#bookclub discussion

[hjarta]

being a sleepy girl who loves to read is one of life’s greatest challenges

#taking notes on our wives under the sea so i can lead the discussion at the bookclub #and i'm already falling asleep. it's only 10pm

[bubbasbubblebutt]

This was for April fools originally but ya know what fuck it they're friends too

#they have very serious discussions about psychology #and theyre also in a bookclub #my art #art #dbd #dead by daylight #resident evil #re wesker #albert wesker dbd #albert wesker resident evil #albert wesker #wesker #twilight sparkle #twilight mlp #mlp #my little pony #my little pony friendship is magic

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Love in the Big City: Part Two

Once again I find myself without an original essay already floating in my head, so shout out to @bengiyo for the discussion questions. They are a life saver! 

I find the question about I maintain effective distance from a narrator when the story gets heavy, but I am not sure that that is something I know how to do. In my day to day life I often feel cut off from emotions. I process my emotions through media, where putting myself in the experiences and feelings of the characters can be used like armor as I turn to face my own. I fail time and time again to maintain effective distance from my characters, because my characters are how I maintain effective distance from myself. I suspect Mr. Young and I have that in common. 

I’m glad for these essays because last week’s made me really have to think about Young, what he was like, why he was like that, how his friendship with Jaehee broke down when Young wasn’t able to be serious. Because I feel like Part Two is proof for me that my initial read was correct. But just like in Part One, where Young mentions his own problems almost off-handedly, his suicidality being a single sentence sandwiched somewhere in a paragraph. Here too, Young is rather distanced himself when he recounts his traumas. 

He does not linger on the fact he spent his summer in a psychiatrist facility because his mother saw him kiss a boy. He merely bluntly gives the details, but doesn’t really mention how he felt about it. At least not until closer to the end of Part Two. His boyfriend is the same, in some regards. Beyond the dickmatization of our narrator, I think the initial draw for Young was that there was another gay with mommy issues who was willing to talk about them. I think sadness speaks to sadness and that can call people to one another. The failing here is in the difference in their courage. 

Young has suppressed his sexuality as much as he could in places where he knew it might get him hurt (the military as an example). But even after suffering what he did in that psych facility, he left it with the knowledge that his mother was the one who was sick, not him. Young’s boyfriend, however, grew up in a different generation. Ben’s right, in BL we usually root for reciprocal couples to get together, and here we are watching a relationship fail. But I am not rooting for these two to be together, because that relationship was not balanced in what it gave and what it took. Young and his boyfriend stood on different ground from the beginning, both in what they wanted out of it and in how they navigate the world. 

I am not someone who thinks everyone needs to be out of the closet, I think it is quite rare that we get a closeted and out couple where their need to hide their relationship does not impact their relationship (shout out to Cooking Crush yet again for defeating that trope!) Young does not seem like the kind of person used to be looked at and he’s in a younger generation. He isn’t closeted, and does not at least outwardly appear to fall victim to internalized homophobia, he wants to hold his boyfriend’s hand in public, he does not give a shit what elders think. But he is with someone that is deeply ashamed of his queerness, to the point where he tortures himself with the news. Young is right to be upset after he finds the articles on his boyfriend’s laptop, it would be horrifying to find out that’s what your boyfriend thinks of you. 

But I don’t think Young mentioned, and he definitely did not reflect on the fact this has less to do with how he feels about Young and more to do with how he feels about himself. I love that this book got in to the complexities of activism. Now, I know someone did some very incredible work on the Korean history timeline, I just did not have an opportunity to finish it. So I’m not sure about the politics at play for what those students were activists for, but if I know one thing, it is that activists are never perfect. In the US, for example, racism existed within the women’s sufferage moment, homophobia existed in black liberation movements, and transphobia exists in the feminist movement and in queer communities as well. 

