#next is circe by madeline miller and then dracula :)

[moonkissedmeli]

literally not a single soul asked

but, i'm going to share anyway. here are my favorite reads this year in no particular order:

Fiction - Novels

Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" (Honestly, a masterpiece. I can't wait to devour his entire library. Read it. No notes.)

Leo Tolstoy's "Ana Karenina" (If you're looking for your next existential crisis, here ya go.)

Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" (I know I'm super late reading this and the whole world has already been in love with it for ages, now I finally know why.)

Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (In all fairness, this is on my list every year).

Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" (This is also always on my list, idec. Shelly's monster may teach you a bit about being human.)

Stephen's Fry's "Mythos" (Honestly, just a super fun read. Really good starting point if you're a budding Hellenic or into ancient Greek mythology, in my opinion. As long as you take it as a starting off point for further research and understand that he has put it together to be entertaining.)

Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" (You will never love a book so much where 97% of the characters and their actions are entirely insufferable. You might wonder why you began, but won't be able to stop and will be grateful that you didn't. Handsomely and meticulously written, as well.)

Elizabeth Kostova's "The Historian" (Historians, anthropologists, romance, and vampires. Chef's kiss.)

Madeline Miller's "Circe" (I JUST LOVE IT OKAY)

Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" (I will never take criticism about this book. No notes, lmao.)

Fiction - Novellas

H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwitch Horror"

H.P. Lovecraft's "The Lost City"

H.P. Lovecraft's "The Festival"

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla"

Aristophanes' "Lysistrata" (Every moment of this will have you saying what the actual fuck lmao)

Non-Fiction

Viktor Frankl's "A Man's Search For Meaning" (Just saying, this is written by a Holocaust survivor who is also a psychologist. There are graphic depictions of his sufferings. Major trigger warnings and all that - but, I still highly recommend as this is a really life changing book. His message and eloquence touched me in an indescribable way.)

Walter Burkett's "Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical" (Really, I recommend this as required reading to all Hellenics and those interested in ancient Greek religion.)

Dorsey Armstrong's audiobook, "Medieval Myths & Mysteries"

Lacy Collison-Morley's "Greek and Roman Ghost Stories"

Anne Baring and Jules Cashford's "Myth of the Goddess: An Evolution of an Image"

Estelle B. Freedman's "The Essential Feminist Reader"

Alexandra Kollontai's "The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman"

Bernadotte Perrin's Translation of Plutarch's "The Parallel Lives" (Juicy Roman drama).

Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations"

Robert Graves' Translation of Suetonius' "The 12 Caesars" (Juicy Roman tea, with a hint of bias though)

[ub-sessed]

My favourite books over the past year:

The Murderbot Diaries series, by Martha Wells

The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin

The Crossing, by Cormac McCarthy

The English Understand Wool, by Helen Dewitt

Dodger, by Terry Pratchett

The Cat's Table, by Michael Ondaatje

Something to Do with Paying Attention, by David Foster Wallace

Books I read over the past year+ that I enjoyed less (arranged from "really not bad" to "omg I wish I hadn't read this"):

Mort, by Terry Pratchett

The Last Wish, Andrzej Sapkowski

The Amulet of Samarkand, by Jonathan Stroud

The Twisted Ones, by T. Kingfisher

All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy

Cities of the Plain, by Cormac McCarthy

A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway

The Lost Man, by Jane Harper

Blood of Elves, by Andrzej Sapkowski

Sword of Destiny, by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Time of Contempt, by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, by Hank Green

Books I tried to read over the past year but didn't like enough to bother finishing (in alphabetical order by author):

Another Country, by James Baldwin

A Natural History of Dragons, by Marie Brennan

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers

Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare

Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline

White Noise, by Don DeLillo

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, by Marlon James

Beyond, by Mercedes Lackey

Foundation, by Mercedes Lackey

The Diviners, by Margaret Laurence

Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie

Circe, by Madeline Miller

Runaway, by Alice Munro

Autonomous, by Annalee Newitz

Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

Tempests and Slaughter, by Tamora Pierce

Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson

The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History, by Cassia St. Clair

Strange the Dreamer, by Laini Taylor

The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner

The Way of Shadows, by Brent Weeks

The Martian, by Andy Weir

The Cloud Roads, by Martha Wells

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe, by Alex White

A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England, by Sue Wilkes

[leondanteart]

Some of my favorite books from 2023 in no order: the 2 shorts from Juneau Black's Shady Hollow series.

Achilles by Madeline Miller, worth the hype, honestly, great queer read. Miller really knows how to write historical fiction and to keep your attention. I'm SUPER excited to hear she's doing Persephone's tale. It's such a touche topic for a lot of people. Especially with Hades and her kidnapping. If you were a greek kid growing up, definitely read her books. I need to read circe next.

