EVERYONE

roane72:

madlori:

ivyblossom:

pale-fire:

recommend me a novel or short story collection (or several!) that you love/that changed your life/etc. etc.  I’m loading up a shopping cart online with used books and I want more more more and I trust your taste.

The Twice-Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones, by Susie Day
Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell
Rivers of London (American title: Midnight Riot), by Ben Aaronovitch
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore
To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie WIllis
White Cat, by Holly Black
The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness
Feeling Sorry for Celia, by Jaclyn Moriarty

Off the top of my head!

Second on Lamb, it’s brilliant.

Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell

The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Ella Minnow Pea, by Mark Dunn

The Secret History, by Donna Tartt

Pattern Recognition, by Wlliam Gibson

From Hell, by Alan Moore (it’s a graphic novel)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

White Teeth by Zadie Smith (not related! ;))

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

A Rose in Winter by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (yeah, it’s old school romance)

I loved Ella Minnow Pea!

I’m a scifi person so:

The Nine Billion Names of God – Arthur C Clarke

The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury

Time Enough for Love – Robert Heinlein

Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card

top 5 books or albums

hmm how about both?

Books:

  1. Enders Game
  2. Time Enough for Love
  3. The Crystal Cave Trilogy
  4. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
  5. The Illustrated Man

Albums (and this is where you see I’m still a 90′s teenager at heart)

  1. Automatic for the People – REM
  2. Throwing Copper – Live
  3. Nevermind – Nirvana
  4. Smash – Offspring
  5. Dookie – Green Day

Ask my top 5 anything

kittydesade:

readingdidyoumeanbreathing:

musicalluna:

samurljackson:

betweenthepage:

readingdidyoumeanbreathing:

thecheekynerdgirl:

readingdidyoumeanbreathing:

The reason I like reading a book in one day is because I love watching people look at the size of the book in pure horror and then back at me like I just became terrifying in their eyes

I had a guy in highschool look at me one day and go, “why do you have a different book every other day? Why not just read one??” I just kind of paused and said, “they’re different because I read them and get a new one?” And he made this face

these are the moments i live for

THE SECURITY GUARD AT MY JOB IS ACTUALLY SCARED OF ME BECAUSE I HAVE A DIFFERENT BOOK WITH ME EVERYDAY. HE SAYS ITS NOT NATURAL.
HAHAHA GOOD

the second day after my ship’s change of command ceremony, i see the new cap come around the corner so i call attention on deck and everyone freezes and clears the way.

he walks past me and i’m about to relax but then he, stops, backs up and looks me up and down. i’m sweating bullets because we knew nothing about what kind of a cap was he going to be like was my shirt untucked or something oh god what did i do now???

and he just goes “where’s your book?”

and i blink because i am a third class petty officer but a captain is still kind of terrifying and he’s new and I DON’T KNOW WHAT BOOK HE IS TALKING ABOUT is he a stickler do i need to have a copy of the bluejacket’s manual on me at all times or what?

so i screw up my courage and ask him, “my book, sir?”

and he checks my name patch again and says, “you’re petty officer xxxx, you always have a book. where is your book? are you okay?”

like

cap has been onboard for less than 24 hours HOW DOES HE KNOW THIS?

(i mean, he’s not wrong, i got a lot of shit from other senior personnel about the pocket on my uniform being stretched out because it always had a book in it.)

but i have an answer and he’s the new cap, so i give it: “i finished my last one and haven’t had a chance to get to my bunk and grab a new one.”

and his eyes bug out

shit

i broke the new captain goddammit LT is gonna kill me

and he goes “BUT YOU JUST STARTED THAT ONE YESTERDAY!”

and i’m just staring back now like HOW DOES HE KNOW THIS OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK OUR NEW CAP IS PSYCHIC OR SOME SHIT

and because my brain has broken under the stress of this encounter i ask him

and he’s like “i saw you on the mess decks on my tour with [old cap] and you were on like page ten that book is like 400 pages how did you read it in one day?”

and i’m like SHIT he’s gonna be pissed because he thinks i was slacking because i read a bigass book in one day fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK

like this was not the first time i’d gotten in trouble for reading when i was on watch or whatever but i had maintenance watches i’m literally waiting for something to break and my chief didn’t mind

