#i should really count how many nonfiction books I read...

[ashleybenlove]

@lifblogs asked me a few days ago if I was gonna share the list of books I read this year. So, I'm gonna do that.

Due to character limits, I had to separate the numbered lists, so first list goes up to 100 and then the second list is the rest.

Couple of notes, my list includes the date I finished reading and a couple of marks.

Their meanings:

Started in 2022: * This book is a reread: ** Did not write down the date but probably the date: *? (Basically I decided after I had started to include the date finished.) Special notation for Dracula and Dracula Daily: **!

Bold denotes favorites.

Eight Kinky Nights: An f/f Chanukah romance by Xan West* – Jan 1*?

Through the Moon: A Graphic Novel (The Dragon Prince Graphic Novel #1) by Peter Wartman – Jan 4

Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings – Jan 7

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World by Steve Brusatte – Jan 12

A Brother’s Price by Wen Spencer** - Jan 13

Gossie and Gertie by Olivier Dunrea – Jan 17

A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters by Andrew H. Knoll – Jan 18

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler – Jan 22

Flying Dinosaurs: How Fearsome Reptiles Became Birds by John Pickrell – Jan 25

Promised Land: a Revolutionary Romance by Rose Lerner – Jan 26

Bad Girls Never Say Die by Jennifer Mathieu – Jan 27

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr – Feb 2

Artemis by Andy Weir – Feb 4

Hunting Game by Helene Tursten – Feb 7

How the Earth Turned Green: A Brief 3.8-Billion-Year History of Plants by Joseph E. Armstrong – Feb 14

Fortuna by Kristyn Merbeth – Feb 16

After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M. Lopez – Feb 22

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan – Feb 22

Super Volcanoes: What They Reveal about Earth and the Worlds Beyond by Robin George Andrews – Feb 28

Memoria by Kristyn Merbeth – Feb 28

American Revolution: A History From Beginning to End by Hourly History – Mar 5

Discordia by Kristyn Merbeth – Mar 6

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley – Mar 17

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded by Simon Winchester – Mar 18

The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions by Peter Brannen – Mar 18

Big Chicas Don't Cry by Annette Chavez Macias – Mar 19

Innumerable Insects: The Story of the Most Diverse and Myriad Animals on Earth by Michael S. Engel – Mar 21

The Cause: The American Revolution and its Discontents, 1773-1783 by Joseph J. Ellis – Mar 24

Eragon by Christopher Paolini – Mar 25

Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive by Philipp Dettmer – Mar 25

Locked in Time by Lois Duncan** – Mar 26

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur – Mar 28

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict – April 4

Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham – April 7

Bisexually Stuffed By Our Living Christmas Stocking by Chuck Tingle – April 8

Bloodmoon Huntress: A Graphic Novel (The Dragon Prince Graphic Novel #2) by Nicole Andelfinger – April 9

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell – April 11

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton – April 13

The Return of Martin Guerre by Natalie Zemon Davis – April 17

What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jimenez – April 19

Cinder by Marissa Meyer – April 20

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson – April 20

Eldest by Christopher Paolini – April 22

The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan – April 23

The Sentient Lesbian Em Dash — My Favorite Punctuation Mark — Gets Me Off by Chuck Tingle – April 24

The Pleistocene Era: The History of the Ice Age and the Dawn of Modern Humans by Charles River Editors – April 26

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie – April 27

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach – April 29

Absolution by Murder by Peter Tremayne – May 3

Matrix by Lauren Groff – May 6

The Color Purple by Alice Walker – May 7

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie – May 9

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume – May 11

The Dragon Prince Book One: Moon by Aaron Ehasz and Melanie McGanney Ehasz – May 13

Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan – May 15

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez – May 15

Atlas of Unusual Borders: Discover Intriguing Boundaries, Territories and Geographical Curiosities by Zoran Nikolic – May 20

How the Mountains Grew: A New Geological History of North America by John Dvorak – May 20

The Guncle by Steven Rowley – May 21

Brisingr by Christopher Paolini – May 24

Reflection: A Twisted Tale by Elizabeth Lim – May 26

Sailor's Delight by Rose Lerner – May 26

The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World by Riley Black – May 28

Humans are Weird: I Have the Data by Betty Adams – June 3

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro – June 4

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer – June 8

Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut – June 9

A Tip for the Hangman by Allison Epstein – June 11

Cress by Marissa Meyer – June 20

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao – June 22

The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us by Steve Brusatte – June 24

After the Hurricane by Leah Franqui – June 24

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini – June 25

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez – June 26

Dark Room Etiquette by Robin Roe – June 30

The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack – July 4

Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire – July 5

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin – July 7

Cosmos by Carl Sagan – July 10

1984 by George Orwell** -- July 11

What Once Was Mine: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell – July 17

Evolution Gone Wrong: The Curious Reasons Why Our Bodies Work (Or Don't) by Alex Bezzerides – July 20

The Planet Factory: Exoplanets and the Search for a Second Earth Hardcover by Elizabeth Tasker – July 21

Witches by Brenda Lozano – July 24

Son of a Sailor: A Cozy Pirate Tale by Marshall J. Moore – July 29

Winter by Marissa Meyer – July 29

As Old As Time: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell – July 30

Baking Yesteryear: The Best Recipes from the 1900s to the 1980s by B. Dylan Hollis – August 4

Half Bad by Sally Green – August 7

The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time by John Kelly – August 14

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley – August 18

Gory Details: Adventures From the Dark Side of Science by Erika Engelhaupt – August 22

The Last Karankawas by Kimberly Garza – August 25

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore – Sept 5

Oceans of Kansas, Second Edition: A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea by Michael J. Everhart – Sept 7

Corpus Christi: The History of a Texas Seaport by Bill Walraven – Sept 9

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury** – Sept 12

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Sept 18

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera – Sept 20

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett – Sept 22

The Mammals of Texas by William B. Davis and David J. Schmidly – Sept 29

The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett – Oct 4

The 2024 Old Farmer’s Almanac edited by Janice Stillman – Oct 7

Half Wild by Sally Green – Oct 7

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James – Oct 7

Verity by Colleen Hoover – Oct 10

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence – Oct 15

Archaeology: Unearthing the Mysteries of the Past by Kate Santon – Oct 16

100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife by Ken Jennings – Oct 22

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie – Oct 22

Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe García McCall – Oct 22

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie – Oct 27

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler – Oct 28

The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found by Mary Beard – Oct 29

Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair by Sarah Schulman – Oct 31

The Great Texas Dragon Race by Kacy Ritter – Nov 6

Dracula by Bram Stoker**! – Nov 7/8

The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser – Nov 9

Cascadia's Fault: The Coming Earthquake and Tsunami that Could Devastate North America by Jerry Thompson – Nov 10

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison – Nov 11

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney – Nov 13

Untamed by Glennon Doyle – Nov 14

Nimona by ND Stevenson – Nov 18

Dracula Daily by Matt Kirkland**! – Nov 20

A Mother Would Know by Amber Garza – Nov 24

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie – Nov 25

How To Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell** – Nov 27

Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie – Dec 1

Murtagh by Christopher Paolini – Dec 8

The Labours of Hercules by Agatha Christie – Dec 8

Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson – Dec 9

These Holiday Movies With Bizarrely Similar Smiling Heterosexual Couples Dressed In Green And Red On Their Cover Get Me Off Bisexually by Chuck Tingle – Dec 9

The Domesday Book: England's Heritage, Then & Now edited by Thomas Hindle – Dec 10

You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation by Julissa Arce – Dec 13

Himawari House by Harmony Becker – Dec 13

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck** – Dec 18

Born Into It: A Fan’s Life by Jay Baruchel – Dec 18

The Dragon Prince Book Two: Sky by Aaron Ehasz and Melanie McGanney Ehasz – Dec 23

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree – Dec 24

Half Lost by Sally Green – Dec 24

Understudies by Priya Sridhar – Dec 28

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir – Dec 28

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking – Dec 31

[drdemonprince]

Can you offer any (academic) writing advice for Autistics and ADHDers? You clearly write a lot and write very well and very clearly, so some insight into your process would be great. Personally, I tend to struggle with over explaining or over citing (cause I am always getting misunderstood) and that I get very fixated on not misrepresenting what my sources are saying to avoid feeling like I'm lying. All this is time consuming and makes it hard to say what I really want to say. Thanks!

Hi there! I've written an essay about a lot of this, here is the free link to read it on Medium:

Much of my writing process is inspired by the book How to Write a Lot by Paul Silvia, and it is specifically tailored to academics. The advice applies to people who write popular nonfiction or fiction just as easily, however. And he does have advice relevant to the self-editing and self-doubt you describe feeling.

