Eggplant.place

1y

Glorious and mundane

I once exalted in the extraordinary. But as I’ve learned from Virginia Woolf, indelible beauty is also found in the everyday

By Diana Saverin

https://aeon.co/essays/like-virginia-woolf-i-now-treasure-a-routine-of-my-own?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=c252420215-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_08_18&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972

Virginia Woolf at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/89

#books #literature

Portrait of Virginia Woolf (January 25, 1882 – March 28, 1941), a British author and feminist, with her chignon.

By
George Charles Beresford (1864–1938)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf#/media/File:George_Charles_Beresford_-_Virginia_Woolf_in_1902_-_Restoration.jpg

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1y

My latest read: "Kenai" by Dave Dobson @davedobson - See my Goodreads review for details but if you're searching for a new science-fiction novel, this one's worth a look!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7826009327

@specfic @scifi @bookstodon

#scifi #specfic #book #bookrec #bookreview #books #booksofmastodon #readersofmastodon #readingcommunity #bookstodon #booktodon

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1y

Looking for a specific type of horror recommendation

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1y

Can you name ONE (one only please) SF/F book, written this century (2001+), that has absolutely blown your mind? Not just something you liked, or that was good, I'm looking for the absolute best books written this century.

Boost for visibility please.

#Books #SF #Fantasy #21Century

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164d

The Magic of Mucha

This Czech artist’s lush, irresistible designs helped define art nouveau.

https://lcm.loc.gov/issue/march-april-2026/the-magic-of-mucha/

Illustrations made by Mucha at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/44270

#Books #Art #Culture

Mucha's The Slav Epic cycle No.2: The Celebration of Svantovít (1912).

A vast, mystical scene of Slavic pagan ritual — priests and spirits swirl above a vast earthly crowd gathered in ceremonial worship beneath sacred trees.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Mucha#/media/File:Slavnost_svatovitova_na_rujane.jpg

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1y

A great reminder that reviews don't have to be super involved and detailed to be effective. By the way, "8" and its story singles now have well over 50 positive ratings on Goodreads from all sorts of readers. Why not give them a try today?

https://amazon.com/author/michaelshotter

@specfic @scifi @horrorbooks @bookstodon

#specfic #scifi #horror #thriller #book #books #story #stories #bookreview #bookreviews #bookrec #bookrecs #read #reads #reading #readingcommunity #booksofmastodon #bookstodon #booktodon

A Goodreads review of "Office Hours," one of the story singles from Michael Shotter's book "8: Tales of The Big Men from The Nod/Wells Timelines"

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164d

The Ignorant Art Historian: View of Notre Dame

By Hal Foster

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2026/04/28/the-ignorant-art-historian-view-of-notre-dame/

Notre-Dame de Paris at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/12945

#Books #Art_criticism #Culture

Vue de Notre-Dame, par Henri Matisse, 1914.

A semi-abstract view dominated by blue, with bold black outlines suggesting a window and the cathedral beyond. A single green form — likely a treetop — anchors the spare composition.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vue_de_Notre-Dame,_par_Henri_Matisse.jpg

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1y

📚 Lucky Day by: Chuck Tingle

“An existential masterwork that, like life, is equal parts atrocity and delights."—Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of Masters of Death

Lucky Day is the instant USA Today and Indie bestseller from Chuck Tingle, where one woman must go up against horrifying odds to save the world.

Four years ago, an u...

https://bookblabla.com/book/lucky-day

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #lgbtq #bisexualfiction #horror

“An existential masterwork that, like life, is equal parts atrocity and delights."—Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of Masters of Death

Lucky Day is the instant USA Today and Indie bestseller from Chuck Tingle, where one woman must go up against horrifying odds to save the world.

Four years ago, an unthinkable disaster occurred. In what was later known as the Low-Probability Event, eight million people were killed in a single day, each of them dying in improbable, bizarre ways: strangled by balloon ropes, torn apart by exploding manhole covers, attacked by a chimpanzee wielding a typewriter. A day of freak accidents that proved anything is possible, no matter the odds. Luck is real now, and it's not always good.

