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File: 1670525689845.jpg (78.21 KB, 564x559, 02831a459e93f95606b6e6e0d17e9c…)

No. 261956

Recommend books or ask for recommendations, share what you're currently reading or what you want to read, discuss favorite genres and authors, share reviews, etc.

What have you been reading, farmers?

previous threads:
>>>/m/160853
>>>/m/8561
>>>/m/186682

No. 261999

>>261956
Summa contra Gentiles, A Theory of Semiotics and Luckmann's Invisible Religion are some of the best books I ever read. Too hard finding the few novels aren't shit among an infinite amount of dime novels so I rarely read novels. I am picky with characters in books too and rarely find them relatable.

But one semi-documentary novel I recently read and really liked was Max Eyth's book about the Bridge of the Firth of Tay, not sure how it's called in English and if it was ever translated to begin with.

Another great book like that was about a female archeologist and the excavations of Uruk but I cannot remember the name anymore (and it was probably never translated into English either, not sure).

Right now I am reading the Nicomachean Ethics, Measuring the World (Kehlmann) and the Daemonolatreiae. Technically the "Three Body Problem" too, but while the content is technically interesting it just doesn't grab me so far and the only character I like is that choleric chain-smoker cop.

I am really into political dystopias almost everything with that tag I can find are shitty young adult books, self-insert stories with chosen one bullshit or romances so I gave up searching.

No. 262004

love the thread pic!

>>261999
>a theory of semiotics

by umberto eco? I just started reading that. I really want to read more by umberto eco, especially his nonfiction. part of me wants to learn italian so I can read his works better but it would be a lot of work

No. 262026

i’m reading bret easton ellis’ glamorama but honestly i’m just sick of his shit. i’m well aware he’s a meme author and there are some actually good books i want to read but i feel some sort of obligation to finish this one. i did like rules of attraction and american psycho though i didn’t think it was a mindbending work of genius. i read a lot of houellebecq last year and i feel like him and BEE have a lot in common that they cannot develop their worldviews and apart from a couple of memorable/good passages they just come across as midwits milking the “transgressive” label with very juvenile and ultimately sad worldviews. i think the only transgressive book that really sticks with me is the sluts by dennis cooper, it was an amazing read. ik i’ll probably be made fun of for reading scrote stuff, i do read better books sometimes lol.

No. 262493

File: 1670673093463.jpg (78.26 KB, 545x840, 545x840.jpg)

I found a free copy online, but I think I want a hardcopy version for my collection. I've been on a zoology binge and all the seemingly unscientific and inaccurate information about female animals started to get to me. If anyone knows of other good zoology books, please do tell!

No. 262520

lovely threadpic!
also i'm trying to read malraux atm. i could never get into "the human condition" but i'm enjoying his later works a lot. "lazare" is my fave so far
feel like i hardly read fiction anymore though.

No. 262736

File: 1670740029329.jpeg (390.35 KB, 1359x2048, Carrington_cover_final_2048x20…)

I bought a children's book…for myself. It's for my Leonora Carrington collection, I couldn't resist. I still kind of feel like why did i buy this? I'm not a child, but honestly some children's books are really good. When I worked at a bookstore they were easily the most interesting new thing on any given week, even the best sellers had interesting new titles unlike the boring adult bestsellers lol

No. 262741

File: 1670741614580.jpg (273.04 KB, 1280x720, tumblr_pvxb9rliW21s1qpzeo3_128…)

>>262736
beautiful taste anon. theres no shame in appreciating childrens books, hell i have a pretty sizeable collection of them – i think people often overlook the sheer artistry and creativity that go into them. me personally i really adore a lot of childrens book illustrations. picrel is from ul de ricos rainbow goblins, a book i'd love to own one day

No. 262743

File: 1670743012966.png (109.91 KB, 1680x1278, Milk-of-Dreams-1_2048x2048.png)

>>262741
thank you nona. it's a good book. I like it even more knowing she wrote it for her kids and it's basically her surrealist paintings but with a funny story

No. 262749

File: 1670745201426.jpg (1.9 MB, 3024x4032, leonora carrington - The Child…)

her mind

No. 262818

>>262026
>the sluts by dennis cooper
I've read this too, tell me what you liked about it nona! I'm not sure I can convey or develop my thoughts on a book like that without a reread (which I should do soon tbh. Other than that I will say it satisfied the excessively morbid fujo kind of itch).

No. 262918

I commented on the last thread, didn't realize it was finished

Any good modern day non-fiction feminist books? Something excluding troons would be nice.

Also anything is there a more modern book for Sex and A Single Girl?

No. 262934

File: 1670809347671.jpg (351.53 KB, 909x1400, 9780008537890.jpg)

Are the books Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings worth reading? I want try to read more fantasy books as I'm rather peculiar about what I read and I don't know if I should give them a go since most the books from what I seen seemed to be centred around men which I often tend to avoid.

No. 262936

>>262918
>good modern day non-fiction feminist books
I recommend Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine, Pornland by Gail Dines, Dear Ijeawele: or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (love everything by her in general) and Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

No. 262938

>>262934
Personally I don't enjoy Tolkien much but the vast majority of the reading world would disagree so you're probably not wasting your time reading him.
Tamora Pierce's The Song of the Lioness series was pretty cool from what I remember. Female protagonist. Grain of salt though, I read it as a teenager so I don't know if it holds up now.
It might be considered lowbrow (I have no idea, it's fantasy written by a woman so that automatically puts it on a shit list somehow) but The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer was a good damn book.

No. 262946

>>262934
Absolutely. Silmarillion is very specific, it's more like mythology and not as engaging as Lord of the Rings, but interesting nonetheless. The latter is a classic for a reason; I've read a lot of fantasy but nothing ever came close to LOTR for me. Unlike pretty much all other male-centric stories, this one is such a pure, beautiful and poetic tale of friendship, love, honor and adventure, there are no typical male shenanigans that could ruin the pleasure of reading. You really should at least give it a try.

No. 262988

>>262938
>It might be considered lowbrow (I have no idea, it's fantasy written by a woman so that automatically puts it on a shit list somehow) but The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer was a good damn book.
Anon… The reason that series is on a shit list is very, very different…

No. 263007

I've been tasked with gifting someone a copy of Art of War, the person is interested in the best translation. I got a bit lost in my research because there's a lot of editions that differ in content, a lot of price ranges, sets of multiple volumes vs. 1 book. Maybe someone could help out? I don't need anything with a cool cover/packaging, just not sure which to buy.

No. 263096

I just posted about this on /ot/ because I forgot about this thread, but I started Ulysses today! Really enjoying it so far (just finished the first part so I’m about 65 pages in, in my edition). I already knew I loved Joyce’s writing, but he still blows me away every time I read him.

In terms of books I read in the past month or so: The Name of The Rose by Umberto Eco, Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy and The Loser by Thomas Bernhard. All of them were great, but I think The Loser was my favourite. Bernhard’s depiction of how it feels to come face to face with true genius, and the ensuing fruitless struggle to match it, is incredible. I’ve also been reading some Kierkegaard (The Sickness Unto Death and Fear and Trembling), hagiographies of female saints in the middle ages (Marie d’Oignies is my favourite) and some Baudrillard (Simulacra and Simulation). When I’m finished Ulysses I think Moby Dick is next on the list, but I might read some Samuel Beckett, or Kafka’s short stories instead. Haven’t decided yet, so if any of you have suggestions for which I should go for I’d be happy to take them.

No. 263101

>>262934
In my opinion yes. I love LotR, but liking it won't guarantee you will like the Silmarillion and other works. Like the other anon said the Silmarillion reads like mythology rather than a novel. It's more if you're really into world building and lore.

LotR has hardly any female characters but it's also not scrotey, if that makes sense. Just be ready for a slow moving book with a lot of conversations in it.

No. 263112

>>262988
Oh no is there actually some drama with it?

No. 263119

>>263112
if you can call it that. mzb enabled her (convicted) pedo husband and liekly abused children herself

No. 263147

I'm currently about to read Female Masculinity by Judith Halberstam and The Sadeian Woman by Angela Carter. I saw Halberstam recommended in a thread here and it sounded interesting. Another book by her is something more to my speed, which is called Skin Shows, I'll probably get a hold of that one once I'm finished with Female Masculinity. Angela Carter's fiction work is something I've enjoyed in the past, she's a classical liberal feminist type but I guess I want to see what kind of crack she's smoking with a book that basically defends Marquis de Sade.

No. 263158

I just read Cuckoo's Calling and enjoyed it, pretty entertaining crime thriller. It was just a coincidence I happened to finish it today but with the news of based JKRs women's shelter I want to read the rest of the series too to celebrate. How are the other books, any low/high points? I actually didn't realize it had so many books until I looked it up today.

No. 263203

>>263147
Oh yeah Halberstam's takes on media are always fun and interesting to read. She runs a blog and still spergs about modern shows, books and movies which come out iirc.

No. 263273

>>263158
They're great, they get more and more feminist as the series goes on. In particular Troubled blood.

No. 263274

File: 1670955979182.jpg (387.67 KB, 1410x2048, 1bbecff7a5e507eee7006026dd918c…)

can someone recommend me short books (around the length of earthlings, under 300 pages) that are set in historical japan/china/korea? i like political drama, court intrigue, and i'm not fond of romance – unless it's gay, i'm just a fujo/himejo – but i'm cool with it so long as it's not a focal point of a story. thanks

No. 263276

>>263274
bonus points if they're actually written by authors from those countries. i'm english only sadly but yeah

No. 263284

File: 1670959773808.jpg (33 KB, 325x489, 577758.jpg)

>>261956
I've been on a John Ajvide Lindqvist kick lately, he's a Swedish horror writer. I'm currently reading Harbor for the second time. Last time I read it was over a decade ago and I'm liking it a lot more this time around. I've become a more patient reader with age I think, I don't mind the vagueness and slow pacing of his books as much now.

No. 263286

File: 1670960800768.jpg (38.83 KB, 625x417, cc422cc47f70d0a822ca45d4526f58…)

my reading challenge for next year is to fuck reading challenges and to just enjoy reading. obviously i enjoyed reading these past few years, but i always gravitated towards short/mid length books to be able to fulfill my reading quota of minimum 52 books a year. from now on i want to stop pressuring myself because i already read so much, it really doesn't matter if i read 50 or 25 books per year.

No. 263295

>>263096
I'll always be a sucker for Kafka so my vote is on him

No. 263508

>>263295
Thanks nonnie, I might go for him so. I’ve read one of his very short stories and I thought it was beautiful so he was already a little higher on the list than the rest.

No. 263513

>>263284
>I've become a more patient reader with age I think, I don't mind the vagueness and slow pacing of his books as much now.

It’s funny you say that because I find the opposite is true for myself. When I was younger, I loved Faulkner and “vagueness.” Made me feel super smart for piecing together the stories and such. Now that I’m 30, I have absolutely no patience for that kind of stuff. I want things spelled out and I’m tired of having to read between the lines to figure out what’s going on.

No. 263518

>>263096
Read Hesse tbh.

No. 263645

>>263286
A healthier reading challenge is something like "X pages a day" or "X chapters a week." That way you're reading regularly but you can read anything you like. That's how I got back into reading, a minimum amount to read each day. I also keep a calendar, which is helpful for motivating myself.

No. 263680

>>263645
This. I don’t think about how many books I’m trying to get thru. I just focus on hitting 20-25% of a book a day.

No. 263722

>>263645
ayrt, i already read for two hours every day because it's my only hobby. i just want to stop avoiding long books because of some stupid self inflicted pressure on myself.

No. 263734

File: 1671115226201.jpg (20.53 KB, 333x500, 41xFHm4DudL.jpg)

Currently reading through this collection of short stories. The very first story, The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species, was honestly really boring to me and I didn't really like it at all, but I'm glad I didn't stop there because the rest of the short stories have really picked up for me. Whenever I finish a story I think, how is the next one going to be better? I don't want to move on. But I go on and amazed by the next, and the next, and the next.

I just finished Simulacra this morning and felt my heart aching. There's something so poignant about his stories. I'm excited for the rest of the book.

I also did read through some 1 star Goodreads reviews (curious about criticisms I might be missing because I'm really not the sharpest tool in the shed kek) and I saw a review shitting on State Change saying they just "wanted a straightforward short story." I felt like it was pretty self explanatory…? Sure, it's taking the long and windy road down to your destination instead of just the straight and easy path, but isn't that the beauty of literature? Fun, flowery language and allusions and fantasy. He could've just summarized the whole thing in like 5 sentences and laid out all the facts, but what's the fun in just being handed a finished puzzle? I also don't think it's terribly difficult to infer what happens in the story. Rina's soul is an ice cube and therefore she is at risk of death if it melts. At the end she leaves it outside that one dude's office and it's obviously heavily implied that she is going to die and she accepts this. From Amy's letter at the very end (which talks about her soul changing form from cigarettes to the cigarette box, or it actually being the box this whole time and not the cigarettes), we can infer that Rina's soul changed from ice to water/was actually just water this whole time, so she is not dead

I've been reading a lot of non-fiction and it's definitely my preferred genre, but there is a lot more beauty to be in fiction. Facts are facts and it's fun to read and learn about people and things and history, and I think there's not a lot of wiggle room in how you can deliver that information. It's brain food, but it's not soul food.

Also saw another one where someone was upset at Liu pushing in Chinese history and culture into his stories… kek.

No. 263789

>>263513
AYRT, it was kind of a journey to get to this mindset. I read a lot of Murakami and similar stuff in my late teens/early 20s and I got totally burnt out. I still think it takes a skilled writer to make it work and not be incredibly frustrating. Also I still won't touch anything Murakami with a ten foot pole.
>>263286
>>263645
I really enjoy having a book goal, but I basically always set a goal that I know I'm going to reach anyway so it's not a stressful thing. If I end up reading more then that's awesome. I view reading goals more as a side thing than actual motivation for reading, because my motivation comes naturally.

No. 264083

File: 1671230287020.jpg (72.24 KB, 333x500, 61dt02FWs1L[1].jpg)

This was a rather surprising read
>roughly 1/4th of the book is about jews being cowardly misers or this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_belle_juive
>Ivanhoe is the protagonist for about 2 chapters and does nothing during the rest of the book
>out of nowhere Robin Hood
>out of nowhere Templars
>medieval terms to make the book more realistic (the book isn't realistic)
>ends with the goofiest knight duel ever conceived
Still one of the the most influential medieval fictions though

No. 264162

File: 1671274647632.jpg (47.65 KB, 499x363, File0040.jpg)

I'd like to read about boarding schools in the 20th century. Any rec ? Even better if it's all girls.

No. 264171

>>264162
Do you want fiction or non fiction?

No. 264186

>>264171
I'm interested in both.

No. 264193

>>264162
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

No. 264387

>>264186
The Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton is pretty good. I read it a bunch as a kid.

No. 264853

Repost bc I accidentally posted it on the old dead thread, gomen

Anyone have a recommendation for a book that takes place on/around Christmas but isn't sappy holiday/fluff/romance?

No. 264865

>>264853
The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis posted in the last thread. It is set around Christmas and influences the plot a bit.

No. 264875

File: 1671494645510.jpg (126.57 KB, 793x845, d1rjsoe-5b4c9683-e61e-4a0b-9c5…)

>>264853
Charles Dickens
>A Christmas Carol
A mean old gaffer, who get visited by three ghosts and takes him on a trip to see how much the miserly gaffer is self centred and how the path he is going will lead to loneliness and misery
>The Chimes
A poor but hard-working man believes that he is worthless and by that extension the working class like himself. His views on the working class affect the people around him like his daughter e.g. and after seeing a bunch of goblins he gets to see how much his views affects his daughter and others as a bystander.
>The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, A Fancy for Christmas-Time
A despondent man meets his ghostly double and makes a bargain with him to forget all the wrongdoings he experienced in his lifetime, he accepts. However, a bargain is a bargain. He does not remember the wrongdoings yet he is still unhappy and gradually as he interacts with other people they too become angry and bitter.

Adam Kay
>Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas
I will admit I haven't read it myself. However, It is centred on a British doctor working during Christmas and it is supposed to be humorous and gruesome with the happenings of working in a hospital during the holidays.

This was more difficult then I thought. Not a lot of Christmas themed novels on the list as I like to read poetry and "children's book" too. Which mostly isn't of any use for you as it mostly in my mother tongue and is difficult to get out of my country.

No. 265004

File: 1671996848800.png (520.09 KB, 510x835, 1648595057647.png)

Hate to even think about it, but in case the site goes down for real next month, I wanted to ask if any of you guys saved book lists like picrel that got posted over the years in the threads? Doesn't have to be certain themes like picrels Unhinged Women Pile, even just lists of books anons read, that were posted I think around the middle of the year sometime?, are fine too. Lolcow was the only ever site that I found to give me good recommendations lol

No. 265005

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No. 265006

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No. 265007

File: 1671997148911.png (3.89 MB, 2742x1004, 1656627935474.png)

>>265004
Those are all I've got saved, I'd be grateful for more

No. 265008

>>265004
There are barely any users here cause most access lc at the moment, but I appreciate the sentiment, don't worry lc isn't going down any time soon as a new admin will probably be found by then

No. 265876

File: 1672486463825.jpg (743.5 KB, 1661x2560, 91npjUXXkzL.jpg)

i loved the expanse so i finally decided to give the book series a go but i'll drop it because the constant mention of men buying women's bodies is just too much. in the tv show it's mentioned/shown a few times that amos buys women's bodies and i could ignore that because we always quickly moved on to other plot points. but the book constantly mentions brothels and prostitution and plays it off as something so natural and "boys will be boys"-like that even jim - the protagonist - sometimes spent days at a brothel until he got kicked out because he doesn't have any money left. and then the description is like 'his dick is sore and his prostate is empty' - is that supposed to sound good? it's just so disgustingly written and absolutely pales in comparison with the tv show.

No. 265991

>>265876
The second book is worth picking up for avasarala and Bobby but yeah that's to be expected the authors are liberal men who think prostitution being legal in the future is progressive and part of the natural course. I actually hated how in the show they made drummer poly it's so lame and cringe.

No. 266003

>>265876
Thanks I will never read the books. Knowing that Amos contributes to prostitution ruins his whole script. In the show I was getting irked as fuck with the Filip plot too, can’t imagine how insufferable he must be in the book lol
>>265991
I hate polyshit irl but I actually like the relationships Drummer has with her crew. It’s like I get it, you’re space bandits, it’s very likely your partners will die (and there’s a chance she’d take me as a lover). I like the Jim has 8 parents thing too. It somehow makes sense for his messiah complex main character syndrome thing.

No. 266007

Just finished the Songbirds and Snakes because I was reminded the 5th movie for the Hunger Games is coming out next fall and it was pretty good. I don't think it was as rushed as some people made it sound and it was enjoyable. A little slow in the beginning, but overall I'm excited to see a 6th book, on how Cori winds up in the presidency [if SC plans on making another book or if they might make a 3-part movie prequel]. I can easily see them separate the book into at least 2 movies, but it cuts off before he even becomes president.

No. 266043

>>266003
ayrt, there's also a scene in which miller visits the dojo/gym julie trained at and her old trainer says that julie got "attacked" and that's why she trained so hard. miller asks "raped?" and the trainer says he doesn't know. the way that's handled is already weird. then later miller muses about how victims either repress bad memories or fall to pieces because of what happened to them. but julie is different because she decided to get stronger and therefore she's superior to other victims. it's the cringiest shit. people keep saying that the books are better because you can read the thoughts of the characters but fuck them, if those are their thoughts i don't wanna know about them!!!

oh, and there's also a scene where jim contemplates taking advantage of naomi being drunk.

No. 266050

>>266043
Fully think the show is better. I feel like they worked out many of the bugs and tightened things up. Also the larger presence female characters have is an improvement

I remember the miller scene but the one with Holden wtf

No. 266087

>>265004
i don't have any saved but i really like these reading lists too. i think i'm going to start putting some together myself. it will probably take a while though, because i would only want books that i had either read myself or were recommended by someone here who read them personally. some ideas for different lists i had:
>feminism
>female philosophers
>female classics
>conspiracy (personal interest of mine lol)
>unreliable/deranged female narrator pt. 2
>psychiatry/psychology
if anyone can vouch for any books relating to those subjects let me know and i'll start compiling a list!

>>265876
just reading the description of this made me sick, you could not pay me to read this. male authors are alright for nonfiction (as long as it isn't political) but i have given up on them for fiction. nearly every novel by a man reads like it was written one-handed. when i was younger i could ignore it, but over time it stood out to me more and more, and now as soon as i notice moid writing traits i resent the book.

No. 266136

>>266087
>as soon as i notice moid writing traits i resent the book
you are so right, nonnie. i never understand people who are like "i should read more female authors!" because i read almost only female authors. i feel like only women can write. when women write, the story always feels very real and tangible, but i feel like when men write there's always a weird clunkiness and distance to the inner life of the characters. makes me think about how men think that women are NPCs and have no rich inner lives. again, projection on men's part, because it's men who don't seem to have any inner life. might explain why male characters always do the most autistic shit in those coming of age novels about men. men can't write for shit because they aren't human.

No. 266666

What ereaders do nonnies have? I'm pretty poor so I tend to pirate my books from libgen and dump them onto a Kobo. I prefer them much more than Kindles that only accept propriety book extensions rather than Kobos that take epubs and mobis fine.

No. 266678

File: 1672686198095.png (1.14 MB, 565x733, squigglycat.png)

ok sorry for how awkward this sounds, but…is there a series like Erin Hunter's warrior cat books, just better? I grew up reading very serious books and plays though I've come to realize that I'm basic and I prefer basic books. However, I also hate almost all YA and I have a love/angst relationship with the cat books so I'm not really sure where to turn after finishing them.

No. 266705

>>266666
Fellow kobosister. I have kobo clara and it serves me well.

No. 266711

>>266666
I read pirated books on my phone with ReadEra.

No. 266713

>>266678
His name's not squiggly cat, his name is Sol. Anyway, Warriors is still going (I don't read the new books) and I've heard the writing has gotten better. There's still love and angst between the cats I think though, which was also always my least favorite. My favorite were the battles. I guess try Watership Down?

No. 266718

>>266713
I know but he's too evil to deserve such a cool name!
Anyway, I'm very happy to hear that. I'm continuing, though I read the entire 3rd arc this week and really want to slow down and read other books, too.

Also, Watership Down is a great example of what I don't want even if it's a good recommendation. I read it and watched the movie when I was 10, and I'm still scarred kek. I like Warriors because it reaches a balance of levity, fun, adventure, weird mystical stuff, cuteness, and occasional tragedy without getting extremely gloomy. I plan to reread Discworld soon which was my favorite series from when I was a kid, though it really is no replacement.
>>266711
same. I just discovered ReadEra and it renders epubs well on my giant brick phone.

No. 266719

>>266678
I enjoyed Wings of Fire(though its kinda gone off the rails with the new arcs), Duncton Wood, and Silverwing. Also Redwall if you havent read it yet. I actually really like talking animal books kek.

No. 266720

>>266678
Samefagging to add I loved Ms Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

No. 266725

>>266719
Based recommendations! Looks like they'd all be stuff I'd love.
Also off the rails in what way? I don't mind things getting eccentric and chaotic, but if it feels soulless then that could scare me away.

No. 266728

>>266725
I wouldn't say soulless but the third arc was kind of sloppy, lots of new characters and plot points introduced in a disjointed way with characterization that isn't great. I really fell in love with the characters and setting of the series and I've been reading it since the first book came out though. They are a bit childish at times but if you think you'd like fun fantasy dragon books with magic and cool female characters I'd say go for it.

No. 266736

>>266713
THAT's Sol? I always imagined him to look kinda lion-ish, similar to Lionheart.

No. 266739

File: 1672713795016.png (102.38 KB, 214x236, squigglesole.png)

>>266736
Picrel is a book cover. He's depicted all over the place, but this is my canon because he looks a lot different than the other cats, a bit uncanny. I figure the comparison to a lion is more because of his tall stature, noble bearing, and long features, not his fur.

No. 266751

>>266678
I haven't read the book yet, but I picked up The Wildings by Nilanjana Roy at a thrift store and it sounds promising.

Seems kinda like warrior cats, that it's about cats, but it's based in Delhi

No. 266780

>>266666
I actually have Kindle(an old one) and it accepts pirated mobi, pdf and kindle formats just fine?
Are there some new restrictions?

No. 266840

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No. 266850

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>>261956
I’m thinking of doing a reread of Bridge to Terabithia this year (last time it was ~3 years ago). One of the most memorable books of my childhood, I actually learned about this thanks to the movie. Once I started watching the movie at school (we didn’t finish it, it was because I came to the reading room in a library with a TV and someone was watching it there so I saw some parts). It was so interesting I decided to read the book when I learned it’s based on it, I read the translation. Amazing experience. Love both the book and the 2007 movie.

No. 266927

>>266666
I have 2 ones that I use, a nook glowlight 3 which is my main one (it can read most epubs pretty well) then I have a boox nova 3 that is basically just an android tablet with an e-ink screen. it's really good for pdfs and apps like hoopla. it costed me about $185 on ebay.

No. 266939

File: 1672843114259.jpg (79.2 KB, 1920x1080, david-foster-wallace-429359971…)

Which dead authors do you think would troon out if they lived today? I think DFW probably would. Infinite Jest has so many troons it's certain he at least was familiar with the subject. In the 90s and early 00s troons were still laughed at, but in todays cultural atmosphere I think he'd take his creep act to a new level and just straight up become a tranny.

No. 266960

Found a fun website where you have to guess whether one lit quote (or french lit quote if you're really tough!) was written by an AI or by a real life author
http://aiorart.com/

No. 266992

>>266939
he was definitely a big enough narcissist for it but honestly i think even he would find it retarded and "insincere." god he's so annoying, i hate that i love his writing

No. 267303

I would like to read a nonfiction this month. I’m looking for something related to marine biology preferably with many pictures! Maybe not generic like a textbook but specific topic that you guys find interesting.

No. 267308

>>266992
ayrt, I'd actually like to see his take on modern troonism and gender bullshit. and yeah it's a pain that he wrote so well while being a prick irl, trying my best to ignore that while reading.

No. 267386

File: 1673046735967.jpg (30.53 KB, 369x500, 51RvjCl88yL._AC_SY1000_[1].jpg)

>>267303
I haven't read it yet but I think I've got just the thing for you
>Although a scholarly volume, the book's style is generally narrative and, with its hundreds of magnificent illustrations, it should appeal to a large audience.

No. 267732

I wanted to challenge myself and read V.C. Andrews this year, because I've read her before and I just couldn't get into it. I keep hearing so many people on Instagram say she's like a "queen of horror" which is such a bold statement…I decided to reread Flowers in the Attic because I'm going through some mommy issues of my own and thought maybe I'd see it different with this attitude in mind but nope. I'm just barely 50% done and I'm so bored. So much of this is unnecessary fluff. I feel like it takes way too long to get to actual plot points, and any build up with the mom slowly abandoning them is lost in descriptions of the house or "golly-day, I'm so fucking bored!"
The underlying weird incest with nearly EVERY related character in this book gives me the creeps. I get that's a theme but…Christ. I have no siblings but none of the interactions between Chris and Cathy seem normal, even before the big reveal. Cathy and the twins are so unbelievably bratty, I can't stand it.
There's still some V.C. Andrews books that sound good that I'd ideally like to read but idk if I ever can. The only horrific thing about her is how boring things can get while waiting for the next thing to happen. I have the whole series and I do want to know what happens after FITA but at what cost…

No. 267735

Does anyone have any recommendations last year my brain fucking malfunctioned and i read nothing but assigned reading and for some godforsaken reason i read Good Omens by T Prattchet and Neil Gaiman around 16 times in 2022

No. 267755

Have any of you read Waiting for Godot? I just read it and I’m curious to know what other people think of Lucky’s monologue. It’s my favourite part of the text and I think it really accurately sums up the conflict at the centre of the play despite appearing borderline nonsensical at first. As well as that — how do you all feel about the Godot as God interpretation? I think it’s pretty obvious that Beckett intended for that interpretation to be at least a possibility, with the constant biblical references (Estragon as Adam, Pozzo as Cain and Abel simultaneously, discussion of the bible at the start of act 1, “fear and trembling” mention etc etc) and both Godot and God being described as having white beards at different points in the text, but it feels so obvious that it bores me a little. I think Lucky’s monologue offers the possibility that the central God-question is more to do with the personal vs impersonal natures of God or the immediate knowability of God, rather than just its existence (hence Vladimir’s desperation for his existence to be known by Godot), as well as the Godot-as-death or Godot-as-purpose interpretations (references to the different ways we try and fail to find meaning in life, e.g. religion and academic study, mentions of wasting and skulls etc etc), but overall I’m inclined to see it as very simply a play about waiting for…. Nothing at all. The fact that you could “waste” a huge amount of time dissecting its various interpretations is just another layer.

No. 267763

>>267735
What did you think of Good Omens?

No. 267781

>>267763
i love the humor and the writing style but they did the female characters dirty it's unreal

No. 267875

>>267735
what kind of recommendations? you need to be more specific, anon. I'm always eager to recommend bunny by mona awad because of how much I loved it (and it just felt really different from pretty much all other books I've read) but there's so much hype around it now that I feel like people just get mad when it gets brought up. I read a ton of murder mysteries too so that's what I'd probably end up recommending but I know a lot of people don't like those. if you want something fun and whimsical I'd suggest the last unicorn by peter s beagle, it's another favorite of mine and it's a short easy read.

No. 268125

>>267386
Thank you for the rec anon! I’ll put this in my list for now as I couldn’t find it on libby.

No. 268317

>>267735
>16 times
You could have read 15 Pratchett books instead!

No. 268365

Sorry for the retarded question but it worth it to splurge on an e-reader if I want to get into reading but hardly do it? I am hoping to start reading more if it’s easy to access them as every time I buy a book I just lose interest and want another… so I think I want to use libgen and get books for free. Now this can technically work on my phone I guess but I get distracted on my phone more often than not. Should I try to get into reading on an e-reader or no? I know this sounds ridiculous but maybe there is one anon who can relate?

No. 268372

>>268365
Anon I'm similar to you and can vouch for getting an e-reader to read more

No. 268380

>>268372
Ty anon, do you have a recommendation of which one e-reader that you liked? I’ve heard the kobo is easier for people who use libgen but wanna make sure I’m getting the right one!

No. 268419

Are here nonnies who can help me?
I'm really, like reeeally struggling to read books.
I never was an avid reader, and, usually, read around twenty books a year, but now I can't force myself to read even ten books.
I start them, and after fifty pages I lose interes in the book and pick another one. And the same thing happens. I now have around five books that I started and lost interest.
Are there nonnies with the same problem?

No. 268435

>>268365
ask yourself, are you buying an expectation or a product? it sounds to me that you are buying the expectation to read more and not really an ereader. you should get a library card instead!

>>268419
set yourself a daily reading goal! start low, maybe with 5 pages a day. keep reading if you feel like it, but don't cheat yourself out of reading when you don't feel like it because you already "pre fulfilled" your page quota. maybe you're also tired of your usual book taste, so try branching out to something completely different!

No. 268440

>>268435
Ty nonnie! Daily reading goal is a really good idea!

No. 268442

someone give me short books to read. please it's 11 days into janurary and i've only been picking through 2ha (which is good but i want something else).

please assume i've read most of what's been mentioned in past threads. anyway

>i'm good with anything not sci-fi

>by "short" i mean sub 300 pages
>female-written books are a heavy bonus. if male-authored, strong female characters (i consider most of the women in asoiaf well-written if you need to have my standard)

No. 268454

>>268435
My library never has any of the books I wanna read but I appreciate that suggestion.

No. 268467

>>268419
Here's what worked for me:
>acquire no more books until you've finished at least one of your books
>set a limit of max 2 or 3 books you can read at a time, no more
>use a really good looking bookmark to use in the physical book you want to finish first, to make you want to go back to this book (I personally use a beautiful tarot deck)
>read every day even if it's just one page, usually just starting to read will be motivation enough to keep reading

No. 268486

>>268365
I bought a secondhand kindle paperwhite off ebay. It retails for like $80 I think but I paid about $40 with shipping. I would recommend buying one secondhand since it's cheaper, so no shame if you don't use it but great it you do. Mine has wifi but internet browsing can be a pain since it's e-ink (a good way to discourage myself from mindlessly browsing away). I get books off libgen but also from my library, and I use calibre to strip the drm off so I can keep them long term. I didn't use my e-reader very much at first but now I do. It's thin and lightweight so I can leave it in my bag and not care. If I don't touch it at all because I don't feel like reading, the battery lasts about 2 weeks. I recommend it but do not buy a brand new one and stress yourself out with the "I paid so much money for it I need to use it!" mentality.

No. 268487

>>268486
also I should mention while I didn't get scammed, I definitely could've gotten my ereader for cheaper had I waited it out for a cheap enough listing kek. I am getting my money's worth though, so not bad!

No. 268504

File: 1673470193362.jpg (489.43 KB, 1664x2560, 81pC3OQTUbL.jpg)

I read The Remains of the Day and it instantly became one of my favorites, and while I really liked how Never Let Me Go started out, it got weaker towards the middle and in the end I was rather glad I finally finished reading (which isn't meant to say I disliked it). I see a lot of people being split on it, too. Is Klara and the Sun more like TRotD or NLMG in terms of quality? I wanna read everything by him, since he only has <10 books anyways afaik, is there anything you'd recommend reading next if it isn't KatS?

No. 268660

File: 1673559292986.jpeg (43.76 KB, 334x498, F8A93D11-B4AE-45BF-927A-D1A837…)

apologies if this is not the correct thread but could someone illuminate me, I finished reading picrel a few weeks ago. In short this book states abusive men are such because they do not respect women, entitlement, and harmful cultural messaging bout women (though he denied abusive men dislike women), so if Bancroft’s theory is that abuse is learnt with the exception of mentally ill ones then this really doesn’t explain same sex abusers… It’s still a great resource imo but I think it’s too sympathetic to men as a class

No. 268789

I just finished The Body Keeps the Score from last thread. I listened to it on audio while I was running so it took me a while, but I found it easier to digest that way since some parts are kind of triggering and I wasn't trying to get more depressed lol.

I said I wasn't that into it about 1/3 of the way through because it got into boring territory but I kept going and I'm glad I did because it went in some interesting directions and I definitely learned some new things about different types of therapy and the human mind and responses to trauma. I liked that the author was very critical of prescribing drugs for the symptoms of trauma but not doing any actual therapy to address the trauma, like he made a point to explain why a trauma patient is never going to heal their trauma with drugs alone (he has nothing against drugs in general it's just not the ultimate cure especially for trauma and he feels they're overprescribed, which is true.)

Like the other nona said it's not a self-help book, but I think it could be very valuable if you are considering seeking therapy for trauma. It's very informative and I feel like it made some confusing things about therapy and trauma make sense.

No. 268808

>>268660
Iirc Lundy Bancroft isn't a sociologist nor a psychologist, he's just a case worker who specialized in domestic abuse. His direct observations of abusers are interesting but I don't think he's qualified to attempt to explain the causes of abuse, especially in same sex couples, which is a domain so charged most scientists don't even attempt to touch

No. 268855

>>265005
I'm afraid to ask, but, still, why run?

No. 268908

>>268855
They're mostly about characters with mental issues or desiring to live out of society's bounds

No. 268918

>>268908
Oh uh, thank you!

No. 268947

>>268855
Cause she’s probably insufferable whose whole personality is having clinical depression and only reads for the aesthetic

No. 269006

>>268419
what are the books you're trying to read? heavy? light? is it your specific special interest or just general? have you tried starting small? i.e., simple, fun books.

also, I recommend making reading just a comfortable, relaxing time. I love to read in the morning and evening where I can hide and get lost in a book with some tea, coffee, and snacks. oh, making it too annoying to go and do other stuff like use the internet helps too. even if a session isn't fun, there's still value in the process.
>>268947
I feel like someone who'd instantly demonize her over it is probably more likely to be insufferable, and mind you, I don't like any of those books.

No. 269009

>>268908
a lot of us are the same way tho especially regarding the latter part, otherwise we wouldn't be here kek. nothing wrong with that

No. 269012

>>263158 here, I read the whole series except the most recent novel (because I'm saving it) in a week kek I got so hooked and I can't believe JKR got me invested in shipping the main two characters, I didn't have high hopes after the HP couples.

Anyway can anons recommend some more fun plot-twisty crime novels? I recently read Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (enjoyed it more than Sharp Objects and less than Gone Girl), and reread The Devotion of Suspect X (loved it just as much even knowing the twist). I'm going on holidays soon so I need plenty of reading material for the plane and trains!

