#book ask

[beartrice-inn-unnir]

Book ask #4

4. What book/series/author do you think has most heavily informed who you are today?

I’ve had a few different authors whose works really sunk in my heart and soul and moral code. However, by far my most explicit guide (like quoting it in my head when dealing with something) has been Lois McMaster Bujold.

I first read her Vorkosigan saga starting when I was fifteen and just kept learning from Miles’ mistakes and Cordelia’s aphorisms and Ekaterin's realizations. It all really stuck with me - I kept rereading a lot of the books through college. But it's been a bit since I reread any of the early series books, I should do that again.

I've mostly been reading her World of Five Gods books for the past few years. Those are also spectacular, but I'm not sure if I've reached the same level of incorporating the text into my psyche that I did with the Vorkosigan books. I still think about how to convince someone to do something in terms of "raising the pressure vs lowering the wall" (Miles convincing Nikki to come out of the bathroom and go to school in Komarr). Raising the pressure on someone who already feels pressured rarely helps. Offering something that makes taking action a little easier can be much more helpful.

So cheers to Lois McMaster Bujold and the Vorkosigan Saga. Those books rewired my brain at exactly the right time and I'm still grateful.

[jackstheprinceofhearts]

The way I gaslight myself everyday into thinking acftl will have a happy ending even though sg kinda have us clues that it won't be a hea. At this point I'm just living in denial.

shhhh we don't talk about that.

(this is the reason i am buying all of the books with bonus content LMAO)

[wormwoodandhoney]

mid-year book freakout tag

I’ve read 81 books so far this year! I like to look back on my last half of the year and see what kind of books have stuck with me! I stole these questions from YouTube. Here are my answers from last year.

best book you’ve read so far in 2023? I'm going with the Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (graphic here!) & It's OK That You're Not OK by Megan Devine, Goblin Emperor is about a young goblin who unexpectedly becomes emperor after his estranged father dies. It's about fantasy politics and learning court intrigue, but it's also about kindness. It's OK is about grief and I felt very seen.

best sequel you’ve read so far in 2023? Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones (graphic here). This series is about Jade Daniels, an outcast Indigenous teen who is obsessed with slasher movies. She begins to recognize the signs of an impending slasher coming to her town, and she attempts to stop it.

new release you haven’t read yet, but want to: Painted Devils by Margaret Owen is the sequel to one of my very favorite fairy tale retellings. To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Monquill Blackgoose is a about a young Indigenous woman who enters a dragon academy. I'm waiting for both of these to come into my library!

most anticipated release for the second half of the year: My two most anticipated books are Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo, the adult debut of one of my all time favorite YA authors; The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, an absolute staple author of horror. I read a nonfiction book based on a similar real-life event and I know Due is going to bring such depth to the idea.

biggest surprise: The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff was a book I picked up on a whim and ended up being one of my favorites of the year!

favorite new author (debut or new to you): Either Tre'vell Anderson for their nonfiction book We See Each Other about trans representation in media, or Jumata Emill's the Black Queen.

newest favorite character: Oh definitely my sweet Maia from the Goblin Emperor.

book that made you cry: Hide and Seeker by Daka Harmon is a delightful middle grade horror, in which the main character is dealing with a monster as well as the death of his mother, and some of the grief stuff made me cry.

book that made you happy: The Witchlings series makes me so happy!

most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received): Probably a special edition of The Song of Achilles.

what books do you need to read by the end of the year? Waiting at the library for me right now are Hamra and the Jungle of Memories and Empire of Exiles!

[searchingforserendipity25]

Explore my bookshelf!

I was tagged by @sallysavestheday, thank you!

An estimate of how many physical books I own: ♾️

Favorite author: Right now? Silvina Ocampo. Read an anthology of her short stories this winter and it changed the way I think about writing, and also about people.

A popular book I've never read and never intend to read: what's going on with The Midnight Library's promotion team to make them so powerful? It seems fine enough but I'm tired of it already

A popular book I thought was just meh: Asimov's Foundation. Please don't kill me! It's very interesting and well-executed, but a little too interesting and well-executed.