Vera, a former statistics and probability professor, lost everything that day, and she still struggles to make sense of the unbelievable catastrophe. To her, the LPE proved that the God of Order is dead and nothing matters anymore.

When Special Agent Layne shows up on Vera’s doorstep, she learns he's investigating a suspiciously—and statistically impossibly—lucky casino. He needs her help to prove the casino’s success is connected to the deaths of millions, and it's Vera's last chance to make sense of a world that doesn’t.

Because what's happening in Vegas isn't staying there, and she's the only thing that stands between the world and another deadly improbability.

Also by Chuck Tingle:
Bury Your Gays
Camp Damascus
Stra

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1y

Why We Need Positive Climate Novels

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1y

📚 People We Meet on Vacation by: Emily Henry

Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share ho...

https://bookblabla.com/book/people-we-meet-on-vacation

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #romance #womenfiction #contemporary

Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven't spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by Newsweek, Oprah Magazine, The Skimm, Marie Claire, Parade, The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, PopSugar, BookPage, BookBub, Betches, SheReads, Good Housekeeping, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, Real Simple, Frolic, and more!

From the #1 New York Times bestselling a

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1y

“The UK’s state broadcaster … regularly pays me residual fees. I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/18/uk-warns-sally-rooney-after-novelist-pledges-to-fund-palestine-action

@palestine @bookstodon #Palestine #Israel #Gaza #bookstodon #books #reading

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52d

Ebook (New Release): https://books2read.com/RowleysRide

The space pirate, Captain Edwina “Roaring” Rowley wakes in the vacuum of space, in orbit of the old harvest moon, Cakana, despite the fact her body is literally frozen stiff. She’s utterly confused by the fact Nuva, the goddess of death, didn’t come for her soul.

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

$The cover of Rowley's Ride, by Owen Tyme. The central image is a ghostly electric guitar composed mostly of blue and white light, with a metal plate covering a fair bit of the main body. The guitar has a bright and shiny aura, almost like electricity, though the non-metallic portions are transparent. The background is a fractal arrangement of stained-glass panels., in various shades of red.$

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184d

Learning to Live With Invidia: What Petrarch Has To Teach Us About Envy

Peter Jones on the Ways We Can Apply Medieval Philosophy to Our Modern Lives

https://lithub.com/learning-to-live-with-invidia-what-petrarch-has-to-teach-us-about-envy/

Petrarca at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7519

#books #literature

Petrarca.

A sepia engraving of Petrarca (Petrarch), as inscribed below — the 14th-century Italian poet. He wears a laurel wreath (symbol of poetic honor) and medieval hood, holding a book or writing tablet.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Petrarca_-_DPLA_-_4487f9c62af2ee1a64ce5696a243f427_(page_1).jpg?uselang=it

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285d

What were books like in ancient Greece and Rome?

If you were to visit a bookshop in the ancient world, what would it be like?

by Konstantine Panegyres

https://theconversation.com/what-were-books-like-in-ancient-greece-and-rome-267872

Ancient world at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=ancient+world

#books #literature

Initiation ritual into the Mysteries. Detail of the fresco in the Villa dei Misteri in Pompeii, painted in the “second style” of Pompeii, circa 60 BC.

The fresco is designed as a panel with an elaborate architectural frame. At the top runs a decorative border featuring a Greek key (meander) pattern in gold and brown tones against a light background. The main scene is set against a vibrant red (Pompeian red) background and is flanked by dark maroon or purple-brown vertical columns on either side, with additional decorative borders in green/teal creating a sophisticated framing system.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_fresco_Villa_dei_Misteri_Pompeii_001.jpg

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142d

If you're interested in using the Fediverse's reading platform BookWyrm, you can import your existing data from Goodreads, LibraryThing, StoryGraph, OpenLibrary or Calibre. More info on how to do the import into BookWyrm in this guide:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/importing-your-data-into-bookwyrm-from-goodreads-librarything-storygraph-openlibrary-or-calibre

If you want to find out more about BookWyrm, there's a general guide to it here:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/bookwyrm-a-social-network-for-people-who-enjoy-reading

#FediTips #BookWyrm #Books #Reading #Goodreads #LibraryThing #StoryGraph #OpenLibrary #Alternatives #Fediverse

Edited 142d ago

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1y

Can we talk about Anathem?

