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lil doodle of Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

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moby dick is a classic work of western literature

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People who don’t want to read The Martian in case the science is too complicated should be informed that it contains the lines “The best way to store the ingredients of water is to make them be water”, “It is of course dangerous to set off an explosive device on a spacecraft”, and “If I cut a hole in the wall of the hab, the air won’t stay inside any more”.

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i’ve read Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas twice since it came out, i really cannot recommend this book enough, it’s such a wonderful story, i adore it! 

please do not use, edit or repost

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2019 Books. ⋙ War by Laura Thalassa

He stares at my face for a long time, long enough for me to wonder why he’s hesitating. War’s eyes drop to the hollow of my throat, and his sword wavers.

My hand twitches with the need to touch my throat and feel the grisly scar that decorates it. 

War’s eyes travel back up to me. Now there’s something different about his expression, something that terrifies me in a whole new way. 

“Netet wā neterwej.” You are the one He sent me. 

His words aren’t Hebrew or Arabic or Yiddish or English. He doesn’t speak any language I recognize … and yet I understand him as though he does. 

“Netet tayj ḥemet.” You are my wife.

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“Do they still sing songs of my victory?” August choked.

“They do. And they’ll crescendo like beacons to the farthest reaches. With every new breath of life that forms in a world without darkness that came at the price of your hands and your mind."

-The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

I couldn’t resist doing this drawing of Jack and August. It’s been on my mind since I finished the book.

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Welcome to Terabithia on steroids. A mood piece for The Wicker King. This was such a beautiful read and I’m such a sucker for mixed media story telling. This story resonated strongly with me, as I had a close relative with a memory impairment and would mix thoughts and mis-remember things. Having to tread that line of contesting their reality or indulging in their fantasy with every sentence, every word, every moment was a constant split-second debate of how it would affect their happiness; short term and long term. This story is a much more extreme case of how someone with a mental illness and another with PTSD find solace in each other. And while it’s not healthy, there is a definite equilibrium to Jack and August’s relationship over the course of the story.

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💞💛✨ OH? U WANT SOME GOOD LGBT CONTENT?? ✨🌈🌱

if u just want to read:

sapphic ya contemporary

scribd lgbt starter pack

twitter’s fav sapphic books

mysteries

books by and about qpoc

poetry

tor novellas

classics

ownvoices AIDS stories

urban fantasy

retellings of classic books

retellings of fairy tales

retellings of myths

f/f fantasy

f/f historical fiction

books w neurodiverse characters

50 non-fiction books + a QUIZ to help u decide

books with superheroes

55 books written by lesbians

historical fiction

high fantasy

books set at boarding schools

books with witches

quietly magical books

books set in space

books with enemies to lovers trope

gay spanish poets

also:

all the LGBT releases of each month

if u want to watch something:

period dramas

christmas movies

our fav movies & shows + a QUIZ to help u choose

if u want to listen to some music:

my fav songs of each month by lgbt artists

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So, here’s the thing. The “All For The Game” series books are not good books. They’re not. They’re not *technically* perfect nor correct. They cut corners, use a lot of exposition, and make up their own rules sometimes in the world building. And yet??? It’s the first book series to hold my full and constant attention and make me actually feel things in years.

I read an article the other day where the author called it “self-indulgent”. She was a fan of anime and fan fiction and those inspired her to write a novel just for the hell of it, just for fun. She wasn’t looking to promote, she wasn’t looking for praise. And you know what? I think that’s amazing.

If more books could be written self-indulgently - if more stories could be told sans the expectation for perfection and literary recognition, we’d probably have more truly fun and creative books to binge read. Cause that’s what the “AFTG” series was to me, it was fun. The rushed plot explanations gave more room for character development and interactions, and honestly? I loved that. It’s all I wanted and needed.

I saw a review liken the book series to a fan fiction. Which makes sense considering the author described it as being written to indulge herself. And how many of us use fan fiction to decompress? To escape into a story that’s not full of over-complicated metaphors or trying too hard to be respectable or perfect? But just trying to be interesting, fast-moving, and pampering? That’s why fan fictions are easier to read - why they’re more enjoyable to read.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with literarily perfect novels. I guess I’m just trying to say to those who write fan fictions now, who have original stories or characters that they’ve held onto for fear that their writing is not good enough - indulge yourself, write a story or book for YOU and no one else. And you just might end up brightening someone else’s day too!

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@booksociety’s 💦 Elementalist 🌱 event:

🔥📿 Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven

“I’ve watched you for five years. Each year the same woman with many faces walks to the pyre, is burned in the arena, and walks away untouched by the flame, with none the wiser. My people would call you an agacin, spirit of the goddess Agna made flesh.”

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I judge how good a book is based on how disoriented I am with my physical surroundings after closing it.

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Superlinguo linguistics books master post - fiction and non-fiction

This post is a collection of all the reviews and write ups of linguistics fiction and non-fiction that has appeared on Superlinguo over the years. I’ll add to this post whenever I write a new review.

See also, the separate post of links to linguistics books for young people. 

