knickiknack
Sasha Samokhina☼ Princess Buttercup ☽ Nesta Archeron↑ I don't really know more than what I've already read, and some of what I read I'm not even sure I actually know.
981 points
knickiknack wrote a review...
Spectacular, give me 14 of em right now. Fabulous. I'm not sure what surprised me more: that I got got at the end or that Brandon Sanderson has never met me when clearly this book WAS MADE FOR ME. I am already so jealous of me-last-week about to begin this story for the first time. How fun.
0knickiknack finished a book
Tress of the Emerald Sea
Brandon Sanderson
0knickiknack wants to read...
Vampires of El Norte
Isabel Cañas
0knickiknack commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Here’s how it works:
Take any book you know.
Rewrite the plot (or part of it) as if a main character was posting on Reddit’s AITA forum.
Keep the AITA style: ages/genders in parentheses, dramatic setup, moral dilemma tone.
Bonus points if you make it sound petty or ridiculous while still being recognizable.
For fun, see if you can figure out other people's!
Edit: These are hilarious and I’m finding books to try. You’re all amazing. I’m living for these.
98knickiknack commented on knickiknack's review of The House Across the Lake
Being the first mystery/thriller book to try to get into the genre, and the first Riley Sager book in general is a lot of weight to carry, but I’m glad it was this one. It taught me a few valuable lessons. 1) If you want to go into a book blind, that includes making sure you don’t have genre bias, which I definitely did! I was so confident I was going to solve it when I didn’t even know the rules of the game. Honestly, great lesson for life in general. 2) Male authors just can’t help themselves from referring to a woman’s body in a weird way, even if they’re writing from a woman’s POV. “Ma’am” this is life or death, why are you concerned about her “full breasts”?? And more concerning, how do half breasts factor into this??? 3) There was more life and chemistry in “we have to stop meeting like this” than the whole book, teaching me how important it is to make your own fun while reading if fun is not provided for you. Don’t get me wrong, I was engaged and binged this in 2 sittings within 12 hours, but am now craving a “giggling and kicking my feet” book.
2knickiknack wrote a review...
You are what you eat. Your fate is yours if you're willing to fight to fight for it or tame it. You are born destined to become a tapestry, woven together with your family history and everyone you've ever known, loved, hated, admired, feared — who you are and who you are meant to be depends on whether you accept this or pull the thread and begin again with a new pattern.
This book was horrifically beautiful and I think everyone should read it regardless of whether or not its to their taste.
- Spoilers below! *
Personally, I loved the ending even though I've heard there are mixed reviews. In the end, Devon got what she wanted: to give her son the freedom she'd always craved — it just looked different than she expected, and that's the point. In the end he had a choice, and the freedom to choose for himself even if it goes against what is "right", "acceptable", and what she wanted for him. It's not a happily-ever-after because it was never going to be, and it can't be when everyone expresses their own autonomy. Happily-ever-afters are only possible when only one narrative is in control, and that was an ending Devon fought to change. So her "ever after" is one with loose ends, compromises, and acceptance of the choices of others, but it's one that she and her loved ones now have the freedom to choose.
Quotes I'm still thinking about:
"The truth was, Nycteris never really escaped. Oh, she got a prince and a castle and the cruel witch died at the end. But Nycteris could not ever leave the cave, because the cave was a place in her mind; it was the entire way she thought about reality. Princesses like that couldn't be rescued. Devon's last thought before falling asleep on the bus was to wonder if actually, she'd had it the wrong way around. Maybe everyone was living in a cave, and Nycteris was the only person smart enough to recognize it."
"How can one child be worth the loss of everything else? How can you justify this cost?" "Love doesn't have a cost. It's just a choice you make, the way you choose to keep breathing or keep living. It's not about worth and it's not about price. Those concepts don't apply."
"Maybe, Devon thought, that was the best anybody could hope for in life: to be missed when gone, however one had lived."
"Was it worth it?" "It's not a question of worth, or cost...I have always done the best that I can for the people that I loved. There's nothing else that anyone can do."
1knickiknack commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
What are your favorite spooky season reads? I need to add more to my collection. Bonus points if they are queer!!!
37knickiknack commented on kindleandilluminate's review of The Book Eaters (International Edition)
My entire review is a gif of Bernadette Peters as the Witch in Into the Woods, saying “I was just trying to be a good mother.”
Anyway, I loved it!
1Post from the The Book Eaters (International Edition) forum
- The audiobook is great — the narrator was specifically chosen by the author for her accent and personal experience and she does a phenomenal job.
- If you do listen to the audiobook, make sure to keep listening after the story because they tack on an interview between the author and narrator that is wonderful!
- The author added an epilogue that is only available in the Waterstones copies of the book. I'm waiting for copy to get here (shout out to pangobooks) so I'm not sure whether it's worth it but I'll come back and edit this once I'm done! The author included it in case people didn't like the ending, but personally I loved it and am just curious.
