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honeebees

27. From Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia. I mostly read general and historical fiction but would love to read a greater variety of genres :)

1048 points

0% overlap
Quiet Novels
British & Irish Classic Literature
Level 4
My Taste
Isola
Know My Name
Conversations with Friends
The Priory of the Orange Tree
Pride and Prejudice
Reading...
Is a River Alive?
84%
  • The Lord of Stariel (Stariel, #1)
    Sep 07, 2026
    The Lord of Stariel (Stariel, #1)A.J. Lancaster
    3.0
    Enjoyment: 3.5Quality: 3.0Characters: 2.5Plot: 2.0
    ❄️
    🧚
    🌲

    This was alright for a light, low-stakes read and a bit of fun. It's not perfect but I didn't find it totally unenjoyable. My biggest issue is that every problem is solved incredibly quickly and easily, and that the "ominous prologue" doesn't lead anywhere

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    honeebees commented...

    10h

    Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is a memoir I found I couldn't put down! You also learn a little about Mt Everest and mountaineering in it, as well as the history of the 1996 disaster and a little about the different perspectives of the people who were there

  • Nonfiction recs for a fiction enjoyer

    Im currently trying to limit my doom scrolling (twitter, instagram,tiktok) and thought i would do so by learning some new things! I recently joined the down the rabbit hole quest and i picked a book that my library happened to have on libby and im kind of having a hard time getting into it, but seeing the reviews people had similar issues to me (including ppl who read nonfiction) I havent really read nonfiction much so i would like some reccomendations for someone who is trying to start!

    I do watch alot of video essays pertaining to niche topics (i would like to reccomend the yt essayist fredrik knudsen who doesnt post often but the topics he covers are so interesting) if there are books that have a similar style where it doesnt feel textbooky? If that makes sense another channel i enjoy is miniminuteman who doesnt really follow an essay format but i like the way he covers historical topics.

    Im willing to read on anything! I would perfer niche topics or things most people wouldnt think to talk about. What is some niche knowlege you learned from a nonfic that you would want to share with others?

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    honeebees is interested in reading...

    4d

    The Homemade God

    The Homemade God

    Rachel Joyce

    Family is everything, even when it falls apart. After the sudden death of a renowned artist, his four adult children travel to Italy to sort out his affairs with his much-younger wife, in this moving novel from the bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.World-famous artist Vic Kemp has relied on his four children ever since their mother died when they were young. Netta, the oldest, is a litigator who often serves as co-parent to her siblings; Susan, a housewife who cooks and cleans for both her husband and her father; Goose's own thwarted artistic ambitions have left him resigned to a job in Vic's studio; and Iris, the baby, drops everything the moment her father calls. When Vic summons the siblings with the promise of big news, they hope their father is about to tell them he has finished the mysterious masterpiece he claims will be the capstone to his career. Instead, he announces he’s getting remarried. Bella-Mae, his wife to be, is apparently beautiful, a fellow artist—and twenty-seven to his seventy-six years. When his children dare to express concern, Vic decamps with Bella-Mae to his summer home in Italy. Six weeks later, he is found dead. There is no sign of his will, or his promised final painting. Netta, Susan, Goose, and Iris gather at the house on Lake Orta to piece together what happened and prepare to bring their father’s body home. They spend the summer in a waiting game, living under the same roof as Bella-Mae, and forced to confront Vic's legacy and the buried wounds they have incurred as his children. So who is Bella-Mae? Is she the woman their father believed her to be? Or is she the force that will destroy the family for good? How long can their old bonds hold? With sparkling wit, compassion and tender insight, The Homemade God explores memory, identity, grief, healing, and the bonds of siblinghood—what happens when they splinter, and what it might take to find a new way forward.

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    honeebees is interested in reading...

