This ain't no Booktok

Whether digital or physical, reading is something I've allways enjoyed. Below's an assortment of books I've read!

Mark "'Z'" Danielewski

Yes, MZD's getting a whole section due to how much I consistently love his books. He's the one of two authors I've ever been close to stanning.

  • House of Leaves: My first time reading House of Leaves involved me reading on a PDF on my smartphone, hiding in my parents' room from a wasp. Perhaps it's because of bias, but I believe that's the optimal way to enjoy HoL. The house is what got me first interested in non-euclidean architecture and liminal spaces/spatial horror, but the main gem of the book is Johnny Truant's sections. I loved reading of him and his slow spiral into madness, obsession, and grief. Also, I'm gonna say this here: people who say they liked HoL but skipped Johnny's sections do not actually like HoL. Read his sections, along with his mother's letters.
  • The Familiar: Where to even start? Well, I guess we can start with going to the mainpage for The Familiar.
  • Tom's Crossing: The most recent book written by MZD, and the third book I've read that involved Mormons. The focus isn't necessarily on them Mormons, though, but rather a boy and some others taking two horses to a Crossing. There might be a gun involved as well, along with the dead. There's some things I have gripes about, but MZD's still got it. Recommend.
  • The Fifty Year Sword: Let's gather 'round the campfire, and tell our story about an evil man travelling for a sword that can kill things that are fifty years old. Not a story I think about too often, but definitely interesting.
  • The Little Blue Kite: Pretty much HoL-lite.
  • Only Revolutions: One day I'll finish this book. This is probably MZD's most pretentious book yet, and I say that as a fan of his works.

Brian Evenson

Brian Evenson's one of the best authors for short story anthologies. I've read most of them by now.

The Rest

  • The Open Curtain: The first book of three I have read that involved Mormons, and is still the most interesting one. Very psychological, going from a toxic brother relationship to "This would have never happened if they weren't Mormons" kinda deal. Part of the foundation for Somehow Brothers AU.
  • Songs for the Unraveling of the World: Fun fact: due to a misread, I posted this book cover as my favorite anthology- for anthropology books. Got called a based r-word for that, something I found admittedly amusing. Anyways, this is probably his best anthology. My favorite stories from the collection are Wanderlust and Born Stillborn (latter is also part of the foundation for my Somehow Brothers AU hehe).
  • Contagion: Second favorite anthology of his, and probably one of his more obscure ones. Most of the main stories just hits so right for me. Favorite stories include the titular one, Watson's Boy (HoL vibes, and also the description for this short story is so accurate) and Two Brothers (this along with Watson's Boy are part of the foundation for Somehow Brothers AU).
  • A Collapse of Horses: Nothing too special about this pack, but
  • Fugue State: I've noticed a bunch of stories in this collection seem to center around feeling like you're becoming something else. At least, that's what I felt was going on when I finished. Favorite story is the titular story with the mental degradation.
  • The Wavering Knife: A weaker collection, but that doesn't mean it still doesn't have good ones. Shoutout to The Intricacies of Post-Shooting Etiquitte, which consists of attempted murder and toxic yaoi, along with Moran's Mexico, which is like HoL in that there's footnotes and unreliable narrators.

The Rest

  • Court of Miracles: Okay I just want to start this off by saying I do Not know why I still think about this book. It's pretty much just Les Miserables characters in a YA criminal guild setting, in a world where the French Revolution failed. Also includes Charlotte Corday as the Lady of Assassins (let me just say, FGO did Corday better) and the grandson of Marie Antoniette as a potential love interest. Anyway this book is overall mediocre, but something about said grandson- Romain, or the dauphin as he tends to be called- endears me to him. I pretty much plucked him out of his home book and sculpted a new character out of him, like I will do with Luther in AUs and ESC. Same with Nina (main protag) for ESC, though to a much lesser extent.
  • Sarah Dessen books: Look, at some point I had a sudden urge to read romance books. Specifically I wanted to read one where the male love interest is Not an asshole/bad boy with a heart of gold. Of the many I've read based on this criteria, Dessen's books are the best; don't know how to explain it except they feel like decent slice-of-life. Anyway, the best book of hers is maybe Just Listen- Owen's very opinionated, something which I find fun.
  • Archive of the Odd volumes 1-5: Organization mainly focused on publishing zines and other writing that are unconventionally formatted: whether it's in the style of letters, forums, or investigation reports, as long as it's atypical, it can be published in the zine. Formats usually fuck immensely, but the story itself being good depends on the author. The strongest set of stories can be found in volume 2, by the way. Do note you have to pay for either physical or digital, with the latter being much cheaper (around 3 USD).
  • Warrior Cats (up to Series IV): The classic middle school literature series with graphic violence, but it's A-Ok since it involved cats! First series is the best of the whole by the way, even if it's a bit cliche. Firestar/Sandstorm all the way.
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