#my library has them all on libby with no wait list!!!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

redraspberryleaf · 1 year

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If you love:

monster of the week

found families

boys being dumbass lovable boys

the main character actually being relatable and not secretly superhuman stomping her way into the world of magic cause she's just that stubborn and broke

healthy relationships

books that feel like a really good fanfic, not from tropes, but cause the author doesn't think they're better or smarter than you

that sweet, sweet canadian content

I am BEGGING you to read The Guild Codex books.

#my library has them all on libby with no wait list!!!!#its so very vancouver #i love a girl talking about her toque #please please im obsessed with her just hitting massively powerful magical being with an umbrella #girl just steals magical objects and forces people to include her AS SHE SHOULD #the guild codex #the guild codex: spellbound #the guild codex: demonized #the guild codex: unveiled #the guild codex: warped #annette marie #aaron sinclair #tori dawson #ezra rowe #zak andrii #kai yamada #pwease pwease wead this im begginggg

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lexosaurus · 2 years

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Shoutout to librarians.

I’m away and my library card just expired. I called my hometown’s library and was like yeah I just tried to borrow a book on the Libby app and my card’s expired, I can’t go there till next week to renew it, blahblahblah, and this woman does not hesitate. She tells me it’s no problem, she went into the computer and extended my expiration to the end of the month and I just need to come by in the next few weeks to update my info.

Librarians really be out here making the world go round, y’all.

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feypact · 7 months

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public libraries in the usa offering free digital library cards to people not in their areas (as of october 2023):

brooklyn (13-21yo us residents)

seattle (13-26yo us residents)

boston (13-26yo us residents, EDIT: just commonly banned books)

los angeles (13-18yo california residents)

san diego (12-26yo us residents, not the whole collection just commonly banned books)

these books unbanned cards (unless otherwise stated) get you access to each library's complete libby/cloud library collection, no hoopla/kanopy/physical copies included.

ebook collections are expensive to maintain (many american libraries have annual fees for non-residents because of this) but because of an uptick in book banning (particularly brutal in mississippi last summer) larger libraries have opened their doors more, which is very kind of them!

i've used my seattle card for the last several months and their libby collection has about three times the books that my local library does, which is wonderful for accessing more niche titles or skipping a waiting list. would love to hear of similar ebook initiatives internationally!

i use library extension (firefox/chrome/edge compatible) to check all my collections (+ the internet archive) at once, works for several different countries highly recommend it.

spotify seems to be offering 15hrs/month of audiobook listening to premium subscribers and while that does seem useful if you're already paying and are after a new release with a long library waitlist, libraries are better for everything else.

#library tag #banned books week #banned books #emmybody talks #for international users... your mileage may vary!#i mean i suppose you could lie about your age/location to get some of these. i doubt theyd check i would just feel bad. personally.#post brought to u by banned book week but also being moderately annoyed at ppl mad about the spotify thing #libraries are wonderful but they have their own limitations and i think using both is good!

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ninja-muse · 4 months

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2023 Reading Wrap-up

I feel like this year was pretty average in terms of my reading. Some great books, some awful books, a lot of books in the middle. And while I feel as if I kept hitting slumps, I don’t think my stats really reflect that. I kept reading and even though I didn’t hit my goal of 140 books, that’s more because I read more thick and dense books, spent more time writing, and am one year further from the direness of 2020 and 2021.

This also seems to have been the year of T. Kingfisher for me (and also Ursula Vernon). I read several of her horror novels, as well as Digger and a bunch of the ebooks she makes free for patrons, which are really easy go-tos when you want something light and right now. I was kind of surprised when I realized she was my top author because usually that’s Seanan McGuire.

And I read more ebooks in general, because why should I wait for two months for the library to get a physical book in circulation when I can wait two weeks for it to come in on Libby? I’m still trying to reserve Libby use for lighter, faster, less involved books, because I tend to end up skimming a little more and there’s something about physical paper that helps me retain info better when the text is dense.

Now, stats! Yearly total: 128, excluding rereads and picture books Queer books: 44 (34%) Authors of colour: 15 (11.7%) Books by women: 74.5 (58%) Authors outside the binary: 7.5 (5.8%) Canadian authors: 14 (10.9%) Off the TBR shelves: 39 (30.4%) Books hauled: 41 ARCs acquired: 57 ARCs unhauled: 60 DNFs: 9 Rereads: 3 Picture Books: 6

If you look at last year’s stats and the year before’s, I’m pretty much holding steady in terms of my diverse reading—a little more than a third queer, about 60% female and 10% Canadian, around 6% gender-diverse authors. I’m way down on authors of colour though, and I didn’t hit my stretch goal of 20 Canadians, so those are things I’ll have to pay attention to in the year to come. It would be nice if I could manage more queer books too, but that’s not something I’m going to try for quite as much.

Two of my reading goals for the year were to read more books from my TBR than I acquired, and to keep my ARC levels about even. Seems like I pretty much hit them! I expect that 2024 will see fewer book acquisitions because a lot of my 2023 haul was bookstore visits with my dad and we’ve now hit pretty much every store in the city. I was honestly kind of surprised that my ARC problem stands where it does. I was so sure that I was going to have at least 10 more incoming books than outgoing. Go me! My spring ARC purge really, really helped.

I did all right on the rest of my reading goals. All but one book read (The Great Cat Massacre), which was the real point of the list! I only managed to finish one StoryGraph challenge, if you don’t count my pages goal, and as always I failed to read as many classics as I wanted. I’m starting to suspect I’m not a classics person, despite my interest in history and historical fiction. If anyone has classics recs for me, let me know?

To be completely honest, though, I'm not sure I'm going to continue posting to Tumblr. I pretty much stopped updating my feed in the summer and I've felt more relaxed, both in terms of Things To Do Each Day but also in terms of my reading. When I was more active on here, I felt pressured to read diversely at all times and though I try to have a healthy spread of perspectives, I know that I generally don't and am therefore a bad person by Tumblr standards. I am curious what my mutuals have been getting up to this year so please, sound off! And let me know if you do want to see reviews and wrap-ups continue here.

(Friendly reminder that I'm ninjamuse on Storygraph and LibraryThing, if you'd like to follow me there.)

And if anyone’s interested, here are the rest of my year’s highlights:

Top Five Fiction (not ranked)

The Hollow Places - T. Kingfisher

Menewood - Nicola Griffith

Bookshops and Bonedust - Travis Baldree

A Half-Built Garden - Ruthanna Emrys

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi - Shannon Chakraborty

Top Five Non-Fiction (not ranked)

Magisteria - Nicholas Spencer

Diary of a Misfit - Casey Parks

Evidence of Things Seen - Sarah Weinman, editor

Lay Them to Rest - Laurah Norton

Like Every Form of Love - Padma Viswanathan

Most Impressed By:

Shubeik Lubeik - Deena Mohamed

Diary of a Misfit - Casey Parks

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard

A Half-Built Garden - Ruthanna Emrys

Most Disappointing:

Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck

British Columbiana - Josie Teed

A Killing in Costumes - Zac Bissonette

Tauhou - Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall

Longest Book: The Hands of the Emperor - Victoria Goddard

Best queer book: Diary of a Misfit - Casey Parks

Did I beat 2022? No. Did I beat my Best Year Ever? No. That would be 2021. Did I read more classics? Not even close. Did I read more Canadians? No. I held about steady. Did I whittle my TBR shelves down any? No. Was it a good reading year? Probably about average?

