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godzilla-reads · 10 months

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🌸 June Reading Wrap-Up 🌸

In June I read 12 books total, bringing my yearly total to 85 books! My top 3 are the starred titles in my list:

🛍️ The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko

🦋 The Moth Keeper by K. O’Neill

⭐️ On Being a Bear: Face to Face with Our Wild Sibling by Rémy Marion (trans. David Warriner)

🌊 The Daughters of Ys by M.T. Anderson and Jo Rioux

🤘 Spider-Punk: Battle of the Banned by Cody Ziglar, Justin Mason, and Jim Charalampidis

🧚‍♀️ The Nixie of the Mill-Pond and Other European Stories edited by Kel McDonald and Kate Ashwin

🐲 Dragon’s Blood by Jane Yolen

🏳️‍🌈 The DC Book of Pride: A Celebration of DC’s LGBTQIA+ Characters by Jadzia Axelrod

⭐️ The Fire Within by Chris d’Lacey

⭐️ Fearsome Fairies: Haunting Tales of the Fae edited by Elizabeth Dearnley

👀 In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu

🐺 Only the End of the World Again by Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell, Troy Nixey, and Matt Hollingsworth

#godzilla reads #June reading wrap up #reading wrap up #books read in June 2023 #books read in June #books read in 2023 #reading #fave books #booklr #book blog #bookish #bookworm #booklover #bibliophile

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shisasan · 11 months

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June 1, 1912 The Diaries Of Franz Kafka 1910-1913

[ID: June 1. Wrote nothing. END ID]

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booksteacupandreviews · 2 years

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June was amazing month in reading and life #MonthlyWrapup #WeeklyWrapUp

How was your month? Which is the best book you read in June? What do you plan to read in July? Check out my June Wrap up in this post ⬇️

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#bibliophile #Book Blog #book blog feature #Book blogger #Books read in June #Books Teacup and Reviews #Eclectic Book Blog #Indian Book Blogger #June Highlights #June Wrap Up #Month In Reading #monthly post #monthly wrap-up #Reader #reading month #reviewer #weekly Wrapup

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why-the-heck-not · 11 months

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dishes; modern day sisyphus’ boulder

#yes i've seen a meme with that exact thing and i think abt it everytime im doing the dishes #idk if u know the one but like my pintrest has been feeding me with diff versions off it #btw another favorite is: ''tote bag falling off my shoulder'' as the boulder bc yeAH #booklr #bookblr #books #book #reading #read #study #studyspo #aesthetic #dark academia #june 2023 #2023

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one-time-i-dreamt · 11 months

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I went to a library, but the library was actually the whole cosmos, and the cosmos was God. God told me I could read any of the books I wanted, but I couldn’t decide on one before I woke up.

#dream #text #June 14th 2023 #library #cosmos #God #religion #book #books #reading #queueueueueueueueueueueueueue

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wutheringmights · 23 days

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I finished rereading The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce a couple of days back. I already talked about the first book in a post that garnered more attention than it deserved. I guess we were all happily reminiscing about the menstruation scenes together, or Tortall fans are so starved for content they (we) will reblog anything.(Understandable. I too am starved for a thriving Tortall fandom.)

I'm too lazy to make separate posts about each book, so we're just going to do a mega post covering the second, third, and fourth book.

Unlike last time, I will be giving a little criticism to this series. I still love it endlessly, but there were a few things about the prose I thought was interesting that I want to talk about a bit.

So, without further ado~

In the Hand of the Goddess

I think this one is my favorite one, despite how rushed the plot it. It contains all of my favorite plot points, like awkward romances with George and Jon, attending knight lessons, and a little summer war. Fun stuff.

But it definitely feels rushed. I really wish someone told Pierce to make this a 12 book series, expanding on Alanna's years at the castle. It would have gone so far to better develop the romances and the friendships in these books.

I am fascinated by what Pierce chose to skim over. Characters would die or kiss for the first time off screen, with the prose resuming with Alanna reacting to it. It demonstrates an understanding of character work that I personally adore and try to emulate in my own writing-- the real bones of a story being in how characters respond to fantastic events as opposed to the fantastic events themselves.