No. 269019

>>269012
I recommend The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie if you haven't read it yet, the plot twist was actually very controversial at the time. For something a bit more unusual I'm nearly done with a Michel Bussi (yes it's his real name, he's french) book and while the writing is a bit bland the plot twist got me audibly gasping. The stories never take place in Paris, so you also get a more original depiction of France than a worldwide audience is usually offered. Not all of his books were translated in english (the one I read wasn't), I'd recommend randomly picking one

No. 269058

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I finished reading the new York trilogy today I started reading it because it's what inspired the plot for mgs2 and I think it is now one of my favorite books. I love the overall theme of identity and self that's explored and I loved trying to piece everything together as I read it

No. 269142

Do any of you have a list of books you want to read by the end of this year? What’s on it? For me it’s:
>Ulysses (already started, just finished episode 10)
>Both volumes of Capitalism & Schizophrenia by Deleuze and Guattari (already started)
>Spectres of Marx by Derrida (already started)
>Molloy by Beckett
>Kafka’s short stories
But the emphasis is really on the first two.

No. 269145

>>269019
That's my favorite as well! The ABC Murders are also good.

No. 270610

>>267732
I actually read V.C. Andrews books several months ago. I'll admit Flowers in the Attic was rather boring, but the second book Petals on the Wind has nonstop shit happening which makes it an easier read. If There Be Thorns was my least favorite but at some entertaning moments I guess…Seeds of Yesterday was pretty good, it was nice seeing the end of it. Garden of Shadows is the prequel to Flowers in the Attic and focuses on the grandmother. That book was very interesting. However GoS was written and/or finished by a ghostwriter. He used notes of V.C. Andrews for the book. My Sweet Audrina is a separate book and also a stand alone novel and though I haven't read it I have heard good things about it.

For the Flower series I think it's important to remember that the writing is not necessarily the best and isn't exactly a work of literature. It's just one of those tacky taboo books that really draws in people because of the weirdness and curiousity of the plot (incest).

No. 270975

File: 1674305909219.jpg (30.18 KB, 716x127, sdasdasd.jpg)

My reading goal this year is to read more of my physical tbr's. I made a big pile on my floor so I always see it to remind myself. (I made two piles one for more easy books/reads and the other classics/nonfiction)

My secondary goal is to read more poetry.

No. 271026

>>269142
>Deleuze
>Derrida
What a dreadful thing to do for fun

No. 271036

File: 1674331359401.jpg (424.24 KB, 1056x1600, 81ZEMsShWuL.jpg)

a few weeks ago i fell into a rabbit hole and re-read the entire cassandra cla(i)re plagiarism debacle. i ended up starting a re-read of her shadowhunters book series. i think i only ever read the first trilogy, the first book of the infernal devices, and the book 4 of the original "trilogy" so i'm a bit intimidated by having to read 21 books by the same author, kek.

i'm in first 3rd of book 2 right now and god, clary is insufferable. the books are kinda fun though. apparently the series gets progressively better and all later protagonists/couples are better than draco and ginny- i mean jace and clary.

No. 271046

File: 1674333251133.jpg (257 KB, 1400x2127, 81EKxa8bFzL.jpg)

I really enjoyed this, it was nice to read a book from China without needing to have a dictionary out the entire time. I really loved the concept of two strange, reality bending cities with a possibly even stranger city hidden in plain sight. His approach to just dive into the weird shit without much explanation is still my favorite. Having read other works from him I kinda expected the outcome though. And the final confrontation was a bit anticlimactic(which is again kind of expected). I wonder what the tv show is like, has anyone watched it?

No. 271047

File: 1674333471923.jpg (123.61 KB, 1000x1499, lathe-of-heaven-le-guin-hardco…)

>>271046
Jumping into this next! Something about the summary reminded me of SOMA for some reason.

No. 271060

There are a couple of ebooks I’m desperate to buy but they’re kinda expensive (slightly more than paperback but I want them digitally). I decided that I could treat myself if I read some books I already own. What number sounds like a fair amount of books to finish before buying a new one? Most on my tbr are like 300-400 pages.

No. 271075

Any recs for books on managing compulsions?

No. 271089

>>271036
Lmao I used to be so into these books. Infernal device is much better.

No. 271145

>>271060
If they're really expensive and you're okay with an alternative solution, maybe someone here can help you find them for free
The fair amount of books to finish depends entirely on you, any number is fine as long as you don't increase it later. You might as well pick a nice memorable one, like 1, 5, 7, 13, 20 or 52

No. 271224

File: 1674420424210.png (125.53 KB, 364x176, 1.png)

this book is making me uncomfortable and the author is a woman

No. 271226

>>271060
Nonnie pls, there's no need to pay for ebooks
https://libgen.is/

No. 271279

>>271060
Make a bunch of libby cards then only buy the books you actually like

No. 271876

>>271279
>make a bunch of libby cards

Nta but Idk what this is supposed to mean as libby connects to your irl library card. You can add multiple cards but only if you have library cards from different libraries. Not an option for me as there is only one library in my entire state. I've tried signing up for library cards from different states but never had any luck. The selection on Libby for my state is kind of shit too. I recently heard someone from Canada go "Toronto's library let's you have 30 holds instead of 20 like my hometown!" Meanwhile my library only allows you to have 7 holds.

There's another library app called Hoopla, it has audiobooks, ebooks, movies, comics and music. That being said it has limited rentals per month and a lot of libraries don't provide it.

No. 271958

>>271876
my country's e-libraries are shitty too so i usually use skoobe (probably german only) and scribd. and zlib ofc.

No. 271971

File: 1674848798980.jpg (52.34 KB, 540x567, tumblr_495efdb96e8f6f9eb01b1ea…)

Anyone know of books with prose similar to Richard Siken's? I want something poetic and dreamy.

No. 271989

>>271224
What book is this?

No. 272046

File: 1674892997414.jpg (40.97 KB, 370x570, ImageHandler.jpg)

Ok I need to rant. I just read normal people and fucking hated the story. I enjoyed Sally Rooney's writing style (though the lack of quotations drove me up the wall), it's very easy to read and her imagery was nice, however the story was completely underwhelming. All the side characters feel one-note, especially the female side characters where half are almost completely evil. The use of excerpts in time just made me frustrated as nothing was elaborated on, things just seemed to happen to characters that I didn't care about. I felt deeply unhappy with Marianne's storyline especially. She seems to have no agency, just letting things happen to her which I understand is her flaw/issue but I felt like it was never resolved/worked through like Connell's issues were. For a book that people told me was progressive, the treatment of women felt deeply misogynistic. Why did we get such a brief excerpt of Marianne in Sweden? As the story progresses she just gets tossed to the wayside and becomes a maiden for Connell to save and fuck. Eugh. I read it on a flight and just felt confused and disappointed.

No. 272056

do you guys know any author drama? here's some i can remember:

>cassandra clare (mortal instruments/shadowhunters series)

big name fan in lotr and hp fandom, plagiarized quotes from buffy and other tv shows without indicating so which made people assume she was incredibly witty and funny, later copied entire passages from a published book in her fanfiction, apparently scammed people out of their money by claiming that someone robbed her and she needed a new laptop to write.
apparently there's no plagiarism in her published books, but the fandom drama is too good not to mention it here.
more here: https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Cassandra_Claire_Plagiarism_Debacle

>maggie stiefvater (the raven circle)

beefed with halsey over lyrics of the song "drive" because fans thought the lyrics reminded them of the main couple in trc (gansey/blue) and stiefvater thought that halsey's song was insinuating something else by thinking that shift stick=dick, while halsey claims it's just a song about being too nervous to confess your feelings to someone in a car.

>sarah j. maas

apparently she's an absolute cow. allegedly she only likes her writer friends when they are less successful than her. called leigh bardugo (author of the grishaverse) a fat cripple behind her back, laughed at fans who said they wanted to be good writers like her, is extremely catty towards other women in general, etc.

>casey mcquiston (red, white & royal blue)

apparently rwrb is jesse eisenberg/andrew garfield rpf and set during the time of filming the social network. she was also a huge hamilton fan back in the day, which is why there's so many hamilton references in the book.

>colleen hoover

had a feud with a teenager who criticized the rampant abuse in her books. also her son was accused of sexually abusing a 16 year old girl. she refuses to use trigger warnings or having her books listed as "dark" romance (so people know there will be rape and abuse in them) because to her, triggers=spoilers. also pro-trump and pro-depp.

>e.l. james (50 shades)

apparently admitted that she doesn't even like twilight but purposely released the first version of 50 shades as twilight fics so people would read it and it would garner attention and become published.

the opposite of drama:

>jkr

queen

>stephenie meyer (twilight)

apparently donates millions every year to women's domestic violence shelters through her sister's name in order to avoid getting doxxed. apparently had an awakening about her mormon upbringing and might have left the cult?

No. 272059

Any book anons here into esoteric reading? Not witchcraft, more like Hermeticism, the occult, demonology, maybe some astrology, and some weird religious sects. I'm getting so into these and I really want a friend to causally talk to about some of the ideas or weird shit I'm finding. If you're interested let's swap discords.

No. 272062

>>272056
From what I understand, Laurell K Hamilton has some milk, and maybe Larry Correia, and Chuck Tingle too. Can’t post much because I’m phone posting.

No. 272065

>>272056
I don't have any milk apart from shit that happens in the tiny writer circles of my home country, but that's more like watching your uncles and aunts get into an argument at the family reunion, and these people are literal nobodies in international circles, but author milk is incredibly interesting, so please post more if you have any.

No. 272090

>>272059
I haven't delved too deep into those subjects before, but I would love to learn about those things alongside you, anon. I've been getting into anthroposophy recently, so maybe we could even exchange book recs. Drop your tag and I'll send a request.

No. 272092

>>272056
A while ago I found some incredibly vague tweets and an open letter which seemed to be accusing China Mieville of some kind of sexual misconduct. It was very hard to follow and schizo-like with zero proof or even one concrete statement. Just a bunch of talk about a supposed cover up, threats and blackmail. I tried to find it since but it seems like everything was wiped.

No. 272093

File: 1674923275541.jpg (511.61 KB, 920x1393, Screenshot_20230128_172640_Chr…)

>>272092
Actually it seems like one reddit thread from last year managed to stay up and actually provides insight into the situation and gives more than enough information to warrant concern. Disappointed but not surprised. https://www.reddit.com/r/WeirdLit/comments/rgau9t/where_is_china_mieville/

No. 272109

>>272093
>his beauty
Perhaps an other CM?

No. 272123

>>272056
I feel like this isn't the right thread for it, there used to be an author cow thread on /ot/ that has long since died but someone could make a new one. Anyhow there are a lot of YouTubers that have "authors behaving badly" videos (unfortunately that's a lot of stupid shit like saying JKR is a horrible person). The YouTuber Rachel Reads does that, this is part 1 of her Cassie Clare video. I haven't watched it yet but there's a lot of stuff apparently.

>apparently rwrb is jesse eisenberg/andrew garfield rpf and set during the time of filming the social network. she was also a huge hamilton fan back in the day, which is why there's so many hamilton references in the book.


I don't understand what part of that is problematic lol

No. 272127

>>272056
If we're counting cringe like the Red, White & Royal Blue author, we should count the author of Demon Heart who wrote the book based on the Supernatural convention where he got annoyed a con goer asking if his character Dean would be gay, and is essentially fanfic of that moment leading to the con goer being invited to work on the show for upsetting her kek.

No. 272128

>>272127
* he as in Jensen Ackles and she as in the asker

No. 272145

>>272056
>Sarah Dessen
Had a shitfit on twitter because a university student didn't want to include Dessen's YA books on a reading list for college students. The student was harassed for this and the university eventually sided with Dessen and apologized to her.

>Emily Duncan

Bullied and insulted other YA authors, particularly Asian authors. The year Duncan's debut novel was released, another book called "Blood Heir" by Amelie Wen Zhao was set to be released. Blood Heir was highly hyped and was then subsequently cancelled on Twitter for 'problematic content'. Duncan was part of a group of authors heavily involved in mocking it, presumably because she viewed it as competition.

>Akwaeke Emezi

Not sure if she's FTM or non-binary but she was a former student of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a celebrated Nigerian feminist and author. Adichie was cancelled for 'transphobia' for saying that trans women were trans women. Emezi basically trash talked Adichie and accused her of advocating for the murder of trans children or whatever. Later, Adichie released an essay were she accused Emezi of using her for clout and to further Emezi's career, all while disparaging Adichie for being anti-trans.

>AJ Finn/Daniel Mallory

Was exposed for having fabricated numerous aspects of his life, including claims that he suffered from cancer, lost his brother to suicide and his mother to cancer, and had a doctorate from Oxford. In actuality, both his mother and brother are still alive and he attended Duke. Was also accused of copying various books and films for his novel, "The Woman in the Window".

>Susan Meachen

This happened recently. Meachen is an indie romance author who faked her own death. Someone claiming to be her daughter said that Meachen committed suicide after being bullied by other authors in the romance community. Two years later, Meachen reappeared to admit that her suicide was staged and she wants to get back to writing.

No. 272147

>>272145
>>272056
feel like we could have author cows thread on /snow/

No. 272158

File: 1674972437637.jpg (82.23 KB, 1200x1200, 5700.jpg)

>>272109
Kek that caught my attention too, his bald ass isn't the definition of beauty exactly.

No. 272165

File: 1674977921281.jpeg (Spoiler Image,50.68 KB, 419x640, 100376CC-35A9-42DE-AE53-BD58EF…)

>>271876
Go on a ppl search website and pick out a person living in the city with libraries that allow you to make e-cards (without in person verification, check the fine print). Fill out the form w the info (usually u need name, address, and DOB). Then they’ll send you the ecard number in ur email. Most people don’t use the library so they’d never know. I usually pick old boomers who don’t seem like they read. Is it fraud? Maybe. Worst they’ll do is terminate ur card lol

No. 272299

>>272165
Does this work if I’m not burgerfag ??

No. 272350

>>272299
I think so? But actually, some libraries do in fact check ur IP to see if you’re in the city, NYC for example. So use a VPN.

No. 272363

I want to get back into reading even if it's only one to three books rn. Can I have a suggestion on horror/suspense/thriller/mystery stories with morally ambiguous female protagonists.

No. 272365

File: 1675097016081.jpg (783.71 KB, 1524x2339, gone-girl-cover[1].jpg)

>>272363
This should do nicely

No. 272371

File: 1675098562583.jpeg (72.75 KB, 471x640, F47C7503-AAA3-4B49-90C9-99093A…)

>>272363
Confessions - Minato Kanae

No. 272402

>>272363
if you love fantasy, I’d suggest the poppy war

No. 272403

>>272299
I believe the nyc library lets you get a library card online even if you are not from burgerland. Then you can use that card to borrow things from libby. I had a tumblr mutual a few years ago that was doing that kek

No. 272412

>>272402
Do not listen to this anon, The Poppy War fucking sucks.

No. 272415

>>272363
Have you read anything from heian era?

The pillow book - Sei Shonagon is very good, it has passages with intrigue (although it's a little bit silly), it has no romance and the author is a witty, salty court woman from the heian era.

The Diary of Lady Murasaki is interesting, i remember no true intrigues (even though she acts like the "not like other girls" from her time), but she talks a lot about everything that happens in the court (detailing outfits and many other things that may be interesting), including the birth of the emperor's child.

Gossamer years by Michitsuna's Mother is very interesting, no court intrigues but A LOT of relationship-wise intrigue. It may be considered romance? She's the spouse of one of the Fujiwara's family member, and talks a lot about random bad things that happen and how much she suffers for him, well…

Heike Monogatari seems very good for what you desire, i have not read it but it may be what you desire, it has politics and war, but it may be too epic?

No. 272430

>>272365
I already bought the book but i have yet to read it, it's on my list for so long, i'm just not emotionally prepared to what's going to happen? even though, i have been slightly spoiled to what it's about.

>>272371
this sounds interesting, thanks anon

>>272402
>>272412
idk what the poppy war is about other than being a popular YA book series atm. and i'm not really into YA kek.

>>272415
no, i have yet read anything from the heian era so thanks for the suggestions

No. 272445

>>272430
Not either of those anons, but The Poppy War is not YA. Not saying it's good (or bad) either, I've never read it

No. 272457

>>272445
oh, thanks for the clarification anon, it's been marketed as such from what I've seen so i assumed that it was YA.

No. 272639

File: 1675239075954.jpeg (35.51 KB, 334x500, images (17).jpeg)

So I really liked this book. If you're a 'cozy mystery' type of reader you will probably like it too. My only nitpick is that the author is Australian, and so is the main character,.but her American friend tells her that Americans don't say "beanie".. we do though? At least on the west coast, maybe east coasters don't say it, idk.

No. 272641

>>272090
Great! Looking forward to hearing what you've been reading nonnie
skiploom#8148

No. 272920

Nonnies, could some of you suggest me some books on beautiful writing?
The technics, what to avoid, what to add more. Things like this.

No. 272953

>>272920
I think most books on the subject will boil down to suggesting you to find several writers you like, analyze their style, emulate what makes them good while avoiding their flaws, and listen to feedback from different persons about your own writing

No. 272964

>>272056
Where did the info about Stephenie Meyer donating money come from?? I really like her, I really want that to be true…

No. 272972

>>272953
Oh, that's sad. I read a book in russian about beautiful writing and it was full with explanations why something is bad or good. I hoped that there is something similar in english.
Anyway, thank you very much nonna!

No. 272988

>>272964
That would be great if it was true but isn't Twilight basically just a grooming story? I can't imagine thinking she's based

No. 273025

File: 1675383029195.jpeg (53.05 KB, 500x760, 91Szm8FpdfL.jpeg)

This book shouldn't be boring but it is. Don't waste your time reading this, just read the news articles about the drama points.

No. 273045

>>272988
Nta and not particularly a twilight fan but I did read them in middle school. I don’t think she’s based but I give her a pass since it’s honestly very mild and non-offensive compared to general pop media of the times (literal every show aimed at teens had unabashed age gap fetish, at least Twilight had the fantasy anime age clause and the characters do act like retarded teenagers) and from a mentally stunted woman groomed by a cult so it would be unfair to hold her to feminist ideals.

No. 273242

>>272972
Could you tell me the name of the book in Russian you read? It sounds interesting.

No. 273308

>>273242
Seconding this, also I wish we could revive the writing advice thread on /ot to share our tips and recs. I need to sperg about writing.

No. 273311

>>273308
Go bump it? What's stopping you

No. 273332

>>273311
The fact that when I bumped it last time no-one replied and I didn't wanna samefag. It was right after the downtime when the site was really slow though.

No. 273346

File: 1675521495003.jpeg (32.71 KB, 364x560, 9E768D07-6F47-44CC-B60F-17D605…)

>>272056
I also heard that some accuse Sarah J. Mass of plagiarizing some elements from The Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop (a series some note by being hilariously bad, also super fucked up and abusive stuff in it, including romanticized pedophilia).

Meanwhile Colleen Hoover put one day on Instagram announcement of a coloring book based on It Ends With Us, people criticized her so heavily she deleted the post and the project won’t happen.
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/colleen-hoover-coloring-book-cancellation-intl-scli/index.html

My reads, I recently read this book on picrel and it was a really cozy read. Maybe I also enjoyed it so much because I’m interested in Japan. This one was from library, I feel I’d like to have my own copy.

No. 273383

File: 1675535113454.jpeg (1.18 MB, 1170x1741, 52FD9382-0D05-4F82-9F3B-C9AB8C…)

I guess this book attempts to invoke all-female Lord of the Flies, Yellowjackets, Stranger Things, The Promise Neverland, YA horror with gore and sprinkle of lesbianism. Well it sucks, it’s like what Lacroix tastes like. Juvenile and unsatisfying, somehow everything happens yet feels like nothing and every character is just their name. Do not recommend.

No. 273384

>>273332
That's not what samefagging is, go run wild

No. 273406

File: 1675542306056.jpg (86.69 KB, 727x872, thehoover.jpg)

>>273346
Judging by the picture of her under that article you shared, CoHo looks unhinged in a bad way. kek

No. 273407

>>272046
I felt the same way about the show they made out of it. None of the characters were likable at all imo, but not in the way that they were meant to be unlikable.

No. 273408

File: 1675542910124.jpg (121.09 KB, 580x580, m_5f2c1d84463d4f41c4402807.jpg)

Anyone read this? I got it on deep discount at goodwill a while ago.

No. 273410

>>273242
>>273308
Sure!
It's "Слово живое и мёртвое" by Нора Галь

No. 273414

File: 1675545305696.jpg (19.27 KB, 280x430, anna_karenin.jpg)

Is this worth it? My therapist recommended to me, but it seems sort of daunting. I know it's a classic, and the translation makes it easy to read, but did YOU like it?

No. 273421

>>273410
Спасибо))

No. 273425

File: 1675549978711.jpg (134.57 KB, 800x1209, 58212203.jpg)

i just finished picrel and i'm conflicted. it's so slow and dragging, but at the same time very satisfying because it's about women living in a patriarchal post-apocalyptic world and gaining witch powers to fight back. and then the author ruins the whole female rage thing by throwing in some unnecessary themlet side character in the epilogue. it's very obvious that women are oppressed because of their sex in the story of the book, but i guess you gotta pander to gendies.

>>273383
i tried to read this but i gave up after like 2 chapters, kek.

>>273406
she looks painfully american, in that "southern conservative woman who goes to church and shills MLMs" way.

No. 273442

>>273414
It contains much more than just a love story (I remember a commentary in it on Russia's 19th century agricultural reforms) so I enjoyed being presented with many original aspects I've certainly not read in any other book. It's at least worth reading to get a (large) sample of the russian state of mind, which hasn't changed much since

No. 273519

>>273414
It's good, but a commitment like you've said. I recommend getting it as an audiobook, it plays out like a Russian soap opera and you can speed through chapters that don't interest you as much. It's comfy to have on in the background or when going for walks.

No. 273733

>>273406
>>273346
Are you telling me the woman who writes novels romanticizing abusive men is unhinged and a cow in other ways? Wow I'm shocked

No. 273792

>>272123
Not that I mind exposing authors who are GENUINE shitheads. Excluding the literal bullshit these people talk about JK Rowling.
But this youtuber…jfc, she's so smug it's insane. There has never been a thing in the history of the world that she's liked. Her facial expressions, her tone, her weird unstyled wig. I hate it all. So holier than thou. It radiates off her.

I've been reading books about unhinged or just strange women lately. I read a lot of the usual suspects. Otessa Moshfegh's My Year Of Rest and Relaxation and Eileen(I wonder what the movie will be like), Mona Awad's Bunny, Eliza Clark's Boy Parts and Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.
And tbh I loved them all. Some a little more, some a little less but everything was genuinely enjoyable. I'm gonna stay on this genre path. I think this is what I've been missing. It's really been feeding me.

No. 273883

>>273792
I posted her because the video seemed thorough but yeah she is annoying, she bitches about literally everything. I was watching one of her book reviews and she couldn't even get the character names right. Not that I always remember character names, but she kept calling a character named Blythe 'Briney' which isn't even a name afaik.

No. 273884

>>271989
the girl on the train

No. 274399

Any recommendations for unhinged/strange women books (like >>273792 listed) which aren’t popular? I feel like through these threads and social media I know of all the popular ones, so please recommend anything I haven’t seen multiple times on tiktok.

No. 274487

>>273425
who was the themlet? I don't remember. I finished it a few weeks ago and thought it was mid but had some interesting books. Felt like it could have pushed a bit a more thematically. Though overall I felt the "atmosphere" of the book was the best part, especially at the beginning. It truly felt so puritanical despite being post-apoc and the MC as someone who was deep in it.

No. 274517

>>274399
Animal by Lisa Taddeo, although I've never read (want to though). Tampa (can't remember the author's name) is like a gender swapped Lolita though it's much more graphic.

I also liked a book called unfaithful by Natalie Barelli. It's a cheap thriller so nothing groundbreaking, but the main character is kind of unhinged and I had a fun time with it. I know there has to be more but I can't think of them, sorry

No. 274520

>>262749
lmao I love this

No. 274669

File: 1675962356064.jpg (59.54 KB, 500x714, 263dae29d1330f7ab13674d2e809b0…)

Hi nonnies. I'd like to ask for book recs on materialism and consumerism. Preferably regarding clothes and an attached identity. Thank you.

No. 274678

>>274399
You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman. I read it in adjacent to the list of unhinged female protagonists books and I feel like there is something truly relatable unlike some of the others listed all while being just as strange.

No. 274742

>>274669
I'm not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but I'm currently reading How To Break Up With Fast Fashion by Lauren Bravo. While it's about how to personally change your view about shopping there is also a lot about why we shop.

No. 275118

Can anyone recommend book/writing discords or forums that aren't reddit-y/casual?

No. 275120

>>274742
nta, is that book more about documenting facts about the fashion industry in general or is it more of a self-help book? I remember anons recommending To buy or not to buy and I expected the former, but it turned out to be way more of a self-help book so I'd like to know before reading it.

No. 275131

>>275120
It's more of a self-help book. Try Overdressed or Fashionopolis for facts.

No. 275134

>>275131
Cool, thanks a lot for the recommendations.

No. 275163

File: 1676131847175.png (261.97 KB, 504x800, image_2023-02-12_021023686.png)

Just bought this along with a few other books, I'm really excited to read it!

No. 275216

>>274399
Baby by Annaleese Jochems, Animals by Emma Jane Unsworth, Sympathy by Olivia Sudjic, Problems by Jade Sharma, The Paper Wasp by Lauren Acampora

No. 275286

File: 1676189414374.jpg (40.65 KB, 500x500, 51gnymYz1dL._SL500_.jpg)

so to start off with- no I'm not a reylo shipper. I didn't even read this book or have any interest in reading it. I was watching a youtube video by a booktuber that I sometimes watch and the video was "worst sex scenes" and this book was on there. she was so vague about what happened in the scene that I had to download a copy and read the scene for myself (don't recommend).

I found the chapter and what happens is that the male character has the female character give him a blowjob, then he grabs her face and goes "I want to see it" and makes her look him in the eye while he cums in her mouth and she swallows it. the booktuber in question said it was "totally normal" but the way he was described as grabbing the female love interest's face reminds her of the way she grabs her dog's face when her dog gets into something she shouldn't so it made her laugh.

before I downloaded a copy of this I was trying to find a description of the scene, I couldn't find one but I just found a bunch of people saying how this book has "normal" and "realistic" sex scenes and isn't very "crazy" or "spicy". I'm a virgin and I think I'm gonna stay that way if swallowing a man's cum is just par for the course in a relationship. I mean giving a blowjob is one thing, but men have an absolute OBSESSION with women swallowing cum (it seems like they want that more than the actual blowjob) sad that that was written into a book written for women and is supposed to be hot to us I guess

No. 275287

>>275286
off-topic but is every romance with a tall, buff, pale and dark haired love interest, now atomically assumed to be reylo inspired?

No. 275290

File: 1676190094916.jpg (10.49 KB, 183x275, download (1).jpg)

>>275287
IDK, but this one is, it's by the same author who wrote the love hypothesis which is openly reylo inspired. not sure if it's the same characters or not as I never read it, but never the less

No. 275293

File: 1676191859319.png (674.13 KB, 1524x2339, image_2023-02-12_184313936.png)

>>274399
The main character is pretty strange, the book is about subverting expectations of Chinese female behaviour, but it doesn't get too heavy into that. Has a lot of anecdotes revolving around murder and violence, including things the main character has done or witnessed. She's a lawyer but lives with her family so is subjected to arranged dates to make her family happy, sorta similar to convenience store woman, but with murder.

No. 275301

File: 1676198848852.jpg (316.75 KB, 1688x2550, 81Zmpd8EgEL.jpg)

Absolutely hated this book. Complete waste of my time. I'm trying to broaden my horizons in terms of reading and romance books have never been my thing so I picked this up thinking it'd change my mind. What a mistake. The sex scenes were hot but the authors attempts to be funny and witty just came off as NLOG behaviour and the protagonist was the most hateable bitch I've had the displeasure of sharing a POV with. Maybe other nonnies will enjoy it but this legit made me throw the book across the room at one point. The whole "mystical siren beneath the waves" being a heavy-handed allegory for abusive relationships and their consequences seems like an interesting take if the writer wasn't so patronising about it. The foreword introduced her as being on a list of "funny people" by Rolling Stone (lmao) so I thought maybe if I didn't find it interesting I'd at least find it funny. Nary a giggle, nonnies. 0/10

No. 275360

I'm looking for essays/books on suffering. Any recs?

No. 275448

>>271876
many libraries in big cities have a temporary online card program that just requires a name and address. it will expire after a few months but nothing stops you from making a new one. just make up a name (or use your real one, who cares) and pick a random address from real estate listings. i get all my books for free this way.

No. 275451

>>273414
kek sorry for doubleposting, but this book changed my life. i cried while reading it because it's so beautiful. this is probably the best novel of all time. i don't even know how to describe it, every thing is so intricate and every character is perfectly real, it's the perfect book.

No. 275549

I hate that the pocket edition of Battle Royale in French is a blurry screenshot of the movie, I'm NOT spending money on that shit!

No. 275583

File: 1676301972658.png (180.47 KB, 690x237, BA42A94B-F530-4D5E-A0E6-920F10…)

>>275549
au pire tu peux essayer de trouver une autre édition d'occasion. si tu es en France essaye gibert joseph

No. 275584

>>275583
Je vais voir sur internet en premier, je me souviens que la couverture était super différente quand j'ai trouvé le roman à la bibliothèque municipale il y a longtemps. Et comme une conne je l'avais pas lu à ce moment là.

No. 275591

File: 1676306340178.jpg (348.23 KB, 1708x2560, 811MKCe5XdL.jpg)

Any nonnas here who ever read the name of the rose?

I'm going through it right now and definitely feeling a bit filtered by the ultra-detailed 14th century ecclesiastical politics given (so far) with no explanation. Hope the mystery picks up soon though.

No. 275612

>>275591
I read a couple of months ago, yeah, there were moments where it was hard for me to stay focused hehe, but in overall a good read, I liked it. I watched a film and tv-series way before it though, and loved them, the film especially, but tv-series too although as I can see it wasn't received as good, probably because the story was altered. It was still interesting to read because there're so many details that didn't make it to the film.

No. 275656

>>275591
I read this book, but it was in 2016 so my memory of it is not the best, but I had the same reaction as you did about all of the politics lol, the endless conversations about Fra Dolcino or whatever his name was. I did like it, especially for the atmosphere. There's a really good movie adaptation with Sean Connery and Christian Slater.

No. 275803

File: 1676393599642.jpg (16.08 KB, 388x600, Maurier-SCAPEGOAT-cover.jpg)

I have recently read The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier and I loved it even though the ending was a bit abrupt.
I have had her Rebecca on my to read list for a while but I wasn't in a hurry to read it since it didn't sound too interesting. But now I'm more interested in reading Daphne's works

>>275591
This one is on my list

No. 275921

File: 1676431479111.jpg (301.9 KB, 1400x2113, the-cloisters-9781668004401_hr…)

Has anyone else read this, and if so, was it painfully boring to you too? It's basically just a The Secret History wannabe, the same basic ideas rehashed with fewer characters and a female protag. And honestly, I'd usually be down for that, but this whole book was just a slog to get through for me.

It's about a woman who just graduated with her 4 year degree and goes to work and the Met in NYC in the summer as a curator. Her boss is obsessed with Tarot cards and trying to predict the future. She starts hanging out with him and her coworker Rachel and gets really close to her (for a good chunk of the book I thought it might go in a lesbian direction but it didn't). The main character, Rachel and their boss Patrick have this little group where they hang out and do tarot. And yes, there's a murder later on in the book. The MC knows several languages, including dead ones. So there's a lot of hunting for old authentic tarot cards and translating old things from Latin and Greek. Sounds like a bunch of stuff up my alley but the whole thing was just so boring. I really feel like this book suffered from lack of plot. Like I couldn't even tell you what the plot was until like 2/3 of the way through, which doesn't necessarily make a book bad, but usually slow moving books have interesting characters and all of the characters were incredibly boring except Rachel, who it didn't spend very much time on until later on in the book. As far as this book goes it was not that long, but it felt so long. There was only one good plot twist near the end, imo. Also the protag is incredibly stupid and some points, one point in particular regarding the love interest. And there's one thing at the end that isn't really a plot hole but just seems like a huge inconsistency with a certain character, though I guess it could happen.

The book deals a lot with a theme of fate which was perhaps the only thing I liked about it. It also felt like it was trying to be a critique of academia but it ends with the main character going to gradschool, so. My experience with this book might have been negatively colored by the fact that I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was not the best. I really don't think that's it, though. I have a hardback of this book and thought about switching over to it but just didn't care enough to do that.

No. 275996

>>275803
I read Rebecca a few months back and it's one of my favorite books, I highly recommend it. I wasn't sure how good her other works are so I'll probably check out Scapegoat.

No. 276014

I’d ctrl f but I’m phoneposting sorry!
Anyone have any sci-fi books they read recently and loved? I really liked a memory called empire and I liked the sequel too but I didn’t think it was fantastic.

No. 276038

File: 1676493822409.jpg (28.66 KB, 324x500, 41s4xJZlEYL[1].jpg)

>>275360
Haven't read it yet, but Man's search for meaning is about a concentration camp prisoner trying to feel better about his life

No. 276076

>>276014
Can't help you with scifi shit but did you know you can totally ctrl f on mobile, it's called "find in page" or something in the browser menu

No. 276195

File: 1676568590801.jpg (612.42 KB, 1647x2466, the-turn-of-the-screw[1].jpg)

Just read this, didn't expect groomer ghosts! The pedo innuendoes are rather obvious now but they somehow eluded literary critics for about a century

No. 276199

File: 1676569262286.jpg (1.22 MB, 1685x2554, aaa.jpg)

Honestly, I didn't expect to enjoy this one as much as I did, has anyone else read it?

I found it randomly browsing on Goodreads and got interested after reading the synopsis.

No. 276229

>>276014
idk this will be what you're looking for, I don't read sci-fi often, but I recently read Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin and it was fantastic. It's a 1980s feminist dystopian novel (always good) about women creating their own language when the rest of their rights have been stripped away. There's three books in the series, I haven't read them all yet, but the first was very good.

>>275301
Thank you nonnie, taking this off my tbr. I didn't realize it was supposed to be "funny". Idk if I'm retarded or what, but every "funny" book I ever pick up is indeed not funny. I was already skeptical so I'm gonna take this as a sign I don't need to even bother with it kek

No. 276333

>>276014
I really love Ursula K. Le Guin. I just finished The Left Hand of Darkness and the Dispossessed by her, and now I'm starting The Lathe of Heaven. Some of the best sci-fi I've ever read

No. 276811

I'm reading the very beginning of a book written by a female journalist around my age in my country from my ethnic group who's talking about a very specific topic that's very personal for both of us and it's super uncanny. She did a study about it and got it published in a magazine and got called racist (against herself?), islamophobic, a race traitor, sexist (against herself, again), too feminist, too far right leaning, too far left leaning, etc. I have a hard time reading it because of how personal the topic is, I'm hesitating to buy the full book because of it (and because it's like 20€ too kek)

No. 276813

>>276811
Ok I'm back, I saw that the author and an ex coworker published an article about that topic a few years ago and it got a LOT of people salty because everyone thought the article was written by horny right wing white men who wants to fetishize a specific ethinity of women when it's actually written by these girls and about how they have to hide that they drink alcohol and date white or black or asian men or they'll be disowned. I'm definitely going to read the book after all because I'd need to pay for the short article and I want to read as many details as possible.

No. 276814

>>276813
>>276811
omg post the book and article I'm so curious!!

No. 276816

>>276814
It's all in French, I found the book this week in a bookshop and it only got released a few weeks ago. The title is "Nous, les transgressives" by Rahma Adjadj and here's the link to the twitter post about the article so you can see how angry people got in the replies: https://twitter.com/lemondefr/status/1309858704951476225?t=tJG3OMoPFw2fKbUW8owzLA&s=19

I'll try to buy the book on Monday because nothing is open on Sundays here. I found it by chance when looking for something else, so this is a pretty good coincidence.

No. 277053

File: 1676889636386.png (299.41 KB, 525x663, Screenshot_20230220-032812.png)

Not really sure what to make of this book. It was not as creepy or scary as I hoped. It wasn't bad either, it was just one of those "fuck puritans" stories. There were some scenes that were hard to read though like one about a cat getting tortured and killed. The creepiest parts were edwards ghost. It had some very bizarre stuff in it and what I'm assuming is a lot of references to native American folklore/mythology but I wasn't familiar with any of it. It wasn't a bad book either though, but the overall the plot was just kind of predictable. Ngl the cover is probably my favorite thing about it.

No. 277075

File: 1676901159093.jpg (120.69 KB, 307x500, 9780241454718-jacket-large.jpg)

has anyone else read the hair carpet weavers (or in some editions the carpet makers) by andreas esterbach?
i picked it up because i really like a lot of the other books in this edition of sci-fi novels- and it was BRILLIANT. so well crafted, intricately linked scenarios in a giant universe. space opera but not annoying like dune (and i love dune lol) i would like to read more by him but it doesn't seem like much has been translated to english from german?

