A Disabled Spinster's Library

Celebrating the books I own, one by one.Secondary blog, so I'll follow people as mabith.tumblr.com They/Them

[profeminist]

[bookcub]

Book Discussion ish

Guys, I picked up a book and had to put it down not because it was bad or anything but because the love interests had the same names as my friends who are siblings and it was just too weird for me to read.

Have your real life friends or experiences ever affected you that way when reading before? Have names of characters been too close to people you actually knew that you couldn’t read it?

[convenientalias]

Yep. I made a post about this here which summarizes it best, but once I did a book exchange and got a nice Scottish historical romance book, but the love interest’s name was the same as the name of a guy I intensely disliked, and I just couldn’t get past it.

[bookcub]

Ooo yeah I’ve been there before. The name Brandon is not a name I can take seriously because I knew a kid growing up who terrorized me with the same name.

[convenientalias]

That’s rough man. Brandon’s such a common name too.

[kanyniablue]

-Had to quit a book ½-way through because a minor character showed up with my name spelled exactly like I do.  They weren’t a gross character or put through bad experiences, it was just too jarring

-I’ve quit several YA’s where the love interest had my dad’s name

-Read all of an author’s books except the one where the love interest has the same first & last name and general physical description of a kid I knew in middle school.  I didn’t like or dislike him but it’s still too weird

[bookcub]

Oh yeah, I get that.

I have seen a few books where my dad’s name was a character but I know so many other people with that name I just kind of skim past it.

And wow, first AND last name? Strange, no matter how common they are.

[ultimatebookworm13]

I have a hard time reading books where the love interest’s name is Daniel because that’s my brothers name. The weirdest was when I was browsing and I found a book that sounded REALLY interesting, but the main character had my name and the love interest had my brothers. I counldnt do it.

[bookcub]

Makes sense, I’d get that. I’d find that too strange as well.

[booksandghosts]

I don’t think this happens to me but I am terrible at keeping track of character names

[all-my-books]

I have an immediate negative reaction to characters with my name. Soon after my nephew was born I was re-reading a favorite book series and one of the characters has my nephew’s first and middle name. It’s one of Donald E. Westlake’s comic crime novels, so the character is also a criminal (and a snitch!). I find it hilarious, especially since my sister always refused to read the books (my dad and I were always trying to get her to read them, for a decade or more before her kid was born).

[all-my-books]

July reads! Asterisks are re-reads, bolds are favorites (re-reads are of course favorites already), italics are dislikes. Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie Interesting Times – Terry Pratchett * 1066 And All That – WC Sellar and RJ Yeatman Magnificent Delusions – Husain Haqqani The Pleasure Shock – Lone Frank Fire Road – Kim Phuc Phan Thi Redemption in Indigo – Karen Lord Dear World – Bana and Fatemah Alabed Archangel – Sharon Shinn * Diggers – Terry Pratchett * Ghost Bride – Yangsze Choo The Blue Tattoo – Margot Mifflin Wings – Terry Pratchett * What Unites Us – Dan Rather Memoirs of a Polar Bear – Yoko Tawada Barkskins – Annie Proulx Mister Monday – Garth Nix * Don't Ask – Donald E. Westlake * Grim Tuesday – Garth Nix * Drowned Wednesday – Garth Nix * Sir Thursday – Garth Nix * Lady Friday – Garth Nix * Superior Saturday – Garth Nix * Lord Sunday – Garth Nix * Jovah's Angel – Sharon Shinn * I finished the Mister Monday re-read on a Monday, which spiraled into finishing each book on the right day. It was amazing.

[all-my-books]

It’s that 7 Books I Love thing. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin Life, Work, and Rebellion in the Coal Fields by David Alan Corbin Honey and Salt by Carl Sandburg Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell Bank Shot by Donald E. Westlake Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano [Images show book covers of the seven preceding titles]

[a-ramblinrose]

“We like to build these little worlds where everything gets sorted out and makes sense and, if possible, the good guys win. No one would call Agatha Christie a fantasy writer, but look at the books she’s most typically associated with - they’re about tiny isolated little worlds, usually a country house, or an island, or a train, where a very careful plot is worked out. no mad axeman for Agatha, no unsolved crimes. Hercule Poirot always finds the clues. And look at Westerns. The famous Code of the West largely consisted of finding somewhere where you could safely shoot the other guy in the back, but we don’t really want to know that. We’d rather believe in Clint Eastwood. I would, anyway. Almost all writers are fantasy writers, but some of us are more honest about it than others. And everyone reads fantasy … one way… or another…”

—

Terry Pratchett, A Slip of the Keyboard: Collected Non-fiction

[bookaddict24-7]

What is your favourite bookish sidekick (animal or human)?

[lostinabookbrb]

Blind Seer and Elation right now. They are in the Firekeeper series. Elation is regal and has the right amount of sass. Blind Seer is a badass who knows it.

[all-my-books]

Has to be Mogget from Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom books. Followed or maybe tied by Suzi Turquoise Blue in the Keys to the Kingdom books also by Garth Nix.