The full piece gets into this more, but here are some of the stand-out tips:

Schedule a regular time to write every week and show up no matter whether you are feeling it or not.

Throw out all your magical thinking about what you "need" to be able to write. You don't need the perfect workspace, divine inspiration, the right pen, the right playlist. You just need to show up to write regularly, and do it

Editing, outlining, working with research notes, and drafting all count as "writing." Don't expect your initial drafts to be perfect or to equate writing only with getting new words on the page.

Try writing in public spaces to help get yourself in the mindset of explaining a concept to someone with a different frame of reference and type of expertise than you. Writing in a cafe or a public library can force you think and write in a more accessible way. (alternatively, you can pretend you are explaining the concept to a specific person in your life who you respect but who doesnt have all the same reference points as you -- sometimes this is called the "Grandma Test". Explain something like you are talking to your grandma.)

In addition to all this, I would add that you should read a lot of writing, both good and bad, especially work that isn't dry and academic. If all you read is journal articles, you'll write a journal article -- and most of those are hell to read, even for academics. read fiction. read bad wattsapp shipping. read substacks. read newspapers. read indulgent personal nonfiction in the cut or whatever. read reddit posts. notice what works and what doesn't. develop an ear.

and then write a lot! it took me 15 years to get good enough for anything i wrote to get noticed. you can expect to take many years to get comfortable developing your own voice, too. i dont know how far along you are, but even when you've made tremendous progress you'll only notice your flaws and feel the most turgid brain foggy moments. that doesn't mean you're failing.

also, to some extent you can embrace your citation-dense, precise manner of self-expression. we are living in a moment of maximalism and indulgent, long creative works. it's the decade of the 5 hour youtube essay and the 2 hour album. my 5,000 word essays do better than my 2,000 word ones. you should strip down unnecessary tangents and trust yourself and your reader a little more probably, but ive found that the more blatantly autistic and indulgent my writing gets the more the right people like it. a writer's flaws and their distinctive voice are kinda hard to separate. you're not for everyone!

good luck!

[choicesficwriterscreations]

September 2023 WOTM: lilyoffandoms

Each month CFWC highlights one of our talented fanfic writers, and this month’s writer of the month is @lilyoffandoms. We hope you will enjoy learning more about them and their work below! The writer is selected at random. More info can be found on the navigation page.

This month's Writer of the Month was selected a little differently than normal. We announced that we would be selecting the WOTM from the participants in last month's Writer Appreciation Event. But the eleven writers involved all agreed the honor belonged to Lily. Lily has been a staple in the Choices community for so long, and they continuously go out of their way to support creators and spread positivity while continuing to inspire and create themselves. We couldn't think of anyone better suited for the honor, so please join us in congratulating Lily... September's Writer of the Month!

Quick Links:

Tumblr Blog Name: lilyoffandoms Blog Masterlist

How do you want to be known on Tumblr? Lily is fine (they/them preferred)

1- When did you start playing Choices? What was the first book you played? 

Best guess would be back in January of 2018. It was a joke at first since a friend saw one of their god-awful ads and said we should both try it. Next thing you know, we were both arguing over which books were better and regretting our decision to start. Though their opinions on what constitutes good books are almost as bad as the Choices ad that got us to jokingly play (and I say this most lovingly because they are awesome and I love them). I started with Most Wanted, and my friend started with The Freshman. 

2- When and why did you join Choices fandom?

Oh gods! I joined back in March 2019. I know I’m a Tumblr baby by most everyone’s standards, but that feels like a really long time. I joined when Open Heart book one was released. I had lurked, reading fanfics, for a few months before biting the bullet and creating a blog and actually posting. Only joined because I was taking my editor’s advice and writing something entirely outside my norm to break a particularly bad case of writer’s block. Thought I might as well share those silly things if I was taking the time to write them. Maybe someone would enjoy them. Never did plan on sticking around, but found so many lovely people that I’ve come to call friends.

3- How did you pick your blog name? 

It was lilyofchoices. My name + Choices because I am super creative like that with those sorts of naming things 😅 I changed it to lilyoffandoms when I left the Choices fandom for a bit. I’ve thought about changing it more times than I can count but I can’t bring myself to actually follow through on it. How do y’all’s change your blog name with each new book release? You are a crazy different breed of tumblr and you fascinate me.

4- Pull up the first post in your archive, and tell us about it!  

I deleted the first one years ago. It was my first drabble. Currently, as it stands, the first thing in my archive is this post about Desire and Decorum, and it still makes me giggle.

5- How long have you been writing fanfiction?

I’ve only been writing fanfic since I joined Tumblr. I never really tried writing fanfic before that. Some nonfiction personal things before that but never anything like this world. It's been an adventure, to say the least haha

6- What is your favorite Choices book, and what is your favorite Choices book to write about?

My favorite book is probably Blades of Light and Shadow, book one, but there are plenty that are really close behind. This is also the book I’d say I enjoy writing for the most because it is my favorite book, contains my favorite LI, and has one of my favorite OCs (Maiele) in it.

Though recently, I’ve been writing more for Crimes of Passion because it's more of a challenge for me. It's a different vibe between the MC and the LI and it's one I don’t often explore so I’m here for that right now. But I have a sneaky suspicion once Blades 2 drops I’ll be back on my bullshit with that again.

7- Share the first fanfic you wrote with us. Do you still like it, or would you change it if you were writing it today?

I don’t think it exists on this site anymore. Maybe in someone’s reblog? I still have it in my files. It was an Ethan x MC drabble featuring my MC, Merida. I still like it. I’d not change it cuz I’m a firm believer in writing it and don’t look back haha.

This is it:

He swallowed the lump forming in his throat, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to form in his eyes. There it was. He had told her. Dr. Banerji was dying and Ethan was at a loss as to what was ailing his mentor and friend. Ethan stared at the young woman in front of him and then to the floor. He cleared his throat and made a small motion to turn back into Naveen’s room but froze instantly the moment he noticed her take a step towards him.

She threw her arms around him and hugged him, wishing to take away all of his pain, all of his loneliness. Silently willing him to understand that she cared for him. Cared deeply for him and much more than she should. “Ethan. I’m so sorry,” she whispered, one hand stroked through his hair while the other grasped his neck and slowly bent his head toward her shoulders as she raised herself to her tiptoes to meet him halfway.

He tensed upon feeling her arms around him. Arms, he thought to himself, that he had imagined holding him for a number of weeks now. Ever since that night spent sitting up with her watching little baby Ethan. “Merida,” he sighed as he gradually relaxed into the embrace.

She didn’t let up on the hug, squeezing him to her just a bit more tightly. God, she had wanted to comfort him when Dolores died but she didn’t know how he would respond. Now, he was facing the possibility of another friend dying and she couldn’t help herself.

He responded to the increased pressure of her hug and tightened his own hold upon her. Finding himself tracing circles up her spine and imagining what it would feel like to move his hands to tease along the skin of her back where her pants met her shirt.

Her breath caught when she felt his hands move lower. No longer making gentle movements along her spine but increasing their pressure upon her body, nearly massaging their way lower. She brought one of her own hands around to his chest, lightly bunching his white coat in her fist to try and pull him closer to her.

A loud crash echoed down the hall. “Shit!” a construction worker cursed. The two doctors jumped back from each other both staring into each other’s eyes seeming to question if they had both felt the same in the other’s arms. She blushed slightly. “I should see to my other patients. Dr. Banerji’s condition stays between us. Understand, Rookie?” he stated, his eyes narrowing. She nodded and he turned and marched down the hall.

8- What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

I love asking this question of others but don’t like it asked of me. I’m so bad at self-rep and advertising my wares 😂 But if I had to pick one, I’d say this one. It was so far outside my comfort zone when it came to writing that I almost abandoned it two paragraphs in. But I’m a stubborn person, and I refused to let it beat me. Plus, I had been wanting to write a noir fic for this book since it was released. Furthermore, I adore Hayden’s work too much not to gift a little something back for all the art he shares with us, so I knew I just had to make it work.

9- Do you have a fic that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to be but found could use a little more love?

I didn’t expect last year’s Luck of the Draw fic to garner much love. Attention? Maybe. But not love and definitely not the response I got. I really enjoyed writing that one. 

10- If you could write only angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why? 

Fluff. I’m a sucker for happy-ever-afters and an endless hopeless romantic. Give me the fluff. All the fluff. 

I pull a lot of what I toss into my silly drabbles from real life. Always been a believer in writing, most often what you know, and sprinkle that all with a dash of the stuff you don’t as a treat. And my life is pretty fluffy thanks to my incredible partner. 