About 15 years ago I read though everything Neal Stephenson had written. It started with snow crash, then the cryptonomicon, then less popular works like zodiac and the diamond age. In general I loved them all. I stopped reading his books right before anathem came out…

But on a vacation last year I picked up a copy on my e-reader and started it. I enjoyed the concept, I loved the mat-as-philosophy, despite the difficulty getting into it. Anyway, vacation came to an end, I was about 40% through it, and I just stopped, picked up a couple other books, and moved on. No real reason, but a combination of how slow it moved, the extraneous details that seem like they could have been left out, etc.

Well, vacation this year hit so I picked it back up. After about the 50 percent point the book totally changed, as if I was reading an entirely different story. I’m trying to leave out spoilers, but now I am about 80% through and I’m having trouble with what the characters are doing in the book based on the history provided in the beginning.

Tap for spoiler

Like, these monks who shunned technology are suddenly flying space suits and plotting the takeover of an alien ship.

Don’t get me wrong… I follow the story and the plot tracks well, but there was so much character development in the beginning and suddenly what they are doing doesn’t track with any of that development.

The best summery I read by someone on reddit said “what do you think about Anathem? I think it is about 200 pages too long”. I’m going to push through and finish it. My e-reader says I have about 7 hours to go and I think I am enjoying it. I just was wondering how others feel about it.

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122d

Undiscovered Country: The 100th Anniversary of Virgina Woolf’s “On Being Ill”

Darcey Steinke on Chronic Pain, Loneliness, and the Truth of Woolf’s Work

https://lithub.com/undiscovered-country-the-100th-anniversary-of-virgina-woolfs-on-being-ill/

Books by Virginia Woolf:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/89

#Books #Literature

Photograph of Virginia Woolf with hand on face wearing a fur stole (10 x 15 centimeters).

Sepia studio portrait of a slender-faced Virginia Woolf, cheek resting on her hand, wearing a fur stole, gazing directly at the camera with large, intense eyes.Sepia studio portrait of a slender-faced woman, cheek resting on her hand, wearing a fur stole, gazing directly at the camera with large, intense eyes. Hair swept back, small ring visible on her finger

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf#/media/File:Virginia_Woolf_1927.jpg

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1y

A Medieval Peace Movement: The Bianchi of 1399

By Peter Konieczny

Sick and tired of war and violence, many people throughout Italy left their homes and cities to march for peace in the year 1399.

https://www.medievalists.net/2023/08/bianchi-medieval-peace-movement/

Leonardo Bruni at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/43839

#books #history

A 14th-century depiction of this miracle at Chiesa di Santa Maria del Monumento in Terni – photo by Silvio Sorcini

The painting is executed in tempera fresco on wall, with figures arranged frontally in a shallow, stage-like space. At the center, the miraculous event unfolds: a holy figure is shown as the source of divine intervention, framed by a luminous halo. The surrounding figures — clergy, townspeople, or witnesses — are rendered with expressive gestures, turning toward the miracle in attitudes of awe, reverence, or supplication.

Color plays a key role: deep reds, ochres, and lapis blues highlight sacred figures, while earthier tones distinguish ordinary people. Gold leaf or gilded details may once have heightened the divine presence.

https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Miracolo_dei_tre_pani,_e_l%E2%80%99Apparizione_della_Madonna_dell%E2%80%99ulivo_(M.della_Dormitio_Virginis,_affresco_del_XV_secolo,_Terni,_Chiesa_di_Santa_Maria_del_Monumento).jpg

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1y

5 of the strangest books ever written

Some books are remembered for their lyrical prose or engaging stories. Others are remembered for simply being weird.

