Damn, the power of the stories we’re given as children is hugely emphasized and I love it.

Owen doesn’t just like the story of Una. He grows up with it. Her legend becomes this touchstone for him, something that shapes how he sees courage, cowardice, heroism, even himself. And I love how that sets up this tension between the person and the legend.

Because what happens when the person who saved you as a child turns out to be much more complicated than the story you were told?

I’m VERY interested in where Harrow takes that distinction between loving someone’s story and actually knowing the person behind it. 👀

I need some classical literature recommendations that don't feel too dull while reading. I enjoy gothic literature too and have been enjoying the picture of dorian gray and frankenstein but I really wanna get more into other classic literature books without feeling like its too much of a chore. I've read some russian ones and i just cant stand them anymore + i'd like some books written by women but im not a big romance fan tho. Help!!

As the author and Sheryl are talking with the prime minister of Ireland about how to allow Facebook to pay less / no taxes: "So is this what it looks like when a company conspires with a government to avoid paying taxes? I know Kenny's just trying to do right by his people and keep a bunch of jobs in Ireland. But still. It doesn't feel right, this backroom deal."

The fact that Sheryl brings up how many people Facebook employ in Ireland (and how many more they could employ soon) feels 100% scummy and 100% expected. Of course that's what a business needs to do to grow so big, and keep growing - of course you need to resort to threats. And now the PM needs to stay on Facebook's good side or risk losing his constituents thousands of jobs that will impact their everyday well-being. It just sucks SO bad that these are the only choices even well-intentioned people have. In this system I feel you just can't make any good choices.

I don’t know who hit the 2x speed button for August (... but I’m guessing it was the Gargoyles…) but somehow it’s already SEPTEMBER!!! Which means it’s time to announce the October Buddy Reads and get your votes in for the November Buddy Reads!!

🔗🔗🔗 November Buddy Reads Request Form Linked Here!!! 🔗🔗🔗

How the Fever Dreams Buddy Reads Work

Now that we have a few months under our belts - I think I have figured out a good system for buddy reads! I’ll eventually make a separate post where I can just link to that for reference but since I made some changes to the Google form I wanted to give an explanation here too!

👁 How Buddy Read Books Get Picked 👁 During the first week of each month, I’ll make a forum post like this (and I’ll pin it to the Quest forum board for the month just like this one)! I’ll have a fresh Buddy Reads Request Google form that includes any new books added to the Quest that month. New books will be up at the top and labeled as NEW just for that month, everything else will be in alphabetical order! When you fill out the request form you can view it as a vote for that book to get picked as one of the buddy reads. But don’t worry if yours doesn’t get picked that month - I keep track of all the votes for each month on the back end and the votes are cumulative until that book is one of the top 3 books. I’m leaving in the quest about when you would want to read the book you are voting for because I use those as “tie breakers” as needed. Once a book is chosen, I clear out the votes for that book and its score goes back to 0. So you are welcome to request/vote for it again to boost it back up, but please only request a book once per month. You can submit as MANY different books as you want per month, but if you request the same book 3x in the same month, it only counts as one vote.

💫 Missed a Buddy Read for one you really want to read? Don’t worry - It will be back! 💫 Some books in the Quest are going to be more popular than others, but I also want to make sure each book in the Quest gets a chance to be “featured” as a buddy read as long as people request/vote for it! So eventually I’ll implement a system where only 2 out of the 3 buddy reads picked for that month will be books that have recently been picked as buddy reads.

🦋 I REALLY want to Buddy Read a book next month but my book didn’t get picked 🦋 Please feel free to use the monthly post to find others who want to read that book with you! Just make a post with the book title/info and when you are planning on starting to read the book so others can comment underneath and let you know they are interested in reading it with you! Of course, this can be for books already in the Quest BUT feel free to post about books that AREN’T in the Fever Dreams Quest (yet), but you think fans of the Fever Dream Quest would like! My ultimate goal with these monthly posts is to help y’all find weird books to read AND have active forums to discuss them!

🙃 The Buddy Reads start on the first of the month and you can join in at any point in the month! 🙃 As a general rule we’ll start on the 1st and people can join at any time so as many people who want to join in, can! BUT if y’all want to make a more structured reading plan (starting on a different day, reading X number of pages/chapters per day/week) feel free to! I know some people prefer a more structured reading plan and others want it to be more flexible - I think this is the best of both worlds!