No. 277116

File: 1676920268398.png (1.39 MB, 1000x1000, octavia-lead-1596134498.png)

>>276014
I've been making my way through Octavia butler's books so far I've read the Lilith's brood series (Dawn, Adulthood rites, Imago) Kindred, and Wildseed. A common theme amoung her books I've read is men/aliens trying to control women in different ways. Kindred isn't much of a sci-fi book compared to her other books so i wouldn't recommend if you're wanting more sci-fi, but it's still a gripping read(Also the Hulu adaption is terrible).

No. 277169

>>277116
ayrt, I really enjoyed kindred when I read it last summer and I've also read parable of the sower from her. I own talents and I guess I could get to reading it, but it feels pointless knowing it was meant to be part of a trilogy that she wasn't able to finish. Do you prefer the lillith's blood series or wildseed?

No. 277170

>>276229
sounds really cool, thanks for telling me about it!

No. 277233

Being the weeb that I am, I have often heard of Edogawa Rampo. I read a book of 9 if his stories and really liked 2 of them. Then maybe 5 we're decent and 2 sucked. But "The Human Chair" and "The Caterpillar" were excellent.

No. 277398

>>276816
Update: I bought the book on Monday, started reading it now and the writer made it more about her own personal experience than I thought while still relying on essays from various researchers and on other women's personal testimonies. It's interesting but she's coping hard in the first chapters about how islam and muslim men are seen as bad and that's wrong. The real issue isn't that it's factually wrong, it's that other men in France are just as fucked up. And she talks about how she's hiding stuff from her family because of some cultural fap and because of "shame" while I hide stuff to not be beaten up or stabbed by family members so I can't relate to everything.

This book is making me realise how amazing my instinct is because holy shit the chapters when she talks about her Italian ex boyfriend during her Erasmus exchange program who's obsessed with islam and muslim countries, was quizzing her on her own language she's fluent in and was fetishizing (as in, actually doing it, not even a hyperbole) her without her realizing it until he dumped her made me cringe so hard. I saw it from a mile away. If I were her I would have guessed from the start he was only interested in her JUST because she's very clearly Algerian. Good for her for moving on but now I'm starting to think the reason why I'm a kissless virgin (as opposed to having a secret, forbidden relationship) is because I'm just that good at detecting coom brained racist males, so this book is nice for giving me a new perspective on my situation. Is it ok if I sperg about the book some mord once I finish reading it?

No. 277799

>>277398
>The real issue isn't that it's factually wrong, it's that other men in France are just as fucked up
I mean other men don't do honor killings
You can keep on sperging it's nice to have some other french nonas speak on their personal experience

No. 277828

>>277799
I was thinking more about the results (dead, injured or traumatized women) than the motives (honor killings, revenge, being a pedophile, whatever you know how men are). I'll keep reading more today and post more of my thoughts but this girl is airing her parents' dirty laundry and personal lives in that book with her real name attached and without even telling them she wrote that book, I hope she's going to be alright because girl…

No. 277844

>>277799
Wait I might have worded it incorrectly in the previous post but what I meant was that the writer was defending islam and muslim north african men a bit too much to my liking. Many of them are probably decent but they encouraged by our culture to act like idiots or to have a stick up their asses, she refuses to believe that some of them actually fit into negative stereotypes.

No. 277910

File: 1677188236503.jpg (171.05 KB, 1400x2113, theworldcannotgive.jpg)

i just finished picrel that was recommended by someone in the last thread and i fucking loved it. then i checked the reviews and they're like, overwhelmingly negative. without giving too much away, the plot is about a boarding school choir group that's outright cultish, with the leader being an extremely pretentious girl who the main character quickly becomes obsessed with. it references the "dark academia" fad outright. anyway here are some of the criticisms i found of it and why i think they're stupid:
>the characters are one dimensional
this is sort of true but not really? they're one-dimensional in the sense that virtually all high schoolers are, that is, they exaggerate parts of themselves to form their identities. i don't think they're one dimensional in the sense that they literally have no characterization. for ex. isobel is a stereotypical gay sjw, but she also genuinely has moral vigor and reasons for why she acts how she does. bonnie is vapid and image-obsessed, but she is also genuine and sensitive in her own way, plus she gets more sympathetic as the book goes on. and some of the characterization complaints seem widely off the mark, as in they don't see what the author was clearly going for. best example is the pretentious choir head, virginia, who multiple reviews complain is a NLOG. it's like…. yes, that's the point, she's a high schooler who takes herself extremely seriously and thinks that she's the most important person in the world. she also is NLOG and "hates sex" because she's gay and very much not accepting of herself. i dunno, i was definitely like that in high school. i don't think having a character act self-important means that they're a bad character. or that the author didn't realize they were writing a NLOG. do people really think "good characterization" = "characters i like and want to be friends with?"
>this is just trying to hop on the dark academia fad
it's about teenagers who are willing to go with trends and who idolize things and people that they shouldn't, and how far they're willing to go from peer pressure and the desire to form an identity. the main character explicitly chooses to attend the school because she believes it's going to be exactly like her favourite novel. yes it's knowingly following dark academia tropes, but it's because the book is a commentary on those tropes… it's not like all those random steampunk novels that came out ten years ago that were just aesthetic because that aesthetic was cool.
>the setting wasn't well described
i never picture things in books so this does not matter to me at all. if it really matters to you i guess that might suck.
>the main character is weak/wishy-washy/pathetic
ooohhh my god… because she is a teenager who wants to fit in and is in love with her friend. this reminds me of people complaining about catcher in the rye because the main character is "annoying" or "whiny." it just makes me want to bash my head against the wall lol, like yes, yes they are, that's the point. she has an idealized version of what her life is going to be like and she is charmed by someone she perceives as being better than herself. not every main character has to be a badass Strong Female Lead who makes Witty One Liners and Sets Her Jaw With Determination.
anyway i really liked this book. especially the brutal and unexpected violence of the ending, and the fact that the boys did end up sexually harming virginia… literally the only thing i found unrealistic was that a group of teenage boys would actually respect a girl and be genuinely friends with her. thanks to the nonna who recommended it.

No. 277936

Are there any books with "toxic" male interests? Whether that ranges from full-blown stalkers/murderers as a romance interests, or simply guys who act somewhat selfishly. Any genre is okay if it has some romance.

(Sorry for my degenerate question nonnas. I promise I read actual literature, too.)

No. 277972

File: 1677205257703.png (452.05 KB, 627x389, catwithhat.png)

Any suggestions for books that are as absurd and fucked up as Earthlings?

No. 278031

>>277936
>Male interests

You mean male love interests? The romance genre is absolutely full of that. Check out Colleen Hoover or Penelope Douglas (I've heard Corrupt series is particularly awful) and there are many others like that. I would never actually recommend reading those but it sounds like that's what you want.

No. 278116

>>277910
I adored this book. Don't know if it was me who recommended it on here as I can't find the post, but so glad you liked it nonny

No. 278185

File: 1677273595425.jpg (99.42 KB, 500x740, l11.jpg)


No. 278785

>>277972
not quite as fucked up but still very absurd is factory by hiroko oyamada. i remember heaven by mieko kawakami being really dark as well. and ofc if you havent read anything else by sayaka murata, read those first! life ceremony is her collection of short stories and some are absolutely as fucked up and absurd as earthlings.

No. 278786

>>278785
whoops, it's the factory, not just factory. and while i'm here, if you're into classics, you should check out kafka.

No. 278833

>>277910
I also read this book after someone recommended it on here and I also really liked it and was surprised by the negative reviews! Feel a bit vindicated after reading your post.

No. 278928

File: 1677507728934.jpg (23.29 KB, 324x500, 0679723005.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX50…)

Picked up this book yesterday. Haven't read any of it, but I will be starting possibly tonight. A bunch of reviews are from people looking for spiritual awakenings, but I hope I'm able to view this material in the lens of knowing your individual self. Self love, uniqueness, "there's only one You in this world" type shit. Maybe it's the same lens as the others, but I compartmentalize it differently lol.

No. 278997

File: 1677533575474.jpeg (281.35 KB, 891x1200, B8A9720C-5E7B-435B-8784-0A9B07…)

Nonnies please answer:
>What’s the last book you bought?
Mine is picrel.
>What’s a book you’re excited to buy but are waiting to find it second hand or in person?

>What is a book that you already own a physical copy of but want another because it got a special new cover option or footnotes?

The Jane Austen books
>what’s the most recent book you were super excited for that ended up being disappointing
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

No. 279005

File: 1677536667366.jpg (94.17 KB, 618x1000, 91IH7Uzc76L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL…)

>>278997
>What’s the last book you bought?
This one
>What’s a book you’re excited to buy but are waiting to find it second hand or in person?
I always get my books brand new
>What is a book that you already own a physical copy of but want another because it got a special new cover option or footnotes?
None, when I'm done with a book I give it away
>what’s the most recent book you were super excited for that ended up being disappointing
The 99% Invisible City. I didn't learn anything useful!

No. 279008

File: 1677538823059.jpg (76.68 KB, 786x1000, The Complete Stories of Leonor…)

>>278997
>What’s the last book you bought?
The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington
>What’s a book you’re excited to buy but are waiting to find it second hand or in person?
Heart of Darkness (I just want to read it. I don't want to buy it new or steal the audiobook, I don't like ebooks because I don't have a reader and the library has a long wait)
>What is a book that you already own a physical copy of but want another because it got a special new cover option or footnotes?
I don't have one in mind but if some new Leonora Carrington stuff drops I might (I did buy her new tarot book that was a reprint)
>what’s the most recent book you were super excited for that ended up being disappointing
in a slump, I have barely been reading or buying stuff so I haven't been disappointed lol

No. 279014

Cultural discourse is cycling through an Ayn Rand phase again. Obviously it's not even about her writing at this point and never was but I wonder how many people have actually read her books? I've only read Anthem but I remember liking it. The "we" pronouns to "I" pronouns blew my mind as a teenager lol, but I wonder if it would hold up to a re-read.

No. 279015

File: 1677544244548.jpg (623.82 KB, 1100x1650, search for the unknown.jpg)

>>278997
>What's the last book you bought?
picrel. It was pretty good.
>>What’s a book you’re excited to buy but are waiting to find it second hand or in person?
I'd like to read The UFO Experience or The Hynek UFO Report, both are pretty expensive and (I think?) out of print. The dream would be to stumble upon them in a used bookstore.
>What is a book that you already own a physical copy of but want another because it got a special new cover option or footnotes?
I guess if I had to pick, the new translation of The Odyssey by Emily Wilson.
>what’s the most recent book you were super excited for that ended up being disappointing?
A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong. It wasn't super disappointing but I meant to read it for a long time and when I finally did I was like. Well. That was a short book. And it was about myth. I don't know what I expected. I guess I found her thesis (that we no longer have myth in the modern world and we need it) to be wrong on both counts, and the book kind of reminded me of something my ex boyfriend would read and then think was mind blowing. He was the kind of person who would be like "bro all religions are the same if you think about it bro…" every single time he was stoned. I'm making it sound like the book was awful, it really wasn't lol.

No. 279077

>>279014
Atlas Shrugged got translated into my language so I'm thinking of reading it. My worldview is pretty much a polar opposite to hers and I've heard the novel isn't super good literature-wise, either, but I'm intrigued anyway. At least I could then say I've read it, most of the people praising her haven't.

No. 279239

File: 1677618639988.png (284.54 KB, 913x758, trash.PNG)

I'm still reading "Nous, les transgressives" and it gets heavy very fast. I complained that at the beginning the writer seems to excuse muslim north african moids but actually it was just a wrong first impression. She's not defending them when she talks about the fucked up things they do, whether they do things because they're muslim or because they're moids in general. If I were her I'd hate my entire family way more, but then again I really dislike many of my own family members for somewhat similar reasons.

I found another book talking about a similar topic but this one is more of a study with several north african women being interviewed and the two writers explaining a bunch of things instead of a more personal book. The title is "beurettes, un fantasme français". I'm 100% sure what motivated the writers to do this was that in 2019 the most popular tag on a porn website in France was "beurette" which is a racist slur used for north african women. It'd be the equivalent of the n-word being the most popular tag in english speaking countries. See pic rel. I'm looking forward to reading it and it turns out that I fit the criteria of the women they wanted to interview but since the book is already published…

I also bought a book about plastic surgery and how it's becoming more and more popular with young women but I haven't started that one yet.

No. 279498

File: 1677707171512.jpg (316.33 KB, 1706x2560, 61680646.jpg)

>What’s the last book you bought?
i pirate everything but the last one i downloaded was picrel.
>What’s a book you’re excited to buy but are waiting to find it second hand or in person?
see first question. but i'm really excited for the last book of the seven sisters series.
>What is a book that you already own a physical copy of but want another because it got a special new cover option or footnotes?
harry potter slytherin edition in hardcover format.
>what’s the most recent book you were super excited for that ended up being disappointing
once upon a dream by liz braswell.

No. 279505

I don’t read that much but I took out Convenience Store Woman and finished it in one day. Does anyone have other recs for shorter books/novellas? I figured I should look more into Japanese lit since I liked this one a lot

No. 279514

>>279505
Earthlings by the same author is also very good.

No. 279523

File: 1677716342105.jpg (33.82 KB, 307x500, 8e1263d7a8f40131b57110b281754e…)

Exquisite Corpse was mentioned a few times so I read it out of curiosity.
Well, the way I just KNEW the author was a TIF the first time gay sex was brought up kek, proto guro-loving fujo OG. I'm far from an edgelord but even I expected more. I don't find the plot or the indecencies in all their detailed glory all that disturbing. Barely registers as horror for me. It's quite obvious the author was trying her hardest to serve disgusting! grotesque! erotic! but more than lacked the prose and the style, to really realize the vision. Insane characters do not feel insane, they feel like guys reading lines. Overall, things range from ew gross to the literary equivalence of an oversexed low budget splatterfilm. I'll give it that it was an engaging enough, short sweet read, entertained for an evening.

No. 279937

what books have the same feeling as 80's fantasy movies like excalibur, dragon slayer, conan the barbarian, dark crystal etc?

No. 279944

File: 1677888446991.jpg (53.54 KB, 342x500, DRFT8.jpg)

>>279937
This comes to mind but the female characters get treated like shit. (I read it when I was like 14 and I wasn't terribly sensitive to misogyny in fantasy books at the time but even then I thought it was kinda fucked up how their character development centered around getting raped.) The characters and the fantasy world were vivid, it's technically an isekai although I don't think that was a word at the time this book was written lol.

No. 280052

>>279505
I read this yesterday and recommend it also. The main character annoyed me so many times with her autistic shit but I was so happy for her at the end. The incel dude was so darkly comedic, so pathetic and disgustingly real. What a good, quick read. I read it after trying to get through A Touch Of Jen by Beth Morgan, and I just couldn't. I didn't even get to half of it. I stopped right before I assume all the weird psychedelic horror shit was going to start happening. At this part it was still about two weirdos obsessed with some unremarkable woman. I just didn't like the writing or the two main characters. The way they talk to each other, relate to each other is so eerie and bizarre and that sounds like I'd like it. I usually like it when things are a little off but presented as normal But it was a slog to get through and I found the two of them more irritating than anything.

No. 280063

>>280052
i have a touch of jen right now kek i'm forcing myself to not read your full comment because i'm neurotic about spoilers. it got recommended to me on goodreads and it looked like something i'd like, plus i'm good at getting through boring parts of books, so i'm hopeful.

No. 280067

>>280063
You can read it, I didn't spoil anything. My post doesn't reveal any more than the goodreads description of the book does. I hope you post here when you're finished. Good chance you won't think the same as I do, a lot of people like that book.

Reading Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo now. I only read Daisy Jones and The Six by this author. The tv show of that is out but I have no desire to watch. I liked the book but I don't feel any need to revisit the characters.

No. 280068

>>280052
I did not expect the guy to be such a realistic incel, I figured the story was going to be about some young employee changing her worldview or something (anime brainrot setting in) but I'm glad I didn't see any spoilers before I read it.

No. 280083

File: 1677966336474.png (362.01 KB, 400x400, 2068B458-23D0-44A1-8C14-E6DB32…)

>>280067
I hated seven husbands so much. Never read anything so clearly written with the intention of being quoted by twitter users before or after. Let me know what you think at the end of it.

No. 280098

File: 1677970934382.gif (1.36 MB, 220x220, 1659028845664.gif)

>reading some study about women from a specific region of the world and how they live in a specific country where they're not from but where they were born and are currently living
>book about racism, sexism, religion, activism, their personal lives, etc. seems very interesting and relatable
>there's a preface written by some unrelated author who didn't participate in that study, not even as one of the women interviewed
>whines about her personal life, humblebrags about being the only poc in her very selective school that she only had thanks to her bourgeois upbringing, talks about how she's half white and she looks like she's white and her first name is unambiguously European and she never suffered from racism, how her dad having an afro seemed embarrassing to her when a classmate saw a picture of him even though it's literally just fuckig hair on a scalp, how she's not a stereotype and nlog because she smokes and drinks, etc.
>"ok seems retarded but it's just a few pages"
>checks what books she wrote out of sheer morbid curiosity
>her most successful book is advertised online as being a super relatable and not stereotypical depiction of a young 3rd gen immigrant from a specific country
>the summary is about how her grandpa is a literal traitor who directly or indirectly caused the death and torture of many people during the war leading to the independence of his country (extremely unrelatable, you're way more likely to meet people whose grandparents or great-grandparents were assassinated by these snitches in their own houses) and he fled like a cowardly bitch and that's why the MC can have sex out of wedlock safely and eat pork without fearing for her life (extremely unrelatable as well for many reasons)
That's the story of how I stopped trusting reviews of any sort of books online.

No. 280108

>>280098
Don't be shy nonna you can tell us the names of the books.

No. 280166

>>280098
Wow. Was the rest of the book she wrote the preface for any good or was it bad too?

No. 280184

File: 1678011354697.jpg (210.4 KB, 1400x2113, elric-of-melnibone-97815344456…)

>>279937
70s fantasy books

No. 280185

>>280108
The book she wrote a preface for is "beurette, un fantasme français" and the book that lady is names Alice Zeniter and the book I described is "l'art de perdre" or "the art of losing" because it seems to have an official English translation. As soon as I saw that the main character's grandpa is a harki and feld to France as a result (look up what happened during the Algerian independence war if you want the details) I decided to not touch that novel with a ten foot pole. There seems to be a twist to it in the book though but I've heard enough horror stories about it from my grandparents so thanks but no thanks.

>>280166
I haven't finished the book yet. So far I read the first part, and each part has a few chapters dedicated to specific topics. It's very interesting and shows that the woman who wrote the preface is an exception among us and not fit to give her opinion on anything written in the book. She talks about how she gets to live a normal life while the women interviewed talk about how they had to hide that they have sexual relationships before marriage to avoid their entire family ruining their reputation and/or abandoning them entirely. Even if they married the guy they lost their virginity to. I guess she wrote the preface because she's an author with a bunch of awards? I'll keep reading the book and will tell you about the next parts and chapters later.

No. 280186

>>280185
don't harkis get murdered and suffer hate crimes from recent Algerian immigrants

No. 280189

>>280186
They're so old now I doubt it's happening right now. I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case a few decades ago though. Unless you're talking about their kids and grandkids who weren't involved in the actual war?

No. 280199

>>280189
I watched a documentary on the Algerian war and apparently it did claim their family's were being targeted

No. 280200

>>280199
The entire war was a mess and a lot of people were threatened or tortured until they spilled info by the French army, and sometimes they were random people who were minding their own business and didn't know anything about anyone but I'm talking about the ones who sided with the French army on purpose and not under threat, at least at first.

No. 280205

>>280186
It'd be like people seeking revenge for crimes committed during ww2 nowadays. It may be still happening but the algerian war was over 60 years ago so the hate crimes would be more derogatory remarks than murdering grandpas

No. 280219

>>279523
I was thinking of reading Lost Souls by the same author, so your post is welcomed as it can be hard to judge a book by reviews on most sites, but I am frankly still considering it, just because it can be so hard to find more "out tehre" books written by female authors. Not even saying that they don't exist, but it sure as hell isn't easy to search for them. Also, her books have some nice covers.

No. 280248

File: 1678040532700.jpg (4.01 MB, 3000x3000, trustme.jpg)

>>273792
>>274399
Unhinged women need more attention, here are a few books I could think of that haven't been rec'd to death. I've loved everything I'm about to list, but most of them are really easy reads. Like one-day type reads. I'm looking for something in the genre that's more challenging if anyone has any good ones.
>The Bell Jar
This is the original myorar but even more relatable. Better prose, plus I feel like Plath co-created the genre along with Jackson so you kind of have to read this one.
>The Book of Margery Kempe
The original girl boss, unironically. Get the Oxford World's Classics edition, it's incredibly well-researched and the translation is really easy to read.
>Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
This is an older unhinged/strange woman, which I think we need more of. It reminded me of Moshfegh's Death in Her Hands, maybe because they both feature older women. I rec that one as well.
>We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Like I said, Jackson probably co-created the genre. Her focus was on women that don't belong in 1960s society so I rec her work in general. Don't worry, it unfortunately all still applies 70 years later.

No. 280256

>>280248
Nta but when I ask for "unhinged women" I'm asking for novels where the protagonist is genuinely batshit insane and can't separate reality from their own delusions

No. 280262

>>280219
I read Lost Souls as a teenager and I remember liking it, but at the time I wasn't really tainted by knowledge of TIFs and fujos. A more innocent time. I would like to reread it now and see what I think, but I lost my copy.

No. 280272

File: 1678048138124.png (121.94 KB, 1380x296, Screenshot 2023-03-05 at 4.20.…)

Just finished reading "Invisible Women" by Caroline Criado Perez (highly recommend) and this is from the top review on goodreads. "Oh don't worry fellow men, this book doesn't say there's a patriarchy. That would be an insane conspiracy. It just says men have held all the power for all of human history and male is seen as the default for every area of life." I know I should be frustrated but it's honestly funny as fuck, how can you read an entire book about how women are systemically neglected and men refuse to account for them, resulting in women's deaths and the unfair promotion of men, because men control every aspect of the world and use that to benefit themselves and demote the status of women, then come out on the other side being like. Thank GOD that book didn't mention patriarchy.

>>280248
I am going to +1 your recommendation for "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead." It's better that "Death in her Hands" imo. My friend who recommended it to me has a theory that Moshfegh read it and copied the idea. Not saying it's true but the timeline for the English translation coming out and Moshfegh's book being written line up. Bones of the Dead is infinitelly better though. Also >>280256 the last two books nona recommended do fit that category and "The Bell Jar" arguably does as well… I'm also not sure that the unhinged women category is normally meant to be that limited. Most of the books from the original reading list here don't meet that standard anyway.

No. 280273

File: 1678048346434.png (221.04 KB, 1380x828, Screenshot 2023-03-05 at 4.29.…)

Doublepost but KEK the reviews for this book are genuinely retarded. Desperate to know how this reviewer thinks that aspirin preventing heart attacks in "cis men" but increasing them in "cis women" (for example) would literally be any different if you replaced "cis men" with transwomen. I too hate it when books about sexist discrimination talk about sex.

No. 280280

File: 1678049531764.jpg (255.95 KB, 1399x2115, 50892240.jpg)

re: unhinged women, I've been meaning to read this book since last year but haven't gotten to it yet

>Scarlett Clark is an exceptional English professor. But she’s even better at getting away with murder.

>Every year, Dr. Clark searches for the worst man at Gorman University—professor, student, or otherwise—and plots his well-deserved demise. Thanks to her meticulous planning, she’s avoided drawing attention to herself…but as she’s preparing for her biggest kill yet, the school starts probing into the growing body count on campus. Determined to keep her enemies close, Dr. Clark insinuates herself into the investigation and charms the woman in charge. Everything’s going according to her master plan…until she loses control with her latest victim, putting her secret life at risk of exposure.
>Meanwhile, Gorman student Carly Schiller is just trying to survive her freshman year. Finally free of her emotionally abusive father, all Carly wants is to focus on her studies and fade into the background. Her new roommate has other ideas. Allison Hadley is cool and confident—everything Carly wishes she could be—and the two girls quickly form an intense friendship. So when Allison is sexually assaulted at a party, Carly becomes obsessed with making the attacker pay…and turning her fantasies about revenge into a reality.

No. 280292

>>280280
This sounds bases but this doesn't count as unhinged woman, it's more of a wish fulfilment/power fantasy

No. 280297

>>280292
I guess it depends on how you define unhinged. I thought antisocial behavior that can land you in prison like murdering people counted as unhinged

No. 280320

>>280256
only 1 book on my list doesn't fit that but I agree with the other nona that this isn't my definition of the genre either
>>280272
Olga Tokarczuk also came out with a historical novel (The Books of Jacob) and then so did Moshfegh (Lapvona). I haven't read either so I have no clue if they're actually comparable, maybe other nonas can chime in and let us know.

No. 280323

>>280320
Your comment made me remember that my friend mention that one too! I googled their respective release dates and…

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
>English translation published September 2018
Death in Her Hands
>Published June 2020
The Books of Jacob
>English translation published November 2021
Lapvona
>Published June 2022

Now for Lapvona, it was announced before the English translation of The Books of Jacob was finalized… But Tokarcsuk had already won a Nobel Prize in literature for it in 2018, and it had already been translated into other languages before Moshfegh claims to have started work on Lapvona. I don't find it hard to believe at all that an author would keep up with notable book awards like that or that it would be difficult for her to get a summary of the plot/talk to someone who had read it. No idea if she actually copies Tokarczuk or not. But having read both Death in her Hands and Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead I can say that they are very, very, very similar books, with regard to theme, content, setting, characters… Not identical but very close. I thought that Bones of the Dead was a lot better, though. I didn't finish Lapvona because I found it boring and I was in a reading slump but now I think I'll try and read both of them so I can make up my mind. It's an interesting coincidence that this has happened twice, anyway.

No. 280328

File: 1678061950563.png (313.13 KB, 720x1332, Screenshot_20230305-151806.png)


No. 280330

>>280323
I can see the Drive Your Plow/Death in your hands similarities, but the only thing that Lapvona and Book of Jacob have in common is being historical fiction. Seems like a bit of a reach.

No. 280336

>>280328
I read Bunny because of these threads but I know nothing about bad robot. I imagine any movie based on Bunny would be super trashy (I liked the book and I enjoyed visualizing the crazy scenes but it would definitely look like shit as a movie unless it gets a miracle director or something)

No. 281031

>>280052
you were right to give up on a touch of jen, the horror stuff doesn't happen until literally the last chapter. the entire book is just about the couple being obsessed with the boring woman

No. 281124

File: 1678247406408.jpeg (27.63 KB, 326x500, 7539CF8E-E5BD-4483-94D3-E70DF3…)

I tried reading picrel but the author is so far up herself it’s insane, and between the tranny character, the non-stop pop culture references and the ‘black women of white women’ comment it’s just too much. It’s a shame because the first chapter was so interesting.

No. 281127

>>281124
>that last part of the spoiler.

I wanna ask but I’m too scared.

No. 281162

>>279014
I like We the Living I think it's a sweet book for what it is. Anthem was boring to me, the Fountainhead had a slow start and I dropped it before the juicy shit. Atlas Shrugged is a long slog but I find it funny to remember.

No. 281185

File: 1678257056277.jpg (37.87 KB, 400x614, pynchon.jpg)

I recently read Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon due to people mentioning him often in the context of postmodern literature. It's overrated tbh.
>inb4 anon you're just too dumb to understand
I mean I get that the chaotic structure and emotionally indifferent characters are supposed to portray ww2 and the meaninglessness of it all and I appreciate the effort, but I didn't enjoy reading it.

Pynchon is a good writer technically, the sentences were well-structured, and some of the metaphors he uses were beautiful. That's why it is such a shame that I hated almost every one of his characters, especially Slothrop. I felt nothing for the empty husks of human beings that he uses as props for his chaotic images. The sex scenes felt a bit pointless and stupid, especially when at one point a man's orgasm is described through him literally turning into a man-sized penis (which was funny tbh and I liked it), but in the same scene (and a couple of others) a woman's orgasm is described with just "she came". Seriously? SHE CAME my ass she did, Pynchon should be fucking ashamed of himself for writing such a flat turd of a sentence.

Sorry for rambling nonas, I'm just disappointed. Anyways, anyone else read Pynchon? What did you think of it?

No. 281193

>>281185
I'm a little ashamed to say… I generally avoid Pynchon books because of the men I see online who are really into him. They're just so off putting.

I read The Crying of Lot 49 and I liked it.

No. 281210

>>281127
Here’s the full quote: “…they just started playing the Weezer cover of ‘Africa’, like, as if it wasn’t lame enough in here already? As if the vibe couldn’t get any whiter? And like I said, I’m aware I’m adding to this deluge of whiteness, but at least I’m local, and I’m not from the Home Counties, which is the whitest kind of white. Geordie girls are up there with Irish girls and Scottish girls; the black women of white women, you know?”

No. 281225

Looking for some decent fantasy romance books to read. Though to be a bit more specific: I don't mind typical fantasy so as long as the worldbuilding feels inspired. Alternatively I also enjoy urban/contemporary fantasy and maybe magical realism to an extent.

No. 281232

>>281210
nta, i only finished the book because i enjoyed how horny, self-indulgent, and selfish the MC was, but my god were there a lot of moments like this that almost made me hurl and drop the book for good kek.

No. 281237

>>281124
this book was honestly awful and very disappointing. when i learned it had originally been a short story that the author had stretched into a novel it made so much sense. i usually like 'unlikeable' narrators but i couldn't get past this one, she was so fucking annoying and stupid by the time she was raped i honestly didn't care, it sound so bad but i had no emotional reaction at all. she was the shallowest, dumbest, "snarky"-est, most unlikeable character ever. like i said i love horrible characters! but there was nothing there except "i'm so hot, everyone loves me so much but im MEAN and FUCKED UP, i'm soooo hot everyone likes me even though im mean, because im SEXY and POPULAR and MEAN, do you get it, do you understand that im MEAN and SHALLOW but also SUPER HOT AND SEXY." i also thought it was unintentionally really funny how part of her EVIL BREAKDOWN was her saying something 'transphobic' to her trans friend (who up until that point was like the only character she never criticized (i wonder why)) but the horrible awful thing she said was just "you talk about the concept of a deadname too much in your art and its not very good" LMAOOOO heaven forbid the woman who tortures and kills(?) people says something actually twansphobic… that would have been too far. what else did i dislike about it? the subplots never went anywhere. for example her best friend has a secret tumblr she uses as a diary that she doesn't know the MC reads. as soon as this was brought up i was like ooohh okay, so obviously her friend is going to find out she's reading it and have some kind of confrontation. nope. nothing happens. same with any of the other subplots. another big one: some random creepy man is paying her to take these fetish photos of boys, he uses a weird fake name and everything and is basically funding her lifestyle. clearly this is going to be someone who she knows, or else is going to come into her life in some way, leading to some sort of …. plot, right? again, nope. the author just brings it up to be like "look how weird that is" then never resolves it or goes anywhere with it. i saw in a lot of reviews this is described as "american psycho but with a girl" and that is so accurate, but not in the way you might think. it's not a novel with the themes or the style of the movie, it is the movie, except replace "business man" with "photographer and instagram model" and "kills prostitutes" with "takes bdsm pictures of ugly guys." even the "ooooooo it was all a dream.. or was it????ending is the same. at least american psycho had the courage to make its main character pathetic. i get the feeling the author here genuinely thinks she's perceived by others as her main character, like this sexy scottish lady who everyone is infatuated with who's also a messed up artist. so she couldn't make her actually be hated by other characters or have other characters be better than her in any meaningful way. this was by far my least favourite of the deranged female narrator reading list.

No. 281238

>>281237
also forgot to mention: the author reads all her reviews and complains when randos give her low ratings which is just pathetic and confirms my theory that she thinks she is her character and thus takes any criticism as if it's someone attacking her directly.

No. 281327

>>281124
>>281237
>>281238
I liked the book but I gotta agree the author does come across like that and it puts me off reading anything else she writes in the future

No. 281336

File: 1678309201197.jpg (20.4 KB, 258x384, CracksNovel.jpg)

>>264162
Cracks by Sheila Kohler sounds like was written for you if you haven't read it already

No. 281415

File: 1678349260618.jpg (33.89 KB, 260x390, 54564.jpg)

I just re-read McGlue and I still love it. Idc, I know it's about violent and shitty moids but I still just love it, she does such a good job of putting you into the mindset of that gay alcoholic piece of shit.

No. 281591

File: 1678401749182.jpg (1.37 MB, 1687x2559, A19thzDvzfL.jpg)

>>281225
maybe you'll like picrel. it's loosely based on the 12 dancing princesses, but much darker. i really enjoyed it and i loved the world building, especially re: religion/tradition and myths. it's a great standalone novel, but apparently there'll be a sequel.

No. 281764

(this is going to sound retarded) i want to read dune but looking at the wikipedia page i just can't get over how paul married irulan but only loved and had children with chani… is there more to this relationship that makes him more sympathetic?

No. 281786

>>281764
not really, chani has no personality anyway other than "woman that paul likes." it's kind of a thing that men do in that world though, his father also had a concubine he never married that he was in love with and had children with. so maybe it's cultural? also, i really don't mean this in a rude way lol, but do you read the entire wikipedia page for books youre interested in before reading them? you don't find knowing the entire plot spoils it a bit? sorry if that sounds judgemental lol i've never met anyone who does that.

No. 281801

>>281786
not usually lol i was just trying to find background info and stumbled across the atreides family tree

No. 281810

>>280328
I’m literally so predictable and the whole joke isn’t lost on me for finding Max fucking sexy, there’s no way I’ll be happy with any casting decision. And yeah, I worry about how the fugue-like, unreliable ambiguous narrative will get handled.

No. 281871

short story not a book but this is so good I want to share:
https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/the-dizzy-room/
you can read the text or listen to an audio version on their podcast, it's about 40 minutes long. I did both because I liked it so much, the narrator is good.

No. 282004

>>281764
If it changes anything for you, Paul is not necessarily a good character. In a way you're meant to NOT like him

No. 282127

File: 1678570812794.jpg (31.23 KB, 313x500, 519eIUjr-qL.jpg)

>>281225
The only fantasy romances I can think of that are not YA are this and Fortuna Sworn by KJ Sutton I haven't read either of them yet so I can't say if they're any good

No. 282130

File: 1678572178921.jpg (40.1 KB, 420x640, stock.jpg)

>>281225
Kind of fantasy, in that it's about vampires, but I remember getting really sucked (ba dum tiss) into this one. It's apparently the 5th in a series, but I never read any of the others. Definitely adult, not YA. If you're in the mood for something like Interview With The Vampire (but Karen E Taylor's writing is so much better than Anne Rice's imo.)

No. 282132

>>281225
Anita Blake, the first few books are good before the series goes full erotica

No. 282145

Does anyone have a rec for a good book on meditation? I've read one before but it was very "self-help" like. I know obviously books on that subject are going to be in the self-help genre, but I can't stand the tropes of that genre. Hopefully someone knows what I mean lol, I just want a no-nonsense and no-random anecdotes book about meditation.

No. 282322

I like reading series so I can get attached to the characters, but I feel like most series are long fantasy/sci-fi and I'm already reading several. Is there any series where the books are a little shorter and easier to get into?

No. 282341

File: 1678649943617.png (155.43 KB, 602x804, anita_by_cjJoker.PNG)

>>282132
maaan, Anita Blake wa so good in the first few books. i remember reading them in my teens and i thought she was so funny and witty. then the sudden tone change came with all the sex and weird ass shit, and i just had to stop reading them.

i gave up in that asher book - i forget what was it titled. i realized these books had nothing for me anymore when all i did was skip entire chapters impatiently to see if there will be any semblance of a plot and found none. what a waste of potential. LKH could have had stephenie meyers' millions if only she stuck to the original anita concept for long enough for the vampire-trope to go mainstream.

No. 282480

any good books about arthurian mythology? or celtic, irish, welsh, etc. mythology? not the raven cycle or the winter prince (loved the latter, the former's already on my to read list)

No. 282482

File: 1678686659781.jpg (48.91 KB, 398x500, 40 days to personal revolution…)

>>282145
I followed the instructions in this book with a yoga studio group and it was pretty good. It's actually a whole body/lifestyle thing not just meditation but the way it has you slowly increasing meditation times worked very well for me and was the only part of the program I followed perfectly, maybe you could skip the other parts if you don't want to do yoga or eat an ayuvedic diet or whatever

No. 282672

>>282480
I'm assuming you mean nonfiction. ashamed to admit I haven't read any of these as of yet, but

>celtic myths and legends by peter berresford ellis (this one is probably the most general, so it might be a good starting point)

>the mabinogion (the earliest welsh prose stories)
>the grail legend by emma jung (carl jung's wife)
>the druids and king arthur: a new view of early britain by robin melrose
>finding arthur: the true origins of the once and future king by adam ardrey
>king arthur/merlin/guinever by norma lorre goodrich (they are 3 separate books by the same author)

and an author named geoffrey ash has a ton of books on king arthur, so just pick one lol

No. 283220

Nonnies need big help.
Could you suggest me some historical nonfiction about women in IT? General Women in science are also welcome.
I googled, opened some links and they all had a book about contemporary women in tech that included a fucking tranny.