By Scotty Hendricks

https://bigthink.com/books/5-of-the-strangest-books-ever-written/

James Joyce at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1039

#Books #Literature

A picture of James Joyce taken in Paris in 1928. During this time, Joyce was writing Finnegans Wake. He wouldn’t complete it for another 11 years.

Dressed in his characteristic dark suit, tie, and round spectacles, Joyce appears composed, reflective, and slightly enigmatic—a fitting image for a writer then deep in the creation of one of the most challenging and experimental works of modern literature: Finnegans Wake.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Joyce_in_Paris.jpg

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1y

My latest read: "Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers" from Stars and Sabers Publishing @starsandsabers - See my Goodreads review for details but if you're looking for a smorgasbord of speculative fiction, this one's sure to satisfy!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7830355244

@specfic @scifi @horrorbooks @bookstodon

#horror #scifi #fantasy #book #books #bookrec #bookrecs #bookreview #bookreviews #read #reads #reading #readingcommunity #booksofmastodon #readersofmastodon #bookstodon #booktodon

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146d

To vex the world. Jonathan Swift’s Frustrated Humor

On the three-hundredth anniversary of Gulliver’s Travels, Swift’s satire of his own society is remarkably relevant.

by Henry Oliver

https://www.commonreader.co.uk/p/to-vex-the-world-jonathan-swifts

Gulliver’s Travels available in several languages at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=+Gulliver%E2%80%99s+Travels

#Books #Literature

Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Regions of the World

Author: Jonathan Swift

The cover features a classic illustration of the giant Gulliver pinned to the ground by Lilliputians.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/17157/pg17157-images.html

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70d

A Review of Ava: https://lydiaschoch.com/a-review-of-ava/

#ScienceFiction #Books #BookReview #Feminism

@bookstodon

Book cover for Ava by Victoria Dillon. Image on cover shows a light pink egg that is just beginning to crack open.

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217d

My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, and spectacular #horror #books far and wide.

+HORROR LIBRARY+ Vol 9 is an absolutely stellar anthology that will enthrall, terrify, & haunt you. Eric J. Guignard has assembled an astonishing array of truly superior, stunning Horror that exemplifies the best the genre offers. Not one bad story; my highest recommendation! (Dark Moon Books)

#book #review #bookstodon
@bookstodon #mothersuspiriareview #MSReview @bookstodon@toot.community

Paperback of +HORROR LIBRARY+ VOL 9. A monster is on the cover.

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315d

Read my first Murakami today. Fun little ready and very lovingly illustrated.

If you enjoy your Kafka or Oyamada you might enjoy this one too.

@bookstodon

#fedibookclub #books #bookstodon

cover of the book: Super frog saves Tokyo: a simple abstract depiction of a frogs eye. pleasant and playful vibes

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315d

📚 The Illustrated Man by: Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury brings wonders alive. For this peerless American storyteller, the most bewitching force in the universe is human nature. In these eighteen startling tales unfolding across a canvas of tattooed skin, living cities take their vengeance, technology awakens the most primal na...

https://bookblabla.com/book/the-illustrated-man

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #classicsfiction #sciencefiction #generalfiction

Ray Bradbury brings wonders alive. For this peerless American storyteller, the most bewitching force in the universe is human nature. In these eighteen startling tales unfolding across a canvas of tattooed skin, living cities take their vengeance, technology awakens the most primal natural instincts, and dreams are carried aloft in junkyard rockets.

Provocative and powerful, The Illustrated Man is a kaleidoscopic blending of magic, imagination, and truth—as exhilarating as interplanetary travel, as maddening as a walk in a million-year rain, and as comforting as simple, familiar rituals on the last night of the world.

The Illustrated Man, a seminal work in Ray Bradbury’s career, whose extraordinary power and imagination remain undimmed by time’s passage, is available from Simon & Schuster.

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