Books #43

[Carapop]

Do authors really mention particular body parts more for men than for women? Are women’s bodies described using different adjectives than those attributed to men?

The Physical Traits that Define Men and Women in Literature

An analysis of 2,000 books and how body parts are described, by gender.

pudding.cool

 

[MaryLou32]

Oh this is a good haul. I also have Say Nothing from my library waiting to be read

It's brilliant. Enjoy!

 

[ordinaryjelly]

A fellow bookaholic:


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The book of poetry he has there is really beautiful.

 

[Harlot O'Scara]

I'm about 80 pages into a book where sweet FA has happened so far.

I'm going to persist but the female lead is entranced by this man she's met and her POV keeps going on about how beautiful and captivating he is.

Except, the first physical description we get of him is that he has a little ponytail

Well, I finished this book and my dislike of it became so intense I've actually given it one star, which is pretty rare for me. I'm not sure if I'm at @LaBlonde Crawdads level of hatred but duck me it was pure tit.

About half a dozen characters were desperately sexually obsessed with this man by the end of the book (for no reason at all!!!) and every time he was mentioned I'm just there doing the Armstrong & Miller ponytail reaction:

 

[wishiniwasskinny]

Waterstones debut prize for fiction shortlist. I have Lost Lambs on my Kindle so will try to read them

 

[Pinkii]

Interested to hear what others who’ve read Lost Lands thought of it. I found it quite boring anyways but there was also one particular theme that felt a bit odd to me. At first I wondered if I was overthinking it or reading too much into it, but after finishing the book and inevitably ending up down an Instagram rabbit hole, I found a lot of people had picked up on the same thing.

I don’t want to say too much and influence anyone’s thoughts, but I’m genuinely curious to hear other readers’ opinions. I’m quite surprised by how highly regarded the book is given this particular aspect

 

[Carapop]

Interested to hear what others who’ve read Lost Lands thought of it. I found it quite boring anyways but there was also one particular theme that felt a bit odd to me. At first I wondered if I was overthinking it or reading too much into it, but after finishing the book and inevitably ending up down an Instagram rabbit hole, I found a lot of people had picked up on the same thing.

I don’t want to say too much and influence anyone’s thoughts, but I’m genuinely curious to hear other readers’ opinions. I’m quite surprised by how highly regarded the book is given this particular aspect

Style over substance for me. Didn’t notice a theme of note I don’t think but am now very intrigued! Can you outline in a spoiler?

 

[daisynoon]

Waterstones debut prize for fiction shortlist. I have Lost Lambs on my Kindle so will try to read them

Honey in the Wound and A Private Man both ones I've been eyeing up

 

[LaBlonde]

Interested to hear what others who’ve read Lost Lands thought of it. I found it quite boring anyways but there was also one particular theme that felt a bit odd to me. At first I wondered if I was overthinking it or reading too much into it, but after finishing the book and inevitably ending up down an Instagram rabbit hole, I found a lot of people had picked up on the same thing.

I don’t want to say too much and influence anyone’s thoughts, but I’m genuinely curious to hear other readers’ opinions. I’m quite surprised by how highly regarded the book is given this particular aspect

i didn’t dislike it really but i did think it put its quirkiness over any kind of believable characters or plot points. no one in it felt like a real person to me.

please spoil me on the theme too! there was a plot point that i thought was insanely dark for such a quirky book.

 

[Pinkii]

Spoiler: For those who haven’t read Lost lambs

i found the religion bit and how it was handled odd? particularly the contrast between Christianity being framed as something that helps “repair” or redeem a character’s life. That on its own isn’t necessarily an issue, but it becomes more questionable in how it’s positioned against other religions in the story.

I felt Islam was portrayed in a very stereotypical and quite offensive way. For example, Louise’s online chat boyfriend, who is explicitly described as Muslim, is linked to helping plan a terrorist attack ( not saying grooming like this doesn’t happen jn real life) . I just found this really distasteful and kept waiting for a twist or some kind of subversion of that stereotype, but it never came.

i even wondered if it was meant to be satire or commentary, but there’s nothing in the text to suggest that. It felt quite straightforward and abrupt, which made it hard to read it as anything other than an unhelpful and quite offensive portrayal

also the whole sex trafficking/epstein vibes as well, all very weird overall and then nothing came of any thing!?

