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bookcub · 10 months

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Mid-Year Book Freakout 2023

@readingbooksinisrael and @logarithmicpanda tagged me!!

1. Best book you’ve read so far this year.

this is very hard because ive read so so so many good books this year, but since this says best and not favorite so either kindred by octavia butler or spinning silver by naomi novik. expertly crafted, beautifully written, compelling characters. . . i highly recommend both of these books

(im also excluding rereads because then i would be here all day)

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far this year

ive only read a few sequels but they were fantastic. i will go with kingdom of copper and empire of gold by sa chakraborty. i binged this whole series in two weeks. some of the best worldbuilding, and one of the only political fantasies i have gotten invested in. im sad i didnt read it sooner but im delighted i have it in my life now!

3. New release you haven’t read yet

mmmm the witch and the vampire is a queer rapunzel and that could be sooooo fun, i love a queer fairy tale retelling. godkiller also looks very good.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

you would think it would be the new pat rothfuss book but bast is not my fave so im more pumped for the ashfire king by chelsea abdullah. another high fantasy that is very compelling and quite fun!!

5. Biggest disappointment

gotta be legends and lattes by travis baldree, which i heard fantastic things about but my expectations were all wrong. i found it quite boring unfortunately. i expected it to be funnier and for more character depth. i don't think the book is bad i just dont find it very special.

6. Biggest surprise

seven days in june by tia williams

7. Favorite new author (debut or new to you)

MARGARET OWEN!!! little thieves and painted devils were marvelous, and i am absolutely her target audience!! fairy tale retelling with a twist ft an aspec main character??? how could i hate this book?? anyways, shes on my automatic read list and i follow her now! i need to read her earlier duology soon!!

8. Newest fictional crush/newest favorite character

vanya from little thieves is my absolute favorite, i adore her, she has a fantasticly distinct voice and filled with such relatable emotions. i am obsessed with her

9. Book that made you cry

i cry a LOT in books. most recently, the magic fish by trung le nguyen and my reread of the lunar chronicles but i cried at a lot of these previously mentioned books.

10. Book that made you happy

the magic fish also made me so happy, i cried with happy tears but also as previously stated, little thieves 🥰🥰🥰

tagging: @druggeddraccus @flyingcrowbar @aliteraryprincess @corvidaedream (no pressure!!)

#book challenge #tag games #book games

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readingbooksinisrael · 3 years

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I forgot that hashish exists in Discworld. There are all these fantasy drugs and then there’s Strong Weed

#drugs #discworld #sourcery #booklr #books #mine #readingbooksinisrael #readingdiscworldinisrael #readingsourceryinisrael

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therefugeofbooks · 4 years

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Playlist Tag

Rules: You can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to! Put your favourite playlist on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, then tag 10 people. No skipping!

Thanks for tagging me @tanda-soal and @readingbooksinisrael ♥

In honor to Bad Boy by Red Velvet appearing in Tanda Soal's playlist and because it's always a good time to spread love for women, these following songs come from my playlist of girl groups.

Dumb Dumb by Red Velvet

Bad Boy by Red Velvet. (yey!)

4 Walls by f(x)

Monster by Irene & Seulgi

Ah Yeah by EXID

Hate by 4Minute

TT by Twice.

Oh my God by (G)I-DLE

And there was no one left by DREAMCATCHER.

Abracadabra by Brown Eyed Girls.

tagging YOU who's wearing pajamas and saw this post :)

#tag game #not book related #tanda-soal #readingbooksinisrael

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lizziethereader · 4 years

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readingbooksinisrael reblogged your photo and added:

Grotesque? In what way?

Grotesque in the skeleton servants and skull face paint way - I guess it could be creepy if the book were just dark and sinister, but since it comes with a good portion of humor, it feels more like “haha - look, walking skeletons that bring your breakfast” than “oooh, creepy skeletons!”

#readingbooksinisrael #replies

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storytime-reviews · 5 years

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11 Questions Tag

Rules: Answer the questions

Write another 11 questions

Tag 11 people

Thanks @readingbooksinisrael for tagging me :)

1. What is your favorite underrated book?

Possibly The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum. I know I’ve harped on about it a lot on this blog, but it truly is an underrated classic.

2. What is your favorite fantastical creature and why?

Umm not sure, what I can say is I loved books about dragons as a kid, and I’ve probs got more books about them than any other creature...

3. What is your favorite fairy tale trope? Your worst?

I don’t like love at first sight, but I do like secret identities!

