Hmmmm, my hidden gem would be The Fifth Science by Exurb1a. It’s a short story science fiction collection and it’s amazing! If you like Black Mirror or Love Death & Robots, this book has a similar vibe in the first couple stories but goes on to have its own styles in the stories after. It’s self-published by a YouTuber who makes really creative videos as well.
Fitz from the Farseer Trilogy. I’d give him a hug. He definitely needs a hug.
Breaking the spines in books is completely fine. I’d actually go as far to say it’s NEEDED. It’s a status symbol and proof that you’ve been in that world with those characters.
My favourite genre to read is fantasy! I think it is a very philosophical genre, as it is all about reimagining the world and exploring human nature in unconventional contexts. It is a fascinating feeling to be swept away in a world that is completely foreign, but one that can become very personal as good fantasy asks you to explore big ideas. It’s a bit like learning to communicate in a new language.
I’m planning to start Master of the Revels by Nicole Galland this week! It’s long, so I wanted to wait until I had time to really get into it. I was busy when LitSoc read The Night Circus, so I’m really excited to finally do that as well. If we’re counting unreleased books, my most anticipated right now is Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir! I adored the first two books in the series and I can’t wait to see what she does next.
I’m less of a tropes person and more about the atmosphere. I love it when a book has an atmosphere that sucks me right into the world. I’m particularly fond of dramatic, gothic atmospheres. That said, if it can be counted as a trope, well written women will pretty much always sell me on a new book or series, as well as reluctant heroes!
I actually have two favourite authors, Madeline Miller and TJ Klune. They both have this amazing ability to entrance the reader and place us into the story where we are able to feel and connect with the characters and environment. They both really make reading a magical experience.
I was in a reading slump throughout high school, but this year, when I joined Litsoc, after reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller for the March book club, I fell back in love with reading and the journey authors can take us on to live a thousand lives through their characters.
I would love to meet the whole House in the Cerulean Sea (by TJ Klune) gang! In particular, I would love to meet the children from the Marsyas Island Orphanage! The children are all so unique, so kind and charming, and I would love to go on adventures with them like the main character Linus Baker went on. Big love for them!
A lot of my current TBR consists of dark academia books, particularly The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake. I’m really craving some suspense and excitement. Gives me some excitement while we’re still stuck in lockdown! I haven’t read a lot of this genre, but I’m excited to explore it.
Kinokuniya is probably my favourite. It’s so massive and has so much variety. I love exploring it!
Fantasy and historical fiction. I love being sucked into a whole new world and feeling as if I’m going on an adventure. It’s a great way to relieve stress too by unplugging from the real world for a while.
The Binding by Bridget Collins. The entire concept of this book was so fascinating, and the characters were so complex, but the main reason I loved it was the descriptive writing and the structure of the book. The writing makes you feel as if you’re inside the book. It’s like I can feel the fireplace just by the way it’s described. The three parts of the book work so, so well together even though the middle is technically the past. The allusions at the beginning just make the plot twists and ending so, so worth it. You don’t even need to know where or when it’s set because it does such a good job at building its own world.
Pride and Prejudice. Tbh reading this book took me ages because it’s so classic and the language can be difficult sometimes. The movie adaptation got the feeling the book had with the sets, costumes and acting. Like all novels, every reader has a slightly different perspective on the story, and the movie was able to capture the more popular aura and feeling of the original. I will admit it didn’t add much to the story, but is my favourite because of the sets, costume and design.
This took me ages to decide, but I settled on the Maze Runner series. Only because I am so curious on which side I end up and who I agree more with. From the reader’s perspective, it’s obvious most of us would be on Thomas’s side because he’s the protagonist, but the more I think about it the more I think I’d be on the antagonist's side, and I’d just want to test that theory lol. Any dystopia applies, but this wins because the antagonists had the strongest arguments.
Ooh this is a hard one. I kind of fell in love with reading through monthly children’s magazines. Not sure if they’re much of a thing in Australia, but I bought the main three back in Delhi all the time. They were these amazing compilations of stories, comics, jokes, non-fiction and puzzles, and they had competitions, which I submitted a few drawings for.
Sci-fi because it makes you realise what’s truly possible. Not so much technology but what humans, both as individuals and as a society, are capable of becoming.
I love a good prophecy that ends up being fulfilled in a completely unexpected way.
So many of the books I’ve read this year have luckily been great, so it’s hard to pick just one, but I do love the Locked Tomb series, so I’ve got to say, Harrow the Ninth. It’s a great continuation of the story from the first book, plus I personally loved all the hints at what was going on throughout the book, even if I have no idea what to expect for book three. And, of course, I’m still slightly obsessed with certain sections in this book (I’m assuming anyone whose read the book will know what I mean).
This is probably cheating since it’s a group of people, but I’m going to say the crew of the Wayfarer from The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. This might be because this was a relatively recent read for me, but it’s such an interesting, wholesome group of characters that I feel like it’d be nice to be a part of. Plus I’d get to go to space which is pretty cool too I guess.
I feel like this is a pretty boring answer, but I always look forward to going to Kinokuniya near Town Hall. Mainly because whenever I go to the city with my HS friends, we’ll make going there a main part of our plan, like, ‘we’ll go eat, go to the bookshop, etc . . . ' Plus compared to the bookshops in my area it’s massive and has a pretty great variety of books.
