#reading project

[flowers-in-the-archive]

"Around us, below us, this huge house seemed a monster, holding us in its sharp-toothed mouth. If we moved, whispered, breathed heavily, we'd be swallowed and digested."

— Flowers in the Attic

[living400lbs]

As I'm thinking of retrying the Agatha Christie books I bounced off of, I'm realizing...

1) I've read over 50 of her mystery and thriller novels

2) Plus many short stories

3) I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of them

4) Also her autobiography and more recent biographies (I recommend Lucy Worsley's). It does add to certain books to remember Christie trained as a nurse and then as a dispenser in a pharmacy during WW1. Including getting to take amputated limbs down to the furnace to be burned.

5) I've learned more about 20th century history because of them

BTW, if you are interested: I got most from the library, AND, the earliest is in public domain. English ebooks are at Project Gutenberg. Some are a bit clunky at times but The Mysterious Affair At Styles and The Murder of Rodger Ackroyd are first-rate.

Project Gutenberg offers 71,820 free eBooks for Kindle, iPad, Nook, Android, and iPhone.

[libertyreads]

One of my major goals for 2023 was to get my physical TBR down to 10 books. This includes anything I pick up during the year from book shopping or preorders that come in. I read four books from this shelf this past month, but then today I literally went out and bought three. Whoops.

January 2023--15 books. February 2023--14 books. Net: -1 book.

[mikazuki-juuichi]

Beastars, vols. 1-7 (english)

So! I finished my re-reading of these first seven volumes… okay, re-read the first two and read the other five for the first time… of this wonderful comic by Paru Itagaki. 

What can I say? That it is a much more complex story than it seems at first. And that like the best Furry stories, it uses anthropomorphic animals to talk about human nature. It can recall classic examples like “Contro Natura” (aka ‘Unnatural’) by Mirka Andolfo and “Blacksad”, by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Garrido. 

This is, remember, a very old tradition all over the world… although, certain people’s only previous frame of reference appears to be the movie “Zootopia”. Oh, well. Always try to expand your horizons, you all. It’s quite rewarding, I assure you. 

Anyway, the crux of “Beastars” is that it presents a world populated by intelligent animals (some anthropomorphic, and some actually not), whose differences serve to illustrate how hard yet how absolutely necessary empathy is. A world full of highly corrupt authority figures, in which the young often have to make their own way, going through a lot of pain and suffering in the process. 

It is also, and this is something to keep in mind however obvious it might seem, a world that explores the possibilities of imagination. A world that may or may nor remind us of ours, but that also creates it’s own convincing rules. When we read it, it is at once familiar and new to us. 

In summary, it’s a comic that I loved, whose characters are memorable (either because they are wonderful or because they are monstrous), and whose plot twists in ways that don’t just surprise us, but invite us to carefully reconsider things and concepts we take for granted. A story that you can get so, so much out of. 

I invite all of you to read and re-read it, and draw your own conclusions. 

*

P. S. Today, Friday the 13th (hehe), I began watching the Anime adaptation on Netflix. It’s worth a look, an adaptation that mixes things up, even altering the order of the facts, and that every so often experiments with different animation techniques. 

**

P. P. S. And here is my next reading project, which I hope to start next week: 

“Golden Kamuy”, by Satoru Noda, is a harsh and hard-hitting adventure drama. It is also one of the few comics that delve deep into Ainu culture (they even include a Bibliography at the end of each volume). The first two volumes were imported in English to Mexico and I started with those —but then the official Spanish translation arrived. 

Let’s see what I can get out of it…

*

[midsumner]

reading collective !

okay as per this post, here’s the update! if you missed the post but are interested, no worries - this is still in early stages so hop on in!! 

updates: just read this page and follow the steps!

bit of a boring post alas but three things

obviously, we’ve got to test the waters + iron out issues first but i’m being optimistic and was thinking, if it works out, we could choose book/s bimonthly or quarterly?!! 

the fun part is obvs book choice! will be a group decision so i’ve compiled the book suggestions so far - pls vote on them ! (below)

(this is the third point, bear with) as promised, i have tagged everyone who commented but some people have the search thing off so i can’t tag you - which is understandable and u don’t need to change that! but had a think and honestly a tinyletter (email newsletter) situation would be easier (for me) instead of a tag list which will invariably be a nightmare to keep up to date & doesn’t even fully work? also would allow u to take a break from tumblr and still be up to speed w updates + remove/add yourself at your own leisure! 

so action points on the above (i am sorry that sounds so... corporate, we will get through this asap) !!!

vote on a book on this google sheet (sorry i’m sick of polls, pls don’t delete stuff) closed as i have now collated the books ! 

