in honour of the Backrooms film being released this month, I’m looking for books with that weird, creepy, liminal space vibe. pretty much like Severance on Apple tv! or even Pan’s Labrinyth? something along the lines of characters finding a world that shouldn’t exist, that defies the logic of the normal world, becoming trapped, and it’s either empty or has monsters. i’m not fussed by either! if there aren’t any books exactly like this, then something close would be appreciated too. i love horror as a genre but i’m still quite new to it, other than classics like The Exorcist. 👻

Hello all, I am thinking about planning out what I'm going to read this summer more carefully than I usually do! I just finished my PhD in botany (woot woot!), I am unemployed (womp womp!), and as you can probably imagine I am exhausted lol. Luckily, the unemployment is giving me more time to read, but the end of the PhD means I still have some paper writing and publishing to do. All of this to say, I'm looking for recommendations that are easy to read (especially if they're science-related) and fun and quick!

Question 1: The topics I'm looking for are 'summerween' (so spooky, but summery vibes!), folklore or folklore-inspired, and science! I want to read at least one book a month from each category. For science, I'm particularly into botany (obviously but nothing cellular as this is too close to my work and I need a BREAK), space, and palaeontology! I'd like a mix of these types of science books so I'm not always just reading in my field if possible! I'm open to anything in the other categories!

I already have three books for June: The Lost Elms by Mandy Haggith (botany), Greenteeth by Molly O'Neil (folklore), and A Penance for Crows by Shannon Morgan (summerween).

Question 2: If you have done the curriculum trend before, how did you do it? Did it work out for you? What advice do you have or what did you like / not like? Please give me any insight you have!!!

What are you into playing right now? What is your current read? Do the genres even remotely overlap?

I am so interested in the intersection of gaming and current reads when it comes to preferred genres!

Hi Everybody!! I'm AcidicChaos and I answer to any versions/variations of it!

I don't think I have the words to explain how ridiculously excited I am to do this quest with all of you!!

About The Quest A lot of these books feel like a fever dream on the first pass and it's not until your second time through that you may see the full picture and benefits, however for this badge you only need to read the books once! So, to try and help make that first pass through as fruitful as possible, I realized that these books thrive on discussion, and I wholeheartedly encourage it in the forums!!

Please keep in mind: there is no right way to read or interpret these books. All interpretations are valid, and discussions should stay respectful.

Monthly Buddy Reading Matching Because these books are so much more rewarding when we get to talk through them, but not every book will suit everyone's tastes, instead of quest-wide readalongs I'll be organizing a monthly buddy read matching to help facilitate readalongs and buddy reads at least until the buddy reads planning features roll out for Pagebound Plans. You can find more information on the monthly buddy read matching 🔗Here.

Quest Recommendations I'm always open to recommendations, but I do have a fairly strict set of criteria for inclusion. Out of respect for other quest makers with overlapping interests, I'm keeping the full criteria close to my chest for now until those other quests drops - but I promise I take every recommendation seriously. Because of this strict criteria I may be a bit slower to adding new recommendations to the quest than other quest makers, so please have patience with me. To make sure I don't miss your recommendation, please post your recommendations 🔗Here.

Where To Start?? If you want to ease in, short story collections are a great entry point!! You get a feel for the mode without committing to a full novel (please check content warnings before diving in, some of these are dark). Below you'll find 🔗links to some great starting places on this list: Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges The Milk Bowl of Feathers: Essential Surrealist Writings by Mary Ann Caws The Houseguest and Other Stories by Amparo Davila The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado Today I Wrote Nothing: The Selected Writings of Daniil Kharms by Daniil Kharms

If you prefer a singular story, but on the shorter side so it's not as big of a commitment, some of these short novels under 200 pages could be a great place to jump in! Pig Wife by Abbey Luck Note: Don't mind the page count on PB, it's incorrect at the time of posting this, the book is around 540 pages, but it's a graphic novel so it will fly by plus it has some gorgeous surrealist artwork! The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz Lobster by Guillaume Lecasble Froth on the Daydream by Boris Vian Temporary by Hilary Leichter Nadja by Andre Breton The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon Kangaroo Notebook by Kobo Abe The Passion According to G.H. by Clarice Lispector Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

And, of course, there's a reason the word Kafkaesque exists! If you haven't read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, that's always a perfect place to start!

A Little About Me & This Quest I've been drawn to surreal and absurd literature since I was a teenager starting with The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka! I found it after watching a documentary about the books the Nazis burned, and figured if they wanted to burn it, I needed to read it. This kickstarted my love for books that feel like a fever dream, dense with metaphor and symbolism, that no matter how strange or silly they get are ultimately revealing a (often dark) truth about raw humanity and the world we live in. That thread doesn't belong to any one genre and this quest has been such a labor of love tracing is across many different genres!

I can't wait to hear all of your theories and interpretations in the forums!!!!!

AcidicChaos