However, I do so adore angst I’m just not able to write it often because it hurts more to write. But I’ll always always read it. That pain is *chef’s kisses*

11- Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MCs or in your writing?

Maiele, my Blades MC, is most definitely me coded. His whole personality, his choice of partner when it comes to personality, his constant flirting with said partner, his sense of humor, his lack of a filter most times, it’s all pretty much me. Gabriel, my CoP MC, is me when it comes to romantic gestures and Valentine’s Day. I may be a romantic, but I get weird when it’s aimed at me 😂 

12- What element of writing do you struggle with most?

Editing. I refuse to do it. I hate it with the burning light of a thousand suns. Those of you that manage to edit your fics have all my admiration. I honestly don’t know how y’all do it. Doesn’t it just bore you to no end? 

13- Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish?

I have more drafts than I care to admit. I would like to complete a series I started long ago for Ethan x Merida, but I don’t know if I’ll ever do that. I’d settle for finishing one of my drafts 😅

14- If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first? 

Nope, haha, I’d not be able to do that. If I were that brave, I’d recommend this one maybe. I do so love Flynn. Or this one, mostly because I do so love the idea of Gabriel just pouting on the couch.

15 - Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing?

Not really. I mean all of em probably. I read a lot of books in a lot of genres. Mostly I use my drabbles as morning warm ups for my day job. 

There are definitely fanfic writers I admire around here that encourage me to share my silly things everyday. Especially all those queer writers out there that have a rather thankless existence sometimes around here but keep sharing their stories! They are all my heroes!!

16- Which one of your stories would you most like to see as a movie/series? 

Any and all of my Maiele and Tyril stories. I just love them sooooo much!!

17- Do you write original fiction? 

Yes, but until recently, I wrote mostly nonfiction.

I do have a fic I began a few years back when I was still teaching. I had a student who hated their writing class, so I promised to write a short story alongside them and read it to the class like all the students had to if they gave it an honest go. 

They did and so I did too, and I was asked the following year to do it again by more students and so I continued the same story. I’ve since continued that same fic, and maybe someday I’ll actually go looking to publish it. 

18 -  What other hobbies do you have?

I love the outdoors. Hiking, spelunking, kayaking, gardening, camping, anything and everything outdoors. My other favorite hobby, which I've done for years and years, is fencing. I still am part of a club and teach a few levels. 

19 - What’s your favorite emoji? 

😅 because it’s legit my state of existence at this point in life. 

20: BONUS - tell us anything you’d like (if you want to).

I want to send a special shout-out to all the absolutely lovely participants of August’s writer appreciation event I hosted. I still cannot believe y’all did this for me. 😘 These are each of my favorite fics you’ve written. Thank you for making our fandom a little brighter each and every day!

@aallotarenunelma Bathed in Sunlight @coffeeheartaddict2 Moths to a Flame @karahalloway A Leviathan Surprise @jerzwriter A Mother's Journal @ladylamrian Ma Cherie @mydemonsdrivealimo Run, Run @peonyblossom We're Gonna Get Married @petiteboheme Familia @storyofmychoices Passing Shower @tessa-liam All is Fair in Love and War @trappedinfanfiction What's In a Name? Lily's Top Three Commissions can be found here:

Crimes of Passion by @javsarts

A Year of Kisses by various artists: @lethendralis-paints @cashweasel @kundool @deheerkonijn @javsarts @weetlebeetle @kollapsar @mooreaux @rosefuckinggenius @/ArtbyAinna (IG) @littlestpersimmon @callmebeem

Trystan x Noel by @rosefuckinggenius

[balioc]

BALIOC'S READING LIST, 2023 EDITION

This list counts only published books, consumed in published-book format, that I read for the first time and finished. No rereads, nothing abandoned halfway through, no Internet detritus of any kind, etc. Also no children’s picture books.

(There were so many children's picture books.)

Hand of the Sun King, J. T. Greathouse

Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery

The Circus of Dr. Lao, Charles G. Finney

When the Angels Left the Old Country, Sacha Lamb

Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us, Rachel Aviv

Elder Race, Adrian Tchaikovsky

Yamada Monogatari: Troubled Spirits, Richard Parks

Victory City, Salman Rushdie

Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America, Richard Rorty

Cage of Souls, Adrian Tchaikovsky

A Morbid Taste for Bones, Ellis Peters

One Corpse Too Many, Ellis Peters

Priest of Bones, Peter McLean

Priest of Lies, Peter McLean

Demon Summoner: Apprentice, Greg Walters

By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions, Richard Cohen

Tsalmoth, Steven Brust

Priest of Gallows, Peter McLean

Priest of Crowns, Peter McLean

Waybound, Will Wight

Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata

The Tatami Galaxy, Tomihiko Morimi

These Violent Delights, Chloe Gong

Death in Venice, Thomas Mann

Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life, Rory Sutherland

The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton

Storming Heaven, Miles Cameron

Against Worldbuilding, and Other Provocations: Essays on History, Narrative and Game Design, Alexis Kennedy

From Ritual to Romance, Jessie L. Weston

To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf

Rats and Gargoyles, Mary Gentle

Labyrinth's Heart, M. A. Carrick

Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships, Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin

The Long, Long Goodbye of "The Last Bookstore," Mizuki Nomura

The Last Sun, K. D. Edwards

The Hanged Man, K. D. Edwards

The Hourglass Throne, K. D. Edwards

Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi

The Thirteen Petalled Rose: A Discourse on the Essence of Jewish Existence and Belief, Adin Steinsaltz

The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith

Untethered Sky, Fonda Lee

The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius

The Star-Child, Oscar Wilde

Monk's Hood, Ellis Peters

St. Peter's Fair, Ellis Peters

The Leper of St. Giles, Ellis Peters

The Virgin in the Ice, Ellis Peters

The Nutcracker, E. T. A. Hoffman and Alexandre Dumas

The Sanctuary Sparrow, Ellis Peters

Child of God, Cormac McCarthy

The Devil's Novice, Ellis Peters

Dead Man's Ransom, Cormac McCarthy

Plausible works of improving nonfiction consumed in 2023: 10

["plausible" and "improving" are being defined very liberally here]

Balioc's Choice Award, Fiction Division: The Circus of Dr. Lao, Charles G. Finney

>>>> Honorable Mention: Rats and Gargoyles, Mary Gentle

[This seems like the correct place to point out that, for the Balioc's Choice Awards, I consider only works that were first published with the last 100 years. Otherwise it would just be "surprise, old classics are often classics for a reason."]

Balioc's Choice Award, Nonfiction Division: The Thirteen Petalled Rose: A Discourse on the Essence of Jewish Existence and Belief, Adin Steinsaltz

>>>> Honorable Mention: A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith

The Roscommon Princess Award for Luminous Trembling Beauty in the Face of a Bleakly Mundane World: The Star-Child, Oscar Wilde

The Anguished Howl Award for Somehow Making Me Regret Reading a Book About a Demon Summoner in the Thirty Years' War: Demon Summoner: Apprentice, Greg Walters

The Tamsyn Muir Award for Demonstrating that Popularity Really, Really, Really is Not the Same Thing as Quality: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

The G. K. Chesterton Award for Being G. K. Chesterton, I Mean, to Whom Else Could I Compare Him, For Someone So Avowedly Stodgy He is the Ballsiest Motherfucker I Have Ever Read: The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton

**********

...this year was much like the last several years, only somehow even more so. Not in a good way, I fear. My current lifestyle continues not to be super-conducive to reading, and writing a weekendlong LARP kind of knocked the wind out of me, both during and after. If it weren't for a massive silly-fun historical-mystery binge in December, my numbers here would be shameful. And you will notice that a whole lot of the things on that list are very short.

Most of the contemporary fiction was pretty much what I expected it to be. There were few real standouts. Things by good authors continued to be mostly good; things by shlocky authors continued to be shlock.

I should probably drive less for my various solitary recreational jaunts, just so that I can spend more of that time with a book. I should definitely read more old stuff, because old stuff continues to be the most reliably rewarding. (The cream of the cream of the old stuff, anyway, which is...what you read.)

I continue to be Extremely In the Market for recommendations of really good, deeply-informative nonfiction.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading update: june 2023

as promised (to myself) I spent all of gay months reading books by and/or about the gays, no exceptions! (unless you count the heaps of old Batman comics I was reading, but come on. it's all pretty fruity.) the trend will be continuing into July as well because I overshot and still have book I need to finish, so in the immortal words of Janelle Monáe: happy pride forever!

anyway, what have I actually been reading?