No. 283363

>>283220
Something about Ada Lovelace or Grace Hopper maybe?

No. 283597

File: 1679094999668.jpg (42.54 KB, 649x1000, the secret history.jpg)

I read this and it's not bad, pretty good and some great settings but its way too fucking long. I started reading the goldfinch and its the same problem, scenes are just too fucking long and repeat stuff over and over. I like her stories but I can't stand how long she makes everything. 7/10

>>281237
Thanks for saving me a read, I kept seeing it on booktok and was planning on picking it up, but I really hate author self-inserts. Plot sounds weirdly similar to Asking For It.

>>272639
I'm east coast and call it beanie, I literally don't know what else you're supposed to call it. I think canadians call it a tuk?

No. 283614

>>283597
*toque but we also call it a beanie, beanie and toques are different things. beanie = hat that you can wear slouchy like a hipster or like the small hat techb bros wear, toque = winter hat, like the kind that might have a pompom attached.

No. 283713

File: 1679131800692.jpg (141.86 KB, 1000x1511, atlas.jpg)

>>279077
Alright samefag I actually went and read it (I'm a quick reader but fucking hell that thing is long! Skipped John Galt's 90-page radio speech though for the sake of my sanity.) Now for some impressions:
>a modernist version of War and Peace except it's happening in Capitalist America instead of Tsarist Russia
>talented Übermensch individual is being suppressed by dumb people who want to limit the freedom to make profit for the sake of the society, as a result everything goes to shit
>rinse and repeat x100
>female MC Dagny Taggart is writer's self-insert but also somewhat based and, despite being one of those selfish Übermensch who only thinks about company profit, is not one-dimensional like almost all female characters written by scrotes, surprisingly likable actually, or at least entertaining
>Dagny sets out to solve a mystery involving missing rich Übermensch who got tired of the government stealing their profits through taxation
>decently entertaining plot, though at times clumsily written and reads like fanfiction
>really transparently trying to propagate the writer's opinions
>metal metaphors were cool though
>Dagny has three different love interests throughout the book and lusts after them quite openly, which is not portrayed as a bad thing (again, based)
>sex scenes were kinda cringy though with the males dominating
idk if I can recommend this one, but it was an interesting read at least

No. 283725

File: 1679141591716.png (7.82 KB, 355x474, de262f111ca3d91c9609d4dfd1475b…)

>>283713
I find Rand's concepts of love and relationships to be fascinating, the fact main the Character in Atlas Shrugged is Rand's self insert and Hank Rearden is her Ideal man that she wants and believes she deserves,
she almost had this reverse of Incel logic, where she believed that intelligent women like herself were entitled to masculine and handsome males and that female beauty was essentially pointless as it served no function unlike her intelligence

No. 283758

>>283597
i feel like this too re: lengthiness and repetition. but at the same time it's what makes you get close to the characters. at least that's how it was for me. you spend so much time with them, learn about their families and personalities and quirks and little histories, and then you reach the last page and two are dead and everyone else is miserable and sad… for me it felt like i was part of the group and suddenly i lost touch with my closest friends and i only realized like years later that we hadn't talked in a long time.

it's a really weird(ly) powerful book.

No. 284052

i can't remember if it was someone here or on CC who recommended "The Power" by Naomi Alderman, but it's GREAT so far

No. 284124

Do you guys have any recs for books on church architecture? I'm a layman inb4 scrote, you know what I mean, so even the most famous and recommended examples are fine.

No. 284202

File: 1679259504465.jpg (234.27 KB, 1080x1350, 4ca1660c65914c64cd805ee989cb4c…)

my tbr pile was almost 200 books. i gutted it over the past few days and now there's only 70 books on it. i want to cut it down to at least half of that by the end of this year. i long to finally get to the point where i pick up a book, download it and read it immediately.

No. 284252

>>284052
I'm listening to the audiobook on a long drive and it's really good. the narrator is really into all the different accents lol

No. 284296

File: 1679303935733.jpg (265.12 KB, 1200x1817, the-hunchback-of-notre-dame-or…)

>>284124
The classic

No. 284418

File: 1679360245646.jpg (173.12 KB, 564x1247, 5ba7beaea5be33bda24f407f33ef1b…)

Any good recs of Illustrations of birds with neat facts about them like their weight,diet,meaning of name and stuff like that?

No. 284423

>>284418
Have you looked at field guides like Sibley or Peterson? They have some of the information you want.

No. 284506

>>280083
I finished it a few days ago and I felt the same way about this as I did about Daisy Jones and The Six. I liked it in some ways, the writing was evocative and really took me there. But God, I just could not muster a fuck to give about any of the characters. I knew a twist was gonna happen at the end and I wanted to see what it is. But otherwise about 80% through I started wishing it would end already. Like, WRAP IT UP. Maybe Taylor Jenkins Reid just doesn't do it for me as an author. So I don't know what to say about the book. If I totally hated it I wouldn't have finished it. But the book is about Evelyn Hugo and I did not give a fuck if she lived or died. The journalist side character can also die in a ditch for all I care because everything about her was completely uninteresting.

No. 284718

File: 1679508812894.jpg (30.68 KB, 260x389, PillarsOfTheEarth[1].jpg)

>>284124
This one is rather famous but I remember a nona shitting on it in the previous thread

No. 284748

File: 1679515599196.jpg (499.59 KB, 1602x2560, 810YD3wokcL.jpg)

just finished picrel and loved it a lot! i first expected there to be a looong last chapter that explained everything, but i feel like the mystery adds even more to its appeal.

the only thing i disliked was that apparently the lesbian couple engages in choking during sex. it felt very out of place when they suddenly mentioned it.

No. 284783

>>284718
It was probably me. That book is awful. I stopped reading close to the beginning when the MC fucked the “irresistible outsider” woman shortly after burying his “homely” wife who died in child birth.

No. 284857

File: 1679585663747.jpeg (395.69 KB, 1600x2449, manhunt_custom-ff1b136856c6dc8…)

the premise of Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin sounds insane, I feel compelled to read it just to see how crazy it is. waiting on a pirate download now. Have any of you read it? am I gonna be wasting my time on some new trashy shit that's only being talked about because of the trans angle or is it actually entertaining

No. 284858

>>284857
Isn't this the one where the disgusting troon writes about his self-insert raping and sodomizing a JK Rowling expy? Treat yourself better, anon.

No. 284863

>>284858
damn really? ugh… I think I'm still gonna try to read it. it's not like I'm paying for it. I expect this to be super fucked up and stupid but I can't resist. moth to flame lol

No. 284871

>>284858
>>284863
I saw a review of the book on twitter, JK Rowling is briefly mentioned and apparently she dies in a housefire with other rich women
The review mentioned that whoever wrote the book thinks TERFs are hypocrites, because despite claiming to hate men the radical feminist groups still keep men alive. Their official reason is the survival of the species, but in actuality the feminists keep men alive cause their attracted to them and can't let men go, which is meant to be gotcha

No. 284872

>>284871
it's so retarded that the author literally burns JKR to death. they are obsessed. I saw someone say it seemed like sour grapes because JKR is a successful talented author and Gretchen is not lol

No. 284880

>>284857
It's not entertaining, but I would suggest to read it just to see the depths of misogyny that is being celebrated as progressive. Great way of truly seeing into a seething troons mind. Now that I think about it, seething and coping is actually a very apt description of what GFM was doing when writing it. He doesn't even try to conceal his hatred of women who say no to him, yet the terf characters are constantly lusting after the troons. The terfs literally force troons to be sex slaves they call "daddies". Yes, it's ridiculous

No. 284928

>>284857
It has a dramatic reading on kiwifarms. I'd say just read that and don't waste your time with this pile of garbage if you're so curious

No. 284951

>>284928
I just looked at it but I'm pretty sure it's longer than the actual book so I'll just do things the old fashioned way. oof @ those chapter names though

No. 285191

File: 1679681534023.gif (5.59 MB, 630x640, reaction-omg.gif)

>>284252
update:
>mfw the scene with Darrell and the women near end of the book

No. 285378

>>284252
Finished it and I give it a 9/10. It almost lost me with the gender role-reversal (I thought it was getting a bit lazy and sensational to be honest) but the author leaned into it so hard at the end I was completely won over and genuinely had a big grin on my face at the end.

No. 285398

>>284871
Didn't the TERFS also make the TIMS into their sex slaves or something? Lmao they fucking wish. It's really creepy how this author sexualizes women he hates and obviously wants to rape TERFs into submission.

>>284872
He also kept @'ing JK on twitter about his book, obviously baiting her to respond and give free publicity. Really pathetic how it didn't work lmao

No. 285460

File: 1679759269524.png (6.27 KB, 468x349, E2B84AC2-254C-4D26-8367-3AB63A…)

>>285398
Lmao rent free. They can’t stop projecting their psychosexual obsession.

No. 285803

File: 1679845395300.jpg (105.34 KB, 468x960, 1590093645066.jpg)

I have been binge reading the Bible and I wish I had some kind of reading partner to talk about it with that wasn't religious, just like me. I'm an atheist, and I see the Bible as a novel. I'm reading it because my country is Catholic and most of our culture is tied to virgins/saints/saintess and all that. I'm also a sucker for mythology. So I kinda want to give it a try, plus, I love Jesus Christ, I think he is such a nice character, kek, the Virgin Mary too. So I'm excited to get to the New Testament, but I'm still reading the Genesis, and omg, the amount of plot holes the Bible has is insane, especially if you know what happens in the New Testament and with Moses, kek.
I'm sorry if this isn't the right thread, but I don't even know where to post this.

No. 285867

>>285803
If you're just reading it for the story, you should totally read the Urantia book, specifically the last part of it that's about the life of Jesus. Maybe the other parts would be fun too I don't know, lots of people find the first couple parts a slog (including me lol) but the Jesus part is awesome. It's like scifi bible fanfiction. Unfortunately there is one part where jesus sees a man beat his wife and he gives terrible advice but it was written in the 30s or 40s by mostly men so… sigh. It's free online and it used to be free to get one mailed to you (they wanted to spread the word) but I'm not sure you can do that anymore.

No. 285877

File: 1679859711631.jpg (35.09 KB, 326x500, 10866.jpg)

i finally read circe and the song of achilles. might be an unpopular opinion but i thought tsoa was just alright compared to circe. i adored circe (both the book and the character) while tsoa felt really boring, slow and underwhelming. also, achilles was such a pathetic manchild. i expected to cry at the end but i just felt glad and a bit sentimental (?) for them when they were finally reunited.

i can't believe that this is the book that makes young girls doubt their womanhood and leads them to become fakebois. i expected so much more.

No. 285879

File: 1679860070315.jpg (60.73 KB, 500x482, 921e43b16909d09fa4c6dd88b1933e…)

hi nonnies is anyone doing a yearly challenge? mine is to read 100 books, its just an abstract number because theres no way im reading 2 books a week without stressing kek
But I just finished my 11th one and im pretty happy with myself

No. 285896

Some days ago a wired journalist wrote an article on Brandon Sanderson where he called him a mediocre writer :
https://www.wired.com/story/brandon-sanderson-is-your-god/
Sanderson made a gracious response : https://www.reddit.com/r/brandonsanderson/comments/1200dzk/on_the_wired_article/
His fans called the article rage-baiting but I found it pretty accurate

>>285803
You can go ahead and post about the parts you like, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of atheist bible readers here

No. 285904

>>285803
I was raised christian though I no longer consider myself one, I didn't read the bible a lot growing up because it scared me but I really want to read it as an adult because it intersects with my interests of language, ancient cultures, mythology and literature. I haven't done so yet because it still makes me nervous tbh since I had a lot of trauma associated with religion. I would say go ahead and post about it here because a lot of us probably have the same interest in it

>>285896
I'm gonna be honest when I say I didn't read the article, but it seems like there was more to it than calling him a mediocre writer. like he spent a bunch of one on one time with brandon and then made the article into a personal attack and spent a lot of time shitting on him for being mormon and said he's trying to turn himself into a god by becoming a famous author or something. and yeah mormonism kind of sucks, but why did you have to spend a bunch of one on one time with someone just to say that. here's a video about it. I'm not really a brandon fan BTW, but it did seem kind of mean spirited from what I can tell

No. 285926

File: 1679881764847.jpg (62.22 KB, 652x1000, 75587.jpg)

>>285879
I always do a goal of 50 books. Mostly because it's a goal I always reach (except in 2020, I only read 45 because I was going through a rough time and I was drinking a lot). My reading record in one year is 72 books, but I'm hoping to maybe beat that this year. I'm at 23 books already. I'm currently reading Big Swiss and it's alright. Might be one for our unhinged women pile?

No. 285927

>>285877
Circe was so good, honestly. I don’t usually like that type of book, but I ended up falling in love with Circe herself.

No. 285928

>>285926
how many books would you need to read per week to reach 72 in a year? That's insane!

No. 285937

>>285928
100 books is abt 2 books a week so it's a commitment but not impossible by any mean if they're 350 pages or less, only 100 pages a day

No. 285954

>>285928

Ntayrt but yeah a lot of booktuber and booktok people have their goal at 100 books which is a lot but doable. Obviously most people are not doing that but people who log these yearly challenges often read as their main hobby/daily. I think 100 is quite high but at the end of the year I always see people rushing to count manga or stupid short stuff to hit their crazy 200 book goals like it matters

I personally only read a book every other week or so but 100 pages is about what I read per sitting. I am trying to read more though so maybe I should set a personal goal of like 35-40

No. 285960

I'm currently reading Project Hail Mary, which is a sci fi earth-is-about-to-die story. The synopsis is similar to Interstellar, I guess. I like it so far, the very flashback-sequency narration is works well imo and it feels like puzzle pieces falling into place both before and in front of me.

>>285879
I'm kinda the opposite where I set my reading goal low to not stress myself about it and "allow" myself to read at my own leisure & give myself plenty of room to drop books I don't wanna finish. I set my goal to 12 books this year (same as last year, where I read about 20 books) and finished 5 so far!

No. 286012

>>285928
I don't push myself to read a certain number of books a week or anything. Sometimes I could read three, sometimes one or even none. I honestly just have a lot of time on my hands and reading is my main hobby and escapism. I'm also a fast reader and if I'm really into a book I'll finish it quickly.

No. 286033

>>285879
I'm doing 20. I've read 6 so far and I started my 7th. It's a reasonable number so I think I'll reach it with no problem. I like having a small goal like this. I've neglected reading for years and I'm only seriously getting back into it since last year.

Currently reading Run On Red by Noelle W. Ihli. Survival thriller.

No. 286042

>>285879
i don't do challenges, i'm just glad i started reading again. i used to be an avid reader as a kid, then fried my brain with too much internet use. i only started reading again in april 2021. i then read 72 books in 2021, 65 in 2022, and so far i've read 20 in 2023.

No. 286044

>>286042
Absolutely same thing. This is why I've made an effort to start reading again. Definitely fried my brain by constantly being online. I've noticed my attention span became total shit.

No. 286047

>>285904
Note how the vid in question spends absolutely no time on detailing what the mean spirited comments exactly were, because Kehe really isn't writing anything vile. He calls him lame, a bad writer and makes some disparaging (imo deserved) remarks on mormons, but that's about what's to be expected from a critic. Like this isn't some blogger/friend ruining the reputation of some struggling writer, this is a critic, whose job isn't being polite but being honest, calling a beloved multimillionaire (and this is the meanest insult he slings against him) a weirdo. Sanderson even agrees when Kehe tells him he's a poor writer or that him writing his books is influenced by his mormonism, so really the two terms that make it a "mean spirited" article are "lame" and "weirdo". I think the strong reactions to the article comes either from fans of his that can't bear a critical look on him as a person (one YT comment even calls it "cyberbullying") or people that aren't used to a somewhat gonzo style of journalism that aims to not be neutral at all

No. 286063

File: 1679956627227.jpg (62.98 KB, 806x806, 8668.jpg)

>>286042
>>286044
I started reading again in 2019. I had the same feelings. I used to read a lot as a kid and then internet slowly took over. I'm really glad I found my way back to reading books, it makes me feel so much better. When I spend too much time on the internet my mind feels tired. Getting back into reading has made me crave more time offline in general. This thread has been great though, I've gotten some great tips here and I love talking books with you guys! It's nice to have a place away from the reddit bro taste in books you see on most mainstream social media.

No. 286094

>>285879
I prefer to do page count challenges over book challenges, that way longer books still "count" the same, and I'm more motivated to read them. My pages goal for this year is 10k, I'm a third of the way there! I like to set it at a number that's high but doable, so that I remember to read but I'm not too stressed about it.

I relate to the other anons here re: internet addiction wiping out my reading hobby in my teens. Getting back into it was the best thing I ever did, I can honestly feel myself thinking clearer

No. 286279

>>285879
i love reading challenges, it really motivates me to have a goal and to keep track of everything i read. last year i set my goal as 50 and i read 53. this year i'm aiming for 52 (so a book a week) and i'm at 22. i used to read over 100 books a year in high school and i'd like to get back to somewhere around there.

>>286063
>>286044
like everyone else here i also started reading to break my internet addiction. i think it was in 2020 that i decided to make a conscious effort to start reading again after i had probably read less than a dozen books over the past 3 years… this thread is a big help because it's nice to feel like there's a little community of readers who can give me good recommendations. i'm picky about books but almost everything i've read from these threads has been good ♥ i read the whole unhinged female reading list last year and it basically kickstarted my love of reading again.

No. 286342

While we’re being appreciative I’ll add that I also like this thread, it’s responsible for 4 of the 5 books I’ve read in the last year lol. I’m not reading as much as some of you but it’s been nothing but a positive to check in on what you’re all reading. Thanks!

No. 286371

File: 1680059557373.jpg (22.19 KB, 332x500, lavinia.jpg)

oh my gosh nonnies, i love this book so much. i'm only halfway through but the story is so good and i am a sucker for anything to do with old epic poems- it's about the character Lavinia from the Aeneid. idk just very refreshing and beautiful novel, i am trying to keep from devouring it all at once lol. it reminds me a lot of the book Circe
>>285877
(which i also read recently, shoutout to circeanon)i also adored this novel and i found Lavinia by looking for books similar to it lol!

No. 286578

File: 1680123085197.jpg (79.35 KB, 637x1000, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.jpg)

why the fuck did i do this to myself?
idk, i feel like it might have been a little better if i was able read it in spanish

No. 286641

>>277116
Nona, if you're still reading this thread, I wanted to let you know that I finally got around to starting Dawn today! Maybe it's because I just finished some reddit-tier audiobooks (bobiverse) but the prose feels absolutely stellar.

No. 286679

>>285896
I don't like sando and I think he has fans on par with JKR or any other giant author who will defend them to the death but goddamn was that journalist terrible. I could shit out better criticisms of the man and his work.

>>286371
>Lavinia
>Ursula Le Guin
Found my next read thanks anon

No. 286687

File: 1680185104058.jpg (303 KB, 1843x2835, 29751398.jpg)

The Power by Naomi Alderman is possibly the worst piece of "feminist" text ever written.

The book is built on the premise that women and teenage girls develop the ability to deliver electrostatic shocks(like electric eels) This of course changes the elements of the power dynamic between men and women instantly. however this is a book that you can tell was written by a liberal feminist who applies her beliefs on every human being. In less then a decade all organized religions were just completely rewritten (the main example being where Jesus was basically crossed out of the Bible and Mary being scribbled on top). as if hundreds of millions of Christian women would just be okay with that. also Women for no reason at all take on "sexist male" characteristics of being condescending, power-hungry and sexualizing teeanage boys. all men start acting weak and submissive. Revolutions and gender wars break out with women becoming bloodthirsty berserkers that rape and kill innocent men and boys. These are written in shockingly graphic detail, almost like some femdom fetish fic.

Its 400+ pages of a ham-fisted allegory. the message that power corrupts and being oppressed is horrible hits you like a sledgehammer every page.

No. 286693

>>286687
I was on the phone with a friend bitching about this very thing but I thought the author got so crazy with it I was onboard again by the end. There is definitely a period in the book where it goes from being a thoughtful critique of gender roles to a full hamfisted fantasy (everything changes way too fast, like I’m sorry women getting electric eel powers wouldn’t change everyone’s cultural conditioning in barely 10 years lol) but once I accepted it was goofy in this way I started enjoying it again. Don’t blame you for not liking it though, it was weak.

No. 286698

File: 1680198628663.png (231.24 KB, 1256x467, Screenshot 35.png)

>>286687
I don't get the future matriarchy parts either, even if women had electric eel powers that can disable and kill men it still wouldn't negate the physical differences, it wouldn't make any sense for men not be bulk of physical labor.

No. 286702

>>286679
i hope you enjoy lavinia anon!!! ahh i'm happy someone is listening to my suggestion. ursula le guin gotta be one of the best writers ever, even her non sci-fi/fantasy stuff is good

No. 286774

File: 1680252929823.jpg (16.03 KB, 220x290, House_of_leaves.jpg)

I haven't finished this yet but half of this book appeals to the creepypasta fan in me, the other half is insufferable and the whole of it seems to be an extremely basic story

No. 286777

>>286774
I love the academic style essays about the house and family, not so much the parts about the schizo moid. Basic is the last word I'd use to describe it though, it's very unusual.

No. 286818

>>286698
I know this is a really hamfisted allegory but kek I love seeing evopsych bullshit thrown back at men in any way, maybe I will read this one after all

No. 286841

>>286818
I still don't get why electric powers would result in men not working labor jobs anymore. that's the one their good for

No. 286872

>>277910
So I finished this book about 2 weeks ago and I didn't hate it. It seems like the overall tone of the book was more light and almost kind of comical except for the part where she made them swear the blood oath in the crypt, and the ending, which took me by surprise. I really hated how much the main character reminded me of myself, especially near the beginning when it was talking about how she cries at everything lmao. I was surprised I had never heard of it before this thread because it seems right up my alley. I disagree with some of what you said, but I also haven't read the reviews. I'm guessing most of them are from goodreads which is generally kind of retarded so I hardly ever go there unless I really hate a book.

>bonnie is vapid and image-obsessed, but she is also genuine and sensitive in her own way, plus she gets more sympathetic as the book goes on


This was true more in the middle of the book but it seems like at the end she kind of tried to make Virginia's murder suicide about her/her own causes, also I think she overreacted to being catfished by virginia pretending to be the teacher, that part was actually really funny imo - not the part of her jumping over a cliff though

>virginia, who multiple reviews complain is a NLOG. it's like…. yes, that's the point


I have to disagree that Virginia was an NLOG. NLOG means a girl who thinks she's special for having interests that don't fit into the narrow expectations of what society expects from women. e.g. "I'm not like other girls, I like video games and insert music genre that's not stereotypically girly and hanging out in my t-shirt eating chicken wings instead of going shoe shopping". NLOGS are retarded because they act like other women don't have personalities outside of stereotypically girly things and they're special because of that, there are also usually undertones of misogyny and they'll complain about how "women hate other women" as an excuse to shit on other women (which is really ironic) usually as a way of appealing to men, and because they're insecure and need to feel special. iirc Virginia never specifically prided herself on being better than other girls, she just thought she was better than everyone in general because of how serious she was and was always complaining about "our sclerotic modern world" and whatnot. If a man was like Virginia in that way he'd just be called a zealot or overly self important or something.

>do people really think "good characterization" = "characters i like and want to be friends with?"


Yeah, pretty much. I think it makes sense to complain about a book where the main character is supposed to be likable, like a hero, but ends up being really unlikable. there are a lot of male protagonists like this in famous books, though I can't think of any for some reason. Then there are characters who are not supposed to be likable. I think this book was the latter. Laura is definitely not one dimensional imo but character analyzation is not my strong suit lol.

Anyways, thanks to the nona(s) who recommended it because I had a good time.

No. 286883

>>286872
ayrt and yeah, the reviews were from goodreads, lol. i like to read the reviews there after i finish books because i find they almost always like books i dislike and dislike books i like. personally, i read bonnie's character arc as her moving from being obsessed with being good and having a perfect image to becoming more vengeful and angry at the world, which i relate to. it could be said that she's using the suicide/mass murder for her own benefit, but she's actively pissing people off and losing fans when she does. it takes a special kind of person to publicly declare you think the murder of teenage moids is a good thing and i respect that in her, lol. as for virginia not being an NLOG, i think i just disagree, although i take your point about many male characters having the same traits yet not having a term for that. virgina only hangs out with men with literally two exceptions. you could argue that's because she thinks she's better than everyone, but when she does meet another girl who's interested in the choir, she immediately reacts by insulting her and assuming she's shallow and stupid. she doesn't treat actual shallow and stupid male characters the same way at all. i know this might ruffle some feathers on lolcow but there really is a kind of nlog who hates all women who are stereotypically feminine and virgina fits that to a T with the way she treats bonnie. she assumes women who sleep with men = stupid shallow whores, although she only hangs around men herself and dotes on her male teacher. to me, those are classic nlog traits. i'm glad you enjoyed the book. i also related to how laura cries about everything. something about it just really rang true to my experience of being a teenager.

No. 287004

File: 1680379565839.jpg (75.44 KB, 464x700, 61053935.jpg)

I read Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft. Honestly amazing. Like a good, twisty soap opera. Such an easy read, you can't wait to see what happens next. I like good, fast paced thrillers of this type with ruthless, troubled, complicated women as the focus. In short, it's about a con woman determined to worm her way into one of the richest families in america, the literal top of the very top of the 1%. She's gonna do it by getting into a relationship with the son of the family. She has a dark past growing up with her mother, a severe narcissist who was also a con artist and spent the entire time of our main character's childhood moving both of them around the country, marrying and divorcing various men, having new identities each time until finally she went too far. Now, as our main character is trying to secure forever wealth for herself, she has to deal with her future husband's best friend who is a woman and in love with him, also with his family who have a problem with her because she's obviously not from their small ultra rich circle. It doesn't even matter if you're successful, you have to be one of them or it's not good enough. Not to mention her past could come back to haunt her. I couldn't help but root for our unhinged girl.

No. 287005

>>287004
I might read this, it sounds a little bit like The Last Mrs. Parrish which was really awful and predictable, but it sounds like it's done better in this book

No. 287009

>>287005
I read The Last Mrs Parrish and liked it a lot so I read another book by the author, The Last Time I Saw You. And that was noticeably more ridiculous. It could be said that this is the same type of book in its rich people soapiness. I didn't find it predictable and I liked the swindler much more. I was super intrigued by the games between her and the best friend of the husband target. I could never guess what that jealous woman knows and if she'll deploy an attack and ruin everything. Of course other, unexpected threats emerge too. Too bad this is a debut novel. I'd like to read something else by this woman, this was really fucking fun.

No. 287264

>>280248
nona, i picked up "margery kempe" by robert gluck thinking it was the book you recommended and i want to fucking die. it was written by a gay moid and is literally just descriptions of jesus' penis and margery having sex with multiple men and descriptions of all their penises, it was so awful and i was so confused why you would have recommended it for the unhinged women genre. i was going to come complain here when i realized i had made a mistake and they were NOT the same book. but oh my god, if anyone else has read "margery kempe" by gluck please talk to me about it, that was genuinely traumatizing. i can't believe how horrible it was. the worst example of moid writing i have ever encountered, i just….. i can't. some choice quotes:
>When Thomas pissed, he lifted his cock from the scruff of his foreskin like a pup
>The freshness of his body could be seen in his skin, milky gold except for some pimples across his ass
>Eggs began drifting through fallopian wastelands
>Jesus' cock poked out like a dogs nose
>She felt shit when she fingered his ass, but it was jesus' shit, after all
>Jesus kissed her too quickly, jamming his tongue down her throat; he says, "I'm horny"

No. 287333

I just read Child of God by Cormac McCarthy. I didn't like it much. I know his later novels are more highly rated and this was more in the beginning of his writing career but I did expect something better. I am trying to expand my literary horizons so I guess experiencing this kind of prose was interesting but overall I am not impressed. I'm not even sure I understand the point of the book. Men are deranged creatures?

No. 287336

>>287264
oh my fucking god kek, scrotes are retarded as fuck

No. 287349


No. 287351

>>287264
No fucking way kek

No. 287421

>>287264
as if being crucified weren't bad enough kek this is the first time in my life i've felt someone should be punished for blasphemy.
how does shit like this even get published… dogshit scrote writing. nonny why did you keep reading??

No. 287724

>>287421
at first, i thought the sex stuff would get better as the book went on. i trusted that someone here wouldn't recommend a book for the unhinged women list if it wasn't actually good. then about 50 pages in i realized it wasn't stopping and i was actually reading out of spite, i couldn't believe a nona here would recommend such horrible shit and i was preparing to rant about it once i finished. it was only 160 pages or so, so it wasn't hard to finish and i started skimming once i realized it was just jesus christ boner descriptions. i literally came to this thread pissed as fuck when i realized…. lmao

No. 289031

Nonas, does anyone know any nice, woman only book discord?

No. 289264

File: 1681379685656.jpeg (40.32 KB, 525x712, images (17).jpeg)

I didn't love Ninth House and I wasn't gonna read the sequel but I got caught up in the anticipated new release excitement and decided to read it anyway. I kind of struggled because it was so long ago that I didn't realize how much I didn't remember from the first one. That being said I wasn't disappointed and actually liked this one a lot, better than the first. I still have nitpicks though. I also just like Alex as a protagonist, she is a badass. And the description of Darlington as a demon bound to Alex did something to me

No. 289276

>>289264
i wanted to like this so bad but all the rape shit in it was just too titillating. i think the author has no idea how to write adult novels so she just wrote a YA novel with rape/sex in it.

No. 289357

>>289276
Yeah that was the biggest thing I didn't like about Ninth House, actually if I knew that it had 2 graphic sexual assault scenes in it I might not have even read it. The second one doesn't have any rape scenes iirc. I've heard people say the YA thing before, I've read books before that feel like YA with darker stuff in them (they made a genre for that, "new adult") but these books didn't feel like that to me.

No. 289449

File: 1681465465670.jpg (12.18 KB, 268x180, 1tffazsrzufa1.jpg)

i heard so much good stuff about jkr's crime fiction novels but i can't stand the way they are written. maybe the writing gets better in the later books, but i couldn't even get through part 1 of the 1st book without cringing. i also flipped through later volumes and whenever i saw the word "breasts" i heard captain holt in my head. also the fact that the first meeting between strike and robin starts with him grabbing her tit is so anime coomerish and out of place.

No. 289455

>>289449
So would say that it's true that the strike series is JK Rowling's pairing with her ideal OC husbando?

No. 289461

>>289455
tbh i wouldn't be surprised because the way she describes strike is pretty weird. he's big and burly and hairy and his hands are described as hairy and mannish as well. idk it gave me sexy hagrid vibes because his personality reminds me of hagrid but make him rugged and tortured.

No. 289472

>>289455
You make me want to read it now kek. I really want to read the one about fandom bullshit leading to a writer's murder and the detectives reading tweets like "kys fatty-chan" or "landwhale" or whatever.

No. 289476

>>289449
Basically the first one reads like it was written by a scrote (she did use a male psuedonym), then they progressively get more and more feminist.
>>289472
I definitely recommend reading that one, she really knows internet culture. Things like tumblr bios are spot-on.

No. 289478

>>289455
>>289461
>Strike is described as a physically imposing man, at least 6'3" in height, heavily built, though now carrying excess weight. He is hairy, and has dark wiry, curly hair, leading to some calling him 'pubehead'. His nose was twice broken during his military boxing career, then is broken again in the third novel. Although described as being 'not conventionally handsome', he seems to be attractive to a number of different women. He also appears to have prodigious appetites: for food – he is frequently described eating; for alcohol — he appears to be able to drink quite large amounts
ngl I know a few friends who would probably be into guys described like this.

No. 289490

>>289476
>first one reads like it was written by a scrote (she did use a male pseudonym), then they progressively get more and more feminist
Nayrt but yeah it really did sound like a scrote so never read the rest. Given, she wrote it a while ago. Perhaps I'll give them a try now.

No. 289491

>>289478
Honestly sounds right up a divorced middle aged woman's alley

No. 289549

>>289472
>>289476
there's this theory on radblr that digging through tumblr for her book research was what made her terf out because she saw all the tra nonsense there kek

No. 291274

File: 1682101321251.gif (1.81 MB, 540x303, 873C8D70-5FAF-487D-9402-7A65DF…)

Any anon with non-fiction recommendation about autism in women? Preferably with feminist slant without validating troon shit retardation.

No. 291286

>>291274
lolcow.farm

No. 291399

File: 1682160971272.png (45.81 KB, 492x746, anonpls.png)

so I liked this book. I got overly excited when I saw the title hoping it would be about anonymous imageboards/forums wink wink but it's not.

it's about a woman who works at a high end styling firm in manhattan for a prestigious stylist who is a lot worse than meryl streep in the devil wears prada, which this book reminded me of a lot. she starts an anonymous instagram account to share celebrity gossip and it gets really big. there's also a cheesy romance. not groundbreaking or anything but definitely a fun/cute read, also apparently deuxmoi is a real IG account with almost 2 million followers which I had never heard of. the name "deuxmoi" does annoy me though, it literally just means "2 me" in french, which most people who don't even speak french probably know. it even says in the book the name doesn't mean anything. then like why did you pick it lol

No. 291411

>>291399
I assume they picked the name deuxmoi because the account was run by two people. it's funny you didn't know about deuxmoi before, they've been mentioned on here a lot.

No. 291412

>>291399
This cover looks like a reaction image created by a farmer for when we are infighting.

No. 291425

>>291399
I hate deux but I might secondhand buy or pirate this. I'm curious but I don't want to give that cunt money

No. 291452

>>291286
Good one :(
>>291399
I only know about deuxmoi from celebricow lol

No. 291466

>>291411
Ah well if it's run by two people then that kinda makes sense lol, I didn't know that. And yeah it's weird that I've never heard of that account because it's seems kind of up my alley. Although most of the cows I follow are not actual celebrities and I don't follow celebricows a lot so maybe that's why.

>>291425
Why do you hate deux, care to share?

No. 291469

File: 1682195984814.jpg (24.96 KB, 288x522, tumblr_6382309e15ca397c1e8c4e2…)

can someone recommend a short novel with strong religious themes? i want to read about trauma, drama, the aesthetics of catholicism, etc. i swear i'm not a christfag or anything. i just like the aesthetics/mythology of abrahamic faith

No. 291472

>>291469
The only thing I can think of is The Name Of The Rose. It's pretty long but there might be an abridged version

No. 291610

File: 1682236935725.jpg (9.14 KB, 180x280, Untitled.jpg)

>>291469
This may not be exactly what you mean in terms of aesthetics but it deals heavily with trauma and Catholicism, set in Ireland in the 1850s. It's not exactly short, about 76k words, but I still recommend it.

No. 291636

File: 1682259731501.jpg (76.61 KB, 497x750, 56115bc733a190dc4fcc418110ed3c…)

>>291469
Seconding The Name of the Rose even though yeah, not short.
Read it long ago but enjoyed it back then: The Devil's Elixirs by Hoffmann, a gothic novel, it's shorter.
Demian by Hesse touches on religious themes but it's mostly symbolic (Hesse was influenced by Jungian psychoanalysis and archetypes and it reflected in his books) and spiritual in general.
Nun by Diderot even though I haven't read it yet hehe but it matches your request I think.

No. 291646

>>291472
why would anyone want to read an abridged version?

No. 291657

File: 1682270845295.jpg (57.54 KB, 474x589, dore1.jpg)

>>291469
It's not short nor a novel and probably not what you're looking for but I'll recommend John Milton's Paradise Lost anyway because I loved it even as an angry teen atheist.

No. 291683

>>291646
Because anon was asking for a short novel.

No. 291717

File: 1682292895394.jpg (32.72 KB, 318x500, 58261958.jpg)

just read this and it was pretty good.
the conclusion is a bit unattisfying but the protag was interesting and it was intelligenttly written. the mc isn't very nice but the author does a good job of getting into her head. Some reviews complain aabout the slow pacing but i thought it served the story very well.
not the book of the century but definitely an engaging read.

No. 291743

>>291657
ntayrt but is it readable for someone who hates old english?

No. 291814

>>291743
Paradise Lost is not written in Old English

No. 292466

Should I read the Red Pony or the Pearl? Both Steinbeck novels.

