#booksread — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #booksread, aggregated by home.social.
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Finished reading: Dai Dark Vol. 1
I read this ages ago in fan translated form, and really enjoyed it. So figured I should pick it up when I finally saw it in-store in an actual physical legit translation.
It’s weird, creepy, and joyful. Perfect combo.
#books #booksRead #manga #recommended #sff -
CW: fictional depictions of sexual torture, shame, and related issues
Finished reading: SFSX Safe Sex Volume 1: Protection
(Content warning: This write-up, and the comic, deals with sexual torture, rape, “conversion therapy” and its impacts, and other themes in that general vicinity.)
#books #booksRead #comics -
Currently reading: SFSX Safe Sex Volume 1: Protection
This is the inaugural read for our writers’ guild’s new comics book club, so we did a group order from the Friendly Local Comics Store (because support your locals, folx).
I had to go pick said order up in town, and I happened to have a hair appointment booked on the same day. “No worries,” thinks I, the fool. “That will give me something to read for the next four hours in the chair.”
Friends, let me tell you. This is not a good choice of casual hair salon read, even in the edgy queer goth salon. Like I don’t think I saw a single clothed person in the whole first ten pages. Just, y’know. Warning anyone thinking of re-creating my mistake.
All the same, keen to find out how to fight the power of the Christofascist nation-state with the power of kinky queer sex in some other, more appropriate venue.
#books #booksRead #comics -
Currently reading: Foucault’s Pendulum
“If a pedestrian bumps into you in the street, or even insults you, you humbly apologize and move on, even though you’re God and with a snap of your fingers you can turn the world to ashes. But, infinitely powerful as you are, you can afford to be long-suffering.”
Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum (p. 69 . . . nice)
#books #booksRead #literature -
A Sense of Doubt blog post 4013 - Books Read in 2025 - Writing Wednesday for 2602.11. https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2026/02/a-sense-of-doubt-blog-post-4013-books.html #Books #Reading #BooksRead #yearinreview #writingwednesday
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A Sense of Doubt blog post 4013 - Books Read in 2025 - Writing Wednesday for 2602.11. https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2026/02/a-sense-of-doubt-blog-post-4013-books.html #Books #Reading #BooksRead #yearinreview #writingwednesday
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A Sense of Doubt blog post 4013 - Books Read in 2025 - Writing Wednesday for 2602.11. https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2026/02/a-sense-of-doubt-blog-post-4013-books.html #Books #Reading #BooksRead #yearinreview #writingwednesday
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A Sense of Doubt blog post 4013 - Books Read in 2025 - Writing Wednesday for 2602.11. https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2026/02/a-sense-of-doubt-blog-post-4013-books.html #Books #Reading #BooksRead #yearinreview #writingwednesday
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A Sense of Doubt blog post 4013 - Books Read in 2025 - Writing Wednesday for 2602.11. https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2026/02/a-sense-of-doubt-blog-post-4013-books.html #Books #Reading #BooksRead #yearinreview #writingwednesday
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Finished reading: Shattered Nation
So. Confession: A while back I had scanned a PDF copy of this book that I, um. “Borrowed” to see if it was worth buying the hardcover, and it hadn’t really clicked with me. All the same, I did pick up the physical copy recently because, let’s be real, I am a slut for W:tA and wanted to send price signals to Renegade so they release more of it, regardless of whether I’m super into any one specific book. Actually sitting down to read this cover-to-cover and . . . I Get It, now. Not just this book, but 5th […]
#books #booksRead #recommended #ttrpg #werewolfTheApocalypse #worldOfDarkness -
Finished reading: Shattered Nation
So. Confession: A while back I had scanned a PDF copy of this book that I, um. “Borrowed” to see if it was worth buying the hardcover, and it hadn’t really clicked with me. All the same, I did pick up the physical copy recently because, let’s be real, I am a slut for W:tA and wanted to send price signals to Renegade so they release more of it, regardless of whether I’m super into any one specific book. Actually sitting down to read this cover-to-cover and . . . I Get It, now. Not just this book, but 5th […]
#books #booksRead #recommended #ttrpg #werewolfTheApocalypse #worldOfDarkness -
I never really “got” the Rokea as a kid — they were big and ugly and weird — but as an adult the whole premise of “what if Jaws had autism and was immortal?” is suddenly incredibly appealing. I too would like to walk into the sea and never return, thanks. This is vintage old World of Darkness, so expect a bunch of weird race and sex stuff (including some way-too-casual references to rape). The example chronicle is also set in Australia and is nonetheless extremely, hilariously (white) American, right down to the fact that, while the majority of it […]
#books #booksRead #ttrpg #werewolfTheApocalypse #worldOfDarkness -
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Finished reading: Malleus Monstrorum Slipcase Set
As someone who loves both the Mythos and a bestiary, these books unfortunately kinda show the limitations when both are combined. Mythos entities encountered alone are horrific and gross and cool. Combined they run together in a kind of protean slurry of gore and tentacles and “unpronounceable” names, and the seams where multiple authors over the century have stitched in their own additions result in something that is somehow both too samey and too thematically incoherent.
