books

57d

Pulp Books: Joyless & Twisted !

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57d

I'm filling out the promts for the #storygraph Challenges 2026 and I'm open for recommendations

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57d

I'm filling out the promts for the #storygraph Challenges 2026 and I'm open for recommendations

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1y

#OTD in 1878.

Henry Irving's production of Hamlet, with himself in the title rôle playing opposite Ellen Terry as Ophelia, opens at the Lyceum Theatre, London (of which they have taken over the management). The tendency of actor-managers to emphasise the importance of their own central character did not always meet with the critics' approval.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet

Hamlet at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1524

#books #literature #theatre #drama

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act I, Scene IV by Henry Fuseli. Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus, and the Ghost, on platform before the Palace of Elsinor.

This image is an engraving based on the work by Henry Fuseli, titled Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act I, Scene IV. It illustrates a dramatic moment from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. The scene shows Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus witnessing the ghost of Hamlet's father on the platform before the palace of Elsinore.

The ghost appears in armor, pointing dramatically, while the characters react in fear and awe. The dark, atmospheric setting emphasizes the tension and supernatural tone of the scene. Fuseli's composition captures the gothic and emotional intensity for which he is renowned.

This image is a painting by Eugène Delacroix, titled Hamlet and Horatio in the Cemetery (1839). It depicts the famous gravedigger scene from William Shakespeare's Hamlet, specifically Act V, Scene I.

In this pivotal moment, Hamlet reflects on mortality as he holds the skull of Yorick, the court jester he knew in his youth. The scene is set in a graveyard, with a gravedigger presenting the skull to Hamlet, while Horatio observes. The dramatic sky and earthy tones contribute to the somber and introspective mood of the painting, characteristic of Delacroix's Romantic style. This artwork is housed in the Louvre Museum.

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58d

📚 Flux by: Jinwoo Chong

Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.

So begins Jinwoo Chon...

https://bookblabla.com/book/flux

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #literaryfiction #lgbtq #gay

Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.

So begins Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling, time-bending debut that blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction as the lives of Bo, Brandon, and Blue begin to intersect, uncovering a vast network of secrets and an experimental technology that threatens to upend life itself. Intertwined with them is the saga of an iconic ’80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse.

Flux is a haunting and sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of moving past trauma, and of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America.

A New York Times Editor’s Choice
- Best Book of 2023 by Esquire, Apple Books, HuffPost, GQ, Cosmopolitan, and Goodreads.
- Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
- VCU Cabell First Novelist Award

Brazen, exhilarating, fun, and surprising! I couldn't predict where this novel was going, but I was definitely along for the ride. Ling Ma, author of Severance

A blazingly original and stylish debut novel about a young man whose reality unravels when he suspects his mysterious employers have inadvert

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57d

2025 in #books, a thread, inspired by (but not limited to) https://shereads.com/traci-thomas-best-books-of-2025/ :

Two books I loved, part 1:
Gliff - Ali Smith

A fable about survival in a totalitarian surveillance state. A reflection on childhood, siblinghood, and the cost and worth of kindness. A dance with language and memory. I was torn between the impulse to read it all in one sitting and the urge to savor every single sentence.

#books #bookstodon

Cover, Gliff by Ali Smith

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57d

My year in review

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1y

#OTD in 1877.

Anna Sewell's animal welfare novel Black Beauty is published. It was written from a horse as main character's perspective. Sewell wrote it in the last years of her life, during which she was bedridden and seriously ill.

https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/271

#books #literature

Cover of the novel Black Beauty, first edition 1877, published by London: Jarrold and Sons Unknown author - https://archive.org/details/blackbeautyhisgr00seweiala

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54d

📚 Unlikely Story by: Ali Rosen

As a relationship therapist, Nora helps patients explore their feelings honestly. But she's hiding an embarrassing relationship secret of her own: she's in love with someone she's never even met.

J edits the advice column Nora's been writing anonymously for the last seven years. He's in London, she's in New York, a...

https://bookblabla.com/book/unlikely-story

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #romance #contemporaryfiction

As a relationship therapist, Nora helps patients explore their feelings honestly. But she's hiding an embarrassing relationship secret of her own: she's in love with someone she's never even met.

J edits the advice column Nora's been writing anonymously for the last seven years. He's in London, she's in New York, and they communicate solely through shared files. When he confides that his girlfriend's out of the picture, and her boss asks her to come to London, Nora takes both as a sign.But that's not the only thing on her mind. A client's ex-boyfriend just moved into her co-op, directly beneath her. Eli blames Nora for his breakup and seems determined to make her life miserable, gleefully planning a noisy renovation.

Yet despite all his bluster, Nora eventually starts to see the softness behind Eli's brusque, charming exterior...and after a slipup reveals a startling secret, Nora wonders whether someone can be two things at once.

From the author of Recipe for Second Chances comes a swoonworthy romance bursting with wit about a therapist who falls for the wrong man...but perhaps the right one was hiding in the margins all along.