Breakdowns by month:

January February March April May June July August September October November December

#reading wrap-ups #read in 2023 #reading stats #rec lists

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starcastlesinthesky · 2 months

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Libraries are for EVERYONE

One of my favorite quotes of all time is from librarian Jo Godwin:

"A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.”

Insane that someone would just go ahead and keep on with the fake narrative that libraries are only bastions of liberal ideas only. I beg people to come here and look at our library, and the books that we have. There are so many that I roll my eyes at. But hey, that means that those books are not for me.

I had a woman who called the library today when I was working the phones. She was immediately irate about the fact that she had to wait since December to read a book on Libby. She started reading it last month, but only got 43% of the way through it in 21 days. (That's definitely not a fault at all.) She has to turn it in tomorrow because there is someone on hold for it, and she is incensed that she has to wait to finish reading it again.

I explained to her how the holds process worked, especially regarding rechecking a book, and how it has to go to the next person in line. I let her know that she can get back on the hold list again, so that when the next person is done, she can get it back.

This woman, who I've never spoken to before nor did I recognize her name as a regular patron, proceeded to yell at me that "this library has such a liberal bias, because there's only one copy for this book, but 14 copies of Michelle Obama's book!" and "They knew this book was going to be popular, so they should have asked for as many as they got of Michelle Obama's book!"

The book she was reading is The Great Disappearance: 31 Ways to be Rapture Ready by David Jeremiah. She was comparing this book to The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama.

I kind of let her rant for a little bit, but as I tried to suggest things to her, she raised her voice at me, yet again. If you know me, that's one of the worst things you can do. I used to cower, but I've learned how to deal with people like that.

I told her the following when she finally took a breath:

"I am sorry for how frustrating this is for you. I would like to offer you what assistance I can, but I will only do that if you can calm down. If you are still this upset, I will disconnect the call."

I reiterate her about going back on hold for the book, how long at most she can expect to wait for it, then suggested to come to one of our library Board meetings. They are open to the public, and she can sign up to make a public comment to the Board.

The call ended with her crying because she was so frustrated that there "weren't as many religious books as there are liberal books" and "it's such a liberal agenda." I again apologized for her frustration, and directed her to attend a Board meeting, followed up with:

"If you have felt this way for a long time, it's best to actually say something rather than not saying anything at all."

She stated that nothing will change, but that I was right. I told her it helps to have others that feel the same way involved in a Board meeting. That's the best way for them to be heard.

*Now, time for my personal thoughts on the incident*

You cannot seriously tell me that you think that a pastor, who goes by Dr. but has only an honorary doctorate, is going to sell more books than a former First Lady. According to her, we should have as many books by this man as the former First Lady.

Also, if it was that important to her that she read it, why not buy it? Looks like a book that, as a good Christian, you would want to have. Then again, evangelical Christians are something else. A lot that I have met have been lovely, but more than that have been stupendously judgmental and racist. Some of them have learned, and many have not.

But I'll tell you this:

It's so important, as a public library, to have things for EVERYONE. And we really do. But if it's a matter of how many much media we have available for a certain item, that's determined by how much the author is checked out. If not many people are checking out this author's books, it's obvious that we're not going to order as many copies that we did a book by Michelle Obama. I guarantee the numbers are very different. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with subject, and all to do with popularity. If the community isn't interested, we won't have it.

#public libraries #public library #fake book embargo

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luxuriousmalfoy · 8 months

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This or That

I was tagged by @felixantares TYSM FELIX FOR TAGGING ME!!!!!!!!!! It's been a million years and i'm awful for waiting this long lmao

Hardcover or Paperback? Paperback!!!! My hands cramp so quickly from hardcovers so the ones i have are either bc it was the only copy i could find at the used bookstore or just a copy i don't physically read from bc i also own the audiobook. (I'm looking at you, The Anthropocene Reviewed)

Bookstore or Library? EASILY the library, it's free and stimulates the community hello. I like Libby bc i can check out audiobooks and ebooks from my local library!!!!

Bookmark or Receipt? i have a bunch of cute bookmarks so sure i use those but like Felix i am a dog earer! idk it's just always an available option lmao

Standalone or Series? it's definitely less pressure to pick up a standalone bc i don't have to worry about feeling overwhelmed, but sometimes there will come a long series (cough, 39 clues) that i just get so obsessed with and have to binge read. AGAIN like Felix most of my favorites are in series!! BUT standalones are low presh

Nonfiction or Fiction? Fiction! I like the occasional memoir or essay collection or like history book or something, but GENERALLY i prefer to go for Fiction titles

Thriller or Fantasy? honestly thriller!! though i will clarify--i'm not that interested in adult thrillers for the most part. not to be reductive but the divorcee thrillers really bore me. i love a good YA thriller though, from slashers to murder mysteries i just love them!! some of my favorites are (ironically i'm about to list some series') A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, The Amateurs, and One of Us is Lying.

Under 300 Pages or Over? Also over! I do like a short read but between 300 and 400 pages is like the audiobook sweet spot for me honestly

Children’s or YA? YA/Middle Grade for sure!! My favorite book is Holes which is a children's book technically but yeah i freaking love some good YA Middle Grade books

Friends to Lovers or Enemies to Lovers? It depends on the genre for me honestly, but sometimes i think Friends to Lovers has higher stakes and as it stands that's what i would go for, though that could change at any given moment tbh

Read in Bed or Read on the Couch? I do most of my reading in the car technically bc i listen to audiobooks while i drive a lot lmao

Read at Night or Read in the Morning? Day time! It's too scary to read thrillers in the dark LOL

Keep Pristine or Markup? I am such a markup bitch i love to highlight and write notes in the margins fr!!!!!!! I annotate Holes at least once a year

Cracked Spine or Dogear? Majorly controversh but BOTH. I dogear all the time and i am a compulsive spine cracker. It's just too satisfying. But also I'll say i have not spent my whole life as a book person, so idek if i have more than like 2 books that i've had for more than like 3 years anyways

OKAY i'm tagging @vitaminpops @silently--here and @iammyownsaviour, if you've already done this obv ignore

#tag game #zeddmarker #luxuriousmalfoy

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aspd-culture · 1 year

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Do you have books/movies recommendation that represents aspd well fiction or nonfiction?

Hhhhh I was waiting for this question to come one day. The answer is lowkey v v disappointing.

Because... no, not really. I've got like three, two of which do what I consider a fairly good job, and one that rides the fence of being a lil "oh great, the ASPD character likes blood and guts and death".

Sorry this is so long-winded tldr Ender's Game (book only), House, MD if you can handle some not ok 2000's comedy, and Wednesday if you never get into the fandom.