Also, just . . . times have kinda moved on? Hence the quote marks around “unpronounceable,” since combinations of syllables that seemed “foreign” and “strange” in 1926 are significantly less so in an age where your average English speaker has encountered half a dozen loanwords before breakfast. (Or possibly at breakfast; the fact that “Shak’shu-ka” could be a Mythos god being kinda illustrative of the point.) Not to mention some of the monster designs feel a bit uninspired in a world of Bloodborne and Silent Hill, though Loïc Muzy’s illustrations punch above their weight as usual.
All that being said, none of that is the fault of these books specifically, which are a great resource for what they are, with all the relevant crunch and fluff and cool illustrations. Also, props to the writers for updating some of the more, y’know. Cat-named (if you get my drift) elements, particularly the distancing of Mythos entities from any one ethnic group or set of religious/spiritual beliefs (Ithaqua, looking at you, buddy).
Anyway. I don’t regret buying these, and they did sate my lust for tomes of tentacled bad bois. And I guess that’s the important part.
#books #booksRead #ttrpg -
Currently reading: Vulture Capitalism
Today’s other adventure was going into the library to get my card reactivated. Then picking this up randomly to read while waiting in the queue. Then trying to borrow it and getting denied because it was on reserve. Then the nice librarian who liked my Cure shirt borrowing it for me anyway, because “we can’t have you denied on your first borrow.” So, uh. Sorry to whomever’s reserve I just queue-jumped, I guess.
Anyway. Book!
#books #booksRead #nonFiction -
The best way I can sum this up is probably Oyasumi, Punpun for chick-lit readers, noting that manga itself is kind of “No Longer Human for manga readers.” So basically I guess what I’m getting at is that if you have any kind of familiarity with the whole genre of “Japanese works about not fitting in to Japanese society,” in any medium, nothing here will be particularly novel or shocking to you.
Which isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy this (I did), or that it isn’t a worthwhile read (it is), only that it’s a kind of Baby’s First Outsider Literature novel and, well. Everyone starts somewhere.
#books #booksRead -
Finished reading: This Book is Full of Spiders
John Dies at the End is one of my favourite books, in my all-time favourite genre, i.e., that sort of cosmic horror-adjacent black comedy of “ordinary losers encounter extraordinary situation, gory hijinks ensue” (see also, for e.g., Ash vs. Evil Dead, EMH, anything by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, etc.). So it is with a conflicted heart that I say This Book is Full of Spiders just doesn’t quite land for me. In some ways it is more competent, narratively, than its predecessor, but I think the polishing of some aspects of it make the rough-edges in others (characterisation, theme) more apparent, and it feels like it’s always trying to be slightly more clever than it is. It also has a very 2010s edge of Millennial ironic cynicism that has aged pretty poorly in this our Big New Year of 2026, particularly in relation to the ending and also some segments of racism-as-humour that are definitely being used in the well-meaning-I-guess-white-guy-ha-ha-isn’t-racism-dumb way that’s like . . . ye-ee-ee-eah maybe you could also just not?
Anyway. There are apparently still two more books in this series and am I going to read them? Absolutely. But was this my favourite? No. Still chewed through it quickly, though, and sometimes that’s really all you need.
#books #booksRead #sff -
Finished reading: Hol(l)o(w)metabolism
Devoured (har har) while manning the CSFG‘s booth at the Geek Markets yesterday. Some heavy themes, but good shit. Available as a zine, printed or electronic, directly from the author.
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Finished reading: Department of Truth, Vol 1: the End of the World
Found this randomly in the library when I was wasting time last week. In a funny coincidence, I’d heard it recced a few days before, so read the first chapter, and immediately vowed to go out to buy it. Which I tried today, except . . . the local comic store had apparently sold out of every single edition of it? So I reserved a copy (support your local stores, folks!), then went back to the library to finish reading. Which I did sitting on the floor in the children’s storytime circle because, look. ACT Libraries? Love your work, but seriously. Chairs, brah. Y’all used to have so many more chairs. Where did they go? Do you need funding? You probably need funding. I’m sorry. Sorry for pointing it out. Please don’t be self-conscious, it’s fine, really. Keep doing what you’re doing.
