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bethaven · 4 months

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#22 Heartstopper

Plot: Nick and Charlie get placed together at form in school and immediately - sparks. Charlie's unsure if Nick likes him back, or even if he's non-straight. Nick on the other hand, get very confused about these new feelings. Meeting, falling in love and being out turns out to be more complicated than they could've ever imagined. But it's the love story of the century and together with supportive friends and family they can overcome anything. We also get to follow their friends and family in their own endeavours, like the relationships between Tao and Elle and Tara and Darcy as well as Isaac's ace-journey.

Years: 2022-

Seasons: 2 (season three arriving in 2024)

My story: There's so much to say here, but I'll try to keep it short. I discovered Heartstopper shortly after the first season had arrived to Netflix. It fast became one of my favourites and led to a few rewatches over the first year. But I didn't move further into the fandom just yet. When season 2 dropped I'd been longing for it all summer. I'd had a rough year with chaos at work combined with both my grandfathers passing away within two months. I'd been keeping myself distracted with travelling all summer, but then suddenly there were no distractions left. My mental health spiraled. The only thing that kept me afloat was Heartstopper. I watched all episodes everyday for about two months. I read the comics over and over. I went deep into the Osemanverse and I read books, which I normally never do. I got into tumblr. All of it kind of became my saving. And I owe it all to Alice Oseman.

Teachable moments: For me Heartstopper teaches us primarily about how love is always just love, in whichever form it comes in. Wheither it's platonic, romantic or other types of love, wheither it's the love you feel for your partner or the love you feel for friends and family - they're all valid and important.

Best character: Even though I love them all, I've always had a soft spot for Charlie. There's so many layers of him and I am really looking forward to how the rest of his journey will be portrayed on screen. He has the biggest heart and is so much stronger than he thinks.

Best episode: "Boyfriend" (S1E8). I love how this episode start at the deep end and ends on a high note. Nick's speach and their kiss in the corridor together with the beach trip just makes this perfect. A big runner up is "Truth/Dare" (S2E6), not the least for Tara and Darcy's story and growth.

Best quote: "I think there's this idea that when you're not straight you have to tell all your friends and family immediately, like you owe it to them. But you don't." (Charlie to Nick) This line has really helped me in my own journey about sexuality/attractions.

Fun fact: It'd be hard to find a fun fact that the Heartstopper fandom didn't already know (even though it might be true for all the series in this calendar). But for the not so initiated it'd be fun to know that Joe Locke, who plays Charlie, got the role through an open audition and this is his first time acting professionally. In 2024 he'll be both in a new Marvel series (which, in a parallel universe is quite funny since Charlie doesn't like Marvel) and do his Broadway debut in Sweeny Todd.

If you like this you might also like: Young Royals, Skins, Tales of the City, Skam and Atypical.

(Heartstopper is the adaptation of Alice Oseman's webcomic and books. Volume 5 was just released and volume 6 will be the last one. The webcomic is normally released three times a month, but will now be on a hiatus for about six months, until Alice have some volume 6 stuff to share. Also check out the novellas Nick and Charlie and This winter as well as Alice's novels Solitaire (where the story about Nick and Charlie started), Radio Silence, I was born for this and Loveless. She has also written and created the Netflix series.)

#heartstopper #alice oseman #charlie spring #nick nelson #osemanverse #nick x charlie #joe locke #kit connor #love #mental health #netflix #tv series #bethaven's calendar 2023

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radiostaticcc · 2 years

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Solitaire

I finished reading Solitaire, and i feel numb now. It's like, Tori was written after me i don't know, it's weird. But also i relate to Micheal a lot and now i just feel numb and a little bit sad because Tori and Micheal are together and i have no one. They have like, this deep friendship throughout the entire book and then they just kiss at the end and for some reason it makes sense, and they're in love in the way i'd want to be in love, and i don't know how to describe it. They're just, best friends, and they also kiss and hold hands, but it's not like, in a romance kind of way, but also sort of? Like, queerplatonic but not completely platonic. Or maybe it is queerplatonic and my view of romance is just messed up and i never know how to tell the difference between platonic and romantic feelings, and i think that's because i don't really see a difference, for me it's all the same and that's exactly how Tori and Micheal's relationship is and i love it so much and i don't know, i don't think i'll ever have this with anyone. And it makes me sad.