Empress of Forever (Max Gladstone, 2019) - man, I've been meaning to read this FOREVER! and I'm glad I finally did. Gladstone's space opera follows ultrawealthy tech genius Vivian Liao, a sort of dykey Lex Luthor who's CERTAIN that she's the good guy. okay, yes, she's trying to get control of the nukes, but she's not going to use them. it's just that the world's a mess and she needs to be in charge. unfortunately our girl Vivian doesn't get far in her master plan before she's transported across the galaxy and finds herself on the run from the all-powerful Empress in the company of a cybernetic monk named Hong and the legendary space pirate Zanj, the Empress' greatest enemy. from there our heroes are off on a slow, messy quest across the galaxy as they make new friends, grow as people, and strive to bring the Empress down. it's a very long book and can feel slow in places, but all of the time devoted to fleshing out the characters ultimately pays off as their stories converge into a resonant narrative about the notion of identity and what it means to be yourself. if you like Becky Chambers' Wayfarer books of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, get on this shit.

also hey listen Max Gladstone is having a bit of a Moment rn; the book he coauthored with Amal El-Mohtar, This Is How You Lose the Time War, is getting a huge boost thanks to the Trigun (????) fandom??? over on Twitter, and you should definitely go check it out

Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men (Jane Ward, 2016) - Ward is a brilliant queer feminist writer; rigorous and insightful while keeping her work imminently readable. while the title may sound facetious, Ward actually takes entirely at face value that there are men having sex with each other an engaging in otherwise homoerotic activities - mutual jerkoffs, hazing rituals that involve anal penetration - that sincerely aren't stemming from a place of gay desire and asks us what the fuck we're supposed to make of that. what results is a fascinating look at masculinity and the intricate rituals that both subvert and maintain it. shockingly thought provoking for a book that contains so many transcribed craigslist posts of men looking for straight guys to have totally normal hetero dudesex with!

The Latinos of Asia: How Filipinos Break the Rules of Race (Anthony Christian Ocampo, 2016) - I was lucky enough to get to see Ocampo (who is gay) speaking at the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity this year, and naturally I had to buy one of his books while I was there. I strongly suspect he's about to become one of my new favorite nonfiction writers, because the Latinos of Asia was a brilliant read that I really couldn't put down. Ocampo (who's also Filipino!) delves into the formation of Filipino-Americans' racial identity, and finds that many feel caught between the most conventionally accepted racial categories - feeling alienated from the idea of Asian identity, which is often perceived as pertaining to East Asians like Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, and instead relating much more firmly to Mexican-Americans and other Latinos. it's a FASCINATING study on race and one (of many!) loopholes that exists in this very large, messy, totally made up construct of race.

A Lady for a Duke (Alexis Hall, 2022) - for my pride month romance novel I wanted to read something that I might actually like. I've previously adored Hall's genre-fucking ultra-queer Sherlock Holmes pastiche, the Affair of the Mysterious Letter, and Lady for a Duke was really well-reviewed, so my hopes were high! and you know what? I fucking loved this. it was like cotton candy, perfectly sweet and made to be inhaled without a second thought. Our Heroine Viola was the heir to an estate who faked her death at Waterloo so that she could run away and be herself - that's right baby, this is a 19th century trans lady romance! she reconnects with her old BFF the Duke of Gracewood, who's been catatonically depressed since losing his best friend in the war, and reader, you will not believe what happens next. just kidding, you totally will: they want to kiss each other so bad! they're yearning so bad and it's great. it's a very silly book and Gracewood is the most unexpectedly forward-thinking 19th century duke EVER who is instantly down to accept Viola entirely as a woman and thinks that having biological children is overrated, and you know what? that rules. I'm not reading this book for historical accuracy I'm reading it to watch a man beg his girlfriend to fuck him tenderly in the ass. and she does!!! if I'm being honest everything after they finally hook up is kind of nonsense and the book probably is too long, but god it's a delightful time.

Chlorine (Jade Song, 2023) - back in the days of twitter I started following Jade Song as soon as they announced selling this book, the story of a competitive high school swimmer succumbing to obsession as she fantasizes about becoming a mermaid. finally getting to pick up the book from the library and actually read it felt crazy after existing in potentia for so long! while Song's novel is a little rough in some places in exactly the way I expect from a debut, it's still gripping and visceral. our protagonist lives in an intense and demanding world, striving to please an overly handsy coach, wanting to please the immigrant parents she can barely speak to, stumbling through sex with boys on her team while longing for her female best friend. through it all she fixates on mermaids, and the story is told in flashbacks building up to a drastic act of self-mutilation at a swim meet. it's definitely not the right book for the faint of heart or anyone looking for feel-good fluff, but it's harrowing in the best way.

Vagabonds! (Eloghosa Osunde, 2022) - gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! Osunde celebrates queer life - those called vagabonds, society's outliers - in Lagos, Nigeria, slipping between the real world of social stigma, oppressive religion, judgmental family, and dangerous politics, and the world of magic, gods, and the unreal, blending the two together in an effortlessly dizzying effect. the ultrawealthy hide behind layers of flawless masks to conceal their identities, a lonely woman dying of cancer summons up a daughter than only she can see, and a young man channels the devil to raise his murdered lover. while the stories start bleak, firmly establishing the danger of life on the margins, they gather speed with increasing warmth and love as the story progresses, eventually bringing all of our protagonists together in glorious, life-affirming celebration of vagabonds and all who love them. Nigeria, in Osunde's hands, reads much like family - imperfect, sometimes even awful, but also capable of harboring tremendous love, surprising tenderness, and still worth holding out hope for. I think measuring books in terms of relatability is a fool's game, but as an American queer watching more and more legislation and persecution roll out against my people each day, it was hard not to feel a cord being struck. Vagabonds! is a beautiful reminder that queer resilience is eternal, and reader, I did cry.

Quietly Hostile (Samantha Irby, 2023) - I was a ride or die bitch for Sam Irby even before she picked up and moved to my small Michigan city, effectively becoming my neighbor. (not really, but she is married to the mother of a friend of a friend, so.) despite this, I will freely admit that I was a little underwhelmed by her last release, 2020's Wow, No Thank You. it's possible that WNTY was damned by its March 2020 release, putting it in the awkward position of being a humorous essay collection creeping out into the world at a time when everyone was paranoid and nothing was funny; maybe on a reread I would receive it a bit more warmly. Quietly Hostile, on the other hand, is just stupid funny right out of the gate. Sam Irby is old (see: in her early 40s) and going downhill, writing candidly about peeing her pants everywhere, adopting a rancid little dog, getting sent to the hospital with a severe allergic reaction, and jacking off to plot-heavy porn of elderly lesbian nuns. it takes a little bit of work to get me to actually laugh out loud at a book but man, I was chortling. if you don't already know her work, this is a sign from god (me) to check Samantha Irby out now.

what am I reading now?

Black Water Sister (Zen Cho, 2021) - the was one of the oldest queer novels(TM) on my list and I really wanted to knock it out for pride month. the Malaysian setting and culture is a welcome addition to contemporary urban fantasy, but I'm not sure I'm crazy about the story overall. and yet, I'm over 200 pages deep and don't want to give up, so ? I guess I'm persisting.

Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin, 1956) - my local library lost their copy just in time for pride month, so I bought one on ebay for all of nine dollars. haven't started yet, but I'm really excited to finally pop that proverbial Baldwin cherry!

[kaelio]

please don’t fn kill me but Marius de Romanus and his overall relationship with Armand 🔥

Bonus round: David Talbot x Marius as a ship🔥

Thank you and please enjoy your day

my aaaabsolutely hottest take is that the fandom is insanely selective about what problematic stuff they think "counts". everyone's got a set number of things that they accept from the canon and things they don't. they have things they de-rice-ify and things they don't. e.g. I have NEVER seen the insanely pornographic description of lestat eating the children in the iwtv novel ever brought up because it's gross so we all pretend it's not real. I think it's fine people do this. I don't even think people SHOULD try to have a consistent read of the vampire chronicles books. I think that if we did, it would be an indictment of them and not a compliment. For example, truth be told, I hate most pixar movies. hate them. any film that is getting EXACTLY the same audience reaction from virtually every single audience member at exactly the same points with surgical precision might be an excellent commercial product but it's meaningless art.

however, it should never be an expectation that there are any components that people "have" to regard in a specific way, and especially for this specific property that is asinine. YOUR way of chewing over them and what YOU think about them is what matters. if it gets YOU horny enough to bring yourself to completion. there should be no fucking tribunal where we all get together and decide what anyone else has to think. I like Devil's Minion because it's fucking sick. I think gabrielle eating polar bears (canon as per Armand) is fucking funny in a way that I wouldn't think some random asshole shooting polar bears is funny. i think it's funny the fandom never thinks about how louis burning the fuck out of antoine was pretty fucked up from antoine's point of view. i think it's fine louis/claudia is canon in the books because she IS an adult, and no number of derivative creepy hentai visual novels will change that, and in fact it's cruel to consider book-Claudia to be a child because for her it's basically a medical condition.

