Lauren

26 | Reading/Writing Blog 📖2026 Reading Goal: 24/50📖 American Girl Blog: @runawayorphantrain Goth Music Blog: @thefarheavens

[rosegardendeprofundis]

Introduction & Book Review Index

Welcome to my blog! I mostly use this as a reading journal to motivate me to write down my thoughts about the books I read (mostly literary fiction, but I try to branch out as well). That way, in the future, I will remember what I liked/disliked about them. I’ll keep updating this post as I post new reviews to keep things easy to navigate (mostly for myself but also for anyone who has any interest in my thoughts). I am always happy to chat about books I’ve read or get recommendations for books I should read!

2026 Reading Goal: 24/50

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy

Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash

Loop by Koji Suzuki

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

Birthday by Koji Suzuki

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Kin by Tayari Jones

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Sold by Patricia McCormick

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

The Birds by Daphne du Maurier

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

A Christmas Pageant by Donna Tartt

Jacqueline Susann’s Shadow of the Dolls by Rae Lawrence

On Writing by Stephen King

Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Television Was a Baby Crawling Toward That Death Chamber by Allen Ginsberg

2025 Reading Goal: 103/100

January 2025: 12 Books

February 2025: 10 Books

March 2025: 10 Books

April 2025: 10 Books

May 2025: 7 Books

June 2025: 6 Books

July 2025: 5 Books

August 2025: 4 Books

September 2025: 3 Books

October 2025: 16 Books

November 2025: 5 Books

December 2025: 15 Books

2025 Favorite: Momo by Michael Ende

2025 Least Favorite: Verity by Colleen Hoover

Add me on Goodreads and StoryGraph!

[liberalsarecool]

Cosign.

[pinkstormycloud]

Happy birthday Kafka! I'm sorry you existed before washi tape and the plethora of tiny but adorable stamps. <3

[fightingbymoonlight]

Seeing people I know and like using AI is making me understand the protagonists of those old time sci fi dystopia's.

"Oh I don't normally use AI, I just wanted it to plan my trip"

You lived on this planet for decades, you know what you like, there are hundreds of websites where you can type into any search engine " things to do in [area]" and have at least a hundred different options.

"Oh I only use it so I can figure out what to make during the week with what I have"

The most popular website as you type in "recipes" into google have sections where you click dinner- quick and easy and those usually rely on staples + 1 or 2 items. I found 30 recipes on chicken alone.

"I had a writing idea, so I typed a few sentences into Chat GPT and I was able to write 20 pages with it."

Youdidn'twriteit.Youdidn'twriteit.youdidn'twriteit.youdidn'twriteit.YOUDIDN'TWRITEIT.YOUDIDN'TWRITEIT.YOUDIDN'TWRITEIT.

[rosegardendeprofundis]

If Ryan Murphy messes up The Shards (almost inevitable), I will lose my mind

[rosegardendeprofundis]

My Penguin modern essays and short stories box set came in yesterday! I’m going to try to read them in numerical order, so yesterday I started off very strong with Martin Luther King, Jr’s Letter from Birmingham Jail.

[frogndtoad]

that night, frog and toad were both happy

[writingdose]

genuine writers getting wrongly accused of using ai because of witch hunt and proper grammar/structure in their works must be what being a woman in the 1600s who is wrongly accused of being a witch because she can read and is intelligent feels like

[rosegardendeprofundis]

Fr you can pry the em dash out my cold, dead hands

[writingdose]

me: I should write

also me: let me play the scene in my head and fantasize about writing it instead

[creativepromptsforwriting]

I don't need AI to write. I can create fake scenarios in my head perfectly fine myself.

[succubusboyfriend]

you have permission to pick that 2 year old "abandoned" project back up. it's not mad at you for setting it aside. and maybe time and distance have helped ease or erase the things that made you put it down in the first place.

[rosegardendeprofundis]

I’m thinking about trying to rework some stories I wrote in college years ago, but a part of me is afraid I’m going to hate them lol

[rosegardendeprofundis]

Oops

[rosegardendeprofundis]

I think Am*z*n lost my box set, and this might be my last straw.

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

[insert-witty-user-name-here]

[power-handmaiden]

when I was in high school I had a literature teacher who had a policy of unlimited extra credit. All you had to do was read a book by a notable author (his discretion) and have a little chat with him after school to prove that you read it. No limits, no need for variety (one month I decided I really loved Kurt Vonnegut and just read everything of his I could get my hands on).

Yes, I was tearing through books constantly, and talking to this teacher at least weekly. Because even though I always loved reading as a kid, literature was always a very weak subject for me in terms of a teaching-to-standardized-test school setting (I just do awful on "what color were the curtains" type multiple choice questions. Those details don't stick in my memory THEY JUST DON'T). But that didn't matter for this class. I could just read my way out of any bad test score. I have always had fond memories of how I "fudged" my way through that class and "abused' the extra credit policy.

I was thinking about it again today, and only just now realized that he absolutely tricked me into being well-read, while my teenage self thought I was totally getting away with something. THAT MOTHERFUCKER. I hope he's doing well.

[periodicallypurple]

Thought this might help others who struggle when writing. I know I get in my head too much.

[rosegardendeprofundis]

Oops