Book is an absolute banger tho, I love Tori’s and Micheal’s neurodivergent coding, and their whole dynamic in general, and i’m happy we get to know more about Tori’s personality and the way she thinks!! ALSO!! Having read Radio Silence first, i got to know how the fire happened!! Which was super cool.

I’ve heard negative stuff about Solitaire so i was a little scared i wouldn’t like it, i’m sorry i doubted you Alice ahhh. As always, they never disappoint!

Additionally, Tori being ace was super well represented, at least in my opinion! Her relation to romance and attraction is like, so mecore it’s painful.

#alice oseman #solitaire #osemanverse #heartstopper #tori spring #micheal holden #radio silence #book review #sort of #mostly just me rambling #i'm a tori and micheal kinnie now #no i'm not okay

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person4924 · 2 months

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omg so im reading solitaire (idk if youve read it erm)

its literally so good.. like its so!!! 💥💥💥💥 (idk where my thought process was going like it was totally going somewhere but i guess i forgot)

OMG YES IVE READ SOLITAIRE LIKE 80 TIMES ITS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN

have u finished it???

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charliethinks · 1 year

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Thought for the day: Which is the best book ever written? And why is it Solitaire by Alice Oseman ?

#solitaire #solitaire alice oseman #alice oseman #michael holden #tori spring #sprolden #lgbtq

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danielfeketewrites · 3 months

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DOCTOR WHO TOP 10 - 8th Doctor

I've been sharing some 8th Doctor posts, so this was inevitable....

This was probably the most difficult of these top tens so far. I knew which stories I need to include, but their order... I dunno. I will definitely have to revise at least this one in the future.

10. Human Resources

The first finale in the Lucy era is also one of the strongest Cybermen stories ever. It's just really bloody good.

9. Children of the Revolution

The Evil of the Daleks has a sequel and it's absolutely excellent. A required reading for sure. Voted the best Dalek comic strip a while ago, iirc. It surprised me when I heard that people voted for this over the excellent Fire and Brimstone from the same era. but when I finally read Children, I understood completely.

8. Solitaire

Still the best Toymaker story.

7. The Glorious Dead

This is the biggest, most epic Doctor Who story I've ever came across. And then it also finds the time to be experimental and emotional. New Who finales wish to be this comic strip.

6. Beautiful Freak

The Scherzo of the DWM comic strip. Except it doesn't really have a plot. Because it doesn't need one. Just the feels. It's just, well, beautiful.

5. Scherzo

Oh, there was a time when Scherzo would be on the top of this list. I think it's the most intimate Doctor Who story of all time and it's truly great. It's unique and I love it. With that said, there are four stories that I fell in love with a wee bit more in the years since I've first listened to Scherzo...

4. Alien Bodies

I've finished reading Alien Bodies somewhat recently for the first time (two months ago, 13. 12. 2023 to be precise) and I absolutely loved it. It's deeply creative and makes established Doctor Who mythology feel like the tip of an iceberg, with so much more to it. There's an edge to, but it just works. And it's so well written. Just an all around excellent book and an excellent Doctor Who story.

3. Oblivion

Oblivion is my favourite Doctor Who comic of all time. It also features this panel. Yeah. I don't think I can say anything about it, really. Go read the whole arc, starting with Ophidius. Trust me, it's really worth it.

2. The Chimes of Midnight

When I first heard The Chimes of Midnight, I thought: "That was it? That was what the hype was all about?" I didn't get it. But when I came back to it, listened again, I found myself falling in love with it. This might be the Big Finish story I've listened to the most and every time I do, I fall in love with it a little bit more. Edward Grove really is alive...

