exquisite corpse by poppy z brite and child of god by cormac mccarthy

I need some short book recommendations. Any genre. Bonus points if its diverse or written by a POC ^^

exquisite corpse by poppy z brite and child of god by cormac mccarthy

I was thinking about this today, cause it /really/ pisses me off. I find it insane how certain books/authors will literally use literally the most ridiculous workaround to portray raw, no condom, no nothing, sex in the main plotline

My worst example for this is love hypothesis, and before trashing the sex scene, I have to say i actually liked this book. So Adam and olive are making out and getting in the mood, AND THEY GET TO THAT PART WHERE HE'S LIKE, WAIT, I DON'T HAVE A CONDOM and instead of literally doing anything else olive turns around and tells him, SHE IS ON BIRTH CONTROL????? mind you, Olive is self proclaimed demisexual, and for a while outside of a relationship, an academic working for quote unquote inhumane hours, SHE DOES NOT HAVE AN ACTIVE SEX LIFE. Olive also doesn't have any forms of pcos or any other complications, her randomly being on birth control, WHEN IT IS NEVER MENTIONED BEFORE IN THE BOOK, is insane to me, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S ONLY THERE SO ADAM DOESN'T HAVE TO WEAR A CONDOM Edit: Bc my point for this came off wrong, I'm editing to say ik birth control has many uses, my main issue was that it felt as just an excuse for said unprotected sex to happen, which is the trope in intimacy scenes that I'm complaining about. The fact that there's no other basis for it and she just blurted it out was what irked me, not the fact that she might, hypothetically, take it. I have to mention here that's not the only just thrown there characteristic that I didn't enjoy in the book, as an aroace person I disliked how her demisexualness was explored and also just blurted it out, in the first few chapters, but that's a whole different matter. I just dont think it was nuanced or ernest

And it got me thinking, just how many romance books/eroticas pull strings like these to portray this fantasy Edit: I'm not shitting on ppl enjoying this trope, I mention later on I've had my run with it as well, just from the broad selection of spicy books I have encountered, I think its over glorified and way too common. To compare, just as I expect a book with bdsm elements to do it in a safe, consensual, not necessarily educational but good way, from a similar pov I find it frustrating that unprotected sex is often shown as more 'sexy' and has no reprecautions whatsoever, not maybe even a little mention. My main issue is sexual health, not conception

I think this is annoying especially in /way/ too much about having to wear one and the measures of protection from pregnancy fall only on the woman (my girls birth control isn't always effective). And that aside why are we glorifying std spreading? I can understand a scene where after a while they don't have one at hand and they use it as a "I need this so bad do whatever" but this is totally different

I'm not gonna say that books have to be a hundred percent textbook accurate cause some of these are just for fun too, but it's getting to a /point/ yk. Idk what's your opinion on this, do we like the rawdogging?

Hi all! After buying several books that seem to share themes I thought, why not jump on the bandwagon and create a personal curriculum for 2026? Then I thought, maybe someone else out there also has similar tastes/interests and would like to read along?

If anyone is interested maybe we create a "book club" post in the forum for each book to discuss or any other way to discuss each book with each other. Not sure the best way to go about it - but if there is interest we could figure something out. I'll leave the curriculum below and if you interested at all lets chat :)

I'd also just appreciate any thoughts of feedback! Thanks!

GLOBAL EMPIRE & THE COLONIZED WORLD, THROUGH LITERATURE 1880–1930

This year-long seminar examines lived experiences of empire during the late 19th and early 20th centuries through literature written by authors from colonized or marginalized communities. Rather than relying solely on state archives, military records, or histories written from imperial perspectives, we turn to fiction and memoir as primary sources of truth, memory, and resistance.

Literature allows us to access emotional, cultural, and political worlds that colonizing powers attempted to suppress. Through narrative voice, symbolism, and storytelling traditions, these texts become sites of historical memory—preserving ways of life, forms of knowledge, and critiques of empire that official documents intentionally erased.

We move in a global arc: the Americas → Africa → the Pacific → Asia → Eurasia → South Asia. This structure highlights how empire operated differently across regions while revealing shared patterns of domination, resilience, and cultural survival.

Texts:

1. January–February — Birds Without a Nest - Clorinda Matto de Turner • Colonial hierarchies after Spanish rule • Race, gender, “internal empire”

March — Noli Me Tángere - Jose Rizal • Spanish colonial bureaucracy & clerical domination • Reform movements vs. revolutionary impulses

April — Cogewea, The Half-Blood - Mourning Dove • Reservation identity under settler colonialism • Mixed-race politics and land dispossession

May — Hawaii’s Story - Queen Lili'uokalani • Annexation, monarchy, sovereignty • Indigenous diplomacy vs. imperial power

June–July — Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe • Missionary incursion, cultural fracture • Masculine authority and communal structures

August–September — The Land (Toji) - Pak Kyongni • Agrarian life under rising Japanese imperialism • Gendered labor, class tension, slow colonization

October — Ali and Nino - Kurban Said • Multiethnic coexistence in imperial borderlands • Nationalism & empire’s collapse

November–December — Coolie - Mulk Raj Anand • Economic imperialism & labor exploitation • Comparative indenture systems

By the end of 2026, I want to be able to:

• Trace how empire reshaped land, labor, gender, and culture in Peru, the Philippines, the U.S., Hawai‘i, Nigeria, Korea, the Caucasus, and India. • Compare settler colonialism, economic imperialism, and military annexation. • Identify shared global patterns of domination, assimilation, and cultural suppression. • Recognize Indigenous and colonized writers’ strategies for resistance, survival, and political critique. • Analyze literature as historical memory that preserves voices empire attempted to erase