I do however think that a lot of people in this fandom 1) haven't really read many older books and 2) maybe haven't read many books at all. hell, maybe 3) haven't even read these books. some of the interpretations strike me as extremely strange, particularly because i'd argue some of the canon events are worse in a context people sometimes don't seem to be aware of. or every once in a while someone will say something about one character and then be convinced e.g. khayman is smol cream puff and I'm like... hmm. hmm. sybelle for all intents and purposes apparently basically owns living benjamin and i'm not sure i've ever seen anyone worry about it beyond the intense discomfort with the benjamin character overall

anne rice loved historical fiction (which also, I feel inclined to add, was a lot harder to write in the 1990s than it is today because we have information resources that are just INSANE compared to then--you should see what a doctorate looked like in 1995 vs 2022). there are conceits intrinsic to historical fiction. you don't have to like them but people who read historical fiction have a tacit understanding of them. I actually read far less historical fiction than I read nonfiction about history--and not just american or eurasian history. (in the court of the jiajing emperor circa 1547, the 300+ new concubines were between 11 and 14). 'the past is a foreign country' in-fuckin'-deed, not just in terms of the periods the books describe but the books themselves. i just posted an article about a family that took their kids on a sailing trip around the world's oceans in the 1970s and it is UNFATHOMABLE to someone today. and that's living history. when my grandmother took my dad and his siblings to tunisia in the late 1960s, my dad disappeared for 3 DAYS. he was 14. and his mom barely cared, assumed he'd show up again at some point, which obviously he did. my other grandmother's cousin was beheaded in the yard in the 1930s in a rural area and back then crimes like that just were not solved. those things are living memory. you just have to decide if you think a 2020s lens on a 90s book about the 1790s means the content is disqualifying and if the answer is "yes" you are wholly entitled to that, but it is not a requirement for any other segment of the readership

i didn't care about marius at all when i read tvl/qotd/tva in... whatever fucking year a million billion years ago i read them the first time (in catholic school lmao), but at this point i'm stubbornly contrary about it because I think most of the reaction is knee-jerk and reflexive, predicated on tumblr's paper-thin politics, and especially crazy in the sense of what the show now "has" to do. the show didn't even make louis a white slaveowner, thank god! they don't "have" to do shit with anyone. for accountability? FOR ACCOUNTABILITY?? are you high?? accountable to whom, for what, when bandying about with these blights on humankind? anyway the showrunners can change anything they want. they might even have bianca not sleep with an "underage" armand, ooohhhh something i've seen mentioned all of fuckall number of times (thats different because blah blah blah blah blah). and there doesn't even seem to be a downside to turning benjamin or sybelle, so people going on about that part like... yeah, there really should have been, but "should have been" is also kind of antithetical to how this specific canon operates. these books are so fucking FRUSTRATING! but what happened, happened. engage with your canon, but be able to separate out canon-canon. this isn't something that's unique to me and these books, it's most of what killed my interest in my last fandom. take whatever read you want, but learn to differentiate what the canon did and what you would have preferred it did.

armand's relationship with marius is very very complicated and very very interesting but for virtually none of the reasons the fandom pays the remotest attention to. rice was really good at balancing out why people became vampires and what that means and then how they avoid the intense attrition associated with the lifestyle and their various absolutely crippling personality flaws and mental illnesses and that is all over how those two interact. and guess what! as soon as you filter them into "good vampires" and "bad vampires" you have broken the entire world these characters exist in. you have thematically broken it. you have irrevocably and irretrievably broken what makes these books interesting.

david is boring. actually my ship of choice for marius is probably thorne. i think there's a ton of meaty thematic shit in there.

e: as an aside, in life you will have to learn to navigate and negotiate within power structures. they are not going anywhere. the other obsession with perfectly equal relationships etc-- you can idealize that, and that's great. the books aren't about a world where that will be the situation between virtually anyone, and it's rarely if ever the situation in reality either. this is more a loustat comment but it bleeds into everything.

[mareastrorum]

Reading Tag Meme

Tagged by @grayintogreen

The last book I read:

Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang. Utterly fantastic book with unrestrained critique of white supremacy, colonialism, and classism.

A book I recommend:

My absolute favorite book is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas as translated by Robin Buss for Penguin books. That edition also included very helpful footnotes since I was not intimately familiar with French history for that era. I read it during the 2 months I was preparing for the bar exam, and it kept me sane. It is very long, but very enjoyable and the best revenge story I've ever read.

A book I couldn’t put down:

Dune: Messiah by Frank Herbert. I was so hyped after reading Dune and breezed through Messiah in no time at all. Easily one of my favorites.

A book I’ve read twice (or more):

The Lord of the Rings trilogy. There aren't that many books I expect to reread; I usually just feel like it on a whim. But LotR is one I have reread and will again because it's just that type of trilogy.

A book on my TBR:

So many, omg. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair has been on there for a while, I should get around to it. Eventually.

A book I’ve put down:

I cannot remember the last book I DNF'd. I've gotten very good at scrutinizing books before I buy/borrow.

That said, there is a book popular among this fandom that I almost DNF'd, but I forced myself to finish and then skimmed a second time to be sure. The more I think about it, the more I detest it. I get why other people enjoy it, and that doesn't ease my opinion.

A book on my wish list:

I don't really have a wishlist anymore because I can afford just about every book I've ever wanted. It's just a matter of remembering to buy it and getting around to reading it. That said, I want to get Persuasion by Jane Austen as annotated by David M. Shapard, and I keep forgetting to order it. I have Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility annotated by Shaphard, and it helps so much to have context on the opposite page of the one I'm reading for reference. I definitely recommend those versions for anyone who lacks sufficient social context for those books to understand what anyone's talking about.

A favorite book from childhood:

The Hobbit. I reread it every summer after the first read. I have very fond memories of reading it in the shade with a water bottle.

A book I would give to a friend:

I tend to gift nonfiction because fiction tastes vary so widely. what if? and other books by Randall Munroe have been a hit with everyone I've gifted them to.

A book of poetry or lyrics that I own:

I actually don't have a poetry book. I have folklore, fairy tales, short story anthologies, and some really old children's books from numerous cultures across multiple continents, but not poetry. I need to fix that.

A nonfiction book that I own:

About 30% of my books are nonfiction, and I have a lot of books. Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present by Frank M. Snowden was a book I picked up literally the day before COVID lockdown in 2020, and I recommend it to anyone interested in how people dealt with epidemics through the past few centuries. It helped a lot with my anxiety while isolating because it showed that this has all happened before; COVID wasn't the end times.

What I’m currently reading:

Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski. I've read it before and am refreshing because it's useful for TF&TS.

What I’m planning on reading next:

I think I'll do Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire next. I enjoyed Middlegame and am looking forward to the sequel.

I'll tag @captainsparklefingers, and anyone else who would like to!

[aceofthegreenajah]

13 books! tagged by @old-man-ghost

1)Last book I read I read Ocean at the end of the lane in two days recently. It was a very fun concept. It's the kind of book that would have left a lifelong impression on me if I had read it young. But now it was just one good book in a long line of others. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2) A book I recommend Let's go with a Taste of Gold and Iron. It's a very fun mystery, and the main character made me go. Wait. I know that feeling! I have a brain exactly like that too! (Riddled with anxiety and self-doubt at the most mundane things, but when things get serious, it's suddenly all business.)

3) A book that I couldn’t put down: I don't know if it exactly fits, because I wasn't fully invested from the start. But I did read all 500+ chapters of Omniscient Readers Viewpoint in just three days. And it is the only book I've ever read that make me go "Wait. I didn't know you could do that with a book." There are so many levels of meta in this book. It's like three books in one.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more): I reread a ton of books. Let's go for Kalevala just because I was reminded of it while taking the picture at the end of this post. I used to read it every 6 months or so as a teenager. When we were told to read it for school I just read it again instead of telling anyone I'd read it like six times already.

5) A book on my TBR: One that has been there for ages is the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. I hope to get around to it one day. I already bought it after all.

6) A book I’ve put down: Putting things down (as in meaning to continue then forgetting about it) happens often. Putting down and deciding not to continue very rarely. Last was The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. I have no idea why. In concept is sounds like just my thing and I have enjoyed her other books. My mind just couldn't get a grip on it, my attention always started to waver instantly.

