Not me thinking, “it couldn’t be that bad, right?” before starting this book. 😩

Hi! My local fantasy book club is having a holiday book exchange/mini party in a few weeks. I'd like to buy or make small little things to gift to everyone in the club (around 10 people). I'm thinking little "stocking stuffer"-type trinkets. Any suggestions? Right now I'm considering making matching bookmarks with our club name on it, or maybe little felt ornaments that look like books? I'm pretty crafty, so I know I could make those. Any other little bookish things you'd like to receive as a gift and wouldn't just feel like junk? Suggestions are appreciated! (Bonus points if it fits a "fantasy" theme!)

I'm am trying to chase my high after having the misfortune of closing the third book in The Three Body Problem trilogy a year ago.

What I'm looking for is the most unhinged insanity to exist. With hard science, and themes that make me go.... wut?

Excluding: Children of Time: on my list The Expanse series: didn't like it.

Anything helps!!

Looking for suggestions beyond “The Terror” and the story that inspired the film “The Thing.”

I have to admit that this was kind of a rough start after having read mostly cozy fantasy for a long time (as a way of coping with, you know [pointing vaguely at everything]).

This author does not want me to feel cozy at all, and I am quite intimidated by that. I am a little scared of this book, because it seems like the same kind of book as The Road was for me, where the way the book was written, the language and phrasing itself, made me feel like a part of the utterly depressed and doomed characters of the book. It was a physical sensation to read The Road, and so far, this book is giving me the same vibes.

The upside of that is, if course, that I'm getting more and more invested in the characters and the story. So now I really want to know how things turn out. I am not very optimistic, I can tell you that. Neither about the characters and the way things will turn out in the book, or about my own emotional condition throughout this book. Please send help.

Onwards!