What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher, horror novella based on Fall of the house of Usher. Mexican Gothic by Silva Moreno-Garcia was a similar vibe that actually inspired the book above, What Moves. Both have horror mushrooms, a little body horror, a haunted house, but this one talks about colonialism. There's an interview at the end of the book where Moreno-Garcia talks more about it! Both are great gothic horror reads.

A Dowry of Blood by S.T.Gibson, a queer polyam retelling of Dracula via one of his wives. I can see why people are calling this one a modern-day classic! I liked the audio book a lot and want to buy the book. If you're interested in Vampires, Polyam relationships, and surviving an abusive partner, this is the book to try.

The only book I hated, like actually, was Never Lie by Freida McFadden. Could not get behind it LOL! It's so stupid, especially the reason why this bitch is being blackmailed. There's no way this white woman would lose her career over that.

[granma-sweetie]

hi yes so on my birthday my grandmother my brother and i went to hamburg right. and i actually discovered the best place in all of germany which is ✨thalia✨

it's this huge bookshop and oj my gods i love it so much

it has a lot of books right but also this section with things that aren't books and also a cafe thing??????? and a second floor???? but like i always went to the section with the books in english because im too stupid do read anything in german but like. they had heartstopper books. HEARTSTOPPER BOOKS and like pride things right next to them like dude i was going JASIJHDSJKHASJKDHGWA the whole time lookng at it but my grandmother was there so i couldn't really. anyway the english section DDUDE THEY HAD MADELINE MILLER AND THE CLASSIC SECTION WHERE I SAW THE MOST GORGEOUS COPIES OF DRACULA AND DORIAN GRAY AND FRANKENSTEIN ORIGINAL 1818 TEXT AND ASDHWHGFDCBEHBKGEIBHDBHKSKHBWKHBFKJBHCBN@!!@WJH!UHES@ AND SHERLOCK HOLMES AND AGATHA CHRISTIE AND JANE AUSTEN AND IYTS JUST ASJNHGBDFHSVBFHDVSB

so hwat i got i got circe (in english because in german it cost like three euros more lmao???? and i know english better)

what do i even need to say about this. this book is so fucking good. i dont know if youve read it but if you havent do it read it it made me cry like seven times

in my defense, telegonus

i also got two jane austen books (mansfield park and northanger abbey) and im reading mansfield park now im halfway through and its really good and i would die for edmund and i want to kick henry in the balls (btw. asshole henry other than henry wotton they should unite and we can kick them in the balls collectively) but also i accidentally spoiled the ending for myself through edmund's wikipedia page and now i don't really want to read it because like,,,, i mean,,,, i mean it's good but like they're cousins and they got married and like

idk man

but like its good and im excited to start northanger abbey afterwards because the main character is supposed to be obsessed with gothic lit and im like

oh thats me :D yes

so yes ajdnskbfve

i have a copy of circe that my former teacher gave me and i’ve been putting off reading for some reason but no longer. also hAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY MAN HOLY SHIT also KELSJDKSJD THE ATS SO COOL ALSKRKSJDKSJDJSJ!!!!!!!

[fearsomeandwretchedandwrong]

My Big Ass TBR List

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams

Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams

So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish - Douglas Adams

Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Mansfield Park - Jane Austen

Emma - Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

Persuasion - Jane Austen

Lady Susan - Jane Austen

Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie

Five Little Pigs- Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd- Agatha Christie

Curtain - Agatha Christie

The A.B.C. Murders - Agatha Christie

The Big Four - Agatha Christie

The Body in the Library - Agatha Christie

A Caribbean Mystery - Agatha Christie

Crooked House - Agatha Christie

A Murder is Announced- Agatha Christie

Murder is Easy - Agatha Christie

The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie

Sad Cypress - Agatha Christie

Sleeping Murder - Agatha Christie

The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories - Agatha Christie

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

The Carrow Haunt - Darcy Coates

The Folcroft Ghosts - Darcy Coates

The House Next Door - Darcy Coates

The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoevsky

Don't Look Now - Daphne Du Maurier

My Cousin Rachel - Daphne Du Maurier

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

Grimm's Fairy Tales - Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

The Mystery of the Three Quarters - Sophie Hannah

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

The Iliad - Homer

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

Circe - Madeline Miller

Paradise Lost - John Milton

Classic Stories of Edgar Allen Poe

Fire From Heaven - Mary Renault

The Last of the Wine - Mary Renault

Hamlet - William Shakespeare

Othello - William Shakespeare

King Lear - William Shakespeare

Macbeth- William Shakespeare

Dracula - Bram Stoker

The Secret History - Donna Tartt

Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

I Might Regret This - Abbi Jacobson

Why Not Me? - Mindy Kaling

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? - Mindy Kaling

The Last Book on the Left: Stories of Murder and Mayhem From History's Most Notorious Serial Killers - Ben Kissel, Marcus Parks, and Henry Zebrowski

My Life on the Road- Gloria Steinem

Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions - Gloria Steinem

Shrill - Lindy West