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astertales

“I read my books with diligence, and mounting skill, and gathering certainty. I read the way a person might swim, to save his or her life.” - M.O.

232 points

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Level 2
My Taste
Upstream: Selected Essays
Rebecca
Circe
The Secret History
Reading...
FiccionesAre You Mad at Me?: How to Stop Focusing on What Others Think and Start Living for YouWuthering Heights

astertales commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

3h
  • How do you fit in reading?

    Hi! I’m a full time working behavior analyst who works with autistic kids. I tend to work a lot during the week but am trying to fit in reading in the evenings at least an hour or two.

    For those of you also working a lot with busy schedules, how do you fit in reading for pleasure during the week?

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  • astertales commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

    1d
  • Recs to read during a midlife crisis

    Does anyone have any good books to recommend reading during a midlife crisis? Reflective books about changing identity or getting comfortable with different life roles? Generally geared to an audience of 40+ years? Fiction or non-fiction.

    I wonder if this app has the age range for this type of question, ha.

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  • astertales commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

    1d
  • What book would you put on your Christmas* list?

    (*or any special day where you get gifts!!)

    My mom asks for a Christmas list every year of "something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read." (So smart right??)

    I can't decide what to ask for from the "something to read" category this year.

    In the past, I've asked for certain special or collector's editions of books I love, some arty coffee-table-style books, and a few times I've just asked for a novel I knew I wanted to read.

    I'm curious, how you would approach it? Anything I haven't thought of?

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  • astertales started reading...

    1d
    Are You Mad at Me?: How to Stop Focusing on What Others Think and Start Living for You

    Are You Mad at Me?: How to Stop Focusing on What Others Think and Start Living for You

    Meg Josephson

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    astertales started reading...

    2d
    The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self

    The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self

    Michael Easter

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    astertales commented on a post

    2d
  • Piranesi
    A book/story pairing for Piranesi! (Spoilers are for a quote from the book - no real plot spoilers though!)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

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  • Post from the Piranesi forum

    2d
  • Piranesi
    A book/story pairing for Piranesi! (Spoilers are for a quote from the book - no real plot spoilers though!)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

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  • astertales commented on astertales's update

    astertales started reading...

    3d
    Wuthering Heights

    Wuthering Heights

    Emily Brontë

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    astertales started reading...

    3d
    Wuthering Heights

    Wuthering Heights

    Emily Brontë

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    astertales finished reading and left a rating...

    3d
  • Piranesi
    astertales
    Dec 05, 2025
    4.5
    Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 4.5Characters: 4.5Plot: 4.5
    🌊
    🦉
    📓

    I went into this book knowing very little about it, and I think that added a lot to my experience! I really enjoyed the process of slow discovery, as if I were finding my way through my very own labyrinth. It was very difficult to put down after the first 1/3 of the book.

    I have been reading Borges' Ficciones alongside it, and I would really recommend that pairing—especially "The Library of Babel." I believe it was an inspiration for Clarke, and there are some really beautiful parallels. This line from Piranesi, for example, feels very inspired by Borges: "I realised that the search for the Knowledge has encouraged us to think of the House as if it were a sort of riddle to be unravelled, a text to be interpreted, and that if ever we discover the Knowledge, then it will be as if the Value has been wrested from the House and all that remains will be mere scenery. The sight of the One-Hundred-and-Ninety-Second Western Hall in the Moonlight made me see how ridiculous that is. The House is valuable because it is the House. It is enough in and of Itself. It is not the means to an end."

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  • astertales is interested in reading...

    4d
    We Love You, Bunny (Bunny, #2)

    We Love You, Bunny (Bunny, #2)

    Mona Awad

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    astertales is interested in reading...

    4d
    Thick: And Other Essays

    Thick: And Other Essays

    Tressie McMillan Cottom

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    astertales finished reading and left a rating...

    1w
  • We Have Always Lived in the Castle
    astertales
    Nov 30, 2025
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 4.0Plot: 4.0
    🏚️
    🐈

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  • astertales completed their yearly reading goal of 30 books!

    1w

    astertales's 2025 Reading Challenge

    32 of 30 read
    Upstream: Selected Essays
    Rebecca
    Mammoths at the Gates (The Singing Hills Cycle, #4)
    Babel
    The God of the Woods
    Our Wives Under the Sea
    Finn Family Moomintroll (The Moomins, #3)
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    astertales TBR'd a book

    1w
    Thick: And Other Essays

    Thick: And Other Essays

    Tressie McMillan Cottom

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