lil book blog

dying to share what i’m reading and what i’ve read fantasy / classics / non-fiction new mom, history masters student, & book reader

[bigbookblog]

CURRENTLY READING

I tend to pick up and put down and get to later

The Dawn of The Cursed Queen (Gods and Monsters # 3) -Amber V. Nicole || 53%

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë || 20%

The King in Yellow - Robert Chambers || 54%

Golden Son (Red Rising #2) - Pierce Brown || 30%

The Second Death of Locke - VL Bovalino || 43%

Helpmeet - Naben Ruthnum || 15%

[bigbookblog]

my job btw

currently reading: the second death of locke by v.l. bovalino

[bigbingbong]

having the most spooky weather mountain weekend with the coolest hostas and mush I’ve ever seen

currently reading: the woman in black by susan hill

[michaelmoonsbookshop]

Books you would like to read..

detail from a page of a bound periodical from 1893

[maxbytes]

[bigbookblog]

My educational life has been shitting down my neck for months so I’m a bit off my game here but I will be bringing this blog up to date soon and using it more <3

[autistobrat]

this too shall pass but the fuck was that for

[bigbookblog]

Bad reviews of some of my fav books of 2025 :)

A Fate Inked in Blood (4.75)

Once Was Willem (5)

What Moves the Dead (4.5)

The Hedgewitch of Foxhall (5)

The Shining (4.5)

Paladin’s Hope (4.75)

Shadow Princess (Zodiac Academy #4) (4)

The Veiled Kingdom (4.5)

The Throne of Broken Gods(Gods and Monsters #2) (5)

Blood Over Bright Haven (5)

[mermaidsaretrans]

Everyone who uses chatgpt for every tiny little thing should sit down and read Blood Over Bright Haven by M L Wang. Truly such an incredible commentary on who pays the cost for the energy we use and whether or not it's worth it.

[bigbookblog]

Hey guys, Katabasis is ripping me apart. Who else?

[bigbookblog]

All Quiet on The Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5

“We have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation. It is not against men that we fling our bombs, what do we know of men in this moment when Death is hunting us down…”

Horrific, heart-breaking, eye-opening. A must-read classic work. Terror, disillusion, grief for friends, grief for youth, grief for society and man, the story of the destruction of a generation and the physical and psychological torments of the first world war. Gut-wrenching but necessary read. Read this a few months ago and even as a historian a who studies constantly the atrocities of man, this one still lives in my head.

PS all of the artwork featured in this post are by Otto Dix, another German ww1 soldier who expressed the horrors of the trenches

[bigbookblog]

Carmilla - Sheridan Le Fanu

☆☆☆☆☆ 3.75/5

“You will think me cruel, very selfish, but love is always selfish; the more ardent the more selfish. How jealous I am you cannot know. You must come with me, loving me, to death; or else hate me, and still come with me, and hating me through death and after. There is no such word as indifference in my apathetic nature.”

A quick and fun read. The originality of the content and the age of the work is really saving it from its rather lackluster writing. I loved the story but missed vivid horrific details. :)

[bigbookblog]

The Knight and The Moth - Rachel Gillig

☆☆☆☆☆ 4.25/5

“When you do the right thing for the wrong reason, no one praises you. When you do the wrong thing for the right reason, everyone does, even though what is right and wrong depends entirely on the story you’re living in. And no one says they need recognition or praise or love, but we all hunger for it. We all want to be special.”

Gorgeously written book with wonderfully lovable characters. It was just simply beautiful and consistently gripping in plot. :)

[bigbookblog]

I think I’m going to DNF Fairydale by Victoria Lancet. I’m 48% in (that’s less than fucking 300 pages) and it’s just not working for me. Chapter 18 was revolting. The plot is completely predictable, the characters are insufferable, the writing is so fucking clunky and….. dare I say….. wattpad-like. I was really trying to give it the benefit of the doubt but I feel like I’m just wasting my time. If anyone has some really strong reasons why I should finish, let a girl know but for right now, I think I have to be done.

[bigbookblog]

Once Was Willem - M.R. Carey

☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5

“Gird yourself, therefore. I speak of monsters and magic, battle and bloodletting, and the crimes of desperate men.”

SPOILERS! SORRY 😩🤨🧐

This book was so many things, heart-wrenching, horrifically graphic, historically fascinating, eerie and spooky, easy and lovable. It was just so wonderful that I cannot find a single point against it. The characters were so well developed and this book had some of the most uniquely disgusting and uncomfortable body horror I have ever read but still an unexpectedly happy ending. It reads like a true Middle Ages horror piece. Absolute loved this lil spooky read

[bigbookblog]

Have fallen behind on updating this blog. I will be updating it now with what few fun books I’ve been able to read since my last T. Kingfisher adventure. My Fable is always up to date tho!

[bigbookblog]

What Moves the Dead -T. Kingfisher

☆☆☆☆☆ 4.5/5

“The dead don’t walk.”

WOAH what a gross, horrific, disgusting breakdown of the human mind. I LOVED this short and sweet book. T. Kingfisher has done it again 👏🏻