Bookish things I wish were a reality:
* reading slumps to not be a thing
* not to have to wait for the next book in a series to appear
* everyone to be able to find their most comfortable reading position
* time to stop while I’m reading
* erase my memory and experience my favourite books for the first time again
* be able to visit book worlds and meet the characters that I love so much
* have all the money for books
* NO COVER CHANGES MID SERIES
There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag-and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or a movement. Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty-and vise versa. Don’t read a book out of its right time for you.
A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.
I will never cease to be amazed by books. Seriously. Just think about it: thousands of people read the same book but in each one’s mind the characters look different and the setting changes and we’re all reading the same thing but it’s so unique to each of us. That is insanely cool.
Every time I reread the Hunger Games trilogy I become more furious about the movie representation.
These books were about an indigenous woman (with a brain injury in book 3) living in poverty overthrowing a corrupt white government.
She was demisexual, had stomach hair, was not even remotely romantically driven (and canonically didn’t even find romance until after she had finished a revolution.)
And Peeta was disabled and physically abused as a child and they both suffered from mental health problems and the parallel between the Capitol and the ruling rich was so very transparent.
And I’m seeing fun coloured makeup in stores labeled “Capitol colours from the Hunger Games”!
These books were about the revolution of the most oppressed taking over the extravagance and elitism and decadence of the ruling class while citizens starved.
These books were a parallel to our current social dynamics, they were a call to arms. They were a battle cry for the impeding ruin of the rich white ruling class.
And the movies portrayed them as a fantasy, a romance story, a cute little tale. When the real story in the books was one of strength and upheaval and shifting paradigms and revolutions.
And like…… the death of a young Black child sparked the rebellion.
When Katniss thinks about running away in the second book it is the memory of Rue that makes her decide to stay and “cause all kinds of trouble.”
That is an indigenous woman deciding that the death of a Black child is so horrific and unacceptable that she needs to start an entire uprising about it. That is WOC solidarity.
Then again, when Katniss is talking with Peeta about not leaving he literally, canonically and verbally SAYS it’s because of Rue.
The movies did not lend enough weight to the injustice and violence that Black women face; they didn’t waste any time in deciding the rebellion came from their White Katniss’s determination to overthrow the Capitol.
The movies purposely and aggressively erased all of the racial oppression and power and dynamics that were so apparent in the books.
They made Katniss white, they made Gale white, they erased Peeta’s amputation, they seriously diminished the PTSD both of them faced (which was actually one of the more accuract accounts of PTSD I had ever read in the books), they drastically lessened the weight and importance of Rue’s death.
Anyway, fuck the movies. The books are miraculous. Right down to the respect of survival sex workers. Right down to the power imbalances of society being set in the hands of a violent old white man who has surgery to appear younger.
The author said these books was based on her interpretation of kids’ experiences in war torn Vietnam and Iraq. None of these kids were supposed to be white.
Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. And then there are books like An Imperial Affliction, which you can’t tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like betrayal.
i’m new here and need some book blogs to follow! if you post reviews, recommendations, or literally anything related to books i will follow you!!! also feel free to message me i love talking about anything book related and need some friends :)
“Why do you read books?”
“Reading books to me is like watching a movie to you. It’s for entertainment, but it also makes me happy.”
“That’s wrong. You should read to learn things.”
And that’s the story of how I never talked to that boy again.
Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn’t ask ourselves what it says but what it means…
keepwarmread
novel-goddess
I hope you’re all having a beautiful morning/day/night! I’ll be spending the day catching up on some work, hanging with some pals, drinking tea, and listening to the 1975′s new album nonstop. I’ve also been carrying this tiny little journal around with me; its nice to have a little place to jot down any thoughts/mantras or doodle. I used to be so anal about sticking to one journal at a time, but tbh there’s nothing wrong with having more than one for all of your thoughts! this little guy comes in handy when I don’t feel like journaling an entire page.
Now Playing:
How To Draw / Petrichor- The 1975
Agnes- Glass Animals
