Eggplant.place

323d

I've finished: The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa

When I purchased a novel translated from Arabic I was expecting something more local. What I got is a universal appeal to the power of imagination and the role of stories in our humanity.

I learned about Zorba the Greek, Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland as they struggle to survive in the grip of 1984.

I watched a man and his daughter struggle to retain their humanity in the face of a totalitarian regime.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/8b7e9b13-a81e-44c4-9bc7-e46b5142e1ae

@bookstodon @audiobooks #SFF #dystopia #books #amReading #bookstodon #AudioBook

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2y

I #AmReading Dragon Wing by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman as the November #BrownAjahsBookClub pick.
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Ages ago, sorcerers of unmatched power sundered a world into four realms -sky, stone, fire, and water- then vanished. Over time, magicians learned to work spells only in their own realms and forgot the others. Now only the few who have survived the Labyrinth and crossed the Death Gate know of the presence of all four realms.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/14f5115f-7cc1-4ed3-8a36-50843355b827

#DeathGateCycle

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317d

Currently halfway through KJ Charles’ queer gothic romance All of Us Murderers and having a grand time! @bookstodon #bookstodon #amreading #mmromance

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1y

I #AmReading Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer.
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With ailing family to support, Evie Sage's employment status isn't just important, it's vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn's most infamous Villain results in a job offer—naturally, she says yes.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/1607db39-78a7-418a-9091-e2019213ade5

#AssistantToTheVillain #NicoleHannahMaehrer

Book cover for Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. The title is printed in bold stylized letters at a slight slant across the center of the book, with many pointy weapons placed neatly in lines to each side of the letters. At the top of the cover there are more swords and daggers and what appears to be ingredients for making poison apples. There is a frog prince with a red sign that reads "Halp!" At the bottom of the cover there are the following: a crow with a wand; a helmet with a bunch of arrows piercing it; a faerie in a jar; a stack of books with titles like "Evil Planning" and "Monologuing"; a scroll with the image of a knight in armor, with red Xes drawn over the head, the heart, and the groin.

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317d

I've finished: The Ragpicker by Joel Dane

It is not easy to do something innovative in the post-apocalyptic sub genre.

Humans surviving in enclaves, hunted by robots inhabited by broken uploaded minds is nothing new. But Joel Dane manages to explore these themes in a very humanizing manner.

As Ysmany partners with the ragpicker, to save a baby from the military twitch that dominates her enclave, they go on a journey that will form a new partnership that will change the relationship between the remaining humans and the remnants of the uploaded.

For this is a found family novel, though it is in no way cozy. Filled with danger, pain and trauma, while there is a healing process, and the new partnership builds a safer community, it is an incremental improvement.

I like it when the authors don't forget that life is hard when they write about a healing journey.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/2f165f4f-d323-4ed4-beee-d0d1ccd945d1

@bookstodon @audiobooks #ScienceFiction #postApocalyptic #FoundFamily #amReading #bookstodon #AudioBook

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305d

I've finished: Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle

Lucky Day dresses a well worn fantasy trope: you can't cheat lady luck, and dresses it in science fiction clothes.

It is interesting to see a statistician have to deal with probability defying events on the personal, philosophical and investigative levels.

However this novel must come with a body horror content warning. Tingle absolutely delights in graphic descriptions of injury and death.

If you want a more family friendly novel that deals with the implications of impossible phenomena manifesting in our world, try When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/7690dede-bb83-45a7-98cf-28dd75493055

@bookstodon @audiobooks #ScienceFiction #BodyHorror #bookstodon #AudioBooks #amReading

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310d

Book Promotion: When a world is broken who or what can put it back together? Not Miralees she's just an acrobat with her family troupe but is that all?

Read "Dragons of the Wounded Land"
#romantasy #fedibookfair #dragons #heroines #lesbian #monsters #romancelandia #fantasy #epic #goodbooks #phantastik #sapphic #amreading #wlw #writing #sorcery #audiobook #readers #reading #secondaryworld #magic #lesfic #legendary #boost (a457) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FCDHT9RF?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

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316d

I've finished: Vigilance by Robert Jackson Bennett

This is not what I'm used to from Robert Jackson Bennett,

A hard hitting, near future, techno-thriller, parody of American gun culture.

