readingbythestream
🚀 | She/her | maths enthusiast & computer science student | leek boy lover | walking dictionary according to in real life people | Hauskobold | acespec 🏳️🌈
5606 points
readingbythestream commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
To all my fellow Aces on the very vast Ace spectrum, happy our day! Your sexuality is valid and we deserve respect, protections, acceptance and all the good things. Wishing everyone a fantastic day. ❤️🔥
42readingbythestream commented on strawberrymilk's review of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me (Maggie the Undying, #1)
Friends, I knew I should have DNFed when the main character started singing “I’m looking for a man in armor. Six five, blue eyes.” in her head but alas.
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me was a huge struggle to get through for me. The book started off strong, but it quickly devolved into never ending exposition. A massive chunk of the book, I want to say roughly the first 40 percent of the book, was just the main character using every single line available in the book to endlessly info dump about the world.
I know it’s the nature of the isekai genre for the main character to know a lot about the world they’re transported into, but in This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, we are never allowed to see the world for our own or form our own opinions about the world. Every character interaction, every morsel of worldbuilding, and every piece of lore/history about the world is fed to us through a filter of the main character. We are never once allowed to explore for ourselves or form our own thoughts.
I kept reading because I had been told that the book would pick up around the 40% mark (and to be fair, it did) and that the plot twists were worth it. But honestly, by the time the 40% mark rolled around, the endless info dumping had robbed any interest left I had in the book and I just didn’t care about the characters or the world or anything that happened in the story. By the time the plot twists came around, I was entirely checked out.
Additionally, I just didn’t buy that the main character’s memory was so good to the point that she could remember not only specific lines of dialogue between characters or every tiny detail about the world, but could also remember entire passages from the books word for word. Maybe that’s just me nitpicking. Either way, I will not be continuing the series which is a shame because I’ve loved other books I’ve read by Illona Andrews.
12readingbythestream commented on a List
Books That are Love Letters to Books
Books don't just sit on shelves and these novels show it. Each one is its own love letter to the importance of stories in every corner of human life, built on the belief that the right book, in the right hands, at the right moment, can change the entire shape of a life. (Always taking recommendations!)
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readingbythestream commented on TiniestBeetle's update
readingbythestream wrote a review...
Margret hatte dieses Leben, in dem alles Sünde war, so satt. Margret was so tired of this life, in which everything was sin.
Susanne Abel crafted a beautifully written and gut punching book, telling the story of the reality of so many children living in orphanages in the 40s - 60s in (West) Germany. A reality that was way too long ignored and swept under the rug. Everything that happens to the characters in this book is based on events and abuse that real people suffered. By jumping back and forth between two timelines - one being about the time when Margret and Hardy were in the orphanages and until the birth of their child Sabine, the other being about Emily, the great-grandchild of Margret and Hardy - we slowly unveil what happened in the past and how that influences the present of the family. I loved how certain behaviours were a reoccurring theme, the holding of hands, the ravens Hardy takes care of, the way Hardy chooses to stay silent during moments of conflict in the family. The way events that were yet to be told were foreshadowed in single sentences was beautiful. I'm choosing an example from the beginning of the novel that shouldn't spoil too much.
Dieser Mond, der immer schon da war, der ihn begleitete, ihm als Kind die Dunkelheit erhellte, wenn er mal wieder eingeschlossen wurde, weil er fliehen wollte. That moon, that had always been there, that had accompanied him, that had lit up the darkness for him as a child, when he was once again locked in, because he wanted to run away.
I don't think I am able to do this book justice with my review. I'm once again tearing up while I'm writing this review. Thank you, Susanne Abel, for writing this novel about the children who had to suffer so much after surviving a war, for writing about the children who are about the age of my great-grandfather, a generation that rarely talks about the trauma they endured.
Should you consider reading this book, please, beware the content warnings. As of yet (April 2026), there is no English translation.
0readingbythestream commented on Loyaute's update
readingbythestream commented on a List
Um, actually... (It's Satire)
You loved Patrick Bateman. You wanted to be Jay Gatsby. You know all the rules about Fight Club. Well, do I have the list for you! Um, actually... is a list of books where the whole point went over people's heads. These novels handed readers a mirror and they wore it as a name badge instead. Always taking recommendations! (p.s. I am begging you to watch Um, Actually on Dropout TV... um, actually please watch anything/everything on Dropout TV)
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readingbythestream is interested in reading...