 

[TheStrawberryThief]

Over last few months I have been making my way though a series called Dungeon Crawler Carl. Aliens take over earth and force humans to take part in an insane reality show/death game for the chance to survive/win back the planet. Sort of like dungeons and dragons, but you can actually die for real.


The series is part comedy, part horror and part satire. One minute there is a really bad taste or silly joke happening, and the next you are crying about a really horrible and sad death that just happened.

I put off the books for a long time as the idea just seemed silly, but i eventually caved in and gave the audiobooks a chance as everyone was recommending them to me. The audio books are amazing, one narrator voices all the characters and it is one of the best narrator performances I have ever heard. He really makes the characters feel distinct and memorable. I honestly can't imagine enjoying the books as much if I read them.

I know it is not really to everyones tastes, they are probably aimed at nerds/gamers, however thw audiobooks have taken over my life. I have 2 left before catching up and I already feel a bit lost at the prospect of having to find another book to listen to.

 

[Lola123]

Over last few months I have been making my way though a series called Dungeon Crawler Carl. Aliens take over earth and force humans to take part in an insane reality show/death game for the chance to survive/win back the planet.


The series is part comedy, part horror and part satire. One minute there is a really bad taste or silly joke happening, and the next you are crying about a really horrible and sad death that just happened.

I put off the books for a long time as the idea just seemed silly, but i eventually caved in and gave the audiobooks a chance as everyone was recommending them to me. The audio books are amazing, one narrator voices all the characters and it is one of the best narrator performances I have ever heard. He really makes the characters feel distinct and memorable. I honestly can't imagine enjoying the books as much if I read them.

I know it is not really to everyones tastes, they are probably aimed at nerds/gamers, however thw audiobooks have taken over my life. I have 2 left before catching up and I already feel a bit lost at the prospect of having to find another book to listen to.

DCC is amazing!!!! Good choice

 

[LaBlonde]

Spoiler: For those who haven’t read Lost lambs

i found the religion bit and how it was handled odd? particularly the contrast between Christianity being framed as something that helps “repair” or redeem a character’s life. That on its own isn’t necessarily an issue, but it becomes more questionable in how it’s positioned against other religions in the story.

I felt Islam was portrayed in a very stereotypical and quite offensive way. For example, Louise’s online chat boyfriend, who is explicitly described as Muslim, is linked to helping plan a terrorist attack ( not saying grooming like this doesn’t happen jn real life) . I just found this really distasteful and kept waiting for a twist or some kind of subversion of that stereotype, but it never came.

i even wondered if it was meant to be satire or commentary, but there’s nothing in the text to suggest that. It felt quite straightforward and abrupt, which made it hard to read it as anything other than an unhelpful and quite offensive portrayal

also the whole sex trafficking/epstein vibes as well, all very weird overall and then nothing came of any thing!?

this makes perfect sense to me - the sex trafficking thing in particular left a bad taste in my mouth because i feel like it just wasn’t the right tone for that. and then she was like oh and all the beautiful girls went to prom or something and i was like okay so no discussion of trauma or anything here, okay.

the religion thing is interesting and really true. if i remember the precocious youngest daughter character also engages with christianity in an interested way but is dismissive of other faiths. i hadn’t noticed it beyond the stereotypical online boyfriend but it’s really interesting!

 

[anniemouse]

Over last few months I have been making my way though a series called Dungeon Crawler Carl. Aliens take over earth and force humans to take part in an insane reality show/death game for the chance to survive/win back the planet. Sort of like dungeons and dragons, but you can actually die for real.


The series is part comedy, part horror and part satire. One minute there is a really bad taste or silly joke happening, and the next you are crying about a really horrible and sad death that just happened.

I put off the books for a long time as the idea just seemed silly, but i eventually caved in and gave the audiobooks a chance as everyone was recommending them to me. The audio books are amazing, one narrator voices all the characters and it is one of the best narrator performances I have ever heard. He really makes the characters feel distinct and memorable. I honestly can't imagine enjoying the books as much if I read them.