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1y

In December 1876.

The first United States edition of Mark Twain's first individual extended work of fiction, the Bildungsroman The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, illustrated by True Williams, is published by the American Publishing Company. An authorised non-illustrated British edition has appeared in early June from Chatto & Windus in London (with the first review appearing on June 24 in a British magazine) and pirated editions have appeared in Canada and Germany.

https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/74

Front piece of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876, 1st edition.

Title page of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876, 1st edition

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56d

Here’s my 2025 review! Takahe has limited support for this type: See Original Page

(no description)

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1y

"Intelligent men are cruel. Stupid men are monstrously cruel."

Jack London died #OTD in 1916.

A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/120

#books #literature

Jack London (date unknown) Bain Collection - Library of Congress.

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56d

Free Ebook: https://books2read.com/EmergentConsequences

The painter of the universe, known as Life, just wanted to fulfill her reason for being, by creating a universe full of beautiful wonders and living things, but her twin brother, Death, exists solely to destroy her work, leading to an intractable argument about whose work should prevail.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #fiction #books #life #death #creation #destruction #humor #satire #darkhumor #free

(Left) The Cover of Emergent Consequences, by Owen Tyme, illustrated by Ryan Johnson.

Life and Death lay asleep in a the grass, the way they lay slightly resembling the yin-yang symbol. The tools of their trades are scattered around them.

Life is a woman with black hair, in a white robe. Behind her are the paint brush and palette she paints the universe with. She's rather short and has rosy cheeks.

Death is a skeleton in a black robe, which appears to be continually disintegrating at the hem line. Behind him lay his scythe and scroll of names.

Between Life and Death is the hourglass that serves as the source of time for the entire universe, an item that's most commonly carried by Death, but which is part of the work of both of them.

The artwork is cartoonish, with some bushes and a tree that has one red piece of fruit dangling from it. The scene is looked upon by the sun, which frowns at everything.

(Right) The background is an image of some green bacteria with the following quote over the top:

"I think I'll call it Ted."

"Ted? You want to name micro-organism Ted? Are you serious?"

"Yes, Ted."

"Alright, I just thought Bob would fit better."

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/EmergentConsequences

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56d

I canceled my book deal

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54d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/LegacyOfNewts

The undead witch that rules the space pirates, known as the Dead Queen, has finally been defeated. That only makes it worse for the witches that pulled it off. She’s livid and coming for them, at least once she gets her star ship back under control…

@bookstodon #author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

(Left) The cover of Legacy of Newts, by Owen Tyme.

In the background dawn, as seen from space, above a blue world.

In the foreground is a line drawing of a red spotted newt, in white. The lines of the newt are outlined in black, to help it stand out. The interior of the line drawing has been filled with the image of a spiral galaxy in red, orange and yellow, with a blue color that shades to white at the center, which lines up with the newt's head. The galaxy almost looks like fire.

(Right) The background is a blue and orange nebula, with the following text over it:

“You gotta be real strong, real bright, real quick, or real lucky to survive drawing *attention*. Which are you?”

“I’m quick, Amelia is bright, Marta is strong and all three of us have been lucky, after a fashion: if we didn’t have bad luck, then I suppose we wouldn’t have any luck at all.”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/LegacyOfNewts

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47d

📚 It by: Stephen King

Welcome to Derry, Maine. It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real.

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made twenty...

https://bookblabla.com/book/it

#books #reading #libraries #fic015000fiction #horror #thrillers

Welcome to Derry, Maine. It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real.

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made twenty-eight years ago calls them reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that terrifying summer return as they prepare to once again battle the monster lurking in Derry’s sewers.

Readers of Stephen King know that Derry, Maine, is a place with a deep, dark hold on the author. It reappears in many of his books, including Bag of Bones, Hearts in Atlantis, and 11/22/63. But it all starts with It.

“Stephen King’s most mature work” (St. Petersburg Times), “It will overwhelm you…to be read in a well-lit room only” (Los Angeles Times).

Stephen King’s classic #1 New York Times bestseller and the basis for the massively successful films It: Chapter One and It: Chapter Two as well as inspiration for HBO Max’s series It: Welcome to Derry about seven adults who return to their hometown to confront a nightmare they had first stumbled upon as teenagers, an evil without a name: It.

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1y

#OTD in 1899.

William Gillette's play Sherlock Holmes, based (with authorisation) on the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle, opens in New York City with himself in the title rôle.

https://archive.org/details/sherlockholmes0000will

#books #literature #theatre

Detail of photograph of the Broadway production of Sherlock Holmes, with William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes and Katherine Florence as Alice Faulkner. Stage Publishing Company, Inc.; photograph by Byron Company - Stage, August 1937 (page 91)

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1y

Danish author Marie Bregendahl was born #OTD in 1867.