If Young’s boyfriend and his classmates were activists together, got arrested, fought against whatever it is they fought against and the boyfriend had respect for them, it would be a massive thing to internalize to find out they are homophobic. Hell, when we met that couple at the park, the husband said he believed that queer people existed as if there was a time when he didn’t think homosexuality was real. Young’s boyfriend ranted a lot about the American Empire and the influence of Western culture on Korean society and Young made a point to emphasize religion as a part of that. 

Korea has a pretty decent Christian population, and as we saw from Young’s umma that evangelical nature resulted in massive punishment for Young out of his mother’s fear of his sins. And she’d been a Christian for 25 years. I think every character we meet is really supposed to be some sort of reflection for Young, a way to show us alternate futures for Young. Jaehee is what his life could never look like because he was gay in a country that does not have gay marriage rights. But at the very least, Jaehee got serious when Young could not, and she got a serious boyfriend, and entered a serious relationship. Young and Jaehee were so similar for so long, that I do think Young would have been able to maintain a longterm relationship if he could actually emotionally commit to one. 

In Part Two, Young’s boyfriend is his mirror. The anti-American imperialist that pays attention to flags versus the kid who does not even pay attention to the symbology he is wearing. The former activist versus the passive kid. The internalized homophobe and the one who rebelled against that. I said it already but Young was tortured for being queer, and the first thing his mother did when the therapy failed was to hand him fucking scripture. Young could have ended up just as disgusted and ashamed as his boyfriend, but he didn’t. 

I think the author intercut Young’s relationship with his mother and his boyfriend in this part because they act as catalysts, they change Young, they show him what his weaknesses are, and the pain he will suffer when he bites his tongue…and when he doesn’t. His relationship with his boyfriend implodes when he starts saying more of the thoughts in his head, he waits for his mother to die after he cannot bring himself to ever tell her he wants an apology. 

I think so much of this part is about being let down by the people around you, which I think is how Young felt when he realized Jaehee had left him at the end of Part One. We get the homophobic activists as an example, but we also spent a significant amount of time with Young talking about his boyfriend who was the first to make a move, and the first to sit and listen, and how that turned out to be an act, his boyfriend was deeply stuck in his homophobia and stopped really listening to Young early in to their relationship; Young talked quite a bit about how stubborn and strong his mother used to be. The force of her. And he spends this entire part just watching her wither away to skin and bones. He describes how long she kept up the act, that he’d help her use the restroom and then ten minutes later you couldn’t even tell she needed help. 

And then he lays his head in his mother’s lap at the end, and he wants an apology. He wants an apology so badly. But he knows he will never get it, not in the way he wants.  But honestly, I think his mother does apologize to him, in her own way, when she admits that she was scared. And I think the hardest truth he could ever tell his mother is that he was sorry he felt like the whole world in her hands. 

#love in the big city #litbc #litbc book club #love in the big city bookclub #litbc analysis #litbc discussion

[kirnet]

BOOK CLUB!!! (avvid belongs to @asexualastarion !)

#BESTIE BOOKCLUB WIZARD BOOK CLUB!!! #bg3 #bg3 tav #baldurs gate #epiphany #avvid #they are having a lively discussion on the merits of necromancy and abjuration. puff has never taken damage in her life and therefore will #never join avvids undead army #minadraws

[pizza-feverdream]

My younger siblings and their friends invited me to their bookclub and they're reading the giver. One of them brought up the character Fiona and then it spiraled into these 7th graders creating their very own Giver Shrek au

#the giver #shrek #au #shrek au #siblings #bookclub #i swear #these kids dont even know what an au is #im pretty sure asher was the donkey #not much else was discussed

[1eos]

Re relatableness in yellowface; perfect victim syndrome has turned everyones brains to sludge. Every person has to be a saint or a martyr we can cry for so the crime can be portrayed as Evil....buddy she stole a womans life work and race faked her way to prestige. Then stole from her STUDENTS. Athena sounds unpleasent sure but like....she didnt deserve that? And does that Justify what june did? Tell me its okay just because Athena was an asshole. Tell me. To my Face. The fear of accepting that people who are abused/victims of racism are complex humans and not concepts to make an insta caption about is strangling society as a whole.

