BookishDragonfly

Forever a Millennial Child. The arrival of Dark Mode has relaunched my obsession with this app.

3378 points

0% overlap

My Taste

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present

Reading...

65%

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

37%

They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South

52%

18%

BookishDragonfly made progress on...

They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South

Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers

52%

BookishDragonfly TBR'd a book

19h

The Awakened Kingdom and Other Stories (The Inheritance Trilogy, #0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5)

N.K. Jemisin

Return to the world of the Locus Award-winning THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS... From the shadows of the greater stories, away from the bright light of Sky and wending round the sagas of the Arameri, comes the beguiling novella entitled THE AWAKENED KINGDOM, as well as the three quietly powerful tales originally published as SHADES IN THE SHADOW. All are collected in print for the first time in this limited edition hardback.

BookishDragonfly is interested in reading...

19h

Red Dirt Witch: A Graphic Novel

N.K. Jemisin

A stunning graphic novel adaptation of #1 New York Times bestselling author N. K. Jemisin’s acclaimed short story Red Dirt Witch In this graphic novel adaptation of #1 New York Times bestseller N. K. Jemisin’s short story Red Dirt Witch—featured in the acclaimed short story collection How Long ’Til Black Future Month?—we are introduced to Emma, a single Black mother of three in a backwater Alabama town in segregated 1940s America. In this alternative universe, magic and faeries exist, and Emma must use her Afrocentric cultural magicks against a supernatural force that wants to enslave her daughter, Pauline. Jemisin infuses this world with the magic, complexity, and power of oral Black folklore that have become trademarks of her work in trilogies like The Broken Earth and Inheritance.Red Dirt Witch has been expertly adapted into the graphic novel format by writer Kinitra Brooks and illustrators Ashley A. Woods and Alitha Martinez. They have translated Jemisin’s powerful prose into a stunning visual story of family and sacrifice. A heartbreaking reminder of the many injustices that Black mothers still have to endure in our country to ensure a better future for their children, this story will resonate with readers everywhere.

BookishDragonfly is interested in reading...

19h

Emergency Skin

N.K. Jemisin

What will become of our self-destructed planet? The answer shatters all expectations in this subversive speculation from the Hugo Award–winning author of the Broken Earth trilogy. An explorer returns to gather information from a climate-ravaged Earth that his ancestors, and others among the planet’s finest, fled centuries ago. The mission comes with a warning: a graveyard world awaits him. But so do those left behind—hopeless and unbeautiful wastes of humanity who should have died out eons ago. After all this time, there’s no telling how they’ve devolved. Steel yourself, soldier. Get in. Get out. And try not to stare. N. K. Jemisin’s Emergency Skin is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.

BookishDragonfly TBR'd a book

19h

Instinct (Chronicles of Nick, #6)

Sherrilyn Kenyon

Zombies, demons, vampires, shapeshifters— another day in the life of Nick Gautier– and those are just his friends. But now that he’s accepted the demon that lives inside him, he must learn to control it and temper the very emotions that threaten the lives of everyone he cares for. Something that’s hard to do while trying to stay off the menus of those who want his head on a platter. And no one wants him more than the dark gods who created his race. Now that they know where he is, they will stop at nothing to reclaim him. And without knowing it, Nick has just embraced the one person he should never have trusted. The one person who will hand him over to his enemies to get back the life they lost. Nick has finally accepted his fate, now he must learn to defy his destiny, and the dark, deadly forces that will stop at nothing to destroy everyone he loves so that they can again return to the world of man and own it.

BookishDragonfly commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

20h

Steerpike7

Edited

What Gets Your 5 Star?

I've been thinking about this after looking at my ratings for a few years and seeing that I give very, very few 5 star ratings.

I know what the reason is. Books that have a significant impact on me, on how I think about life, literature, art, and the like...books that I am still thinking about long after I turn the last page...those get 5 stars from me. They're at the top. It makes a certain sense, then, that books that don't reach that level of impact but that I nevertheless enjoyed (sometimes a great deal) can only be 4 or 4.5 (depending on whether the site allows half stars) or lower.

Of course, not every book is meant to impact me in the way described above. Some books are meant just to entertain, to be light, and I enjoy those books a lot. I've thought about adjusting my rating system such that each book is rated in the context of what that book is trying to achieve. But star ratings don't allow for any granularity, so I still lean more toward the system I've been using (where 3 and above is a good rating).

What do you all do? If a life-changing work of art gets a 5 from you, does something that falls short of that automatically come in below 5 stars or might a gripping thriller that you loved but won't remember in a year also qualify for a 5 based on the fun you had?