Her first novel Hendrik i Bakken was published in 1904. She went on to gain fame with En Dødsnat in 1912, based on the death of her mother when she was only 12.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Bregendahl

#books #literature

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55d

"Call me Ishmael."

Readers dive into New Bedford Whaling Museum's 30th 'Moby-Dick' marathon

by Andrea Shea

https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/01/01/new-bedford-whaling-museum-moby-dick-marathon

Moby-Dick at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2701

#books #literature

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55d

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do:..."

Lewis Carroll’s Personal Copy of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ Returns to its ‘Spiritual Home’ in Oxford

The book has been donated jointly to Christ Church and the Bodleian Library, which are both part of the University of Oxford

by Sarah Kuta

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/lewis-carrolls-personal-copy-of-alices-adventures-in-wonderland-returns-to-its-spiritual-home-in-oxford-180987910/

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11

#books #literature

Cover of the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The cover has a beige or cream-colored background with the title "ALICE IN WONDERLAND" displayed at the top in a bold, serif typeface in dark blue or black. At the bottom, "LEWIS CARROLL" appears in the same typeface and color.

The main image is contained within a dark blue border and depicts a whimsical garden scene featuring two central figures:

On the right stands Alice, portrayed as a young girl with shoulder-length blonde hair with bangs. She wears a classic white pinafore dress over a white blouse, with the dress featuring a decorative orange or coral-colored hem with a scalloped pattern. Her expression is calm and pleasant.

On the left is a rotund figure in elaborate costume consisting of:

An enormous round red or orange hat or headdress that dominates the upper portion
A smiling, chubby face with rosy cheeks
An orange and yellow striped collar or ruff
A flowing orange robe or dress decorated with circular patterns and ornate details
The figure has a jovial, almost comical appearance

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11/pg11-images.html

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1y

#OTD in 1859

Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, an early example of mystery fiction, begins serialisation in All the Year Round.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woman_in_White_(novel)#

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_Year_Round

https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/583

#books #literature

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1y

#OTD in 1952.

Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End after a premiere in Nottingham, UK. It will become the longest continuously running play in history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mousetrap

#books #literature #theatre

22461th performance of The Mousetrap (at St Martin's Theatre)

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1y

#OTD in 1919.

The Großes Schauspielhaus opens as a theater in Berlin, with an interior designed by Hans Poelzig. It begins with the director Max Reinhardt's production of the Oresteia.

The House of Atreus at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8604

#books #literature #theatre

Set design for Aeschylus' Oresteia (premiere April 8, 1912 at the Nationaltheater Mannheim in the Nibelungensaal of the Rosengarten Mannheim, production: Ferdinand Gregori), gouache over pencil, Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung der Universität zu Köln, Schloss Wahn

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54d

This week's #NewBooks at the library: Some more unusual acquisitions from 2025.

- I purchased the last copy of the definitive retrospective on the #palaeoart of Zdenek #Burian from Albatros Media. Volume 3 focuses on his artwork of prehistoric humans. All these books are written in Czech, but the artwork is just lavish, and I'm a sucker for period palaeoart.

- I found a second-hand copy of the reissue of #AlexanderVonHumboldt's Views of Nature, released by the University of Chicago Press.

- #Spookslot - 44 jaar te gast bij de geesten, a Dutch book I hunted down via a friend, which was released to commemorate the closure of one of the most beloved attractions, Het Spookslot (a haunted house), in De #Efteling, a well-known Dutch amusement park I used to go to quite often as a child. I know they have completely rebuilt it into a new ride now with nods to the classic panoramic show, but I haven't visited it yet.

#Books #Paleontology #Palaeontology #HumanEvolution #Anthropology #HistoryOfScience #ScienceHistory #HistSci #Scicomm #Bookstodon @bookstodon

A photo of three books standing on a small, brown, wooden table. The out-of-focus background shows black shelves full of books and part of the beech-coloured laminate floor.

On the left, lying down, Views of Nature, showing a painting a verdant green jungle landscape.

In the middle, standing up on a pile of two other large books, Praveký Svet Zdenka Buriana, Kniha 3: Cesta k Cloveku, a large cloth-bound hardback showing two pieces of colour artwork of classic Czech palaeoartist Zdenek Burian: a cave bear and a hominin sitting down on his haunches while leaning on a stick. The narrow yellow paper wrapper obscures part of the cover and shows the title in Czech.

On the right, lying down, Spookslot - 44 jaar te gast bij de geesten, a slim but rather large square book with a colour photo of a ruined castle at night, lit up by several colourful spotlights. This the Spookslot, a haunted house in the Dutch attraction park De Efteling.

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1y

Is beauty natural?

Charles Darwin was as fascinated by extravagant ornament in nature as Jane Austen was in culture. Did their explanations agree?

By Abigail Tulenko via @aeonmag

https://aeon.co/essays/how-austen-and-darwin-converged-on-the-question-of-beauty

#books #literature

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