finished reading Things I Don't Want to Know 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
by Deborah Levy.
A brief memoir delving into feminism, identity and what it means to be a writer. Very much in the spirit of A Room Of One's Own, and of similar calibre.
bookstodon
The Imaginary Singular Project: A Review of Trace Elements by Jo Walton and Ada Palmer
A view on SFF that gets a little too tangled in its own specific perspective explains @chloroform_tea at the NOAF blog:
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2026/04/the-imaginary-singular-project-review.html
Five stars:
Stay For A Spell by Amy Coombe with Lottie Bourne (Narrator) (2026) is a cozy fantasy that plays with the notion of curses in a way I haven't seen since Harriet the Invincible by Ursula Vernon (who now writes as T. Kingfisher). Princess Tanadelle of the Widdenmar has settled into a life of performing all the royal duties that the rest of her family are too busy to do. It means a lot of travel, a very tight schedule, and almost no downtime, save for the long hours in the carriage. All of that changes when she finds herself cursed to stay within the confines of bookstore.
https://pussreboots.com/blog/2026/comments_05/stay_for_a_spell.html
#bookstodon #AudioBook #fantasy #romance #BarnPirate
@bookstodon
John Hollander’s poem Kitty and Bug is self-explanatory in its simplicity. The cat’s unpunctuated, almost stream-of-consciousness thoughts fit into a physical ‘cat’ shape, while the bug – in sharp contrast – is but a 3-letter word near the edge of the page.
Happy #Caturday !
#poetry #poem #cat #cats #kitty #catsOfMastodon #books #reading #literature #bookstodon @bookstodon
There Is No Antimemetics Division. By QNTM.
You are the director of a secret agency that combats invisible ideas that take over people’s minds, particularly those trying to defeat them, so you must frequently wipe your own memory and start again; this makes for some tough days at the office (and at home).
3 of 5 library cats 🐈 🐈 🐈.
@bookstodon #bookstodon #books #reading #SciFi #memory #memes
Technically a re-read, but the first read was so long ago, I recollected little details as I read like snatches of a dream. Cassandra Mortmain is one of the most delightful narrators I've had the pleasure to spend time with. The castle is a beautifully depicted setting, the humour is wonderful, and so is the supporting cast, even if I don't entirely get the appeal of Simon (who should have kept his much-maligned beard!). @bookstodon #bookstodon #DodieSmith
I'm participating in a challenge to read all the #NewberyAward winners and the first book, The Story of Mankind, is raising an interesting question: read the book as originally written or read an updated version? (I'm sure other questions about a history written in the 20s by a white European man will arise!)
I favor the original, because that's what won the prize and I want to see what they were seeing. One reader pointed out the probable dilution of the original authorial voice in updates. Others want to compare/contrast. I am curious whether there were any changes because of changing cultural norms or if it's all just adding on more history.
As for the book, I expected to be bored to death but it's actually quite engaging.
Film Review: Slanted
A microcosm of race and gender that wanted to be far more daring than it is
Alex Wallace has the review at the NOAF blog:
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2026/05/review-slanted.html
Honoré de #Balzac (May 20, 1799 – August 18, 1850) wanted to do with the pen what Napoleon had done with the sword.
And in a way, he did. His influence reached #Dostoevsky, Zola, Flaubert, Proust, Dickens, Wilde, and Baldwin. Dostoevsky’s first published book was a Russian translation of Balzac’s Eugénie Grandet.
Edited 178d ago
Five stars:
The Outermost Mouse by Lauren Wolk and Kristen Adam (Illustrator) (2026) is inspired by a real Cape Cod cottage that stood for fifty-three years until it was swept away in the blizzard of 1978. But the story is told from the point of view of a mouse imagined to be living in the house during that fateful storm.
https://pussreboots.com/blog/2026/comments_06/outermost_mouse.html
Five stars:
Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1 by Kamome Shirahama and Stephen Kohler (translator) (2017) has been popping up in my recommendations for a year or two on various sites where I track my reading. Now that the manga is getting an anime adaptation, I felt it was time to give the series a read.