Orpheus Builds a Girl
Heather Parry
0readingbythestream commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
What's a dumb bookish decision you have made that made you feel a lil stressed?
Yesterday I started Common Goal by Rachel Reid. ... it's a 10 hour audiobook On Bookbeat I only have 9 hours and 10 minutes left of listening hours. And I can't continue my subscription after using those hours. Speeding up doesn't help either because no matter the speed, they calculate it as if you're reading on 1x
39readingbythestream commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Good morning and happy Monday boundlings! ☀️🌷
I just came upon a Substack Post about Original Thoughts and why we nowadays often feel like we don't have these anymore. This definitely resonated with me but also made me think about PB and its influence on my thinking about things at the same time.
Among other things the author mentions how we often just consume books, videos, reels etc. and immediately rush to the comments, to the reviews, and to what other people have to say about this piece of media instead of thinking first about how we genuinely feel about it.
Now you could ask, how is PB different? And imo it really encourages our own thoughts and reflections in many ways. Firstly, engagement with the users is genuine and long texts and posts are encouraged and actually engaged with - so we are not forced to keep our text to a minimum of words to get attention.
Secondly, high quality posts are also encouraged, and while there are books that are very popular, the forums of many books are relatively empty. I, personally, am always more motivated to write a good & interesting post with my reflections in an empty forum which makes me reflect in a way that I probably wouldn't have before PB. And, thirdly, recommendations and reviews make me reflect on why specifically I like / dislike a book. Since here, people actually engage, are actually amazed at what I write or might disagree, I want to be specific, and not only say "yeah it was super good/bad".
In general I would say that PB is definitely encouraging me to train my "having-our-own-thoughts muscle" and I hope many of you feel the same! 🧠🧐💡 The substack article was super interesting, so maybe some of you wanna read it too and I'd be happy to hear about your thoughts and opinions!
[edited due to typos😑]
48readingbythestream commented on a post
To the non-mormons and never been, how does the church look?
My grandparents joined mormonism when my mother was 6. In a way she was raised in it. And I was born into it. Now I have nieces and nephews called the 4th generation mormons. We're called the pioneering family in my province (state for US folks). As said, I'm not from the US so anyone can ask me in the comments what its like to be international member. But I'm asking what do you think about the church. I know it's a cult, I already left but I need outside perspective on how oppressing it is, etc. So please don't just describe it as a cult, expound it as why it is. Thank you.
34readingbythestream commented on readingbythestream's update
readingbythestream finished a book
Du musst meine Hand fester halten, Nr. 104
Susanne Abel
1readingbythestream finished a book
Du musst meine Hand fester halten, Nr. 104
Susanne Abel
1readingbythestream commented on readingbythestream's update
readingbythestream made progress on...
Du musst meine Hand fester halten, Nr. 104
Susanne Abel
1readingbythestream made progress on...
Du musst meine Hand fester halten, Nr. 104
Susanne Abel
1readingbythestream commented on x_Abi's update
readingbythestream TBR'd a book
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
0readingbythestream commented on saliha's update
readingbythestream commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I asked this question months back, and the answers were absolutely brilliant, so I thought it would be fun to ask again!
If you were dropped into the book(s) you are currently reading, where would you be and what would you be doing?
108readingbythestream commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Have you lent a book and never gotten it back? Did you forget to ask? Did they just love it so much you gave it away? Did you have to fight for it back? Were you the guilty party who kept the book?
So many possibilities. I have only once gotten back a book I've lent.
In highschool, when twilight came out, I was all about it. I was the nerd who took it to school and was reading it inbetween classes. A friend of mine (or so I thought (Joanna)) asked to borrow it, I said of course! I was excited to share something I loved. A couple of weeks go by and she hasnt mentioned if she was team Ed or Jacob (team Ed myself) and so I asked "did you like twilight?" She acted confused "what do you mean, I've never read it". Well okay then Jo, I was a little upset but whatever, I asked for it back since she didnt want to read it but she insisted I never lent it to her!
So like any completely emotionally stable 13yr old... I went crying to my mummy that I wanted my book back. My mummy took me to her house and talked to her mum, who made Jo give it back. Take that!!! She had even written her name in the front page, the gotdam audacity of this girl. Anyway I got my book back and she didnt speak to me anymore, win/win.
Now I only lend books that I'm happy possibly not getting back. What's your story?
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