#i mark up soo many of my books. i just like rereading later and being like whoa those were my thoughts the first time how neat

[heeyjuuuude]

tagged by @iwantlotsoftacos (thank you love!! this was fun!!) and then i put explanations/thoughts on each in order in the tags because i have so many thoughts on books lmao

hardcover or paperback

rent or buy

reads in silence or reads with music

standalone or series

annotations or pristine pages

ebook or physical copies

dog ears or bookmarks

mismatched series or complete sets

cover matters or you don’t judge

lend books or keep them to yourself

enjoys classic lit or despises them

browses shops or orders online

reads reviews or goes in blind

unreturned books or clean library record

rereads or once was enough

fanfic enthusiast or stickler for canon

deep reader or easily distracted

must read the book before seeing the movie or order doesn’t matter

has neat bookshelves or messy bookshelves

skips ahead or resists temptation

reads aloud or in your head

guesses plot twists or never sees them coming

i’m tagging @shardsoflesbianism, @wlw-omgcp, @miserybiscuits, and @onemusecalliope (if you’d like to!) and anyone else who wants to. thanks mabel!! this was fun and you know i never need an excuse to just like talk about books.

#i love paperbacks!! cannot explain but they are perfect #i love owning books so i can tear them up oops #i cannot focus on a book without background noise #the build up of a character arc is usually better!! #i mark up soo many of my books. i just like rereading later and being like whoa those were my thoughts the first time how neat #there’s just something special about a physical copy idk but again i love making them worn in #okay shut up i know i just love the look of a book that’s clearly been read a lot. like it’s well loved and that’s great #if i own part of a series i Need to own the whole thing #unfortunately i am one of those people that gets drawn in primarily by cover art (and summary next) #i love lending!! i have a friend who has very similar lit taste and we swap books and write in the margins. it’s the best and so cool #i’m very very picky about classic lit but when i find a good one i love it. my fav book is little women. i’ve read it 31 times #bookstores bookstores bookstores!!! #unless it’s a friend with a similar taste in lit i don’t like reviews bc my tastes aren’t like. standard. so i generally avoid reviews #i would NEVER!! not turn in a book!! partially because!! my elementary school librarian!! was my friend!! no shame #i reread EVERYTHING lmao again it’s cool to see how my thoughts on it change #dude listen. seeing other peoples’ interpretation of a character is so cool and i love it #soooo easily distracted. i used to be impossible to tear away but then my Mom Senses grew in and now i’m constantly alert for like anything #there are very few cases where i don’t care but you usually get so much more info and background from the book #my bookshelves are my pride and joy. they are organized into genre and then alphabetized #(except during pride month. then they’re organized by color) #i hate that i do it but i do unfortunately. sue me #lmao i read ALL the time as a kid. like at lunch or the playground or after a quiz or in five minute car rides. i would’ve gotten into #(cont) trouble if i read aloud. plus i’m a pretty fast reader but not a very fast speaker so it would be annoying and slow me down #i never get plot twists ever. it’s pretty nice #wowza this was long #do people still say wowza #alright time to find my two (2) mutuals besides mabel and agonize about whether or not i should tag them #personal #i feel like everyone’s gonna real what a dork i am and i’m okay with it

[dregs-of-the-barrel]

An unstructured shadow and bone rant xoxo

soo i'm currently rereading shadow and bone and i am...not enjoying it. i'm just getting so frustrated by alina!!!!

She is constantly so sour!! And has no drive unless the context involves a male romantic interest.

i understand that it is difficult to adapt to a new life, but in terms of a reading experience, i am not a fan of having to read up to around the 50% mark in a book before things start to happen (alina manages to activate her powers, the amplifier storyline gets introduced, etc). like until then it was literally just alina being like 'i hate this. where's mal. i want to disappear into the crowd'. I think this may be down to how leigh bardugo structures multi-book stories, because i remember there being precious little actual plot in 'king of scars' until around the last quarter. But it's just not fun having to read pages and pages with no plot or psychological development happening.

Again, i realise these are understandable feelings, but it's far too repetitive, which makes me as a reader wonder why i should care about what happens to alina next. so far the entirety of her personality is hating everything and loving mal. And i don't find that to be a very empowering narrative and don't see why that portion of the story has to be so drawn out.

Another thing that left a really bitter taste in my mouth is the makeout scene between alina and the darkling after/during the winter ball. The way she starts to (in her words) panic when he lifts up her skirt? How she says she doesn't know what would have happened if those other people hadn't arrived? How she says that if she said then that the darkling could come to her room later, there was no going back??

Even taking context such as the darkling's power and alina being an actual wet blanket into account, why is this a narrative on consent that we are presenting to young people? Like seriously, this is the bit that so far has rly rly made me dislike the book for reasons other than strange pacing.

Alina should be shown to want to have a choice.

Why does she have no agency on anything. I know this may change later on in the trilogy (can't remember details that well tbh) but i cannot stress how

Frustrating

reading this is. I don't think the point of a trilogy is to have the bulk of the first book consisting of the main character having no ambition, no desires beyond impressing men that treat her badly, no agency in her own story.

I am tempted to leave the book at this point bc i am honestly just hating every minute of it lmao.

Can we also talk abt the racial stereotyping in botkin please!!! An angry, east-asian coded man who constantly speaks in the third person. I was talking to a friend abt this and she said the characterisation of botkin did not sit right with her AT ALL. and i find i have to agree.

Finally, i don't like how genya is implicitly 'redeemed' in the first book for her beauty and vanity by liking sby who doesn't notice her looks or gives her the time of day. It's just?? The same narrative decision that we see with alina?? How it is only true love and only right for the female character if her love interest doesn't need her to shine, and she is, therefore, redeemed by giving up her ambition.

This narrative plays out a lot more tragically for Genya, of course, seeing as she actually cared about asserting herself and holding agency over the way she looked and lived. But it is ultimately this idea of romantic love, in which female sacrifice (whether voluntary or not) is necessary for making her worthy of her romantic happy end, that happens to both alina and genya, i think. I don't remember the exact progression of genya and david's relationship, but this is the impression that i got from alina and mal's romance in particular.

He belittles and criticises her for decisions that were out of her power, treats her badly, says cruel things to her, yet doesn't change his own behaviour ever?? And how does she become worthy of him: she gives up all power, all ambition, and becomes his suburban housewife (essentially)

I know that many of the issues i take with pacing are probably down to this being leigh bardugo's first book, and i don't by any means hate her. I really love six of crows for how intersectional it is! For how nuanced and varied the character's psychologies are! But those are the points where shadow and bone really falls short. And i hope that some of my rambly unstructured 7am points are redressed by the netflix show.

#only love but i just had some thoughts #six of crows #the grisha trilogy #the grisha trilogy meta #tags are only for me to organise things on my blog