Also, the whole veil spell Roger cast in objectively stupid, and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible. You're telling me that Roger used magic to make Alanna lose interest in doing anything about the obviously evil things he was doing? That's fucking hilarious. You know an editor came back to Pierce and asked her to come up with a reason why Alanna wasn't just going to spring into action at the first sign of Roger trying to kill her, only for Pierce to come up with this. It's so silly. I love it.

Woman Who Rides Like A Man

Did this book age poorly? Yes, but not as badly as I remembered. That's not a stirring defense, and it's really not meant to be.

The Bahzir are a mess of Orientalism, and Pierce definitely deserves criticism for not only the way she wrote them but for the ways in which she frames their cultural practices as something that needs to be fixed. Having Alanna want to force them to change their culture to suit her beliefs is not a great look for both the character and the writer. And that's not even getting into the whole assimilation plotline.

But I did enjoy Pierce's attempts to expand on the definition of womanhood, especially as a part of Alanna learning to embrace femininity. There is this running thread in these last two books of Alanna learning about all the different ways to be a woman and choosing for herself what her gender means to her. It's not done particularly well, and anyone looking for a revolutionary examination of gender roles and identity is going to be sorely disappointed. But there's an attempt here that I can't help but appreciate.

This book is also where Pierce starts to slow the plot down, which lends it to having the most reasonable pacing out of the bunch. That being said, it's also the book where the lack of development for a bunch of the side characters start to hurt. I really wish Gary or Raoul joined Alanna in the desert. Raoul gets his moment in the sun with the Protector of the Small books, but Gary remains largely forgettable. In fact, I spent this entire read-through convinced this man dies at the end of the last book, if only because I can't remember where he appears in any of the other books.

Lioness Rampant

This book somehow has the improved pacing of the third book while still feeling rushed. The quest for the Dominion Jewel really should have been it's own book, if only to give Thayet and Buri more room for development. Thayet in particular really needs her moment to shine, especially when she continues to be an important character in the other series.

But do you know who did get a lot of screen time? Liam.

Remembered shit about this guy before going into this book. I could only vaguely recalled disliking him as a kid, but not as much as I venomously hated Jon. (Speaking of which-- I love the way this man is realistically shitty. Him getting dumped by Alanna is always my favorite scene.) But Liam? Fuck that guy. Holy shit. I give full applause to Pierce for portraying the important milestones every girl goes through growing up, which includes having a situationship that is so shitty that it becomes essential character development.

Roger's return feels very... cheesy? I think Alex should have stepped up to be the final villain on the story. Unlike Roger, Alex was Alanna's friend. They have history. The betrayal would have imbued that final fight with so many more emotions than it ultimately had. I also would have liked Alanna to have at least meaningfully talked to Alex sometime before the climax.

Honestly, it's impressive how reactive Alanna is as a character in the last half of the book. She doesn't seek out how to stop Roger's plan, or fix Thom, or anything. Other characters make plans and she just... waits for something to go wrong.

That being said, by virtue of Alanna's relationships with George, Liam, and Jon all happening sometime in this plot, this book becomes a good place to look to get the full berth of how Pierce handles romances. Which, I love her approach. The romances are never over the top or, for lack of a better word, too romantic. It's very down to earth, with characters dating, marrying, or breaking up for realistic reasons.

Jon and Alanna were friends who broke up because they had different life plans. Liam and Alanna broke up for having fundamentally different values. As much as I bitch about how shitty Jon and Liam are, they're not cartoonishly evil. They're just a little shitty the way most of your exes will be. Jon and Liam are men could find love with someone else. They just aren't suited for Alanna.

Meanwhile, the most romantic things George does are wait for her and be supportive. He doesn't fight or get territorial. He makes his feelings clear, then waits for Alanna's cues. Alanna definitely loves him, but she ends up with him in the end because their lifestyles and core beliefs meld together. There's no grand romantic gesture or whirlwind affairs. They are just a good pair.

I have read stories with far heavier focuses on romance, and none of those couples feel as perfect as Alanna and George. Those stories prioritize all the gooey moments over showing why the main couple should get together. For how little romantic interactions they have, you believe these two could have a successful marriage. Perfect stuff.

