New Review - a good assortment of speculative takes awaits in Several Worlds edited by Kate MacDonald - lots of surprises and tales to enjoy
books
🇺🇸 📖 **The Book That All Americans Should Be Reading Now**
"_A nation’s prosperity is not a given. It is constantly shaped by the strength and character of its institutions. If you want to see how a country will do economically in the long run, look at its institutions.
🔗 https://www.zmescience.com/other/economics/the-book-that-all-americans-should-be-reading-now/.
#Economy #Economics #Nonfiction #Books #Bookstodon @economics @bookstodon
finished reading Akarnae 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑
by Lynette Noni.
Fairly derivative YA fantasy: teenage girl crosses into a parallel world, where she becomes a fish-out-of-water at a school for talented students, and discovers she's the only one who can prevent the obliteration of humanity. Some ingrained patriarchy - why do female heroes always have to be hot? Totally needless. Nice enough but nothing special.
Terrifying vistas of reality
H P Lovecraft, the master of cosmic horror stories, was a philosopher who believed in the total insignificance of humanity
BY Sam Woodward
H.P. Lovecraft at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/34724
How Black Women Tell the Stories of Their Lives and Communities Through Quilts
Exploring the Women of Color Quilters Network through SAAM’s collection
By Howard Kaplan
Quilts at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/5539
Beyond food and people
Nietzsche shows us how to embrace our connection with nature – without denying its essential conflict, strife and suffering
By Nicholas E Low
Nietzsche at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/779
What Was the Significance of Ephesus?
The ancient city of Ephesus had specific importance for Christianity and in the Roman Empire, particularly in relation to the Apostle Paul.
by Ryan Watson
https://www.thecollector.com/significance-of-ephesus/
Ephesus at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/7462
My #books are on promotion at #Smashwords as part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! Find my books and many more at https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/?utm_source=Mastodon all month! #SWSale2025
Doing some cleaning and reorganizing, and just organized hubby's big bookshelf (it was very chaotic, with books behind other books). I managed to get ALL the books onto the shelves so their titles could be read (with some in vertical stacks -- mostly paperbacks). Hubby thanked me, but found it amusing that I had arranged the historical books (both fiction and non-fiction) by era, and not fiction and non-fiction. When I dive into a topic (especially a certain time period), I like having both fiction and non-fiction around to reference. Am I alone in this?
NYC, 1919: Perched on a towering pile of donated books, a librarian calls from a megaphone to request more book donations for American troops stationed in France. The American Library Association’s campaign sent up to 55,000 books each month to military camp libraries.
via Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.40926/
What Is an Artist According to Sigmund Freud?
According to Freud, artists have a unique quality of sublimating their desires into creative fantasies and sharing them with their audience.
by Anastasiia Kirpalov
https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-artist-according-sigmund-freud/
Books about Freud -- Views on art at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/10788
Convergence of Connection is here! 🥰 💚
This is the third book in The Way of the Wielder series, and it begins right where its prequel, Mysteries of the Material, ends.
For more about this book, what it means to me, and a PLAYLIST, check out today’s blog post: https://sarahjhoodlet.com/blog/convergence-of-connection-is-here/
(See comments for links to various marketplaces on Amazon for purchase.)
#books #BookRelease #fantasy #romance #EpicFantasy #reading #readers #SelfPromo #author #IndieAuthor #WritingCommunity #Writer
From scattered traces
How the ideas circulating among one noblewoman’s coterie in 16th-century Dubrovnik anticipated modern feminist thought
By Luka Boršić
Croatian literature at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=croatian+literature
Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12015.Feersum_Endjinn
1 of thi moust entataynink syfy reeds ov ol, hooj recomindayshn :)
#books #amreading #reading #kindle #literature #booktoot #book #knihy #scifi #sciencefiction @bookstodon @scifi @knihy
Albert Einstein’s 1915 Letter to His Son Reveals the Key To Learning
In 1915, the young physicist had been working on his revolutionary theory for about 8 years, and he had finally condensed it into a mere 2 pages. Only a few days later, he would send a poignant letter to his son Hans Albert, who was living with Einstein’s estranged wife and his other son, Eduard “Tete,” in Zurich.