1. The Tomorrow Windows

Nobody understands the bond between a boy and the first EDA he ever read. (Heh, did you notice? A MEME!) This is still my favourite Doctor Who book ever. Jonathan Morris didn't just write an excellent tribute to Douglas Adams. He wrote something truly extraordinary. Every other page introduces a new idea. This book is filled with ideas. Also, memes. Is this book actually better than something like Alien Bodies? Probably not. This might just be a nostalgia for, like, five years ago when I read this book. We'll see how this list eventually changes. But I can't lie to you - I love this book. I love it so goddamn much.

#doctor who #8th doctor #eighth doctor #paul mcgann #doctor who eu #60th anniversary #top 10 #dfpost

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lyingforfun · 2 years

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I don’t see enough people talking about this, but Tori Spring is great representation for high masking autistic girls and her thoughts and experiences throughout Solitaire deeply resonated with me.

Women are extremely under-diagnosed when it comes to autism spectrum disorder and this is because they tend to have an easier time masking their traits and adapting to the expectations of others. While this can be a privilege in some ways, it often leads to many growing up without the support and understanding that they need causing them to internalize their problems resulting in other mental health issues as they get older.

Tori is at the age where she understands she is different from those around her but doesn’t know why. She grows frustrated by the fact that her peers can connect with eachother so easily where she feels unable to break that barrier. She turns this frustration into resenting those around her and deciding she hates most people. It’s easy to assume this lack on connection is simply due to her asexuality, but I would argue that while that is a part of her experience it only tells a part of the story. She doesn’t just struggle to connect she struggles to socialize in the performative way people expect a high school teen to be able to.

This inability to connect leads her to close herself off and isolate more and more from those around her. When you are constantly met with social rejection it’s easy to feel like you’re safer just keeping your distance. There are multiple times in the book where she cannot think of the appropriate way to act or right thing to say and it makes her so uncomfortable she gives up on even trying. She finds herself building more barriers making her lonelier than ever.

Lucas, Tori’s childhood best friend, is confused to find that 16 year old Tori is not how he remembers her to be at 11. She was a lot more open and friendly and willing to share her interests with others no matter how nerdy they were. As she got older and became more aware of her differences to her peers she closed herself off and doesn’t share the things about herself that make her special. It’s safer to be quiet and observe, even if it makes you feel like you don’t have a real personality at all.

Lucas has expectations of the kind of person she will be when they meet again and the stress of knowing she can’t live up to those expectations leads her to actively avoid him, despite desperately wanting to make a connection. When you can mask well enough to seem “normal” the idea that you’ll just inevitably surprise and disappoint people when they get to know you better is painful so no matter how much you’d like to make friends you end up isolating yourself more.

This is definitely not everyone’s experience with asd, but it is mine and I’m so glad to have Tori to relate to as i have never seen my experience written so perfectly.

#solitaire #alice oseman #heartstopper #tori spring #victoria spring #autism #asd #women with autism

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dumbpizzabread · 5 months

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Recommend me some of ur favourite books, movies or shows

This is the best question I have ever received!

Let's start with books

My number one absolute favourite book ever is Solitaire by Alice Oseman, The main character is Tori Spring (Charlie Springs Sisters from Heartstopper) I adore Tori as a character SO much bc I can relate to her on so many levels. There is also a Michael Holden which is also AWESOME they are both so real and the storyline is so interesting but it's not a love story

And then there is also The Wicker King by K.Ancrum it's kinda dark but not a thriller. It's about two best friends August and Jack which are really codependent. Jacks mind is fucked and he is hallucinating a bunch of weird stuff and they both try to fix it on their own. It used to be my very favourite book until I read solitaire.

The wickerking fandom is pretty much none existent and there is a lot of "hate" about the book on the Internet from the few people that know and have read the book bc its badly written or the storyline is cringe and that the characters codependency is stulid but I think that is bullshit.

