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lucyPagebound

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Winter 2025 Readalong
Reading...The Ministry of Time
My Taste
Deacon King Kong
Fates and Furies
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Sorrow and Bliss
Middlesex

lucyPagebound commented on lucyPagebound's update

lucyPagebound wants to read...

3h
The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)

The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)

Samantha Shannon

1
2
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lucyPagebound wants to read...

3h
A Novel Love Story

A Novel Love Story

Ashley Poston

1
0
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lucyPagebound wants to read...

3h
The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)

The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)

Samantha Shannon

1
2
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lucyPagebound wants to read...

3h
The Will of the Many (Hierarchy, #1)

The Will of the Many (Hierarchy, #1)

James Islington

0
0
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Post from the book forum

3h
  • The Ministry of Time
    Musings on translation, language as creation

    17% into the book, there's this quote: “One of the many hypotheses coagulating in these early days of time-travel was that language informed experience--that we did not simply describe but create our world through language…” Wow. I haven't thought about it quite so clearly as this, but this rings so true. Why does inclusive language matter? Why do slurs have power? Because the language we choose shapes our reality. Makes me think about Babel by R.F. Kuang and its portrayal of translation as a tool of colonization. Here too, our narrator is a translator. At first, I was perplexed why her skill set was selected to help guide this expat to adapt, but now it's clicking: "According to the hypothesis, the more accurate their vocabulary, the more likely they would temporally adjust [...] assimilate." How true is this? If someone starts to say the "right" words, will their mindset shift? And when we see the most powerful man in America saying the wrong words, it matters. It shapes our reality. 😭

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  • lucyPagebound commented on a post

    4h
  • The Ministry of Time
    Reading Update from 16% (page 55)

    I’m trying to like this book but the use of extensive language is both confusing and distracting from the plot.

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    comments 4
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  • Post from the book forum

    4h
  • The Ministry of Time
    Reading Update from 16%
    spoilers

    View spoiler

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  • lucyPagebound commented on jacklie's review of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

    4h
  • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
    5.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 4.0

    I think this may be one of my favorite books of all time! I am still working my way through all the books I've collected to read from little libraries around my neighborhood. I grabbed A Tree Grows in Brooklyn when I saw it because I remember some of my friends reading it as part of their English classes in school. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book (I could not put it down!), but also wish I could've read it when I was younger. I think it would've been very impactful to my younger self. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is so much more than a coming-of-age novel about a young girl, Francie Nolan, growing up in 1900s Brooklyn. It is truly a time capsule of early 1900s New York. The level of detail is incredibly immersive and absolutely enthralling. This is a novel you disappear into. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is unique as a coming-of-age story in that it doesn't focus exclusively on Francie. As readers, we get deep insights into not only her immediate family members, but also her extended relatives and even more distant relations like her neighbors and other folks in her community. This is probably my favorite aspect of the book. Francie's aunt, Sissy, might be one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. She's so earnest and kind, but also incredibly theatrical and larger-than-life in a way that is almost unthinkable for the era she lived in. I loved how the book plays with society vs. Francie's perception of complicated characters like her father or Sissy. By the estimation of many (at the time of the book's writing or even now), these characters are good-for-nothings, but through Francie's eyes, they become complicated, beautiful people who you can't help but love despite their shortcomings. I think this book has one of the best beginnings and endings of anything I have read in recent years. The ending has such beautiful parallels to the start of the story that I couldn't help but feel nostalgic and a little weepy alongside Francie as she reflected on how far she came. I also LOVED the pacing and the decision to not tell the story in a perfectly chronological order. Truly an amazing American novel. And to think it's pretty nearly autobiographical to the author's own life! I think this is definitely a book I'll come back to again and again.

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  • lucyPagebound wants to read...

    4h
    A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

    A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

    Betty Smith

    1
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    lucyPagebound wants to read...

    10h
    The Roommate (The Shameless Series, #1)

    The Roommate (The Shameless Series, #1)

    Rosie Danan

    1
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    lucyPagebound started reading...

    1d
    The Ministry of Time

    The Ministry of Time

    Kaliane Bradley

    5
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    lucyPagebound finished a book

    2d
    Lovelight Farms (Lovelight, #1)

    Lovelight Farms (Lovelight, #1)

    B.K. Borison

    3
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    lucyPagebound commented on a post

    2d
  • Lovelight Farms (Lovelight, #1)
    Reading Update from 82% (page 258)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    4
    comments 1
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  • lucyPagebound commented on a post

    2d
  • Lovelight Farms (Lovelight, #1)
    Reading Update from 44% (page 138)

    NOBODY'S HOME GO AWAY AND TAKE YOUR CUTE KITTENS WITH YOU

    2
    comments 6
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  • lucyPagebound wrote a review...

    2d
  • Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)
    5.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0
    😶‍🌫️
    🗡️
    🌺

    This book was so much fun! I was entirely immersed and when it ended, messaged friends to figure out how I could borrow a physical copy instead of waiting 12 weeks on libby for the next installment 😭 I haven't read much "adult fantasy" and am realizing I should've started way sooner. Incredible world building, character development, pacing & stakes, and a timeless and poignant message.

    8
    comments 2
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  • Post from the book forum

    2d
  • The Bodyguard
    Reading Update from 41%
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    3
    comments 0
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  • lucyPagebound started reading...

    2d
    The Bodyguard

    The Bodyguard

    Katherine Center

    2
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    lucyPagebound finished a book

    3d
    Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)

    Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)

    Brandon Sanderson

    8
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