#amreading — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #amreading, aggregated by home.social.
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2/2 ...gripping romance right from the start (since it's mentioned as a prime example of "romantasy").
Nope. Read 20 chapters and I'm seriously underwhelmed - not because it's slow, but because the characters lack chemistry to the point that for many chapters I wasn't even certain which two characters will end up together.20 chapters didn't manage to do what "Heated Rivalry" managed in the first five pages.
#Reading #AmReading #Romance #LGBT #HeatedRivalry #ACOTAR -
1/2 I read "Heated Rivalry" and enjoyed it a lot. I would most definitely enjoy it just as much without all the spice scenes, though - let's be clear - the book would be much shorter in this case ;)
Then I tried to give "ACOTAR" a go; thought it would similar in one aspect...
#Reading #AmReading #Romance #LGBT #HeatedRivalry #ACOTAR -
2/2 ...gripping romance right from the start (since it's mentioned as a prime example of "romantasy").
Nope. Read 20 chapters and I'm seriously underwhelmed - not because it's slow, but because the characters lack chemistry to the point that for many chapters I wasn't even certain which two characters will end up together.20 chapters didn't manage to do what "Heated Rivalry" managed in the first five pages.
#Reading #AmReading #Romance #LGBT #HeatedRivalry #ACOTAR -
1/2 I read "Heated Rivalry" and enjoyed it a lot. I would most definitely enjoy it just as much without all the spice scenes, though - let's be clear - the book would be much shorter in this case ;)
Then I tried to give "ACOTAR" a go; thought it would similar in one aspect...
#Reading #AmReading #Romance #LGBT #HeatedRivalry #ACOTAR -
Just finished "Salvage" by Renée Nault. I'm a sucker for romances in general and for characters like these, so I enjoyed it a lot, even though I wish works like this would actually address the structural issues they bring up more thoroughly. I tend to think about the messages of a work in terms of counterfactuals. For example, how would this story play out of Paolo hadn't been a good artist, or hadn't been so likeable, etc.
Also: how do the wealth differences play out in the end? Paolo & his family might escape poverty by association, but where I their community does these line get drawn and the rest get left behind? The natural true "good ending" for all these cross-class romances is an anarchist revolution, but so rarely do we get to see that... The alternative is to believe that only some of the lower class deserve being saved because of their virtues, which ends up being a toxic and regressive message.
To be fair, I think Nault pulls off an above-average landing for this trope, and her illustrations of the lower-class communities and their own richness are hopeful. I just always find myself wanting more.
All of that aside, Nault's art is truly wonderful, especially her use of color and the way she uses it consistently to emphasize thematic elements. It's a really beautiful graphic novel.
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Just finished "Salvage" by Renée Nault. I'm a sucker for romances in general and for characters like these, so I enjoyed it a lot, even though I wish works like this would actually address the structural issues they bring up more thoroughly. I tend to think about the messages of a work in terms of counterfactuals. For example, how would this story play out of Paolo hadn't been a good artist, or hadn't been so likeable, etc.
Also: how do the wealth differences play out in the end? Paolo & his family might escape poverty by association, but where I their community does these line get drawn and the rest get left behind? The natural true "good ending" for all these cross-class romances is an anarchist revolution, but so rarely do we get to see that... The alternative is to believe that only some of the lower class deserve being saved because of their virtues, which ends up being a toxic and regressive message.
To be fair, I think Nault pulls off an above-average landing for this trope, and her illustrations of the lower-class communities and their own richness are hopeful. I just always find myself wanting more.
All of that aside, Nault's art is truly wonderful, especially her use of color and the way she uses it consistently to emphasize thematic elements. It's a really beautiful graphic novel.
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I've finished: I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
While I Cheerfully Refuse hits most of the usual post apocalyptic genre tropes, it is no regular post apocalyptic adventure novel.
Rainy is a quietly competent protagonist, and viewing this dystopian world from his perspective is what setts this novel apart.
Reminiscent of Station 11, it is a more literary work.
Literally (Actually) pitting Rainy and Lark, with her used book shop, against the illiterate anti-intellectualists.
https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/73d19b03-b69f-476b-9e63-6e3d9f6ab14b
@bookstodon @audiofiction
#dystopia #postapocalyptic #literary #amReading #bookstodon #AudioBooks -
I've finished: I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
While I Cheerfully Refuse hits most of the usual post apocalyptic genre tropes, it is no regular post apocalyptic adventure novel.
Rainy is a quietly competent protagonist, and viewing this dystopian world from his perspective is what setts this novel apart.