(email sent for this round! message me if you want in!) subscribe to this neat tinyletter as i think it’ll be easier than manually keeping an up to date tag list, i promise to not spam u if we do go ahead with this option! 

edit: tinyletter will be the primary go to for the main updates so i don’t have to keep a taglist but will put reminders and so on in #readingcollective tag !

that’s all for now, excite!!! 

// //

@icarusafloat @mpiekarz @sentimentism @optimisticdays @graharaja @way-soft @arantxaalv @apoherm @psyhce @spiritinggently @sir-writealot @cosmostar @thehappyscavenger @ilyiad @eileentheskeen @97walk @impressionsdefrance @petit-alouette @elliotrosewater @woolysocks @marilennox @honey-dew @hyakinthia @frondescence @moregeousdyer @healingmoonlight @daenerysrtargaryen @mega-ringsandthings-world @pvlkovsky @romanticsrn @liverpeps @teikalliste @viktorskrums @ideoilli @nezuco @tulipcrown @ivorwendarcy @reinedeselfes @long19thcentury @lilaleep @captainn-nerd @musicforthesunking @aiglantine @burstsofgoldenblood @jamespotteurs @regina-cordium @sunkwissd @hadesburns

[globalbookproject]

Well I guess I'll put this here even though I'm not counting it towards the project

I finally read a book by Ayn Rand, and while the name still leaves a horrible taste in my mouth I can say that she's an alright author and I appreciated most of the story. The book was Anthem which my sister handed to me because it was a quick read and she's so disconnected from the world she doesn't understand why I don't enjoy the author as a person.

Anyway the book tells the story of a dystopian world built around collectivism and loss of individuality which sure yeah its Ayn Rand I get why this is the thing she decided could turn the world into a whole new hell. Over the course of the story the protagonist deals with guilt over their desire for individual expression and their feelings of favoritism for people and other such things. My only issue comes in the conclusion of the story which I believe I can say without spoiling the story, turns into a strange manifesto about how living life for others is the worst way to live and you should live only for yourself, you get the gist.

Nation of Origin: America? Maybe you could count it as Russia idk

Overall I'd say the book was enjoyable, it had a clear message, and it was easy to read for the most part. I can recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read that is willing to deal with challenging ideas.

Umm let's make a format for this why not

Author: Ayn Rand

Title: Anthem

Length: 105 pages/about an hour or so

Nation of Origin: America? Maybe Russia

Would I Read It Again? Maybe in a year or so I'll look back on it, as I said before it's not a bad book at all I just can't agree with its message or the general philosophy of the author.

[falsefangs]

if you can’t travel anywhere this summer, try to discover a new place from where you are by reading. choose a country or a city and read novels and short stories that are set there, look at a map while you do that and trace each character’s way. find recipes of typical meals and cook them for yourself, and listen to music, classic, folk or contemporary from your daydream travel destination. read up on the history of that place or find interviews with contemporary witnesses to listen to or watch online. check out if there are any documentaries on youtube (usually, there are a ton of them), maybe watch one or to film classics from the country or city you chose, or just watch a ton of trailers to get a taste of the atmosphere of the cinema of a different place.

a summer job or an internship, even if chosen voluntarily can make the time between june and september feel dull and not very relaxing. simply not being able to afford travel might feel numbing too, so don’t stress yourself about dedicating every minute you can spare to this if you have trouble focusing. just don’t let yourself be stopped from discovering something when you got that wanderlust but can’t wander.

[the-forest-library]

The Maggie Stiefvater Seven Favorite Books Project

I’ve read a few books recommended by Maggie and loved them all, so after she posted her seven favorite books, I began collecting the ones I didn’t already have. The collection is complete, and I’m going to try to work my way through them. I’m not sure if I can get to them all this year because Taran Wanderer and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader are books late in series that I haven’t read.

Read so far:

The Time Traveler’s Wife

The Grey King