No. 292834

File: 1682723262098.jpg (20.67 KB, 257x390, Artemis-Andy_Weir_(2017).jpg)

so I haven't read this and don't really plan to but apparently it has really bad man-writing-women-syndrome, like "she breasted boobily down the stairs" levels of bad. I kind of want to read it just for laughs but don't want to waste my time either. I wish modern scifi wasn't so scrotey

No. 292836

>>292834
Skip this and read Project Hail Mary. Andy Weir cannot write women to save his life.

No. 292839

>>292466
>Red Pony
All I remember from 7th grade is that it was depressing.

No. 292859

File: 1682731279499.jpg (29.84 KB, 259x400, motherthing.jpg)

just finished picrel and i feel some nonas may enjoy it. it's about a woman whose bpd mother-in-law kills herself, and her husband becomes psychotic because of it. shenanigans ensue. it went in a direction i really wasn't expecting towards the end. i know some people hated "a touch of jen" but i enjoyed it and this book reminded me of that somewhat.

also, after finishing "eileen" by otessa moshfegh i can confidently say it's the best of her books that i've read. it seems like her writing is regressing as she publishes more books?

No. 292933

File: 1682758379876.jpg (83.9 KB, 667x1000, 3975275.jpg)

I finished Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater last night and I wanted to recommend it. It's about two women who work in a bookstore together. One is a true crime addict and one has a personal history with death and loss. I've read the majority of the unhinged women list we got going, but this was one of the few times I found a main character to be truly unlikeable. I'd love to hear some thoughts if anyone else has read this one!

No. 293085

>>292933
I am very interested in this but I haven’t read yet. Will come back with thoughts after I have consumed lol

No. 293412

nonnies, i've been looking for this book for months but i just can't find it. i'm starting to wonder if i might have dreamed about it and it doesn't even exist? i already asked in another thread but maybe someone here will know about it.

it's a science fiction book in which giant dead aliens float in space and human crews travel to the dead bodies and harvest resources on them. they call the giant aliens "gods" and the big mystery is why they only ever see dead bodies, never alive ones.

this is driving me nuts kek please help a nonna out.

No. 293435

>>293412
Is it:
We Only Find Them When They're Dead, Vol. 1: The Seeker

No. 293462

>>293435
YES!!!! thank you, nonnie! no wonder i couldn't find it if it's a comic and not a book, kek. i'm gonna read it now!

No. 293690

File: 1683045878962.jpeg (50.54 KB, 619x1000, D52E922D-5637-490C-93C1-D8D821…)

Even though it’s non-fiction reading this book made me cry. It resonates with something I’ve been yearning about for a long time and that feels almost unattainable to me. Idk here’s a quote
“The more people do, the more society develops, the more problems arise. The increasing desolation of nature, the exhaustion of resources, the uneasiness and disintegration of the human spirit, all have been brought about by humanity's trying to accomplish something. Originally there was no reason to progress, and nothing that had to be done. We have come to the point at which there is no other way than to bring about a "movement" not to bring anything about.”

No. 294188

File: 1683217760208.jpeg (59.38 KB, 456x672, images (4).jpeg)

>be me
>find book with cool premise
>read sample
>writing just sucks

No. 294318

File: 1683263992811.jpg (438.76 KB, 1537x1538, yn.jpg)

I feel that some nonnies here may like this book. I only started reading it, but it's about an odd, antisocial woman who becomes addicted to a K-pop boy group and starts treating them like a religion.

No. 294455

>>294318
Sounds interesting, nice cover too.

No. 294837

do you ladies have any recommendations for books with a wide female cast, and similar in terms of topic to fight club (not girl, interrupted)

No. 295256

File: 1683664119301.png (47.11 KB, 1480x710, Screenshot 2023-05-09 at 5.29.…)

i'm the anon that talked about the theory of moshfegh copying tokarczuk. i recently finished both the books of jacob and lapvona to compare them. my conclusion: the books of jacob was one of the best books i've ever read, and lapvona was one of the worst. they had nothing in common except for a medieval setting and maaaaaybe some religious themes, if you squint hard at lapvona. however, upon reading some reviews for lapvona, i noticed someone bringing up that it's similar to primeval and other times by tokarczuk (picrel), so… maybe the theory is not dead in the water. this also solves the problem of the books of jacob being translated into english after lapvona was already in the works, since primeval and other times was published in the 90s.

No. 295303

>>295256
Disappointed because I bought Lapvona and was looking forward to reading it

No. 295304

i am once again asking for dark fantasy novels. tempted to just pick up asoiaf again because i dropped it

No. 295490

>>295303
i'm curious to know what you think after you finish it. a lot of people liked it so maybe you will too, but for me, it was just too reliant on shock value. i like otessa moshfegh books for their characters. i don't mind that they're grimy but i don't read them because i want grossness with nothing else. lapvona felt like something by marquis de sade to me, kek.

No. 295732

File: 1683824241133.jpeg (77.73 KB, 632x1000, IMG_0879.jpeg)

Goddamn I don’t care about some architect designing some fair and the politics behind it. Just get back to the murder!

No. 295798

File: 1683840981110.jpeg (253.09 KB, 1464x1316, IMG_0881.jpeg)

>>295732
Same anon but as I keep reading, I even find myself annoyed on how the author decided to portray H.H Holmes. Judging by the text, you would think that nobody in early 1890s Chicago ever encountered a conman or a scam before, which I doubt. Larson also keeps describing him as handsome (even though in every pic I see of him he looks like a mouthbreather. Pic related) and that women loved him and his touchy feeliness, which I also doubt. I know it was the 1890s but I’m pretty sure at least some women found it to be fucking creepy back then.

Also it’s apparently “nonfiction” but I even I think a lot of the crimes that the book credits to Holmes never happened. I mean, I’m sure he killed his girlfriends once they got in the way or weren’t useful anymore but there’s nothing to support the claim that he murdered random women who happened to stay in his hotel. Besides, newspapers lied or exaggerated a lot of stuff to sell more copies back then. You think the author would realize this in 2003 but I guess not.

TL; DR: Erik Larson has some weird mancrush on H.H Holmes and it’s annoying to read about it. /rant

No. 295814

>>294318
Just read the summary for this and it sounds exactly like what I'm looking for, thank you! Are there any other recent novels like this you recommend? Especially stories about weird people that take a surreal turn.

No. 295823

File: 1683850607861.jpeg (164.14 KB, 860x1280, ECF2F361-4DD6-455B-A084-4F88A1…)

I listened to this (A Politically Incorrect Feminist - Phyllis Chesler) and enjoyed it. It’s a memoir? by a second wave Jewish radfem professor/writer about feminism in the 60s/70s America. It has a lot of drama, conflicts and painful observations, how second wave feminists fought and quarreled the patriarchy and with each other, how the movement cannibalized and splintered. First person accounts about Gloria Steinem, Kate Millett, Flo Kennedy, Andrea Dworkin, etc.
She writes in understanding light (though not always kind), on movement women’s struggle with their own traumas, mental illnesses, and brilliance, even the seemingly unhinged or abusive characters, all the same wanted to be seen and heard. Many stories about feminist ideology at odds with personal quests for glory, power, love, and the betrayals as the result, how so many of their lives fell apart. Some touch on right wing feminists and grifters. You start to get a true sense of why so many women thinkers killed themselves.
That said, I do keep in mind that these accounts are one-sided. Some parts did feel comical and gossipy that they made me go wow nonnies bicker much like this, and about the exact same things. You can definitely tell there are some usual potholes associated with well to do western feminists who mostly moved in white academic circles of the time, but overall not overt. I think I will be picking up her “Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman” soon.

No. 295839

>>295823
woman's inhumanity to woman was a good read, i didn't know she had a memoir that sounded so neat about the infighting. she brings up feminist cruelty to each other and her in the book so she definitely draws on her experience for it.

No. 295889

>>295823
>Gloria Steinem
she was a literal CIA shill, planted to lessen socialist/pro-USSR influence in the feminist movement.
>Some touch on right wing feminists and grifters. You start to get a true sense of why so many women thinkers killed themselves.
That sounds interesting, any interesting's stories about them or specific chapters mentioning them.

No. 295900

>>295839
Good to know anon, some bits made me tear up because it’s so relatable and depressing.
>>295889
Yeah Chesler detailed her beef with Steinem in this, how she was pretty much made pariah for it. She kinda weaves the stories and anecdotes throughout the book, not specific chapters about certain figures or anything.

No. 295901

>>295900
OT but fun fact, The reason Wonder Woman is considered a popular feminist character was because Gloria Steinem promoted her as such in Ms. Magazine, due to her own personal affinity for Wonder Woman comics.

No. 295913

>>295889
Tbf, it’s not like the USSR was some feminist utopia

No. 295921

>>295901
>Wonder Woman is considered a popular feminist character
She is? God, Americans are so odd.

No. 295923

>>295913
What does that have to do with the CIA literally funding pseudointellectual bullcrap that is the reason why stuff like queer theory is popular among leftists these days instead of actual class analysis?

No. 295929

>>295921
Eurofag pls
>>295923
>B-but class is the real issue. Everything else is just a distraction

Ugh

No. 295937

>>295923
I believe Steinem is worse because she was aware that she was working for the CIA and did not see any problems with it, whereas neb kuje Foucault and Sartre were so pretentious that they did not realize they were being used as tools to dismantle leftist movements.
>>295929
The promotion of pretentious crap led to the rise of liberal feminism and having unnecessary debates on "what is a woman?"

No. 295939

>>295929
God I wish I were an eurofag

No. 296653

File: 1684188714462.jpg (109.64 KB, 658x1000, recursion.jpg)

I loved this book. I read Dark Matter a couple years ago which was kind of meh in my opinion. This book has a similar concept to that one but imo more interesting but it also has some very sad/painful moments. Probably the best time travel book I've ever read

No. 296807

>>295814
Idol, Burning
It has a pretty similar premise.

No. 297802

File: 1684691473673.png (38.33 KB, 1514x222, Screenshot_45.png)

>>294318
finished this recently. i'm not sure if we have a chart/rentry/whatever for "weird female fiction" but this can definitely go on it…the protag's absolutely nutty, in the best way possible.

i usually don't like intensely philosophical stuff either, but this hooked me somehow.

No. 297819

File: 1684693561687.jpg (59.75 KB, 667x1000, 61jWphwWUYL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL…)

Read this because twitter shilled it like crazy. The plot and some concepts presented in it are interesting enough, but the writing style is so fucking exhausting, it reeks of the author trying way too hard to sound smart.
I can see why people who primarily read fanfics love it, though, with all the pseudo-deep romantic metaphors crammed into every other page. And it was advertised by a Trigun yaoi fangirl in the first place, so I should've tempered my expectations lol

No. 297827

some more for the unhinged woman reading list in case an official list materializes someday since i didn’t see these in the collected imgs above: “passion of g.h.” by clarice lispector, “bear” by marian engels, “paradise rot” by Jenny hval (“girls against god” is also great but more of a book of art criticism essays than a book about an unhinged woman character). I’m about to read “double teenage” by joni Murphy. Also this thread gmh thanks nonnas. booktok publishing culture makes me crave death lcf is my literary salon

No. 297891

File: 1684723593759.gif (717.28 KB, 312x325, testcon.gif)

>>297827
i don't use tiktok but i distrust anything labeled a "booktok" book on principle. also incredibly grateful for this thread even if my requests go ignored perhaps 90% of the time
picking up paradise rot btw. these super short novellas are like a cheat code for meeting my yearly reading goal…which i am only now starting, in the middle of the year

No. 298047

Read The King In Yellow because someone here raved about it but I found it very meh to be honest. The first few stories were cool, the romance and war ones I didn't care for. Wish there was more horror and connection between the stories.

No. 298069

>>297827
>>297891
Same I love this thread. I literally never read book reviews but I will trust a lolcow post with no reply kek

No. 298091

File: 1684807853638.jpg (21.71 KB, 300x424, 9781565126060_custom-8c90dca19…)

i really liked the sound of a wild snail eating

No. 298250

Any recommendations for books about MKULTRA?

No. 298302

>>298250
>The Search for the Manchurian Candidate - The CIA and Mind Control by John Marks
>The Poisoner in Chief - Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control by Stephen Kinzer
I'm reading about MKULTRA coincidenatlly just rn and I was able to find both of these free online.

No. 299183

File: 1685231949163.png (51.02 KB, 415x612, outsiders.png)

For some reason, I never had to read The Outsiders and I picked it up on a whim from a library throwing out old books. MFW I found out S.E. Hinton is a woman at the end of the book. I thought it was too well-written from a man and I was right.

No. 299204

>>299183
Wasn’t the author like 16 when she started writing it and still a teenager when she finished? I feel like I was just reading about this for some reason, was gonna watch the movie I think

No. 299205

>>299183
this is the only thing I was required to read in school that I remember. didn't realize a woman wrote it but that's cool

No. 299227

>>287004
I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. I was really expecting one of those run of the mill trashy thrillers like the wives by tarryn fisher or the wife between us but this was genuinely good imo, but I do have some complaints about things that I feel like were never properly explained. first thing is how the fuck gale found bea's mom?? if I'm understanding it right, bea's mom was a serial killer- she'd con men into marrying her then kill them. I thought she was just leaving them but then at the end it said something like "poison was her preferred way to kill men" implying she killed them. so how could the fucking FBI not find bea's mom but gale apparently had connections that could? bea's mom faked her own death before bea was even born so gale couldn't have tracked her down via her name or social security number (which she presumably had many of). it would have made more sense if bea's mom had approached gale first, but I don't think that's what happened I devoured this book over the course of 3-ish days and I went through it pretty fast so it's possible I missed something though. it also never really made sense how that dave guy, or whatever his name was, cat man, had a weird friendship/loyalty thing going on with gale. he gave bea that speech about how no one in their circle has loyalty and how he hated them for various reasons, and how he spent most of his time out of the country to avoid people in that circle yet gale was the epitome of those things and he was happy to scheme with her and stay at her place. I really thought it was going to reveal that there was something between them or that dave had an ulterior motive or something but it never did I'm probably just thinking too deeply about it, lol. also the fact that bea turned down 5 million dollars from haven to dump colin is insane, I would have taken it and ran

>>299183
>>299204
>>299205
yes, the outsiders was written by s.e. hinton when she was 16 and someone put it on one of those "books women will never understand" lists

No. 299268

>>299227
I'm the anon who recommended it! Sadly I have no answer to the questions of the details of it because it's been too long since I read it. The two books you mentioned are on my list to read. I guess I shouldn't hurry.

Anyway, I read The Push by Ashley Audrain. I thought it was fantastic. Idk exactly why I chose it. It's not something fully up my alley. I thought I might be bored by the exploration of motherhood and uninterested by the rumination on what it means and feels like, but no. IT WAS SO GOOD. It was that, but it was also about male dismissal of women's insight and about how typical everything always is. It's a psychological drama/thriller about a woman who comes from a family fraught with issues. Women from the family not cut out for motherhood so to say. She thinks she has done well for herself and she'll live differently. She has a handsome husband who is a good person and who comes from a good family. She gets pregnant and gives birth to their daughter. She can't connect to this child and questions herself constantly. Is this kid really a bad child or is the problem her and she's the same as everyone in her estranged family. Her daughter plainly doesn't love her and is a spiteful, difficult, sometimes violent child. All of it being something her husband doesn't see. She doesn't show this behavior to him and the husband has no problem connecting to the kid. He is constantly convincing this woman that everything's ok. Which just pushes her more into questioning if she's crazy or if there is something severely wrong with her daughter. We move between present day and the past that shows how her mother and grandmother lived. Then her second child is born and she finally feels that blissful connection she wanted to have and all hell breaks loose. Seems like I said a lot but I really didn't. There's so much to this book. It's like the The Bad Seed mixed with a story about both mother's love and effort and mother's neglect, about women's mental ilness and men's inadequacy.

No. 299286

Does anyone have any recommendations (literally don’t care what type) for things available in audio format on Libby or Hoopla with no wait time? Or even an audiobook pirate site. I can’t buy physical books right now and I’m traveling so audio is the best option. I’m listening to clarkesworld stories which are great but wouldn’t mind a longer thing

No. 299288

>>299286
VK is a Russian Facebook knockoff type site. They have so many books uploaded there, including audio books. Just search any book and add audiobook vk at the end and see if you find it. I use it all the time but I'm not a fan of audiobooks so I download stuff to read on my phone and tablet.

No. 299442

Has anyone here gone from having a Kindle or Kobo to an Android e-reader? How do you like it? I'm fed up with how restricting the options on my Kindle are, wondering if it's worth switching.

No. 299448

>>299442
i used to have a kindle like 10 years ago and used it for maybe 2 years and like 20 books at most? then i got an android-based e-reader and i really love it. i love that i can just upload my books from zlib on there. i'd always go for an independent e-reader, never anything that's connected to amazon or any other book publisher .

No. 299577

File: 1685456396735.png (75.45 KB, 252x380, TheSongofAchilles.png)

I genuinely don't understand why the 'Song of Achilles' became so popular. In my opinion, it's extremely misogynistic and stereotypical, as every woman in the book is either ignored or turned into an massive bitch just to highlight the romantic relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. For example, Iphigenia, who had her own voice in a whole Greek tragedy written about her, is reduced to a mere plot device in this book. Deidamia's portrayal makes me fume, as she's barely even a character in the original myth and her sole purpose was to have a child with Achilles. So in SoA instead of giving her more agency as the author claimed, Miller makes her a rapist, In addition, she is manipulative, mean and blackmails Achilles and lastly Thetis, Achilles' mother, who was incredibly nurturing and protective of him, was turned into an insane, irrational, and vengeful mother.(How do you manage to be more misogynistic than the ancient Greeks)
Patroclus is turned into this pwecious pacifist baby who can't fight, while Achilles is depicted as a strong, masculine fighter who easily slaughters thousands, However, in the original Iliad, Patroclus was actually the one who trained Achilles as he grew older (and possibly raped him), leading to the issue of diluting their bad traits and turning them into saints (compared to the original Iliad) and all female characters portrayed as evil or ignored and forgotten about.

No. 300081

I'm super curious as to what fellow farmers think of authors like RF Kuang, who seem to be more twitter famous then anything else. Xiran Jay Zhao would be another example but she's already been discussed in other more relevant threads.

>>299577
As someone who loves mythology I refuse to read this book on the principle that I've always thought Achilles and Patroclus were terrible men. It's one of those books where what people are positive about in reviews or talking about it makes me want to avoid it even more.
Ironically, I did really enjoy her other book, Circe.

No. 300139

>>299577
>>300081
tsoa is so bland and boring compared to circe. i really, really loved circe, then i read tsoa and was just disappointed. didn't she also claim that it took her ten whole fucking years to write that mid quality fanfiction of a book? i fully believe that the people who hype this book are either gendies or normie women obsessed with ~queer stories uwu~.

No. 300142

>>300081
The Poppy War is unpopular here it seems

No. 300153

>>300081
I'm quite busy with reading material at the moment, but I've been eyeing Yellowface and I may read it later this summer. Has any nonas read it yet?

No. 300161

circe was great, but i did get irritated by the final part of it being so dedicated to circe's shitty husband and her equally shitty child. the fact that she gave up fucking Divinity to sleep around with some scrote was also nuts to me.

too lazy to quote anyone directly, sorry nonas.

No. 300162

>>300161
by "shitty husband" i mean the guy she became infatuated with, the father of her son. i cannot be arsed to google his name.

No. 300166

I hated both Circe & TSOA.

No. 300170

File: 1685754624785.jpg (54.99 KB, 330x489, The_Fountain_Head_(1943_1st_ed…)

>>300139
>ten years to write a shitty fanfic
It also looks like she went to fucking Brown and Yale. And she absolutely hates picrel

"But I began to feel a sort of visceral disgust – as if I were being submerged into a tub of slime. I realised that I hated the book – not the writing, but the ideas behind it."
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/11/madeline-miller-i-dove-poetry-never-looked-back-circe
If any nonna has read picrel I'd like to know your thoughts.

Anyway, looks like she's writing a new book about Persephone and lord knows how idealized Persephone and Hades are. Can't wait to see the new and interesting take on how Persephone and Hades were totally in love and Persephone definitely wasn't coerced or kidnapped or anything heinous. Sorry to the nonnas who like new-age Persephone and Hades but I just think it's basically an incel's dream because he literally kidnapped a young and beautiful and forced her to be his wife and even tricked her into eating those pomegranate seeds after hearing about Zeus's plan to bring Persephone back to Demeter.

No. 300173

>>300170
i mean circe felt pretty feminist up until she had her son (kek) so i feel she might do well with persephone

No. 300174

>>300166
same tbh. i can appreciate the artistry of the prose in Circe but the plot and characters were a disappointment

No. 300201

File: 1685775892738.jpg (52.26 KB, 260x398, The_Silence_of_the_Girls.jpg)

>>300081
I think you'd like The Silence of the Girls (forewarning: it is really depressing). It's about Briseis, a woman who was mentioned in the Iliad as a queen who was taken as a war prize by Achilles. She is a woman who has to serve and please the man who killed her husband and her brothers, whose only crime was being on the wrong side of the Trojan War. The book portrays Achilles for what he is: a messed up child soldier skilled in fighting and with a death wish.
>>300081
>>300139
>>300161
>>300170
Did we read the same book? I mean, in my opinion, Circe was worse. It seemed like every female character was written as kind of a bitch, Plus, most of the male characters were portrayed as over the top rapists, apart from a few good-looking guys so that Circe had some actual conversation partners. It's a shame that the female characters didn't really get a chance to speak up - they were all just kind of written off as superficial, vain and bitchy

No. 300234

>>299577
>>300139
I haven't read the book so can't comment on it. I do study classical studies and my professors and upper classmates seems to resent the criticism the book has gotten. While they all agree it's too YA-ish and not very interesting for adults they also think the book can be good way to get young people interested in classics. They don't take issues with the portrayal of the characters. I'm sureprised that none of them has bought up the misogyny in it even though most of them love to discuss the misogyny in mythology
>>300170
>looks like she's writing a new book about Persephone and lord knows how idealized Persephone and Hades are
the story of Persephone is so interesting but all modern retellings sucks because they want to make it Persephone a girlboss and Demeter a bitch who ia in the way of true love.
I give it a few years before we get modern retellings of Daphne and Apollo where the moral is that Apollo was the good guy for seeing past appearances and loving her even after she turned into a tree

No. 300241

File: 1685804842594.jpeg (44.2 KB, 700x512, bioImg3.jpeg)

Does anyone have any recommendations for parenting books, especially regarding optimal education and child development? I recently read Raise a Genius! by László Polgár (who raised the Polgár sisters), which had some interesting ideas about fostering happiness and aptitude in a specialized skill early on, but he did not delve into the particulars of his system, unfortunately. Public education systems are depressingly perfunctory, and while devising a proper educational plan myself would be ideal, I wouldn't elect for that over private school without quality strategies and resources with theory and data to support their practical use in providing children the best opportunity to reach greatness with acknowledgment of their own individuality.

No. 300284

>>299442
>how restricting the options on my Kindle are
What do you mean by that?
I have an old(10 years) kindle and keep thinking about switching it with new one, and now I'm not sure now?

No. 300342

>>300081
I just finished reading babel and also read the first book of the poppy war a few months ago. Sorry nonas if this post is hard to read, I'm not used to long posting on my phone.

As I was reading her books I was definitely reminded of Xiran. RF Kuang is basically a smarter, prettier version of Xiran who writes historical fanfiction instead of anime fanfiction.

I'm pretty interested in Chinese history and linguistics and fantasy's my favorite genre, which is why I was able to make it through the books. But overall I have mixed feelings. They're both 7/10 books for me.
Pros: She's great at writing action scenes, her magic systems are very cool, her main characters have engaging story arcs, and both books had very strong beginnings and endings. She's technically a very strong writer.
Cons: terminal Twitter speak especially in Babel (an Indian man in the 19th century literally uses the phrase "narco-military state"), she's hamfisted when it comes to establishing her books' themes, her secondary characters (especially the women ofc) are insanely flat, and she literally just copy pastes real world history into her novels without considering how magic would actually change things.

No. 300345

>>300342
I was someone on twitter describe it as just the real world tragedy caused by Japanese Imperialism but with a fantasy paint on it, would you say that's accurate?

No. 300404

>>300345
ntayrt, but from goodread reviews people say she straight up adds in a whole chapter that's just infodumping the Nanjing Massacre, including all the gruesome details.
There's a good low star review on goodreads that isn't too hard to find from someone who is Chinese and grew up there pointing out how ridiculous some of her naming conventions are in the book. I don't want to link it directly because I don't want this random reviewer involved somehow.

No. 300461

>>300170
>t I just think it's basically an incel's dream
It's more of a ravishment fetish on the woman's behalf. Men don't give a fuck about the Hades-Persephone myth at all

No. 300484

does any anon know of nonfiction books about female friendship ( or if not, around that subject as in, general relationships with one another ) ?

No. 300522

File: 1685926817304.jpg (171.46 KB, 1000x1534, 36348525.jpg)

i just finished picrel and i was shocked to find out it was published before the pandemic. it's about a plague from china that causes the end of the modern world. the main character is in with a cult-like group of survivors. describing it that way makes it sound cliche, but i honestly found this book extremely unique and disturbing. it actually scared me. instead of having freakish zombies, the people who are infected slowly lose their abilities until they are just repeating one action over and over again, like a mother repeatedly setting the table and unsetting it while her body rots away. i would highly recommend. and the descriptions of the pandemic starting with everyone having to wear masks and work from home are kind of weird in retrospect, like yeah it really did happen like that.

>>299268
yes! i believe i recommended that book here a while back. please read "we need to talk about kevin," it's very similar and one of my favourite books of all time. i've read it several times over because i love it that much. actually, i'm surprised no one has mentioned it here yet. absolutely unhinged woman material. it's about the mother of a school shooter.

No. 300553

>>300484
seconding this request, but i'm good with fiction. no romance though please…even better if the protag is a deranged woman

No. 300703

File: 1686002857826.png (155.61 KB, 720x1223, Screenshot_20230531-220023.png)

>>299286
Kind of a late reply, but the selection and wait time on Libby depend on your library. For example someone in Texas might have a totally different than someone in California. That being said Libby is supposed to have an "available now" option on the home page, pic related. But maybe that's different in different areas too.

Hooplas selection is also dependent on your library, I believe, but I'm my area there's no wait time, just a borrow limit of 8 per month (though I'm sure that varies by location too).

Sometimes people upload full length audiobooks to YouTube as well, so it's worth checking there sometimes.

No. 301006

>>300703
how have I never seen the "avaiable now" tag? I'm blind. thank you.

No. 301029

>>300553
>>300484
The first thing that came to mind was A Passion for Friends by Janice Raymond. I haven't read it, but I have read other works by her and liked them. Maybe this could at least be a starting point to find similar books?

No. 301036

Do any nonnies have recommendations for Westerns with female main characters? I have True Grit on my tbr, but I was hoping for other suggestions. A lot of what I find when I google are either historical romances/erotica (not really what I'm going for) or modern "queer cowgirls" which all sound insufferable. I don't care if the MC is a gunslinger or a saloon girl, just anything from a female perspective would be welcome.

No. 301051

that's the whole idea… my gut was filled with anxiety while reading that book. an abuse victim who was gaslighted by her ex husband and then she`s jealous that he's living with another woman.

No. 301142

>>300522
I saw the movie so I never really felt the need to read it. I'm sure it's even better than the movie but already seeing the story unfold kills my desire to go back to the story and read it. The existence of the movie is likely why it's less talked about as a book. I remember thinking it's fantastic. I wouldn't rewatch it just because I can't stand looking at Ezra Miller's face now that we know he's a freakshow in real life.

No. 301162

>>301142
the movie was fine but left out massive parts of the book. there are movies i understand overshadowing the books they were based on (cough fight club cough american psycho) but we need to talk about kevin is better in book form. it really messes with your mind in a way the movie cant.

>>300553
>when we lost our heads by heather o'neill
a rich girl and a poor girl in montreal become friends until they accidentally kill someone and are forcefully separated
>my brilliant friend by elena ferrante
two best friends grow up together and compete with each other for everything in a violent italian neighbourhood

both of these have some romance i think, but neither are romance novels.

No. 301416

>>300404
… girl what. You don't want the random reviewer involved in what, a random anonymous forum? Goodreads is a public website, it's not like your posting someone's private Facebook pictures or something. Or you could just screenshot the review and black out the username, this is an image board after all.

No. 301440

File: 1686348065418.jpg (86.53 KB, 666x1051, Lolita_1955.jpg)

I actually really enjoyed this. I started reading because I was interested in how Nabokov would have translated this into russian - I read the english original first, haven't read the russian one.
It's unbelievable how stylistic his English in this book is. I was kind of seething with jealousy because Nabokov spoke 3 languages, and (almost) each of them he knew as fluently as the other. I'm best in English and ffs, i had to look a word up every 5 pages. But it's interesting to see, first of all, how a Russian-born writer sees America and the English language.
I enjoyed the symbolism, it's like Proust but way easier to read (if i can remember what Proust even reads like - the point is that, with In Search Of Lost Time, I gave up after 20 pages, but I didn't want to put Lolita down).
That being said, my god, this book is hard to read emotionally. I think the reasons are obvious with this one. But I will specify a bit and say that Humbert Humbert is 100% aware of how he's abusing and manipulating this child with what reads like very little remorse. That's what hurt to read. Nevermind that he details how he completely uprooted Dolores' life for the absolute worse.
What strikes me as weird is that, from what little i know about narc/abuser psychology, Nabokov gets a surprising amount of details right. Ex. How the abuser sees himself as a victim in the dynamic, Dolores hypersexualizing as a coping mechanism (could be fake, though, since HH is an unreliable narrator), just a general sense of how grooming happens. I just wonder how he came to know the psychology of this so well, there's no way he was just putting himself into the situation. I don't think he's a pedo either, personally.
The whole book, really, is an interactive cautionary tale of pedos. I've seen discussions of how "Lolita" is a book that lulls you into feeling bad for the bad guy, kind of like with Walter White in Breaking Bad, but, let's be honest, women, especially SA victims, won't be so easily fooled. It does give you an idea of how these things happen, and how charming people or sociopaths can basically hypnotise others to do bad things.
If you feel like you won't get through the book without it bringing up some bad shit, it's not worth a read. But for me, this was surprisingly fun and thought-provoking in the process of reading. Just my two cents.

No. 301441

File: 1686348125338.jpg (86.53 KB, 666x1051, Lolita_1955.jpg)

I actually really enjoyed this. I started reading because I was interested in how Nabokov would have translated this into russian - I read the english original first, haven't read the russian one.
It's unbelievable how stylistic his English in this book is. I was kind of seething with jealousy because Nabokov spoke 3 languages, and (almost) each of them he knew as fluently as the other. I'm best in English and ffs, i had to look a word up every 5 pages. But it's interesting to see, first of all, how a Russian-born writer sees America and the English language.
I enjoyed the symbolism, it's like Proust but way easier to read (if i can remember what Proust even reads like - the point is that, with In Search Of Lost Time, I gave up after 20 pages, but I didn't want to put Lolita down).
That being said, my god, this book is hard to read emotionally. I think the reasons are obvious with this one. But I will specify a bit and say that Humbert Humbert is 100% aware of how he's abusing and manipulating this child with what reads like very little remorse. That's what hurt to read. Nevermind that he details how he completely uprooted Dolores' life for the absolute worse.
What strikes me as weird is that, from what little i know about narc/abuser psychology, Nabokov gets a surprising amount of details right. Ex. How the abuser sees himself as a victim in the dynamic, Dolores hypersexualizing as a coping mechanism (could be fake, though, since HH is an unreliable narrator), just a general sense of how grooming happens. I just wonder how he came to know the psychology of this so well, there's no way he was just putting himself into the situation. I don't think he's a pedo either, personally.
The whole book, really, is an interactive cautionary tale of pedos. I've seen discussions of how "Lolita" is a book that lulls you into feeling bad for the bad guy, kind of like with Walter White in Breaking Bad, but, let's be honest, women, especially SA victims, won't be so easily fooled. It does give you an idea of how these things happen, and how charming people or sociopaths can basically hypnotise others to do bad things.
If you feel like you won't get through the book without it bringing up some bad shit, it's not worth a read. But for me, this was surprisingly fun and thought-provoking in the process of reading. Just my two cents.

No. 301455

>>300484
In Letters from Tove (Tove Jansson) there are correspondences to her friends Eva and Maya (the book is sorted by the people she's writing to)

No. 301464

>>301440
The way you describe how Nabokov views America and how he deals with the english language was interesting, nona. I have been interested in reading Lolita for a long time mainly for the prose.
>I just wonder how he came to know the psychology of this so well
I heard that Nabokov was sexually abused by his uncle as a child. Lolita was his way of trying to get an understanding of his abuser. But I'm not sure whenever this is true or an urban legend though

No. 301469

>>301440
I read it and I thought the guy who wrote it was probably molested. That’s a popular theory I guess (? dunno I didn’t read it in school or anything) but it didn’t entirely read as a predator’s perspective to me. Somewhat, yes, nobokov was sick, but there was something else there.

No. 301472

>>301469
>>301464
He was. He went on to say one of the abuse scenes in the book was something that happened to him as a child, it might've even been multiple.

No. 301489

>>301440
There's a lot of evidence to suggest that Nabokov was abused by his Uncle, his uncle was a eccentric pretentious man who was never married but was confirmed to go to brothels and had preference to speak in French, a lot of similarities to Humbert, some early drafts of Lolita had Delores as a young boy. which might have mirrored his own experiences.

No. 301505

>>300241
Cribsheets is supposed to be a good condensed overview of current research

No. 301506

>>301440
I actually re-read Lolita recently in my mother tongue (beautiful translation, even the poems) and I've read the first book in Russian (Nabokov's own translation) but had to give up due to lack of language skill. I have to agree with everything you said. It's not an easy read because of the themes and the plot, but Nabokov's writing is superb and just pulls you right in.
I think it has to do with HH being a strong narrator. The narrator voice is very distinct, and even on the first pages, before anything has even happened, you get a clear picture of what kind of a person is telling the story (i.e. highly educated, a bit contemptuous, likes word play etc.) At least I interpreted a lot of the things he says as this sort of intentionally self-deprecating talk (for example when he does the whole "ladies and gentlemen of the jury" thing) as if he's trying to make the reader feel sorry for him. Of course this doesn't mean that the message of the novel would be that you should feel sorry for a child rapist, but it's not surprising that people who lack reading comprehension or are looking for reasons to get mad are going to interpret it that way.

No. 302096

File: 1686693823094.jpg (21.99 KB, 329x500, 418-PB-dspL.jpg)

Roughly halfway through this book and idk why exactly but the main character is just so annoying to me, also thee way this author likes to describe certain things grosses me out but that's probably the point

No. 302214

One more suggestion for our unhinged women book list.

Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede. It's good so far.

"By day, Maeve Fly works at the happiest place in the world as every child’s favorite ice princess.

By the neon night glow of the Sunset Strip, Maeve haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, imitating her misanthropic literary heroes.

But when Gideon Green - her best friend’s brother - moves to town, he awakens something dangerous within her, and the world she knows suddenly shifts beneath her feet.

Untethered, Maeve ditches her discontented act and tries on a new persona. A bolder, bloodier one, inspired by the pages of American Psycho. Step aside Patrick Bateman, it’s Maeve’s turn with the knife."

No. 302284

>>302214
I will not be judgemental and try it but that sounds… bad

No. 302291

>>302284
It's just a Goodreads description and I don't think it encapsulates anything well. It's simplified and not much of anything.I pasted it here just so you don't have to Google and see the same thing. The book just came out 8 days ago so it doesn't have thousands of reviews. I'm not done with it yet so I didn't want to add my own description. Give it a shot.

No. 302311

>>302214
>>302291
I've been eyeing this book, I hope you'll post your thoughts on it when you finish it nona! Is it very gross? I love horror, but I'm not a fan of the gross out genre.

No. 302433

File: 1686845982286.jpg (59.94 KB, 647x1000, 610K-31arwL._AC_UF894,1000_QL8…)

anyone remember anon's rant about this book from the last thread? i gave this book a shot and i really liked the setup in the first chapter. spoilers: basically the protag is a 17 y/o girl and daughter of two celebrities who are deeply in love with each other but who couldn't care less about their daughter. they commit lovers suicide because the father is terminally ill but leave no note for the daughter because they simply don't care about her. i like how they wore their best and most expensive clothes so they could be found in style. the protag is then contacted by her father's younger step brother (who's still around 40 iirc) and she moves in with him and his two sons. it's too bad it all goes downhill from there and they all constantly try to fuck her. i wish it was more of a found family story with healthier dynamics and not some constant foursome.

i dropped the book after that but damn the story could have had potential because i loved the description of the parents and how awful the protag felt next to them.

