Hi Everybody!! I'm AcidicChaos and I answer to any versions/variations of it!

I don't think I have the words to explain how ridiculously excited I am to do this quest with all of you!!

About The Quest A lot of these books feel like a fever dream on the first pass and it's not until your second time through that you may see the full picture and benefits, however for this badge you only need to read the books once! So, to try and help make that first pass through as fruitful as possible, I realized that these books thrive on discussion, and I wholeheartedly encourage it in the forums!!

Please keep in mind: there is no right way to read or interpret these books. All interpretations are valid, and discussions should stay respectful.

Monthly Buddy Reading Matching Because these books are so much more rewarding when we get to talk through them, but not every book will suit everyone's tastes, instead of quest-wide readalongs I'll be organizing a monthly buddy read matching to help facilitate readalongs and buddy reads at least until the buddy reads planning features roll out for Pagebound Plans. You can find more information on the monthly buddy read matching 🔗Here.

Quest Recommendations I'm always open to recommendations, but I do have a fairly strict set of criteria for inclusion. Out of respect for other quest makers with overlapping interests, I'm keeping the full criteria close to my chest for now until those other quests drops - but I promise I take every recommendation seriously. Because of this strict criteria I may be a bit slower to adding new recommendations to the quest than other quest makers, so please have patience with me. To make sure I don't miss your recommendation, please post your recommendations 🔗Here.

Where To Start?? If you want to ease in, short story collections are a great entry point!! You get a feel for the mode without committing to a full novel (please check content warnings before diving in, some of these are dark). Below you'll find 🔗links to some great starting places on this list: Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges The Milk Bowl of Feathers: Essential Surrealist Writings by Mary Ann Caws The Houseguest and Other Stories by Amparo Davila The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado Today I Wrote Nothing: The Selected Writings of Daniil Kharms by Daniil Kharms

If you prefer a singular story, but on the shorter side so it's not as big of a commitment, some of these short novels under 200 pages could be a great place to jump in! Pig Wife by Abbey Luck Note: Don't mind the page count on PB, it's incorrect at the time of posting this, the book is around 540 pages, but it's a graphic novel so it will fly by plus it has some gorgeous surrealist artwork! The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz Lobster by Guillaume Lecasble Froth on the Daydream by Boris Vian Temporary by Hilary Leichter Nadja by Andre Breton The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon Kangaroo Notebook by Kobo Abe The Passion According to G.H. by Clarice Lispector Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

And, of course, there's a reason the word Kafkaesque exists! If you haven't read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, that's always a perfect place to start!

A Little About Me & This Quest I've been drawn to surreal and absurd literature since I was a teenager starting with The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka! I found it after watching a documentary about the books the Nazis burned, and figured if they wanted to burn it, I needed to read it. This kickstarted my love for books that feel like a fever dream, dense with metaphor and symbolism, that no matter how strange or silly they get are ultimately revealing a (often dark) truth about raw humanity and the world we live in. That thread doesn't belong to any one genre and this quest has been such a labor of love tracing is across many different genres!

I can't wait to hear all of your theories and interpretations in the forums!!!!!

AcidicChaos

I’ve been a bit more slow with reading recently, and haven’t really been in the mood to pick up a book, nor go to the store to buy new books.

I have only just recently came out of a year long book slump last month, and since then I have been so worried about going back into another slump. A full year without picking up a single book, it was brutal.

I was thinking of rereading my favourite series, but the problem is that I cannot reread books. I love the book with my whole heart, but I’m not interested in reading it again when I already know how it would play out.

Does anyone have tips on what they do when they’re starting to go into a slump?

I am participating in the reading challenge set up by the Reading Glasses podcast, and one of the prompts this year is "Give an author a second chance". The idea is to not immediately write an author off if you did not like one of their books, but to try a different book by them, and maybe discover you like that author after all! So I was wondering: have any of you done this successfully :)? Which author did you try this for, and what were the books that made you think you didn't like the author vs. the ones that made you change your mind?

I am still looking for a book to complete this challenge myself. I am thinking I might be willing to give Sally Rooney another try. I didn't particularly like Normal People, the characters didn't grab me and I do not like the miscommunication trope. Did any of you dislike Normal People but love one of her other books?

Hello everyone! I’m working on a list inspired by my current read (the Iron Widow follow-up) of morally grey female characters. I already have Gone Girl, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, Gideon the Ninth, Faebound, and the Poppy War. As per usual, as soon as I tried to brainstorm books that fit this category I forgot every book I’ve ever read.

Please make your cases for other female characters that fit the bill! Think characters who are motivated at least partly selfishly to help to save the world OR who will stop at nothing (even harming others) to achieve their (mostly) altruistic ends.

I’m wondering if Katniss fits this list and would love to hear thoughts!

Bonus points for characters from marginalized groups (especially those not yet represented on the list). As you can see, I definitely began from an already diverse group, but don’t want the remainder of the list to be white and cishet.

Edit: here is the link for the list!