Movie wise it's Harry Potter loved them when I was little and still do don't get me wrong but nowadays I get more exited about the little marauders mentionings in the movies

Top 1 fav movie is 10 things I hate about you

I just love 90s/2000s romcoms and this is the best one. Kat Stratford is just an awesome character and Heath Ledger is also starring in it. I easily watch this movie a couple times a month

Now series

Gilmore girls just bc it is very comforting for me bc I used to watch it with my mom when I was little

BBC Sherlock it's just GREAT

And Stranger Things. I didn't want to watch it for YEARS bc it was so overhyped on the Internet and I didnt want to watch another super hyped series and it ending up being the most boring shit I've ever seen

But then they started to promote season 4 and I gave in and started it and now im obsessed:)

That was a long answer...

Hope that helped:)

-Sophie☆

#Solitaire #the wicker king #harry potter #marauders era #10 things i hate about you #gilmore girls #bbc sherlock #Stranger things

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bazwillendinflames · 9 months

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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗 ;)c

Thank you! I'll try and pick my favourite from five different fandoms.

Anything It Takes To Make You Stay (Class) - I've written so many Class fics but I think this Love Simon inspired one is my favourite. This was my fluffy fic era and I miss it.

give me all you're love now (Solitaire) - I really think I got the Tori and Michael dynamic right here, in a fucked up, co-dependent, queerplatonic way that fits the book.

if i don't want anyone, then why do i feel so alone? (Loveless) - Another Alice Oseman book fic. But this was the first directly aro-centric fic I've written and it was very soul healing. Georgia Warr best girl ever!

Here I Come, Are You Ready For Me? (The Quarry) - This is my longest fic I've ever posted and I am so proud of finishing it! Oxenfree and The Quarry fit surprisingly well together and I am most proud of getting people to play Oxenfree.

To Keep Us Safe From Harm (The Hunger Games) - I have probably talked about this before but THG was my first ever fandom I got into and wrote fic for! I have come so far since then and this fic really shows that!

Okay tagging - @gleek-runner @sh5 @kindaorangey @georgiaswarr @konami-code-ao3

#asks

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skateisawesome · 7 months

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what if i told you im secretly tori spring and alice oseman just stole my journal one day

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elenajohansenreads · 1 year

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Books I Read in 2023

#9 - Solitaire, by Alice Oseman

Rating: 2/5 stars

I came to this having read all of the currently available Heartstopper in webcomic form, twice, and watched the first season of the show. It occurred to me that Oseman had written other things, I had in fact been hearing about them for years and could be reading them, so I put them all on my TBR and chose this one as a starting point because it was the first one published.

The good: I am impressed that a teenager wrote this, because it's far better than my own writing at that age, and other similar works I've read by teenage or young 20-something authors. (Yes, even though I only gave it two stars for other reasons, it's still a far more coherent, thematic, and sincere work than I expect from a writer so young.) On top of that, I'm impressed with the consistency of the narrative universe; I already know Nick and Charlie and Ben and Tori, but despite meeting them in a work written later, it all felt "real." My impressions of these characters would be different if I had read this first (except for Ben, who is a jerk no matter when and where,) but they are mostly the same people I expected them to be, more on that later.

The bad: As a mystery/thriller, it's a weak plot at best, and Tori's incredibly depressed and disengaged mode of interacting with the world doesn't do it any favors. The romantic subplot (which does exist, despite the tagline to the title) is even weaker; I'm all for two weirdos finding each other, but Tori and Michael spend the entire book trying to figure out if they're even friends or not, and then at the end they're in love? No, sorry, even in the fog of poor mental health, I'm not buying that one, I don't feel like it has a proper, believable progression, especially as Michael doesn't have a lot of development beyond "hey look he's basically a manic pixie dream boy, except we're subverting our subversion of that trope by giving him anger issues."

