Books #43

[daisynoon]

Had a great reading month! Already spoke about East of Eden, so my other favourite books this month were After Hours at Dooryard Books and The Nickel Boys. I already owned the latter, but seeing it on a few Tattlers' lists made me pick it up, and wow - extremely impactful.

Hated Audition.

 

[CommentBelow]

Just to check - is there anybody still working on their Top 10?

I was going to give it a full week but if that's it, I can try and post the results a bit earlier?

Here’s mine -

Handmaid’s Tale
Life After Life
One Day
Wild Swans
Girl, Woman, Other
Pachinko
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Cloud Atlas
Beartown
I Love You, I Love You, I Love You

I feel bad for the 9 I had to cut 🫣

 

[daisynoon]

Hay Festival announced a "Pleasure List"



and most of the comments are like this:

 

[CommentBelow]

I won't quote the post because it's massive, but thank you so much for doing the list @Harlot O'Scara !

Echoed!

It’s exceptional - thank you!

Does anyone know how we can create/add to a thread Wiki? I think this epic list needs to be pride of place/easy for me to refer to ahem 🫢

 

[pinkmug]

I support the quarter stars, if I had my way Goodreads would have a slider rating system rather than stars Sometimes you just hate a book a little bit.

 

[Harlot O'Scara]

A quarter of a star?!? Tell us alllll!

I just looked the book up. The male love interest is described as having "major golden retriever energy". I haven't even read it and I want to give it 0.25 stars just for that.

 

[ToolaRoola]

Foyles have been inspired by the Guardian’s top 100 books and have created their own Top 30 via their booksellers recommendations

Foyles have been inspired by Tattle to create their own top 30!

 

[LaBlonde]

They definitely need to rename it. Many from that list would be better labelled quietly devastating.

hammet?! small things like these?! the book thief?! this is not a “bookshelf to spark joy”

 

[pinkmug]

There is also a world of difference between reading the works of a long dead author who was "a product of their time", and supporting an alive and kicking author who is actively using their income and wealth to harm certain groups.

I agree with the erasure of the past comment as well. These works should come with some commentary and criticism but they shouldn't be avoided without thought. Erasing discriminatory media is just denying that they existed. I wish that were true but this is no different than schools in some countries pretending slavery and colonialism was entirely other countires' problems and not theirs.

 

[veronica71]

nah don't know anyone like that do you?!!?

 

[veronica71]

There’s just too many books and I want to read them all

 

[LaBlonde]

Now I'm curious about the books you've all hated Mine are a bit controversial, they usually appear on a lot of favourite lists.

i hide mine really well, no one in this thread would be able to guess

i could absolutely do a bottom ten of books i’ve absolutely LOATHED for various reasons. i sometimes find writing about books i hate more entertaining than writing about the ones i love

 

[Itchy of Itchington]

Hello. I don't know if I've ever posted on the book threads but I love reading them and getting recommendations. Was very excited to see three people who had A Tree Grows In Brooklyn on their top 10. It is one of my favourites too and not many people seem to have heard of it. Loads of other books I loved too in the lists. Going to have to go back to the Tree Grows fans and see what else you enjoyed to add to my TBR pile.

My ultimate comfort read is The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice. I must read it once a year and the description of clothes is absolutely gorgeous.

Last book I read was The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary. Got in from the book swap in our hotel last week and it's an easy read, managed most of it on the flight back from Ibiza. Nothing ground breaking or especially memorable, good for on the sun lounger or plane

 

[StephenTJackson]

I initially read that as you'd cut someone for telling you you had enough books and I didn't bat an eyelid

Well, I wouldn't do that. Because I might get blood on the books if I try cutting them with the books they don't want me to buy. Books don't deserve that. Even if the person deserves to be covered in irritating paper cuts.

 

[AllieBee]

Delurking for a second. Hello book people. Does anyone have any recs for good youtubers to follow? I've recently got back into reading and need some people to follow for reviews and recommendations. I'm not too fussy about what I read, but tend not to like horror. So, it could be people who review drama, romance, ya, thrillers etc. I'll give most of it a go.

TIA

Keep yourself unlurked and follow along here, theres loads of recommendations. Tbh I trust the recommendations on here more than YT or TT, just because I think booktokkers anyway mostly go for hyped books which always seem to fall flat for me! But thats personal experience and sure someone else can throw a few names your way to follow!

 

[Hannahebee]

I love nothing more than sitting down and reading a nice cosy murder mystery.

 

[ShiftyAndGrifty]

Love seeing some Judy Blume in these lists- for me, her books were a critical part of learning to love reading from childhood, through teen years to adulthood (along with many others including Enid Blyton, Paula Danziger, Lois Duncan, Stephen King and Sue Townsend). Summer Sisters was a great book

 

[LaBlonde]

I support the quarter stars, if I had my way Goodreads would have a slider rating system rather than stars Sometimes you just hate a book a little bit.

i completely agree! i want to be able to give quarter and half stars this especially bugs me when a book is a solid 3.5 stars and doesn’t deserve 4 or 3.

 

[Honeystar]

My May reads were a real mixed bag -

She didn’t see it coming - actually really enjoyed this, Shari Lapena used to be my favourite thriller author but felt her last couple of releases had been duds so was glad to enjoy one again

Beuatiful Ugly - perhaps the worst book I have ever read. Need I say more

Julie Chan is Dead - unsure what I thought to this? I read it cover to cover in a day on the bank holiday, loved the first 50% then it took a weird turn that I’m not sure I liked. Reminded me of a fun, easier version of Yellowface

Fury Bound - didn’t quite live up to Dire bound for me (seems to be a recurring thing with new fantasy series atm, great first book and then the author feels the pressure and the second just isn’t as good).

The Names - obsessed, heartbroken, no notes - absolutely in my top 5 reads of recent years ever

 

[LaBlonde]

Committing the very great crime of being blond! (don't think I've ever fancied a blond man now that I think about it)

the worst thing a man can be 🥲

(i say this because i obviously am blonde myself and once went on a date with a fellow blonde and, catching sight of us in a mirror, realised we looked like brother and sister. or actually, the creepy kids from village of the damned. never again)

(also i just don’t trust them. why do you need to be so blond for dude, dye it)