Ranting Reader

I love to read and want to rant about what I'm reading. Expect random thoughts and review.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Event Wrap Up

well, here we are, August 31st, the end of another Booklr Reads Australian

it's been a wonderful challenge exploring new books and authors from Down Under and having some lovely discussions with people about the different books we read. it hasn't been a big event or a busy one but I hope everyone still had fun and that, whether you participated or not, we got you thinking about reading more Australian stories during the rest of the year 😊

feel free to reblog or comment with the best book you read or something interesting you learned during the course of the challenge and lets see things off with a bang!

[rantreader]

I'm an Aussie, so I accidentally participated in this event. I'm currently reading Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton. I remember it being a big thing a few years ago, and now it's being made into a Netflix series.

I'm actually enjoying it. It's set in Brisbane in the 1980s and is all about a kid getting caught up in the drug culture.

[literatureaesthetic]

books don't really feel magical to me anymore, and it makes my heart hurt

[roseate-courtship]

hello dear friend, I'm a librarian and books also did not feel magical to me for a time. there were so many of them that I kind of became numb to literature, especially during weeding season.

but good news: they are now magical yet again.

these are just what helped me:

finding books I really liked, aka changing the genres I were reading it, bc it turns out I had outgrown them a bit

not telling anyone I was reading. not on goodreads, storygraph, instagram, nothing.

taking my time. not rushing the reading.

but most importantly: having deep, passionate discussions about books with other people. even books I hated. in book clubs or creative writing class didn't matter. just surrounding myself with people to whom books are also magical.

it could be that you're also burnt out and need some rest, or maybe to rethink what you want from books. but I care very much about literature, in a magical and a political sense, and I just wanted to give my two cents.

good luck ❤

[rantreader]

It's ok to feel that way. The good thing about books is that they're not going anywhere (especially if you don't feel the need to read the 'in' books). If you don't feel that magic, don't try to force it. It just makes it even worse.

Live your best life. If that passion for books is ever ignited again, they will still be there, ready for you.

[liarsblade]

Yeah you're right. It WOULD be pretty fucked up if you were a swan but you were raised by ducks and you grew up never seeing another swan or even knowing that such a thing as a swan even existed so you just thought you were a duck with something super wrong with it.

[liarsblade]

[homiro]

When you remember that Hans Christan Andersen, a closeted gay man in the early 19th century, wrote that story, it suddenly makes perfect sense.

[noremedybutlove]

[rantreader]

If you read the version I read, you will feel it in your heart.

I hate it when people do this, but I'm doing it anyway.

This whole concept is a big part of my novel Hazel. It's literally about trying to find where you 'belong', and it is another form of connection between my main characters. The following is a rant about it:

‘That’s not the story. Like, at all. Do you know why he was an ugly duckling?’

 Alby tilted his head. David leaned down and smiled into Alby’s face.  ‘Because he wasn’t a duckling. He was a fucking cygnet. Calling him an ugly duckling is like calling an orange a pretty strange apple. It’s all about him going through life trying to change himself and find a way to fit in, and always failing miserably. It’s only when he grows up and realises who he truly is that he is happy. Look at you. You’re in this circus with a bunch of ducklings, who don’t you mind, are incredible and amazing ducklings, but they’re still a bunch of baby ducks. You, on the other hand, are a cygnet. And there’s nothing wrong with that. You’re just with the wrong flock.’

One of my favourite quotes, 'To my cygnet. May you find your flock.'

We have bastardised the beauty of the original story, and I hate it.

[literarilylost]

Do you read multiple books at once?

No, I can only read one book at a time

Yes, I can read two books at a time

Yes, I can read more than two books at a time

It's complicated (elaborate in tags!)

I don't read/see results

Voting ended onAug 14, 2023

[rantreader]

Honestly, if I'm reading fewer than five books, I say I have a light reading load.

I just get distracted so easily.

[quasi-normalcy]

Tragedy! You set out to read a negative review of a piece of media you dislike, only to find that the critic is being completely unfair to it and making a bunch of bad, unsupportable arguments.

[quasi-normalcy]

#yeah. this is actually the worst#because if someone likes something for the wrong reasons and you like it too you can just sort of shrug off their opinion#but if they dislike it in a way that's unfair it's actually infuriating because now you've been put in the position#of defending this absolute dogshit piece of media - even if only in your own head - against their unreasonable complaints#it's the exact opposite of catharsis

[randobambo]

Me: “Disney live action remakes are soulless cash grabs that deny the original writers and artists the credit they deserve” Some fucking chud: “Exactly! They never should have started wokeifying all their movies” Me:

[lindefishway]

so I just finished The Wasp Factory

[ex-riddlecats]

Which of these high school english novels is the WORST?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

1984 by George Orwell

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Voting ended onJun 18, 2023

[pinkdiego]

The Scarlet Letter being in close second shows because of how many of yall act just like them bitches who did that to her lmfao

[elfspectations]

All of these are fine (ok I haven't read 3 of them but I'm giving them a pass until I do), the real villain is The Old Man and The Sea. I hate Hemingway for that one.

[rantreader]

Catcher in the Rye is funny to me because people take it too seriously. Holden is a little shit who thinks everyone around him is fake or stupid, and he is different because he knows the truth.

You know.... like a teenager. I read it as an adult and not as a student, so I just found it funny.

[the-diseased-one]

no one is doing it like katniss everdeen and peeta mellark. they have it ALL. fake dating. enemies to lovers. rivals to lovers. friends to lovers. star-crossed lovers. opposites attract. hurt-comfort. nightmare induced bed sharing. shared trauma. guy falls first. sunshine & grumpy. childhood crush.

everyone say thank you suzanne.

[rantreader]

I'm trying to get back into reading, so naturally I have to know:

What's your current read?

[daily-prompts]

Prompt 2122

Write a story about a world where time moves backwards, and people live their lives in reverse.

[rantreader]

So... whole-world Benjamin Button?

[justsome-di]

Current read: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

"It was a given that fresh rice hot out of the cooker was served in the order of father, brother, and grandmother, and that perfect pieces of tofu, dumplings, and patties were the brother's while the girls ate the ones that fell apart. The brother had chopsticks, socks, long underwear, and school and lunch bags that matched, while the girls made do with whatever was available... That's how it had always been."

[discountalien-pancake]

Which gratuitously hypersexualized adult fantasy series is most overrated?

A Court of Thorns and Roses (SJM)

Shades of Magic (VE Schwab)

A Song of Ice and Fire (GRRM)

Captive Prince (CS Pacat)

Nevernight (Jay Kristoff)

other (tell me in the tags!)

Voting ended onMay 17, 2023

Because I cannot resist the urge to kick some bears

[rantreader]

A Court of Thorns and Roses is a hypersexualised adult fantasy series? I always thought it was Young Adult... and I finally bought the first book.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

yep, ACOTAR is adult fantasy. the characters are all 18+ and there are graphic(ish) sex scenes in all the books. but it wasn't made clear when it first released so a lot of places shelved it in YA (with ToG) without knowing and the misconception just sort of stuck

[rantreader]

That's kind of disappointing. At least I found out now and not during one of the graphic(ish) sex scenes.

[discountalien-pancake]

Which gratuitously hypersexualized adult fantasy series is most overrated?

A Court of Thorns and Roses (SJM)

Shades of Magic (VE Schwab)

A Song of Ice and Fire (GRRM)

Captive Prince (CS Pacat)

Nevernight (Jay Kristoff)

other (tell me in the tags!)

Voting ended onMay 17, 2023

Because I cannot resist the urge to kick some bears

[rantreader]

A Court of Thorns and Roses is a hypersexualised adult fantasy series? I always thought it was Young Adult... and I finally bought the first book.

[bookcub]

Book Discussion

based on my recent miss with legends and lattes, what book did you expect to love but it didnt hit you like expected

[rantreader]

This is going back a few years, but I still don't understand the popularity of The Night Circus.

[violetscrypt]

how do you organize your books

alphabetical by author

alphabetical by title

by color

chronological order

no organization

other (in the tags)

Voting ended onFeb 28, 2023

[lizziethereader]

Weekly Bookish Question #318 ( January 1st - January 7th) 

typical first question of the year: What’s the first book you’re picking/have picked up in 2023? 

[rantreader]

That I started in 2022, but am still reading: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

That I started in 2023: Tamas by Bishman Sahni.

[lizziethereader]

Is Crime and Punishment any good? 

[rantreader]

It's one of those books where I didn't understand everything that was going on, but I did enjoy it overall.

[rantreader]

Wanna know something funny?

I'm not a massive fan of Bluey. I watch clips when they appear on TikTok,but I have never actually seen a full episode.

I recently learnt they used an old Women's Weekly cookbook on the show. I happen to have that book, so I made a little video about it.

This video may now be popular on Blueytok. One of my resolutions was to get 200 TikTok followers. I now have 431 followers.

It's so strange.