hi friends, i’m curious if you have any books that you absolutely loved but wouldn’t necessarily recommend to anyone (and if so, why?)

maybe they’re a little weird and experimental, or polarising, or they scratch a particular itch in your brain that you don’t think the general reader would understand.

a couple of mine are:

• The Waves by Virginia Woolf - so beautiful but possibly her most unconventional. has put more than one friend into a reading slump lol
• The Web of Meaning by Jeremy Lent - very dense nonfiction, very complex even with a background in neuroscience, but one of the most ambitious and mindblowing books i’ve ever read
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara - personally i read this at a time when it was very impactful and eye-opening but understand it’s extremely heavy and has come under a lot of (valid) criticism

p.s. if you are a fan of either of the first two let’s be friends

I started reading man booker winners but have been underwhelmed. I've moved onto women's fiction winners. Does anyone have a recommendation of a good prize winners list? I have too many on my TBR pile and need some place to start. Many thanks

This isn't specific to English & Irish literature, but I saw this list of 100 classics posted by macrolit on Tumblr and it got me wondering how much overlap we all have. Even though I consider myself to be pretty well-versed in classics, I was surprised that i've only read 19 on this list! How about y'all? 👀 (Also sorry about the low resolution but afaik this is the highest resolution image there is ^^; here's the original post link for ease of readability)

It's almost the weekend again. Any fun (including non-bookish) plans? Are you hoping to finish a specific book or start one? 📖

I'm going to spend time with family and friends throughout the weekend. Going out to dinner on Sunday. I'm also hoping to finish The Ballad of Perilious Graves for the Mardi Gras challenge ✨

When I was 16 I had to read Forrest Gump for school, and instead of giving us a copy of the book, we got a google document. I always thought I didn't read it through because I was in a deep depressive state, and didn't do much of anything.. but I remember enjoying the parts of the book i did read!

Now i am reading a Dnd rulebook and a campaign.. and tho the 2nd one is only 60 something pages, I am struggling. My eye is twitching, this feels like such a heavy task. Maybe this is also why I no longer read fanfic the way I did as a teen.

The size doesn't seem to be the issue, zooming in just makes everything worse.