0knickiknack finished a book
The Book Eaters (International Edition)
Sunyi Dean
0knickiknack commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I love the variety of the pre-made icons on here and they're super cute, but I'm wondering if there will be an opportunity in the future to add our own icons? As a serial icon changer, I've cycled through my favourites of the pre-made options oops
41knickiknack commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
guys, i just discovered that i can pull up libby on a web browser so i can use it on my work computer without installing anything... i also discovered using the setup code instead of typing in my library card a bazillion times 🥲 does anyone else use it? or have other libby tips and tricks across devices?
i'm also just posting this here so y'all can find out too if you didn't know already :) i can finally listen to audiobooks at the office
edit to include "setup code" info: when pulling up Libby on a new device, it will prompt you to either search for your library, guess your library, or sync an existing Libby account with a setup code. click the third option and it shows a string of numbers (i think 10 digits). then, on a device where you're already logged in, scroll down below where all your library cards are managed (the hamburger in the bottom center of the navbar) to "Your Information" section > "Copy to Another Device" and type in those numbers. then it just syncs everything up to the browser! you shouldn't need to log in every time you open Libby on that device thereafter :)
28knickiknack commented on aVampireReads's review of We Had to Remove This Post
This really felt like a normal day at work (-ish). At some point, I actually had to pause and reflect: was the narrator REALLY someone I used to work with? Lol.
For those who haven’t worked in customer support or content moderation, I’m not sure how this book lands, but for me, it was strikingly realistic and relatable.. The conversations, the arguments, the ticking clock, the break times, it was like revisiting part of my past. Not gonna lie, I would often think of my colleagues as characters in a novel and...here, I realized they really were archetypes of people in these kinds of environments.
Now, I was expecting this one to be much much darker than it was. And don't get me wrong, if you really think about it, the ending is chilling. But it left me with some lingering questions (and maybe this was its point):
-Have we become so desensitized by our exposure to cruelty and violence that the ending feels… underwhelming? -Why is there little to no substantial mental health support for people working these jobs? -How does a job like that affect your relationship with others and the relationship to yourself? -How much of yourself remains after a shift, and if something remains, who are you, really? -More broadly, how do our 9-5 shapes us, regardless of the field, once the day is over?
Well, these questions stayed with me after finishing the book. Many of these themes are explored here, though often wrapped in the guise of a toxic relationship.
If the ordinary is so unsettling, maybe it's not so ordinary after all.
2knickiknack commented on knickiknack's review of We Had to Remove This Post
I’ve seen mixed reviews for this book and while personally I fall into the category of unmet expectations, my rating doesn’t reflect that. It’s a very interesting and essential story that shines a light on a dark career/lifestyle but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bummed it didn’t seem to lead to a dramatic twist or reveal (though I’ve seen some disagree with this claim). Ultimately I enjoyed the story, the writing style was engaging and it conveys a very important message about our tolerance vs exposure to the horrors of the world, but I think I was just looking for a different kind of story, with a bit more “thriller” to it. But in the end, aren’t I proving my own point?
3knickiknack commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I’m looking for books like the House of Salt and Sorrow, The Rose Bargain, etc
It’s like a fairy tale + historical fiction combined? With magic and wonders? I wanna read more books similar or like that and I was hoping anyone had a good idea of what I’m talking about and had some recs!
7knickiknack commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I was out of town and away from my computer (where I prefer to use Pagebound rn lol) so excuse my few days late August wrap.
Total books: 12 Night Watcher - Daphne Woolsoncroft: 4.5 ★ People We Meet on Vacation - Emily Henry: 2.5 ★ (don't yell at me) The Ballad of Songbirds and Snake - Suzanne Collins: 3.5 ★ Framed - John Grisham: 5.0 ★ (my fav this month. Made me so angry while reading it) The Martian - Andy Weir: 4 ★ The Heiress - Rachel Hawkins: 4 ★ My Friends - Fredrik Backman: 4.5 ★ The Wife Upstairs - Rachel Hawkins: 3.5 ★ A Stolen Life - Jaycee Dugard: 4.5 ★ The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels - Janice Hallett: 4 ★ The View From Lake Como - Adriana Trigiani: 4 ★ When Among Crows - Veronica Roth: 3.5 ★
14knickiknack commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
i feel like it’s become pretty common in marketing now for marketers to label books as “mashups” of other books, ie a blurb saying “this book is like if The Hunger Games and Frankenstein had a baby” (this one was completely made up by me lmao). oftentimes though, the truth of the mashup claim widely varies on if the book is anything like either of its comparisons. i don’t know if this has ever made me buy a book necessarily, but i probably have been influenced partially to buy one before from it. or the opposite, and was turned off from a book i was intrigued by because i didn’t like a book it was compared to.
has anyone here been convinced to read a book through this? or the opposite, and not read a book because of this? has anyone been completely spurned and read something you’d thought you’d like but ended up turning out to be nothing like the books it was claimed to be just like? also curious on everyone’s thoughts in general on the use of comparison to other novels in the marketing of a new book, especially when it’s a hit novel like The Hunger Games or something else!
66knickiknack commented on a post
If I'm being honest, I was devastated when this story ended and I realized I wouldn't get to see more of this beautiful world and these characters. Once I went outside, touched some grass, regained some composure I realized that if it has to end, it couldn't have been a better ending (at least, for my personal reading tastes). It's actually in my hall of fame of "best endings ever." Perfectly bittersweet, enough details to imagine where the story could go but with enough to provide some closure that makes sense. Plus it follows the fairy tale vibe, and all fairy tales must have an ending to drive it's lessons home. Did anyone else have the same experience?
16knickiknack wants to read...
And Then She Fell
Alicia Elliott
1knickiknack wants to read...
What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1)
T. Kingfisher
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