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NotACoolNerd

(she/they) bi nb. Reading to cope with reality. Mostly reading sci-fi, fantasy, modern classics, and literary fiction.

4643 points

0% overlap
Gothic Literature
Pride 2026
Summer 2026 Readalong
My Taste
A Closed and Common Orbit
As Music and Splendour
Anne of Green Gables
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton
Reading...
Anchoritic Traditions of Medieval Europe
71%
Ghost Pains
86%

NotACoolNerd made progress on...

13h
Ghost Pains

Ghost Pains

Jessi Jezewska Stevens

86%
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1d
  • Ghost Pains
    Thoughts from Gettysburg 38% (page 71)
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  • NotACoolNerd made progress on...

    2d
    Ghost Pains

    Ghost Pains

    Jessi Jezewska Stevens

    53%
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    NotACoolNerd commented on a post

    3d
  • The English Eccentrics
    teddydee
    Edited
    What do y'all think of ornamental hermits? (10%, pg 25)

    Sometimes when I get in a weird mood I feel like it would be so nice to be a hermit, like, literally... An anchorite/ess? Hell yeah (would love a more gender-neutral word though — anchorexe?). A wandering loner? Hell yeah also. But an ornamental hermit — someone hired by a wealthy landowner to live on the grounds and do hermity things — I dunno, something about that feels so laughable to me. Do you think other unsponsored hermits thought ornamental hermits were posers or sellouts? Does it put you in mind of adopting a nonhuman pet? Do you think one could actually get any serious hermitude accomplished in such an arrangement? DISCUSS.

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  • NotACoolNerd finished a book

    4d
    Season of the Swamp

    Season of the Swamp

    Yuri Herrera

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    Post from the Season of the Swamp forum

    4d
  • Season of the Swamp
    Thoughts from 13% (page 21)
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  • NotACoolNerd wrote a review...

    4d
  • A Wild Radiance
    NotACoolNerd
    Aug 24, 2026
    A Wild Radiance
    3.0
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 2.0Characters: 2.0Plot: 3.0
    🚂
    🔥
    🩷

    I was fully sold on the idea of a fantasy and poly romance following Josephine, a headstrong (of course) graduate of an oppressive boarding school for children of Radiance. A magic that powers all sorts of Industrial Revolution delights like trains and lightbulbs.

    If I’m honest it is a perfectly fine book. There is nothing objectionable about it. But nothing really grabbed me.

    The characters were a bland. Josephine’s fiery nature was large confined to occasionally saying the men annoyed her every so often. The back cover promises enemies to lovers but it was basically a couple of arguments to kissing. No passion either way.

    There is an author’s introduction explaining that the characters make imperfect choices and are doing their best. It kind of makes me worry about what we are expecting from our fictional characters if this small amount of not ideal decisions made for survival requires an apology.

    The set up of the world and the magic system was fairly interesting. Though, again, I wan’t a fan of how everything was so simple, with clear good guys and bad guys and if you just do the right thing, good things will happen. It made everything seem a lot less real, and as we went on contradictions opened up in the world building.

    That’s not to say that I don’t recommend this book. If you are looking for something uncomplicated, if you are looking for pure hope, and aren’t as grumpy as I am then this might be for you.

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  • NotACoolNerd commented on NotACoolNerd's update

    NotACoolNerd started reading...

    5d
    Season of the Swamp

    Season of the Swamp

    Yuri Herrera

    1
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    NotACoolNerd made progress on...

    5d
    Season of the Swamp

    Season of the Swamp

    Yuri Herrera

    53%
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    NotACoolNerd started reading...

    5d
    Season of the Swamp

    Season of the Swamp

    Yuri Herrera

    1
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    NotACoolNerd finished a book

    5d
    A Wild Radiance

    A Wild Radiance

    Maria Ingrande Mora

    1
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    NotACoolNerd made progress on...

    1w
    A Wild Radiance

    A Wild Radiance

    Maria Ingrande Mora

    87%
    2
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    NotACoolNerd made progress on...

    1w
    A Wild Radiance

    A Wild Radiance

    Maria Ingrande Mora

    84%
    1
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    Post from the A Wild Radiance forum

    1w
  • A Wild Radiance
    Thoughts about the plan from 73% (page 260)
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  • NotACoolNerd made progress on...

    1w
    A Wild Radiance

    A Wild Radiance

    Maria Ingrande Mora

    73%
    1
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    Post from the A Wild Radiance forum

    1w
  • A Wild Radiance
    Thoughts from 61% (page 216)
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