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Drama-Lovers Book Club

Winter
January Reads


And Then She Vanished: This was a fun casual read. A time travel story plus a protagonist who had a cynical sense of humour that did make me chuckle. It partly focused on the drama that is his life which is the kind of focus exactly up my alley. A series but I'm going to enjoy the first book as a standalone cause it worked for me like that. 

I Love Yoo: A re-read plus a catch up of roughly 80 episodes. It's my favourite series of all time and has been for who knows how long so I'm not gonna ramble. Just duh, I still love it to the moon and back and I am so excited about the physical release whenever it finally happens <333

Throne of Glass Series: Re-read . . . but man. I never cared about the protagonist, her endgame love interest and I hated the romance present in the first two books. That said, I used to love everything and everyone else. That's A LOT of else. None of which remain five years later it seems. Clearly I gave it a real shot this time. Unfortunately, I couldn't get behind either the general content or the writing. Tower of Dawn used to be my uncontested favourite in the series so I stopped well before that point. The least I could do is let that one book remain a good memory. I sold my copies. They served their purpose once but it's fine to move on and leave them in the past. 

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sone
 leafless7:

While strolling through bookstore this book got my attention. And I bought it without thinking too much. 

It attracted my attention due to mention of BTS. And the quote "Don't let your life get hurt by passerby."

thanks for sharing this book! it sounds really nice, i'm going to place a hold at my library (＾◡＾)

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The Butterfly VIP

February reads:

An interesting allegory about women's anger and power.  Read like a slice of life, albeit one with dragons.  For me, it would have benefited from being shorter.  Still worth the read.


Not a bedtime story book---snakes with wings and an assortment of other frightening creatures are the stuff of nightmares.


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VEDANT

I want to start reading books as a hobby but I can't invest in it like 500₹ per book or whatever amount as I am still a student 

Are there sites or any group where I can read best books for free (in pdf format or text or epub) I don't mind the format  

please suggest me I know it is illegal but I don't have choice

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penel VIP

It's been months since I managed to finish a book, but February was a successful reading month!
I read 7 books and I've already started reading one, yay!

4.5/5 stars
4.5/5
2/5
4/5

3/5 stars
4.5/5 stars
5/5 stars

Let's hope March will be a good reading month too!

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fiflydramalover VIP

In February I read volume 3 of Boyfriends by Refrainbow. I started reading this series on Webtoon Canvas and its a pleasure to see how its evolved over time. The author mentioned wanting to give characters more background this time around and that came through. Also got to see more of the naughty side of things which I remember being behind a paywall backin the day lol so that was kinda funny. I never saw their early stuff for that so I have nothing to compare it to lol


The other book I finished  was Hard Reboot by Django Baxter. There's a guy I see around sometimes who seems to have the same taste in books as me (we have the same favorite sections). I saw him returning some books at the library, and I asked if he recommended any. He didn't recommend this book but he did recommend the author (but seeing as he was returning the book anyway I figured I'd just start with that one). It wasn't bad. Some of the description of the action wasn't super exciting but overall it was an easy novella to read. 

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Winter
February Reads


First row are all re-reads: The first two were because I missed them and the next were because the sequel was releasing later in the month.

Is It My Fault That I Got Bullied: Basically a story where most things are miserable. Not my usual cup of tea. But if a story follows a teacher protagonist, I can't help but try it and so I did. This was a random read but honestly, it was kinda worth it?

The Story of Our Unlikely Love: Both of the main characters were entertaining individually and as a single unit. Mizuki Sora's long work (Tsuiraku JK to Haijin Kyoushi) is one of my favourites but even with short tales like this, she's one of the few mangakas who actually makes them for fun pass-times for me. 

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales: The finale to Emily and Wendell's love story. Duly satisfied <3 Glad that despite the setting, it continued with its scholarly vibe around Emily. Fittingly, it paid homage to the first two books which was nice. Looking forward to what Fawcett writes next~

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: . . . yes, I read a non-fiction; my dad made me read it. An insightful read (if a little overwhelming in the ways it made me reflect on my own life).

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Winter

~~~

'You told me it will get worse.'

'It will,' Wit said, 'but then it will get better. Then it will get worse again. Then better. This is life, and I will not lie by saying every day will be sunshine. But there will be sunshine again, and that is a very different thing to say. That is truth. I promise you Kaladin: You will be warm again.'

~~~

~~~

That I now have to wait at least seven years for the sequel is just . . . wow. But I loved how this first half of the series ended. It's exciting in so many ways. Guess I'll be daydreaming about all the what-ifs for now.

~~~

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penel VIP

March wasn't a good reading month for me, since I was able to finish only one book, "South of the Border, West of the Sun" by Haruki Murakami.
Thankfully I enjoyed it!

4/5 stars

Today I bought two new books which I hope I can finish by the end of April.

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fiflydramalover VIP

So in March I finished three books. One was a graphic novel, one was an interpretation of a classic Chinese collection, and the other was a fiction book. 

