AdalSF
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Fictional(?) Dystopian Societies ✊🏛️🆘
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If you think real world societies are bad (you'd be right)... get a load of *these.*
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Fictional(?) Dystopian Societies
Silver: Finished 10 Main Quest books.
1AdalSF commented on AdalSF's review of Frankenstein
2AdalSF wrote a review...
Daniel Defoe. Memoirs of the Plague.
“It was about the beginning of September1664, tha I, among the rest of my neighbours, heard in ordinary Discourse, that the Plague was return’d again in Holland; for it had been very violent there, and particularly at Amsterdam and Roterdam, in the year 1663, whether they say, or was brought, some said from Italy, others from the Levant among some goods, which were brought home by their Turkey Fleet, others said it was brought from Candia……” “We had no such thing as printed News-Papers in those days, to spread Rumours and Reports of Things; and to improve them by the Invention of Men, as I have liv’d to see practis’d since….” “Hence it was, that this Rumour died off again, and people began to forget it, as a thing we were very little concern’d in, and that we hoped was not true: till the latter End of November, or the beginning of December 1664, when two men, said to be French-Men, died of the Plague in Long Acre, or rather at the upper end of Drury Lane. The family they were in, endeavour’d to conceal it as much as possible; but as it has gotten some vent in the Discourse of the Neighbourhood, the secretaries of state gat knowledge of it….” “Whereupon it was given in to the parish clerk, and he also return’d them to the Hall; and it was printed in the weekly Bill of Mortality in the usual manner, thus, Plague 2. Parishes infected 1”
That’s the beginning of Defoe’s The Year of the Plague. A detailed account of everything happening in London the years when the Plague decimated its population. Then, the recurring coming of the Plague was called “the great visitation”, wow, don’t I love old expressions? Defoe, born in 1663 claimed that it was written from direct observations and credited his book to HF, his uncle Henry Foe. The same was claimed in his Robinson and in his Molly Flanders, among some others of his around 300 books published, under about 200 different pen names. I find absolutely fascinating his biography, go check it please.
Defoe succeeds in showing us that long lost London, bringing it to life through an exhaustive and detailed day by day narration of people reactions to the spreading disease. You see the plague moving through different neighbourhoods of London, how they fight it, carts loaded with corpses crying “bring out your dead”, and vivid insights into human behaviour, desperation, madness, generosity, personal sacrifices… and the most important thing, people cope with it and somehow go on with their lives.
0AdalSF commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
we’ve all used a variety things to mark our place in books, right? like a receipt, a ponytail, or a wrapper—but what’s something really weird you’ve used before? i’d say my most random bookmark was an orange peel…it’s a long story, but let’s just say desperate times, desperate measures 😭😭
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British & Irish Classic Literature
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Classic Literature from the United States
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1AdalSF commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
With basically limitless options, it can become hard to choose a book. I'm curious, how do you choose your next read? Is it through the cover? A recommendation? Book clubs? Are you looking for certain aspects in the synopsis that draw you in?
I'm usually a mood reader, so I don't usually have a plan for my next read. I typically will know which genre I want to get into and then I look for recommendations in a specific trope or plot that im interested in. So maybe a mafia dark romance, or a twisty psychological thriller, beginner fantasy standalones etc! I use reddit, TikTok and now pagebound for reviews and recs without much of plan, just vibes until one seems right. I do also love a beautiful cover and sometimes will take a chance on a read just because of the artwork.
22AdalSF commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Hey all, did you see this news? It looks like just a trial so far, but thoughts on how we can push back and get them to rehire their human translators?
https://goodereader.com/blog/digital-publishing/harpercollins-is-using-ai-for-book-translations
22AdalSF commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I'm looking for books about boats and boating, focusing on relationships w ships and the sea. Who's got recs? Fiction or non, so long as it's nautical. Moby Dick, Life of Pi, The Wager, etc.