7) A book on my wish list: I want an ORV official english translation SO BAD. Where is it??? It's announced and everything! Same for Nirvana In FIre, actually. Usually if I wish for a book I just buy it. It has to not exist to stay on my wish list long.

8) A favorite book from childhood: How young are we talking? Roald Dahl's witches book was my favourite at age 5. His dark materials at age 8. Good omens at age 12. Farseer trilogy at age 14. (all ages approximate)

9) A book you would give to a friend: 've gifted two people with All systems red. I would love to give it to everyone I know.

10) The most books you own by a single author: Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. As long as all 8 physical tgcf books and 4 svsss books count as separate. Though Brandon Sanderson comes very close. I think I have 7 of his books as physical copies and a few as audiobooks.

11) A nonfiction book you own: The Dawn of Everything is both excellent worldbuilding material, and really opened my eyes on how uncreative and stuck I was about how societies 'must' work. Applicable to real life as well.

12) What are you currently reading: I am still reading Exordia. It is an excellent book I'd recommend to everyone (as long as you are not particularly sensitive to body horror). But that is also why I'm going slowly because I only want to read it when I can concentrate properly. I am also reading Trash of the Count's Family when I need a less serious book, and an isekai manga, and What technology wants. The best way for me to read stuff is read whatever I feel like at the moment.

13) What are you planning on reading next? I got The Traitor Baru Cormorant at the same time I got Exordia so that's probably next.

My shelfie (one of several bookshelves. I should really weed them):

[snekatiemainy]

Book this or that tag

Waaa book time tagged by @another-clive-blog again :)

Hardcover or paperback

I suppose hardcover?? I don't have a whole lot of them but its a nice vibe. Not super strong preference though

2. Bookstore or library 

I am a library appreciator!! But I've never really had a conveniently close library? And I like to keep books for a long time

3. Bookmark or receipt

Out of these two, bookmark, I don't think I've ever actually used a receipt as a bookmark. The nearby bookstore gives a free bookmark with every book so I just use those. However, if I'm allowed to add a choice I do dog-ear my books... I know, heresy. But theyre MY books I can do what I want

4. Stand alone or series

Tbh I don't have a super strong preference like in concept? But I feel like most books I read are a part of a series

5. Nonfiction or fiction

I am a fiction enjoyer! I do enjoy nonfiction esp my silly science books (most recent I can think of is The Disordered Cosmos, highly recommend it's v neat) but the vast majority of what I read is fiction.

6. Thriller or fantasy

I have some thrillers I've been meaning to read!! But for the most part it hasn't been a genre I read that often. I do enjoy a good fantasy, though I've definitely been reading less of it recently in favor of scifi (there's a lot of overlap though so!! still counts lol)

7. Under 300 pages or over 300 pages

Tbh I don't have a frame of reference for how long 300 pages even is, I p much never look at page count lol. But I just looked at the 3 books I have with me and they're all over, one barely and the other two 400+, and those seem like perfectly reasonable lengths to me, so I'm saying over 300 lol.

8. Children's or ya

I'm realizing I don't like. Really know what defines these categories?? I guess YA? I love the hunger games so there we go lol.

9. Friends to lovers or enemies to lovers

I honestly can't think of many enemies to lovers plots I've read off the top of my head.

10. Read in bed or read on the couch

Bed bed bed. I do homework in my bed too. Also we don't have a couch in the dorm lmao.

11. Read at night or read in the morning

I have very busy mornings first of all and second of all I actually can't get my brain to work until the evening anyways

12. Keep pristine or markup

I mean I admitted to dog-earing my books earlier. I don't really mark up my books that often, but I can't claim to keep them pristine. In fact, I've been WANTING to mark up my books more. It's so easy when I read ebooks, I highlight and make notes all the time, but I should start highlighting my physical books too

13. Cracked spine or dog ear

Again I am a dog ear person gjkdk but I feel like cracked spines just inevitably happen anyways from use? So what're you gonna do

[thundercrack]

3 9 13!!

Thank u Devyn!!!!

3. What's a book you read recently that lived up to your expectations?

Tracks by Louise Erdrich! I had previously read Love Medicine by her which I liked a lot. Tracks, maybe because of the time period (early 1900s) I liked even better. I gave it an 8/10.

9. What's a genre you're hoping to try more?

Hmmm I think I need to try harder to read books that make me think for real (idk if this counts as a genre). They're connected but on one hand, I think this means I should get more serious about reading theory and engaging with it. On the other, I think this also means reading more in the veins of some of the stuff I read in school - more topical (and critical) nonfiction (usually on history, sometimes on religion).

My problem with like... independently reading more thinky books - and even with many novels at times - is I really want to talk about them or argue about them and I just don't know how to do that except via audio msg to my college friends which is just not the same... Idk. I can write out my thoughts online and it just always feels self-serving bc it feels so much more serious, AND I just don't get as much out of it. Also sometimes they're boring and I need a push to get through em. Idk. Who knows.

13. Any bookish goals for 2023?

Not really.... Read some more of the stuff I already own so I can either keep or get rid of it LOL (which I'm already doing a better job of thus far). I sort of just read whatever I feel like at any given moment and if that falls into a trend...

[libraryofjoy]

Books I read in April of 2023:

I Belong Here by Anita Sethi. Nonfiction. This book documents the author's solo travel experience in the UK as a woman of color, after after being hate crimed. Sethi also talks about her grief after her friend's death, and how she finds healing in nature. I loved the descriptions of the landscapes. This book made me want to travel more.

When the Church Was Young by Marcellino D'Ambrosio. Nonfiction. This book is an introduction to the early church fathers. It was kind of a funny choice for me because I listened to it in the last month of a class I'm taking for grad school on early Christianity. D'Ambrosio's narrations of various figures are helpfully clear, but sometimes he is very opinionated about the evil of heretics because they are heretics. I think this is probably because he has a church audience in mind, but personally I think this isn't an ideal way to write about early Christianity, particularly the earliest generations who didn't necessarily even have a full New Testament canon yet. Still, it was very accessible and I'd recommend it with that caveat.

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri. Fiction. This book is a fantasy political intrigue sapphic romance in a south Asian-inspired setting. I found the supernatural element of this story to be really creepy--there are body horror elements in which people are gradually consumed by plants and rot. The human element is also pretty terrifying: multiple groups of people are burned alive as acts of religious devotion. I realized while listening to this audiobook that I have gaps in my knowledge where I could have benefitted from more context. I still had a good experience, so I think I'll try to finish the series and look for similar stories in the future.

Teaching the Trees by Joan Maloof. Nonfiction. This book is both a scientific survey of overlooked characteristics of several species of trees, and also a love letter to trees. Maloof unambiguously declares that she sides with trees over human convenience or economic interests. This was really interesting for me as someone who grew up in a logging town. I appreciate Maloof's insight that there should be old trees simply for the sake of old trees existing. I think the world would be better for it.

Nonfiction read this month: 3

Fiction read this month: 1

Total nonfiction count this year: 21

Total fiction count this year:11

Last month I had three times as many books as this month! I had two week-long spans of being home alone last month, which meant I was listening to audiobooks instead of talking to my housemate. This month I've been finishing up spring semester of my first year of grad school, and I haven't had very much spare time to read for pleasure. I also DNF'd four different books, so this doesn't accurately represent all of my book time for this month.

I'm documenting the books I read this year because I've realized that I enjoy telling people about what I read, and sharing with people makes me want to read more. I do want to be self-critical, though, because there is always an urge to curate a palatable image for myself. So I'm going to celebrate reading four books, because it's more than I might've read without this structure encouraging me to read.

[hexiewrites]

15 questions, 15 tags

thanks for the tag @hotcocoaharrington!! tis the season for ask games I guess haha

nickname: hex

height: 5'6"

last thing i googled: "are doves pigeons" and no I will not elaborate (answer: basically yeah!)

song stuck in my head: maniac by michael sembello (?? i literally had to google it its just the line 'she's a maniac, maniac on the flooooor' over and over, thanks ADHD)

# followers: 1,270ish? but the first thousand or so are old ones from my previous fandom days who are relatively inactive I think - so in my head I count about 200 of yall!

amount of sleep: last night? around 8 hours, which is my preference!

dream job: I'd love to be a writer full time but I know that's just not feasible

wearing: sweatpants and a tshirt, it's nothing week baybeee!

book/movie that summarizes you: that... summarizes me? yikes. I have literally no idea. i dunno pick something with a manic pixie girl who actually just has serious and crippling adhd that's how i feel a lot of the time.

fav song: i literally couldn't choose one to save my life. I think right NOW it's free by florence and the machine? but it'll be different again in another week.

aesthetic: i'm not really an aesthetic person because of the adhd. jeans and tshirts? is that an aesthetic? too much curly hair? i like bright colours and plants? and also books.

fav authors: man I have so many from so many different genres. like. rick riordan and tamora pierce feels like bad answers but god i love them, and their works from my childhood still hold up relatively well. @olivieblake because her writing is amazing and I'm still just so endlessly proud that i can go into a bookstore and SEE HER NAME it blows my mind. OH! frederick backman - if yall havent read beartown you should fix that immediately. this year storygraph says my most reads include: alice oseman, elle kennedy, alexis hall (another top fave), v.e. schwab, and for nonfiction I'm a sucker for jon krakauer.

random fact: i LOVE boardgames! I just got "parks" for christmas and we're having SO much fun with it, but i'm also a big fan of azul, wingspan, and botanik.

tagging: no one because I hate this part but if you're reading this: consider yourself tagged!!!