In order of, in my opinion, best to least best (they're all still p good):

I tried to make these spoiler free but it's hard while explaining good vs bad rep. I would recommend going into Ender's Game blind without reading what I wrote about it and coming back to this post after. I would read the warning attached to the other two.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (The book not the movie, oh my gosh, not the movie) - Peak ASPD right here. When I was a kid with ASPD, this is the only book I ever related to and I randomly picked it bc it was the third name on the mandatory summer reading list and 3 is my OCD's favorite number. It rarely lets me down, and in this case, brought me a seriously well-done look at ASPD done, possibly entirely without meaning to. Orson Scott Card, as far as I'm aware, set out to write a book about trauma and the way that different types of trauma shapes the mind in early childhood, and preschool aged children engaging in active military training is... woof. It's a lot when something that you relate to so much is a depiction of a war-era dystopia. There are definitely parts that still push the stigma, and a lot of what makes Ender "good" is the sympathy and compassion and "purity" he shows, so be ready for that. That said, this also shows how a kid can still fit the definition of a loving, innocent child even while actively engaging in violence. It's a bit preachy with its message, but it is a damn good book. I will openly admit I have never gotten around to reading the sequels purely bc they were not in my school libraries. I wonder if Libby has them... *takes mental note*. There are also questions about if Ender's siblings possibly have cluster b disorders themselves. I have seen theories that both Peter and Valentine have NPD, and a more controversial theory that Valentine has NPD while Peter has BPD and the book just happens to focus on demonizing him (as a character to make a point about him and Valentine, not because of the disorder) so it doesn't emphasize the non-splitting behavior. Just, do yourself a favor and don't read into psych articles about Ender's Game. They make a big deal out of Ender being a good character because he is "saved" by his empathy and just... idk the book is written from his POV and I don't see much empathy there. I see compassion. I see cognitive empathy. I do not see affective empathy besides with a couple Exceptions.

House, MD - the profile pic is for a reason. More than House, MD is a show about doctors or medicine, it is a show about House's struggle with his mental health. We watch him slowly get through the process of recognizing, adapting to, and working on his symptoms throughout the show. It honestly helped me before I even realized I had ASPD to improve my relationships with people by learning from his mistakes.

House is (minor spoiler) canonically diagnosed with "Antisocial traits" around season 6 I believe, but he experiences them the entire time. He is written as a character who I believe was supposed to have ASPD. If not, he is one of the most accurate accidents turned canon I have ever seen. That said, this show does not shy away from the negative aspects of ASPD. Many people say horrible things about House throughout the series, many of them he does not bother to argue with or deny. It is... really emotional for me sometimes to see how they speak to and about him and how he handles that. It's really good, but does have one very triggering episode about a "true sociopath" and House's struggles with relating to her also around Season 5 or 6. It's one I wouldn't skip if you're watching this for ASPD reasons, but House *does* try and separate himself from a "true sociopath" so be ready for some stigma. Also please note that this show is from around 2004. Lots of flip phones, ha ha ha, but also lots of excess stigma on things, somewhat homophobic and transphobic jokes, etc. Although, it is worth noting that it is a symptom of House's ASPD to make these jokes - he expects that they know he is not serious because of his tone and doesn't, due to lack of empathy, understand that these jokes are hurtful even when people know you don't believe what you're joking about to be true. He builds his team around making sure they can handle that part of him, which is a pretty decent thing to do, in my opinion, even though the right thing to do would be to change the behavior. But yeah, shitty early 2000's humor incoming with this show. I still 100% feel it is worth the watch, but I am white and thus have the privilege of feeling comfortable while watching it. Black people especially may be really (understandably) unable to feel comfortable watching this because the person that House worries is most similar to him and thus most threatening to his position is Foreman, who is a Black man, and thus many of House's "it's ok because he knows I don't believe it" jokes are targetting Foreman and many times they are racist jokes. He in no way solely targets Foreman, but that is there and it is extremely frequent. When you meet people named Taub and Thirteen, Jewish and fellow LGBT people will join the club in being potentially seriously uncomfortable with these jokes. I could handle watching it, ymmv.

The third and somewhat problematic lil sister, Wednesday (2022) - Hear me out, it is so good, imo, but I cannot interact with the fandom on this one and it loses serious points because of that. The reason that I can't? The entire fandom has decided that Wednesday Addams, a long-time rare ASPD coded girl, is autistic and "through the lens of Tim Burton" vs acknowledging that she is ASPD coded. Everything that can be an autistic trait, many have cherry-picked as proof she is autistic, and they openly choose to ignore a major step in diagnosis, making sure that the symptoms are not better described elsewhere. I will concede she may be autistic (although tbh I don't think so bc of her serious lack of stimming, - and no the SINGLE DANCE SCENE AT A SCHOOL DANCE doesn't count - lack of meltdowns, and affinity for sitting perfectly still don't read autistic imo), but she has ASPD. A literal therapist talks to her about "the source of (her) antisocial traits" and because she is a child, that is the closest thing to a diagnosis of ASPD she can be given. The girl is loudly ASPD coded just like the character Wednesday Addams always has been.

Further, there is a point to be made about the ASPD coded character being given her own show for it to turn out to be a m*rder mystery as well as her obsession with everything dark, broody, bloody, and macabre. Admittedly, in The Addams Family, that's everyone in her family not just the ASPD coded one but in Wednesday, she is the only character who likes those things so it's a bit ick in that regard. Still, I relate a lot to her and always have and people used to try n bully me in school by calling me Wednesday but my mom showed me it and said I reminded her of Wednesday as a compliment when I was little and I always took it as one after that even when I knew they meant it in a mean way.

Unfortunately, ASPD, unlike many disorders, is not underrepresented in media. It is overrepresented in the worst ways possible. Every other book or movie I can find is full of stereotypes, mean-spirited commentary, and m*rder. There might be something to be said about a character from It's Always Sunny, but that show is a major trigger for me so I haven't been able to watch it to tell, and Lisa from Girl, Interrupted (book or movie) is just... painfully bad but well-loved rep. Like, I love her, but holy crap girlfriend, how did you manage to add stigma in a book and movie about destigmatizing mental health?

The fact that even counting bad but well-loved representation I can still count all of it on one hand sucks, and if anyone has more I am begging you to share in replies.

#book rec request #book rec asks #book reccs #booklr #tv shows #tc show rec #tw show reccs #aspd-culture-is #actually antisocial #actually aspd #antisocial personality disorder #aspd #aspd awareness #aspd culture #aspd traits #aspd culture is #anons welcome

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e-b-reads · 4 months

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I want to know about books 11, 22, 33, 44 and 55 💫

Thanks for asking! Lol, typically for me, every one of these is a mystery, but they're all pretty different!

11. Light Thickens, Ngaio Marsh - The final Roderick Alleyn mystery (not that they need to be read in order). This does actually have some characters return from a mystery set (and written) several years before this one; they have aged, but Alleyn apparently has not. It's a good stand-alone mystery set in a play house (one of Marsh's favorite things to write about), with various references to Macbeth.

22. The Redeemers, Ace Atkins - This is book 5 in the Quinn Colson mystery series, I spent a lot of the beginning of last year tearing through them (11 total), slowed down only by waiting for library holds to come in. The sort of arc of the series (which does take place over 10 or so years, each book set ~when it was published) is that former Army Ranger Quinn Colson comes back to his hometown in Mississippi and then runs for sheriff so as to get rid of the old corrupt sheriff - and then takes down a crime lord, and has to quit being sheriff, and gets voted back in, and another crime lord takes over... Anyway, they're grittier/more violent than a lot of the mysteries I read, but I was hooked. All the characters felt very well-rounded - all the good guys have significant flaws, but I love them anyway, and (almost) all the bad guys have moments where they're sympathetic, if not redeemable.