The not-necessarily-good-or-bad: this is a much, much darker work than Heartstopper, even when it's dealing with the same things. Charlie's issues with eating disorders and self-harm aren't the focus of this story, but when they show up they're depicted far more explicitly here than they are in his own story. Being inside Tori's head reveals her as a vastly different person than the supportive-sister side character I met her as, and I'm not saying the two of them are so far apart that they couldn't possibly be the same person, but it was still a bit of a shock.

I see in other reviews that the general opinion is "this isn't as good as her other non-Heartstopper works," so I'll keep the others on the list, but I'm glad I got this from the library because I feel no need to ever reread it.

#booklr #book review #read in 2023

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jemandtherobots · 1 year

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All 50 books I read in 2022, why I read them, and if I'd recommend them

Notes:

F = Finnish, i.e. the book was either written in Finnish or was translated into Finnish.

3 titles have been redacted bcos they're uhh self-help type books and I don't want you guys to know what I've needed help with.

Jeanne DuPrau - The City of Ember

I wanted to start the year off with an old favourite. Literally this was my fave book when I was 10 years old, and the one that got me into sci-fi.

Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games trilogy

I think I saw a tumblr analysis post about these that made me want to re-read the series (and also, I was digging through my old books anyway). I think I liked these more now than I did ten years ago.

Kate DiCamillo - Because of Winn-Dixie

Another one from the pile of Books I Used To Love Many Years Ago. This one still holds up for sure, would recommend and not just to children.

Charlotte McConaghy - Migrations

Someone I follow online (an influencer!) recommended a different book by this author, but I found this one first and figured what the hell. It is a good book. It is a well-written book. But also as I was reading through every bad thing that had ever happened to the main character I kind of wanted to be like "isn't this enough? isn't is possible to write an interesting character without giving them every kind of trauma on the planet?".

redacted, (non-fiction)

A self-help book someone recommended in some Twitter replies, that happened to be on the audiobook service I was subscribed to for a couple of months. The advice in the book was very good but it didn't stick.

Rebekah Taussig - Sitting Pretty (non-fiction)

I don't remember how I came across this (it was also on the audiobook platform) but I'm so so glad I did. I don't just recommend this, I am physically coming to your house and making you read this book.

Alice Oseman - Solitaire

Final audiobook, listened to because I watched Heartstopper and figured I should see what Alice Oseman's works are about. I recommend this, if you don't mind a million Harry Potter references, mainly because I need the plot of this book to happen in the background of Heartstopper season 2 and I want people to understand.

Noora Tuhkanen - Kuuraattori (F)

I got (back) into poetry this year after attending a poetry open mic at my local library, and I decided I should read some poetry in Finnish. This one was alright.

Pauliina Haasjoki - Planeetta (F)

See above re: poetry. This one was actually on the librarian recommendations shelf and I only saw it as I was leaving the library, but the cover caught my attention so I went back for it. Glad I did; this is my favourite Finnish poetry I've read so far. A recommendation.

Jane Austen - Persuasion

I read this one fairly often anyway, but this year it coincided with the release of the trailer for the Netflix adaptation. Now that I'm writing this I'm thinking about The Letter so hard I might have to make this my first re-read of 2023. A definite recommendation.

Emmi Itäranta - Kuunpäivän kirjeet (F)

I bought this one ages ago because I will love and support anything Emmi Itäranta writes, but then I noticed it came out in the UK and I recommended it to a friend and immediately went "oh shit I should probably read it myself" so I read it really quickly and am pleased to say I didn't have to take back the recommendation. The best book Itäranta has written so far, if you're not from Finland please look up The Moonday Letters, this is probably in my top 3 books I've read all year. (Yeah, I recommend this.)

Eila Kaustia - Aikamerkki (F)

Poetry, Finnish, I was over at my grandma's for midsummer and it was on a bookshelf. I remember nothing about it, but I must have enjoyed it.

