Mel's knowledge nook 👜☕ for the knowledge seekers

The Hangout Books
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hi, so this is my book nook where i’ll post books i’ve read, their analysis, my rating and who I’d reccomend it for. this isn’t exclusively fiction, i will also read papers and textbooks and non fiction in general but in the area of books and reading i’m most likely to read fiction. i’m also going to be watching and taking lectures and courses on writing, history, politics, etc. so this will be a mix of reviews, tips, and things i have learned.

fiction i’m most apt to read:

fantasy (i tend to gravitate to high fantasy and completely new worlds, however I do like urban fantasy), alternative world (non-magic, alternate earths), sci-fi (i’m not a fan intergalactic sci-fi, but i’m not opposed to it) , historical (i try to center historical stories in areas other than central europe, although i do like our generic central europe historical books), dystopian (not my least favorite, but it did peak in 2010-2012 so.)

things i focus on:

plot, fantasy politics, character development and complexity, and worldbuilding

nonfiction i’m focusing on:

history, (middle east (focus on persia and ummayad caliphate), north & west africa (focus on berbers/amazingh kingdoms and nigeria), central europe (focus on rome, britain, wales, ireland, and france) areas slavic areas (focus on early Russia / Rus), east asia (focus on specifically China’s tang dynasty with interest in it’s influence) , politics (study of government systems, political steps and movement specifically in classical antiquity and middle ages), anthropology (of prementioned reigions), culture (of prementioned reigions),

i was inspired by other threads for reviews on books, games, etc. shout out to y’all

current work: The Blood Trials and how even well-meaning fantasy books fall short on commentary on war and colonialism

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Schedule:

  1. The Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport and how even well-meaning fantasy books fall short on commentary on war and colonialism

  2. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard and how to kill a book with fake politics

  3. Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian and why we still like books with poor worldbuilding

  4. The Ancient Celts by Cunliffe Barry and why reading history is important for writing

Reading List:

  1. Ace of Spades by Àbíké-Íyímídé

  2. Ancient Ireland : an explorer’s guide by Meagher

  3. Blood Scion by Falaye

  4. Children of Blood and Bone by Adeyemi (reread)

  5. China’s golden age : everyday life in the Tang dynasty by Benn

  6. Ireland : a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present by McCarthy

  7. Legendborn by Deonn

  8. The priory of the orange tree by Shannon

  9. SPQR : a history of ancient Rome by Beard

  10. The stolen heir : a novel of Elfhame by Black

  11. The cruel prince by Black

  12. Imperial China (900 - 1800) by Mote

  13. Rome: An Empire’s Story by Woolf

  14. Skin of the Sea by Bowen

  15. The story of China : the epic history of a world power from the Middle Kingdom to Mao and the China Dream by Wood

Topics

  1. Why even diverse fantasy is just European Fantasy (with spices)

  2. Why most characters don’t even make sense

  3. Why writing stories derived by a culture should be somewhat accurate

  4. The Fair Folk of the Celtic Lands would and will kill you for fun

  5. Why China and Rome have significant parallels

  6. Weather has and will destroy dynasties

  7. How ACTUAL Politics Work

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moved to the books section and added some tags for you :blush:

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:pray: still working on this (trying to finish a single book :sob: )

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i’m literally going to post something next week promise

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