33. The Night She Died, Dorothy Simpson - OK, so I can't think of anything particularly wrong with this book, but I forgot I read it until looking #33 up for this list. The first in yet another mystery series (published 1980, set in England), and it was...fine? I didn't read any others in the series, but I did finish the book, so it was gripping enough for that!

44. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Agatha Christie - A Poirot book; Poirot goes to the dentist, and then later in the day, the dentist is found murdered! If you've read any Poirot stuff, then you have an idea where things go from there. This was a reread, I like the more domestic Christie books (as opposed to international intrigue).

55. Relic, Douglas Preston with Lincoln Child - This is also first in a series, called the Pendergast series. I actually remember why I read this - I saw several books from the series in the library, and was intrigued, so when I got home I found the first one on Libby. Honestly not sure that "mystery" is the best description - maybe a combo of horror and thriller and some supernatural elements. I did like this first one - it's gripping, and Pendergast is a charismatic character. There's some funky pseudoscience in this one (think Jurassic Park) to explain some pretty fantastic things, but it's made to sound reasonable; I read two more in the series, but when it looked like Pendergast was actually starting to time travel with the power of his mind in the third one, I decided not to read the other 19(!).

(Send me a number 1 - 206 and I'll tell you about a book I read in 2023!)

#books of 2023 #I promise I read other genres - but probabilistically this makes sense #gonna tag the books now #light thickens #ngaio marsh #quinn colson #ace atkins #the night she died #dorothy simpson #one two buckle my shoe #agatha christie #relic #douglas preston #lincoln child

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caffeinated-bibliophile · 11 months

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This is probably going to be a long rambling rant because I'm angry, can't stop crying and I'm alone and I need to vent

I am furious and devastated and idk what to do. It looks like Brooklyn public library is going to force me into either not really reading much anymore, or using something like KU or maybe LibroFM, because they've stopped offering out of state cards (which were $50/year), there are no used bookshops near me (the closest is a couple hours away in another state), and I can't afford to buy most of the books I read anyway, even if I could get them all used.

Am I overreacting by crying all over my cat? Probably. First world problems and all that.

I live in rural appalachia. My library is part of a regional group on overdrive/Libby, which means all material is shared amongst about 20 counties. (Brooklyn's collection on overdrive is more than 6 times what my region's collection is.)

They can rarely add new items, there's no way to request items online (you have to go into a library and then it's up to them if they get a physical or digital copy), and the selection of material that conservatives would deem objectionable is tiny and not likely to grow much in the near future. (Honestly, I'll be surprised if they manage to keep what they currently have.) Wait lists are often 6+ weeks long at best for older titles, they rarely have more than one copy of anything, and I've been on the wait list for over a year before for a newer release. (Like Michelle Obama's Becoming, which I ended up getting within a few weeks after I signed up for the out of state Brooklyn card.)

I don't blame our libraries. They do their best. I wish they had more resources, and I wish that I could do more. This whole thing is just the fucking worst timing. I have things checked out, and I had holds on books that no library within 100 miles of me has in any form. My depression is also in full swing, and one of the only things that's ever kept me going is books/reading. I also can't go renew my local library card right now because I'm injured and having car trouble. (I mean. I'm also disabled and really don't want to drive an hour one way without my partner in case I can't drive back, but whatever.)

If I'd had any warning, before I logged in to start the card renewal process, I wouldn't be such a mess. But I ended up having to use a search engine to find a page where they have a notice about no longer offering OOS cards because I couldn't find it, and I never got an e-mail, notification on my account, or anything else giving me a heads up that last year was the end of being able to get/renew one of those cards.

I'm so frustrated, and this has thrown a wrench into my reading plans for the rest of the year, at least. I guess I'm going to go find out if any of the other libraries that used to offer something similar still do so.

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clunelover · 1 year

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I’m SO HAPPY these days. Work is continuing to go great, but I am also fitting in time for cooking and lazing, as is one’s sacred duty when one’s boss is out of the country for two weeks. Friends and family stuff is going well…plans are in motion to do thanksgiving at stepmom’s house since I successfully alerted everyone that I wasn’t going to host both that and Christmas. Now, we shall see how that ends up - in the past she’s often had some sort of breakdown and/or medial emergency right around thanksgiving that have made it so I have to sweep in and do all the cooking. But, if that happens again, we will have that data for next year. Look at me, not worrying about it for now!

Jeremy seems to be extra loving and caring lately - like, he always has been, and we have always both been very affectionate, but it feels like he’s putting in some kind of extra effort to do things for me, or tidy more things up to have me in a better mood. He has scheduled a secret date for us on Saturday - a hold on the family calendar that says “don’t worry about it” lol.

Things with the kids are different one day to the next, but we’re coping and I just keep thinking, as C gets older and has more mastery over his emotions, things will only get better. We had their teacher conferences last week and they’re both very smart - C is a math whiz and E is a reading whiz. Sounds like they’re both doing well enough with their social connections and have friends (I asked E’s teacher about her reports of crying often at school and being called a “cry baby,” and she said the crying must be happening in other classes because she only saw it happen once, when E had to have school lunch and it was something disgusting that she refused to eat. And that even if she is crying a lot, it’s not holding her back from having close friends).

Things are going great with my new mycology habit, and I have started giving some away - excited to grow more and do more of that. Haven’t started microdosing yet, want to wait a full week since my macro dose last Friday.

I’m working out a ton.

The one thing that is stalled is writing. And I guess reading too! Although I just got a great new audiobook so that’s going to pick back up. I was struggling in part because I had my list of old books to try, and put a million holds on audiobooks via the Libby app, but then they all kept coming ready at the same time, so I kept trying to delay delivery, but some of them I didn’t get to on time so the hold completely lapsed, and then my library card expired so I can’t manage the holds at all so I must visit the library in person to renew my card. Oh and somewhere in there I did have The Magnificent Ambersons and was trying that but could not get into it, like I was an hour+ in and nothing had happened. This was part of why the other holds bubbling up had to be put back on hold. But anyway, I saw I think it was @frances-baby-houseman recommending Flux and saying it was like a cross of Interior Chinatown and [some other book that I didn’t recognize but I don’t care because I loved Interior Chinatown SO MUCH so that’s all I needed to know]. Anyway since that’s a new book I went ahead and splurged on it via Audible and now I have something to read again. Haven’t read much yet but it grabbed me right away.

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anonymouscatt · 4 months

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For posterity, my annual New Years meme:

1. Your main fandom of the year: Baldur’s Gate 3! It’s funny, the last two years in a row I listed it as something I was interested in getting into but I wanted to wait until it left early access. And I am so glad I waited! I had no idea how much I was going to enjoy this game so it was a nice little surprise, plus I’m glad I got to experience the story in its entirety rather than waiting for content to be slowly added to the beta version. This game was a master example of my favorite type of game to play- namely, an RPG that allows you to develop a custom character’s appearance, attitude, and relationships with other well defined and interesting characters. This is something that, up until now, I’ve only ever gotten from BioWare, and recent developments from that studio have been disappointing, to say the least. I’m really glad to see there are other studios out there who can create this kind of experience, and craft it with such obvious love and care. I fell in love with all the characters and their stories! I also had a lot of fun watching the actors who brought them to life stream the game and experience how all their work came together. A truly well deserved Game of the Year.