Non-fiction

Because Internet, Gretchen McCulloch

I didn’t write a review of this because it’s weird to review a book where you pop up as a minor character in a chapter. I can promise the rest of the book is also excellent. Gretchen is one of the most compelling pop linguistics writers out there.

Language Unlimited: The Science Behind Our Most Creative Power, David Adger

This example-rich ten chapter volume from David Adger focuses on the unique syntactic capacity of human languages. I wish there were more linguistics professors bringing their A-game to a larger audience like this.

How We Talk, N.J. Enfield

If you did linguistics but never got to study Conversation Analysis, or you want a whistlestop tour of some of the most interesting work to come out of the field in the last couple of decades, this book is certainly worth a visit. 

Women Talk More than Men… and Other Myths about Language Explained, Abby Kaplan

Each chapter takes a ‘myth’ about language and deconstructs it, with careful and critical attention to research.

The Art of Language Invention, David J. Peterson

This book is designed as an introduction to conlanging, but can just as easily be read as an introduction to linguistic analysis, or a refresher if you’re heading back to university and want to polish up on your linguistics vocab.

Secret Language, Barry J. Blake

Blake does a good job of wending his way though an impressive array of topics, explaining things clearly and providing often entertaining examples, but never dwelling too long on any one topic.

You Are What You Speak, Lane Green

Overall this book is a great read, suffused with both enthusiasm for the topic and a desire to not fudge things for the sake of a good anecdote.

Bastard Tongues, Derek Bickerton

Bastard Tongues is part memoir, part linguistic adventure. Until as recently as the 1970s Creoles were dismissed as simple languages, arising from simple communicative needs. Bickerton very quickly shows that this is not the case.

The Information, James Gleick

The first three chapters focus on language and literacy without a bit or a broadband to be seen.

Netymology, Tom Chatfield

Netymology is a romp through the lexicon of the interwebs, with 100 short and snappy entries all focusing on one or two words, their meaning, etymology, origins and changing usage.

A Christmas Cornucopia, Mark Forsyth

If yours is the kind of family that gets a kick out of sitting around guessing the punchlines to the jokes in Christmas crackers, then you’ll get a great deal of entertainment in your post lunch stupor reading and sharing informative gems from this volume.

The Speculative Grammarian Essential Guide to Linguistics

SpecGram takes you a giant leap towards absurdity, often masked by seemly earnest academic rigour. 

Fiction

Some of this is fiction with clear linguistic themes, other times I’ve made a post about reading something like a linguist.

The Darkest Bloom (Shadowscent Book 1), P.M. Freestone

A Young Adult fantasy adventure, with a cracking pace and memorable characters. The book features the first few snippets of Aramteskan, a language I created to be unlike any existing human language, which places smell at the centre of people’s experience. Check out the Shadowscent hashtag on the blog for more news.

Native Tongue, Suzette Haden Elgin

There are two separate plots that explore linguistic relativity, the first explores the consequences of humans learning languages of aliens with radically different perceptions of reality. The second, and really the core of the book, is the secret organisation of women who are creating their own language to escape the tyranny of the male dominated world.

Babel-17, Samuel R. Delany

The pace is good, the universe isn’t too badly dated and even though there’s a neat ending with regards to some of the plot, there are enough unanswered questions for the reader to build their own conclusions.

Embassy Town, China Miéville

Even if you’ve not studied language or linguistics Mieville guides you though the narrative turns with consummate skill that rarely feels too heavy handed.

New Finnish Grammar, Diego Marani 

The tale itself is a compelling one, but for a word nerd it’s got another layer of intrigue as the Finnish language is a central focus of the story.

Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

Stephenson goes right to the heart of some of the biggest debates in linguistics in the 20th century, although Hiro doesn’t seem that convinced by Universalism.

Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut

Woven throughout the story are a small number of examples of this ‘dialect’, and while I tried very hard to behave and just enjoy reading the books, I couldn’t help but note them all down.

Short Stories

Repairing the World, John Chu

In a reality that is constantly being invaded by portals to other worlds, linguists are called in to deal with whoever and whatever comes through from the other side.

Polyglossia, Tamara Vardomskaya

Although a work of fiction, it touches on many of the social tensions in the context of endangered languages and efforts to document and revive them.

The Story of Your Life, Ted Chiang

It’s one of the best fictional descriptions I’ve come across of the process to document and capture a language you don’t speak.

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Hey, also, Dreamspinner is accepting submissions again. (I know.) And to all you aspiring romance authors out there, from the bottom of my heart, do not submit your work to Dreamspinner Press. 

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YA titles must contain one of the following words or you have to pay a fine:

blood crow queen ice crown fire bone true academy magic glass shade kingdom world shadow song sun ember secret legend star raven thief

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the kings men, nora sakavic / virginia woolf to vita sackville-west, 1928 / saw you in a dream, the japanese house / work song, hozier / mad girl’s love song, sylvia plath / blue lily lily blue, maggie stiefvater

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This was so hard! I’ve been tracking and reading LGBTQA+ books for 10 years and picking 3 for each was tough! There are so many more I love so if you have specific ones you are looking for, or want more in these sub-genres you can totally ask me for recs. I’ll do my best.

fanart credit: @ace-artemis-fanartist

Below undercut is the Goodreads links to these books:

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