[imperatorcaesaraugustus]

A Brief Book Review of: Planta Sapiens by Paco Calvo with Natalie Lawrence

i just finished reading Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Plant Intelligence, a nonfiction book about the study of plant behavior and intelligence written by Paco Calvo with Natalie Lawrence ("with" is the word the book uses; i don't know if/how that differs from, say, "and").

i started reading this book several months ago, having spotted it in a bookstore in Savannah. i was intrigued because the idea of plant intelligence is something i have often thought about over the years and i was excited to learn about any actual research that may have been done on the subject.

having finally finished it, i feel as though this book was always on the verge of really pulling me in but never quite managed to do so. i had the impression of a paper where one needs to hit a word count that exceeds what one could reasonably say about the subject, reiterating certain points and occasionally talking in circles. it seemed to me that the book spoke over and over about the need to broaden our animal-centric viewpoint in order to be able to consider what plant intelligence might be like - but didn't really go into the particulars of said plant intelligence. there are mentions of a few experiments (some yet to have their results replicated, such as a study which seemed to successfully perform classical conditioning on strawberry plants) and descriptions of a few more which could be performed but haven't yet, but overall much more time is dedicated to discussing the debate around whether or not plant intelligence should be studied at all and the ethics of recognizing the cognizance of plants.

i feel as though i am being somewhat uncharitable. it would be incorrect to say i learned no new information from this book. but the book has a heavy emphasis on the philosophical foundations of studying plant intelligence rather than much concrete data resulting from such study. perhaps i was unimpressed because, as i mentioned earlier, this is a topic i have mused on many times before and thus the fundamental idea of "plant intelligence is a field worth studying" is not new to me. but also, without such a history of considering these ideas i would not have picked up the book in the first place.

overall, i cannot say i would recommend this book. I would not dissuade one from reading it either. if, after reading this review, you have any interest in it, then by all means give it a read.

[youritalianbookpal]

Book review - The Book of Legendary Lands by Umberto Eco

What is it? History of legends and legendary places by Umberto Eco, one of the brightest minds in recent Italian history imo.

Who should read it and why? Do you love art history? This book has so many art history illustrations. If you are interested either in legends (duh) or art history, this book is perfect for you - it would also be a great gift, I think.

Which genre(s) is it? Nonfiction, history and art history.

What is the setting? Umberto Eco had an extensive knowledge on history and history of knowledge. All the chapters try to see in depth the evolution of the legend they are dedicated to, from the beginning (be it 19th century or ancient Greece) to today.

How are the characters? No characters, but there are recurring people who were bonkers involved in mutilple weird researches etc. Not sure if they count. Pretty sure they don’t.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the book? It’s incredibly thourough. I think this is a good thing, but also, to my dismay, a weakness. It took me two months to read it. It was so great I couldn’t stop. Yet it was so damn long.

Did I cry and/or laugh? Not really, no, though the thought of Columbus thinking the Earth is pear-shaped is. Still hilarious to me.

Who shouldn’t read the book? If you do not care about history or art, please don’t pick up this massive book.

Any random comment? I will never forget the pear-shaped Earth thing. Or the whole Dan Brown thing. I love history and weird people across history.

Which quote stuck with me?

The possible world of fiction is the only universe in which we can be absolutely sure of something, and that gives us a very strong idea of the Truth.

[phosphini]

8 9 11 FIFTEEN

Book Asks

8. The first book I remember reading myself. ...this is very boring but it was a textbook I was assigned in first grade and it was about the five senses. It had that disproven thing about the different parts of your tongue tasting different things.

9. I tend to read the most uuuhhhh... I typically listen to audiobooks literally, all day. If I'm driving there's an 80% chance I'm audiobooking. For physical books, honestly I read them more in public cause I don't want ppl sideeying me for being on my phone. If I'm in a waiting room anywhere chances are I'm reading a physical book lmao.

11. Non-fiction books: I read a lot of nonfiction books! I think if you counted by pages about half of what I've read this year is nonfiction, tho if you go by number of books read it's more like 1/3 because of so many short stories and such. I like memoirs (especially comics/graphic memoirs), books about animals, science and social science. 15. ughhhhh do i have to choose just one book. I'll just go with the one I just finished, Chokepoint Capitalism by Cory Doctorow and Rebecca Giblin. It's about how creators in particular get screwed over by corporations and platforms having control over earnings. It explains things really well, I especially appreciated it talking about how Amazon has really fucked up the book publishing industry in particular. I think every person who makes money by creating something should read it. (Honestly, anyone who consumes creative work should read it too.)

[starryevermore]

between the lines ✧ steven grant

the good life ✧ a steven grant anthology | ao3

pairing: steven grant x fem!librarian!reader

request: How about Steven and a librarian!reader, who’s also sort of like Steven? A bit insecure, shy, etc. He meets her when going to research more Egyptian history or something. It’s post-Moon Knight so, Steven has a little more confidence than before. - @blackwidownat2814

summary: steven has a crush on a little librarian. 

word count: 2,412

warnings?: fluff, general awkwardness, pet name (love), not proofread

Why are you even going to the library?, Marc asked as Steven caught his reflection in Gus’s fish tank. Steven, suddenly aware of the state of his hair, started combing his fingers through it, trying to make it look somewhat presentable. Don’t you have a million books here?

“It’s always good to support your local libraries,” Steven dismissed, giving up on his hair. He was almost certain he was making it worse. “The more ya use them, the more fundin’ they get. They’re very important to the community.”

And that’s why you keep buying a billion more books?

“Didn’t you just say I had a million? Make up your mind, Marc,” Steve said. “Anyways, got lots of books to check out. Laters, gators.”

Steven had started going to the library years and years ago to research more into Egyptian history and the mythology. Back then, he was really struggling to make ends meet with a job that just barely paid minimum wage. So, he couldn’t really afford to buy the books he was interested in. The library was his only choice. And it was the library where he fell in love. 

Not with the books, though. 

With you. 

You were a recent graduate with a Master’s in Library Science. An American, he had realized quickly when he heard your accent, though it was clear enough that you had been living in England for quite some time. He’d wondered if you’d also gotten your bachelor’s in England, too. Regardless, you had only recently started working at the library, nervously flitting through the shelves, trying to organize them. 

“Last librarian didn’t care one bit about making sure this place run smoothly,” he’d heard you muttering to yourself as you pushed a cart around. “Clearly didn’t care about the patrons either. Who the hell has this many James Patterson novels? Do people even still read these? Not a single person’s checked one out in the last month I’ve been here. And yet they take up a whole damn shelf! We could put so many better things there! Ugh, I should put some of these in the sale pile, bet no one would even notice to care.”

Steven had cleared his through, waving slightly to catch your attention. You jumped when you saw him, nearly tumbling over your cart. “Oh dear! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to give ya a fright. It’s just my first time at the library, ya know, and I don’t really know my way around and it’s been a long time since I’ve been in one, so I’m not quite sure where to begin looking, or if you’d even have any, but, um, do you happen to have any books on ancient Egypt? The history of it, I mean?”

You were clutching your hand to your chest, trying to catch your breath. “Um, yeah, we do! They’re in the nonfiction section. Though, I suppose you would have guessed that…Um, if you go straight down this way, you’ll see the stairs. Take ‘em straight up to the second floor and go to your left. It’s all organized by the Dewey Decimal System, which is a terrible system and I’m thinking of overhauling it. Just need to figure out a better way to organize, ya know. Um, it should be the 900s. I think maybe in the 930’s? If I’m wrong, there should be a few diagrams listed on the ends of each shelf to direct you. We actually just got these really interesting book the other day. The Book of the Dead, I think? I don’t think anyone’s checked it out and…I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

“I ramble too!” Steven said. “I think people think it’s annoying. Actually, I know they do. My co-workers are all the time rolling their eyes and ignoring me whenever I go off on a tangent.”