Coco, a young seamstress has wanted to be a witch for most of her short life. As a young child she purchased a magic coloring book from a witch with a spiral eyeball mask and was given a free magic wand. She hasn't managed to do anything with the book until a witch visits her mother's shop and she happens to witness the real way magic works.
https://pussreboots.com/blog/2026/comments_05/witch_hat_atelier_1.html
Edited 177d ago
I just backed LJ Cohen’s Litany for a Broken World Kickstarter! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ljcohen/entangled-realities-litany-for-a-broken-world I love this book and can’t wait for the audiobook!
#kickstarter #bookstodon @books @Books@mstdn.social @bookstodon
finished reading Familiar Things 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
by Hwang Sok-Yong.
As South Korea undergoes rapid industrialisation, the marginalised are left to survive as modern-day gleaners by (literally) sorting through the mountains of trash produced by consumer society. Also lost in the rush of 'prosperity' are the old traditions that bind people and place.
RE: https://taonaw.com/2026/05/19/any-recommendations-for-a-good.html
Hi there, friendly #books bubble. 👋🏻 Does anyone happen to have a good recommendation for JTR?
@bookstodon #bookstodon #darkcyberpunk #cyberpunk #literature #askfedi
I'm reading a book of classical poems by Arab women, and found this gem from some 1000 years ago:
"Leave me alone, you’re not my equal, you’re not a man of the world nor a man of faith, yet you want to own me, you mindless twit."
(by Umm Ja'far bint Ali)
That's it. That's the whole poem.
#poetry #poem #WomensHistory #women #literature #art #bookstodon
Book Promotion: First #book in a series on Kindle Unlimited
A collection of 102 #books for you. My book is DRM-free.
#spaceship #magic #aliens #fedibookfair #boost #amreading #writing #readers #rogue #heroes #reading #goodbooks #space #time #dystopia #monsters #futurism #planets #sciencefiction #science #scifi #writing #young #newadults #teen #teens #booktoot #bookfunnel #literature #readingcommunity #booksky #BookTok #booklovers #bookstagram #bookstodon @bookstodon
Five stars:
Rialto by Kate Milford (2026) (April 2026) is described as a "...standalone mystery ... set in a contemporary world tinged with magic, in which two sisters spend summer vacation in a small town in the shadows of abandoned amusement park that is not what it seems." It is a standalone in the same sort of way that Small Gods by Terry Pratchett is a standalone novel. Even back in 2018 when I first heard about Rialto I said it wouldn't be a complete standalone as "none of her books are complete standalones."
There's no way I could pass this up. What a book title!
This is why I use two separate library systems: they have different stuff.
Torn from her quiet retirement of apple trees and market stalls by an awakened amulet, Dragonslayer Kadara cuts her way across Aros to face its greatest threat: the truth.
#bookstodon #WritersOfMastodon #writing #SORS #KnowYourSlayBCs #EpicFantasy #FantasyNovel #Dragons #EpicAdventure #WritingCommunity
Four stars:
Home Is Where the Murder Is by Rosalie Spielman and Eleanor McCormick (Narrator) (2023) is the second book in the Hometown mystery series. During the New Oslo Pioneer Days festival, a woman claiming to be Deputy Freddie's cousin is murdered.
https://pussreboots.com/blog/2026/comments_05/home_is_where_the_murder_is.html
Very much enjoying this.
Past the ½-way, the story structure @cstross is referencing — and references to others in the same series — is clear to the reader. This is no knock-off or parody in any manner, however; merely a pondering of “what if you put that guy in *this* situation?” It’s incredibly well-done.
References to other great works — especially a mid-’30s German mesmer — are also intelligently included.
This is a work of great skill.
Edited 188d ago
Book Microreview: The Nightland Express by J. M. Lee
A journey across the dividing lines of American society
@carturo222 has our review for your Friday
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2026/06/book-review-nightland-express-by-j-m-lee.html
Bluets. By Maggie Nelson.
You are recovering from losing the love of your life, so you turn, of course, to considering the color blue. It takes the next four years, but it seems to help.
4 of 5 library cats 🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈 .
@bookstodon #bookstodon #books #reading #memoir #blue #grief #love
