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mousewithgrayears

bring on the grief, the Greeks, the unlikable protagoni, the unreliable narrators, the queer-coded cyborgs and the drug-addled autofiction. I also like poems

1442 points

0% overlap
Fictional(?) Dystopian Societies
Cherry Blossom Festival 2026
Intro to Poetry
My Taste
Cloud Cuckoo Land
The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2)
Middlesex
Sag Harbor
Her Body and Other Parties: Stories
Reading...
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again:  Essays and Arguments
52%

mousewithgrayears commented on a post

9h
  • A Tale for the Time Being
    Thoughts from 8% (page 31)
    spoilers

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  • A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again:  Essays and Arguments
    Thoughts from 42% (page 146)

    Story #3: Getting Away from Already Pretty Much Being Away from It All

    A sort of gonzo journalism-style account of the 1993 Illinois State Fair, where the author's drug of choice is... anxiety? This is a meandering and fun read that made me hungry for fried food, but also made me irritated every few pages, which is about how long the author can go without comment on how fat somebody (usually a woman) looks in his presence. Content warning for some weirdly forced ogling of teenage girls.

    I want to give this author credit for his exciting vocabulary and rapid-fire connections, but he just keeps on telling on himself in his prose. I wish he'd had a strong(er?) editor.

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  • A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again:  Essays and Arguments
    Thoughts from 24% (page 83)

    Essay #2

    This is a lengthy but dense critical essay about... television? Mass media? Don Delillo's White Noise? Mark Leyman's My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist?

    I am not sure what point the author is trying to make herein, but he just comes off as a cranky young man trying to sound like a cranky old man. In that sense, he is pretty successful, because he rants about the brain rot of television for page after page during a time when the popular internet was already on the rise.

    I think this essay was dated before the ink was dry. Not sure why it was included in this collection.

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  • mousewithgrayears made progress on...

    15h
    A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again:  Essays and Arguments

    A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments

    David Foster Wallace

    52%
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    mousewithgrayears commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

    2d
  • April Reading Goals?

    Last day of March! My goal is finishing ToG series! Anyone else been waiting for April for a special goal?

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  • mousewithgrayears commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

    2d
  • Sick of SMUT and searching relatable romance

    I am sick of reading romance stories of teenagers falling in love in unatural ways and always the same dynamics in the relationship between a white "powerful" man and the "in need for help desperate" white girl.. Do you have any recommandations of books where we can follow a couple and maybe be bored by their life because love is not alwyas butterflies and fireworks, I love Sally Rooney for that but already devoured all her books :(

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  • mousewithgrayears commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

    4d
  • Women's History Month for the Men

    So imagine you're in a mostly-male room and women's month comes up. One says, I would love to support women, but how? I simply can't think of anything. One says, I just think there aren't more women partners because being a partner requires a lot of sales. (I'm sorry what) One says, I've heard Sheryl Sandberg is smart, ladies you should read her book.

    Once I woke up from the rage induced blackout too much time had passed, so I come to you lovely readers. Lean in, with all its good and bad, is really written for young(ish) women trying to climb the corporate ladder.

    What recs do you all have for 'baby's first feminism' that's aimed more at the men currently seated at the table? There must be something but I'm drawing a blank.

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  • Post from the Uncanny Valley forum

    4d
  • Uncanny Valley
    thoughts after finishing

    This memoir slowed down somewhat near the end for me, but I just want you all to know that it has a great last line!

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  • mousewithgrayears wrote a review...

    4d
  • Uncanny Valley
    mousewithgrayears
    Mar 29, 2026
    3.5
    Enjoyment: 3.5Quality: 4.0Characters: 3.5Plot: 2.5

    A dryly funny and of-the-moment memoir about a woman moving from publishing to the tech industry during the post 9/11 boom. I worked a similar non-engineering job in tech during in the previous bubble and her experiences seemed so parallel to mine.

    Good stuff: the author's dry wit and broad vocabulary made this book so fun. It was familiar and interesting to watch her voice become increasingly feminist as she grows up and continues in her career path. I think the memoir's voice does a good job walking the line between honest hero and complicit partner in the evils of the industry.

    Quibbles: the opening part of the book was the strongest for me, fun and gossipy in tone, but had so many sad references to the author's worries about her weight (please stop using the word "trough"). The second third felt more balanced, but the dumbass corporate men made me so mad I had to put it down a few times. The last portion was the least fun since it was a lot less personal, but really settles the book in time and place.

    The last line of this book was absolutely killer and nails it as a feminist memoir for me.

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  • mousewithgrayears finished a book

    4d
    Uncanny Valley

    Uncanny Valley

    Anna Wiener

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    mousewithgrayears is interested in reading...

    4d
    Translation State

    Translation State

    Ann Leckie

    1
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    mousewithgrayears made progress on...

    5d
    Uncanny Valley

    Uncanny Valley

    Anna Wiener

    72%
    1
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    mousewithgrayears commented on a post

    5d
  • Trust Exercise
    Thoughts from 51% - End of the first part
    spoilers

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    5
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