Reminiscent of Station 11, it is a more literary work.
Literally (Actually) pitting Rainy and Lark, with her used book shop, against the illiterate anti-intellectualists.
https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/73d19b03-b69f-476b-9e63-6e3d9f6ab14b
@bookstodon @audiofiction
#dystopia #postapocalyptic #literary #amReading #bookstodon #AudioBooks -
Ich lese grad "Sara" von Stephen King und "Dein letztes Fest" von Jason Rekulak und in beiden stirbt zu Beginn die Ehefrau mit Mitte 35 überraschend an einem Hirnaneurysma.
#amreading -
Ich lese grad "Sara" von Stephen King und "Dein letztes Fest" von Jason Rekulak und in beiden stirbt zu Beginn die Ehefrau mit Mitte 35 überraschend an einem Hirnaneurysma.
#amreading -
Any #book recommendation about the #history of #Palestine? Authentic one, not whitewashed.
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Any #book recommendation about the #history of #Palestine? Authentic one, not whitewashed.
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The Influencers who Changed how We Read
www.hhousebooks.com/books/recommended/
or search Nicola Wilson Recommended!#historical #booksaboutbooks #amreading #newbook #booksociety #bookstodon #books
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The Influencers who Changed how We Read
www.hhousebooks.com/books/recommended/
or search Nicola Wilson Recommended!#historical #booksaboutbooks #amreading #newbook #booksociety #bookstodon #books
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Snuck in a short review of Satoshi Yagisawa's Days at the Torunka Café. Now back to work!
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Snuck in a short review of Satoshi Yagisawa's Days at the Torunka Café. Now back to work!
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#amreading
Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction
by Annalee Newitz
Reading about the previous mass extinctions helps me to accept our own."IF YOU THINK that humans are destroying the planet in a way that’s historically unprecedented, you’re suffering from a species-level delusion of grandeur."
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#amreading
Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction
by Annalee Newitz
Reading about the previous mass extinctions helps me to accept our own."IF YOU THINK that humans are destroying the planet in a way that’s historically unprecedented, you’re suffering from a species-level delusion of grandeur."
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Just finished "What Elephants Know" by Eric Dinerstein. Leaves me with very mixed feelings: it's a novel in many ways about Nepal, and I don't doubt that the author's experience living there gives him a not-insignificant window into the culture, plus there are multiple people mentioned in the acknowledgements as judging faithfulness to Nepali culture. I myself have no direct connection to the country, nor enough knowledge to see any clear inaccuracies in the writing, nor ways in which it directly disrespects the culture.
That said, my instincts say this is a portrayal of the culture and country that probably elides much about the downsides of foreign influence and the monarchy (something I naturally distrust as an anarchist). At minimum, the internal contradiction is clear between the police as an inept and dangerous institution when encountered directly, but as a clean and unproblematic way to resolve problems with criminals when the Maroons subplot needs wrapping up. This is typical of neoliberals who have begun to acknowledge the most obvious problems with police but who refuse to admit the necessity of police abolition. Furthermore, there's a strong thread of white saviorism thrown in, and a big piece of meritocracy to go along with it. This story presents only highly particular fictionalized solutions to the real structural problems facing the elephants and other animals it describes, and the solutions it imagines require reliance on institutions which are in the real world fundamentally untrustworthy.
I enjoyed learning about the ecology of the Nepali borderlands, and about the cultures surrounding elephants there, plus some of the diversity of religions and cultures that interact in the area, and the story was satisfyingly written in terms of the main character's trials and responses to them, if I disregard the issues mentioned above.
If anyone has recommendations for novels in English (including via translation) by actual Nepali authors, I'd love to hear them, as I'll be looking for that perspective to balance this one.
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Just finished "What Elephants Know" by Eric Dinerstein. Leaves me with very mixed feelings: it's a novel in many ways about Nepal, and I don't doubt that the author's experience living there gives him a not-insignificant window into the culture, plus there are multiple people mentioned in the acknowledgements as judging faithfulness to Nepali culture. I myself have no direct connection to the country, nor enough knowledge to see any clear inaccuracies in the writing, nor ways in which it directly disrespects the culture.