2. Your favorite film this year: This is the year of DnD I guess because my favorite movie was Honor Among Thieves! Another very fun romp in the Forgotten Realms, this fantasy heist movie was a joy to watch. The unconventional family relationship beteen Edgin, Holga, and Kira was especially sweet and I nearly cried at the end when they had to choose how to use the resurrection spell. I also really enjoyed the Hunger Games prequel ; I thought the music and the sets were especially well done. I really enjoyed the art in Across the Spiderverse but I didn’t like that they ended it on a cliffhanger, especially when it could take quite a while for the next film to come out. Not a fan of splitting one story into two movies; I didn’t like it when the original Hunger Games trilogy did that either.

3. Your favorite book this year: The fact that I initially couldn’t remember what I read this year and had to go look it up in my Libby account probably says something about the state of my reading this year, hah. I remember checking out and starting several books from the library that did not grab my interest, and which I then returned without finishing. Unfortunate. Of the books I did finish, I enjoyed Martha Wells’ Witch King and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Witch King had a really interesting mythology and setting, and I’d be interested in reading more stories in that setting. Project Hail Mary is another of Weir’s stories that grounds itself in a modicum of science but makes it fun, and had several twists that kept me turning the pages. I also listened to Martha Wells’ latest Murderbot novel; however I was sick and slightly delirious at the time so it didn’t really stick with me in the way that I would like, lol. Hope to get a physical copy to read soon so I can properly appreciate it.

4. Your favorite album or song this year: Machine Learning by J. Maya.

5. Your favorite TV show this year: Probably the Last of Us! I think they did a really good job at adapting a video game story to television, and at bringing new elements to a story I already loved. Pedro Pascal probably wouldn’t have been my first idea for someone to play Joel, but he absolutely killed it, as did Bella. Could have used a few more zombies, though. ;) Also really enjoyed season 2 of Good Omens! It was a delightful romp until suddenly it wasn’t. I was a bit peeved at the end because I didn’t know this story wasn’t going to be self contained either, and therefore relied on Amazon renewing the show for it to be completed. Bleh. But! Now that we know it has been renewed and we will absolutely see the finale on screen, I can be more forgiving of that absolutely gut wrenching ending. Oh! Also enjoyed Silo, an adaptation of the Wool trilogy of books I really enjoyed. The sets in this show were fantastic and looked exactly like I had imagined the silo to look while I was reading; I’m very excited to see how they deal with later developments in the story. And shoutout to Resident Alien, which I watched for the first time this year. Alan Tudyk is absolutely delightful and believably alien.

6. Your favorite tumblr moment this year: just the fact that we continue to exist as every other social media website sinks to previously unfathomable lows I guess.

7. Your best new fandom discovery of the year: I mean I guess it’s Baldur’s Gate 3? Something new I started doing this year that ties into that is watching other people play video games, which. Is kind of a weird way to spend your time but I’m still having fun. I’ve watched each of the cast members of BG3 stream their own playthroughs of the game and I’ve enjoyed that. I’ve also been watching Friends at the Table stream games, which they’ve been doing more often this year. It’s kind of nice to just have a bunch of friendly voices on in the background and to see how they problem solve together.

8. Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year: I guess I can talk about my disappointment with BioWare here. They haven’t released any new information on a game that has been in development for uh. A decade? They’ve also, according to reports, treated their staff absolutely horrendously and laid off a bunch of key developers in a game series I used to love. I know they are quite literally not the same studio that made the games I love because those people are gone and because they’ve been bought out by a larger, solely profit-driven company. Still sucks tho. Friendship ended with BioWare now Larian is my Best Friend etc. etc.

9. Your favorite male character of the year: …It’s going to be Astarion, isn’t it. I didn’t even like him when I first started playing BG3, because I like to make kind choices and he constantly disapproves of that lol. And then I got to the end of his questline and just had this like. “Oh.” moment. And then in my next playthrough I abandoned my original plans in order to romance him instead and I have been captivated ever since.

10. Your favorite female character of the year: Shadowheart! My first romance in BG3 and another companion with an absolute banger of a questline.

11. Your biggest squee moment of the year: Getting the epilogue for BG3 to finally play! It was a bit dicey with mods but I managed it, and it was so sweet to feel like I was meeting back up with these characters again after being away.

12. Your most missed old fandom: I haven’t talked about Doctor Who yet! So this year had the three specials with David Tennant and Catherine Tate back, and the nostalgia was just. Overwhelming. The chemistry between these two is impeccable, and I knew it was just going to be those three episodes but wow. I could have watched another full season of their hijinks together. Also just missed good old RTD and the little touches that defined his era. The specials were a real treat. Looking forward to the new adventures with Ruby and 15 but the tone did feel somewhat different, the sort of fantasy element that they are bringing in is new and fresh which is good but will take some getting used to on my part. Still very glad to have RTD back at the helm!

13. Your fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to: Once I finish this current playthrough of BG3, I’m going to try another one of Larian’s games, Divinity Original Sin 2. It looks kind of similar in terms of gameplay, if a bit dated, but I’m curious about what else Larian has done and this seemed like a good fit. I also did plan on playing Starfield at some point, but… reading reviews and watching some Let’s Plays makes it pretty clear the game is not what I expected. Might wait for an even bigger sale before I drop money on it. Which is funny, because I upgraded my computer this summer in order to play it… and then BG3 came along and reset my expectations, lol.

14. Your biggest anticipation of the New Year: New Doctor Who! Definitive edition of BG3! (DLC perhaps???) And I guess DA4 if it doesn’t crash and burn… I am skeptical…

#new years fandom meme #happy new year #this is me

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the-yearning-astronaut · 9 months

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Honest question, I was getting interested in the murderbot diaries from all your posts but why on earth is a paperback with less than 200 pages 20 bucks??? and there are 8! of them as far as i saw

Hello! Just gonna give a heads up to say that this is going to be an unintentionally long post. Oops? (achievement unlocked! You've asked this blogger a question about their current hyperfixation!) There's a tl;dr at the bottom tho if you're not up for reading my rambling response!

So ngl I was also put off by the cost at first -- the audiobooks are also comparatively pricey and the ebook versions are only slightly less expensive. (2 of those 8 you mentioned are actually flash fiction and can be found online! Compulsory is a short prologue to the series and can be found on wired.com while Home is available for $2 on Kindle and is DRM free and takes place after Exit Strategy. Book 8 is called System Collapse and comes out in November.)

But like...after doing a lot of thinking I came to a few conclusions. Authors deserve to make a living, yeah? And they also have little say in how much their books cost -- that's a publisher thing afaik. These books in particular are also only available in hardcover, which have always been more expensive than paperback anyway.

And ultimately you have to decide if you want to support an author and what that support looks like for you. I totally understand the cost is prohibitive for many, especially now. Hell, me too even. But I enjoyed the first audiobook so much that I got the rest of them... and they all filled me with such joy and affection that I HAD to have the physical copies, too.

I personally find them to be 100% worth the money, regardless of their lengths -- heck I'm on my third listen through already and I started them this month lmao. Despite their short length, they tell complete, very vibrant, very human stories. (not sure that's the right word given that Murderbot has problems with being perceived as a person much less a human, but I digress) I've never related as much to a character as I've related to Murderbot -- and I'm being genuine when I say this. I also love how queer, neurodivergent, and anticapitalist the series is and all the dry humor and character growth and just... All of it.