It is not the funny sort of satire, it is the tragic, tense drama kind.

Published in 2019 it hit's a bit too close to home in 2025.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/08c7b0e6-cf4b-4405-8219-5d51dd7b8095

@bookstodon @audiobooks #ScienceFiction #dystopia #satire #NearFuture #amReading #bookstodon #AudioBooks #robertjacksonbennett

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314d

What I Read in 2025: https://lydiaschoch.com/what-i-read-in-2025/

@bookstodon

#Books #AmReading

A pair of glasses, possibly reading glasses, lying on a page of an opened book that has a map drawn on it.

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249d

Delightfully dark, a good winter read.

"I don’t need you,’ I say, ‘I want you. That should be enough. That should be better because it means I’ve made a choice."
― A.G. Slatter, All the Murmuring Bones

#Horror #Fiction #HorrorBooks @bookstodon @bookstodon@fedigroups.social #amreading

The cover of All The Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter

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303d

I started reading Slayers of Old by Jim C. Hines this weekend and will share what I thought of it after I finish it. So far I’m enjoying the fact that the three protagonists are all between the ages of about 56 and 99. That’s cool.

It reminds me a little of what Buffy the Vampire Slayer might have been like after Buffy retired from saving the world and grew old enough to have some health troubles.

If you’ve read it, did you like it?

#Fantasy #Books #AmReading

@bookstodon

Book cover for Slayers of Old by Jim C. Hines. Image on cover is of a drawing of a pale-skinned person who is gently leaning on a cane and is wearing yellow slacks and a black shirt. You can see their legs, torso, and arms, but their upper chest and face are not visible.

At their feet is a black cat that has six yellow eyes arranged in a pyramid form and several tentacles curling around from its rear end.

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307d

All the books. . .

Here's my list of all the #fiction I read in 2025. It's mostly #mystery, of course, but there are some other genres represented as well.

I hope you find something on this list that YOU would love to read!

#ReadingList2025 #AmReading #AmWriting

https://open.substack.com/pub/susannasullivanauthor/p/all-the-fiction-books-ive-read-in?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

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207d

I've finished: GogMagog by Jeff Moon & Steve Beard

Set in a dark world full of bizarre people and phenomena, GogMagog is lead by a grumpy foul mouthed old woman, but her heart is in the right place.

This is a very British book, steeped in British culture history and national trauma.

Thankfully, despite it's title, it has nothing to do with the bible.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/f1864bfc-1e8e-448b-8b1f-2e19c8499363

@bookstodon
#SFF #amReading #AudioBooks @audiofiction

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316d

Made a list of all the 2026 fantasy and sci-fi book releases that I’m excited for:
https://youtu.be/oRaNxr3Uoj0
#bookstodon #booktube #amreading

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301d

Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2026: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-most-anticipated-books-releasing-in-the-first-half-of-2026/

#Books #AmReading #TBR

@bookstodon

Drawing of the outside of a blue multi-story building. Snow is falling gently outside as the street lamp glows dimly.Inside a window on the second story of this building, a pale-skinned man and woman who both have black hair sit by the window wearing sweaters and reading books in companionable silence.

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61d

I've finished: Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gabriel Kay

This is my first encounter with Guy Gabriel Kay. I can understand why he is so beloved by his fans.

I really enjoyed his writing and his complex and competent characters. He writes so well, he managed to make me enjoy Byzantine court intrigue, not an easy task.

I really loved the historical perspective, and the central part the art of mosaic laying holds within the novel.

I studied history and art history and really connected with these themes as well as the characters.

If you are looking for a fantasy novel, you may be disappointed, as the magical elements only play a small part. though they do eventually represent an important aspect of the overall theme.

