whole ass playlists in the prefaces of their books. No i dont care if its just to 'set the mood', the writing of the book is what sets the fucking mood. This isnt a wine tasting. Stop with your "recommendations" and actually put some effort into the writing jfc

[friedenthusiastdetective]

Sometimes I scroll booktok and see videos of large shelves of countless books and I’m struck by a brief moment of jealousy because I’d love to have the time, money and resources to do that. I have a leaning $10 shelf I got from a thrift store that barely holds all of my books.

But then I’ll hit an ‘unhauling’ video where they’re selling/donating their books and half of them are because they “never read them” and I realize that the shelves aren’t full of loved books but instead just there for a backdrop. It’s marketing.

And I love my little collection of books even harder because even if the shelf is two inches from collapsing, I know I’ve read and enjoyed those books enough to own them and read them.

[friedenthusiastdetective]

One thing that upsets me about booktok readers is a thing I have seen a lot lately.

For the last few days I've been stumbling about a lot of Videos where the people said that they can't remember a single thing about the good book they read not a long time ago.

And I think the problem that leads to this is their overconsumption of books. Yes, they consume about 200 a year, but they don't really read them. It's all just about a hurry and finishing a book as fast as possible.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fast reader myself and read about 100 books a year (with many rereads of course), but I think many people, people on booktok in this case, take it too far.

How can you say you enjoyed a book without remembering what happened?

Slow down girl! Take your time to actually read the book instead of just hurrying through it!

And with this start to actually think about what you are reading and start to think critically about your reading material! Maybe you'll even understand that SJM, Colleen Hoover and all these other shitty booktok books with the same plot and characters over and over again aren't the shit.

[friedenthusiastdetective]

On the booktok there is this huge thing of "don't damage the books". And the whole "never break your spine" "no dog-eared page" thing pisses me off so much. Since I was a child I learned that the more the book is damaged the more we like it. And reading old books, I saw which page was read again and again. I want to see that the book had gone to the beach even if that means the page is crumpled. Books are literally a part of our lives, so it's only normal for them to look worn down from life.

I specifically remember this book when I was 8yo , Inkeart where the main character Meggie talk a lot about this and I think it has greatly influenced my way of being a reader (since I read this book I always keep my reading of the moment under my pillow)

[friedenthusiastdetective]

the commercialization of shitty smut will always amaze me

know your roots!! open AO3 girl!!

[friedenthusiastdetective]

what is your problem with tiktok or booktok and colleen hoover lmao its not that bad surely

the fact that it actively promotes overconsumerism, the way it sells books to you by just playing into already heavily milked out tropes with very specific character niches that are seen in every book nowadays and how the reading is just seen as something aesthetic or a part of the "it girl routine" maybe? if those are enough reasons for you?

does the fact that these books are the first things you see when you walk into a bookstore not bother you? when you ask someone for a book recommendation they'll follow it up with "its a romance slow burn enemies to lovers". it's always about the aesthetic of the book, how many lines can you take out of context and post as a compilation of your super cute romantic annotations page on instagram. no analyzing the book, no theories, no symbolism or meaningfulness at all. how people stand reading those kind of books and still feel any kind of emotions over these flat as hell books with no world or character building is genuinely baffling to me

no one seems to know about actual literature anymore, which not to sound like a boomer but i think its definitely true. there's always been trend cycles, i agree such as the harry potter craze from the 1990s to the 2000s and the dystopia hunger games/maze runner/divergent blast in the early 2010s but tiktok has just.. shortened these cycles so much. as a result, people like our darling colleen hoover whose written around 46 books since 2015 (according to google) try come up with as much fresh content as they can as quickly as possible for the readers (see overconsumption). the fact that this lady outsold the bible is not outstanding to me, its fucking concerning.

and after all that, the result is badly written books with characters who're about as dimensional as a piece of paper, overuse of tropes, read like they've been written by a toddler, toxic-ass relationships being romanticised, very unnecessary sex scenes and countless other things. seriously if i wanted to read about the kind of stories hoover tells i would just open a wattpad account.

not clowning on those who made the choice to read it. i'm trying to highlight some of the flaws i find in authors like colleen hoover, sjm, ali hazelwood, casey mcquinston. some of them might be good, i wouldn't know because i actively try and avoid them at all costs. also i am BEGGING u all who will have an objection to this post to reach out of your comfort zone and read something different like non-fiction or fantasy or one of the classics for once if you only read booktok like seriously it might be hard but just do it for the love of god!! if you're annoying on this i will block you by the way i don't care

[friedenthusiastdetective]

Booktok be like: This is so forbidden romance omg!! And then the romance is just grooming or an HR violation

[friedenthusiastdetective]

RY calling Xaden “not white” is really just reinforcing the idea that a lot of authors in the romantasy space view POC as something to fetishize.

White is the “default” and anything else is exotic. They love to use the “primal” brown man caricature and getting the brownie points for “diversity” while putting no real effort in. The ambiguous tan man is almost always the love interest to a white women.

They don’t actually value their fictional poc on the same value as their white ones, and it’s very apparent when you read about non LI poc.

We see this happen time and time again, and no one cares because the majority of the fanbase fetishize POC they’re attracted to in the same way 🤷‍♀️

[friedenthusiastdetective]

I don't have all the words for it now but. The way booktok is so hyper-consumerist. The way the "badass feminist" protagonists are more often than not white self-inserts for the audience to project onto rather than actual characters. The same repackaged "golden" male love interest with dark hair. The obligatory racism. The way 90% of the booktok girlies are white women and the few woc are used as tokens to shield the current mess that is YA/NA books from any discussions of the rampant racism. It's all connected, it all goes back to the largely white audience, somehow, but I don't have the words for it yet.