Longest book I own: Janson's The New History of Art.

Longest series I own all the books to: Edith Blython's The Five maybe?

Prettiest book I own: Also Janson's The New History of Art.

A book or series I wish more people knew about: Jorge Amado's Sand Captains was foundational to me. José Eduardo Águalusa does fantastic realism, loneliness, love and trauma in brilliant ways. So many! Mia Couto's whole oeuvre is winning a Nobel in the next ten years, you heard it first from me. Also D. H. Lawrence's The Fox is terrifying? I'd have thought tumblr would be all over it.

Book I'm reading now: Lídia Jorge's The Bird Painter is electrifying and so tightly written you get vertigo. I am reading and savoring it quite slowly.

Book that's been on my TBR list for a while but I still haven't got around to it: Hamnet! I know, I know. I have it on my shelf and it was a gift, too, I have no excuse.

Do you have any books in a language other than English: Portuguese, Spanish, and one (1) French Arséne Lupin paperback, in the hopes of one day getting truly into learning-by-immersion (guesswork and Google, mostly)

Paperback, hardcover, or ebook?: I am strategic about this. Mostly paperbacks to carry around and read outside, and especially on bus rides. Very few hardcover, but sometimes I can't help myself. I can't carry heavy loads for long, so heavier books are mostly cozy home-reads.

Tagging @mayfriend, @theworldisquietheretooquiet, @melestasflight, @welcomingdisaster, @thelordofgifs, @polutrope , @meadowlarkx , @jouissants and whoever would like to participate!

[bookfangeek]

Could you please provide a list of each one of the power pills friends/ other important people from their part of the webcomic? i keep getting confused between each character friends….😭

:D

OC INFORMATION REQUESTED

Okay this is gonna be a long one strap in.

Also, have a little key for how important to the plot all the characters are

MAIN CHARACTER/VILLAIN | MAJOR PLAYER | MEDIUM PLAYER | MINOR PLAYER | JUST THERE TO GIVE A CHARACTER A FRIEND

TEAM SOUL SEER

CALEB BUDDE | SOUL SEER

The first member of the Power Pills. He's shy, awkward, and is somehow the unofficial leader of the Power Pills. Mostly everyone looks to him to make the final call on stuff because he's been around the longest.

GUY FOUST

Caleb's roommate and best friend. Went with Caleb during his first superhero mission and got physically shot while there.

KATE DHANANI

A friend of Guy's who eventually became a friend of Caleb's. She's the martial arts trainer for the Power Pills.

AVERY RODRIGUEZ

The first supervillain created by Future Tech. He's 16 years old and was given to Future Tech as an experiment by his parents in exchange for promotions.

TRAVIS BIRMAN

Guy's childhood friend and Merri's boyfriend. He's just the only friend character who doesn't know that his friend is a superhero.

TEAM WAX GUISE

DAN WIRSCH | WAX GUISE

The second member of the Power Pills. He's the literal embodiment of a theater kid. Despite his energetic and carefree attitude, he's one of the smartest members of the team.

JASON KENDI

Jason is Dan's roommate and the go-to costume designer for the Power Pills. He's a MASSIVE nerd and loves doing closet cosplay. He seems to have some kind of connection to Lightbringer.

LUCY CIPHER

The manager (and drum player) of Dan's band. She matches him in energy and personality.

NICO HYLAND

Lucy's fiancee and the keyboardist for Dan's band. He's the type to sit back and listen to Lucy's energetic ramblings for hours.

MAX ARMIJO

Dan's second roommate and lead guitarist for Dan's band. He's a more successful actor than Dan and does his best to help Dan get roles.

TEAM BULLETPROOF

MERRI BODKIN | BULLETPROOF

The third member of the Power Pills. She's a sweet-hearted individual with boundless optimism. She's the heart of the group. However a lot of her personality DOES come from the fact that she's a Catholic and her suppressed frustration tends to come out when she's fighting as Bulletproof in the form of a SUPER brutal fighting style.