No. 302761

Jfc, that Credence shit by Penelope Douglas is straight up disgusting.
Give me any horror book before that and it won't be half as disturbing.

>>302311
I finished it and ended up really liking it. There's definitely body horror and the violence she commits is gross in various ways, including sexually. I personally didn't think any description went too far and it didn't disturb me too much, but that's just me. A good portion of people who like Otessa Moshfegh's women might like Maeve too. She's at times disgusting, pathetic, you name it. At times strangely relatable. You might even root for her here and there despite everything she does and has done.

No. 302918

>>294318
i wanted to like this one so bad but i just hated the writing style. it reminds me way too much about purple prose writers who take themselves way too seriously and think they are the cream of the crop. i guess that this was probably the point, but i barely understood half of what she was saying. it's like she wrote a sentence then googled "synonym for x" and used the most obscure word. for every single word in every single sentence. i have a degree in english but i felt like i was back in 6th grade reading my first full length english book kek.

No. 302922

>>302096
So I finished this book and I really did not care for it. The book starts with Isabel (the MC) having a sexual encounter with another student, a gross Israeli guy named Zev (Isabel is a Jewish American girl) at a prestigious college in New Hampshire. She goes back to his room, they start fucking around and having sex. We get Isabel's internal perspective here and she literally cannot decide throughout most of this encounter if she wants to be having sex with him or not. She's like "Idk????? Idk if I wanna be here???? do I????? do I even like him????? Idk" she finally decides most of the way through that she doesn't really wanna be there. That being said she never says no, and actually makes sexual advances like reaching for his belt/pants to undo them at one point, and fantasizes about Zev leaving his overseas gf for her. The next morning her extremely obnoxious feminist friend (who later turns out to have a bunch of mental issues) convinces her she was raped, and takes Isabel to go spray paint RAPIST on Zev's door. Then the dean finds out and talks to Isabel, asking her if she was raped by Zev, saying they take these matters seriously. Isabel gets all embarrassed and says no, of course not.

Two of the faculty at the school, Tom and Joanna, are going through a messy divorce and have a young daughter named Igraine who is young, like 6 years old or something. Isabel witnesses Tom being violent towards Joanna, then later there's a big school dinner party thing at Tom and Joanna's house (why they'd have this at a couple's house who is going through a divorce seems like a really dumb idea to me, Idk) and everyone there (students and faculty) witnesses Tom getting extremely drunk and violent and cutting himself with broken glass. That party is when Isabel starts having an affair with an extremely boring teacher named Randall, whose main quality is that he's really attractive. He's married and she doesn't care but then gets all upset when she finds out he's having/had affairs with other female students, including one that had a serious eating disorder and almost died from it (therefor was clearly vulnerable mentally).. like what did you expect

then Tom takes his daughter, Igraine, and just disappears. They're missing but no one knows where they are. They're missing for about 3 weeks when Isabel finds out that Randall, who is best friends with Tom, let Tom and Igraine go stay at his cabin. He makes Isabel swear not to tell anyone, but later she leaves an anonymous tip to the police, and they find Igraine alone in the cabin. Tom had wandered and died, and it was not clear if his death was accidental or suicide. According to Igraine he had been gone for 4 days and said he was going to get fire wood. If the cops didn't find Igraine when they did, she would have died soon)

She graduates, the affair with Randall ends, mostly seemingly due to the fact that she ratted him out, albeit anonymously, and it said he could have been faced with serious charges like aiding and abetting but he wasn't. Her last interaction with Randall was him being like "I didn't know if I wanted to see you" and basically bitching about how "tom was a good guy, he made mistakes but a lot of people make mistakes, he was a true friend and we don't get a lot of those in life yadayada" not caring at all that a small child almost fucking died because of both him and Tom.

Right before graduation Isabel finally decides what happened with Zev wasn't sexual assault. But at the very end we get Isabel's perspective from present day (well, 2017) and she decides, because of the MeToo movement, that what happened with Zev was actually rape. She seems way more bothered by what happened with Zev than anything that happened with Randall, like the fact that he almost got a small child fucking killed.. also Isabel and Randall's first encounter was not exactly consensual, he just walked up and kissed her in a coat closet. No asking for consent or reading for cues or anything. She's still obsessed with Randall well into adulthood. She gets one letter from him (it's a short story) and writes him a ton of letters after that, none of which get responses from him. Eventually Isabel gets a call from Randall's wife, informing her that Randall died. It turns out to be a suicide, though the wife seemed in denial about that

I just.. don't know what this book was trying to accomplish or what message it was trying to send. Given the tone of the book it seemed like it was trying to be feminist, but judging by the actions of the characters, it felt like it was trying to send the opposite message, like that women are fickle and decide if it was rape based on whether the man was attractive/desirable or not, and that feminists are extremely obnoxious and mentally ill. The book has generally good reviews so I feel like I must be missing something.

Wow that was a huge wall of text, I did not expect it to be that long. Sorry guys lmao

No. 303070

Anyone have anything good set in the (us) 1920's?

No. 303074

>>302922
christ, this sounds like the type of book some incel will link to you to prove how all women are retarded children that always cry rape except when they like the guy or something

No. 303119

>>302761
Thank you for the update! I'll probably give it a go later this summer. I love books about strange women.

No. 303315

>>303070
Gatsby?

No. 303386

File: 1687233194894.jpeg (158.45 KB, 661x1000, E5C06A65-2ABF-4D6B-BE31-2990BC…)

I just finished picrel on the suggestion of someone on this thread earlier and loved it. The first thirty so pages were kinda eh but my jaw was on the floor for the whole second half. That being said I feel scared to carry this book around in public lol

No. 303388

>>303315
Something that isn't Gatsby.

No. 303390

>>303386
i finished this recently too and i HATED it. one of the worst books i've ever read. just ridiculous and over-the-top the entire time. i'm curious about what you liked in it kek.

No. 303425

>>303070
The only thing I can think of is The Diviners by Libba Bray. No idea if it's good though.

No. 303428

>>303386
For the purpose of transgressive literature it was okay, I’ve read way worse from scrotes

No. 303431

File: 1687245200844.jpeg (447.93 KB, 1195x1800, 5C8A5D03-95A0-48E6-8DD9-31C268…)

>>303070
Perhaps Rules of Civility? Not the 20’s but the 30’s but it has that Fitzgerald drunken glamour vibe, architecture, smokes, jazz, pretentious conversation, melancholia, New York

No. 303468

>>303386
i finished this recently too and i HATED it. one of the worst books i've ever read. just ridiculous and over-the-top the entire time. i'm curious about what you liked in it kek.

No. 303489

Nonnas, what are some very fucked up books written by women? I’ve been craving disturbing writing lately

No. 303516

>>303489
Monsieur Venus by Rachilde. The ending is not what you expect from an 1800s lady.

No. 303519

>>303468
Lol I admit I had a hard time with the beginning where she talks about every damn step of her skincare routine on her boobs or whatever, as well as her screaming orgasms but the way the sex scenes kind of adultify jack until he’s crying in the witness stand like a baby got to me, poor kid. also I love that she was totally remorseless till the end, not even caring that she destroyed lives

No. 303525

>>303519
nta but what's the appeal in that, its just some weird pedophile teacher who molests boys and that's it, like what's her motivation or reason for doing it. If she ever has one.

No. 303532

>>303525
Sometimes books are written for the purpose of being disgusting and controversial, someone out there has to write female pedophiles

No. 303609

>>303532
i like controversial books but there was nothing going on in tampa except for the female pedophile bit. the plot was all over the place, the characters were like cardboard cutouts of people, the writing was pretty poor. i didnt get any sense of the main characters motivation except "meesa wanna fuck." i know authors aren't their characters but it really did feel like parts of it were written one handed too. if the only thing youre looking for is shock value then i guess it's good for that.

No. 303698

>>303516
Thank you for the suggestion nonna!

No. 303869

Any fans of Abarat? Will book 4 ever come out?

No. 303892

>>303869
Nonny I fucking love Abarat, but I had a lot of mixed feelings about the third book. Something about it seemed off with the writing & pacing (though I think Clive Barker almost died from his tooth infection around the time he was writing it, maybe a ghost writer was involved). I hope the fourth book gets some more news or a release date.

No. 303904

File: 1687404184119.jpg (64.53 KB, 568x872, 9781526605238.jpg)

About 3/4 of the way through The Farm by Joanne Ramos. I really love this book so far it kind of reminds me of White Lotus as far as themes go. It's about a spa-resort where rich clients pay for surrogate mothers to be taken care of until they give birth to the clients child. It follows multiple point of views of two surrogate moms, the resort manager, and a family member of one of the surrogate moms. It's really well written, fair, and balances the dark themes with comedy pretty well.

Before this I just finished convience store woman, thank you to everyone who recommended it.

>>299577
>>300081
>>300139

Thanks for the warning. I really liked circe and had tsoa on my TBR for years but hadn't picked it up yet because I just don't care about that story very much, so ty for saving me time.

No. 303983

File: 1687419646477.png (158.67 KB, 856x1310, Capture d’écran 2023-06-22 à…)

i picked this up because the premise was interesting and it was a total disappointment.
the pitch is that a couples therapist who has a philosophy of blaming women for not seeing their partners' flaws… realises tthat her own husband is not who she believed.
i don't mind unlikable characters so i put up with the insugfferable narrator because i thought her lack of self-awareness was funny at first, and it would be ineresting to see her views being challenged.

her uwu perfect husband, (which you can tell is too good to be true, but she's too smug to see it) turns out to have murdered a woman. you'd think that would be a world shaking event and lead her to changer her vorldview but no.
her pickme beliefs are never questioned, she doesn't even suffer anuy negative emotional or material consequences, she just buys a new house and finds a new nigel and everyone reassures her she has done nothig wrong ever.
the other women are never more than vapid bitches or adoring friends. the woman hher husband killd, wwho is also the only working class woc in he story is barely a footnote.
i put up wih the ramblings of the smug judgmental main character because i was expecting a deconstruction but i guess the author is quite the pickme herself.

No. 304152

>>292933
i just read it today and it was a nice fun read. roach is written a bit too over the top imho but she's really entertaining. excellent ending

No. 304482

>>303386
I also read Tampa because of this thread and absolutely loved it. It left a lot to be desired when it comes to the writing. I felt like it could've really leaned into the disgusting writing style. But I loved the character, how she was a pure psychopath that refused to change and the way in which she absolutely wrecked those poor boys' lives and cared about nothing but herself.
She's far from a female Humbert Humbert and Nutting (lol) is far from Nabokov so it isn't the Lolita reversal we deserve but nevertheless, it was fun to read. I'd love to read more books with characters like her, by which I mean purely psychopathic female mcs.

No. 304491

>>303386
>>303468
>>304482
I'm never gonna read this book and so I don't care about spoilers, most reviews mention that near the end of the book, there was a big reveal of why exactly the protagonist is a pedo and her grand justification for it, so what exactly was it?

No. 304504

>>304491
There is no big reveal at the end. I don't remember the main character ever reflecting on why she's only attracted to teen boys but maybe I'm wrong and other nonas have better memories. Throughout the book, she's obsessed with aging. She's supposed to be a very beautiful woman so maybe she's afraid of her looks fading with age and having to exist as a normal person. Maybe it's this fear that pushes her to become hyper obsessed with youth, and somehow crosses the line into her sexuality. Just my theory but I think there's enough details in there to speculate on what's wrong with her though like I said, I don't remember her feeling the need to justify herself.
Here's a quote where she explains the appeal to her but it's from the beginning of the novel:
Sex struck me as a seafood with the shortest imaginable half-life, needing to be peeled and eaten the moment the urge ripened. Even by sixteen, seventeen, it seemed that people became too comfortable with their desires to have any objectivity over their vulgar movements. They closed their eyes to avoid awkward orgasm faces, slipped lingerie made for models and mannequins onto wholly imperfect bodies. Who was that queen who tried to keep her youth by bathing in the blood of virgins? She should've had sex with them instead, or at least had sex with them before killing them. Many might label this a contradiction, but I felt it to be a simple irony: in my view, having sex with teenagers was the only way to keep the act wholesome. They're observant; they catalogue every detail to obsess upon. They're obsessive by nature. Should there be any other way to experience sex?I remember taking my shirt off for a friend's younger brother in college. The way his eyes lit up like he was seeing snow for the first time.

No. 304510

File: 1687634011950.jpg (41.66 KB, 664x1000, 71CsUw-31KL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL…)

finished sarah (jt leroy). this book had some excellent writing – the narrator's voice shone through the prose vividly. the topic might turn some nonas off though, as it's about underage? cross-dressing prostitutes. i recommend it heavily though.

the author is also a huge cow (?) herself, as she apparently lied to the public for years about being a gay ex-child prostitute. why do crazy people write the best books

No. 304517

>>304510
you gotta be at least a little bit crazy to come up with such stories

No. 304539

File: 1687647707545.jpg (125.17 KB, 1000x602, repulsion65.jpg)

anyone know of any books like repulsion 1965? i know the director should be in hell right now, but i profoundly related to that movie unlike any other. to those who haven't watched it, here is the summary
>young manicurist Carole (Catherine Deneuve) suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen (Yvonne Furneaux), leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend (Ian Hendry), Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.
TL;DR
>A sex-repulsed woman who disapproves of her sister's boyfriend sinks into depression and has horrific visions of rape and violence [after being left alone and isolated]
something along those themes. thanks in advance

No. 304542

>>303070
read gentleman prefer blondes, the book by anita loos. very funny. way better than gatsby.

No. 304544

>>304504
>she's a pedo because she's scared of becoming ugly.
this is the most disappointing idea i've read. she can't just wanna fuck kids or fetishize innocence but has the hag fear of aging constant in literature.

No. 304560

File: 1687658306152.jpg (31.81 KB, 423x631, eileen cover.jpg)

she makes me think of nonas' posts

No. 304561

>>304560
samefagging to finish my thoughts, sorry. She makes me think of nonas' long, rambling, deppresed posts. The lonliness of it all.

No. 304573


No. 304598

File: 1687672016784.jpeg (56.44 KB, 448x684, IMG_9520.jpeg)

I tried reading this but I just can’t take it seriously, after I read the scene where she masturbates to doxxing a racist woman on reddit, while watching a gay porno and a youtube video of a wolf hunting a rabbit AND listening to Billie Holiday. I just laughed, this is maybe the first book I’ve read where the serial killer is an iPad-baby.

I also found the ‘feminist’ commentary to be half-baked and out of place, it really only seems to be in the book for the main character to go: ‘let me (a woman) do fucked up things like the men do! It’s especially out of place because the majority of the people that she tortures and kills (at least from what I read of it) are women. She bashes in her comatose Grandmothers’ nurse (Hilda) with a mace because she told her that she needs to take her Grandmother off of life support. She then mutilates her corpse.

After her comatose Grandmothers’ nurse Hilda strongly suggests taking her off of life support, because her quality of life has sharply decreased. She beats her into a literal pulp with a mace and hides her mutilated corpse in the basement of her Grandmothers’ house.

Some time after this she-in a poorly written BDSM sex scene- sexually tortures a woman by sticking a curling iron up her vagina and threatening to turn it on while it’s inside of her (she doesn’t do this and she frees the woman in the end) in an attempt to please her boyfriend Gideon. (Very feminist)

A little while after this after being fired from her job at not!Disneyland for fucking her boyfriend at the park. She drugs both of the people who fired her (Liz and Andre) and tortures and kills them in her Grandmothers’ basement. However, Andres’ is relatively painless-at least compared to how Liz dies- she slits his throat while he is unconscious, and he bleeds to death. His murder is also not described in detail, whereas we get a blow-by-blow of how she plans to kill Liz. She plans to inject acid up her vagina in order to dissolve the muscles, so that she can better fit a large pipe into her and then force a mouse to crawl into the pipe, up into her vagina where it will eventually suffocate to death. All while the song Let It Go is playing in the background.

I don’t know what happens next, because I stopped reading after this scene, not because I found the actual content to be disturbing, but because I found it to be over-the-top and try-hard. I also stopped reading because I wasn’t interested in a book where the female victims get drawn-out torture and death scenes fully aware of what is happening, while the male victim gets a quick death while he isn’t even conscious. I am not interested in a book about a female serial killer that revels in sexually abusing and murdering other women.


All in all a very disappointing book, at least it had a cool cover.

No. 304616

>>304539
Nonnie are you me? I love this movie so much, I know the director is a shitty human being but I can't get over it. This specific screenshot you posted was my wallpaper for years. I am seconding this request because I never found something close to it.

No. 304644

>>304544
nta but that other nonnas theory was never really in the book. it's a good theory and it makes sense, but the author does not give the mc any characterization other than being horny for children. there isn't really even a fetishization of innocence or anything. she just does not have an internal life outside being a pedo. idk i think the part that bothered me the most is how stupid and contrived the "grooming" process was, my dark vanessa is a book with a similar theme that really showed how a pedophile preys on children and psychologically manipulates their victims. in tampa the pedo just spends one day in class with the kid then calls him to stay after and is like do you think im sexy touch my boob ok we fuck now. like what the fuck. it was almost goofy.

No. 304731

>>304598
>men get quick easy off-page deaths
>women get graphically sexually tortured
are we sure the author isn't a male

No. 304763

>>304598
Samefag, I just noticed that I fucked up and forgot to delete a paragraph when I was editing this… Just ignore the first paragraph of the second spoiler’d section.

No. 305081

>>303869
Late, but I'm a huge Abarat fan! I reread the books in 2018 and loved them just as much as I did as a kid. It actually inspired me to start reading again and these days I read more than ever. Reading them all at once I very much agree with >>303892 about the third book. It was kinda weird, felt disjointed in a lot of ways and a bit out of character. There was a decent gap between the second and third book so I wonder if that contributed. I really hope we get to see the fourth book (and the fifth), but I'm losing hope.

No. 305256

File: 1687954691010.jpg (85.99 KB, 667x1000, the bell jar.jpg)

i'm almost done with this book ( i have about a quarter left ) and i hate it. everything about it annoyed me, but the best thing was it was really funny at times, like the way she describes moids/people she hates kek so grossly hilarious

No. 305257

>>305256
I read it some time back, I don't remember why she hated her own mother though, other then I do remember Esther being an unlikeable brat.

No. 305285

File: 1687964872123.jpg (45.86 KB, 616x948, testaments.jpg)

It's been a while since I read this but I wanted to post anyway. Tbh I was disappointed. Atwood is so hyped I thought I'd be in for at least some decent writing, but it just felt… meh. The plot was really clumsy, but even disregarding that, it was bland. I don't necessarily need a good plot to keep reading if the language is interesting, but Atwood's prose is just insignificant in every way to me.

I'm honestly kinda baffled, since she gets so much praise. Is it just me being an elitist, is all her writing like this or did she write the sequel as a quick cash grab when The Handmaid's Tale got popular, which is why it sounds rushed? Or was the translation just bad? (Probably not, since professional translations to my language are usually at least decent, and I doubt they'd accept anything subpar for a famous book.) Though idk if I should even expect anything from an author who writes a book where women's sex-based oppression is the main plot point but then turns around and defends imaginary genders based on hermaphrodite snails.

No. 305364

>>303892
yeah IMO book 2 is best and book 3 is worst. lots of weird OOC moments and WHO THE FUCK is Gazza

>>305081
i just read them for the first time. maybe this is weird, but I'm kinda glad I didn't read them as a teen because i feel like my attention span was too shitty and i would've left them unfinished

I love Candy and I want to be more like her, which is a feeling I barely ever get from books, especially YA

No. 305506

Are there any good fantasy novels that aren't YA, aren't extremely moidy, and aren't Tolkien? I've I can take a little moidyness but some book series just made me want to kms

No. 305520

>>305506
there's plenty, but it really depends on what you're looking for. do you want a standalone, or a series? I'd suggest checking out mercedes lackey, robin hobb, katherine kerr, anne mcaffrey, jen williams, marie brennan or kate elliott. gonna be totally honest when I say I haven't finished books by any of those (started a few and they seemed alright, been meaning to go back to them) but I'm guessing at least one of them will fit your needs. also any books by peter s. beagle, though I've only read 2 of his books (the last unicorn and the innkeeper's song) they weren't scrotey, although in the innkeeper's song there was a weird sex/orgy scene

No. 305532

File: 1688074684329.jpeg (70.95 KB, 514x651, 167AE021-379E-44FE-9D18-9099D1…)

>>305364
>lots of weird OOC moments and WHO THE FUCK is Gazza
The gazza thing was so out there because the second book already had prime boyfriend material with letheo (or even malingo, hell it seems like some fans still want to ship Candy with Christopher Carrion). And then this totally random gazza drops in with zero characterization. I think the only plot advancement I remembered liking from the third book were the scenes with Pixler before he got cthulu’d, he was an interesting side villain

No. 305534

>>305532
…fucking hell, I just realize Clive Barker wrote a techbro capitalist villain years before everything went to shit with social media and amazon.

No. 305622

File: 1688129456260.png (293.98 KB, 1134x1710, the age of ai and our human fu…)

I'm reading this so I can be informed about what manmade horrors beyond my comprehension lie ahead –kidding but I do want to know what these freaks see for the future of AI, someone told me some of the stuff discussed in this book is pretty straightforwardly "the plan" (for lack of a better term) and is being reflected in real life. Will let you know if any of it is eye opening!

No. 305630

>>305506
have you read anything by Juliet Marillier?

No. 305730

>>304598
I found Maeve to be so lame. She is absolutely not scary or interesting as a horror villain. I was rolling my eyes when I got to the part about doxxing racists on Reddit. I don't agree with racism, but god forbid a sociopathic murderer is anything but politically correct. There are a couple scenes later in the book where she tortures and kills men, but I do agree with all your points. This book was such a letdown. I consider myself kind of squeamish and I wasn't phased by any of the violence in it, so I wouldn't even recommend this to anyone looking for extreme horror.
>>305534
That's hilarious! And true.
>>305532
Another thing I didn't like about the third book was Letheo completely disappearing. I like him a lot. Who the fuck is Gazza indeed! I'm so happy to see some fellow Abarat nonas.

No. 305817

anyone read "The Memory Police". is it good nonnies

No. 305928

just finished reading choke by chuck palaniuk, genuinely impressed by this books ability to discuss sex addiction from a male perspective without gross descriptive language. Obviously the main character is misogynistic but I feel like this book almost calls out misogyny and exposes it as misplaced anger that should be directed at society.

No. 305957

>>305285
I also finished this recently and I agree with you, I've always been more impressed with her ideas and characters than her prose. It's just fine, for me. Doesn't bother me but her style doesn't linger in my mind. I really enjoyed the first half, especially when we first get a pov from Aunt Lydia, but the whole second half with the map smuggling and pearl girls and secret babies just felt really over the top. Like YA.
>>300201
I'm so sad I wasn't here for the Circe bashing. I kept waiting for the moment I would like it but it never came. It just felt like self indulgent miserable navel gazing and I hate that she had no female friends, the only people who aren't out to get her are coincidentally the men she's sleeping with. She goes on and on about how useless and pathetic nymphs are while being one herself, actively hates the other women exiled onto her island, her first magical act is to hurt another woman out of jealousy, and I can't help but think, maybe you wouldn't be so fucking sad if you would try to make some friends? This behavior never is reflected on or criticized either. I also thought it was weird that she got with Odysseus's son.

No. 306204

File: 1688310608984.jpeg (327.07 KB, 991x1280, 49A9857E-0CF6-4CAC-98D4-E13E8C…)

i'm not fully in the lotr fandom so can any of you help me out please? what's a very pretty but still affordable edition of the books i should look for?

No. 306210

>>305817
i haven't read it but I have heard lots of good things about it. i remember a lot of people on YouTube talking about it a few years back

No. 306213

>>287333
2 months late but since McCarthy died relatively recently
> I'm not even sure I understand the point of the book. Men are deranged creatures?
That is pretty much his entire oeuvre summarized in one sentence. The Road is good. NCFOM is fine, personally think the film is much better and I don't know really what to think about Blood Meridian. Its simultaneously beautifully written and impossible to read, and a lot of the choices in style of writing border on self indulgent even for McCarthy.

Been thinking about getting into All The Pretty Horses but I think I might have hangover for his works.

No. 306330

File: 1688371888305.jpg (53.81 KB, 305x500, 9780345339706-us.jpg)

>>306204
that's gonna depend on two things- your taste and your price range. everyone has slightly different taste when it comes to book covers, sometimes people say certain covers are gorgeous and I think they're ugly and vise/versa. also "affordable" can mean vastly different things depending on your salary and what part of the world you live in.

I'd suggest looking up different editions, then keeping an eye out for them at used bookstores if you have any near you, or ordering them off abebooks (abebooks is usually pretty good about sending you the cover that was in the picture.. can't say the same for ebay or other websites)

barnes and noble has some decent looking paperbacks for cheap (picrel) but I think they're those stiff paperbacks which most people hate. the vintage covers are also really nice imo and probably cheap, but they might not hold up very well. I have the grey thornberry cover editions I think are really nice but also simplistic. barnes and noble also had a gray bindup for about $35 USD, it had a soft leather cover. I'm sure you could find it elsewhere for cheaper though, used.

but yeah, LOTR basically has infinite editions so finding something you like and that doesn't break the bank shouldn't be too hard. just avoid the hideous amazon covers or ones with actors on them

No. 306375

>>305285
I never read the book cause I always found the plot to be kinda offensive and exploitative, like what if Iran style revolution happened in the west(even though the Material conditions for such a revolution are nearly impossible)

No. 306441

>>306330
nta but I bought that edition in your pic recently, it was a boxed set of the hobbit + the trilogy and it was just 20 bucks from Target. Small books with large enough text and imo the covers are nice and understated, but some of the pages have already started falling out. I didn't mind gluing them back in but it's something worth knowing if you're going to buy them.

No. 306470

>>306375
How is any of that ‘offensive’? It’s a what-if dystopian novel not a 1-to-1 depiction of the political situation in America.

No. 306479

>>306330
thanks for giving me pointers, i've seen so many awesome covers so far

No. 306749

File: 1688571439759.jpeg (127.36 KB, 576x852, 0C9D88D4-458F-4C10-ADF8-887E26…)

Can I get any recommendations similar to 1Q84 by Murakami? Aside from the sexualization of female characters, it’s my favorite book because of the setting and plot of supernatural events tied to a mysterious cult. It’s not categorized as a thriller or mystery but for me it was somewhat suspenseful and I was engaged throughout the entire book.

I tried to get recs on other sites but they just recommend whatever Japanese books are popular and not much within the magical realism genre which is what I liked about this book.

No. 306767

>>306749
might be more surreal and magical-realism but look up Coin Locker Babies (Ryu Murakami) and The Hearing Trumpet (Leonora Carrington). Some people call Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy magical realism but there's some debate and the author himself is on record poo-pooing magical realism so he probably didn't do it on purpose.

No. 306771

>>305520
ayrt, a standalone or series is fine! I'm more of a fan of high fantasy, but I'll read stuff that has sci-fi elements as long as it's not Star Trek tier, kek.
I've unfortunately read all of Mccaffrey and some of Hobb, and both were very… eh. Other ones I've read and not really liked that much were Jemisin, Muir, Pratchett, Gaiman, and Sanderson. I've liked Tolkien, Le Guin, Pullman, Dianne Wynn Jones and Beagle all well enough. I'll look into the authors nonnies have recommended.

No. 306774

File: 1688580067230.jpeg (2.7 MB, 2183x1179, IMG_0161.jpeg)

>>306771
Nta but try the Broken Earth Trilogy by N K Jemisin it’s really good

No. 306775

Oh wait you said you didn’t like Jemisin. Shoot. Sorry.

No. 306783

>>306767
Kind of tangential but I don’t think Blood Meridian really is magical realism, I think it’s supposed to read more biblical. They feel different to me in their tone and intent, but maybe to some people they’re the same. I love Blood Meridian though, highly recommend.

>>306749
I really love Olga Tokarczuk’s House of Day, House of Night. It’s got a lot of magical realism although I don’t think its very similar to Murakami’s work, admittedly. Other Japanese authors (Kobo Abe, maybe?) are probably your best bet if you’re looking for something similar to Murakami’s style. I liked Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being too, that one gets pretty absurd by the end

No. 306804

Any nonnas who read in other languages? If so, why/why not? English being your first language or not.

For some reason ever since I learned English I only like to read in English (except for books which are originally in other languages I speak). The only time I'll read a translated book in another language is when there's no English translation. Not sure how it came to this, it's like the English language is a virus.

No. 306811

>>306804
I'll try to read it in its native language. If I don't speak it, either in my language or English, depends on which one's cheaper or has the prettier cover.

No. 306830

File: 1688606161979.jpg (168.21 KB, 720x1080, ELiTfn0WsAEj354.jpg)

>>306804
i'm french and i read in french and english indifferently.
whenever possible i prefer reading books in their original language over a translation, especially where fiction is concerned. that's because when i started learning english i started with books i'd previously read in french, and the translation issues jumped out pretty quickly.
i read a lot of nonfiction where translation issues are less glaring. history books rarely get translated and the languge they come in depends on the topic. most of my nonfiction books are in french because they pertain to french history, but i own a lot of english-language naval/military history books. i travel to london regularly just to shop for military history books because the bongs put out way more of these. otoh i'll generally prefer french historians when it comes to french history books, especially wrt the french revolution, because anglos tend have shit-tier takes on it.

so i'd say for literature it's mostly a quetion of orginal over translation, whereas with nonfiction you don't really get much of a choice.

No. 306850

>>306767
>>306783
Thanks sm for the recs anons, I'll check them out!

No. 306851

Does anyone have recommendations for entertaining nonfictions, told like a story? On the history of a niche topic or location, cool folklore, funky practices people used to have, that kinda stuff. Pls nothing on super dark or heavy topics, I want to read it and think "wow, humanity is so diverse and I'm happy I exist to learn about it"

No. 306859

>>306775
It's okay nonny! fwiw I keep trying to read the books and give them a chance. Are the other two in the series better/more interesting than the first? I've gotten about halfway through the Fifth Season, but I can power through the rest of it if it gets more intriguing.

No. 306860

>>306804
I always prefer to read in my mother tongue, if there is a translation available. Sometimes I read in other languages for practice, for example in Russian I started reading a couple years ago, and at first it was really slow and difficult, but now I'm happy to notice how much my language skills have improved. Honestly I avoid reading fiction in English because I already have to read professional literature in English and I don't want it to infiltrate all my thouhts and replace my mother tongue, which I consider to be the main language of my literary understanding. Reading in my own language just feels better, and I lowkey judge people who brag about reading books in English sorry when there's a translation (many such people in my country, and often their English skills are way worse than they think and they end up not understanding half of what they read).

No. 306887

>>306859
If you didn't like the first part I don't think the rest will be more interesting to you. My positive opinion of it might be affected by the audiobook narrator, she was good (audio is free on Libby library app if you want to hear it but it's probably just not for you).
>>306850
you're welcome! they're very different books, just a forewarning, so if you read one don't think it'll be like the other.

No. 307005

>>306804
I rarely read in my native language because e-books in English are much easier to get.

No. 307276

>>299268
I read The Push in a day and cried all day for the poor narrator. Fuck. That book was so fucking depressing, knowing how her life by the end of it turned out, losing the only sweet baby that loved her back, then spending her post-divorce life miserably alone, compared to her shitty ex-husband who had doted on their murderous psychopath child and got his secretary pregnant while he was married to the main character. Every time she would describe her baby Sam I would just start bawling which in turn made me realize that I could never handle losing a child if I’m crying my eyes out for some fictitious character kek.
I also binged and finished Stone Cold Fox in a day as well! I’ve got to say that I love everyone’s recommendations in here. I get through books so much quicker now that I’m reading good stuff that actually hooks me and not the “classics” by male authors. Side note but is there a thread for cringe stuff by male authors? I really want to rant about a book that I read that was terrible but is considered “legendary”.
I’ll have to read the other books recommended and keep checking this thread for others.

No. 307283

so anyone have any recommendations for books that are the same vibe as VC Andrews? not the shitty male ghostwriter books but like the original books she actually wrote (flowers in the attic being the most popular obviously). i find myself re-reading these few books because i struggle to find any that are very similar, and i love the stepback covers lol.

No. 307289

>>307276
Try the overrated fiction thread: >>>/m/15093

No. 307351

File: 1688823810642.jpg (11.6 KB, 189x267, tothelighthouse.jpg)

less than 1/3 through to the lighthouse, even though it's so tiny, because the pickme and her whiny moid are so fucking annoying.
thematically it's alright, the prose doesn't sweep me off my feet but after attempting to read some of the recs in this thread i can appreciate that woolf can actually write.
does it get better? should i even try reading any of her other novels after this or is she just not for me?

No. 307430

>>307289
Thank you anon!

No. 308170

File: 1689181779406.jpg (82.93 KB, 429x648, 60470072.jpg)

finished picrel today. it's very short (7 chapters) and about a japanese high school girl who's obsessed with a male singer from a boyband. i thought it was gonna be another one of those unhinged woman novels, but it's quite tame. it feels more like a character study of a depressed teenage girl with adhd/autism who flees into her fandom to avoid real life.

No. 308223

>>295889
>CIA shill, planted to lessen socialist/pro-USSR influence in the feminist movement
Late but can anyone recommend writings about this particular subject?

No. 308225

File: 1689206551829.jpg (157.47 KB, 894x734, constellations.jpg)

does anyone know any good books on unicorns?

No. 308346

File: 1689279165186.jpg (18.74 KB, 261x400, 9780099528128.jpg)

Fantastic book, gives much more insight to the characters than the film does and you can really tell that Mario Puzo did a lot of research into the mafia. Didn't need to know about Sonny Corleone's huge cock and Lucy Mancini's "big box" though. The fact that Puzo dedicated a whole chapter to Lucy getting surgery for her "problem" makes me want to a-log and really soured me on the book. It was so close to being a 9/10 before that. Still great overall, but man, Mario Puzo has issues.

No. 308373

File: 1689306235444.jpg (168.5 KB, 794x794, unicorn.jpg)

>>308225 Have you read The Last Unicorn, or The Unicorn Sonata (both by the same author)?

No. 308406

File: 1689320868206.jpg (18.74 KB, 324x499, 133445.jpg)

Can a nonny help me understand certain aspects of this book?

>Duncan eating the cake but not Peter


>Marian becoming very passive and puts up no fight to Peter's traditional beliefs of woman


>Len living with Clara and Joe and playing with toddler toys


>Duncan's roommates why do they take a parental role over him and why did Fish marry Ainsley?


Nonetheless I did enjoy it but was having a hard time getting it at some points.

No. 308553

File: 1689397203156.gif (39.24 KB, 120x120, 1660026758890277.gif)

someone recommend me an organized crime/mafia novel please. i'm scared to hop into the genre tags myself because i am so allergic to terribly written women at this point. no amount of good plot could save a novel with ONLY damsels in distress and femme fatales

No. 308555

>>308553
forgot to add: and i don't want to get halfway through it and find her there/otherwise have to grit my teeth at one existing

No. 308556

Trying to get back into reading to improve my writing here and am looking for recs for each of these:
> Something almost purple prose-y but good, high or dark fantasy
> In contrast, something with punchy and modern language, set in the modern day
> Something in the thriller/crime/horror genres, I need some action
> One nonfiction book about a skill or hobby you think any random fellow anon should know (just not about sex/gender, please)
> One low brow, junk-food easy read versus one challenging read
This list might actually be broad in scope but that's intentional, the book doesn't have to be the critical best in its category to feel free to shotgun your faves at me.

No. 308578

>>308556
I read Near the Bone by Christina Henry a few months ago and enjoyed it. It's 336 pages, so not especially long, and falls under the horror/thriller genre.

No. 309138

>>268365
same anon with an update—the e-reader surprisingly worked. You just have to find books that aren’t dreadful and that you actually want to finish! I tell other people now that the kobo helped me become a reader.

No. 309298

File: 1689782144822.png (817.52 KB, 750x1200, image_2023-07-19_195640625.png)

>>301440
i love your analysis nonnie I myself recently re read it because when i first read it i was 15 and my god there is so much that i missed the prose is insanely well written

No. 309306

>>308556
>One nonfiction book about a skill or hobby you think any random fellow anon should know (just not about sex/gender, please)
Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House (it's a big book, just pick the section you're interested in if you don't want to read it all.)

No. 309412

(re)reading dune rn, and i think grandpa herbert was into femdom. he sure has some old timey prejudices, plus the book is heavily influenced by orientalism and all the crap it entails, but the theme still shows.

