49 Comments

How fun to see my recommendation mentioned! I'll be eager to hear what you think if/when you get to Oryx and Crake. That may be a series I reread, actually!

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I'm excited for it!! thanks for the rec 👻

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Lovely post!!! I love getting book recs from different places. In Bookstack, you got people writing long and personal book reviews, which I love reading and writing. It convinces you to read that book on a personal/ introspective level. But in instagram or Goodreads, it’s more like pointing out the major moments of the book/ key info about the book if you don’t want too many spoilers. Oh by the way, is it just me who sometimes read one-star review of my favourite book?

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one star reviews of my favorite books is an upcoming topic at Subverse just you wait.....!!!!😂 I mostly use Goodreads just to vet something I've already heard of, even though I don't always trust those crazies

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Ooh looking forward to it!! I should write a post about it sometime!!

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Omg Natalie. I just read your comment about reading one stat reviews of your favorite books. 🫣😅 I’ve never done that but I have a feeling I would not like it

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I don’t like it as well!! I guess I do it to just torture myself a little bit and sometimes it’s good to hear why people think it’s bad!!

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Wow! Such a great post - and then I see you’re also in Southern California and you mentioned Laguna Beach books! WAVES Hi 👋🏻 My favorite local indie is Arvida Books in Tustin. I highly recommend a visit if you haven’t been. I read mostly nonfiction and share all the latest and greatest titles. No heavy stuff. Just the lighter side of nonfiction.

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love to meet more locals on here!! I have not even heard of Arvida so thank you for that recommendation I will have to go!

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Thanks for yet another fun, deep-dive post! So many fine ideas in here, both for book rec sources and adds to TBR. (Paul Auster, for one.) Amazed by how wide a net you cast and the breadth of what you tackle reading-wise. Also your sense of humor is deeply appreciated in these times.

Meanwhile, since no good deed goes unpunished, I will pile on with one more Rev: Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe (“one of the earliest and most vivid female narrators in the history of the English novel”; published in 1722–considered by many to be the very first English novel).

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I'm just going to have a Brian Jordan stack on my bookshelf at this point...

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I’m so happy you’ll be reading Nin!!! She was such a huge part of my life in my youth. Authors helped raise me and I looked to them for guidance on how to be a human out in the world. Her diaries are my favorite. I will say she was a lot more adventurous in some areas of her life than I was 😮‍💨😂

You and Petya are my fav book newsletters and where I get the majority of my recs. Every so often I’ll get a rec from New York mag and also fellow writers here that mention a book they love and if it sounds interesting, I add it to my list.

Can’t wait to work my way through this list of awesome recs!!! 💘

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Fifth Season! I did that trilogy on audiobook and now have a rule against new worlds on audio bc you miss a lot when you can’t see the names—BUT that’s my experience, and I think you’ll like. Dark, dystopian, pointed with full characters. I love the rest of this though. We might all do these little digs to our bigger lists subconsciously with reading or watching reviews, but I like that you wrote it out so you/we the readers can take the time to appreciate :)

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I am about 30% in to Fifth Season and I am really loving it - I think the audio would have been way too much to keep track of.

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Thank you for the recommendations. I’m just now getting back into reading translated works and classics. Can’t go wrong with having more inspiration. 😊

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Its so great to have others to support you in that journey and talk about books with!

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💯

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I fear I am right there with you on the substack subscriptions...at least over 120 last I checked (and now I avoid). I get most of my recommendations from all these places as well along with my fave booksta folks + Tembe's extracurricular substack. I hope you read Enter Ghost this year!

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it is so bad... i want to support everyone so dearly! Tembe's is great as well!! I could have listed about ten more writers in the substack section for sure

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Thanks for the shoutout, my friend! So many great books here! I can't wait to hear your thoughts about Possession. I hope you enjoy it! Would you be up for a Solvej Balle joint read/read-along or something later this year?

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yes I would!!!! when are you thinking? I might want to tackle it soon-ish if you're up for it

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Great! April, maybe? May? What would work for you? I'll DM you.

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Thank you for this - off to check out some of the links you've shared for more book recs.

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Beyonnnnnd honored to be included here! and I love your other recs. I can't wait to check out some of those book lists you shared! Someday, I'll figure out how to read contemporary lit with as much love as I read the classics. This is my dream!

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we love you for who you are, haley!!!!! 😂🖤

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This was such a great newsletter! I had never considered keeping track of where I hear about things, but now I definitely plan to devote a page in my planner to it.

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there were a few books that I just needed to give credit for and it spiraled, but I think its fun to keep track of moving forward

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Brilliant! I know of many of these people/places but there are some I’m unfamiliar with and excited to look into!

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i hope you find some mroe good inspiration 👻

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Thank you so much for including me here, Natalie!! No surprise that we have many of the same recommendation sources but you also introduced me to some new ones so thank you!

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great readers think alike 🖤

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Love the cats. What do they read?

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they read my face for signs that its feeding time

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Sara is one of my fav sources for book recs too! And I always keep an eye on award lists, Aspen Words is my favorite. They always have some unknown to me titles that end up being great! And of course, being a part of the book community recs somehow end up on my TBR through a very passive osmosis of sorts. I never have to work hard to totally overload my TBR!

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passive osmosis is the perfect way to describe it!

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