BookishDragonfly commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

20h

Divasauce

Edited

What are you reading right now? 👀

There are many people on this app I have yet to meet. But unfortunately I cannot go onto everybody’s profile and see what they’re reading. So I would like to ask you: what are you reading at the moment? And how do you like it?

I am currently reading:

Bury our bones in the midnight soul: I’m liking this a lot so far, I’m 37 percent through. The writing is pleasant and smooth, but unfortunately my attention has gone to another book I’m currently reading…

As good as dead: the 3rd book in the a good girls guide to murder series. I loved the first two and finished them so fast, I devoured them lol XD I am loving this as well, unfortunately i am just a tiny bit hesitant to read more and finish because I don’t want this series to finish hehe.

The poppy war: the book that has been stealing my attention, it’s not what I expected so far, but I’m constantly at the edge of my seat in preparation for a twist to happen. I’m loving this as well

So for me, reading is going quite well, but how about you? 👀

BookishDragonfly is interested in reading...

20h

The Once and Future Witches

Alix E. Harrow

In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in Alix E. Harrow's powerful novel of magic and the suffragette movement. In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box. But when the Eastwood sisters -- James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna -- join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote -- and perhaps not even to live -- the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive. There's no such thing as witches. But there will be. An homage to the indomitable power and persistence of women, The Once and Future Witches reimagines stories of revolution, sapphic love, motherhood, and women's suffrage--the lost ways are calling.

BookishDragonfly made progress on...

22h

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NOT A BOOK

65%

BookishDragonfly wrote a review...

spoilers

BookishDragonfly

Aug 27, 2026

Evocation

4.0

Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.0Plot: 4.0Audiobook: 4.0

😈

❤️‍🔥

🔮

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BookishDragonfly finished a book

Evocation

S.T. Gibson

The Devil knows your name, David Aristarkhov. As a teen, David Aristarkhov was a psychic prodigy, operating under the shadow of his oppressive occultist father. Now, years after his father’s death and rapidly approaching his thirtieth birthday, he is content with the high-powered life he’s curated as a Boston attorney, moonlighting as a powerful medium for his secret society. But with power comes a price, and the Devil has come to collect on an ancestral deal. David’s days are numbered, and death looms at his door. Reluctantly, he reaches out to the only person he’s ever trusted, his ex-boyfriend and secret Society rival Rhys, for help. However, the only way to get to Rhys is through his wife, Moira. Thrust into each other’s care, emotions once buried deep resurface, and the trio race to figure out their feelings for one another before the Devil steals David away for good… The first book in a spellbinding and vibrant new series from The Sunday Times bestselling author of A Dowry of Blood.

BookishDragonfly made progress on...

Evocation

S.T. Gibson

89%

BookishDragonfly made progress on...

They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South

Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers

32%

Post from the They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South forum

BookishDragonfly

Edited

Thoughts from 27%

Currently in Chapter 2 which is titled “I Belong to de Mistress.”

I find myself having competing yet not necessarily opposing thoughts while reading this chapter. I am also wrestling with a lot of different emotions while reading this and it’s making it a bit difficult to put my thoughts in any type of coherent order. So apologies up front if this doesn’t make sense.

First and foremost, it really does sicken me just how comfortable these folks were with the owning and subjugation of other human beings. This is an ongoing thought and feeling I will have throughout this entire book. If I never hear “For her sole and separate use” ever again it will be too soon. Being bequeathed to someone as a wedding gift or an inheritance the same way you would inherit fine china or jewelry, in my opinion, shows a moral destitution of such massive proportions, it’s no wonder that the remnants of slavery still poison our society today.

Secondly, I also find myself admiring the way the women of that time made sure to own their own property and teach their daughters how to maintain the ownership of that property (I say this while also acknowledging and detesting that a lot of time this “property” was other human beings). Women often separated their finances from their husbands because the men were stupid, to put it plainly. Its interesting how there is this notion that “women” in general are seen as emotional, less smart, and of frail constitution, and yet they could manage the household, the finances and run a plantation successfully, without the input or help of a man. They did this in order to ensure their protection and livelihood. All of this would be impressive and GREAT, if their “property” wasn’t my damn ancestors!

BookishDragonfly made progress on...

Placeholder: not a book entries

NOT A BOOK

57%

BookishDragonfly made progress on...

Evocation

S.T. Gibson

65%

BookishDragonfly commented on BookishDragonfly's update

BookishDragonfly made progress on...

Evocation

S.T. Gibson