AMBER LUPE

One of Merri's best friends. She is just as kind and sweet as Merri, but much less energetic.

PERCY VAN STONE

Merri's foil. She is energetic, she is bold, she loves everything Merri hates.

TEAM QUICKWIT

KRISTY EDA | QUICKWIT

The fourth member of the Power Pills and the resident "basically normal guy but with a bow" of the team. She's an independent artist trying to make it in the art world.

GEMMA VOSS

The sculptor to Kristy's painter. She has almost no shame and has no problems both speaking and acting her mind.

JAKE WESTLAKE

Probably also an artist of some kind but we haven't seen them do any sort of art so I'm not sure. They're relentlessly supportive of their friends.

TEAM STREAMLINE

Hahaaaa oh god sorry, Tate.

TATE PALMER | STREAMLINE

Tate is the fifth member of the Power Pills as well as the most energetic. She's a massive cosplayer and makes her living selling her work online.

TEAM THE WEB

(boy that one doesn't have a ring to it at ALL, does it)

SIBYL DEMIR | THE WEB

Sibyl is the sixth and newest member of the Power Pills. He's the resident scientist, studying biology. He's been through a lot, but once he settles into a network of supporting friends, he reveals that he is a a snarky, strong-willed man.

SEBASTIAN CROWL

A superpowered cult member who saved Sibyl and Caleb's lives when they were captured. He sacrificed himself to help the two of them escape. His status is unknown though he reassured Sibyl that the cult wouldn't kill him.

BENNY O'KEEFE

Benny is Sibyl's biology teacher and is the person who helped Sibyl through the darkest moment of his life.

VINNY RAMONE

Not seen onscreen, but he's Sibyl's ex.

JENNA BEGER

Sibyl's childhood friend who tried to trade away his life in order to join The Cult of Lacrima. Her status is also unknown.

TEAM ███████

MATT NOTTON

The recipient of the Pink Pill who needs to be put on a GODDAMN LEASH. The only pill candidate who decided to use their powers for selfish reasons.

DAMIEN BRIDGES

A man that Matt kidnapped in an attempt to learn how to control his powers. He's... god he's still there.

DALTON RENTFRO

Matt's teammate and a MASSIVE Matt hater.

OTHERS

????? | LIGHTBRINGER

The person who gives out the pills to the candidates. He's stoic but generally friendly.

??????

Only called "Scarecrow Lady" in comic so far, this is the woman who broke into Merri's dressing room in book 3 trying to kidnap her. Caleb erased her memory of their identities but she hinted that she had something "Way better" than her memories.

LONDON KURTZ

A mean girl who peeked in high school. She is obsessed with status.

PHYLLIS WORRALL

One of London's obligatory lackeys. The other of which, Lilith, apparently left London very recently for unknown reasons and has not been seen onscreen.

KRAVEN GREEVES

The owner of the martial arts dojo that the Power Pills train at. He knows what's going on with the superheroes, but he knows it's not his place to say anything.

And I reached the maximum number of images I can put on a post apparently so I have been hard capped here.

Btw if you want to see or ask more about my OCs you should check out @bookfanocs. I don't post much on there but you never know when I'll be inspired.

[the---hermit]

22. What was the longest book you read?

Hello!

According to thestorygraph the longest book I read this year was The Burning God by R.F. Kuang at 800 pages!

Send me a end of the year book ask!!

[skibasyndrome]

I had a terrible reading year too. At least when it comes to physical books. Fanfiction on the other hand… but I’d still like to know nr 24 from the book asks! :)

Bonus: what’s your favorite fanfiction you’ve read this year?

Thank you so much for the ask! 🥰

Ugh yeah... sometimes life just gets in the way.