    4d

    Mantle

    Mantle

    Romy Ash

    ‘A generous work, by a glorious young writer.’—The Australian, ‘the big books of 2026’Nature has another evolution in store for usI think about how the earth likes to cough things up. Bones, fossils, slivers of rock, like an interior self. How it likes to spew gas, lava, smoke. How the earth under our feet is anything but solid. How in fact, the surface itself is constantly in movement, teeming. And inside, inside, in the mantle, we can only guess.Ursula is a self-possessed geologist. In her life on the mainland, she’s a guardian of the timescale, dividing history into segments and reading the Earth’s depths. It sounds like science fiction, but it’s simply science.When her ailing mother is struck with a mystery illness she is called to the coastline of lutruwita/Tasmania. What begins as an incurable rash evolves into something more dangerous.With the sickness spreading across the island, and beyond, Ursula finds herself stranded, stuck in her mother’s house and increasingly entangled with a younger man who she met at the pub. She is grieving, beginning to unhinge – and now she too has the rash.  The wild places of the island are solace, even as the world around her begins to shift. As she faces this eruption of new life, and grapples with death and decay, Ursula realises that this change may not signal an end, but a beginning. Deeply moving and utterly original, Mantle is a powerful novel that shows us our fate is intertwined with the people around us, and the fate of our world.PRAISE FOR MANTLE‘Romy Ash’s Mantle is an exquisite novel. She gives voice to a remarkable and authentic cast of characters, writing with originality and dare. A wonderful book.’ – Tony Birch, author of Women and Children‘Mantle is one of the best novels I’ve ever read, and Ash is one of the country’s finest writers. The novel just grows around you and won’t let go … This is a book of heart, of grief and of facing end times head on. Only Romy Ash has the sheer talent to tell such a tale.’ – Laura Jean McKay, author of The Animals in That Country ‘Mantle is evocative, funny, weird and gorgeous. This story will stay with you, linger on the skin and in the heart. A long-awaited class act from Ash.’ – Anna Krien, author of Act of Grace‘Mantle is a ferocious hymn of love and grief and desire – one that howls for the planet. This novel will thread its way under your skin and wrap its tendrils around your heart. Dazzling.’ – Kate Mildenhall, author of The Hiding Place

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    honeebees is interested in reading...

    4d

    Greek Lessons

    Greek Lessons

    Han Kang

    A powerful novel about the saving grace of language and human connection, from the author of the International Booker Prize winner The Vegetarian "Now and then, language would thrust its way into her sleep like a skewer through meat, startling her awake several times a night..." In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight. Soon they discover a deeper pain binds them together. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it's the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages, and the fear of losing his independence. Greek Lessons tells the story of two ordinary people brought together at a moment of private anguish—the fading light of a man losing his vision meeting the silence of a woman who has lost her language. Yet these are the very things that draw them to one another. Slowly the two discover a profound sense of unity—their voices intersecting with startling beauty, as they move from darkness to light, from silence to breath and expression. Greek Lessons is the story of the unlikely bond between this pair and a tender love letter to human intimacy and connection—a novel to awaken the senses, one that vividly conjures the essence of what it means to be alive.

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  • Sense and Sensibility
    Sep 03, 2026
    Sense and SensibilityJane Austen
    4.5
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 4.5Plot: 4.5
    💘
    ✉️
    ⛪

    My third read of this book. It's been a little while since I read Jane Austen but I'm relieved to find I still love her!

    This time around I really noticed how snarky Elinor can be, especially towards Marianne, and I enjoyed that a lot. I picked up on more of the humour. I love Elinor and I love Marianne and I love their love for eachother. I also enjoy a book where the romantic hero is described as someone not very handsome, reserved, polite, and with no ambition for great wealth or fame or luxury. It's nice to read when you compare him with other romantic heros who are ultra-masculine, wealthy, selfish, and ambition driven.

    Sense and Sensibility I think doesn't have as strong of a cast of supporting characters compared to Pride and Prejudice or Emma. I also think the characters in this book treat the villain far too charitably. I also wish we got to see more of Edward through dialogue. But still very much enjoyed this re-read!

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