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Over all, I really enjoyed rereading these books. For all my griping, I still love the story. I love Alanna. She's a character who is fundamental to my soul. No matter where I am in life, I will always want to open these books and find her again, to walk back into Tortall and join her on her quest to be a lady knight.

My copies of the series come with forewards from a previous edition. In one of them, Pierce wrote that this series started off as an adult fantasy story that was much darker and edgier. I need to know what that story looks like, what happened in it. Pierce can claim as she wants that she hardly remembers what it looks like, but I refuse to believe that. Release the unedited first draft, Pierce. I am begging you.

#it probably has on screen gay sex for thom and roger #anyway that's the alanna series. the library book i ordered is still not here yet so now I'm off to find another short-ish book to read #this book better come in before june or else i will lose it. i am putting off reading the illiad for this #me rambling #bookish #books and reading #books #bookblr #tortall #song of the lioness #tamora pierce #me reading

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suba-sekai · 2 years

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oh gods hes hot

#same hua cheng same #tgcf #tian guan ci fu #hua cheng #san lang #I AM NOT READY FOR BOOK 4 WHEN IT COMES TO FULLY BOOKED #havent read the novels yet in general but dw #that will change very soon #as in june 12 soon #fanart #art #fav internal hua cheng to draw was the one on top #struggled w the other 2 but we manage #desmondarts

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cowboylikejesper · 4 months

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the amount of anger that flows through my body every time i remember seeing someone on twitter say that jesper would cheat on wylan

#this was all the way back in may-june of last year but still #wow the biphobia and racism 😍😍 we love to see it !!!#/sarcasm #y’all always wanna demonize black or bisexual characters #and for what #jesper would literally never do that like what is wrong with you #he loves wylan so much #did you read the books with your eyes closed #KEEP MY WIFE’S NAME OUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH #/ref #six of crows #soc #crooked kingdom #shadow and bone #s&b #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #wesper #leigh bardugo

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doll-elvis · 8 months

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#just a boy who loved his momma #I really didn’t learn to love Gladys myself until I read June Juanico’s book #only then did I truly understand what a devoted and genuinely loving person she was #she would have made the best grandma for lisa marie #and I also selfishly wish that she could have taught me all her ways #like how she cooked all the foods Elvis loved #ahh I just admire her so much #elvis presley #elvisaaronpresley #elvis #gladys presley #elvis history #elvis fans #elvis photos #gladys love presley

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vintagepresley · 1 year

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If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.

#elvis presley #june juanico #Elvis: in the twilight of memory #Will I be reading this book again? lol YEP.

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bookaddict24-7 · 1 month

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NEW YOUNG ADULT RELEASES! (APRIL 2ND, 2024)

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HAVE I MISSED ANY NEW YOUNG ADULT RELEASES? HAVE YOU ADDED ANY OF THESE BOOKS TO YOUR TBR? LET ME KNOW!

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NEW STANDALONES/FIRST IN A SERIES:

Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens

Hearts Still Beating by Brooke Archer

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

The Misdirection of Fault Lines by Anna Gracia

The Black Girl Survives this One by Various

Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew

The Break-Up Lists by Adib Khorram

Trajectory by Cambria Gordon

Darker by Four by June C.L. Tan

Draw Down the Moon by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Something Kindred by Ciera Burch

No Going Back by Patrick Flores-Scott

Fate be Changed by Farrah Rochon

Call Forth a Fox by Markelle Grabo

Every Time You Hear that Song by Jenna Voris

What if...Loki was Worthy? by Madeleine Roux

NEW SEQUELS:

Wrath of the Talon (Talon #2) by Sophie Kim

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Happy reading!

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godzilla-reads · 2 years

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June was a month of many good books, but here were my top three reads!