Anyway. I will still be purchasing this volume, and also the next one, and also maybe being a pain and cancelling my reserved copy and getting one of the special hardback editions instead. So. There’s that.
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Finished reading: Vermis I – lost dungeons and forbidden woods (Forsaken Edition)
Dark Souls meets MÖRK BORG. Doesn’t hold together as coherently as a game as Godhusk, but if the whole “fake videogame guidebook” genre appeals in any way, a must-buy.
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Finished reading: Godhusk – rebirth
For everyone who enjoys reading the Dark Souls wiki more than actually playing Dark Souls, these books are for you!
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Up next: Terry Pratchett’s Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork
Eeey! I backed this on Kickstarter a while back, promptly forgot about it, then was pleasantly surprised to get the PDF download link (and shipping notice for the physical copy) this morning.
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Finished reading: Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 8
Aa-aa-aa-and done!
So I like Hualian better than the main pairings in SVSSS or MDZS (no shade on either, mostly just a personal preference thing), but the story itself I think suffered from being unfocused in places and with, honestly, a pretty disappointing villain reveal.
Still a fun read, and with some parts that will live rent free with me forever.
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Currently reading: Encyclopaedia Eorzea ~The World of Final Fantasy XIV~ Volume I
My actual physical TBR shelf is one of those floating IKEA LACK shelves and it, uh. Wobbled in the drywall when I tried to stack the two encyclopedias on it. So. Better read them I guess.
Just through the “history recap” section (covering “prehistory” to just before Stormblood) and, okay. That did clear up a lot of the timeline stuff in game I’d been confused about (the Allagans, the War of the Magi, etc.).
Still only like a quarter of the way through the book, though, and there are like . . . three? Four? Volumes of this thing! I guess no-one ever accused FFXIV of not being a lore-heavy world . . .
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Finished reading: Gehenna War (Vampire: the Masquerade 5e)
I do still like 5e but this splat has the same problem Sabbat did, which is to say Renegade keeps shying away from the absolute balls-to-the-wall bonkersness of the classic oWoD. “It’s up to your group to decide!” No, fuck you. Give me more stat blocks for aeons-old monsters with ten dots in every Discipline and goresploitation nonsense. That’s what I’m here for, man.
Also, as usual, the fun stuff is unrelated to the main book and shoved into an appendix. In this case, examples for each stat of ideas for Messy Criticals and what we used to call botches back in the day and has a new name now I don’t remember. As well as some general “if failing wouldn’t be interesting”, don’t roll” guidance.
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Finished reading: Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 7
After the last volume being such a banger, this one was a bit . . . meh? Partly because it just felt there was too much — too much plot, too many characters, too many side-stories — which I guess is very much an MXTX hallmark, but as someone who tends to prefer closer and more intimate stories, this kind of “crossover special” shtick doesn’t work for me.
The other one was the White No-Face reveal. I’d actually been trying to avoid spoilers for once, but had still managed to figure out most of the plot based on fedi vagueposts. And this is another one of those “for me personally” things, but I don’t like the actual reveal as much as the fake-out, which I firstly thought was foreshadowed better, and secondly I just found more thematically interesting. So . . . that was kinda a letdown.
Finally, Hua Cheng is inching into bratty bottom territory, which again is Big MXTX Energy . . . but does my id totally cold. I’d been enjoying Hualian because it didn’t have this dynamic, but . . . here it is, I guess. Even if only a teeny tiny bit.
Anyway. I guess we’ve got another six months before I remember to buy the final (?) volume. So . . . look out for that.
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Finished reading: The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (Novel) Vol. 2
First half a little slow (not to mention took me a little while to remember who everyone was and what was going on), but devoured the last third in a few hours when the mystery plot picked back up again.
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Finished reading: Blood Sigils (Vampire: the Masquerade 5e)
This books spends its entire length talking about the vampire blood magic community as “The Scene” and oh my god I could not take it seriously.
Regardless, fun mix and crunch and fluff. One of the things I’m liking a lot about the 5e books, including this one, is the inclusion of “meta-mechanics” for the Storyteller on how to structure the build of stories themselves. Which are useful tools for a bunch of things, not just tabletop sessions. So. Multipurpose!
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Finished reading: Demon, Volume 1
Second library read for the day, content warning for suicide and self-harm under the cut.
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Finished reading: Demon, Volume 1
Second library read for the day, content warning for suicide and self-harm under the cut.
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Finished reading: Demon, Volume 1
Second library read for the day, content warning for suicide and self-harm under the cut.
