#anyway determined to change things aroudn for the day idk how

[firstluvlatespring]

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[gerapitico]

Make Yourselves Forget That The Plague Is A Bitch: Book Edition

I was tagged for a thing (it doesn’t happen much, and I’m excited about it!!!!) by @rocknghorss

What’s the most recent book that you’ve read and absolutely fell in love with?

Does fanfic count? No? Because I do tend to read, like a ton of fanfic instead of actual books nowadays. But if we are talking actual published stuff, I’m gonna have to go back to Christmas time probably. And give a little background story, because what would my life be if I didn’t make posts extra long.

So, for most of my life, my parents and I have spent the holidays in the mountains at the cabin. Yes, it is a cabin in the woods, no it isn’t creepy. And that cabin, while great for many reasons, has one great shortcoming: no internet. When I was younger, I extra hated this, though it did give me a lot of time to read. So so so much time to read. And though we spend all of the winter there for skiing (both teaching and enjoying), I read the most over the 4 or 5 days over Christmas that we stay. 

One year in high school, my dad, after deciding that I seemed to enjoy sci fi content as much as him (maybe after watching Firefly or Red Dwarf, or maybe it was just my whole deal), started sharing the Honor Harrington series of books with me. And every Christmas, I read the new one and maybe my favorites of the previous. This past year, he added 2 new authors on top of the 2 I was already reading with Tanya Huff and Eliabeth Moon (and maybe Glynn Stewart? 2020 has been long y’all).

But let’s get back to fall in love with. I’m going to go with Valor’s Choice by Tanya Huff, because of the world building, and also yet another female protag in scifi lit, with the advantage of being written by a woman. It also is more on the military side of things, which I like more than I ever expected to (though I slogged through David Weber, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised!).

Anyways, if you want a bamf hero in a cool scifi setting, I would totally recommend it!

Do you keep track of how many books you’re reading every month?

No, and I never really have, even when I was little, and I had to for school, I wasn’t about the numbers game of it. Also, because I read so much stuff online, that makes it hard to count things.

What’s your stance on the debate as to whether or not we should dissociate the artist from their art (artist = writer in this case)?

I STRUGGLE with this question, because both sides make sense to me, but there are definitely pieces of media that I used to love that I can’t handle quite as much any more. The one that comes to mind is the Harry Potter series. JK Rowling has done some batshit crazy stuff in the post release of her work that has turned me off of it some, even though it was incredibly important to me when I was little, and I still care about it a lot.

And there are some cases where artists have been part of media I like, but I can’t justify supporting them (y’all the first pirates of the carribean goes hard, but also Johnny Deep). And there are chunks of media where I haven’t been able to figure out where I stand. 

This is a really hard question. The only answer I can stand behind is that cancel culture sucks, and people change, so I’m willing to give people a second chance. 

What do you do when you can’t focus on a book?

Change media types and then never return. I have in the last 5 years given myself permission to dip on things that don’t keep me engaged. I will occasionally come back to something, but if I don’t come back within about 48 hours, I will honestly forget I ever read the thing, so that happens.

Do you pay attention to the gender/ethnicity/race/sexuality of the authors you’re reading, aka do you actively try to read books written by diverse writers?

No, but I also don’t let author determine things for me with written media. Representation in characters, or in actual product itself is more important to me. Though, I will gladly read something from a new point of view, and support diverse viewpoints.

It’s just not really a thing that I consider that much. Which may be a problem, but I’m not a perfect person, and I’m not a perfect supporter of diverse populations. I can strive to be better in the future.

Paperback or hardcover?

Paperback if I’m reading it for the first time, but hardcover if I’m going to try and keep it at home in collection (though I also have a ton of paperbacks from when I was young, and I haven’t bought a non-textbook in at least 4 years.

Which language would you like to learn just to be able to read its untranslated literature?

So many languages!! Mandarin would be cool, as would basically any asian language, since they are culturally so different than me and I would love to get to read that stuff, and get to see that media in a new form.

Pick up the book that is closest to you. convince me to read it in less than 10 sentences.

I sit right in front of my bookshelf, so like 10 books are the closest ones for me. So I’ll take the one I most recently read, with Squire by Tamora Pierce, the 3rd of 4 in the Protector of the Small series. Here’s my pitch:

If you have ever read fantasy and thought to yourself that this would be much better if the lead was a girl who is coming into her own while still going against some of the hangups of a society that is adjusting to women as warriors. The universe is lush and deep, and connects to multiple series. The characters have faults but are for the most part black and white in their allegiances. Sometimes, it is nice to read something a bit more simple, and a little bit more gentle. Also, the whole multiple cultures plot is super fun too!

Basically, read any Tamora Pierce set in Tortall; there are like 5 different series and they are all great!

I’m tagging anyone who is interested in this! (IDK man, I sort of just float aroudn tumblr, stalking blogs from afar and not interacting, so even my mutuals are not people I would regularly tag in things . . . not because they aren’t amazing, they all are, but because I’m awkward about stuff)