That said, my instincts say this is a portrayal of the culture and country that probably elides much about the downsides of foreign influence and the monarchy (something I naturally distrust as an anarchist). At minimum, the internal contradiction is clear between the police as an inept and dangerous institution when encountered directly, but as a clean and unproblematic way to resolve problems with criminals when the Maroons subplot needs wrapping up. This is typical of neoliberals who have begun to acknowledge the most obvious problems with police but who refuse to admit the necessity of police abolition. Furthermore, there's a strong thread of white saviorism thrown in, and a big piece of meritocracy to go along with it. This story presents only highly particular fictionalized solutions to the real structural problems facing the elephants and other animals it describes, and the solutions it imagines require reliance on institutions which are in the real world fundamentally untrustworthy.
I enjoyed learning about the ecology of the Nepali borderlands, and about the cultures surrounding elephants there, plus some of the diversity of religions and cultures that interact in the area, and the story was satisfyingly written in terms of the main character's trials and responses to them, if I disregard the issues mentioned above.
If anyone has recommendations for novels in English (including via translation) by actual Nepali authors, I'd love to hear them, as I'll be looking for that perspective to balance this one.
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Folklore read live!
Before the burnings, the witches of Germany certainly raised hell!
Find out how much in tonight's tales LIVE right NOW: https://youtube.com/live/kJdw0xLGoaM
#FairyTaleTuesday #WritingCommunity #storyteller #FairyTale #AmReading #reading #indieWriter #fairy #folklore #folk #tales #stories #GrimmBrothers #dnd #dnd5e #pathfinder #pf2e #ttrpg #fantasy #lotr #german #folklore #witches #witchcraft #witch #hag
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Folklore read live!
Before the burnings, the witches of Germany certainly raised hell!
Find out how much in tonight's tales LIVE right NOW: https://youtube.com/live/kJdw0xLGoaM
#FairyTaleTuesday #WritingCommunity #storyteller #FairyTale #AmReading #reading #indieWriter #fairy #folklore #folk #tales #stories #GrimmBrothers #dnd #dnd5e #pathfinder #pf2e #ttrpg #fantasy #lotr #german #folklore #witches #witchcraft #witch #hag
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Chapter 4 changed what the dawn rule actually means. Chapters 1 through 4, free right now.
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Chapter 4 changed what the dawn rule actually means. Chapters 1 through 4, free right now.
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Books I Was Reading On This Day Over the Last Ten Years: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-books-i-was-reading-on-this-day-over-the-last-ten-years/
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Books I Was Reading On This Day Over the Last Ten Years: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-books-i-was-reading-on-this-day-over-the-last-ten-years/
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@toddtyrtle @bookgaga @naomialderman
I haven't yet found a silent book club that meets in my neighbourhood. When I tried a couple of read-what-you-will book clubs, the interests of the other readers diverged a bit too much from my own. I'm making more time for reading these days, so I can do a club read or 3, as well as the books I'm personally drawn to.
#AmReading -
@toddtyrtle @bookgaga @naomialderman
I haven't yet found a silent book club that meets in my neighbourhood. When I tried a couple of read-what-you-will book clubs, the interests of the other readers diverged a bit too much from my own. I'm making more time for reading these days, so I can do a club read or 3, as well as the books I'm personally drawn to.
#AmReading -
Former U.S. Army Ranger Jack Debaut enters a deadly world of espionage, covert operations, political intrigue & betrayal.
In From Terror to Valor, Jack must unravel a web of deception where trust is scarce and danger is everywhere.
🔗 https://books2read.com/fromterror2valor
#MilitaryThriller #Espionage #ThrillerBooks #SpyFiction #BookRecommendations #AmReading
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Former U.S. Army Ranger Jack Debaut enters a deadly world of espionage, covert operations, political intrigue & betrayal.
In From Terror to Valor, Jack must unravel a web of deception where trust is scarce and danger is everywhere.
🔗 https://books2read.com/fromterror2valor
#MilitaryThriller #Espionage #ThrillerBooks #SpyFiction #BookRecommendations #AmReading
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New issue of The Archivist is live.
An actual test you can run in the next thirty seconds.
Not a metaphor.
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New issue of The Archivist is live.
An actual test you can run in the next thirty seconds.
Not a metaphor.
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Just finished the manga "My Brain is Different" by Monzusu. It's a series of true stories of people with learning disabilities, talking about their childhoods and adult lives, plus some parents talking about their kids & parenting strategies (including parents who themselves have learning disabilities, of which the author is one). It's got some dark stuff in there, of course (indirect CW depression, suicide, bullying) but it was so nice to read the stories that were all #OwnVoices and which all showed his childhood difficulties (sometimes extreme) weren't defining of an entire life trajectory. Plenty of positive parenting examples too, mixed in with negative ones.
