MY FAVORITEST BOOKS OF ALL TIME (AND WHY YOU SHOULD ALSO READ THEM!)

I haven't reread this one in awhile, but damn did it hit hard. I first read this in middle school and it heavily influenced my politics and who I am as a person, and I do believe it was the reason I got out of the alt right pipeline. This autobiography covers the life of Malcolm X to an insanely personal degree, and the transparency of his past and his beliefs really changed my view on the world. I don't even know how to describe it, honestly for how much I yap and infodump about things I suck at giving honest reviews, but it's a must read for every person on earth.

Anne Rice my absolute beloved... my grandpa almost didn't let me buy the book because the reviews on the back called it 'erotic' but if you use your reputation as a good christian straight cis girl who prays everyday you can get pretty far in the world... or in a Barnes & Noble. I first read this one on the internet archive over an achingly slow pace as I was in school at the time, but was in fact able to finish it! I really just wanted a physical copy. The movie for Interview With The Vampire along with Queen of the Damned are very good, and I want to read the rest of the Vampire Chronicles at some point (ESPECIALLY THE VAMPIRE ARMAND. HE'S MY FAVORITE CHARACTER. LOVE HIM SO MUCH.) The show is also very good but this page is about books, not movies and tv. Anyways, onto an actual review. The story is so insanely well written. If you like gay vampires and pretentious poetry, you'll love this book. Anne Rice does such a good job at describing everything that happens, and I cannot recall a moment where I was bored while reading it. The story keeps a great pace and you can finish it in two days.

I love Shakespeare so much... also Hamlet is a bitch ass motherfucker, he pissed on my wife. That's right, he took out his murderous little dick and pissed all over her (my wife in this context being Rosencrantz). Funny story, I actually saw the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern play before reading Hamlet. We were on a theatre trip for my school and got to see it for free, and holy fuck... I tell you I was catatonic for a solid 20 minutes afterwards. The only thing that snapped me out of my existential trance was the bus driver pulling into the Taco Bell parking lot. Anyways... Hamlet is an incredible classic, as are most Shakespeare works. If you read it you'll recognize many of the themes in it, as it's an incredibly influential story. There's not a lot I can say that hasn't already been said. Rocks fall, everyone dies, that's not a spoiler because all Shakespeare works end that way. Highly reccomend it if you want to realize you relate to Hamlet a little too well. Getting "Good night, sweet prince" tattooed on my forehead.

The version I'm talking about specifically here was included in the book 'Translations' by Paul Auster. My mom has always been big into literature and writing so many of the books I have or read come from her, which means there's many annotations in them, which I absolutely love. I'm on the side of 'annotating books is good' and I write notes right alongside my mothers, as it's like communicating to her past self in a way. Anyways, Joseph Joubert was associated with Napoleon in some way.. I think? I read his wikipedia like a year ago okay I don't remember. His writings are insanely beautiful, though. I have so many passages highlighted. The way he finds beauty in life and describes the mundane really resonates with me. One of my favorite quotes is from 1785, where he wrote "I imitate the dove, and often I throw a blade of grass to the drowning ant". I could spend years unpacking this. When I rennovate this site to actually look like what it looks like in my mind (I HAVE TO LEARN CSS AUUUGH) I'm putting quotes from this man all over it. It's beautiful. If Malcolm X radicalized me, Joseph Joubert pacified me. I tell you I genuinely considered becoming a monk after reading this. It sounds really stupid but if I ever have a particularly bad day, or feel the world is sucking again, I read this book and I find that peace again. It's a lesson more people could learn, finding good even in the hectic times.

At the moment of writing this (January 12 2024), I both started and finished reading this story just last night. I tell you, I cried more times then than I have in the past 3 years. Does this even count as a book? Whatever. It's online, so please go and read it. It's a story about sentient satellites and space probes, which hits way too close to home as someone in love with technology. Yeah I frequent the Objectum tab on Tumblr... keep scrolling. You'll understand if you read it, but the themes of loneliness and 'we only have eachother' is so prevelant I'm getting tears in my eyes just thinking about it again. The fear, the realizations, the acceptance... I think the stages of grief have something to do with it. Jon Bois is an insanely talented writer and I desperately need to check out their other works (everyone who has Calvin & Hobbes profile pictures are cool as fuck). The way they set up the text on each page is how I've always wanted to format my writing if I ever get around to making the webstories I have ideas for. You can finish it in under 5 hours, and I highly reccomend setting aside some time to read it all the way through with no breaks (I finished it in about 4 hours and that was with breaks, so it really isn't long at all). Please read this story. On my hands and knees begging you, internet stranger.