Jonathan Safran Foer - We Are the Weather (F translation, non-fiction)

I follow people online who are in what might be called the climate circles, heard good things about this one, read it, remember very little of it.

Bethany Clift - Last One at the Party

I've long had a thing for books in the "almost everyone in the world dies" genre (god knows why), but this wasn't it. Not bad, not the worst in the genre, but… could the sole survivor of the virus not have been a more interesting person, at least?

Mary Jean Chan & Andrew McMillan (ed.) - 100 Queer Poems

I feel like the title is explanation enough for why I bought this book. What more do you need to know? It's fuckin fantastic. I keep it on my bedside table and hug it occasionally. Would recommend.

Emily M. Danforth - Plain Bad Heroines

My local library has a section of books in English, and this one was in there with a rainbow flag sticker on the spine. Not sure how I feel about it, I mostly liked it but some parts made me go "uhh what the fuck". The writing itself was really good, though. I recommend it if you don't mind Weird Shit with your lesbian hauntings.

Dave Wolverton - The Rising Force

This one's a Star Wars book. About a young Obi-Wan Kenobi. Target audience: 9-y.o. boys (see: my brother when this book was bought for him) and me.

Mary Oliver - Blue Horses

This was a gift from a dear friend, and I treasure it almost as much as I treasure our friendship (a lot). Would recommend, both reading Mary Oliver and having friends.

Sini Helminen - Hurme (F)

This was one of my NaNoWriMo prep research books. I ventured into my library's YA section for this, to find Finnish fantasy books. I find it hard to rate this, considering it's in a genre I don't tend to read.

Elina Rouhiainen - Muistojenlukija (F)

More NaNoWriMo prep reading. I liked this more than I did Hurme, and wasn't even too distracted reading about the area of Helsinki where I'm from (fuck yeah Vuosaari). But again, it's not this book's fault, but fantasy YA just isn't for me.

Erin Sterling - The Ex Hex

NaNoWriMo prep reading of a different sort, this time a witchy romance. Felt a bit meh.

Ursula K. Le Guin - The Word for World is Forest

I'm a simple man: I see a Le Guin book, I read it. Obviously I would recommend this.

Ann Aguirre - Witch Please

Back to NaNoWriMo prep reading. Here's the thing: I read some questionable books in 2022. This was the worst. You may ask me why I hated it, but only if you want to hear a very long rant.

[redacted] (non-fiction)

A Humble Bundle book.

Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre

NaNoWriMo prep reading, again, this time taking the gothic romance approach. It's nicely written, and a classic for a reason, I guess.

Ryan O'Connell - Just By Looking at Him

Actually looked at my Bookbub email for the first time in years and this was in there! I loved Ryan O'Connell's Netflix show, Special, and I loved this book. I don't love what it did to my Google Play Books recommendations because it was marked as erotica. But I do recommend this book.

Remi Carrington - Wrangled by Lilith

Another Bookbub find, this one might even have been free. I saw the words "cowboy romance" and was somewhat disappointed.

Autokoulun oppikirja (F, non-fiction)

So I went to driving school, and this was the textbook I used for the written test. I guess I'd recommend it if you were learning to drive in Finland. The "what not to do" pictures were entertaining, so bonus points for that.

Claudia Burgoa & Grahame Claire - Holiday With You

Bookbub, free, Christmas romance. One of the better romance novels I read this year.

Ellie Cahill - I Temporarily Do

Bookbub, free, fake marriage trope. Also a pretty fun read.

CP Ward - Autumn in Sycamore Park

Bookbub, free, had a fun time with it.

Ashley Poston - The Dead Romantics

Bookbub, cheap, ghost romance. I liked it enough that I think I did recommend it to someone, and certainly enough that I was horrified when I saw it in a bookstore on the "tiktok made me buy it" shelf. I'd say this is my favourite booktok book I read.