4. Do you prefer wood, stone/tiled or carpeted floors?

Depends on the wood and stone...

5. What, if any, languages can you read in but not speak?

I can read a little ancient Greek...but only a little...

6. What was your first library like (or the earliest one you remember if you can’t remember that one)?

As in public library? I still go to my first one, I love it so much! It’s the biggest in the area, has heaps of books, but I prefer the old setup to now...

7. Light rail or trains?

No idea tbh.

8. What does your water bottle look like?

It’s one of those metal re-usable ones, and the colour is pearl.

9. What do you think of superheroes? Do you have a favorite?

Look I am obsessed with Marvel movies...my faves used to be Tony and then Nat, but Peter is my current fave.

10. What’s your favorite weather?

Sunny, warm weather.

11. Tell me about one of your OCs. Write as much as you want. Be enthusiastic!

Well all I’ll say at the moment is she has issues...issues that are inspired by my own issues and learning more about myself...

MY QUESTIONS!

1. What is your favourite genre?

2. What, in your opinion, is a must-read book?

3. What are your top 2019 books on your TBR?

4. What do you love the most about booklr/tumblr?

5. What is your favourite film?

6. Can you understand any language other than your own? What is it?

7. Do you remember when you first started to love reading?

8. Do you believe in guilty pleasures? Why or why not?

9. What are your favourite foods? (Name as many as you want, I love food!)

10. What countries do you most want to visit?

Tagging: YOU. Literally anyone that wants to do this!

#booklr #tag game #personal #11 questions tag #readingbooksinisrael

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catasterisms · 6 years

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readingbooksinisrael reblogged your post and added: “11 Questions Tag”

What makes you want to go to Tuscany?

Well, actually, I’d love to visit all of Italy in general, but I’d start in Tuscany, because I’ve wanted to go there the longest. I had this friend in primary school, and her family went there once, and she brought the coolest pictures and souvenirs and I’ve basically had my heart set on going there ever since.

#readingbooksinisrael

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the-knights-who-say-book · 7 years

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I want to ask you two things. 1. I would send you a book box of Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George, and if you've read that (I know you read JDG, but I don't know if you read TatC), then The Star and the Sword by Pamela Melnikoff, two dragon models, one of Toothless and one of a random red dragon, a bookmark that when you unfold it is a little city, houses all piled up on each other, and (1/2)

(2/2) and a small bag filled with chametz of your choice (must be made of dough, though, not, like, chocolate). Which doesn’t have anything to do with books, I just though twould be appropriate. And can you make a book box for readingbooksinisrael, please? (my secondary blog, which you alread know or guessed)

hey! thanks, that’s a great selection! i have read Tuesdays at the Castle (it’s so cute and fun!) and now i really want to read The Star and the Sword. and of course since this review is so terribly late chametz isn’t very relevant anymore but it’s still very appreciated lol

I’d send you The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, a midnight blue velvet bookmark, a gold mask (like the kind that really only covers around your eyes but if you wear it in a movie suddenly no one can tell who you are), a handful of gelt (off season for hanukah but i think it matches the book’s #aesthetic and you get chocolate!), a handful of those folded paper stars but all in shades of blue with a fancy word written in gold ink when you unfold it, a little stone gargoyle model perfect for guarding a bookshelf

#mynameisgoliath #readingbooksinisrael #the ask and the answer #book box ask

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wisteria-lodge · 2 years

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SHC Character Sorting (M-Z)

MAFIA III @rottingmanifesto

More on Greef Karga’s sorting

STAR WARS (THE BAD BATCH) @reds-burrow

START UP @ba-wan

STEVEN UNIVERSE @applesaps et al.

STRANGER THINGS @magratmakethetea

SUITS @writingonesdreams

SUPERNATURAL

Castiel @wisteria-lodge

John, Dean & Sam Winchester @wisteria-lodge

Lucifer & Michael @wisteria-lodge

Jimmy & Claire Novak @wisteria-lodge

Ruby & Bela Talbot @laufire

Balthazar @wisteria-lodge

Meg Masters @laufire

TANZ DER VAMPIRE @herlaqueen & @niche-pastiche

Magda, Chagall, Rebecca & Sarah @herlaqueen

Herbert & Count von Krolock @herlaqueen

TWILIGHT @misku-nimfa & @livrelady

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY @wisteria-lodge

UNDERTALE @shutthedord

UPROOTED @writingonesdreams

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES @sevilemar

THE VICAR MAN @wisteria-lodge

V FOR VENDETTA @the-phoenix-heart & @wisteria-lodge

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS @sevilemar & @wisteria-lodge