Or fanfiction does, which, in that case, that's the opposite of a problem lol

24. Did you DNF anything? Why?

Ughhh, I have a bunch of unfinished books lying around and for most of them I'm still kind of hoping to get back to them at some point 😅 I think ones that I most likely won't pick up again to finish though are Sozialaristokraten - Arno Holz (because it's frankly a bit boring, lol. He's just making fun of his fellow author colleagues which, fair enough, but it's still boring lmao) The Raven Boys - Maggi Stiefvater (torn on this, because in the beginning I liked it more than I expected because I don't usually read fantasy, but then I put it down, and now I just don't feel all too inclined to pick it back up? Idk, me and fantasy probably just don't work that well)

And omg this must be the hardest question to answer so far, holy shit

So I haven't read enough of the long, multi-chaptered fics yet, but I think I'll still just name my faves so far. (WIPs, oneshots & drabbles excluded because I feel like that'd be different categories) The most beautiful boy by thelovelysarcastic (idk if they are on tumblr) Treasures and Treachery by itsme_hi_imtheproblem/@iwouldnevergetintofanfic Ivy by unfortunate17/@unfortunate17 (yep, that's pirates x2. I didn't expect that either, lol. oh, and if pirates somehow fall under the fantasy genre I might be a hypocrite lol)

[trappper-johnathan]

Book recommendations? Please? Please? Please? Any book will do, I just need to fuckin. Read.

[bibliophilecats]

1 and 8 for the book asks?

What’s something you read recently and enjoyed?

The Tea Dragon Society by K. O'Neill. I saw the book on tumblr a lot and - without looking into it much further and checking I liked the art style - bought the ridiculously expensive three book collection (graphic novels are so expensive!). Have not regretted it one second!

8. What series has most pleased you?

There are so many great series, among the ones that pleased/pleases me a lot is The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. I love the books, and the audiobooks.

Thank you for asking!

[batboyblog]

Hiya, just happened upon your super gay reading list 😄 Is there anything in there with a bit of an age gap? I’m a slut for that. Something like Call me by your name maybe?

Thanks in advance 😽

I'd say

We Contain Multitudes by Sarah Henstra

is the first thing that comes to mind, the gap is not as big as Call Me By Your Name, but definitely a part of the story and I'd say the writing is, yeah I'd say if someone liked Call Me By Your Name (the book) this writing would speak to them

[beartrice-inn-unnir]

BOOK ASK: stories for guidance and support edition

Who was the most important fictional character for you growing up?

Are the particular authors you would say helped guide you (i.e. provided perspective and helped you make big decisions)?

What fictional character is most important for you today?

What book/series/author do you think has most heavily informed who you are today?

What real person you’ve read about has had the biggest impact on you?

What book/series/author do you turn to in tough times?

Is there a book that really changed how you view the world?

Send me a number and I’ll answer that question!

[jackstheprinceofhearts]

Just finished acftl and I feel like this is such a dumb question but was Jacks’s best day (the day that the curse forest showed Evangeline and him) the day he spent with Evangeline in the hollow??

yes! that was what his best day was :)

i loved this little detail because he showed how happy she makes him

[lilolilyr]

ANSWER MY RIDDLES SIXTEEN (or not lol pls only answer all of them if you want to)

5. something in fiction that reads like poetry

28. a book you wish you could read as a beginner again

42. a book that made you want to scream by the time you got to the end

43. a book that you have read more than three times

50. a book that made you cry a LOT

54. a book with the best opening line

55. a book with a satisfying ending

60. a book that you think about at 3 am

66. a book that fucked you up

70. your favourite poetry collection

74. your favourite love triangle

80. a book that reminds you of a loved one

90. the longest book you've read

99. a book with a strong female protagonist

119. your favourite summer read

131. tag somebody with whom you would want to buddy read a book

Ohhhhhhh Dayum that sure is an ask xD I’ll try my best adsfghjkl

Ask meme

5 Ok already the first one i go completely Blank on? Wtf reads like poetry?? What Does That Even Mean 🙈

28 as a beginner like as someone who hasn’t read any books yet?? Or for the first time? I wish I could read LotR for the first time again. I remember I’ve even read all the songs and long tree descriptions and everything because I was so in the story I couldn’t miss a single word, and I’ve skipped most of them every time since, and usually just watch the movies instead anyway lmao

42 scream in a good or bad way? Bad way so many Deutschunterricht Bücher. Homo Faber in particular.