📝 Sign Ups & Coordinators 📝 After I post the monthly announcement, I’ll pin 3 individual comments to the post one with each upcoming Buddy Read book! Just comment underneath it that you want to join in AND if you want to help coordinate! I’ve removed the coordinator question from the google form - I never want anyone to feel pressured by publicly saying they would coordinate OR feel bad if they can’t remember if they put down that they would be willing to coordinate. So I’m just removing that question. If you are up for helping coordinate - just say so in your comment!! Coordinator Roles The goal with the coordinators is to help remind people that the Buddy Read is starting! The easiest way I’ve seen it done is to comment under their most recent library update a few days before the buddy read begins - there can be multiple coordinators, so feel free to split this up! I’ll handle making a post in the book’s forum page when I make my monthly posts so coordinators can just focus on pinging individuals! You only need to ping a person once, if they don’t respond, don’t worry about it! Again, I want this to be as low pressure as possible!

If you want to join in the buddy read, but didn’t sign up for it - you can still join in! The sign ups help spread the word about the upcoming Buddy Read AND give the coordinators a list of people to remind right before the Buddy Read begins.

September Buddy Reads start today and go through the end of the month!

It’s not too late! Feel free to hop into any of the buddy reads for this month when you can!!

🐇 Bunny by Mona Awad Link to Book’s PB Page Here and Link to the Book’s Tigger Warnings Page Here

♟ Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges Link to Book’s PB Page Here I couldn’t find a dedicated page to link to but please note there is some violence in this book but it’s not explicit/gorey and there are themes around mental health.

🐜 The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka Link to Book’s PB Page Here and Link to Book’s Trigger Warnings Page Here

Announcing October’s Buddy Reads!!

As always, I’ll post individual comments below for you to sign up!!

🐳 Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta Link to Book’s PB Page Here I couldn’t find a dedicated page to link to, but I’ll edit this if I find one! I know there are some content warnings around mental health and mild self-harm. This book is also in the Found Family in Fantasy Quest

📨 The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon Link to Book’s PB Page Here I couldn’t find a dedicated page to link to, but I’ll edit this if I find one! I know there are some content warnings around drug use, mental health, sexual content, and violence. This book is also in the Classic Literature from the United States Quest

🐱 The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov Link to Book’s PB Page Here and I’ll link to the book’s trigger warning page, but I also want to let you know there are some spoilers imo. Link to the Book’s Trigger Warning Page Here - Contains Some Spoilers This book is also in the Russian Lit 101 Side Quest and the Classics Starter Pack Vol II Side Quest

New Quest Book Added!!

I’ll add the book officially as soon as I’m done with the Buddy Read posts, but I’m thrilled to add: 📱 No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood to the Fever Dreams family!! Link to Book’s PB Page Here I’m going to link to the book’s trigger warning page, but I also want to let you know I do consider two of the three to be mild spoilers. Link to Book’s Trigger Warning Page - Contains mild spoilers for the end of the book

😵 About This Book - Beyond the Blurb No One is Talking About This is going to be another very divisive one. Some of you will love the disorienting fragmented stream of consciousness that wanders without much of a plot (particularly at the beginning) and others are going to HATE it! And both opinions are valid!

I feel like a lot of the stream of consciousness books I’ve read so far for this Quest have all been older publications - this book is definitely modern with a focus on social media/internet culture. I was never a Twitter person and only learned after I read the book that Patricia Lockwood was well known on Twitter - but you do NOT have to be someone who is immersed in social media or have been active in internet culture to understand/enjoy this book. Not only does this book feel surreal, it is funny and devastating!

Helpful Links

🙋‍♀️ Have a Recommendation for the Quest? As a reminder - I only go through the recommendation posts about once a month - so if you don’t get a comment back from me right away - don’t panic! I have made my tracking system for requests far too complicated so I do them all at once so I don’t mess it up.

First check the 🔗 Fever Dreams Quest TBR Shelf Here 🔗 to see if it’s already been requested and if it’s not there - Submit the Book with the link as an individual comment under 🔗 The Recommendations Post Here 🔗

I was wondering what your all time favourite quotes of your most liked books are. I think quotes can often be the biggest motivation to finally read a book so I am really hoping to draw some inspiration and newfound curiosity from these. 🤗✨