WHEN HEROES FLY @writingonesdreams

OC SORTING - Essence of the Equinox @nectargrapes

OC SORTING - Tears of Iron @writingonesdreams

#sortinghatchats #housekeeping

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thyon-nero · 3 years

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So. How do you feel about the litjoy crate strange the dreamer collection? The art with the setting and places is beautiful, and I love the miracle for breakfast art. On the other... the characters just look... a bit white? All the godspawn has a POC parent... no way they all look Eurocentric. Idk. I feel like I will regret not collecting it, but I already have the books and it seems kinda a waste...

Hi! Thanks for sending this in—I didn’t know that litjoy was making a Strange the Dreamer collection so thank you for bringing it to my attention. And sorry for taking so long to respond! I had quite a bit to say and wanted to make sure that my thoughts were at least a little coherent. Since tumblr doesn’t like links in posts, I’ll be dropping the litjoy link in the replies for people to see what we’re talking about. Also, to the anon who sent this in, I’ll be using the generic pronoun “you” to talk to everyone reading this, so don’t feel like I’m calling you out specifically!

Your ask brings up several good points for discussion that I’m going to try and apply to a broader conversation. Namely, the whitewashing in art and consumerism in the book community. I’m only one perspective so please feel free to continue this conversation in a respectful way: if there’s one thing that Strange the Dreamer should have taught us, it’s that only through communication and understanding can we resolve conflict.

First of all: the Eurocentrism in the art. I’m not sure what policies are for reposting the art on a separate site, so I’d encourage everyone to look on the litjoy website to see it for themselves.

Is the art beautiful? Yes. Does it depict characters canonically described as brown with Eurocentric features? Also yes.

Although Weep is a fictional place, we can still fairly easily draw some parallels between the people of Weep and real world people and cultures. Off the top of my head, @readingbooksinisrael made a post (linked in replies) noticing how the words at the beginning of each chapters sounded Semitic, @inkwingart created incredible artwork of Sarai (linked in replies) without the Eurocentric features of the official art, rightfully calling out the differences between how the characters are described and how some artists choose to depict them, and I’m sure that others have spoken on this as well.

Despite the written portrayal of the people of Weep and godspawn as non-white, it’s easy for artists to avoid depicting them with non-Eurocentric features and only use blue skin as a defining feature.

Within the broader art community, I’ve seen conversations on how to depict characters of different racial and ethnic backgrounds without just changing the skin color and keeping all of the other features identical. Some art styles (typically more cartoony and stylized) definitely do draw all characters with the same face and rely on clothing, hair, and other distinctive characteristics to tell them apart. But this isn’t really enough. When artists provide enough detail to show Eurocentric features but consider using a different shade of brown (or in this case, blue) to be “enough” in terms of drawing diversely, they aren’t hitting the mark.

Ultimately there is no “right” way to visually depict these characters. However, I would encourage artists to think deeper about their designs and question why they chose certain features for certain characters, and if these features are consistent with the source material. I’d like to give the artists involved with the litjoy crate the benefit of the doubt and assume that they weren’t thinking about the implications of their art erasing the godspawn’s brown heritage, but unless any of them have made a statement, I think it’s up to everyone to decide for themselves whether these portrayals are worth supporting.

(That being said, I do adore the landscapes! It’s incredible to see these magical places brought to life. Highly, highly recommend looking at the art just for that!)

I also want to talk a bit about consumerism within the book community and whether this set is worth it, especially if you already own the books. Please keep in mind that I don’t intend this as a callout for anyone or a be-all-end-all for this discussion. My thoughts are my own and do not affect how you spend your money!

Personally, I’m not the sort of person who buys more than one copy of a book. With my current living situation, I don’t have infinite room for books and I (tragically) don’t have the money to buy every beautiful book I see! Although I only own Strange the Dreamer and not Muse of Nightmares, I still won’t be buying this collection because I know that the second copy of Strange the Dreamer will just be collecting dust on my bookshelf and taking up space from other books that I don’t already own copies of.

As of writing this (March 14, 2021) preorders haven’t opened yet so I don’t know how expensive this set is, but if you don’t already have the books and want them, this looks like a great set that’s definitely worth looking in to! However, and here’s where I circle back to your point about regretting not collecting it, I personally don’t think it’s worth buying just for the sake of collecting everything to do with this series.