But also? Just based on the increasing frequency of these posts- maybe we oughta have a third section, like All Posts|Club Posts|Personals, like a mechanical turk reverse dictionary search, where we can post our "help me pick my next read" and "help me find a book I only vaguely remember the plot of" with the✨️ theme✨️ of newspaper personal ads, like in Escape (the Piña Colada song), both 1) being cute and fun &2) helping explain/reinforce the purpose of the sub/section
examples: newbie d&d player seeking general recs I started playing ttrpgs and I love the setting, and I joined the Found Family quest but I want to try LitRPGs or graphic novels :book cover description ISO better memory I read a book once that was about a cook who was a spy and the little orphan boy trained to be part of the chefspionage network and protect like, a Bible? The cover was yellow and had some kind of Italian scenery on it and I can't remember anyone's name :( :LFR 🌈hockey/sports rivals to lovers im gay. more of this setting + trope pls grabby hands
(2 of these r based on posts i saw in the wild but if u have any leads on the middle one lmk 🙏)
if we had a Personals posts section that way I could play librarian and scroll through JUST people looking for suggestions, and forum enjoyers can sift OUT the recommendation threads ->good for making lists/finding list ideas (you best believe im making a list of boat books) ->could even further sort by specificity "genre" "trope" "setting" "forgot title/author" etc ->creative writing game of getting silly with it newspaper-style (as an aside, i think this app is already the highest concentration of good book recs i've ever seen, and its cool to see a community built so intentionally helpful& constructive)
maybe this function belongs somewhere else idk. anyway, boat books? canoeists and kayakers perhaps? I'd love to find some kind of magic-fantasy-setting huck finn or moana character, somebody learning abt freedom and navigation etc. but I've also enjoyed a pirate adventure or several ;) thank youuuu
10AdalSF commented on a post
Derby spoke movingly of the American form of government, with freedom and justice and opportunities and fair play for all.
Does that line hit differently in 2026 than in 1969? It was probably satiric back then as well, but it feels more painful now. I'm wondering... Have things really changed, or only our awareness of injustices?
4AdalSF commented on selene127's review of The Remains of the Day
The Remains of the Day is not a book I would ever have read on my own decision, but as an English Philology student, I had no choice. I started it not expecting much if we're being honest, I just wanted to get it over with so I could write my essay, but surprisingly, as the pages passed I found myself quite enjoying the reading. The story itself is not that exciting, it is not an adventure and there's barely any action, but it is the feelings portrayed that made me like the book. Mr.Stevens, the main character, a dry and perfectionist butler of a great house, has the opportunity to enjoy of a few days off and decides to go on a, let's say, short roadtrip around the country-side of the beautiful England. Before I continue, let me just say that the descriptions of the country and of the views he encounters are probably one of the best traits this book has to offer, it made me want to take a plane and travel all the way over there!
Okay so to continue... Said butler also travels back to his memories and we learn, through a first person perspective, how he had given his all to be a respectable butler. He spends most of the book repeating how, even considering possible mistakes, he had to be proud of his job, his decisions and his doings, but in the end... he realizes that he lost his chance of living a real life (or at least that's what I got from it). Now he's lonely, older (which troubles him in some of his work) and it is too late for redemption. I'd say it is a bitter-sweet ending, did not make me cry, there were no sudden deaths nor great battles, but the feeling Mr.Stevens is left with is a very real one, and that it what makes this book such a good reading. Or maybe it's just me since one of my greatest fears is to let my life go to waste and to not feel a feeling of accomplishment once i look back at it, you tell me!
Furthermore, what /really/ made me enjoy this book, was the writing. Oh, the writing... At first I thought I would get sick of it in a matter of just a few pages but it turns out that it is the use of vocabulary and the smooth (but complex) telling of the memories that made me happy to continue. To put it simply, it was written in a very gentleman-like way, and I was all for it.
I rated it a 3/5 simply because this is not the kind of book I usually go for, and because it is true that at some parts I found myself thinking "and why is this relevant?", also for the fact that I had to read this for Uni and it is an universal rule that we have to dislike all the obligatory readings.
I really do believe the 4.3 it has of average is very well-deserved, though!
1AdalSF commented on a List
Fyodor Dostoyevski ♡
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Nobel prize winners in literature (authors)
Awarded annually to an author from any country, since 1901.
This list contains popular books from all the award winning authors.
Awards from 1901 -2025
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AdalSF commented on AdalSF's review of Doctor Zhivago
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The Most Banned Books in America
From the list compiled by PEN America from the 2023–2024 school year. Each book on this list has at least four bans somewhere in the United States. Where entire series have been banned, only the first book of the series has been added.
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