BUT THIS IS THE CAP IF HE MINDS CHIEF’S OPINION ISN’T WORTH A FISH FART IN THE OCEAN

and so i stammer, “i read a lot? so… i… i read fast?”

and he just stares and i don’t know what the expression on his face means

before i can process this though and come up with a new response, he’s grabbing my shoulder and turning me and pushing me ahead of him where little baby petty officers do not walk because CAPTAIN GOES FIRST

and i’m like “welp this is how i end up in the brig i get to be the new cap’s first captain’s mast it was nice knowing everyone”

idk that or he’s gonna throw me over the side honestly who knows my whole world was upside down at this point

and then he starts talking

he’s like “go get a new book what are you reading next did you like your last book tell your chief i sent you if he asks why you were gone what is your favorite genre and author have you ever read” and basically escorts me to my berthing grilling me about books and everywhere we go people are staring and oh god i’m going to die i am just going to die of shame and horror and this is it this is what takes me out does this count as dying for my country i don’t even know

and that’s how we learned that our new cap was married to a librarian and an avid reader and was not going to have an illiterate crew, dammit.

i never caught shit for having a book in my back pocket or reading on watch again. 😀

this is so cute i love you so much im so jealous

This is the best story I have ever read, god bless

@archifist

I was tagged by @awabubbles to list 10 books that have stayed with you in some way, then tag 10 people.

  1. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
  2. Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein
  3. The Crystal Cave Trilogy by Mary Stewart
  4. Imzadi by Peter David
  5. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
  6. The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield
  7. The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke
  8. Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
  9. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut 
  10. Maus by 

    Art Spiegelman

Do it if you like

Micro History

misskittystryker:

leupagus:

mcbitchtits:

literarysins:

lightspeedsound:

lightspeedsound:

janeymac-ie:

hlahlahlahlahly:

atthelamppost:

lecieltumultueux:

powells:

literarysins:

I had to read Cod my freshman year of High School and my brain nearly leaked out of my ears to escape. So. Dry.

The
Disappearing Spoon
by Sam Kean

Red by Jacky Colliss Harvey

The Birth of the Pill by Jonathan Eig

Coal by Barbara Freese

Salt by Mark Kurlansky

Rain by Cynthia Barnett

Cod by Mark Kurlansky

And a Bottle of Rum by Wayne Curtis

Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English by John McWhorter

Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast

Consider the Fork by Bee Wilson

Spice by Jack Turner

Color by Victoria Finlay

Rabid by Bill Wasik

The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant

At Home by Bill Bryson

Don’t even get me STARTED on microhistories. 

I love this genre.

How have I only read two of these?

I’ve read Cod, and Consider the Fork, and At Home, and I need to read the rest of these right now. I can also recommend the following:

Chloroform: The Quest for Oblivion by Linda Stratmann

On The Map: Why the world looks the way it does by Simon Garfield

Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle  by Thor Hanson

Hunger: An Unnatural History by Sharman Apt Russell

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time by Dava Sobel

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

This is seriously a huge portion of my amazon kindle library

literarysins:

I had to read Cod my freshman year of High School and my brain nearly leaked out of my ears to escape. So. Dry.

^^I can’t tell if that’s a pun re: salted cod or not.

But also too mark kurlansky starts out super cool and then it’s like GOD I’M RUNNING THROUGH MUD MUST FINISH TO SPITE EVERYBODy

100% a pun XD

Yeah I mean as I recall some of it wasn’t TERRIBLE but eventually I was like “I get it, I get why I should care, but I’m not going into environmental policy I’m sorry about your fish and their impact” 

I’m going to recommend Scurvy by Stephen R. Brown because it will fuck your shit up

THANK YOU JESUS AND ALSO JEREMIAGOESWHOA FOR FINDING THIS POST FOR ME

I dunno if The Ghost Map counts for this but that history of cholera is amazingly done. 

I’d recommend The American Plague by  Molly Caldwell Crosby. And I’d second the above recommendation for The Ghost Map.