My recommendation would be to find the first book at your local library-- they will most likely have the audio version available on Libby or a similar app service, if not physically. There will likely be a multi week long waiting list. If you enjoy it, find the second one the same way! Then you can decide if $16-$20 a book is worth it.

TL;DR -- imo the Murderbot Diaries series is definitely worth the cost. It's ultimately up to you to decide if you agree with me on that or not, but you can find them for sale as hardcovers, ebooks, and audiobooks -- Target has the first four available as a boxed set for $45 if you don't want to support Amazon, which has them for $40. I highly recommend you find the first one through your local library if you're still on the fence about buying them rn. There will be a long wait but I promise they're worth it!

Hopefully this answers your original question... I just realized it might not fjejdnd

#fox answers #thank you for the ask!!#i love getting them and I love when my flailing about something gets someone else interested in it too #Murderbot #martha wells #Murderbot Diaries #the murderbot diaries #tmd #i really really hope you give them a try and that you love them as much as i do!!#and if you DO give them a try pls come yell at me as you read them!!

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fumbliesthots · 1 year

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2022 Review + Rezzo 2023

This post is almost a week late because I was trying to take it easy after my Bali meditation + fam vacation trip. This year end trip really made me appreciate the slow life where I was really trying not to overthink and over-plan. (Also, geez, what happened to me? When did I become this sort of person?)

It's only been 2 days into the new year and I'm beginning to feel tired of the super-fast pace of work life again. I must remind myself to take it down a notch, as John Green says. I'm not working in a hospital – nobody will die if my job doesn't get done.

But first, let's recap some things I'm really grateful for in 2022, in no particular order -

Gratitude list 2022

1. My parents: They are not perfect but they are always doing their best to care for us the ways they know how. I'm learning new things about their outlook in life recently. My mom is an optimist that makes the best out of every sucky unexpected situation because she just wants everyone to feel ok. I think I probably got that from her. My father cares a lot about the world at large. Although we have different views of what "good" is, I appreciate that side of him.

2. National Library Board: Ok nerd. I feel like somehow I'm reading more books than ever this year. And really starting to get back more into physical books. Although I still love Libby for its convenience, sometimes reading on digital devices can be distracting. So I really appreciate having such a great library system in Sg – I can choose either to hang out at a nearby air-conditioned library or just to lie in bed and scroll Libby on my phone. It's the top perk of being Singaporean IMO.

3. Authors: I cannot not mention the people that wrote those books I enjoyed so much from the library. Some of the books that moved me last year:

Jon Yates - Fractured: Why Our Societies Are Coming Apart and How We Put Them Back Together Again.

Brene Brown - Braving Wilderness, Dare to Lead, Atlas of the Heart (also her podcasts have helped me so much last year)

Hank Green - I don't read enough fiction so these YA books were a surprise pleasure for me: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

Yanis Varoufakis - Talking to My Daughter About The Economy

4. The 3-Headed-Oracle: We completed 2 more writing challenges this year! I really appreciate the way we kept so consistent with this habit through the process, and got to know how each other thinks. I enjoyed learning how we see the world through different lenses, having their perspectives was really valuable and precious.

5. Workshops attended: Learning new self-awareness, critical thinking and communication skills at 2 in-person workshops which both happened at Common Ground - Facilitating Conversations for Change (by Shiao-yin), and Seeing & Shifting Systems (by Studio Dojo). These courses were so perspective-expanding that I wish more people would have the chance to attend. So I'm also grateful that my company has L&D funds for us to upskill ourselves.

6. Vipassana: Renewing my meditation practice at a 10-day course, and getting to disconnect from the world temporarily. Really amazing to have the opportunity to do that again after more than 6 years, such a privilege. This is my third time doing it but I somehow still gained new understanding and wisdom this time around.

7. XD Summer Offsite: Something about work - Meeting all my XD colleagues in person at our offsite in Prague. Even though this trip was expensive (they flew all of us in SG down) it was also necessary to at least start the process of gaining trust and building connections in the newly re-organized team.

8. Standing up XD Ops: Finally given the opportunity to upstand this new function officially in the group. I also learned that sometimes the right thing to do is to actively ask for things and not just wait for them to drop from the sky. Unsaid expectations and unset boundaries will just cause resentment. This is a huge theme this year for work. Clear is kind.

Intention review 2022

So what did I say I wanted to do last year? Balance? I regretfully say I did not achieve that. I was too busy balancing other people's priorities while neglecting my own. I was reading and learning a lot more, desperately trying to get more information about why things happen the way they do, trying to get more tools that could help solve the problems I see. As a result, I was feeling quite burnt out at some point, and people around me noticed.

I guess that was what pushed me to sign myself up to do a 10-day silent retreat again. I have to forcefully shut myself away and disconnect from the external world to find out what is happening inside myself.

A lot of things came up for me during my time meditating - the past, the future, imagination of things that has yet to come, assumptions of how things came to be. I have to remind myself, all these are anicca, impermanent. Stories in my mind that arise and will pass away. I am not the same person just 1 millisecond ago, what for carrying this baggage forward? What is more important is the choices I can make in the present moment, which is to sit here and observe my breathe and my body sensations. That's the only true thing.

Knowing all these theoretically is one thing, but the benefit of having these 10 day silent protected time is for us to actually start the process of rewiring our brains and stop the habitual impulse reactions of daily life.

But still, I guess these 10 days are not enough. I was refreshed and ready for the new year, yet, just 2 days in, facing all these unread emails and to-do lists leftover from last year, I'm starting to feel tired again. This won't do.

Intentions 2023

1. Spend more time practicing meditation. From past experience of previous retreats, my self-discipline has not been very strong when it comes to daily sittings. This a new strategy this time is to join a regular group. I've put a recurring event on my calendar to attend a weekly group sitting. Hopefully, this will help me maintain my practice.

2. Help my family be more healthy. In both body and mind. My parents are getting older, and although they are actively doing exercise by themselves, I think they would also benefit from learning Vipassana and begin the reduce their mental burden of growing old (and having the worrisome baggage of 3 single adult children lol). I'm also seeing how my bro is suffering from health problems because of an unhealthy lifestyle. He too could benefit from being more mindful of his habits. It may be a tall order to have them sign up for a 10-day meditation course, but hey, I've done harder things! 3. Turn things down a notch. I know it's counter-intuitive to say I have a deadline, but I've told my boss that I want to leave for my postgrad studies by the next year. So during this timeframe, I'm going to try my best to see what things I can create automated or self-running systems around, and maximize things that can be left undone. In short, how can I make myself dispensable? 4. Continue to serve others and build relationships, but be less "bottom". I used to think that there is a freedom that comes with being invisible and ego-less, and have used that easygoingness to get people to trust me and thus get what I need to be done. But I am starting to learn that doing things this way can be effective earlier in my career, but does not scale when I reached a certain level. Sometimes the right and kind actions are to actively set boundaries, keep clarifying situations, and align expectations. Don't try to be everything for everyone, instead, how can I help others learn how to help each other and help themselves?

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sayaratyriea · 2 years

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Hey. So. I saved your reblog forever ago about discworld cause i was like sure I'll read this eventually. Your testimony in the tags had me intrigued. But i can't find a good copy anywhere. Like the library system in my area only has the audiobooks. i can't do audiobooks cause i can't force myself to pay attention to things without subtitles. Well i mean i can it's just difficult. I tried the open library but the copies they have are scanned in and difficult to read imo. Where did you read them? And also, what is your recommended order?