If owning these editions will make you happy in the long term and you have the resources to purchase them, go for it. I think it’s important to remember though that regardless of which editions you own or whether you’ve read the books through your public library, you still have the story. This world and these characters will always exist in your mind! That being said, I think a lot of people within the book community look to special editions, different cover art, and other merch as a way to become closer to the stories that we love. Even though these may offer new visuals or (in some cases) deleted scenes and extra written material, they don’t change the fundamental story. The experience of reading these stories doesn’t depend on owning special editions. Ultimately, if you’re buying multiple copies of a book, you’re pretty much only paying for the experience of having a pretty cover on your shelves. There’s nothing wrong with that (I know I’ve been guilty of paying extra for a slightly prettier cover!) but that’s the only thing you’re missing out on when you don’t buy these editions.

Especially with the rise of BookTube and Bookstagram as ways of seeing what other readers’ shelves look like, I’ve noticed people putting more stock into what others own as opposed to what they’ve read. Although not perpetrated by everyone in the community, there is some pressure to own all of your favorite books and have the fanciest editions to show just how much of a fan you are, when ultimately that doesn’t mean anything. The person who owns every special edition and the person who checked out their library’s copy can both love the story just as much. We as readers shouldn’t have to “prove” our loyalty to different stories or authors to enjoy them. It’s perfectly alright to not own your favorite books or everything by your favorite author! It’s the experience of reading these stories that brings us together as a community, not the experience of buying everything relating to these stories.

All that being said, it’s still a personal decision whether you want to buy these editions or not. Do what brings you joy! And if that’s owning these books, more power to you. If anyone wants to chime in with more thoughts on the artwork or whether these copies are worth buying, I’d love to discuss it further and have an open discussion. We all have different perspectives and can learn so much from each other through respectful conversation.

#strange the dreamer #laini taylor #muse of nightmares #litjoycrate #ya fantasy #ya literature #asks

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readingbooksinisrael · 4 years

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Dracula, Chapter 15: Thoughts

What reason is there to involve Arthur (besides plot)? He would've been happier with no knowledge of this.

Van Helsing is growing on me; I think because he's the most like a modem character of all the characters in the book.

#booklr #books #currently reading #dracula #arthur holmwood #abraham van helsing #van helsing #readingbooksinisrael #readingdraculainisrael #mine

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therefugeofbooks · 4 years

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7 for the book costume ask please?

7. What’s a favorite book of yours that has its characters dress in costumes (for Halloween or any other reason)?

I answered this one before, so I'm giving you another book. The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang. They're not exactly costumes again, but the dressmaker makes the most stunning and dramatic dresses I ever seen! Very fairytale-like. And it's a very cute story too!

Thank you for the ask and happy bookoween 🎃🎃

#answered asks #ask memes #readingbooksinisrael

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tanda-soal · 3 years

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Top Ten Books | Read in 2020

Thanks for the tag! @readingbooksinisrael

I recently made a whole post about my five-star reads in 2020 so I won’t go into detail about them here (but they’re amazing books and you should definitely check them out!)

Those are

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Now, to make up a ten, here are my four-star reads!

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi - A beautiful memoir about a neurosurgeon who gets diagnosed with cancer. Kalanithi had his aspirations stripped from him but found new things to drive him forward instead. For me though, the most powerful thing about Kalanithi was his strong passion for two seemingly unrelated fields; neuroscience and literature. It made me think that an Economics and English double major wouldn’t be too unheard of after all :’)

Severance by Ling Ma - Read this in March for my English class when life as we knew it began to fall apart. It was weird to see the similarities between the novel’s pandemic and our own pandemic. I ended up doing a paper analysing the main character’s attitude towards art and the creative field and art’s role in times of crises

Ms. Marvel (2014), Volume 1 by G. Willow Wilson - As a Muslim, it was really fun seeing Islamic references in a superhero comic book! There were also references to Pakistani culture, so while I didn’t really get those, I still appreciated learning a bit about their ceremonies and formal wear. Reading this showed me that representation is truly powerful!

Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho - Talked a bit about this one in a reply about Malaysian book recommendations!

Tagging @akhuna @clnchw @therefugeofbooks @libri-et-coffea @vickybooklover @laurapageturner if they’d like to do this :)

#tag games #tandasoal #book recs #book recommendations #booklr #bookblr

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