Good way most of the discworld books recently!

43 & 50 Sara, die kleine Prinzessin <3 used to borrow it each time I was at the local library as a kid

Oh and also Isola by Isabel Abedi! It’s been a while and I don’t really remember the plot all that well but I remember reading it a lot. Maybe I should give it another re-read!

54 “The wind howled, lightning stabbed at the earth erratically, like an inefficient assassin” - Terry Pratchett: Wyrd Sisters

(Tbh it’s the only book I physically have on me atm and so the only first sentence I could check. But. I think it’s pretty good!)

55 If it hasn’t got a satisfying ending I don’t like itttt, honestly everything I’ve already answered could go here too…

60 the fucking house of night side stories haunt me

66 oh god oh fuck I don’t remember the name because halfway through I put it Behind the other books in my shelf in my childhood bedroom so I’d never have to look at it again but. It was about what if ‘ageing’ got a cure and everyone was basically suddenly immortal and obvs we don’t have the resources for that kind of population and wars and fucked up politics and killings and ghettos and oh my god

70 I actually tend to read poems either online and then it’s not a collection but more going through Google images of a particular author like K Le Guin, or checking out old poetry books from free book thingies where I maybe won’t like them all that much most of the time but they’re still kinda interesting? But couldn’t name a fav

74 love triangle or love angle? Poly 📐 from books I can’t think of anything canon or hc? And ‘love triangle’ ~oh who will she be end up with’ angles I just can’t stand. But most well written of these kinds of situations is definitely Panem because it’s not actually about the picking the boy but rather picking the kind of life Katniss wants to live

80 5 Freunde makes me think of my parents bc I have all their old books <3 and Lola makes me think of my sister because i used to read that series out loud for her

90 I know for sure I’ve read fanfics longer than any book I might’ve read!

99 hunger games. Oh, also anything from Trudi Canavan, especially the Age of the Five series. Many great women there and I love the witch best

119 what on earth is a summer read? XD but some other fav books of mine are

- Lies we Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley, an interracial lesbian story set in the US during the segregation

- Dracula by Bram Stoker. Seriously if you haven’t read it yet do so it’s amazing. I love seeing all the Dracula daily memes now, when I read it years ago most ppl just knew some movies that have nothing to do with the original plot and the original is great!

- Erebos by Ursula Poznanski. That one just… I couldn’t put it down, it’s so thrilling and good.

131 I’m not sure I’d want to buddy read a book with anyone because if Dracula daily taught me anything, then that I am incapable of reading on a schedule xD I really tried to re-read it with the emails. But nope. But theoretically, on a we‘d-probably-vibe-with-the-same-stories-&-enjoy-chatting-about-them kind of way, I’d have a bookclub with you and @lavendelhummel @squishmittenficfan @purlturtle @mimi-mindless @die-schwanenkoenigin @wellsbering :)

And if you guys liked these qs, the ask meme is here, if you reblog it I’ll send some your way!

Thx so much for the ask Ela! <3

[skygemspeaks]

i hope you enjoy iron widow i had SO MUCH FUN reading it!!

thanks nonny! I really really loved it! the ending threw me for a loop and now i'm just gonna be on the edge of my seat for *consults calendar* seven and a half months 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[shipperqueen6]

1, 10 and/or 16!

1. Three way tie between: ready or not by cara bastone, at first spite by Olivia Dade and only when it's us by Chloe liese.

I chose from books I read this calendar year, the list would be a lot longer otherwise. More than happy to talk about them 🩷

16. Bright Falls by Ashley Herring Blake and All souls trilogy by Deborah harkness.

Classic literature is not typically my thing however I'm open to recommendations 💜💜

[felixjoyful]

20 for the book ask.

My most anticipated release and whether it was worth it.

Raven by Piper Scott and Virginia Kelly came out this year! It was supposed to come out two years ago but had to be completely rewritten and be split into two part. It's the last book of that series and completely ties it together, I had the chance to get a chapter a day from September up until release of part two in November and it was such a blast!

Thank you for asking. (: