Wheel of Time Brainrot, Mostly

[sxpositive]

book asks:

book you’ve reread the most times?

top 5 books of all time?

what is your favourite genre?

what sections of a bookstore do you browse?

where do you buy books?

what books have you read in the last month?

is there a series/book that got you into reading?

what is the first book you remember reading yourself?

when do you tend to read most?

do you have a guilty fav?

what non-fiction books do you like if any?

did you enjoy any compulsory high school readings?

do you have a goodreads?

do you ever mark/dog ear books you own?

recommend and review a book.

how many books have you read this year?

top 5 children’s books?

do you like historical books? which time period?

most disliked popular books?

what are things you look for in a book?

[readingwithemi]

I have tried to read YA titles in the past, but they’ve never gripped me. Everything I’ve tried has, from the first page, read/felt like it was written for children. Which is fine, but I’m not a young adult or a child and that’s not the tone I’m looking for in my books.

These titles have always felt immature to some extent, the themes they grapple with never go far enough and, to be perfectly honest, at my Big Age I’m not terribly interested in reading about teenagers.

So imagine my surprise when I realize the book I’m reading now is YA lol

DEATH IN THE JUNGLE by Candace Fleming is one of the most in-depth and nuanced looks at Jim Jones, Peoples Temple and Jonestown that I have come across! She takes into account not just the historical moment these events exist in, but also the racial element and how Jones appropriated the Civil Rights fight for his own personal gain!

She also goes to great lengths to humanize the people who followed Jones and to show why they came and why they stayed.

I’m a little less than halfway through at this point and it’s been a fascinating read! And I never would have guessed that it’s a YA nonfiction book because it does not feel watered down or sanitized for that audience.

[readingwithemi]

I’m reading Rachel Reid’s Game Changer series and I cannot get over how delightful all of these books are. I love all of these big dumb gay idiots and their sweet idiot friends and their dumb boyfriends. I want everyone to have big gay weddings and to have a million babies who will also play hockey.

I finished reading HEATED RIVALRY last night and I was straight up KICKING MY FEET at the end when Ilya was thinking about marrying Shane and having kids. THE SWEETEST. And now that I’m reading TOUGH GUY I am screaming internally about Ryan Price and beautiful Fabian and I want Ryan to be friends with Fabian’s friends and to go to Budget Brunch and maybe Wyatt is also in this friend group??

IDK man it’s nice to read something that’s so joyful and earnest and sweet!

Are you also reading these books?? Yell with me about them!

[readingwithemi]

No my favorite thing about these books is Ilya showing up in a cameo to be a terrible gremlin to his fellow hockey players lol

[readingwithemi]

I’m reading Rachel Reid’s Game Changer series and I cannot get over how delightful all of these books are. I love all of these big dumb gay idiots and their sweet idiot friends and their dumb boyfriends. I want everyone to have big gay weddings and to have a million babies who will also play hockey.

I finished reading HEATED RIVALRY last night and I was straight up KICKING MY FEET at the end when Ilya was thinking about marrying Shane and having kids. THE SWEETEST. And now that I’m reading TOUGH GUY I am screaming internally about Ryan Price and beautiful Fabian and I want Ryan to be friends with Fabian’s friends and to go to Budget Brunch and maybe Wyatt is also in this friend group??

IDK man it’s nice to read something that’s so joyful and earnest and sweet!

Are you also reading these books?? Yell with me about them!

[readingwithemi]

I've been reading THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER by Stephen Graham Jones (an author who is relatively new to me and who I love!) (thank you Work Friend Rachel for turning me onto THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS and MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW) and I want to write something coherent and smart about how much I am loving this book!

I started a rambling list and, part way through, a thought occurred -

One of my favorite books, let alone horror books, is THE TERROR by Dan Simmons. It's perfect, beautiful, haunting, and, I think, does service to the actual real horror (freezing and starving to death in the Arctic) while adding a supernatural element (there is an Inuit demon).

THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER hits the same marks. There's an actual, horrific, historical event at the heart of the story - the Marias Massacre - that is treated with respect and gravitas - that is then amplified by a supernatural aspect (there is a vampire).

I also appreciate that Stephen Graham Jones doesn't handhold the reader. Good Stab speaks in a way that is natural for him; it's on the reader to work on understanding what he's saying. There's no footnotes or glossary to explain that sticky mouth is a black bear. You have to put in the work.

I also like that the Pastor who is recording Good Stab's confession isn't a two-dimensional mustache-twirling villain. He's definitely not a good person! But he's not flat. He also has depth and complexity and his own motivations and secrets.

It's such a good book! I will agree with what I've seen others say and boldly claim that it is the best book I have read this year and that it's not even close.

[readingwithemi]

I finished reading FOUNDATION today and I loved it! It's nice to have a nice story about a sweet boy and his sweet friends and the stakes are kind of low but there's also a little bit of a mystery (I will always love Lackey's weird plotting lol like, where nothing really happens until the very end and then there's a Big Bad but he's easily beaten)

It's nice to read a sweet fantasy book where the good guys win, there's warm bread and hearty stew, and everyone looks out for each other!!

Also, love to see my boy Vanyel mentioned! And Stefan!

I have a feeling this little trilogy might become a fave :>

[readingwithemi]

So the other '90s-born fantasy series I'm reading is Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books. I am reading them in chronological order and I am now on FOUNDATION, book #1 of the Collegium Chronicles.

Lackey's books have been hit and miss for me - I hated the Gryphon books, loved the Last Herald-Mage, was lukewarm on the Founding trilogy - but so far I'm really enjoying FOUNDATION!

I've seen criticism that this is her Harry Potter rip-off and like ... yeah, ok. It's better lol Mercedes Lackey is a better person and also who cares? The idea of magic school does not belong to one person. Lackey has been writing about Heralds and Bards and Healers since 1989 - I think she's within her rights to have a trilogy that's primarily focused on those schools and their growth and change.

But yeah! Mags is sweet! I like his sweet friends! I would also - at my big age - like a magic horse to come and tell me I'm special and take me on adventures!!

Lackey's books - for me - are a comfort read. I don't think I read her as a kid, but she very much invokes that feeling. So even her books I didn't much care for, it's not enough to turn me off. (And I did find some things I enjoyed in the Gryphon books, especially the last in the series)

I like reading about Heralds and their magic horses! I will read every single book she puts out, I don't care!

[readingwithemi]

Not Mat crossing his arms, shaking his head, and saying “I’m going and that’s FINAL!” only to sitcom smash cut to the middle of battle where he’s yelling commands in the old tongue , leading Rand’s army, and beheading Couladin.

[readingwithemi]

I’m giving the Wheel of Time show another try and it’s growing on me! I really like the cast and the costuming - which is beautiful! - and I’m beginning to see the reason behind the changes that were made from page to screen. (Tho I do maintain that translating 1000 page books into 8 hours of TV is inevitably going to leave alot left out) (like what do you mean everyone is in Tar Valon and it’s episode 5 lol) (what happened to the rest of everyone’s adventures lol)

I do really like the Whitecloaks! And I also really like that the show isn’t handholding the audience through all the factions and big ideas - like all the exposition feels natural and I do like that facts are being slowly revealed and built on.

Still really don’t like the choice to give Perrin a wife only to fridge her! Even if I recognize that she’s an externalization of his inner turmoil of hammer vs axe. It sticks in my craw!

(My nitpick is that Rand isn’t tall enough and is he even Rand if he isn’t angsting about Tam being his father???) (Loial isn’t tall enough either lol) (Ahhh but he’s great!)

My goal is to watch it all over the holiday weekend 💪

[readingwithemi]

Welp, I saw the news yesterday. Man, I really miss the days when series could just ... run. They could air and find their audience and have that audience build up and they could tell their stories and you could spend time with the characters and their stories and their world.

[readingwithemi]

I’m giving the Wheel of Time show another try and it’s growing on me! I really like the cast and the costuming - which is beautiful! - and I’m beginning to see the reason behind the changes that were made from page to screen. (Tho I do maintain that translating 1000 page books into 8 hours of TV is inevitably going to leave alot left out) (like what do you mean everyone is in Tar Valon and it’s episode 5 lol) (what happened to the rest of everyone’s adventures lol)

I do really like the Whitecloaks! And I also really like that the show isn’t handholding the audience through all the factions and big ideas - like all the exposition feels natural and I do like that facts are being slowly revealed and built on.

Still really don’t like the choice to give Perrin a wife only to fridge her! Even if I recognize that she’s an externalization of his inner turmoil of hammer vs axe. It sticks in my craw!

(My nitpick is that Rand isn’t tall enough and is he even Rand if he isn’t angsting about Tam being his father???) (Loial isn’t tall enough either lol) (Ahhh but he’s great!)

My goal is to watch it all over the holiday weekend 💪

[readingwithemi]

I love that halfway through FIRES OF HEAVEN Elayne just ... stops flirting with Thom and everyone breathes this huge sigh of relief and she's just "idk what you're talking about"

GIRL. He's your mom's ex and he knew you when you were little what were you DOING???

It was gross and I hated it! I am much more in favor of this new dynamic she has with Birgitte?? (to be fair I *just* got to the part where she's bonded Birgitte as her Warder) (but I'm intrigued by this!)

[readingwithemi]

A Wheel of Time fan music video set to History Maker from Yuri!!! On Ice.

Is this anything??? Can anyone else see the vision??? This has been in my head for DAYS and I had to write it down to get it out.

[could-they-be-a-pro-wrestler]

How successful would Nynaeve al'Meara (TV version)…

…be if they decided to become a pro-wrestler?

Yes on the microphone skills / Yes on the wrestling skills

Yes on the microphone skills / No on the wrestling skills

No on the microphone skills / Yes on the wrestling skills

No on the microphone skills / No on the wrestling skills

Voting ended onFeb 6, 2025

Would you like to submit a character? Click this link if you do!

[readingwithemi]

I am SO CLOSE to being done with The Shadow Rising SO CLOSE

I am LOVING the chapters with Perrin in The Two Rivers - they really might be some of my favorites out of what I've read so far in the series!

Perrin and Faile are my FAVES now that they're being written as, like, actual people who are madly in love and not weird toxic cartoon characters??? I loved their sweet shotgun wedding and Perrin's perpetual heart eyes when he's looking at her lol

Anyway, I'm currently at this part with Rand and the Aielmen and this BUSTER Couladin trying to act like he's Car'a'carn with his Shein knockoff dragon tattoos :T I have a feeling this dude is about to get his shit absolutely ROCKED lol

(and Bella is still alive! hooray!)

[readingwithemi]

Emily’s Year in Books

I might sneak in one or two extra titles before the end of the year, but this is pretty much it! It feels good to be reading so much again. I read a lot of genre fiction (as is my general wont) and I'm still mad that I was bamboozled into reading a Kristin Hannah book lol I will never fall for the hype ever again! :D

[readingwithemi]

Oh I am NOT liking how Faile and Perrin’s relationship is being written :( I really hope it gets better but this whole “she abuses him and he seethes” thing is not cute. (And neither is Jordan’s weird thing with spanking???)

There’s a cute dynamic hidden in there somewhere - she is bold and strong headed and quick to act while he likes to take his time and think things through before acting. And I feel that some of how their dynamic is being written could be cute but it’s just MEAN. Why are they in a bad, toxic relationship? And why isn’t anyone telling them that it’s bad and toxic??

[readingwithemi]

Ok Perrin and Faile’s relationship has been fixed and I’m enjoying it again! It’s cute and sweet and flirty and she’s stern and stubborn but it’s not over the top and mean! They’re communicating openly!! She knows about the wolves and he knows she’s a fancy ✨ lady ✨

She’s supporting him as he fumbles through his new role of general and Perrin Goldeneyes (and he seems to have calmed down and accepted that he loves her)

So yes! More of this! This is good!!

[readingwithemi]

Robert Jordan how DARE you wait FOUR BOOKS to tell me about Perrin’s baby brother and sisters and cousins and the farm they all live on only to then turn around and tell me that they’re all dead ;;