I know it is not really to everyones tastes, they are probably aimed at nerds/gamers, however thw audiobooks have taken over my life. I have 2 left before catching up and I already feel a bit lost at the prospect of having to find another book to listen to.

I’m on book 3 and Donut is definitely my favourite

 

[Twofor]

Over last few months I have been making my way though a series called Dungeon Crawler Carl. Aliens take over earth and force humans to take part in an insane reality show/death game for the chance to survive/win back the planet. Sort of like dungeons and dragons, but you can actually die for real.


The series is part comedy, part horror and part satire. One minute there is a really bad taste or silly joke happening, and the next you are crying about a really horrible and sad death that just happened.

I put off the books for a long time as the idea just seemed silly, but i eventually caved in and gave the audiobooks a chance as everyone was recommending them to me. The audio books are amazing, one narrator voices all the characters and it is one of the best narrator performances I have ever heard. He really makes the characters feel distinct and memorable. I honestly can't imagine enjoying the books as much if I read them.

I know it is not really to everyones tastes, they are probably aimed at nerds/gamers, however thw audiobooks have taken over my life. I have 2 left before catching up and I already feel a bit lost at the prospect of having to find another book to listen to.

Not long finished the whole series so far. Favourite read of the year, did find number 7 slower going but still enjoyed them all

 

[TheStrawberryThief]

Oh wow! I didn’t expect to find so many Carl fans on tattle.

 

[Katykatykaty]

Over last few months I have been making my way though a series called Dungeon Crawler Carl. Aliens take over earth and force humans to take part in an insane reality show/death game for the chance to survive/win back the planet. Sort of like dungeons and dragons, but you can actually die for real.


The series is part comedy, part horror and part satire. One minute there is a really bad taste or silly joke happening, and the next you are crying about a really horrible and sad death that just happened.

I put off the books for a long time as the idea just seemed silly, but i eventually caved in and gave the audiobooks a chance as everyone was recommending them to me. The audio books are amazing, one narrator voices all the characters and it is one of the best narrator performances I have ever heard. He really makes the characters feel distinct and memorable. I honestly can't imagine enjoying the books as much if I read them.

I know it is not really to everyones tastes, they are probably aimed at nerds/gamers, however thw audiobooks have taken over my life. I have 2 left before catching up and I already feel a bit lost at the prospect of having to find another book to listen to.

I read the first one recently and enjoyed it to a point then it seemed to get really repetitive. But I’d be willing to give the next one a go. I did like the sound of the audio book versions so might try the second one in that format instead of Kindle.

 

[StephenTJackson]

A rather eclectic haul of books I think.

Top 2 were pre orders from Waterstones.

The rest were bought from Postscript Books, mostly on sale, a few only 99p and therefore worth a try on some books I wouldn't normally take a risk on at full price.

And a little recipe book for trying new sweet treats.

 

[TheStrawberryThief]

I read the first one recently and enjoyed it to a point then it seemed to get really repetitive. But I’d be willing to give the next one a go. I did like the sound of the audio book versions so might try the second one in that format instead of Kindle.

I can understand that. I think it works better in audio. I had seen some quotes from the book and it just didn't sound funny, but hearing them spoken somehow made the jokes start to land for me.

The story gets more complex as they go down the floors, and more interesting characters are introduced. Each floor has a different theme or puzzle, which keeps things interesting.

Definitely try the audio version, or find some clips of it in YouTube to get an idea.

I can see how the books wouldn't be everyones cup of tea though, the jokes can be a bit off putting if that isn't your style of humour

 

[susielee]

I can understand that. I think it works better in audio. I had seen some quotes from the book and it just didn't sound funny, but hearing them spoken somehow made the jokes start to land for me.

The story gets more complex as they go down the floors, and more interesting characters are introduced. Each floor has a different theme or puzzle, which keeps things interesting.

Definitely try the audio version, or find some clips of it in YouTube to get an idea.

I can see how the books wouldn't be everyones cup of tea though, the jokes can be a bit off putting if that isn't your style of humour

Dungeon Crawler Carl is 100% a book I thought I would hate, downloaded the first book on Audible and now I completely obsessed and using all my Audible credits on the series “Goddamit Donut”