Hi!! I unfortunately don’t know that my reading sources are gonna help much, since I mostly actually bought them (and my local library has a decent supply of copies for the ones I didn’t buy)—I keep having family members give me amazon gift cards and I cannot get it through their heads that I don’t like to support that site, so in order to avoid offending them I buy ebooks whilst trying to convince them to try gift cards for local places. When the money’s already been spent and all… I also like the covers, so I have a few of them in paperback on the shelf :) my copy of Guards! Guards! is hosting at least a hundred four-leaf clovers and a wide collection of bookmarks right now

Does your local library have access to Libby or another ebook rental app/service? My experience is that those are separate from audiobook rentals and might not be obvious, but I think most libraries do let you connect, at least where I’m from. I forget what the other ebook rental app my mom uses all the time is called. Discworld is pretty popular, so the books might have wait times, but it’d be a good place to start if you can access it! I’m honestly pretty surprised your library doesn’t have physical copies, because I’ve never been to one that didn’t have at least a few, even if they’re all always checked out. Maybe I just have good local libraries?

As for starting out: when I got into the series, I used this flowchart to figure out where to start out:

But this is, yknow, pretty overwhelming. My personal suggestion would be to start with Guards! Guards!, though. It’s the first appearance of Samuel Vimes, one of the more memorable recurring characters (and one of my favorites), and is a nice entertaining self-contained story that lampoons a solid handful of classic high fantasy tropes. The plot’s basically, “what if the rightful king didn’t show up to solve the Obvious Fantasy Plot (as rightful kings always tend to do), so the underappreciated city guards have to do it instead?.” It’s got a good spread of typical Discworld humor, interesting worldbuilding, and classic Pratchett insight—if you have ever seen that quote floating around tumblr about how poor people spend more money on boots than rich people because they always have to buy new shitty ones, that’s from Guards! Guards!. If you try this one and like it, that flowchart has a list of the other books that are primarily about the Watch characters, and they’re all very good. Pratchett was a great writer when he wrote Guards! Guards, but he gets better over the course of his career. Pretty much all of these can stand alone quite well, but it’s more fun to read them in order, because they often reference each other.

I would also recommend Small Gods, which is one of my absolute favorite Discworld novels. It’s not linked to any particular continuity, but it’s a really really interesting exploration of organized religion and the way gods work in Discworld, and it hits hard.

Monstrous Regiment is another good starter, being pretty effectively stand-alone with only minor links to existing stories. It’s about a girl who pretends to be a boy to join her country’s army, and as is typical with Discworld, it lampoons basically everything about that classic trope in a way that I personally find very satisfying. Also, there are several characters who have very strong trans and/or lesbian subtext, which is a neat thing to find in an older trope-y fantasy book like this! You can read it in a way that dismisses the subtext as just a continuation of the parody, but frankly I think Pratchett 100% intended those characters to be queer. They feel incredibly sincere to me, the characters just don’t use modern language to describe it all. Plus he dabbles with queer stuff in the Watch novels too, if you squint a little.

You could also, if you are brave and don’t care about late-arrival spoilers, try starting with Going Postal. This is one of the last books Pratchett wrote, and references a TON of stuff that is more satisfying and interesting if you’ve read the books that set it all up (plus if you care about spoilers, by its nature it spoils what happens to some of the Watch characters). BUT, that said, it’s one of the best in the series IMO. Its social critique feels incredibly fucking relevant in the era of social media and internet provider monopolies, it’s a very quick zippy read with a fun protagonist, and it’s got a lot of great humor and clever wordplay.

Generally speaking, IMO you can pick up nearly any Discworld novel as your entrance to the series and follow along and enjoy it if you must. The books are very episodic—recurring characters will occasionally have multi-book arcs, Vimes definitely does, but you won’t miss out on the ‘main point’ of any novel if you don’t have that context. Pratchett does a good job of reestablishing whatever context you do need when it comes up, he knows what he’s doing. So don’t feel discouraged if the only one you find looks like the fifteenth in a continuous string! If the summary on the back looks interesting, you’d probably be fine to just dive in most of the time. The only series I can think to compare it to in this sense is Redwall, lmao—you will get more out of the books if you’ve read the older ones that establish characters and plots being referenced, sure, but you can almost always happily read and enjoy any given book without knowing about that stuff if you want to. You might miss a few things or be confused by some worldbuilding, but at least in my personal opinion it’s never that big of a deal.

I haven’t read the wizard books yet, nor all of the witches ones, so no comment there. But I do really love the Watch books, and I think they’re a more interesting introduction to the series than the Death books, which are the other “timeline” I’ve read. (I enjoy Death more as a character when he incidentally pops up in other narratives, rather than starring in his own, but that’s just my preference.) Hogfather’s excellent, though, and seems to stand alone well enough that you could give it a go if it sounds interesting to you. Fake Discworld Santa gets murdered, Death tries to fill in, and the cast explores the meaning of holiday characters and belief. It feels like a Christmas movie kind of story, if you can picture that energy, but in a strange sideways way that’s like half parody while still half incredibly sincere. (And not, like, actually IRL religious or anything.) That’s the one with the quote about believing in “the big lies, like justice” that also tends to circulate tumblr a lot.

I hope this helps!! I wordvomited a lot and I blame the ADHD, but also I love these books a lot, and I hope you can find a way to enjoy them yourself!! :D

#taz talks #discworld #join me in discworld hell

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emjee · 3 years

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so you wanted to like Bridgerton

…but you couldn’t get past the gender politics/massive consent issues/rich people/crime of wearing stays with no shift underneath/insert your reason here.

Behold, I present to you this list of some of my favorite romance novels categorized by my own reactions that mayhap you share:

(But first, a note: I have read all of the books on this list, but in some cases it has been quite a while, so I’m not going to list content warnings because I frankly don’t remember all of them. I recommend checking Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, author websites (KJ Charles has her content warnings listed by book), and reviews if you’re concerned. If you DM me about specific books I can also do a quick search and give you an answer.)

(Actually, a second note: Please obtain these books through means that support the authors as well as small business, if possible. If audiobooks are your thing, check out libro.fm, which allows you to support an indie bookstore through digital audio purchases. If you prefer paper, order from an indie if you can--The Ripped Bodice is a romance-only bookstore that has paper copies of authors who can be hard to find in paper elsewhere, like KJ Charles. Where you have to get your ebooks depends on what your device is, but please pay for them. If you can’t or don’t want to, (which is fair!) check and see if you library uses Libby and/or Hoopla, which allow you to borrow ebooks as well as audiobooks. I believe Libby and Hoopla is only available in the US, but I might be wrong.)

I’m not going to do a summary for every book because this post is already long enough but I’m happy to answer questions about any of them!

If you liked the brotherly shenanigans, but weren’t into the weird controlling thing Anthony had going on:

The Turner Series by Courtney Milan (Unveiled, Untamed, and Unraveled) is about Ash, Smite, and Mark Turner, three brothers who have made it through life so far by relying on each other. If you want schemes and revenge on rich people, start with Unveiled. If you want to read about a law professional who actually cares about justice, start with Unraveled. If you want a book-length purity culture takedown, start with Untamed.

