Titania commented on Titania's update
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The Wolves of War
John Gwynne
Titania is interested in reading...

The Wolves of War
John Gwynne
Titania commented on a post
Random but what on earth is a "gas station Christian shop"? Is that a real thing? 😵💫
Titania commented on notbillnye's update
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The Boys
Katie Hafner
Titania commented on vulpecula's update
Titania commented on Titania's update
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A Far Better Thing
H.G. Parry
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A Far Better Thing
H.G. Parry
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Midnight Rooms
Donyae Coles
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The Geomagician
Jennifer Mandula
Titania started reading...

Wrath (The Faithful and the Fallen, #4)
John Gwynne
Titania wrote a review...
Now that is a plot twist! Weird girl lit, meet weird boy lit. The perfect follow up read to Sky Daddy, in my opinion. I will not elaborate.
At its heart, this is a beautiful, strange, funny, bittersweet pandemic novel about the nature of human connection, the lengths we go to attain it, and what we lose when we live without it. I so rarely want to revisit the pandemic in books these days, but this story really helped me to process that time in my life because it tackles the isolation and loneliness head-on rather than sidestepping it in service to a larger story. It’s so easy to fall for Ethan and Barb’s initial love story, even knowing the trouble that awaits them. Ethan is a fascinating character and a certified Weird Boy™️ in my book — his voice was so compelling and makes it impossible not to feel for him and his emotional journey.
It’s really difficult to talk about this book without spoiling the plot twist, but it’s the kind that makes me want to immediately flip back to the beginning and read the book again with this new perspective. In retrospect, it makes so much sense, but I was lulled into a false sense of security by the charming main character to even consider an unreliable narrator. I appreciate that it wasn’t used for shock value as well — there is a deep empathy toward every character in this book no matter how outlandish it gets, which permeates the reading experience with a warm feeling.
I did feel that the ending was a bit too clean and tidy — I think I would’ve preferred it to end with a bit more ambiguity and to give the characters more of an open ending, but it’s hard to be too mad at it when the catharsis is so sweet and well-earned.
Ultimately, this is a story that asks, how do we fill the gaps of the people we’ve lost? What kind of holes do they leave behind? The pandemic is not the first nor the last time people have asked these questions — only the most recent — and this book reckons with it all. People migrate, people get pushed out, people leave you, people die. But that grief itself can be a connective experience, and sometimes those connections are exactly what we need to heal.
Titania finished a book

The Boys
Katie Hafner
Post from the The Boys forum
”What we’re finding is that after the world begins opening back up, people are placing exaggerated importance on what they valued before. Also, and this might be more relevant here, people’s personalities and proclivities often emerge from crises in more pronounced form.”
This is such an interesting observation, and definitely helps explain why a lot of couples broke up after lockdown — such stressful periods of isolation result in people becoming more extreme versions of themselves in an effort to “return” to who they used to be, creating larger gaps in personal relationships that might not have been there before. Suddenly, your husband’s extreme introversion is no longer endearing when, coming out of lockdown, you’re feeling increasing desire for a vibrant social life again. I don’t usually like reading about the pandemic in books, but this has been an interesting way to process that event because it does so earnestly, not sidestepping the elephant in the room.
Titania started reading...

The Boys
Katie Hafner
Titania commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Hi friends! 💞 In the US, May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. With May coming to an end, I thought it would be fun to ask: who are some of your favorite Pasifika and Asian authors? Any favorite books? Or any books that you’re excited to read in the future?
Here are some of my favorites/most anticipated! (I am trying to intentionally read more diversely, so I am going to use categories. These categories may be colonial terms, so please let me know if there are better terms to use!)
Melanesia 🩷 Book I loved: “Sista, Stanap Strong : A Vanuatu Women's Anthology” Book on my tbr: “True Tracks”by Terri Janke
Micronesia ❤️ Book I loved: “No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies”by Julian Aguon Book on my tbr: “Turtle Under Ice”by Juleah del Rosario
Polynesia 🧡 Book I loved: “Weird Fishes” by Rae Mariz Book on my tbr: “The Killing Spell” by Shay Kauwe
West Asia 💛 Book I loved: “The Book of Disappearance” by Ibtisam Azem Book on my tbr: “The Bruising of Qilwa” by Naseem Jamnia
Central Asia 💚 Book I loved: I haven’t read any yet 😔 Book on my tbr: “Amanat: Women's Writing from Kazakhstan”
South Asia 🩵 Book I loved: “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri Book on my tbr: “The Dos and Donuts of Love” by Adiba Jaigirdar
Southeast Asia 💙 Book I loved: “The Mountains Sing” by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai Book on my tbr: “Afterparties”by Anthony Veasna So
East Asia 💜 Book I loved: “They Called Us Enemy” by George Takei Book on my tbr: “Exhalation and Stories of Your Life and Others” by Ted Chiang
It was so difficult to pick just a few books from so many different countries and cultures. 😅 I’m excited to add all your favorites to my neverending tbr 💗
Titania commented on Titania's update
Titania finished a book

Thistlemarsh
Moorea Corrigan