This sounds really interesting.

Book recs thread! by Oculus on 2025-04-20 12:07:37 UTC Reply

Hi, everyone! I have no particular reason for starting this thread beyond "could be fun," but I've wanted to do something of the kind for a while. Basically, I only have a handful of Discord servers I'm active in, and one of them is a public book club with a few thousand members. I'm good friends with someone there, and it's generally good company, but sometimes rec requests and such can slip through the gaps of several discussions all happening at once. So basically, I declare this a Book Rec Thread - I'm taking any and all book recommendations from anyone who wants to share their favorite reads (I mostly read horror, fantasy and literary fiction, but I'll try anything if the premise is fun), and I want to give a few recs of my own, on the condition that you tell me what genre and/or vibe you're looking for. I have a few titles up my sleeve that I think some Boarders could enjoy a lot, so if you want to give or take book recommendations, please hop into this thread so we can discuss :)

-Oculus

I'll take some recs. by Linstar on 2025-04-20 18:35:31 UTC Reply

Dunno about any offers of my own, but I've been reading a lot of Brandon Sanderson lately and enjoying that.

--Ls

Here they are! by Oculus on 2025-04-24 01:12:17 UTC Edited Reply

Sorry about the late reply, life happened lately.

So!

Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede: this one has been rec'd to me by our fellow PPCer eatpraylove, and it's been on every single book rec list I've made since then. It's a very fun and very funny parody of fairytales, about a headstrong princess who goes to live with dragons.

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro: this one is a mix of literary fiction, magical realism, and fantasy if you squint. It's very tender, melancholy and beautifully written.

Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moira Fowley-Doyle: the one YA I will always recommend to anyone, about teens deciding to cast a spell that comes with huge consequences. It's beautiful magical realism, with complex characters and very interesting dynamics.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng: the book that broke me in the best way.

(Also, this is a very hesitant rec, since I don't know if anyone on the Board is into this kind of story - I've been reading the 2011 Boom! Studios Hellraiser comics lately, and they're really, really good. The heroine is absolutely wonderful, the character dynamics are insane, and the art is just gorgeous. Plus, they were written by Clive Barker himself, so you know the characters are in better hands than they were in the movie series past the first two movies. Highly recommended if you like the original Hellraiser.)

So I made a TV Tropes article for this book I read when I was in high school by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2025-04-20 17:30:31 UTC Reply

Red Lotus is a piece of feminist historical fiction set in 20th-century China, concerning women defying and escaping abusive people in order to find happiness. The story also avoids a lot of common flaws in feminist fiction. Saying anything more would be a huge spoiler 😰. Do note that the book is quite dark, it has frank depictions of abuse, rape, violence and murder.

This sounds really interesting. by Oculus on 2025-04-24 01:05:55 UTC Reply

To my TBR list it goes! Thank you for the rec. :)