Shitaste
You can call me Squid! They/them | 27 | writing and sewing 👎AI 👎corpos 👎capitalism Free Palestine 🇵🇸 One book per day.
6025 points
Shitaste commented...
17h
I think i see star ratings as somewhat valuable on here and use that as spoiler free judgement... most of the time i dont even read synopses i just... go with the flow lol I will only look at spoiler free reviews if I am about 40-50% through I have learned that too much hype has only hurt my opinion of books and other media lol
Ever feel you set yourself up for success or failure of expectations before you've even started reading the book? Like you've decided that's my kinda thing and your brain just.... decides to agree?
I love checking out star ratings before I read a book, and sometimes I'll even take a cheeky sneak peak at reviews while desperately trying to avoid spoilers (doesn't always work!). Sometimes this is valuable, as it shows me if a novel is going to be worth my time, and highly rated books sometimes do end up being a 5 star read!
But sometimes, especially with books that float towards the 3 star for a lot of folks, I wonder if I would've enjoyed the book more if I'd just gone in completely blind to public opinion.
I read Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh recently and ate up every word. From the description it was exactly my kind of novel, and I loved it. But looking at it objectively? I know it's maybe not the best example of the genre, but I'd gone in thinking - even "knowing" - that I'd love it.
On the flip side, I read How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu after seeing a couple of reviews thay shared a more negative point of view, and I realised very quickly while reading that yes I agreed with those reviews, and I wasn't having a good time.
What are your thoughts? Do we let public perception interrupt and influence our enjoyment without even really meaning to? Do you fully avoid opinions of books before reading them because of this?
Wool (Wool, #1)
Hugh Howey
i just finished watching the show and loved it, so i’m interested to see how it differs from the books!! from what i can tell so far the author’s style is A LOT slower paced than the show but maybe it’ll pick up? we shall see
The Secret History
Donna Tartt
The Plague Dogs
Richard Adams
Shitaste commented...
1d
Ah the ol nickname adoption my beloved SAY NOTHINNNNAAAAAAA BALDY GAAAATE Thabks for making this post its cute getting to know ppl
I would love to get to know the people behind the username, and it's been ages since we had the previous Who's Who threads, so I'm sure we have plenty of new regular PB users since then! So, let's introduce ourselves behind the screen! Feel free to use this template...or not!
Name/alias: Currently reading: Last 5-star book: Last 1-star book: Favorite genres or tropes: A non book-related hobby:
Shitaste finished a book
2d
Death of the Author
Nnedi Okorafor
The future of storytelling is here. Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next. In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes. What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur. Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.
Shitaste unpaused...
2d
Kitchen
Banana Yoshimoto
Kitchen juxtaposes two tales about mothers, transsexuality, bereavement, kitchens, love and tragedy in contemporary Japan. It is a startlingly original first work by Japan's brightest young literary star and is now a cult film. When Kitchen was first published in Japan in 1987 it won two of Japan's most prestigious literary prizes, climbed its way to the top of the bestseller lists, then remained there for over a year and sold millions of copies. Banana Yoshimoto was hailed as a young writer of great talent and great passion whose work has quickly earned a place among the best of modern literature, and has been described as 'the voice of young Japan' by the Independent on Sunday.
Shitaste commented...
2d
Challenge. You need balance but my view is that change is a phenomenal and magical force. More education is change. Expanding horizons is change. Pushing further or seeing a different perspective is challenging.... and it feels great sometimes. Dont get me wrong, sometimes it sucks- insert therapy joke here- But other times in able to reflect on feelings and not simply sit there with a mug of tea zoning out
Bonjour Bookaholics!
My question for you all today is... 🥁
Do you prefer books that challenge you, or books that comfort you? 🤔
Death of the Author
Nnedi Okorafor