[all-my-books]

June’s Reading. Bolds are favorites. Iraq + 100 – Hassan Blasim Wolfskin – Juliet Marillier (re-read) The Neanderthals Rediscovered – Dimitra Papagianni, Michael A. Morse Bold Spirit – Linda Lawrence Hunt The Children of Willesden Lane – Mona Golabek Zinky Boys – Svetlana Alexievich The Stranger – Albert Camus The Meursault Investigation – Kamel Daoud The Line Becomes a River – Francisco Cantu The Trauma Cleaner – Sarah Krasnostein On Sanity – Una The Wizard and the Prophet – Charles C. Mann The Fox Was Ever the Hunter – Herta Muller The Orphan Mother – Robert Hicks I am, I am, I am – Maggie O'Farrell Dirty River – Leah Piepzna-Samarasinha Go Tell it on the Mountain – James Baldwin Showa 1926-1939: A History of Japan – Shigeru Mizuki The Spider King’s Daughter – Chibundu Onuzo Dead Souls – Nikolai Gogol The Hello Girls – Elizabeth Cobbs

[booksandghosts]

What did you think of Iraq +100?

[all-my-books]

I was underwhelmed. It showed pretty clearly that the writers don’t write SF (that was stated upfront) and probably don’t read it either. There was just a lack of quality and finish to the stories, and frequently the way technology was used/talked about seemed really clumsy. It was vaguely interesting, I didn’t hate it, but that’s as far as it goes. Some acquaintances on LibraryThing liked it quite a more than me though.

[thedragonsbookhoard]

I know Tumblr will probably hate me for saying this, but not reading books written by male authors purely because they’re male is sexist as fuck.

[marionreadsbooks]

I never take this into account. I do read a lot of books by white male authors, but that’s not planned or anything; I just read the books that sound good to me. The author’s gender or ethnicity doesn’t really factor into my wanting of reading the book.

[thedragonsbookhoard]

Exactly. I judge a book purely by its content.

[parentheticalaside]

No, you don’t. You operate within the same system as the rest of us, which is the one that packs the shelves with books by men, codes those books as being better when written by men, skews best books list to favor male writers, and disproportionately gives top writing awards and commercial success to white male writers. Female writers’ success is often restricted to YA or romance, both genres considered to be inferior to literary fiction, where male writers dominate. Female and minority writers are told their experience is not universal and will only be appreciated by other women and minorities, while men are considered the default experience and told everyone can appreciate their writing. All of that means you don’t judge a book solely by its content. You judge it through the same prism as the rest of us, and it’s a prism that happens to bring men into focus and blur out women and minorities.

Upholding a system that puts men above women is sexist. Choosing to opt out of that system is not.

[writing-while-female]

[bookexploreralyssa]

It seems like everyone prefers hardcover books, which is a little surprising because I vastly prefer paperbacks. Who else is with me?

[literatureandtrees]

[all-my-books]

My friend said she didn’t like hardcovers because they hurt me if you fall asleep while reading and drop them on your face... (I prefer hardcovers because I have chronic pain in my hands and they’re easy to hold open than paperbacks. Because of this I can’t read mass market paperbacks at all.)

[all-my-books]

June’s Reading. Bolds are favorites. Iraq + 100 – Hassan Blasim Wolfskin – Juliet Marillier (re-read) The Neanderthals Rediscovered – Dimitra Papagianni, Michael A. Morse Bold Spirit – Linda Lawrence Hunt The Children of Willesden Lane – Mona Golabek Zinky Boys – Svetlana Alexievich The Stranger – Albert Camus The Meursault Investigation – Kamel Daoud The Line Becomes a River – Francisco Cantu The Trauma Cleaner – Sarah Krasnostein On Sanity – Una The Wizard and the Prophet – Charles C. Mann The Fox Was Ever the Hunter – Herta Muller The Orphan Mother – Robert Hicks I am, I am, I am – Maggie O'Farrell Dirty River – Leah Piepzna-Samarasinha Go Tell it on the Mountain – James Baldwin Showa 1926-1939: A History of Japan – Shigeru Mizuki The Spider King's Daughter – Chibundu Onuzo Dead Souls – Nikolai Gogol The Hello Girls – Elizabeth Cobbs

[livingintheinkworld-blog]

Bookish Question

What do you think is the best book to read in the summer, and why?

[all-my-books]

During heat waves my parents would read The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder to us/each other in an effort to feel cooler. They swear it worked, but I think children raised without air conditioning are sort of immune to most US temps (back in the 80s and 90s anyway).

[lettersfromthelighthouse]

skyrantz:

“Is there a site JUST for adult fiction books? Bc I’ve had it with the young adult crap.”

—

No, I’m not hating, I just hate that it’s the only thing there is! Every single time I search, YA everywhere! *screams*

Originally posted by heckyeahreactiongifs

Well, there are quite a number of us booklrs who don’t read & talk about YA, or at least not exclusively? 