Down below is my whole list of books I finished, coming to 10 books this month and totaling 96 so far in 2022:

⭐️ Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

💜 On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

⭐️ The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories: A Collection of Chinese Science Fiction and Fantasy in Translation From a Visionary Team of Female & Nonbinary Creators edited and collected by Yu Chen and Regina Kanyu Wang

💜 Displacement by Kiku Hughes

💜 Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

💜 All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson

💜 World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

💜 The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch): Lessons from a Life in Feathers by Caroll Spinney

⭐️ Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

💜 Harleen by Stjepan Šejić

#godzilla reads #books read in June #books read in June 2022 #books read in 2022 #books read #reading #reads #booklr #books #bookworm #bookish #booklover #book blog #book blurb #book addict

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shisasan · 11 months

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June 11, 1930 Journals of Anais Nin 1927-1931 [volume 4]

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themelodyofspring · 10 months

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05.07.2023

There was a clearing in the middle of the woods. It tasted of lightning and magic.

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plantdad-dante · 4 months

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Book #132 - Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

(I hope 14 year old me is aware that doing that book presentation was not a mistake, you just wanted to tell your peers about the weird christmas book that you love and it's okay if it didn't go well, you still stood up for the thing you enjoyed and that's really heartwarming and nice, actually, and you were right, okay, you were right in loving it!!!)

I'm back. I'm crying. I'm feeling shrimp emotions. Hi.

Banjo lives. He gets to live without being used or abused or manipulated. The match girl lives. She gets to have a future (an immediate future of "grub at the Watch house", but a future nonetheless). That little girl from The Maul gets a sickass sword and is presumably very happy with it. The Beggars get some fancy food that may have actual nutritional value. Hex gets a teddybear. Gawain gets to play marbles with the glass eye of a serial killer. A happy Hogswatch night for everyone.

... except for the other criminals who got murdered by the Tooth Fairy's nightmare tower. Yeah, okay. (which, their story is mostly "horrible criminals are reverting back to children in the face of horror, haha", but jesus, their childhoods are dark. everytime the Lilywhite brothers bring up their mum's funeral, they're like "we saw her be burried" and someone will think "I bet you watched it closely", and like. hng. they needed to make sure that their mother, their teacher, their abuser, was definitely 100% dead and gone and well deep beneath the earth. I'm Normal about this.)

Also, listen, I, too, love "Humans need fantasy to be human", but I feel we need to put it back into its full context more often. The context of "Old gods do new jobs" (in general, just... the Hogfather being an old Solstice god); "The sun would not have risen [...] a mere ball of flaming gas would have illuminated the world"; "and yet you think that a bed is a normal thing"; "you need to believe in things that aren't true. how else can they become". Also, Susan, early on, yells at Death that Hogswatch is a time for "humans to be human", and I love echos like this.

Gods, I could quote this book for ages.

E.g.: When Susan visits Violet's flat, the narration describes how horrendous the thing is, just from a renting perspective alone, and notes "It was amazing how many people spent their whole lives in places where they never intended to stay". Which.... definitely hasn't gotten more relatable since the 90s. Definitely. Not....

Anyway, to wind this up - the most important thing about this book, the thing that made me cry like a helpless child, is the following realization I had: Very close to the end, Susan asks Death why he did it (save Hogswatch), and he pauses, then answers "I think it's something to do with harvests" ... which is a nonsensical thing to say in the context of this book alone, BUT. But. What is the quote from Reaper Man that has rearranged my brain matter for all future time?

"What can the harvest hope for, if not the care of the reaper man?"

Like, he took that to heart. All the way. And I recall all those little moments in the book where he is happy, positively giddy, that he can give people joy. People are happy to see him! They say Thank You! And they leave again, alive! He practically jumps at the chance to save the match girl. He did it all because he cares, because he has to care, because he is Death, and if Death doesn't care, then there might as well be nothing there at all, and what then? There need to be humans to need to care about, who need fantasy to be human, and so he is going to save fantasy, he is going to save the Hogfather.

Listen. I'm a jaded-ass motherfucker who could not give less of a shit about Christmas, but this book. This book gets it? And I... I just... Yeah. Happy Hogswatch.

#hogfather #terry pratchett #discworld #dante reads discworld #finally I can read Discworld again #this hiatus was a fucking dumb idea it felt horrible #on the other hand... did I seriously read 40 fucking books in between??#also I was right this would have felt exceptionally weird to read in June

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im-totallybuggin · 10 months

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The past few months have been beautiful

#mood board #aestehtic #june #july #winter #summer #wlw #gf #happy #nature #beach #sunset #book #reading #the starless sea #sydney

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