YOU BETTER SPEAK!!!!! and it adds to the meta narrative bc yellowface knows how ppl are abt ~perfect victims~ and you're meant to be horrified that the general public will try to turn on a writer and say oh idc she got plagiarized bc she was 'problematic'. but readers IN REAL LIFE have the same fucked up standards and suddenly do not care abt athena or her work being turned into a fucking white savior novel AFTER SHE DIED. and reading reviews ppl were trying to imply r f kuang was shitting on her critics but 1. it's not shitting on critics if that's just literally how ppl are 2. the author is right self insert or not if you're not the perfect victim ESP as a woc you can be brutally murdered and ppl will be like um um but she wasn't innocent and recall you being a bit of an asshole 12 years ago likeeeee ok and Athena isn't even close to being as bad as the mofos we got irl 😭😭😭😭 r f kuang was like im gonna write a book so full of two wrongs don't make a right and the ppl that get it and the ppl that don't probably have a child's grasp of morality and victimhood and are actively a threat to public consciousness hgfdhhjjj

#i don't even think the moral complexity of yellowface was that hard #everyone and i mean EVERYONE has issues and the publishing industry takes advantage of that #and it fosters a hostile environment but june deffo the worst one #ignoring athenas possible political leanings bc nothing's confirmed and june admits to wanting to see her get ripped to shreds #nothing athena does is beyond the usual scumminess of publishing #she doesn't want to help other asian writers well june also says she doesn't want to help other writers in fear they surpass her #she only helps asian writers to look good #and coopting pain from your personal life is soooooooo common and if you're not an asshole you change details to not be weird #but copying a situation and a quote is sooooo different from stealing written work and saying it's yours 😭😭😭 #you don't have to like athena but nothing she did would ever justify how june obsesses over and hates the girl #kendras bookclub #i guess i should start a discussion tag

[xoxobuffyfuffaint]

Supermodel Monique Desiree Taitague

#GIFER #filthy #discussion #reviews #lists #bookclubs #mafia 3 #cow amp chicken #baby chris #gif #gifs #VotedSexiestWomanAliveSupermodelMoniqueDesireeTaitague

[gallus-rising]

my mom's bookclub is reading Chain-Gang All-Stars and it sounded like my sort of thing so i read it as well in like 4 days and i can't do this. i can't do this. i can't live like this. i need to start chewing on drywall. i'm going to bash my head in with this book until skull creaks in half. SUCK MY DICK AMERICA

#*furious pecking* #and there's still 2 weeks until the actual bookclub discussion uuuuuuuuuguhguhughghg #why did i start reading it so early #why did i do this to myself #i feel deranged

[spirit-feminist-bookclub]

Announcement no.1

Hello loves, this book club will be up and running soon! I'm formatting a timeline/calendar for the first book which will be The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries by Zsuzsanna Budapest. If you have a copy or can find one by April 1st, that's fantastic! Otherwise, I'm currently looking through a PDF version I found and making sure it lines up with my physical copy for you all to use who don't want or have the time to get a physical copy.

#announcement #spirit feminist book club #spirit feminist bookclub #the PDF version does not follow my 20th anniversary copy but thats ok i will be curating a time table for when we read what so we all can #be roughly on the same page when we get into discussions

[catboykacchan]

I am just, like, obsessively grateful to you for keeping the Those! Fandom going going going and I wanted you to know that I think about your post about reading Death Note as Those! fanfiction (without Benjamin!!) like three times a day.

oh my 🥺🥺 this makes me so happy but honestly i cant take any credit as i basically never make original posts sgfhgj im just here lurking in the tag constantly for any new content. but im so glad there are people like you still into those! in 2023 (going on 2024!) i really hope love for this fanfic never dies and it remains a fandom classic.

