cosmic_kate

love to read stories from different places in the world

5587 points

0% overlap

My Taste

Reading...

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017

Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism

22%

The Hidden Kingdom of Fungi: Exploring the Microscopic World in Our Forests, Homes, and Bodies

28%

Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation

15%

14%

cosmic_kate commented on cosmic_kate's review of Taiwan Travelogue

cosmic_kate

May 27, 2026

5.0

Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0

🇹🇼

🍣

👘

Such a beautiful book from the chaotic beginning to the sweet end. Loved the plot, the characters, the storytelling, and its informative value. Throughout the book I could painfully feel the layer of translation that, unfortunately, obscured both some elements of the plot, the nuances in emotional expressions, but also, importantly, all the variety of dishes mentioned in this book. Nevertheless, this book is worthy of all its praise.

cosmic_kate commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

saint_delrio

Reading Research Papers

Not sure if this is the place to ask, but it has to do with reading, so why not! Cause I'm in college, I have the "joy" of being forced to read long research papers. This week's reading is 87 pages of dense academic words, complete with footnotes that are longer than most novels and an abstract that requires its own abstract to understand. I personally read it three times...once by accident, once in denial, and once while sobbing into my coffee at 3:00 am this morning (please someone save me). It's not like I don't like what these research papers are about, it's just A LOT. So I'm asking if anyone has cracked the code on getting through research papers without losing the will to live. If so, PLEASE share your secrets! 🥹

cosmic_kate wrote a review...

cosmic_kate

May 27, 2026

5.0

Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0

🇹🇼

🍣

👘

cosmic_kate finished a book

Taiwan Travelogue

Yáng Shuāng-zǐ

A bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history, and power May 1938. The young novelist Aoyama Chizuko has sailed from her home in Nagasaki, Japan, and arrived in Taiwan. She’s been invited there by the Japanese government ruling the island, though she has no interest in their official banquets or imperialist agenda. Instead, Chizuko longs to experience real island life and to taste as much of its authentic cuisine as her famously monstrous appetite can bear. Soon a Taiwanese woman―who is younger even than she is, and who shares the characters of her name―is hired as her interpreter and makes her dreams come true. The charming, erudite, meticulous Chizuru arranges Chizuko’s travels all over the Land of the South and also proves to be an exceptional cook. Over scenic train rides and braised pork rice, lively banter and winter melon tea, Chizuko grows infatuated with her companion and intent on drawing her closer. But something causes Chizuru to keep her distance. It’s only after a heartbreaking separation that Chizuko begins to grasp what the “something” is. Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer, this novel was a sensation on its first publication in Mandarin Chinese in 2020 and won Taiwan’s highest literary honor, the Golden Tripod Award. Taiwan Travelogue unburies lost colonial histories and deftly reveals how power dynamics inflect our most intimate relationships.

cosmic_kate commented on a post

Purrito

Thoughts from 85% (chapter 11)

spoilers

View spoiler

cosmic_kate commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

NachoCheese

Shout to the void (pt11)🪐

Sorry for the delay (life has been busy). Hope yall ready.. what’s a complaint you’ve had over the last week or so (no matter how big, small, dramatic, serious, silly, etc) that you need to shout to the void?!🗣️

178

cosmic_kate commented on a post

musebeliever

Thoughts from 84% (page 247)

spoilers

View spoiler

Post from the Taiwan Travelogue forum

cosmic_kate

Thoughts from 83%

spoilers

View spoiler

cosmic_kate is interested in reading...

The Moon Cycle Cookbook: A Holistic Nutrition Guide for a Well-Balanced Menstrual Cycle

Devon Loftus

The Moon Cycle Bakery, founded in 2017, creates sweet treats that replenish certain micronutrients women lose during the different stages of their menstrual cycle. In The Moon Cycle Cookbook , bakery founder Devon Loftus and nutritionist Jenna Radomski empower women to nourish themselves with recipes for sweets, savory meals, and snacks, organized around each of the four phases of the menstrual cycle, that can be customized to suit their bodies’ fluctuating needs. Every recipe is formulated with the knowledge of what is happening hormonally in a woman’s body during each cycle phase, using ingredients that replenish and support essential nutrients. Suffering from cramps? Try adding more cacao to your diet. Mood swings? A sweet-potato brownie can help with that. A happy mix of creativity, self-empowerment, and downright deliciousness, this wellness guide demystifies menstrual health, educating readers about their unique needs and helping them to deepen their self-care regimen. Sidebars feature suggested self-care practices and rituals to enhance a woman's connection to her body and understanding of how to nurture a healthy cycle.

cosmic_kate commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

cosmic_kate

Seeking book recs on female health, cycle, and mental health

Hello beautiful Pagebounders!

Today I’ve been experiencing some unpleasant mood swings due to the menstrual cycle. So I started researching a bit about hormones and their impact on mental health in women. I wonder if some of you can recommend me some good books on female health, hormones, aging, mental health impact, etc. Just anything that you found informative and useful for understanding our complex organisms:) If there are any lists with books like that circulating out there, I’ll appreciate it if you post me a link ☺️

Thank you in advance, have a great day! ❤️

cosmic_kate commented on FeralAcademic's update

FeralAcademic DNF'd a book

Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)

Toshikazu Kawaguchi

What would you change if you could go back in time? In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know. But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . . Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?

Post from the Pagebound Club forum

cosmic_kate

Seeking book recs on female health, cycle, and mental health

Hello beautiful Pagebounders!

Thank you in advance, have a great day! ❤️

cosmic_kate made progress on...

Engstelig svarting

Javad El Bakali

cosmic_kate commented on a post

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism

WeeGhostie

Thoughts from 15%

I don't like the vibe. She's trying to paint herself as an underdog who's relatable. But if you want to change the world, why aren't you trying to push for FB to have principles? Why are you trying to get them involved in governments so they can choose the regulations? She's not naive she's just always wanted power.

cosmic_kate started reading...

Engstelig svarting

Javad El Bakali

I romanen følger vi Kamal, som etter å ha slitt psykisk i en del år, nå har fått seg kommunal leilighet på Sagene. Det er et nokså lugubert sted han har kommet til, med flere ustabile naboer, men det er tross alt bedre enn institusjonen på Grorud, hvor han bare hadde ett rom. Nå må Kamal stå på egne bein, og har fått en oppgave fra psykologen: skaffe seg en jobb innen året er omme. Det byr selvsagt på store utfordringer og tilbakefall, men midt i det hele forelsker han seg i kassadama på den lokale Joker-butikken - kan han finne kjærligheten midt i alt strevet?

cosmic_kate commented on a post

sashisreading

Thoughts from 67%

it just dawned on me how weird it is that people were traveling to and playing tourists in occupied nations. and lowkey it’s still happening until now

cosmic_kate is interested in reading...