This is mainly alt history.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/ef5c3355-a637-4569-ae53-025cb30995d5

@bookstodon @audiofiction
#history #altHistory #artHistory #Byzantium #amReading #bookstodon #AudioBooks

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104d

Happy reading! 😊

@reading @bookstodon @books @humor @humor@lemmy.world @aiop @joinin

#ReadingMemes #Meme #Humor #Humour #Funny #Geek #Reading #Readers #ReadingCommunity #AmReading #Novel #Books #Fiction #Bookstodon

Meme with five photos of a man looking increasingly ecstatic.
Captions:
1: You start a new book
2: You're off the next day
3: All chores and errands are done; and there's leftovers in the fridge
4: The blanket is warm
5: All of the sudden starts raining and there's thunder in the distance

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279d

Guess what? CHORDS OF DECEPTION, book 2 in the Lily Gallagher Mysteries series, is ready for beta readers.

shttps://open.substack.com/pub/susannasullivanauthor/p/whats-coming-next-for-my-lily-gallagher?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

#AmWriting #mystery #edgycozymystery #AmReading

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1y

THE EYE OF THE WORLD Chapter 3: The Peddler

I've been putting away clothes that were LONG overdue for being put away (including a garbage bag of clothes from the move) and listening to The Hills of Tanchico (from #WheelOfTimeTVshow) on repeat bc it's been stuck in my head, when I suddenly realized: I could be listening to my audiobook!

Padan Fain you horrible creep, let's meet you!

@bookstodon #TheWheelOfTime #WheelOfTime #bookstodon #audiobookstodon #audiobooks #AmReading #AmReadingFantasy

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245d

Seriuosly, #kidlit goes so hard...

"People try to create order. Discipline. Rules. It gives them peace. A sense of regulation. Of strength. It makes them feel in control. But life is chaos, reader. The sooner you learn this, the better."
― Cory Anderson, What Beauty There Is

#YA 📚💙📚 #Books @bookstodon @bookstodon@fedigroups.social #amreading

The cover of WHAT BEAUTY THERE IS by Cory Anderson, shows a couple of teens, sitting under the canopy of a forest in the night. A shining mot flies by.

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204d

I've finished: Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys

I was not aware of Ruthanna Emrys's The Litany of Earth novelette that preceded Winter Tide, and know Lovecraft only from other works he inspired.. So I read this novel without much background.

What I got was a mature protagonist, from a community designated as an enemy of the united states, trying to save the remnants of her culture as the red scare threatens to place them on the domestic enemy list yet again.

She has some remaining family both biological and adopted and gathers a number of allies to assist her, but she has to deal with allot of bullshit from allot of privileged pricks.

Quite often she ends up as the only adult in the room.

The magic system has allot of depth and a long history as elder gods / aliens are at it's heart.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b248cff8-9817-4740-8e57-b5cb0fe8b83e

@bookstodon @audiofiction #SFF #Lovecraft #amReading #bookstodon #AudioBooks

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276d

Very late start, but it's time for a 2026 thread of books I read. Heather Fawcett was excellent (although book 1 was better). Andrew Cartmel was on form. Elle Hartford was sweet seashorecore (if that's a thing!) & Laura Laakso was an excellent start to a new to me crime fantasy series with an mc with chronic pain. #amreading #books #bookstodon

How to Care for Cursed Fish by Elle Hartford 5⭐️
Underscore by Andrew Cartmel 5⭐️
The Copper Heart by Sarah Painter 4⭐️
Fallible Justice by Laura Laakso 5⭐️

ALT

Must Love Moss and Moonshine by Maisy Magill 4⭐️
Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett 5⭐️
Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill 5⭐️
The Good and the Green by Amy Yorke 4⭐️

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244d

More #YA that goes hard, this one oozing emotion...

"Letting go feels like giving up. But if you don’t let go, you’ll drown. I know the feeling. And it sucks. But Life sucks sometimes."
― Abbie Emmons, 100 Days of Sunlight

#KidLit 📚📚 #amreading #contemporary @bookstodon @bookstodon@fedigroups.social

The cover of 100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons showing the tittle over a bright yellow background surrounded by objects one may use on a summer afternoon outside, a guitar, sunglasses, flowers, waffles...

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1y

sometimes you have to choose a book by its cover. found this one while reshelving at the library this morning and greatly looking forward to reading it.

#bookstodon #amreading