No. 309501

>>308556
>Purple prose-y but good, high or dark fantasy
Lays of Beleriand, my favorite Tolkien book and I never see it mentioned anywhere. It's written kind of like a poetic epic, it's fairly short since it's full of author's notes that I don't read.
>One low brow, junk-food easy read versus one challenging read
Junk-food: Animorphs: The invasion
Challenging: Blood Meridian, unless you meant a book with hard prose to read (then I rec something awful like 3 Musketeers or Les Mis)

No. 309522

>>309412
Nonna, Frank Herbert included a race of intergalactic space dominatrices in one of his later novels, They were descended from an all-female genetically engineered space soldier army introduced in the fourth book. Furthermore, multiple male characters are sexually assaulted by women, that said the reverse happens just as much, so I think its fair to say that he had a strange fascination with domination and submission.

No. 309587

>>273408
Late but I recently read this and I loved it. Compared to The Infinite Jest it's less plot-heavy and more serious in a way, but also still really funny. Wallace's prose has some magical quality to it that makes it entertaining and endlessly fascinating to me. Though it does show that it's an incomplete work, and that there coul've been more, which makes it also painful to read as a fan of Wallace's writing.

I also happened to read this right after another author whose work I admire just roped himself which made it a bit depressing. Good writers should be put on suicide watch 24/7 reeeee

No. 309782

>>306749
Late reply. I haven't read 1Q84 but have read several of Murakami's other books. I remember liking The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle a lot. You might enjoy works by Roberto Bolaño. They're not entirely similar, but satisfies me in the same way. I think it's the feeling of reading a mystery/puzzle where everything doesn't quite add up. The kind of book where you can read a page and need to take 10 min before you re-read it and try to connect the dots to something vaguely similar that happened 200 pages ago. Or kind of the same feeling as a David Lynch/surrealist movie. His books have a lot of dry humor and he's constantly self-refferential. Also enjoyed House of Leaves. Some think it's overrated but I'm proudly pretentious so it suits me perfectly kek. Am a big fan of magical realism/post modernist works in general, would also appreciate more book recs!

>>309587
Been meaning to read Inifinite Jest

No. 310007

Please recommend me non-ficiton books you've enjoyed, about anything and everything

No. 310012

>>309782
If you've enjoyed postmodern books in general, you should absolutely check out Infinite Jest. Definitely not an easy read but absolutely worth it. It's got a super engaging plot, too, which is rarer for a "difficult" book. I went in knowing nothing about it, and after finishing the 1000 plus pages, the first thought I had was that I needed to read it again, which is so fucking ironic considering the plot.

>House of Leaves

I've been meaning to read House of Leaves because people keep mentioning it but I'm not sure whether I'll be able to read it in English in case there's no translation to my language.
>Roberto Bolaño
I read 2666 by him a few years ago and hated it kek. Especially the weirdo boy and his romance with the girl (but that was partly because her name sounded annoying to me for some reason). Also the thing with the murdered women felt a bit… voyeuristic I guess. Maybe the intention was to show how incompetent the police was in handling the situation but in the end it just felt like we were feasting on the bodies of women who'd been raped and murdered. Maybe I should give him a second chance and read something else by him.

No. 310018

>>310007
A few things I read recently.

>The Future Eaters

An ecological history of Australia (mostly), New Zealand, New Caledonia, and New Guinea divided into three parts: 1. Before human arrival 2. After Aboriginal arrival and 3. After European arrival. Fascinating book that teaches you about ecology, biology, history, climatology, and a Hell of a lot of geography, as well as a bit of anthropology.

>Keep the River on Your Right

Memoir of a introspective gay Jew from New York who goes and lives in the Peruvian jungle, first at a small missionary outpost and then with an indigenous tribe that was basically uncontacted and didn't even have things like machetes or canoes. He lives with them for months and years and almost completely assimilates, even trying out cannibalism.

>The Once and Future Goddess

A feminist study of the female divine principle across many cultures and time periods. Pretty dubious claims in there and it's heavily biased, but very interesting and has a huge amount of pictures of various art, sculptures, architecture, etc. The final third is "The Goddess is modern times," which focuses on modern feminist artists, but sadly most of them featured aren't very good. Also in that part focuses on the re-emergence of things like Wicca.

No. 310087

I saw people recommending Mircea Eliade when the Golden Bough was brought up. I am making my way through the Golden Bough. Do you guys have any other reccs?

No. 310116

>>310012
Thanks for the reply anon. I actually saw someone mentioning 2666 in one of the previous book threads, which inspired me to read it in the first place. Maybe it was you! I guess the femicide part is inspired by real events, but it definitely threads the line of voyeurist territory. I saw a lot of reviewers having this problem with it. I guess no matter which way you look at it it’s meant to be ~provoking~. Considering OP mentioned Murakami though, I gambled on recommending Bolaño because Murakami is already quite scroteish. The other books I’ve read by him so far are in a similar vein, so if you hated 2666 he just might not be for you. I’ll make sure to read Infinite Jest as soon as I can get my hands on it!

No. 310215

File: 1690134951584.jpeg (178.56 KB, 1200x1760, IMG_4884.jpeg)

after an anon recommended this book i've been looking for this book in epub form absolutely everywhere and the only versions i can find are in spanish. i don't want a pdf because they're such a pain to read on mobile i'd rather not. i'm so frustrated !!!! ugh. goes without saying that i don't want to pay for it or i would have just done that already

No. 310221

>>310215

Lol, this is a woman's head on a man's body.

No. 310222

File: 1690135269231.jpg (55.41 KB, 346x500, Halberstam_crop.jpg)

>>310215
>In this quintessential work of queer theory, Jack Halberstam takes aim at the protected status of male masculinity and shows that female masculinity has offere.
>Jack Halberstam (/ˈhælbərstæm/; born December 15, 1961), previously known as Judith Halberstam, is an American academic and author
>Halberstam's writings focus on the topic of tomboys and female masculinity in the 1998 book, Female Masculinity, which discusses a common by-product of gender binarism
in a just world someone like this would have been sent to a labor camp.
This is the most pretentious thing I have ever read.

No. 310663

Does anyone here know of a desktop (windows) reader app for ebooks and pdfs that will let me bookmark/pin pages?

No. 310667

>>310663
calibre lets you set bookmarks

No. 310876

>>306771
Have you tried Michael Sullivan? The Age of Myth series has a mostly female cast and no significant scrotery. Only negative is that some of the writing is a bit too modern for my taste and there's some world building that didn't make sense. But it's very enjoyable regardless. I read the first book (600+ pages) in one sitting.

You've probably tried Wheel of Time if you've read Sanderson but if you haven't I'd soft-recommend it too. It's kind of weird about gender at times (not sexist sexist, just weird), but it's got some enjoyable female protagonists, an interesting setting, and one of the only positive portrayals of matriarchy I've seen in fiction.

No. 310881

>>310667
I'll be honest, I don't like Calibre. I have used it for years to load books onto my ereader and it works fine for that but hate it for reading. I just find it cluttered and user-unfriendly and I don't feel like reading a guide just to figure out how to do stuff in an app.

I also tried Freda which is better and does support bookmarks but a bit clunky in use.

No. 311360

File: 1690584842999.jpg (95.21 KB, 662x1000, 81uDzxwltPL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL…)

This book was kinda meh. I didn't have any expectations and still I feel let down somehow.

The synopsis to this book was really vague and all you really get from it was that it's a murder mystery, and it was, but mostly it was just social commentary. Like some pseudo feminism with critique of twitter mobs (at one point in the book the main character gets "cancelled" on twitter and has to quit her job as a cohost on a podcast). She's cohost on a podcast called "starlet fever" about starlets from the golden age of Hollywood. At one point she says that when movies were brand new over half of screenwriters were women, but when they realized how much profit potential there was men came a long and have been the majority of screenwriters since then and still are. Really want to know if that's true or not. The plot is basically that the main character, now in her 40's, goes back to her old highschool to teach 2 classes. Her roommate was murdered back in 1995 and the PE teacher, a black man, was imprisoned for it. Though there's a considerable amount of evidence against him, but still things that don't make sense, and a lot of people think he's innocent. IDK how much else to say without it being a spoiler but you can probably guess where the plot went from there.

There were WAY too many characters in this book imo. It got seriously hard to keep track. I'd finally think I knew who everyone was and then it would mention someone like we were supposed to know who they were and I'd be like.. who? I guess it was because it was at a school and therefor a lot of students (though the book does this with non students too) they're mostly minor characters but not minor enough that you can completely forget who they are because most of them come back and play a role in the plot later. In fact one of them plays a huge role in the plot near the end and when it mentioned her her name didn't even ring a bell. If you read this book I suggest taking notes and writing down a character every time it mentions one. Also this book just felt longer than it needed to be.

There was also a strange narrative choice and I'm not exactly sure what purpose it served. She's talking directly to someone addressing them as "you", hence the name of the book. We don't know right away who it is though it does tell us.

And not related at all but the main character also dates an Israeli man and it keeps describing him as a sex god and the most beautiful man she's ever seen. Idk if this is racist but it was kind of hard for me to imagine an Israeli man being like that. Hearing the audiobook narrator trying to do his accent was really funny though, she sounded like she wasn't sure what to do and just made it Russian-ish sounding.

No. 311555

>>311360
i hated how the book(/author) seemed to want you to take the fact that the mc was bullied at school really seriously like it was the worst thing that could ever happen to a person and on a par with being groomed like her friend was, but the fact that her ex-husband was accused of manipulation by his younger girlfriend was just ignored and dismissed and it felt like you were meant to see the girlfriend as a figure of ridicule. it would have been alright if it was making a point about the mc (who is insufferable) but nothing happens with it in the end so it doesn't feel like that.

No. 311672

File: 1690713266194.jpeg (41.63 KB, 245x295, erica-jong-jonathan-fast-molly…)

>>311360
Reminds me of Parachutes & Kisses where the main love interest was based on the author's then-husband and was also described as a Jewish sex god and picrel is what he looked like.

No. 313228

File: 1691363199963.jpeg (119.87 KB, 620x368, IMG_2296.jpeg)

Nonas for the first time since I was 12 I’m gonna buy a non-fantasy book. I just got a $25 gift card at a really good local bookstore that have all the books (with pretty fancy covers) one can imagine. They literally have anything.

So my question is, what book do I get?
I want to read something that makes me a bit more educated. I would love to actually read some Russian literature that my sister claims is groundbreaking, or some famous philosopher’s book. Or maybe ancient greek mythologies? Modernist classics? Gothic classics? I’ve heard books like the Art of War being considered a must read, but the title itself feels a bit moid-y.

I understand that a lot of old literature will be patriarchal and misogynistic, but what I want to avoid is to read something that current modern moids rave about as revolutionary when it clearly isn’t.

No. 313236

>>313228
To me, the wasteland is a must have but you have a lot of other great stuff on your list

No. 313255

>>313228
I enjoy Russian lit! I recommend stories by Dostoevsky and Gogol. Try An Honest Thief, The Overcoat, or Notes from A Dead House.
Art of War is fun to read if you like history/politics, but it's not a story or anything, more like a collection of strategems. Give the first few pages a try in a bookstore and if you find them boring, you'll know how the rest of the book goes at least. If you want to read an epic like the Odyssey, I like recommending Journey to the West for a first-time read, it's a fun story with memorable characters.
If you want a rec from the image you posted, I really liked The Wasteland, but it's poetry if that's not your thing.

No. 313297

>>313236
Oh thank you anon I just found the pic on Google kek. But I’ll check out the wasteland! I do like poetry.
>>313255
Yes Dostoevsky is the one my sister always mentions! I’ll check out one of the titles you mentioned! Journey to the West sounds neat too, but definitely will skip Art of War kek, thanks for the info!

No. 313750

File: 1691605412549.jpg (58.14 KB, 661x1000, 81YIvh0retL._AC_UF894,1000_QL8…)

i finished blue ticket today. it's about a woman who lives in a society in which girls draw a random ticket when they get their first period. white ticket means that they are supposed to get married and have children, blue tickets means that they may never have children. they keep the ticket in a locket around their neck and live in cities where all they do is work, party and spend time doing whatever hobbies they have. the protagonist is a woman with a blue ticket who really wants a child and does everything in her power to both conceive and keep her child. even though i can't relate to the desire to have a child, it was a very interesting read. i really enjoyed the very short chapters because the story didn't feel very drawn out, even though we follow the protagonist for an entire year or more. the clinical prose really helped set the mood. apparently the setting is modern day england but there are barely an indicators for that except for the language the author uses (knickers for underwear, for example). there's also no info about how the lottery came to be and why it only exists in this country.

No. 313762

File: 1691612862118.jpg (29.37 KB, 612x408, istockphoto-1144173711-612x612…)

Any nonna can recommend me their favorite books/authors/poets with a beautiful writing style?
Or maybe something in crime/detective setting.
Silly question, i know. My problem is that the only books I was reading in English were always psychological or science ones (outside something goofy like doctor who, admittedly…), and after playing Disco Elysium i realised that I want to try some english lit, because I loved this games writing a lot.
My native language is russian and I know how much people praise russian lit, but i want to get better at writing in English too…
Any help would be appreciated, because all i do is read ao3 fics w my husbandos, and that doesnt really count as "book reading"…

No. 313763

>>313762
Sir arthur conan doyle is a must for mystery (sherlock holmes). I really like the Brönte sisters' writing, so Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.

No. 313788

>>313762
beautiful prose usually consists of very mundane sentences like "he looked at her" or "she sat down on the chair." it's what makes the actual beautiful sentences or passages stand out. that aside, i'd say you should just read crime fiction in english without focusing on primarily pretty prose. if you enjoy yourself while reading, improving your writing will follow. i second anon's recs here >>313763 esp. wuthering heights and jane eyre. maybe check out jkr's cormoran strike series?

No. 313818

>>307351

You might like her essays more (Death of a Moth, Common Reader etc.) I didn't like The Lighthouse very much, but The Waves changed my life and is probably the epitome of Woolf's style. <3

No. 313819

File: 1691642033070.png (125.88 KB, 1400x2154, Oliver, Mary - The Storm, The …)

>>313762
Nonushka, if you want prose that is fairly approachable to English learners, I highly suggest the poetess Mary Oliver. She is my favorite English-language poet. I've attached two of her poems on one page to see if you like her. She has been a dear inspiration to me. I read her poems often when I am feeling down and the way she writes about nature gives me strength. She had a marvelous life and lived in New England with her partner, a photographer. While some poems may be a little harder to grasp (even for native speakers), I think if anything, it's really easy to enjoy her flow of words and the images from her tender descriptions. The poems about her dog are especially poignant if you've ever owned a pet.

No. 313820

>>313819
I couldn't resist. Another one! This is the first poem I read of hers. I think it's brilliant… but I could say that about all of her work!
If any-nonny wants to get into poetry but don't know how, so to say, please check out her Poetry Handbook. She broke down how to enjoy poetry well, and while I can't say my tastes are now incredibly refined, I feel better discerning good prose than I did before.

No. 313821

File: 1691642350793.jpg (36.11 KB, 503x720, Oliver, Mary - The Swan.jpg)

>>313820
Dropped pic

No. 313838

>>313788
Yeah, beautiful prose is often more about the pacing and rhythm of the sentences and the way it can create an impression together with the subject. Based on what I've seen in online writing communities, many people seem to think there's one "good" style and the rest is either clumsy beginner stuff or purple prose. It's probably the result of people reading less in general, and also reading less diverse books. Imo many different styles can work depending on content and context.

No. 313907

has any anon here read hangsaman/ is interested in discussion. i just finished it and i have so many questions and ideas but dont want to go to reddit to talk about it kek. if you havent consider this a shining recommendation. i didnt like it overall as much as we have always lived in the castle but the whole third act is outstanding and baffling imo

No. 314294

File: 1691849629368.png (172.34 KB, 600x765, 16r-f-kuang-cover-articleLarge…)

has anyone read yellowface? i just finished it and i'm not sure how to feel about it. while i agree that what june did was wrong, i also found most if not all asian characters in the book unbearable. also reading up on the author and realizing that she's basically self-inserting as the dead author whose work got plagiarized is just cringe. i haven't formed a final opinion yet, however.

No. 314365

>>314294
I only remember this book being featured in a Twitter thread by an asian radfem who noticed a trend of every prominent book by asian authors being only about middle/upper-middle class asians suffering from slight racism.

No. 314370

>>314365
yeah, a lot of reviews i read about yellowface talk about how race and class intersect especially with asian authors who are hailed as "powerful own voices writers". apparently so many privileged asian authors talk about their experiences in their works but these experiences don't resonate with asians from less privileged backgrounds at all. like r.f. kuang herself went to a school that costs 30k a year and then attended schools like oxford, cambridge and yale. she also took a gap year at 19 so she could publish her debut novel at age 22. in the novel itself, the protagonist rambles about how her friend is asian, rich, privileged and successful, but instead of actually talking about how much easier it is to get published when you come from a privileged background, it's passed off as the protag being jealous and racist. to me it comes off as kuang being terminally online and reading all the criticism about her background and thinking that people must be jealous of her instead of… you know, them being upset with a system that is rigged in favor of rich people.

No. 314372

>>314294
I read this and felt mixed for pretty much the same reason. I thought the book was entertaining, but overall the self-inserting was super cringe. I had a hard time reconciling her commentary with the fact that she was using the book to poke fun at criticism against herself
>>314365
Funnily enough, Kuang has spoken up against tokenism and pigeonholing Asian authors into writing only about their marginalized experiences… even though all of her books are about racism and trauma.

No. 314392

File: 1691883879339.png (Spoiler Image,44.08 KB, 905x238, Screenshot_49.png)

can anyone recommend really homoerotic/dead-dove-ish novels like
>the winter prince
>the god in flight
? i want more fujo stuff to dig into
this is from the god in flight. spoilered because it's nsfw kek

No. 314402

>>314392
I made a list of homoero classics in the fujo thread! >>304745
Not sure if you’re looking for just contemporary stuff, it’s hard to find books that hit the sweet spot of being just gay enough without getting too YA, kek

No. 314405

>>314402
queen ty

No. 314418

nonnas give me recs of books that you found funny in how weird and odd they are. for reference i found atlas shrugged funny because rand makes such strange choices. they don't have to necessarily be good or well written.

No. 314427

>>314392
Future TIF comment(bait)

No. 314428

File: 1691917739321.jpg (24.69 KB, 400x225, Vaas.jpg)

>>314427
Nta but how many times are you going to get banned for the same autistic post? With moids spamming fujochan with child porn recently and lc's main child porn spammer also having autistic obsession with fujos and accusing everyone of being a tranny, tif-kun's timing is a bit suspect

No. 314436

>>314418
I had to read the weirdest shit in a seminar lead by a published author (whose books are all incredibly boring and bad) but I remember the demon and lightning rods to be the weirdest ones.

No. 314441

>>311555
late as fuck reply, but

>the fact that her ex-husband was accused of manipulation by his younger girlfriend was just ignored and dismissed and it felt like you were meant to see the girlfriend as a figure of ridicule


I mean, yeah. I think the author may have been trying to make a point with that but I'm not really sure what. She (well, the mc, who really felt like a self insert for the author to me but Idk) kept saying how no one cared how that Dorian guy sexually harassed her all the way through high school, or about other worse things but they were willing to join the twitter lynch mob to cancel her ex husband for basically just being a shitty boyfriend and she wished all that rage could have been directed at worse predators like Dorian and professor Bloch. I think she was trying to demonstrate how people get wrapped up in drama that isn't very important and ignore the more pressing things, which I'd agree with to a certain extent, but she never addresses the fact that those things happened 20 years apart and cultural attitudes about things like that have changed, which would influence when/why people get mad at things, also there was no Twitter in 1995 so if that was her point she should have used a better comparison imo. Also the Jasmine chick was meant to be kind of cringe I guess, how she was like "how dare you, Body, a white woman with privilege, talk over my experience as a woman of color" despite the fact that she had blonde hair and blue eyes and probably was just as white/whiter than Body, but was "poc" because she was 1/8 Bolivian or something. Maybe the author was trying to demonstrate how social justice causes get hijacked by attention whores with victim mentalities? Idk. But I still don't really feel bad for the ex husband. Also agree with you on the mc being totally insufferable, this whole book just felt like the author monologuing her opinions and commentary as Body.

Speaking of which I'm also not really sure what her stance on true crime was supposed to be. At first it seemed like the book was trying to be critical of true crime and how all these people on the internet were speculating about who killed Thalia, and the prevailing theory was that Robbie did it. She was complaining about how all these people who weren't there and didn't know anything would insert themselves into this situation. For most of the book she'd be like "but there's no way Robbie did it! They didn't know him at all!" then near the end it turns out he actually did. Like wow, the people who weren't there somehow figured it out sooner than you did. And also the final plot twist was just stupid. It couldn't have been Robbie! There's proof it wasn't him! Timestamped pictures.. but oh wait, he had a bike?!?!?

Yeah, this book was stupid. I might forgive it if it was shorter but it was way too long.

>>311672
Omg kek

No. 314442

>>314428
Nta but trying to pretend this is all the same person including across sites is retarded kek. Not to mention we do have the one tranny scrote in the fujo thread who always tries to spam shota and rees about terfs hating trannies and went to meta to complain that we should welcome mtfs and not hate troons so much kek.

No. 314463

File: 1691933896642.jpg (126.5 KB, 290x344, 68b00fa8b903f28def8dd5cf2039a6…)

>>314427
i hate tifs and love objectifying moids. kill yourself
>>314392
thanks!

No. 314502

>>314442
Never implied it was one person, but wouldn't be surprised whatsoever if he was one of the guys raiding

No. 314588

File: 1691974670909.jpeg (288.31 KB, 750x581, D72668BA-6BFE-4B81-9EFB-9C1997…)

I noticed this too, and I can’t tell if this is a good or a bad thing.
But hey, at least women spaces are left untouched

No. 314720

>>314588
I remember reading an article a few years ago that men read mostly read non-fiction or classics, while women are much more likely to read new novels. I'm willing to bet that this trend has only continued and not much has changed.

No. 314744

>>314588
It happens within those spaces too, by other women. I've seen so many women essentially brag about how much better they are for not reading generic smutty fantasy books or shit like whatever Coleen Hoover writes. The reason it annoys me is because nobody is claiming those books are peak literature. Let those women enjoy it. It's 50 shades of all over again. Not to mention it's really not that hard to curate your feed on booktok or wherever to be users recommending the types of books you like.
I mean fucking Murakami writes the most degenerate sex scenes in his books but apparently that just makes it more deep, or it's something you need to get over because it's peak literature.

No. 314835

>>314720
I think it’s partly that but also majorly that most scrotes only hobbies these days are porn and vidya sometimes with a side of some tech thing or a random sport

No. 314881

>>314744
Even when normalfag women talk about weeaboo scrote lit, they only mention such degeneracy as like a silly side note that’s easy to ignore, teehee I totally still enjoy some incel japanese man’s work though even though I don’t speak Japanese so I have no concept of how good or bad his prose actually is.

No. 314916

>>314744
People label anything that's Japanese as deep now. It's mainstream pretentious bs

No. 315067

>>314436
By Lightning Rods do you mean the book by Helen Dewitt?

No. 315252

>>315067
exactly that one. it was extremely difficult to keep a straight face while discussing the novel when i just wanted to laughcry over how stupid it was.

No. 315280

File: 1692196241817.png (1.98 MB, 1068x1396, fanfic.png)

>>314744
meh, call me an elitist but in my experience the book market has become dominated by increasingly shitty prose that's basically the fast food of literature, and you're not allowed to acknowledge it's shit without being accused of gatekeeping or ableism. I don't care if people enjoy shitty romance lit, I actually support it because I'm for women enjoying things, but I don't want to pretend it's good prose. The rise of the popularity of YA among adults is also annoying, it's a genre for kids and I refuse to take seriously anyone over the age of 17 who reads mostly YA and claims it's "so deep".

Murakami is pretty insignificant though.

No. 315290

File: 1692199846787.png (105.54 KB, 1154x609, d56e4b275717a7e0ce7143501ab09c…)

>>315280
kek sorry i had to look up your picrel and wow. this is the state of ya today, huh. in my opinion everyone who reads primarily or even exclusive ya sounds like people who only eat fast food because they think broccoli is disgusting.

No. 315292

File: 1692200011297.png (20.84 KB, 1088x120, ecc2083010b0ccc2de5d318d16e592…)

>>315290
sorry for doubleposting but their other book is just as trashy. we need to bring back shaming fag hags.

No. 315296

>>315290
>man bun
Gross. Haven't they been out of fashion for years now?

No. 315299

File: 1692201841453.jpg (88.17 KB, 750x500, j.jpg)

>>315296
well if she's really into jjk/satosugu i'm assuming that manbun dude is modeled after suguru geto (has a manbun) and her tranny self insert is supposed to be satoru gojo.

No. 315303

>>315280
Labeling of books is so confusing. I’ve read some deep or detailed books labeled as middle grade and dismissed for that, and then there’s YA which everyone knows is for like tweens and younger teens but it’s labeled adult? I think actual young adult fiction could potentially be a really great category. But then there’s the question of what are the other books? Why aren’t they labeled for ages and who are they for? I was reading some “high fantasy” in middle grade and honestly some of them read like pretentious YA

No. 315314

>>315303
ayrt, I always find the English labeling of books really weird, since in my country YA is translated literally as "young people's (= teens') books" and placed in the kids section at libraries and book stores, and they're more clearly seen as being geared towards readers under sixteen. Not saying there aren't some books in that category that adults could enjoy as well, but most of them are very simple and frankly childish in their themes and narration.

Most high fantasy and scifi is also in the kids section ime (where most of it belongs kek) with some rare exceptions like the Hitchhiker's Guide, I remember reading it when I was 11 or something, and having to pick it up from the adult section made me feel so mature and grown-up.

No. 315332

>>315290
is this not just a transwashed ouran high school host club… also the names are so bad, noah byrd and asher?? fuck off

No. 315340

File: 1692209818805.jpg (51.26 KB, 667x1000, 61WaH3CeMrL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL…)

>>314392
yay okay i finished this book and i already miss it! somehow it was everything i love (victorian boarding school setting, hilariously witty banter, religious trauma, religious deconstruction, incredibly pretentious literature wank, homo-eroticism, SUPER lush and decadent descriptions – etc.). i wish i could flush my brain and read it over again totally blind…

the author only has one other book and it's a short story collection…that isn't available anywhere online afaik. she doesn't have a wikipedia page either, so i can't snoop on her. i wish i could somehow send her a letter and let her know how much i ADORE this novel kek.

No. 315341

>>310881
>>310663
i'm late but fbreader does this. has a cloud sync feature too.

No. 315414

File: 1692221136109.jpg (181.6 KB, 540x554, Tumblr_l_307464583499689.jpg)

Altered Carbon sucks fucking ass

No. 315427

>>315414
The setting is cool, but the whole resolution of the story was dumb.
Haven't read the rest of the trilogy though.

No. 315444

>>292859
the writing was so cringe at parts. like were we supposed to do anything but severely cringe at every single abby and ralph interaction? they're like the worst couple, no chemistry
but i think that might've been intentional? as the story progresses, you slowly realize that abby is 10x more bpd than her mil. and i enjoyed the way that was handled, i enjoyed being fed clues here and there rather than being told. so ralph is clearly her fp and that explains why she sees their relationship as so amazing when it's just average or probably even worse than average.
it's a really sad book, though it has so many funny moments. there were some weird ideas floating around in there that i never would've thought of on my own and i highly enjoyed the author's weirdness.
all in all a good rec nona, i had fun reading it. just wish the author could write better but the ideas were there. this was also like moshfegh on crack but i did think abby killing that woman at the end went too far. in fact i was kind of confused about the ending altogether lol.

No. 315451

File: 1692228860397.jpg (19 KB, 500x359, 1649542249069.jpg)

how do nonnies feel about this new trend of "good" authors having trigger warnings printed in the front of their books, and readers attacking authors that dont have them or refuse to directly include them?
imo its pure faggotry, tacky, and panders to the lowest common denominator of readers. they should google their content warnings if they dont have the mental fortitude to read potentially triggering content. if I pick up a book with printed trigger warnings, I know its by a fanfic writer with abysmal prose and infantile execution almost every time, so it becomes an instant DNR for me. i am hoping this doesn't become the standard, the last thing we need is more readers feeling entitled to being coddled and spoonfed, treating every author like they're a fucking "problematic" AO3 writer

No. 315454

>>315451
It's kind of embarrassing, like authors spoiling their own book and dumb things that aren't violent crimes people can have issues with are warned for too like fatphobia and troonsphobia and stuff like that kek. I could maybe understand if it was limited to actual crimes like pedophilia and rape but not hurting peoples feelings but if someone is especially sensitive to a topic instead of demanding warnings for every book they should be more aware of what they're reading themselves rather than putting it on the author to spoil their own book. At least it lets you know which authors or publishers are retarded via what they consider warning worthy.

No. 315455

>>315451
kek at the redtext.
its pointless though, what would be the point in having a TW in a printed book if someone's already bought it? does the bookstore entitle them to a refund in that case lmao.
authors are basically just telling on themselves for their own virtual signalling bc if they actually did care about people not reading triggering books, they'd put a warning label on the cover or something.
anyway the only time i can see a warning maybe being useful would be for stuff like aron beauregards works, i.e stuff that is written purely for shock value and to be as disgusting as possible.

No. 315472

>>315340
Have you read The Secret History? It seems right up your alley

No. 315473

>>315451
I didnt even know this was a thing. It just goes to show I havent read any new books in quite a while. Seems like a glowing red flag for who to avoid. That shit sounds so embarrassing.

No. 315490

>>315451
Printing them on the book is absurd considering everyone has access to the internet and it's shitty to subject every reader to a spoiler. Books could maybe ship to retailers with a removable insert that lists the triggers, with a spoiler warning up-front.

No. 315532

>>315340
you could mail the publishing house, i'm sure they'd forward any fan mail
>>315451
i try to read real books by real authors, so i haven't noticed that

No. 315566

>>315472
i have, and i love tsh too.

>>315532
good idea.

No. 315726

>>307283
very delayed response, and this may not be exactly what you're looking for, but if you enjoyed the more "horror" aspect of V.C. Andrews I suggest trying out Ruby Jean Jensen. I find them sort of similar in the sense that Jensen usually focuses on more family horror/"creepy child" horror. While I consider Andrews a gothic writer, Jensen is firmly in horror, so that may not be your thing. She used to write in the 1980s but after she passed her daughter uploaded ebook copies of her work, the covers are atrocious so ignore those if you go through amazon or kindle (but I do suggest looking up Jensen's old book covers, they were really cool, though not stepbacks).
If you're looking for more of a gothic touch, I highly suggest googling gothic horrors/gothic romances then reading some on openlibrary. They clearly won't have the insane plotlines, but it is similar in vibe.
If you do find anything closer resembling Andrews' work do come back and tell me because I've also been dying to have more of her and not shitty Neiderman ghost written books lol

No. 315816

>>294318
i'm the nona that talked about how tampa is like a lolita reversal even though celeste (its main character) is nothing like humbert humbert.
well, you've got your female humbert humbert in y/n. no pedophilia, but they're both aesthetes, both (subconsciously) understand that art is fantasy and fantasy is much more powerful and seductive than reality, both are visceral beings that bring their existences to their only possible logical conclusions. that type of similar.
i really enjoyed it and even though the criticism brought up in this thread about the writing itself rings true to me as well, there are a lot of interesting ideas in there.
i propose we name this genre a lot of us in this thread enjoy that we've been referring to as unhinged female protagonists to something like women vs the void.

No. 315817

>>315451
I have full respect for the fact that some people might want to avoid books with for example sexual violence, but I really hate seeing a list of trigger warnings when I open a book. Especially in horror I think it spoils too much and ruins the experience. What makes horror really work is your own fears and expectations. Once you've read a list that basically spells out how bad it will get and in what way all of those fears are gone.

No. 316026

>>315817
>Once you've read a list that basically spells out how bad it will get and in what way all of those fears are gone.
yeah, i feel this too. i think what would work better is disclaimers about how age appropriate books are, like in movies when it says "this is intended for mature audiences." it really shocks me that my 15 year old cousin is reading those romance books with cutesy colorful comic cover art and then there are explicit and even kinky sex scenes bordering on bdsm in there. like if there's a normal sex scene, alright, but there are sentences like "my vagina is spasming in excitement when he looks at me" or whatever casually thrown in there. the entire book is entrenched in some erotic undercurrent and it really bothers me that the covers mislead my aunt and uncle and they have no idea what kind of softporn erotic literature my cousin is reading.

for example, i read a book the other day where the plot twist was cannibalism. before that i kept wondering, what do they mean, what is the big secret? if i had read "tw cannibalism" upon opening the book, i'd be like "it's cannibalism, come on, they're eating people, just say it already, say that it's cannibalism!!!" the entire time.

so yeah, i'd fully support disclaimers like "this book contains graphic sexual themes/sexual violence/violence in general" but please no "tw cannibalism tw meat tw eyeballs tw scopophobia." in the same vein, i also hate when these booktok retards tropify books, so it's just #enemies to lovers #single parent #coffeeshop #sexual tension or whatever.

No. 316191

>>315451
I get that there are people that are sensitive to certain topics, but if that’s the case then it’s your responsibility to do research into what a piece of media is about, and any potentially upsetting things it may contain, instead of expecting others to do it for you.

No. 316229

File: 1692500626929.jpeg (74.36 KB, 353x543, a-court-of-thorns-and-roses-1.…)

has anyone read this series all the way through? I just finished the first book and really really enjoyed but im worried the plot going to become an after thought and it just becomes a sex book later on

No. 316250

>>316229
I haven't read it, is it better than Throne of Glass?

No. 316251

>>313228
we have always lived in the castle is femkino

No. 316255

>>316229
I can't be of help since I've only read the first book and I'm so irrationally mad that the love interest changes that I will never read any of the others. and the future sex scenes that I've read are just… Ew.

No. 316350

File: 1692555758841.jpg (9.27 KB, 235x217, aaaaaa.jpg)

just finished The Ink Black Heart. it was painfully realistic for anyone who's ever been in an online cartoon fandom. it felt like a fanfic about the lady who makes hazbin hotel

also jk rowling knows about l*licon

No. 316360

>>316350
>spoiler
Excuse me? I don't know what to think about it and I really shouldn't be surprised but I'm starting to assume that she lied when she said she got info about fandoms from her daughter. She must have lurked on a bunch of websites herself. What if she lurks here?

No. 316361

>>316360
She's been caught using 4chan lingo, so……….

No. 316362

>>316350
I was honestly hesitant to read it because, although I liked JK Rowling and knew she fullhand what online backlash is like, I figured she didn't really have insight into modern online culture and fandoms, so I sorta dismissed it, but your description sound intriguing.

No. 316378

>>316360
she said in that recent podcast that she lurked on HP fansites and that's how she saw the TIF trend happen and grew concerned about it. Didn't know she claimed she learned about online stuff from her daughter

No. 316385

Since JK Rowling been brought up, anyone feels like telling me what her writing is like in her other books? I find the style in HP alright for children/YA book, but pretty much just serviceable.

No. 316389

Reading The Once and Future King by T.H. White and it sometimes feels like a collection of extremely well-written /pt/ threads. The guy who wrote it was clearly mentally unwell, but he was the kind of nuts that let him depict deeply fucked up people with stunning clarity. Almost every major character in Arthurian legend gets turned into a lolcow:
>Arthur is fatally ignorant of people close to him betraying him and got unknowingly seduced by his half sister
>Lancelot is a BPD mess with body dysmorphia and a holiness complex who keeps getting raped by deception
>The Orkney children are emotionally stunted and have Oedipus complexes of varying severity
>Morgause is a horrorcow monster
>Guenevere is stuck in an unfulfilling marriage to a man nearly ten years her senior and fucks his best friend to cope
>Mordred is a literal rat bastard
and so on.

No. 316408

>>316361
I see a lot of people on social media use 4chan lingo, it's not that shocking especially when the men harassing her are the type of trannies who post on /r9k/ or other boards and claim they're ashamed of their neo nazi phase.

No. 316418

>>316360
>>316361

i was surprised by how accurate to online fandom it was. it felt like reading threads on lolcow, interspersed with detective fiction. i was honestly cringing at times, because of how REAL it was. there's literally a character who is a she/they spoonie ghostkin and the way they describe her childish body language, her interactions with her family, and her weaponised fragility…the way she writes online vs speaking irl…it's all spot on. like, you've met that person at an anime con before.

>>316385
it's pretty good. the characters (main and side) are usually interesting, and grounded in reality. she spends a lot of time describing the characters thought processes and emotions, so if you like pure action it could get tedious.

i liked ink black heart, but i hope the next book is less "online". i think it'd get annoying if it continued like that, instead of being the gimmic of this one book

No. 316419

>>316418
ntayrt, but this sounds really great. I haven't really seen a proper depiction of terminally online spaces (in the west at least. Idol Burning was about japanese idol fandom and I liked it but i'm not and have never been a japanese teenager so it didnt' 'ring true' to my experiences) and it could be really entertaining. Do I have to read all the previous ones first?

