Jeanne-Pauline Marat???!! Lmao 😂😂😂

Let us hope she doesn’t become a journalist working for the underclass and get stabbed in her bath by an ideological young woman 💀

(Marat is one of my fave French Revolution weirdos)

so, obviously there’s a lot of genre crossover in these books! but i thought i’d put together a little starter guide for this quest! below is a list of genres + the ‘strange plagues’ books that i think best represent those genres! so if you’re a big fan of one or more genre in particular, you’ll have some recommended titles to start out with :)

climate fiction: the annual migration of clouds, how high we go in the dark, wilder girls

fantasy: while none of these are strictly fantasy, the book of m is a good place to start for fantasy readers

horror: leech, wilder girls, suffer the children, black hole, uzumaki (for body horror i especially recommend you check out uzumaki, black hole, and wilder girls - for botanical horror check out wilder girls - for gothic horror check out leech - for supernatural horror see suffer the children)

humor: if you’re wanting something funnier or more absurdist, check out the animals in that country (note that it’s got its fair share of dark humor)

science fiction: almost all of these books are at least a little bit science fiction, but perhaps the most science fiction-y books on this quest imo are sleep donation, how high we go in the dark (this one even has space stuff!), and the memory of animals

literary fiction: severance, how high we go in the dark, the memory of animals, the dreamers, the book of m

speculative fiction: as you can imagine, i’d say all of these books can be categorized as specfic, to varying degrees! but i’d say maybe start out with the memory of animals, the animals in that country, how high we go in the dark, or sleep donation if specfic is your jam

magical realism: the book of m

thriller: the fireman, wanderers, suffer the children (the last one is more of a psychological thriller)

young adult: the annual migration of clouds, wilder girls

a lot of these are proper apocalypse/post-apocalyptic as well, but if you’re looking for something a little less apocalyptic in scope, i’d point you to sleep donation to start.

if you want something a little quieter and gentler, the annual migration of clouds is a good bet!

if you’re more into geographically confined stories - less global epidemics, more localized ones - i’d point you to the dreamers, uzumaki, black hole, wilder girls, and leech.

also, in terms of mediums!

• we have two graphic novels: one is a manga, uzumaki, and one is a renowned graphic novel, black hole.
• we have two novellas: the annual migration of clouds and sleep donation.
• two of these are pretty long epics: wanderers and the fireman.
• how high we go in the dark is comprised of a series of interconnected short stories.
• and the rest are average length novels!

i’ve also posted trigger warnings here so definitely consult those too if you have any concerns about content! be warned they might spoil certain themes or plot points that come up in these books (though i tried to be as nonspecific as possible in my wording).

if you have any further questions about genres / what books might suit your interests best, i’m happy to help steer you towards some starter reads!!! happy reading y’all 💛🥳🤸‍♀️

hello! i know this quest just went live yesterday, but i wanted to go ahead and get a head start on planning an unofficial readalong - if anyone is interested! this is me guaging general interest and asking for any thoughts folks might have on a timeline. i was thinking this would start in late april and go through the end of may, but i am open to any and all suggestions! this would not interfere with any buddy reads you guys have planned / would be for the purpose of just enjoying a larger group all reading the same thing and participating in the forum! if enough people are interested, i’ll make a voting post in the coming days. so happy you are all here, my plague doctors!

In the beginning of the book, I felt like we were starting to get some exploration of how Austen would define and differentiate “sense” and “sensibility,” but I realized that at the end, while it is very clear which sister’s character is intended to be lauded, I don’t really know which is meant to represent “sense” and which “sensibility” or even what the difference is, for Austen. I would love to hear your thoughts about this!!