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
#books #bookstodon @bookstodon
bookstodon
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 114d 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
Daniel Kraus Wins 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with Angel Down as a “breathless novel of World War I, a stylistic tour-de-force that blends such genres as allegory, magical realism and science fiction into a cohesive whole, told in a single sentence.”
#books #Pulitzer #PulitzerPrize #literature #book #bookstodon @bookstodon #Kraus #author #DanielKraus #AngelDown #reading #readingcommunity #booksky #bookstagram #writers #booktok
I have 7157 reviews posted on my book blog. Lots of different genres. Something for nearly everyone.
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 113d ago
🚨 NEW EPISODE 🚨
This week we recorded our first ever book club. It was a bit of an experiment, but we’re super happy with how it turned out!
We discussed Vincenzo Latronico’s smash-hit novel (or is it even a novel?) 'Perfection'.
It worked well thanks to all the listeners who shared their thoughts about 'Perfection' (including many via Mastodon). We were truly astonished by the response. Thank you!
Listen (from 30:00): https://www.europeanspodcast.com/all-episodes/do-you-also-have-a-monstera-in-your-living-room 🪴
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
Manga was very good, just vol 1 but I am pleased with "Billy Bat" so far. Love the way the Manga world and the world of reality crash into each other and interact.
Next up will be Samantha Mills' Rabbit Test and Other Stories, heartily recommended by one of you, and looking at the ratings, pretty much everyone else who has read it so far!
An obscure read this one, with zero written reviews on The Storygraph or Goodreads: a 1995 collection of New Zealand #SciFi short stories, many by unknown authors. I'd love to say this is packed with gems, but a few stories are quite poor, and although most are well written as prose even most of the better writers don't master the short story form: in many an intriguing SF high concept is introduced and described, but with little twist or development. The standout is easily #PhillipMann with two very different stories: one with a UFO landing in medieval Europe, and one with fictional characters coming to life and declaring war on humanity, led by a drunken, despotic Mickey Mouse. @bookstodon #bookstodon #NZBooks
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
Für die letzten Tage meines Urlaubs noch ein Graphic Novel ausgeliehen: "Die Frau als Mensch. Am Anfang der Geschichte." Von Ulli Lust @Ullilust
Ein wichtiges Sachbuch! Es sollte in allen Bibliotheken stehen.
#IAmReading #Books #GraphicNovel #Literature #bookstodon #history
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
Today at the blog, senior editor @Joe , well known for his reread of the October Daye series, embarks on a new adventure: The Re-read of Recluce (by L E Modesitt)
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2026/05/the-recluce-reread-magic-of-recluce.html
#bookstodon #books #fantasy @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."
Pere #Goriot by Honore de Balzac is impossible to put down: emotional, cruel, funny, and painfully human. #Balzac is a master storyteller, a sharp psychologist, and a writer with a wonderful sense of humor.
This is a novel about a father’s love so strong it becomes destructive — proving that even the best intentions can ruin both your life and the lives of those you love most.
#reading #books #literature @bookstodon #bookstodon #amreading #fiction #novel #review #bookreview
This week's #NewBooks at the library:
- I bought a bargain second-hand copy of The Rise and Fall of the Ediacaran Biota, published by the Geological Society
- To prove it's not all hardcore science here, I visited my friend's new bookshop in Brixham in Devon and snagged myself a copy of SenLinYu's Alchemised, published by Michael Joseph. If you're in the area, go check out Into the West Bookshop, tell them The Inquisitive Biologist sent you.
- Another second-hand bargain was Cold-Water Corals: The Biology and Geology of Deep-Sea Coral Habitats (yes, these exist!), published by Cambridge University Press.
#Books #Bookstodon #Fossils #Paleontology #Palaeontology #Geology #EarthSciences #Corals #MarineBiology #DeepSea #Scicomm @bookstodon
Edited 125d ago
As readers, aren’t we all searching for those books that grab your attention and force you to read one more page, one more chapter and before you know it, it’s the witching hour and you just devoured 200+ pages, finished the book, and are still wanting more mayhaps?
Not all books can take you for a ride but I love the ones that do. Mick Herron’s Slow Horses was a series like that for me. I discovered it years ago and binged at least the first two books in one sitting. I just couldn’t stop. I actually attribute this series to getting me back into reading altogether (there had been a hiatus at the time).
What’re some books that grabbed your attention and didn’t let go?
*off for a long run but be back shortly, keep the fediverse warm for me 🏃🔥🔥💨💨💨
#books #bookstodon #readersofmastodon @bookstodon https://getmona.app/rich_text/980419617593
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 124d ago