school makes you hate things that you used to enjoy. stop trying to grade life, you useless cretins. 

world literacy day

apparently world literacy day is sept 8, so even though im late, im gonna pick a few books to celebrate it.

quick story - because i read a lot, once i borrowed a whole bunch of books from the library only to realise that i've read most of them. so now i try to keep a list of books i've read so i don't make the same mistake. let me tell you there's nothing more disappointing than anticipating a good read and finding out that there's nothing to enjoy. i do reread my favourite ones a lot though.

book recs:

1. the lies of locke lamora, scott lynch. and the sequel red seas under red skies. and there's a third one due sometime later.

wow this book is gold. i enjoyed basically every second of this, and thinking about it now just makes me ridiculously happy. at no point did i pause and think "what a terrible choice incongruent with your previous choices" or "because you're incapable of complex emotions apparently". i don't feel "iffy" about any part of the book(s). please read them. 

locke lamora is a fucking bastard but it's good to know that he has a little bit of morals i guess. (i'd prefer a totally amoral protagonist but i guess that doesn't fly well with censors and editors) locke lamora is wonderful and i wouldn't read it out in public because i'd end up laughing to myself. probably get institutionalised to boot.

2. warm bodies, isaac marion

everyone's heard about the stupid movie but no one seems very inclined to read the book. i read the book after watching half of a bootleg version of the movie at the hospital waiting for something or another. and let me tell you. wow. 

the movie's fine, but nothing spectacular. good cinematography. good actors. (pretty hot actually) but the book is way better. i advise you to watch a bit of the movie before reading the book because it fleshes out the narrator (and makes him a lot hotter). the first half of the movie sticks really close to the book and i appreciate that, but the second half diverges so much that i think the first half was just making up for the second half's deficiency. 

just read the book okay it's ten million times more alluring. good stuff. 

3. ready player one, ernest cline

i think there was some hype about this book (or a lot, maybe) but it's not as well known as certain other books (cough cough) and i feel it really SHOULD be more well known. it's really intriguing. the research is wow. the atmosphere wow. it doesn't really go the traditional tech-obsessed dystopian future route, or the underprivileged but clever protagonist hacker route. 

i felt a bit lost sometimes but i think that's because i am too '97 to properly appreciate the references. i have heard a lot of good things about the references in this book. a lot. please read this.

4. horns, joe hill

this book is actually getting a movie this year, starring daniel radcliffe. i don't really have high hopes. i am pretty much expecting good entertainment but little else. i'll watch it though, because this book is just that good. joe hill did endorse dan's portrayal of the protagonist, so ...eh, we'll see.

little nugget: joe hill is the pseudonym of stephen king's SON. i found this after devouring horns and desperately searching for more of his works. wowee. this book. wowee. 

starts off a little dark. confusing (because the narrator is confused). and funny. then it drives off the road without you noticing and suddenly it's not fun and games and nowhere near kansas. this book is intense!! i love it. it's about the "devil" story like how maleficent is about the "sleeping beauty" story. except like a whole lot less heartwarming and more realistically charming. i think charming is a little too bright and sunshiny to properly describe the feel of this book, but i guess it'll do. 

5. battle royale, takami koushun

this is classic, you can't go without reading it. the better, grittier, stripped down, hardcore version of hunger games (which is two million percent overhyped because it's really only the first book that's any good. i gave it 3 on my booklist for entertainment value. don't even read the second and third books). 

battle royale is not adventure-style but more survival-style. the only way it can get more hardcore is going the sexual depravity route a la murakami ryu. but it's about kids so i guess that might not fly. especially since it's a kind of old book back when mainstream media didn't celebrate artistic sex and gore.

watch the movie too. it's also really old. not that classic, but it really cements the setting of the book. 

6. the girl next door, jack ketchum

very gory, really triggering (abuse). very emotional. this book made me feel so sick that i finished it in a single afternoon. it's like... it's like the whole 9/11 thing, it's horrific and terrible and you wish it never happened but you have to know all about it.

you just need to read this, it's significant. it helps you understand a lot about people. 

7. the nightrunner series, lynn flewelling

there are six books: luck in the shadows, stalking darkness, traitor's moon, shadow's return, the white road, casket of souls. bonus short: glimpses (where they have a bit of sex, if i remember)

basically the two protagonists are really cool. also really gay. but there's nothing in the books except like maybe a chaste kiss. kind of disappointing for me, because i was hoping for a whole lot more, but glimpses did the job. anyway, there's fantastic worldbuilding and chararcterisation. feels a bit like fanfiction precisely BECAUSE of how much thought and consideration had been put into it. flewelling loves this series you can feel it. 

every book is good. fantastic portrayal. emotional connection. everything. just read it. adventure-style.

8. codex alera series, jim butcher

jim butcher also wrote the dresden files. i've read fourteen books of the dresden files but it just doesn't have the same kick as codex alera. dresden files are entertaining and a good adventure but it feels mediocre and very typically adult novel. (i don't think highly of most adult novel because it's mainly woman with mysterious past! dark handsome cop also with mysterious past! someone dies...what now?? watch sexy cop and sexy girlfriend to find out! if you've read one you've read them all. not that all adult novels are trash. just a lot of them. probably because it's supposed to appeal to boring peole with ingrained gender stereotypes and an inability to think outside the binary) 

codex alera's protagonist is a kid, and we watch him grow up. the premise sounds very typical adventure-style for boys, but the book explores it pretty deeply. it's actually pretty complex and has a bit (a lot) of political manoeuvring. great worldbuilding. i'm afraid that if i day any more i'd spoil the series, but trust me. you'll like this one.

8. some psychology and non-fiction books, for variety

the social animal, david brooks

the wisdom of psychopaths, kevin dutton

the psychopath test, jon ronson (also the men who stare at goats, lost at sea)

spy the lie, philip houston, michael floyd, susan carnicero

blink, malcolm gladwell

the man who mistook his wife for a hat, oliver sacks

master of deception, michele slatella

kingpin, kevin poulson

dubiously..... confessions of a psychopath, m. e. thomas

it's probably true i guess? you can see how she exhibits psychopathic behaviour traits while talking about them. a good study.