It did feel a little preachy to me, but I mean a major theme is activism, so obvious there's going to be a point of view on how to do it. I think I would have been more interested if it took a practical and on-the-ground approach, but it was really exploring it from a theoretical-translated-into-character-dynamics way. Which isn't bad, it just wasn't what I was into. Everything else though was super cool. The magic system was great, and I liked the way the protagonist thought about her work as a maid. Seeing her learn to value her wellbeing, while still valuing her skills and work ethic, was really cool. 
While the magic system had an interesting schema (based on flowers), I really wanted more from it. Leaning more towards a hard magic system and helping us get a sense of limitations would have really sold this to me. As it was, the story itself didn't feel super unique in general, with some lines of dialogue being familiar echoes of things I'd seen before. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn't what I went in expecting. It kind of felt like a new and refreshing paintjob on a familiar house, when I really wanted a funky looking house. I think if I was younger and this was my first experience seeing trauma directly addressed in a story, this would be amazing to me. It feels raw, vulnerable, and sincere. 
I've heard a lot about Ursula K. Le Guin and... this was my first book of hers. Please don't judge me. I know she's super famous for her thought provoking scifi, and I eventually will read Left Hand of Darkness, but I saw her name on Lao Tzu's famous collection and I was like "wait... no way...." haha so I had to find out what was going on.

Some parts were thought provoking, some parts felt pretentious, and still other parts felt out-of-touch or willfully ignorant. Which the later is definitely part of the point. Idk I finished with some things to think about, but overall don't think I can fully embrace the tao. Still, I do think it would be worth rereading at some point as some parts needed more time to sink in.

Not my best month for reading, but everything I read was worth reading even if I had my complaints. I do think I am starting to grow out of the young adult genre though. Idk I still like Weak Hero Class so I can't fully commit to that statement haha

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fiflydramalover VIP
 VEDANT:

I want to start reading books as a hobby but I can't invest in it like 500₹ per book or whatever amount as I am still a student 

Are there sites or any group where I can read best books for free (in pdf format or text or epub) I don't mind the format  

please suggest me I know it is illegal but I don't have choice

Hey! There are free books that are published and meant to be read free! Some sites you might want to check out are 

RoyalRoad - they're probably best known for their LitRPG, but they have some other stuff as well. I recommend Beware of Chicken.

Google Play's book section has a "Top Free" section. 

You might also want to consider joining your local library. You can often get books free that way, whether they're physical or digital (often with an app that uses your library card to log-in). If you don't have a library locally, there are some libraries that don't mind physical borders, like the Queer Liberation Library.

Hope this helps!

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fiflydramalover VIP
 Winter:
I Love Yoo: A re-read plus a catch up of roughly 80 episodes. It's my favourite series of all time and has been for who knows how long so I'm not gonna ramble. Just duh, I still love it to the moon and back and I am so excited about the physical release whenever it finally happens <333

Augh, I also really liked I Love Yoo. I'm terrible with returning after hiatuses though, so I'm pretty behind. Might be nice to reread by collecting the physical volumes and then catch up that way. Glad to hear you still like it so much!

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The Butterfly VIP

Almost forgot to post my March books!


Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Been meaning to read this for years.   Because of the subject matter I was afraid it would be depressing.  On the contrary, it was quite uplifting.  It's in learning how to die that one learns how to live.



Miyazawa's Strong in the Rain was quoted in a drama I watched last year.   I decided to buy this book to check out some of his other poems.

"Strong in the rain

Strong in the wind
Strong against the summer heat and snow
He is healthy and robust

Free from desire
He never loses his temper

Nor the quiet smile on his lips"


This last book was a tough book to read as it traced the family lines of two stepsisters in Ghana who never met.  One married an Englishman, the other ended up sold as a slave.  Each chapter followed the life of a new generation.  "The more he understood that sometimes staying free required unimaginable sacrifices."  Uncannily timely advice.


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MichaKu

I continued my efforts in reading some feminist realted books, which were =>

...once you set it in context, as it was written in 1948 this has tons of information and views on all aspects. One can argue that Simone de Beauvoir was a bit like an upper class person and focused mostly on the European/Western view, but still a great read. 4.5 out of 5.0. Be aware it's like 900 pages :-) !

I really like Bell Hooks as she's down to earth in her writing. And here she clearly addresses all people, e.g. aspects of racism and how men suffer from patriarchy. Easly a 5.0 our of 5.0 to come back once in a while. 

A more recent book from Virginie Despentes, whom  I'd would call the punk of feminism literature. But here you can see/read how she advanced and grew in her writing even more after reading her book King Kong Theroy. It's basically a mail exchange between 3 persons, an older actress, a writer and a younger feminist blogger. I'd say it's not per se about feminist aspects only, it's more like broken people who try to find a way to cope with their lifes. Sometimes a bit lengthy, still a solid 4.0 out of 5.0.

Anybody some other recommendations related to the feminist topic ?

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The Butterfly VIP
 MichaKu:
feminist

For some reason I can't quote you today.  

Have you read Good and Mad:  The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister?

I read Volume One of  Women and Gender in the Western Past.  It's used as a text book so it is dense.  Have volume 2 waiting on me on the shelf.    Also on the shelf- Down Girl, Invisible Women, and The Woman They Could not Silence (also a doorstop size).

When Women Were Dragons was good, but too long.  It was an allegory of the power of women's anger.

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