Tamsyn Muir - Gideon the Ninth

This book was first marketed to me by a friend whose taste I do not trust (see "The Flatshare" and "Red, White & Royal Blue") as "sword lesbians in space" which obviously piqued my interest. Also, people on the internet who I don't see talking about books have been talking about this series for ages. And finally, I came across it at my local library. You guys were right, this is really good, and yes I would recommend it.

Sophie Ranald - No We Can't Be Friends

Bookbub, cheap (free?). Eh.

Rebecca Crowley - Shine a Light

Bookbub, cheap (free?). A holiday romance, set not at Christmas, but at Hanukkah. Obviously I'm reading it. And unlike many of the romance novels on my list this year: I would genuinely recommend this one if you enjoy the genre.

Emily M. Danforth - The Miseducation of Cameron Post

I guess I did like Danforth's Plain Bad Heroines enough that when I saw this in the YA section of the library I took it home. Not the most exciting book I've ever read, but fine.

Ali Hazelwood - The Love Hypothesis

The first time I saw this on the "tiktok made me buy it" shelf at the bookstore, I was curious as someone whose interests include romance and academia, but who got burned by a book about those a few years back. Then I heard it was originally a Reylo fic, and I knew I had to read it. Bookbub came through for me, I paid a euro, and… well, it's not the worst book I've read all year. I wouldn't recommend it, but I did have fun with it.

Anni Nupponen - Valkoinen kaupunki (F)

Of the books in my library's tiny sci-fi section, this one seemed the most promising out of the ones I hadn't read before, and it turned out to be So Good. The world-building was amazing. Unfortunately most of you will have to take my word for it because this book has not been translated into any other languages, sorry.

Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle (F translation)

The movie adaptation was my comfort watch of 2020, and this book my comfort read of the same year. I don't remember what made me think of it, but I got it out the library once more. Lovely book, what more can I say? Also, the translation is really good - I'm annoying and picky about translations but this one worked. Would therefore recommend both the book and the translation.

Mary Oliver - Swan & A Thousand Mornings (both F translation)

Well. I read these because I adore Mary Oliver (we know this) and I needed lines from poems I liked for a poetry class assignment. I would recommend the poems but not the translations.

Tiina Tuppurainen - Sinä olet perheeni (F)

I heard the author speak at a Pride event and I was curious about this book as a queer Finn. I very much wanted to like this book. I did not.

Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James - Winging It

Another cheap Bookbub find. As someone who has spent a lot of time reading a lot of Check, Please! fanfiction, what was I supposed to do, not read the gay ice hockey romance? I'd recommend it if you would like the experience of reading Check, Please! fanfiction except with different characters, but it doesn't really have much more to offer.

[redacted], non-fiction

Another Humble Bundle book.

Shirley Jackson - The Lottery and Other Stories

I've read and loved two of Shirley Jackson's novels, and I figured I would love her short stories just as much. I almost did. I think I just didn't "get" some of the stories which is really a me problem.

Beth O'Leary - The Flatshare

A pal recommended this, and I read the Finnish translation a couple of years ago, and I read it again because it came up for like 1€ on Bookbub and I remembered thinking it was okay. It's a fun concept, but a fun concept does not a brilliant book make. My 2020 self was right: it was okay.

Connie Willis - Doomsday Book

I bought this in like, 2015 or 2016, when my method for selecting a book was "as long as it's sci-fi written by a woman" (which is something I still do in bookstores). It's set around Christmas, so I have a tradition of reading it around then, going so far as to buy the ebook copy because my physical copy is with my brother. I would absolutely recommend this book, but not without content warnings.

Casey McQuiston - Red, White & Royal Blue

A friend (see above re: The Flatshare) actually recommended this to me back when it came out, so I was curious about it, and another friend read it and said they hated it. This second friend lent it to me with the words "I'd tell you to enjoy, but I don't think we can be friends if you do" and I'm happy to say I wouldn't recommend this book. It's a fun read, but it isn't good.

#phew this accidentally posted early ANYWAY #here enjoy this post where i justify my reading choices instead of reviewing them properly

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