By Eva Baron
https://mymodernmet.com/albert-einstein-letters-key-to-learning/
Einstein at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1630
finished reading The Erratics 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑
by Vicki Laveau-Harvie.
Two sisters deal with the aging of their estranged parents, the mother psychopathically unhinged and the father cowed & abused. Morbidly fascinating but scattered and purposeless.
Explore an Online Archive of 2,100+ Rare Illustrations from Charles Dickens’ Novels
via @openculture (from the archives)
Charles Dickens books illustrations are available to download for free here:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=charles+dickens+books+Illustrations&title=Special%3AMediaSearch&type=image
Charles Dickens at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/37
150 years of the bizarre Hans Christian Andersen
His oddball stories were driven by his outsider status and strange appearance.
By Frances Wilson
Hans Christian Andersen at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2298
My latest read: "Fleet of Knives" by Gareth L. Powell - See my Goodreads review for details but if you enjoyed "Embers of War" and like yourself some full-blown space opera action and adventure, this one's definitely worth a look!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7783350308
#scifi #book #books #reading #bookreview #bookreviews #bookrec #bookrecs #bookrecommendation #bookrecommendations #booksofmastodon #readersofmastodon #readingcommunity #bookstodon #booktodon
ALT Book Fringe 2025
4–29 August, Edinburgh
Entirely run & curated by three of Scotland’s leading indie bookshops – Argonaut Books, Lighthouse – Edinburgh’s Radical Bookshop, & Typewronger – ALT Book Fringe is a free, alternative August literary festival
https://www.lighthousebookshop.com/events/book-fringe-2025-alt-edition-returns
I reviewed Old Moon Quarterly Volume 7 for Grimdark Magazine!
Another strong collection of short fiction from the “Soulsborne” dark fantasy specialists.
(As always, boosts are appreciated!)
https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-old-moon-quarterly-vol-7/
#BookReview #Books @bookstodon #DarkFantasy #SwordAndSorcery @fantasy #Fantasy #Booksky #GdM
finished reading Question 7 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
by Richard Flanagan.
An exploration of life & death, love & fate, encompassing everything from his family history to HG Wells and the development of the atomic bomb. Damn he can write! The description of his near-death experience is mesmerising. Didn't fully come together for me, but suspect it will benefit from a revisit.
#QueerRomanceClub @queerromanceclub
Here’s the shortlist in the three specifically romance categories of the Lammy awards
GAY ROMANCE
It Takes Three To Tango // Jem Wendel. Larking About Press
Our Own Light // Logan Sage Adams. Self-published
Outside the Wire // William Leet. Flashpoint Publications
The Spring Before Obergefell: A Novel // Ben Grossberg. University of Nebraska Press
We Could Be Heroes // Philip Ellis. G.P. Putnam’s Sons | Penguin Random House
LESBIAN ROMANCE
Bachelorette Number Twelve // Jae. Ylva Publishing
Here We Go Again // Alison Cochrun. Atria Books
Loser of the Year // Carrie Byrd. Ylva Publishing
Loving Safoa // Liza Wemakor. Neon Hemlock
Outlaw Hearts // Lori G. Matthews. Bella Books
LGBTQ+ ROMANCE AND EROTICA
Bradford, Bru and Brendan Too // Colin Dereham. Self-published
Leather, Lace and Locs // Anne Shade. Bold Strokes Books
Midsummer // Jena Doyle. Self-published
Mr. Blue Sky // Isla Olsen. Self-published
Oyster // Fearne Hill. Self-published
I’ve heard of precisely four of these 😂 (one of which we already tried earlier this year).
Let me know if there’s any titles you’d particularly like to see on the voting list, otherwise I’ll read through the blurbs and pick four.
(More about QRC here https://mastodon.au/@wendypalmer/113144943004145104)