I recommend checking out @oldshrewsburyian​, @manuscripts-dontburn​, @booklrboy​, @theaspenreader​, @monsieurbookshire​, @elenajohansen​, @left-handlibrary​, @literaery-me​, @thesheepthewolf​, @books-are-portals​, @the-forest-library​, @anassarhenisch​ and the #adultbooklr tag. 

(I also have some youtube recommendations if you’re interested?)

I apologize for anyone I might have forgotten/overlooked - please feel free to add! 

[ninja-muse]

Thanks for the mention! I do read YA, but I’m mostly into adult fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, and various sorts of non-fic.

Adding @lizziethereader @baldursgatekeeper @dukeofbookingham @macrolit @blackboard-monitor @readingthegenjiinkolkata @relevy @custardhoneybee @kraken-spines @the-forest-of-books @narrativerehearsal @accidentalspaceexplorer @magnetarmaddaboutbooks @brightbeautifulthings @a-ramblinrose @starsandsteelandbrokenglass @thelibraryofmars

[dukeofbookingham-deactivated202]

If it helps I have a whole tag for adult booklrs and also this post here, which was reblogged by a bunch of people who post non-YA content. Again, not that there’s anything wrong with YA, just that it can tend to dominate booklr and it isn’t everybody’s preference.

[all-my-books]

It’s not Tumblr, of course, but I really love LibraryThing. The average age of the user is higher, and other than in specific groups there’s less YA chat. The groups are really what make the site fabulous for me (and obviously basically any platform that’s not Tumblr is easier to have a back and forth discussion on).

[stvrmwitch]

booklr pride party train 🌈 🎉

If you’re here, queer, and all about them books reblog this post, then scope out the notes and make some new booklr friends!

[goodbadanduglybooks]

Bookish Question

Do you guys ever read children or middle grade books for the heck of it? I’ve been continuing the Warriors series from when I was a kid and I have zero shame, I think it’s still great. If so, what series do you read?

[la-knight]

I read whatever looks good/enjoyable and have no shame about it. Right now in middle grade, I’m reading: The Courage of Cat Campbell, The Jumbies, The Gauntlet, The Serpent’s Secret, PS I Miss You, and The Girl Who Drank the Moon.

[bookcub]

Look, I still read Rick Riordan’s new books, although not as immediatly as I used to and the last Penderwicks book came out and you can bet I’m going to read that ASAP. Also I read Star Crossed and it was a girl who has a crush on another girl and they are playing Romeo and Juliet and it was the Sweetest. 

[baldursgatekeeper]

I’ve reread Warriors as an adult too and it’s just as amazing as I remembered it! I’d heartily recommend it to anyone, not just people who read them as kids and wants the nostalgia. They hold up excellently just on their own merits.

[all-my-books]

A good book is a good book at any age. This does not mean every book you liked as a kid is good, because kids are pretty easy to please. I still read a lot of children’s and middle grade novels, because I love being back in that frame of mind and I think children’s novels are the most important in terms of building future readers. I have a lot of nieces and nephews so I want to know what classics and what new books I should give them.

[bvkspine]

you ever read so many books in such a short amount of time that all of their respective plotlines start melting together

[all-my-books]

That’s why I find writing rough reviews for every book I read really helpful. I just do it on a thread on LibraryThing, not on the book pages anywhere (unless I feel very strongly about it and have managed a fuller review).

[all-my-books]

May reads. Asterisks are re-reads, bolds are favorites. Maurice – E.M. Forster Black Man in a White Coat – Damon Tweedy The Pleasure of Finding Things Out – Richard Feynman The Interior Castle – Teresa de Avila Trumpet – Jackie Kay War and Turpentine – Stefan Hertmans Kokoda – Paul Ham Bismarck – AJP Taylor The Midwife's Apprentice – Karen Cushman * Theatre Shoes – Noel Streatfeild * Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi * Unmentionable – Therese Oneill Becoming Unbecoming – Una The Hospital Always Wins – Issa Ibrahim Phoenix Rising – Karen Hesse * All The Real Indians All Died Off – Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz Tinker Dabble Doodle Try – Srini Pillay The Bolivian Diary – Che Guevara Photographic – Isabel Quintero and Zack Pena Sing, Unburied, Sing – Jesmyn Ward Voices from the Second World War – Candlewick I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced – Nujood Ali Truckers – Terry Pratchett * The Bread Givers – Anzia Yezierska Into the Silence – Wade Davis It Ended Badly – Jennifer Wright

[livingintheinkworld-blog]

Bookish Question

If you had to limit your book collection to only five books, which books would you choose and why?

[all-my-books]

Luckily I own a few omnibuses! --Carl Sandburg’s Complete Poems --4 Fantastic Novels by Daniel Pinkwater (Borgle, Worms of Kukumlima, Yobgorgle, and The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror - I might have picked his five novel collection instead but Borgel is a VITAL part of my life) --Rubicon by Tom Holland --North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell --Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier Poetry, children’s books, history, classic fiction, and fantasy. Perfect.