The Brothers Sinister Series by Courtney Milan (The Duchess War, The Heiress Effect, The Countess Conspiracy, and The Suffragette Scandal) listen Courtney Milan’s just really good at brothers and sibling relationships in general. If you want a duke who’s a class traitor, start with The Duchess War. If you want politics and wild fashion, start with The Heiress Effect. If you want friends-to-lovers plus SCIENCE! start with The Countess Conspiracy. If you want the best suffragist newspaperwoman ever to appear in fiction and the forger who falls in love with her, start with The Suffragette Scandal.

If you were very happy to see people of color in an English historical drama, but have some reservations about the way it was handled (see this video about colorism, racebaiting, and implicit bias in Bridgerton):

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian (this one’s gay)

After the Wedding by Courtney Milan (this one has a bi heroine)

An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles (also gay)

The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan

Wanted, a Gentleman by KJ Charles (also gay)

Unfit to Print by KJ Charles (also gay)

If you were like “none of these members of the aristocracy are sufficiently embarrassed that they’re members of the aristocracy”:

The Soldier’s Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian (also this one’s gay)

A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian (this one has a bi heroine)

The Duchess War by Courtney Milan

The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan (The Duke Who Didn’t, also falls under this category)

If you thought, “actually I’ve decided I’m not interested in the aristocracy, no matter how embarrassed they are”

Try anything by Rose Lerner, especially Sweet Disorder, True Pretenses, and Listen to the Moon.

If you thought, “dear God please just use your words and talk about sex” (a.k.a. books about women who are DTF):

A Delicate Deception by Cat Sebastian (this one also includes a bi for bi main pairing, and every single main character is queer)

Gilded Cage by KJ Charles (this one has a bi heroine)

Extra shoutout to The Duchess War, listed above, for A+ communication between the two protagonists about the sex they do and don’t want to have.

If you did kind of agree with “reformed rakes make the best husbands”:

The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian (also gay)

Band Sinister by KJ Charles (actually very little reformation goes on here, which makes it better, trust me, and gay as hell)

If you were like “yeah yeah can we get back to Benedict and this artist guy? Is it too much to want them to make out?” (a.k.a. this is the section for queer books I haven’t already mentioned)

Anything by Cat Sebastian and KJ Charles, with honorable mentions for:

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian

The Society of Gentlemen Series by KJ Charles (A Fashionable Indulgence, A Seditious Affair, and A Gentleman’s Position) - extra shoutout for the research that went into this series and how historical events directly impact the plot and the characters’ decisions, it’s really quite masterful.

I have also heard wonderful things about Olivia Waite’s The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Navigation and The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows, but I haven’t had a chance to check those out for myself yet.

You actually kind of liked the costumes, but you would like to read about historically accurate wild fashion in which everyone wears the proper linings under their stays and corsets really dear Lord is it too much to ask:

The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan. The wild outfits are a plot point, trust me, and have historical basis to boot.

These books are concentrated on nineteenth century England, because that’s when Bridgerton is set. (Courtney Milan’s books are Victorian, not Regency, but they’re going on the list because I said so, Netflix Adapt Courtney Milan Next And Do Not Mess It Up challenge 2k21). If you’re looking for non-England-set romance novels in any of these categories, hit me up and I will see what I can find.

“Hey MG, this list is made up of like…the same four authors.” Yes, alas, I have grown wildly picky about my romance novels in the last few years and this is the core of what I know well enough to confidently recommend.

I’d love to hear what people think of these!

#reader's advisory #mg says stuff #romance novels #romancelandia

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ghooolish · 3 years

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alternative places to buy books instead of amaz*n

edited: removing abebooks from this list because i've been informed it's an amzn subsidiary. thanks!

i apologize in advance, these sources are generally best for people looking for books in the U.S. and not outside of it. this is by no means a comprehensive list; please feel free to add onto this list, especially if you know of places that cater to customers outside of the U.S.

used books

- thriftbooks (used and new, ships outside of U.S. at higher cost): you can usually get used popular books here for under $10 and they'll generally come in very good shape. for U.S. domestic orders, shipping is free for orders $10 or more, and only $0.99 for anything under. this was one of my favorite places to buy books for class when I was in college. they also have a points reward system, so every purchase gets you a certain amount of points, and if you earn enough, you get a $5 credit, which is generally enough to get you a free book.

- goodwill books (used, only operates in the U.S.): rather than aimlessly searching shelves in a physical store, goodwill has an online database that sells games, movies, and music in addition to books. free standard shipping on all orders, but shipping can take a while depending on where your order is coming from. it depends on what you're looking for, but books will generally be very cheap. i almost paid $50 for a book before finding it here for $10, and it came in near-perfect condition.

- abebooks (new and used, ships to many different locations): in addition to new and used books, this might also be a good resources for students to find cheap(er) textbooks. you also have the option to sell your textbooks back to them when you're done.

- bookmooch (a bartering system for used books, good for non-English texts, works worldwide): i haven't personally used this one, so this is just what i know from online information, but instead of buying books, there's a point system that allows you to give away and receive books. you list which books you own and want to give away, then someone can request that book from you. you ship it out to them and pay shipping fees (the only money you'll spend) and then gain points, allowing you to request books from others.

- bookoff (used, physical store, locations only in U.S.): their online store is only for buying anime figures and manga, but if you have a location near you like i do, i suggest you go there! unfortunately, the majority of them are in California, but they have a $1 section, where i've gotten a lot of good books. they also sell movies, music, video games, video game consoles, used electronics, and one time i randomly got a set of rubber stamps there.

new books

- bookshop (ships to U.K., Spain, and U.S.): an online bookstore meant to support independent bookstores by dedicating a certain portion of their profits to helping independent bookstores and providing a platform to connect you to independent booksellers . their "find a bookstore" feature is my favorite because they'll recommend you independent booksellers in your area and you can avoid the shipping costs and wait.

- indiebound: similar to bookshop except you can't buy directly from this website, but what it does is connect you to local booksellers based on your location and you can buy directly from their websites or go in person.

- just buy from indie shops' websites if they have one

other ways to get books

- this generally won't work with big publishers, but if the book's publisher is small enough, you can buy it directly from them

- just check for shops you can go to in your area!

- i know this is meant to be a resource for buying books, but also just borrow! borrow books from your local library or get them electronically. you can get access and borrow ebooks from your library using the mobile app Libby, and you don't need a kindle to read the books on, you can read directly from the app.

- if your library doesn't have the book you want, you can sometimes request an order. or you can do an inter-library loan, where your library will request it from another library system, though there might be a fee of a couple dollars.

- my final note. there is no need to buy the Twilight series new. every single used bookstore i've gone to has had multiple copies of the entire series for, like, a dollar for each book. i am generally very big on supporting authors because their income is nowhere near as glamorous as actors or directors, but SM will be fine. whatever you were willing to spend on the books, just donate that to moving the Quileute nation to higher ground

#bookblr #litblr #english major #studyblr #reading #books #literature #this is the culmination of my efforts not to buy from amaz*n as an english major who had to buy so many books #but this is also motivated by me seeing massive book hauls on bookstagram that came straight from amaz*n #i just think if you have the means to spend large sums of money on books in one go #you can be a bit more conscious about who you're supporting with your purchases #namely not someone like j*ff b*zos who is a real-life villain #i also have a list of g**dreads alternatives that i want to share #bye and thanks for this callout

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