You smiled a bit. “Well, my fellow rambler, feel free to go off on a tangent with me about whatever amazing book you decide to check out, okay? I’ve been wanting to learning more about ancient histories, and I think you could be a great person to learn from.” Your face fell slightly, your eyes going wide. “Not that you should feel like you have to! It’s totally your choice. Like, if you’d rather only talk when you have questions about the library or are checking out a book, fine by me! I don’t want you to feel like you’re being shoe-horned into a friendship! Shoot, I’m so bad at this…”

“No, no, you’re perfectly well! Wonderful, even!” Steven flushed, realizing his words. “I-I mean…I would love to talk to you about the books I read.”

“It’s a date then!” You frowned, your brows furrowing together. “Not, like, a real date, I mean. Unless you want to make it a real date! That would be fine, too. But, I-I mean…”

“Maybe start as friends?” Steven suggested. Then he held out his hand, trembling slightly. “Hi friend, my name’s Steven. With a ‘V’.”

“Oh, good. Stephen’s with a ‘PH’ are right assholes. Met one back when I was on vacation in New York a few years ago, and I swear I’ve been met a more pretentious asshole in my life. And…I’m rambling again, aren’t I?” you said. “What were we talking about? Oh! Right, I should introduce myself. I’m Y/N.”

And from there on out, an awkward sort of friendship began to bloom. 

Any time Steven finished a book, he would come to talk to you about what he learned, what his favorite parts were. And you would always listen, face propped on your hand, nodding along, asking questions when you were confused and when you could tell he was particularly interested in stuff. You liked when he went on tangents. Said it made you feel better when you went on tangents yourself. 

But Steven loved your tangents. He loved the way your eyes would brighten, how you spoke with your hands, waving them around as you talked about your favorite books. Steven liked to read what you read. He felt like that gave him a good insight into who you were. He liked knowing you were a fan of romance. Sometimes, he would daydream about what his life would be like if he could finally man up and ask you out on a real date, if he could sweep you off your feet, if he could make you feel like your life was a fairytale. 

Steven had always been so sure that that would remain a fantasy. He was an awkward sort of guy. The few times he had tried asking you out, you’d been totally oblivious. But now…After everything that happened with Marc and Khonshu and Layla and defeating Harrow and Ammit, Steven was ready to give it a crack at it again. 

And, he owed you an apology, too. He did sort of disappear without a word. 

When Steven arrived at the library, he found you in the the children’s section. Oh, that’s right. You always had an hour’s worth of activities planned for the children each week. 

He looked at the books scattered about, a small smile on his lips. The Kane Chronicles? Magic Tree House: Mummies in the Morning? The Egypt Game? 

“Hi, love,” he said, when he got closer. 

Your head jerked up, your eyes going wide. 

Then—

“Steven!” you shouted when you saw him, jumping up and throwing your arms around his waist. You squeezed him tight, burying your face in his chest, like you were scared you were going to lose him. “Oh, Steven, you doofus! You had me worried sick! Where the hell have you been?!”

Oh. I see why you like the library now, Marc said. Steven could practically see him wiggling his eyebrows. 

“Sorry, love, I got a bit busy,” he said, wrapping his arms around you. Oh. Oh, he liked this. 

“I couldn’t find you at all,” you mumbled. “Even went to the museum you said you worked at, and they told me you’d been fired! I was so worried something happened to you.”

“I’m sorry, love,” Steven said, fighting the urge to kiss the top of your head. “I…just needed to get out of the city for a bit. But I’m back now, and I’m gonna make it to you, yeah?”

You pulled away, sniffling slightly. Oh, he hadn’t meant to make you cry. “Deal. But you gotta start by helping me clean up here.”

“Of course, love,” he said, kneeling down, collecting the scattered papers and crayons. “So, what’d you do with the young’uns today?”

You ducked your head down. “I thought it would be nice to tell ‘em some stories about ancient Egypt. Pulled some fiction books, too, in case they preferred that. Printed off some coloring pages.”

“What is because you missed me?”

Damn, Steven. That was almost smooth, Marc said. 

“Maybe,” you mumbled. “You’re one of my only friends.” Then, your head jerked up, as if you realized what you said. “I mean, I have other friends. I totally have other friends. I’m in, like, a bajillion group chats and stuff. And, and…”

“It’s okay,” Steven said, reaching out, grabbing your hand, “You’re one of my only friends, too.”

You stared at where your hands connected, trying to figure out what to say. You almost looked like you were going to say something about him holding your hand. But then you clicked your tongue, saying, “Would you like some of the leftover coloring pages? I was just gonna leave them out on the circulation desk or maybe over here, in case other kids swung by and wanted to color. But, uh, you’re free to take some, too.”

Steven shook his head. “As fun as that would be, I don’t know if I’m the right demographic to be coloring.”

“Anyone can color though. I mean, they make adult coloring books, don’t they? So clearly coloring is a rated E for everything sort of thing,” you said. “But honestly, kid’s coloring pages are so much better than the ones they make for adults. Like, adult’s coloring books are so detailed and really hard to see sometimes and it can get really hard to focus, so I don’t really see how anyone can relax coloring those pages. But kid’s coloring books? So easy. Don’t have to think too hard, you feel less guilty about coloring outside the lines since you don’t feel like you’re ruining someone’s work of art. Not to say that kid’s coloring pages aren’t works of art but…Shoot, I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

Steven couldn’t stop the smile from taking over his face. “It’s alright, love. I don’t mind. You know that.” He cleared his throat. “So, what’s the best coloring pages you’ve got?”

“Oh, um, a lot, actually! There’s the Sphinx, some pyramids, an ankh. I think there might be a few of some gods and goddesses?” You hummed quietly, flipping through the sheets you had in front of you. “Looks like we got Osiris, Set, Isis…Um, ooh we got Taweret! I didn’t know we had her, actually. I think I’ll keep that one for myself. And…uh, I don’t think I know this one?”

Steven looked at the page you were showing him, almost laughing to himself. “That’s Khonshu, god of the moon. Though, honestly, he looks more like a bird brain in real life.”

“Huh?”

His eyes widened when he realized what he said. “Oh, uh, I mean…I just went to Egypt, ya see. Saw some of the art and stuff, ya know. Just thought he looked more like a bird brain.”

“Oh, ok!” You pushed the page towards him. “D’ya wanna color him in then? Make him look a bit more accurate?”

“Can we color together? If you’re not too busy?”

Go, Steven, go! Go, Steven, go!, Marc cheered. 

You smiled softly, reaching for the basket full of crayons, placing them where you both could reach. “I’ve always got time for you, Steven.”

And so the two of you knelt at a table meant for children, Steven ignoring the aches in his knees, focusing instead on how much he enjoyed being with you. How you focused so intently on your coloring. How you didn’t care too much about making sure things stayed inside the lines, instead working on the masterpiece in front of you. 

“That looks really good,” Steven said as you placed your crayons back in the bin. 

You smiled at him, glancing at his. “Yours, too. Hey, maybe we could trade? I take yours, you take mine.”

“You want my coloring page?” Steven asked. 

“Yeah, well, I mean, if you want to switch! You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’m sorry. It was a stupid idea, you can just forget about it—”

Steven reached across the tiny table, grabbing your head. “I’ll trade coloring pages with you if you promise to go on a date with me tonight.”

“A date? You wanna go on a date with me?“

“I wanna go on a million dates with you, love,” Steven said.

You smiled a bit bigger. “I-I didn’t think you liked me like that, Steven.”

“Why wouldn’t I? You’re brilliant! You’re so smart, and you’re so kind. You love this library as if it were your own child. You’re always nice to people, even if they don’t deserve it. You listen to me ramble, and you actually care about what I say…Love, you’re amazing, and I would be so lucky to date you.”

You leaned over, your lips brushing over his cheek. “I would love to go on a date with you, Steven.”

“Good,” Steven laughed, “because I’ve asked you out three times already, and this is the first time you noticed.”

You ducked your head down. “Oh. Oh, dear. Well, thank you for sticking around. I’ve always been a bit oblivious.”

“Well, at least we can be oblivious together,” Steven said. He reached for your coloring page, switching it with his own. “I’m gonna go figure out what we’ll do for dinner, then I’ll come by when you get off work, yeah?”

“I can’t wait,” you said. “Oh, and by the way, if it matters in what you decide, I’m a vegetarian.”

“Me too!”

Okay, so what we’re saying is, no steakhouse?, Marc grumbled. 

And Steven thought back, “Definitely no steakhouse. We both know what happened the last time I ate steak.”