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Finished reading: Demon, Volume 1
Second library read for the day, content warning for suicide and self-harm under the cut.
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Finished reading: Shibuya Goldfish, Vol. 4
Read in the library when I needed to kill some time. Basically “what if zombies but goldfish” which, in theory, as fan of both horror and aquariums, should be exactly my jam? Except this manages, somehow, to be . . . kinda boring?
Wild.
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Finished reading: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward — The Art of Ishgard -The Scars of War-
. . . woah, the pets in these older artbooks are account-wide? Wild.
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You know you read a thing and you’re like, “Well. Can’t unread that . . .” but also you know exactly the person you’re going to give a rec to? This is that book.
You’re basically going to know if this is the book for you just by reading the blurb and the content warnings, and if they sound like a thing you want to read, you will have a good time. I will say this was more explicit and visceral and fourth-wall-breakingly surreal than I was expecting, and the satire here is not subtle, though nor is it supposed to be. You know JK Rowling when she shows up. Sympathetic characters are also thin on the ground, though the messiness and the cruelty are recognisable and understandable, and you’ve seen them before to some degree or another if you’ve spent any time in queer alt spaces. People also drink piss. It’s that sort of book.
Brainwyrms is not going to be for everyone, but if you’re looking for a messy, visceral, surreal, trans cosmic horror . . . then yes. This.
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“In the earth, air, sea, on the forums and the local council Facebook groups, one truth becomes clear, one truth above everything else, and once you know it you cannot un-know it: it’s getting worse.“
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Finished reading: Chicago by Night (VtM 5e)
I admit I bought this whole-ass 355 page book for the one (1) Loresheet page of the Cobweb, i.e., the V5 version of the Malkavian Madness Network. Yeah. I am That Bitch.
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Currently reading: Chicago by Night (VtM 5e)
Wait. Like. Pink Pink???
(Shout-out to all the, like. Two other people who played Redemption. I trusted you, man! I liked you!!!)
#books #booksRead #tabletopRpgs #ttrpg #vampireTheMasquerade #worldOfDarkness
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Currently reading: Field Studies Institute (ARG)
So this is technically a website-based found-object ARG, not a “book” . . . but it involves a lot of reading so, hey. It can go here.
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Could you make her worse? Yes, you could.
Psychotic goblin nightmare girl meets sad little meow meow online. The first half of Fluids is a fantastic character study of unhealthy internet relationships — you have definitely met both of these girls if you’ve spent any time in an alt and/or queer space — and a full-force train you know is about to crash. The second half is the crash and it’s also a little bit where the story started falling apart for me. Once the girls get to the casino and the splatterpunk starts, everything starts feeling just a bit too David Lynch.
By now we know both our protagonists are unreliable narrators, albeit in different ways, so it’s hard to take any descriptions of anything that’s happening as “real.” Particularly give the ease at which some human bodies split apart versus the way others endure, and the general lack of consequences at the . . . whatever is going on with the casino murder hotel. Is this actually happening? Or is it in our protagonists’ heads, American Psycho-style? Did we accidentally fall into some kind of Hell or Purgatory? Is this an extended metaphor or allegory of some kind? The book never even seems to acknowledge the questions.
I don’t mind this ambiguity per se, but it does blunt both the emotional impact and viscerality of the gore. Spray all the fluids you want — and this book does — but it’s hard to feel much about it when the novel doesn’t commit to whether people other than its protagonists are even “real.” Fluids is most effective when it’s showing its deeply fucked-up characters slamming full-force into the real-world consequences of their sadistic naivete (for Lauren) and self-justified selfishness (for Dahlia). Everything else is certainly messy and slippery but nonetheless . . . kinda flat.
That being said, this was still a fun read and I would definitely still recommend Fluids to anyone after some fucked-up wlw murdergore action. Which, yanno. I know you’re out there.
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Finished reading: Mnemo’s Memory and Other Fantastic Tales
My disclaimer on this one is I know Dave from the local writers’ community, which is how I picked up this book; at a Conflux a (ahem) shameful number of years ago.
Regardless of me being bad at getting around to reading things, this is a great collection of stories, ranging across most genres. Stand-outs for me included “Seven Excerpts from Season One” (I’m a sucker for a found-object narrative/analogue horror), “The Dressmaker and the Colonel’s Coat”, “Red Fire Monkey”, and “Lost Dogs”, which is both utterly brutal and worth the price of entry alone.
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I’ve probably mentioned before that, for a variety of reasons, I’m not the fastest reader in the world. Nonetheless, I managed to get through seven titles in July, which I think was pretty good.