No. 316437

>>316389
actually picked this up a while ago, haven't read it yet. This description is interesting because based off the cover it seems like a totally normal retelling. Does it come across like a bait and switch or satire? How morbid does it get?

No. 316451

>>316229
I'm a little less than halfway through the second book, A Court Of Myst And Fury. In some ways it actually feels better than the first one to me, although let it be known that I didn't really like the first one all that much- the pacing felt a bit off and some of the plot points felt really weak to me, as well as just hating Feyre as a character. I think I get why people love that book though, so if the second one seems better to me then it might feel the opposite to you.

I actually think the world building is alright, and there's other plot besides romance… so far. Idk how long that will keep up. There has also only been about 2 sex scenes so far iirc but there will definitely be more. Feyre is still kind of annoying though because the book starts with her just whining about all she has to do anymore is wear pretty dresses and decorate Tamlin's lavish estate or whatever. I'm like oh please you poor thing. That being said she is traumatized from what happened in the last book and I think she's going to get at least some growth. Then Tamlin basically becomes a huge jerkwad, just so we don't have to feel bad for when Feyre leaves him for Rhysand (sorry if that's a spoiler but im pretty sure everyone knows that at this point, I knew that before i started reading it). It feels just a bit forced to me, almost out of character for him like its obvious what the author is doing but whatever. And like yeah Tamlin is an extremely controlling jerk in this book but are we just going to forget that Rhysand almost let her fucking die in the first one and forced her into a bargain just to save her life??? not sure if this book ever addresses that or not. Also I don't get why so many fans of this series simultaneously say that they hate Tamlin but also love the first book when it's all about Tamlin?? And that's another thing I don't like, like why spend all that time on Tamlin only to throw him by the wayside as a love interest eventually. But then again I don't really like love triangles that much anyway.

I'm gonna keep reading this book because I want to see where the none-romance plot is going. And to be completely honest I do enjoy the smutty scenes (the ones so far, anyway, but I've heard bad things about SJMs smut writing and I'm scared lol). IDK if I will continue on with the series or not yet, probably not. It's better than Throne of Glass though, imo, which I quit less than halfway through because it was so terrible I just couldn't force myself to keep reading it.

No. 316454

>>316437
>Does it come across like a bait and switch or satire?
Despite all that it's actually a heartfelt story with some beautiful writing and a lot of humour. There are elements of satire, but White only really pokes fun at contemporary things or stuff that was patently silly in the original Morte d'Arthur, like the absurdly detailed tournament scoring or the Questing Beast. White genuinely treats the Middle Ages with respect, and some of my favourite passages are his affectionate sperg-outs about armour or birds or stained glass windows.
>How morbid does it get?
The tragedy really sneaks up on you, and each book after the first gets progressively darker. Many characters experience uncomfortably realistic abuse as children, as the author had a fucked up childhood himself, and there are some bleak examinations of moid behaviour and psychology. The entire saga is pretty much Arthur doing his best but ultimately failing to get scrotes to stop scroting. While I wouldn't call it depressing, it is a much heavier read than something like LotR because the characters feel like real, deeply flawed people.

No. 316495

>>316419
yeah unfortunately, you need to have read all the others first. they're fun though!

No. 316496

Finally reading As Meat loves Salt and enjoying it a lot so far. Though I must admit that Ferris' naive farming attempts are lowkey pissing me off. This won't end well and I can relate to Jacob actually for his desire to just go home to the aunt together with Ferris and just live a good life in London and print some pamphlets.

No. 316539

File: 1692640388363.jpg (29.4 KB, 220x365, Battleaxe_(novel).jpg)

Has anyone read any of Sara Douglass' books? I want to talk about them with people but they're decently old by now and it seems like no one's ever read them.

I like them but there's good and bad parts. She doesn't shy away at all from gore and horrific scenarios and she likes to go for generic plots then flips them on their heads, but on the flipside she definitely has this weird fascination with incest. I didn't mind it so much in Battleaxe/Wayfarer Redemption because it's cross-species cultural stuff and ends up being a due to a curse in-universe but it's in everything she writes no matter how flimsy the justification and it's uncomfortable as a pattern.

Reposting for some more elaboration on the good vs the bad:

Good:
>lots of female characters as people. some good, some bpd nightmares, most deeply flawed and traumatized but trying their best in a fucked up world
>women are allowed to be violent badasses
>loads of character development
>exploration of women's sexuality in a positive way that doesn't feel scrotey
>men called out all the time for being fucked up and flawed
>some cool detailed gore if you like that
>urbeth, a badass bear-goddess that literally mauls people to death

The bad:
>incest fascination across all her works
>extremely gory if you're not into that
>rape as character development, including instances where women become better people after being raped and suffering horribly (happens to men too but not nearly as often)
>people who probably don't deserve it being redeemed through the power of love (if that's not your thing)

No. 316576

Any recommendations for something similar to GOT/ASOIAF without the graphic sexual violence? I enjoyed the setting and world building, historic plagiarism references, low fantasy, overarching plot, intrigue, different POVs, huge number of characters etc. but I would prefer a series where I don’t have to skim entire paragraphs because the author felt the need to write a graphic rape scene. I honestly hate sex scenes in books in general.
It doesn’t even have to be fantasy, though I like a hint of subtle magic here and there. I can take or leave dragons. But even historical fiction authors often like to write explicit sex into their books, it seems. To piggyback off ASOIAF, maybe? I wish they wouldn’t.

No. 316590

>>316576
Not quite what you're looking for, but the vibe is similar to With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz.

No. 316593

>>316576
You might like Wheel of Time. I've read the whole series and it's not for everyone but it has most of the things you're describing. It has been criticized a lot for a lot of different things, including being sexist (actually it gets accused of being sexist towards men AND women, it depends on who you ask, but that's a whole other conversation). The one thing I can say about it though is that it has hardly any sexual assault scenes in it, I can only think of 2 instances and one of them happened to a male character, the other one is just referenced that it happened so we don't even see it happen on page.

No. 316597

Anyone have any thoughts on Annie Ernaux?

No. 316783

>>315444
I read Motherthing because of your post. I skipped over it in the past thinking it was a campy ghost story type book, but your spoilers drew me in. I actually really liked it! The narrator is extremely dysfunctional, but I thought it was pretty beautifully written in parts. I kinda see the book as a commentary on the emotional labor women do in relationship. Abby wants badly to be a mother, but she is already basically a motherthing to Ralph. Like so many women in real life who have to mother their partners.

No. 317030

There should be a lot more pictures in nonfiction books!

No. 317282

>>315444
nona, i'm so glad you liked it! that's an interesting point you brought up about how bpd abby is, i was thinking about it more as a commentary on women's relationships in general. like men are so regularly horrible that a normal guy seems like the greatest thing in the world. i agree that the writing was cringey sometimes, especially in the dialogue. like the first conversation where they're talking about a hot tub full of shit i was just rolling my eyes. it was so bizarre and gross i couldn't take it seriously as a conversation, it took me out of the book because it was so obviously just a writer trying to make her characters say something edgy, like when you watch an amateur film and the acting is really bad and the dialogue doesn't sound real at all. i liked the ending but like you i was confused. i was expecting there to be some sort of consequence for her killing that lady, but instead it just ended. i also feel that the novel was very symbolic but i'm not sure what that was meant to mean. so the lady hated her mom who was abusive, but abby loved her mother because she only knew her as a meek old woman, and then abby kills her and feeds her to her husband… that makes her mother in laws ghost leave? why? did the author just choose to do that because it was bizarre and scary, or is it supposed to symbolize something?

No. 317359

>>316597
i personally couldn't get into it because it's extended navel gazing and the style is boring to me. she does have things to say, about being a woman and being working class etc, it's not all just reminiscing.
but i personally don't care much for her work. then again i tend not to like most memoirs/autofiction.

No. 317384

File: 1692918617883.jpg (28.93 KB, 500x500, 411GEWBWwlL.jpg)

I don't really know if this is the thread for more academic texts, let me know if there's a better suited thread on lolcow if I'm mistaken.

But yeah, I picked up pic related, Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations", and I feel like I've been giga-psyoped as to its contents over the years. For as long as I've been casually studying economics and philosophy, he's always been shilled as a sort of first prophet for free market economics and liberalism…

But I'm a few chapters in and it so far shares more of a resemblance to Marx's Das Kapital than you'd expect. Adam Smith hates on Landlords, calling them a parasitic class that reaps rewards without work. He puts forward the Iron Law of Wages and basically spells out that the plebs are forever destined to be poor as shit in the long run, no matter how much society develops (in fact, a developed society has plebs more in poverty under Smith, just like Marx). He criticizes the upper classes for their collusion and spells out in detail how it's harder for the common men to unionize. Every second page basically details out how the working class suffers and is ripped off due to all value being derived from their labour.

I'm sure later on there's this 180 where he advocates for his "nation of shopkeepers", the invisible hand and lassaire faire economics, the stuff he's famous for. But even then, he's a mixed political philosopher at best and not exactly this right wing liberal figure he's made out to be…Unless I dunno, he's like Malthus and arrives at the most horrid of conclusions, and then on top of it just has the most horrid of proposed solutions due to being a cynical edgelord. Smith could be seeing how the laborer is poor and suffers, and how he is exploited, and then just read into it "well that's just the way it rightfully should be". If that's the case then I just don't get how people could even use his name to defend their political positions.

I've come across this a few times now where I read the original texts of certain philosophers and find them so different to the public perception. Descartes basically undermining his whole skepticism in his later meditations (which are shit) is something everyone conveniently leaves out.

No. 317386

>>301440
The part early on where he casually remarks how he'll get a few fun years out of Dolores gives the game away, and from there it's impossible to really justify that he didn't know what he was doing from the start. I remember feeling really bad for Dolores mother when I first read the novel years ago, more than Dolores actually. But it's been so long I've forgotten most of the details.

What gets me about the novel is how Humbert is just an intelligent version of the creeps online that defend pedophilia. He cynically makes all the same points about how's it's natural, he's doing nothing wrong, he's the victim. It's stuff we've all read hundreds of times online before. Dumb down the prose, remove the french and german language puns, add some smug anime girl it's all the same self serving sophistry.

No. 317584

Nonnies, is Dune(as series) worth buying or it's meh and it'll be better to pirate?
Don't judge pls, I'm poor.

No. 317594

>>317584
first book is awesome and worth owning, second book is pretty good but very weird and you might want to own it, third book is bizarre and you probably will not want to re-read or own it. i stopped reading after that so i can't advise on the rest of the books, but i would say just buy the first one and get ebooks of the rest. no need to spend $$$ on a big complete set.

No. 317616

>>317584
Just pirate it. Dune is overhyped as hell.

No. 317640

>>317584
when in doubt, pirate. if you feel it's really worh it you can always buy later

No. 317643

>>317584
Pirate first buy later. I only collect books I love.

No. 317679


No. 317681

is this accurate?

No. 317748

My tastes in books pivoted from horror to crime thrillers. I've read the Cormoran Strike series and the Robert Hunter series already and liked both. Goodreads recc'd Jo Nesbo's books but I can't take a character named "Harry Hole" seriously. Are there any good thriller crime novels someone could recommend?

No. 317755

>>317681
Yeah, kinda tbh, maybe not with the creatures of the shadows if we’re talking about the Aeneid, but the Odyssey does have some of those.

No. 317830

>>317748
somz of the earlier nesbo ones are actually pretty good if you like dark and grotty. i find most scandi noir boring af but nesbo's pretty good.

No. 317837

>>317748
how about tess gerritsen's rizzoli and isles books? they're quite gory though.

No. 317979

>>317837
Nta but I did not know those were books first

No. 317995

what's a book you think everyone should read and or what is your all time favorite book nonas?

No. 318029

File: 1693132043385.jpg (1.84 MB, 4032x1862, 1623685053050.jpg)

post stacks!!! this isn't mine i found it on /lit/ but i thought it was good enough to post and i've read most of the same books pictured i'm interested in seeing nonnies' collections and tastes

No. 318075

>>317830
hmm, I do like dark and gritty work. I may just convert a pirated version and do a find and replace for the name.

>>317837
Thanks! I remember the show and didn't know of the books. I'm not averse to gore, so I'll give one of the R&I books a try. If it includes a lot about the legal or scientific aspects of the cases, that's even better.

No. 318228

Any good sci-fi recs?
I'm super new to genre fiction so the only sci-fi book I've read in my life is The Left Hand of Darkness. I enjoyed it but it didn't fully feel like sci-fi to me, it's more of a political intrigue set in outer space.
I moved on to Neuromancer and found the writing style annoying. It kinda reads like a film noir, it's curt, fast-paced. Not my cup of tea.
Next, I started reading Dark Matter but the writing is really, really, really extraordinarily bad. Reddit moid tier. So I'm not interested in anything by Blake Crouch.
Now I'm trying out Project Hail Mary and this is also reddit tier trash. Like, you can tell the main character was written by a male nerd because it's that type of main character who tries to be funny and he's really not. Basically, the type of guy a male nerd finds really cool and wishes he could be. Also, it's poorly constructed and kind of a reach. But I'm actually gonna keep reading this one for now, the plot kinda drew me in.
Still, I'd appreciate any recs to raise me out of the sci-fi gutter I find myself in.

No. 318233


No. 318240

>>318228
Maybe try some classics?
Isaac Asimov. I didn't read his Foundation series, but many short stories are very fun.
Also Arthur Clarke, Harry Harrison, Stanislaw Lem.
You could try Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy by Liu Cixin, tho third book is trash and second is decent, the first one is cool.
I, personally, just started Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. Can't say how's it, but maybe you'll also get interested

No. 318262

>>318228
I would take a look at books on the SF Masterworks list, as there are many classics on it and most of them are very loved among sci-fi fans. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/lists_sf_masterworks.asp They have also some other lists on that website, for example one with sci-fi books written by women http://www.worldswithoutend.com/lists_200SFBooksByWomen.asp

Last one I personally read was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, I would recommend it but maybe not for someone starting with that genre. Books I only heard good things about is the The Expanse series and my roommate would tell you to read Foundation by Isaac Asimov and Dune by Frank Herbert.
Right now I'm collecting the sci-fi books from Penguin (https://www.penguin.co.uk/series/PENGSCIFI/penguin-science-fiction), as I have a thing for nice looking books, kek. I will probably be reading We by Yevgeny Zamyatin next.

No. 318264

>>318228
The Three-body Problem and it's sequels are one of the better Sci fi stories out there. I think it's a good book for a newbie since it's engaging and pretty outlandish.
Blinsight is also one of my all time favorites but it's hard Sci fi so beware.

No. 318273

>>318228
Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow are classics (not the other sequels though, they suck). I liked Kiln People by David Brin but it's more of a detective story in a sci-fi world.

No. 318281

Did I just walk into a "suggest the most boring sci fi books" contest?

No. 318287

>>318273
>not the other sequels though, they suck
wdym Speaker for the Dead is god tier, it had me in an absolute chokehold the whole time I was reading it + I often see people say they prefer it to Ender's Game and consider it the best of the series

No. 318306

>>318281
now I'm curious, as you find all books recommended "most boring", what would you suggest nona should read?

No. 318387

>>318306
Probably queer lol so random books like Gideon the ninth or murderbot diaries.

No. 318404

>>318228
I highly recommend anything by Ted Chiang. He only writes short stories but they're worth it, I promise. I absolutely loved Exhalation

No. 318412

>>318228
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky is also pretty good. It's about a colony of sentient spiders, except it's not. Okay, it is but things get complicated fast. Sentient spiders is not something I want to read about (I hate them and a whole civilization of spiders sounds awful) but it was good. Oh, and don't forget that spiders are matriarchal, so there is only one annoying moid spider.

No. 318657

File: 1693461278165.jpg (179.51 KB, 1280x799, collage1.jpg)

I'm a fan of post-modern literature and I often get recommended Don Delillo, but honestly I really can't get into his books. I've read Cosmopolis, Zero K and White Noise, of which the last one was the least annoying, but I didn't enjoy any of them. It's hard for me to say why exactly, he isn't a bad writer and there are some things I like especially in White Noise, for example the way the dystopian world of the book is revealed as a side note and not in dramatic exposition (I'm not really a fan of sci-fi), but something in them really bothers me. Maybe it's the way the dialogue is structured, the characters all talk like 17-year-old edgefags who've read too much Nietzsche, they say nonsensical stuff and things that are meant to sound deep but end up sounding unnecessarily dramatic, which especially in Zero K creates a goofy effect. Also the sex scenes are scrotey and cringe.

No. 318785

>>317584
As someone who's also poor I recommend getting a library card if it's available to you where you live. I'm not sure about other place's libraries, but American libraries now have apps like hoopla and libby if it's the distance/time keeping you from using the library (also good if you like audiobooks). This may seem obvious, but I've met so many people seem to forget libraries are free and exist.

No. 318786

File: 1693504870843.jpg (46.36 KB, 300x450, 5f9b5b4aab0a0_450.jpg)

The last book I finished was Cadaver Exquisito (Tender is the flesh) by Agustina Bazterrica and it was so sad and gut gretching…
After a virus the animals cant be cosumed anymore so the goverment decides its time to canibalyze other human beens. They breed humans to be consumed and treat them as cows… this book its utterley disgusting because it shows how if its normaliced anything can and will be done even if its the most vile thing. How the people are losing their humanity while eating the humanity itself.

I dont know what I was hoping in the end… maybe that the protagonist would remain faithfull to his beliefs… Anyway its a really good book and I recomend it highly.

No. 318797

>>318785
The nona you're responding to
And daamn I feel so much envy towards you americans. I live in a shithole, and our libraries have only some old ass books, old school manuals and dictionaties. USA does everything to make americans read more.

No. 318802

>>318786
Is it said in the book why humans can't become vegetarians/vegans?

No. 318830

>>318786
To be honest I hated this book. The writing is so stilted and dull, which may be an issue with translation, but either way it’s horrible to read. It’s a heavy handed metaphor for the meat industry and animal abuse, but despite the author spending many pages going into detail about the specifics of how humans are bred and slaughtered for meat she never really seems to have anything to say except ‘Gee, this sure is fucked up huh?’.

>>318802
There’s a few scenes in the book were they talk about this In the beginning of the book scientists claim that vegetables don’t contain all the necessary amino acids to survive and you need meat as well. Which leads to the government legalising cannibalism. There’s a few hints that the virus was made up by the government in order
control overpopulation, a prominent zoologist publishes articles claiming as such, before he has an ‘accident’ and there’s also a chapter dedicated to a group of teen boys who are discussing this. And probably other instances that I’m forgetting. This would have been a really interesting plot thread to follow, (even if it turned out to be false in the end) but of course it goes nowhere. Oh and the boys are discussing this while they are beating up and lighting on fire a litter of puppies, because apparently we can’t go one chapter without something gory happening.

No. 318948

Thank you for all the sci-fi recs nonas, I've made a list of everything you've commented and I'm excited to start making my way through it
>>318412
The matriarchal spiders instantly topped my list, btw
>>318262
I'm going to have so much fun going through those lists. I see another book haul in my near future. I've only seen Flatland in that edition of Penguin sci-fi but damn, I see why you wanna collect them. They have some great covers. Plus, the purple spine!! I love the cover of Robot and the synopsis sounds really good, too. Have you read that one yet?

>>318830
I couldn't agree more, it was such a disappointment. But I don't think it was so much a metaphor for animal abuse as it was about human selfishness, how it's easy to do what suits us, and how convenience overthrones morality. I think it was criticizing capitalism. Not the system itself, but the humans (everyone) who maintain it.

No. 318950

>>318404
seconded, all his short stories are great. exhalation like anon said is one that stayed with me for a long time. def recommend him too

No. 318956

>>318830
kek nona i picked up that book after she gushed about it and immediately put it down for the reasons you've listed. it's probably just the translation…

can someone rec me some good deranged woman lit btw. i'm fondly remembering y/n and earthlings but i can't reread books (it's not the same as reading them for the first time)

No. 318971

>>318956
Read The Woman in the Purple Skirt by another anons recommendation and I liked it. A short read, about a woman who stalks another woman. Iirc, that anon said the protagonist reminded her of our socially inept-er farmers, and I agree lmfao.

No. 318973

>>318956
There are many more recs earlier on in the thread but The Piano Teacher hasn't been mentioned yet. It's incredible. Erica, our main character, is a piano teacher in her 30s who lives with her overbearing mother in Vienna. Also, she probably wins this whole genre.

No. 318974

File: 1693586550256.jpg (64.34 KB, 263x400, the guest.jpg)

>>318956
i'm going to second what >>318971 said, i really enjoyed that book and was surprised by some of the middling reviews i found online. it's really unique. i'm also going to take this as an opportunity to plug picrel. it's about a woman who's sort of an escort who has no real connection to anything or anyone and wanders around taking advantage of people. the writing is truly stunning, the main character is so interesting, and it was such a joy to read.

No. 318977

>>318974
also sorry to doublepost but something about the guest really reminded me of animal by lisa taddeo, which is another classic of the unhinged female narrator genre. and while i'm posting i know a few nonas were interested in japanese lit so i started putting together a little reading list of books i've finished and can personally vouch for, it ended up being more east asian lit in general vs strictly japanese but it's all female authors and i think it might be helpful for people looking for something to read. i have another book i'm picking up today that i'm going to add to the list and then i'll be ready to post it ♥

No. 318988

>>318830
Maybe since I was reading it in spanish for me it was ok…I was picturing it being wrote in a pretentious way like 'oh there´s nothing wrong with this, the protagonist its just annoying'
But! I was hoping for other ending and I was all day very depressed and thinking about it so I thought maybe it was interesting to recomend it here…

No. 318999

>>318977
looking forward to your rec list nona

No. 319010

>>318956
woman on the train is a good mystery thriller about an alcoholic neet woman who gets wrapped up in a missing person story. I really enjoyed it

No. 319128

File: 1693669920958.jpeg (1.8 MB, 2730x4096, IMG_2881.jpeg)

here is my finished japanese lit book rec list. i don't know why i thought i had more east asian authors on here–they're all japanese. not all of these books are my absolute favourite, but they're all worthwhile and i think make a good intro to japanese lit by female authors. i struggled a bit with whether to include sayaka murata, since she's already so well known in this thread, but i didn't think the collection could be complete without her. all (?) of these authors also have other books which you can look into. i hope that this will be useful for the nonas asking for more japanese literature. i personally find the perspective on work and womanhood in japanese books unique, and like others i enjoy the voice and style contemporary japanese lit usually has. without further ado:
>the memory police by yoko agawa: dystopian classic about a society where the government can erase memories
>terminal boredom by izumi suzuki: collection of sci-fi stories, including one where men are all locked in prison at birth
>the factory by hiroko oyamada: various people work at meaningless jobs within a megafactory–kafkaesque
>diary of a void by emi yagi: an office worker decides to pretend that she is pregnant
>the goddess chronicle by natsuo kirino: an epic story following two sisters, based on japanese folklore
>heaven by kieko kawakami: a boy with a lazy eye is ruthlessly bullied by his classmates
>tokyo ueno station by yu miri: a ghost lives among the homeless after dying in the 2011 tsunami
>the woman in the purple skirt by natsuko imamura: loner becomes obsessed with befriending a woman she sees at the park
>convenience store woman by sayaka murata: psychopath works at a convenience store

No. 319174

>>319128
Thank you for the rec list nona! If I hated Diary of a Void for being aimless and monotone, and thought Convenience Store Woman was just okay, do you think I would enjoy Heaven, Tokyo Ueno Station or The Woman in the Purple Skirt?

No. 319189

File: 1693686031502.png (18.86 KB, 921x154, Screenshot_30.png)

>>318971
>that anon said the protagonist reminded her of our socially inept-er farmers
yeah reading this book made me think of myself. i've watched a lot of women obsessively over my life thinking that, at any moment, i'd shoot them a dm or say hello – no dice. i'm glad to say most of them didn't end up as badly as the purple skirt lady though. normally it's just them living their lives as normal + getting to know more people and me getting to know them, voyeuristically.

what the hell happened to mayuko anyway, though?

No. 319192

>>319128
you're probably memeing but Keiko is not a psycopath she's just mega-autistic!!!!! I thought CSW was a very well-written short novel about the daily struggles she faces in trying to assimilate to society when she's so divorced from societal norms in the careful balancing act of her own and others' happiness. It was funny when she one-hit KO'd some fighting moids at her school and it was based of her to one-up Shittyhara every time he pulled his Ston Age one-liner bullshit like when she just launched into her autism-informed manifesto about society and usefulness at the restaurant and feed him actual animal-tier quality slop when he basically said he didn't want to be a person in the world by freeloading off her and not even going outside.
It wasn't revolutionary by any means but I thought the book had a nice message in that even those who will never ever "get it" in society like Keiko are still fully human with their own desires and likes and things they're good at, and deserve good wages and housing. It's a societal failing that Keiko feels she must either choose between 'giving up control over her reproductive organs to be used how society deems fit and constantly second-guess her way into a shaky imitation of normalcy' and 'living her own harmless way of incredibly niche existence that makes her happy at the cost of having her count every penny and eat inhumane slop so she can live paycheck to paycheck in the only thing that made sense to her'!!!! sorry for sperging but I love Keiko…

No. 319195

>>319174
hmm, it's hard to say. you definitely wouldn't like tokyo ueno station, it's incredibly slow and atmospheric and honestly it's probably my least favourite out of all of them. you might enjoy heaven but again, despite some violence it tends to be philosophical (it's been a while since i read it though so i may be wrong). although it's definitely more active than breasts and eggs, the other novel by that author. the woman in the purple skirt is short and less weird than csw but more tense than diary of a void so you may like it. it's a really short book anyway, so you wouldn't be wasting too much time if you tried it.

No. 319242

>>319128
I know you probably only wanted to include one book from each author but what did you think of life ceremony? Personally, I loved it and think it might be my favorite of her translated works.

No. 319243

File: 1693703857272.jpg (123.28 KB, 500x790, no such thing.jpg)

>>319128
oh! Also, samefagging but have you read picrel? It's about a woman who takes a bunch of surreal but interesting (to read about, anyway) jobs.

No. 319245

>>319128
convenience store woman was so good…i wonder if the book is also a critique on jpn work culture…and office culture in general, i guess. like even if you're perfect at your job you cannot advance (and will not be offered any opportunity to advance) if you lack social skills/aren't palatable enough for your peers. like why isn't the woman who can speak to the convenience store a manager kek

No. 319260

File: 1693720115418.jpg (72.96 KB, 644x1000, 81V Cz37JXL._AC_UF894,1000_QL8…)

I love the idea of this book, but am kindof uncomfortable the fact that the author thinks that we would all start torturing and raping if we could zap people.
I'd like to write something similar for my own enjoyment, but would like to hear some farmers ideas on the whole thing. Do you think she's right, and that power corrupts? Would the world really turn out just as bad for men as it is for women? Would the structure of the world change or just stay the same?

No. 319261

>>319260
The power had a good premise but was written by an Idiotic libfem who doesn't understand what humans are actually like, I posted my critiques of the book here >>286687

No. 319264

>>319261
Yes, your criticism is valid. But I'm interested more in how everyone thinks that world would actually turn out rather than the deplorable, hamhanded way the author portrayed it.

No. 319266

>>319260
samefag as >>319261 women gaining electric eel powers would change everything. It would make rape and assault of women by men impossible. However, the biggest flaw lies in its very liberal nature. The idea that people would stop being religious or just change their faiths with in less then a decade is foolish. Women, on average, are far more devoutly religious. They would still take their faiths seriously. Capitalism would still exist, and there would still be issues on how to deal with poor. (I grew up in a third-world country where many women treat their maids worse than dogs, and I don't believe that mentality would change either) Lastly, the future scenes are nonsensical. Men would still, on average, be bigger and stronger, and they wouldn't be the ones carrying babies. There would be no reason for men not to be the majority in construction work and labor.

No. 319274

I'm not liking El Aleph as much as Ficciones.

No. 319283

Can other nonas recommend me any fiction to read with specific condition? I can read anything as long as there will be no sex (no sexual violence, no consensual sex, no references to sexual acts, no vulgar talking about sex like swear words related to sex or genitals etc.).
As long as any book (or even graphic novel) will meet these criteria I’m happy to try reading everything. These are just things that repulse me or I prefer to avoid so it would be nice to find some new titles without it.
Bonus points for some things I like a lot:
>fantasy
>eccentric/unusual/outcast protagonist
>theme of art
>could be surreal/experimental
>themes of daydreaming/dreams/imaginary worlds/real world getting weird or hard to tell apart from some other reality
But basically I’ll accept any recommendations without the sex stuff I described above. Thanks for all propositions.

No. 319286

>>319264
i think if you and i and every other woman in the world suddenly woke up with powers like that, women would still be oppressed. we'd have handmaidens who go on long rants about how we must not use our evil disgusting power on the poor, poor menz, and men would oppress and punish women even harder because they are a threat to them. there would be cases of women and girls who use their powers against men who attempt to assault them and while women cheer for them, the men would be like "b-but this is an exception! maybe it was alright to do this now, but surely there would have been other ways to do this!!" religious leaders would use the power as a reason as to why woman must submit to man - she is dangerous and erratic and only the man is innocent and rational and must keep her in check. women would probably be forced out of important roles because they are deemed untrustworthy and dangerous. i guess the only good thing would be that men finally wear condoms because they don't want to get zapped in the dick.

No. 319289

File: 1693741042883.jpg (99.73 KB, 851x647, EFRozpGUcAAGTYK.jpg)

>>319283
hmmm this sounds like middle grade books would be up your alley. since you mentioned graphic novels, maybe you'd like the witch comic?
>5 girls who receive elemental powers
>parallel universes with strange creatures
>dealing with magical villains but also with growing up
the girls are 13-15 years old so they're going through puberty and dating boys and stuff, but as far as i can remember there are no mentions of any sexual themes.

No. 319296

>>319289
Thanks, I actually know W.I.T.C.H. because I read it in childhood haha. Such a throwback.

No. 319297

>>319283
Lord of the Rings and Anne of green gables. For weird things there is The dream quest of unknown Kadath, though I read it long time ago.

No. 319300

>>319297
Thank! I know the first two titles, I'll check out the third one.

No. 319304

>>319242
yes, i've read life ceremony and loved it! my favourite was the one about the two best friends, one who has a lot of sex and one who has none, but they both respect each other and do what they want. i gave that book to my friend because it reminded me a lot of me and her. i also recommended that book to another person yesterday, lol. now i'm curious, does she have other books that haven't been translated yet? also, i haven't read >>319243 yet, but i have it on hold at the library! your description makes it seem a bit like the factory which makes me excited. i actually have enough books on my tbr/holds list that i will probably make another japanese lit rec list, it just takes me a while to get through them. any more recs in the meantime are much appreciated.

No. 319309

>>319297
>>319283
Pretty much all Lovecraft is asexual btw
Also Agatha Christie books.
First is horror and second are detectives.

No. 319312

>>319309
Thank you, I know and like a lot Christie and Lovecraft is on my to-read list.

No. 319315

>>319304
My favorite story in Life Ceremony was the one at the end, where she adopts a bunch of different personalities in order to be liked by her peers. It hit close to home. According to her Wikipedia page she has like 10 other works that haven't been translated yet, and I really wish a publisher would get on that! I feel like the three she has in English have sold well so it would be worth it.
I have a copy of The Hole by Omayada, but I haven't read it yet. As far as other works by Japanese women go, I love them too! You already got my personal favorite, Murata, but a couple others you could try are People in my Neighborhood by Kawakami and Where the Wild Ladies Are, by Aoko Matsuda. They're both short story collections, and the latter is specifically a collection of rewritten Japanese folktales. I'm not too familiar with Japanese folklore, but I remember there being really helpful footnotes in the back explaining what the original stories were like. Still, I'm sure it would have been more meaningful if I was actually Japanese and had grown up with these stories.

No. 319316

>>319274
I loved El Aleph, what did you not like about it?

No. 319321

File: 1693760508144.jpg (92.66 KB, 706x1000, 51mF1ejN3XL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL…)

I read political manifestos and books from the second-wave era (mostly because I think they're really interesting and sometimes funny insane ramblings). Most of them are very similar and have similar conclusions and Ideas, so I stop reading after a point. However this one book was unlike any radical feminist text and took me by surprise.
Now, you have to understand that a lot of social theorists from this era basically took random sections of anthropologist papers, regardless of level of authenticity and sometimes they purposely misconstrued them to create a predetermined conclusion, resulting in a lot of weird stuff

So Susan Cavin believes that women together with their children, formed the first societies which were also vegetarian(a but kooky but common enough), women expelled their sons from society to live with hunters when they became teenagers. However in a later era, women started taking their sons as lovers instead of having brief encounters with random males, which had been the norm until then. The entrance of adult sons into society gave males more power relative to females, and non-kin males were gradually accepted, eventually acquiring positions of dominance. Cavin used the behavior of other primates as proof of her theory. She stated that apes tend to live in groups with a high female-to-male ratio to provide greater safety for females and their offspring(I don't know much about apes and I think that's partially true, but there isn't huge female/male sex reation diffrence)
basically she's saying that patriarchy exists cause women were having sex with their sons.

No. 319343

File: 1693766099912.jpg (45.25 KB, 312x500, B00U9T2QVI.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX50…)

Btw I would like to suggest a very short novel by Brandon Sanderson named Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell.
It's fantasy and the protagonist is an older cool woman.

No. 319685

File: 1693863518743.jpg (29.21 KB, 448x324, 1679551128131.jpg)

nonas im trying to make myself read more but every time i choose a book and read the first few pages, my eyes glaze over every word and i am immediately bored. i can read thousands of words of fanfiction but i struggle with this for some reason. its probably my fucked up attention span and me picking books i dont find engaging. i feel like im doing something wrong here because its not like i dont enjoy reading…

so id appreciate some (fiction) book recs for my tard brain that are:
1. pretty short
2. engaging at the start
3. not a drag to read through
just anything you'd recommend to someone who does not read books a lot.

some genres and things i generally enjoy are sci-fi/fantasy, drama, mystery, horror, adventure + weird/interesting worldbuilding, historical settings, speculative evolution

No. 319692

any suggestions for memoirs by south asian or muslim (american) women?

No. 319693

File: 1693865907276.jpg (52.98 KB, 652x1000, 71 lTVEy8lL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL…)

>>319685
"I Who Have Never Known Men" is an evening/2-evening sci-fi read about a group of women mysteriously found in a bunker, trapped there for many years to the point where the youngest character does not remember the "past world". Interesting interpersonal relationships with women, they escape fast enough, mystery and tension throughout, though nothing too violent happens to our main group of women. Satisfying and interesting. I especially related to the main character, reliable and reasonable, perceptive, has not been socialised in a female way (because bunker) and therefore cannot see some things from the perspective of the other women. Some things are explained as innately female though. Dichotomy between socialised rites and reason. Written by a lesbian.

No. 319722

>>319685
i suggest re-reading books you loved as a child/teen, grease the reading wheels with something familiar that makes you nistalgic

No. 319755

>>319693
i just finished reading this. thank you for the rec, that was really bleak but i enjoyed it

No. 319817

File: 1693921655136.png (Spoiler Image,377.05 KB, 992x1315, dhdndnd.png)

No, it's literally just "now the shoes on the other foot, take that scrotes". It's so dumb and hamhanded it's not even funny. Stopped reading at pic related, would not recommend to anyone.

No. 319856

>>319321
Do you(or anyone) have good based radfem recs?

No. 320521

Got a case of LVF (late onset vampire fanaticism) because I never had a vampire phase growing up. Got any recs for novels that aren't YA and not Dracula or Interview with the Vampire?

No. 320523

>>320521
-black dagger brotherhood (super long, corny, lots of sex)
-carmilla (the og vampire, predates dracula)
-sookie stackhouse (novels the true blood series is based on)

No. 320543

>>320521
Vamped by David Sosnowski. Really interesting little book with a spin on the whole vampire fiction thing that is very different and pretty cool. Yes a moid wrote it, but I liked it anyway. Without spoiling: The world is now overtaken by vampires and humans are kept like cattle but some survive free range, a vampire guy finds a little human girl and very cluelessly raises her as his daughter and it’s actually heartwarming and funny as well as being a definitively dark comedy. I haven’t reread it in years so I might reread to see if it’s as charming as I remember.

No. 320992

File: 1694555284065.jpg (66.67 KB, 257x388, Innovators_book_cover.jpg)

Did someone here read The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson?
I bought it ages ago and still couldn't find a chance to read it.
Anyway, his Elon biography is full of shit and I wonder if this book of his is also bad.

No. 321000

can farmers recommend some good gothic/victorian horror? nothing written by a scrote unless it's incredibly impossibly good please

No. 321028

>>320521
The Saint Germain seriesby Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Hotel Transylvania is the first one. They are kinda disturbing because the humans in the novels are more monstrous than the actual vampires. There are some spinoff series for two of the female vampires too but I never got around to reading those. Maybe I'll make that my October reading project.

No.