i had forgotten about that post of mine honestly but it's the truth so 🤣 as much as i like death note it has never been a hyperfixation the way those! is. those! is everything. those! is high literature. period.

but anyways, sending love and cookies you made my day friend <33

#maybe one day we can make a bookclub/server to discuss those! the way it deserves #and it's like on my eternal to do bookbinding list so if i do it id love to share it with yall #the hinterland doctrine #those who stand for nothing fall for anything #asks

[thephoenixandthecrocodile]

Official Launch of Around the World Bookclub!

Today I’m officially launching the Around the World Bookclub! This is a virtual bookclub dedicating to reading authors from all over the world. We’ll be reading books of all genres and formats, fiction and non-fiction, and they’ll all be focused on either colonialism and/or asymmetrical warfare.  Subscribe * indicates required Email Address *Sign up Now! Book ClubPodcast Updates We will meet…

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#book club #book discussion club #bookclub #history bookclub #patreon exclusive #second italo-ethiopian war #the shadow king

[garbagequeer]

too unemployed to e-celebrate dean winchester's birthday. but you wouldn't get it

#made the 4 hour trip back to bcn today for bookclub bc i signed up for today thinking id surely be back already for work #like unemployed levels so strong i will spend 8 hours total on a bus to hear people discuss a book for 2 hours. it's bad #personal

[a-poets-darling]

Heyy people

Is anyone interested in joining a book discussion/book reading/chilling together/just a group of cool people club?

Click the link if you're one of the cool person

#dark academia #dark acadamia aesthetic #bookclub #book discussion #poem #poetry #art #quotes #reading #authors #classic literature

[aicollider]

Deities of Mesoamerican Mythology discuss The Call of the Wild (Jack London)

INT. COZY ROOM – DAY The room is filled with Mesoamerican Deities of various shapes and forms. Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, sits at the head of the table. Xochiquetzal, the goddess of beauty and fertility, sips tea elegantly. Tlaloc, the god of rain, grumbles about the weather outside. QUETZALCOATL Alright, everyone, let’s get this book club started. Today, we’re discussing “The Call of…

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#adventure #beauty #bookclub #Buck #Coatlicue #Deities #Discussion #DogEatDogWorld #Fertility #HappyReading #HumanSpirit #IntoTheWild #JonKrakauer #MesoamericanDeities #Metamorphoses #nature #Ovid #PauloCoelho #Quetzalcoatl #rain #Recommendations #Survival #TheAlchemist #TheCallOfTheWild #Tlaloc #Transformation #Wilderness #Xochiquetzal

[chloelouygo]

I just finished a book and afdfxg idk what I'm meant to do with all my feelings now!!!

#i need to fangirl about it but i don't have the spoons to do much other than making vague screeching sounds #i need my little bookclub with my beloved who recommended it to me #but he's at work #why would capitalism get in the way of literature discussions like that smh #i need to talk about the mer-milf!!! are there other mermilf or just her? were /all/ the sirens men or were some girls? #i would ramble essays about it but i can't i just *flaps hands* #i wanna draw the sirens but I'm too scared to draw from my own imagination yknow? #like ik it wont come out on the page how i actually picture them and i don't wanna draw tuen 20 times just to get it right #I'm in love with Olivia too i would do anything for her #autistic lesbians represent #god this won't make sense to anyone sorry if u read this

[ofliterarynature]

It pains me to say it but the more I listen to Alice isn’t Dead (the podcast) the less respect I have for Alice isn’t Dead (the novel). You’d think rewriting something would make it better.

#I’m only 2/3 through but still better #changing out of 1st person? terrible decision #and I say this as someone who doesn’t typically like 1st person #bec posts #Alice isnt dead #sincerest apologies to everyone at bookclub for putting it on the list lol #we had a good discussion but no one really liked it