Que libro, “Presentes,” por Paco Cerdà, narrando el comienzo de una “dictadura eterna,” que afortunadamente se acabó hace 50 años, pero que algunos añoran y quieren restaurar.
No sabía que hubo una procesión de 467 kilómetros consagrándose José Antonio Primo de Rivera santo fascista. Flipo.
#españa #fascismo #libros #bookstodon

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Presentes - Paco Cerdà

This morning I was almost late leaving for work because I was nearing the end of Monstrous Regiment and couldn't bear the idea of having to read the last ten minutes tonight.

It's tremendous, btw, read it.

ANYWAY, having now finished it I've consulted the Annotated Pratchett Files, and my god, Pratchett had an incredible depth of knowledge.

(spoilers for the book, obviously)
https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/monstrous-regiment.html

I have now read 22 of the 41 books.

#Discworld #Bookstodon

VANISHING CULTURE explores why preserving our fragile cultural record matters, including the everyday objects history often overlooks. ✍️🗂️

🛒 Want a copy on your bookshelf? Purchase in print:
https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/vanishing-culture-a-report-on-our-fragile-cultural-record-9798995425014/new

#VanishingCulture #DigitalMemory #InternetArchive @letterformarchive #bookstodon

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Book cover titled “Vanishing Culture” on a teal background. Pixel-art style graphics show a VHS tape, open book, film reel, chain link, and vinyl record dissolving into digital fragments. At the bottom, a cursor icon points to the word “SAVE,” alongside an archive-style building icon, evoking digital preservation.

Book 12 was My Not-So-Super Blind Date by Allison Temple (narrated by Scott Rose).

60+ first dates 🌮
Son of a superhero x villain’s henchman 🦸🏻‍♂️🦹‍♂️
Wibbly wobbly timey-wimey 🕰️
Queer, cosy, and Canadian 🏳️‍🌈🇨🇦

Get it in #KoboPlus: https://www.kobo.com/en/audiobook/my-not-so-super-blind-date-2

#bookstodon #QueerBooks

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My Not-So-Super Blind Date by Allison Temple (narrated by Scott Rose).

Hardbacks it is then 👍📚

#Books #Bookstodon

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BERTS BOOKS, a chalk sign: "AS LONG AS A LADY CARRIES A BOOK SHE WILL ALWAYS HAVE COMPANY AND A WEAPON"

Anyone know of a great read that has a sharp, ideally feminist, older woman as a protagonist? Written by a woman only.

Thanks! Please boost for more recommendations.

#bookstodon #book #women

Book 11 was Recovering from Purity Culture: Dismantle the Myths, Reject Shame-Based Sexuality, and Move Forward in Your Faith, written and read by Dr. Camden Morgante.

I read another review that described this as “purity culture light”. On the one hand, it’s not. But on the other, yeah, it kind of is.

If you’re at the very start of your deconstruction journey, this wouldn’t be a bad place to start.

#bookstodon

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Recovering from Purity Culture: Dismantle the Myths, Reject Shame-Based Sexuality, and Move Forward in Your Faith, written and read by Dr. Camden Morgante. My listening supports The Portal Bookshop Libro.fm

"One calm and cloudless evening, towards the end of April, Snufkin found himself far enough to the north to see still unmelted patches of snow on the northern slopes.

He had been walking all day through undisturbed landscapes, listening to the cries of the birds on their way northwards, home from the South.

Walking had been easy, because his knapsack was nearly empty and he had no worries on this mind. He felt happy about the wood and the weather, and himself."

#MoominMonday #Bookstodon

"'I think it's very adventurous to float down a winding river,' said Moomintroll. 'You never know what you'll meet round the next corner. You always want adventures, Sniff, and when they come you're so frightened you don't know what to do.'

'Well, I'm not a lion,' said Sniff reproachfully. 'I like small adventures. Just the right size.'"

from 'Comet in Moominland'

#MoominMonday #Bookstodon #BeMoreMoomin

Book 10 was Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne (narrated by Natalie Naudus & Dylan Reilly Fitzpatrick).

Sentient moss 💚
On a spaceship 🚀
He’s a delight, thank you very much 💖
And one human who just wants to save her sister 🫁

#bookstodon #queerbooks

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Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne (narrated by Natalie Naudus & Dylan Reilly Fitzpatrick).

AI slop - but from the best of sources

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/15/uk-ireland-booksellers-suspect-ai-companies-bulk-orders-data-acquisition

#Bookstodon #AI #Slop #Theft #Plagiarism

I need to see the rewritten version of this poem 😂

@reading @bookstodon @books @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop @joinin

#ReadingMemes #Meme #Poetry #Humor #Humour #Funny #Geek
#Reading #Readers #ReadingCommunity #AmReading
#Novel #Books #Fiction #Bookstodon

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A drawn picture of Edgar Allen Poe and his Raven. Caption: The Passive Agressive Raven Speech bubble from the Raven saying, 'Nevermind.'

I'm currently reading Monstrous Regiment. This exchange has just made laugh out loud.
-
"Igor, I'm sure you have some scissors, although I'd rather you didn't attempt to repeat the word. "

"I have some of the aplianthetheth you mention, thir," said Igor stiffly.

#Bookstodon #AmReading #Discworld

Book 9 was Conversion Therapy Dropout, written and read by Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez.

The author spent eight years (eight!) in conversion therapy and lived to tell the tale. This book will break your heart and make you scream – and then it will put you back together and give you some hope. Evangelicalism and purity culture are so messed up.

#bookstodon #queerbooks

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Book 9 was Conversion Therapy Dropout, written and read by Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez. My listening supports The Portal Bookshop Libro.fm

What is Her Borrowed Grave about?

An uncanny storm rolls over York —
A teacher encounters a man who should not exist.
A reporter’s dog sniffs out the first in a series of bodies, each marked by a bizarre death.
The forensic results make no sense.
And somewhere, a poem written over a thousand years ago waits for its final line.

Find out more on my Website https://www.vanessajknipe.com/my-new-book

#Urbanfantasy #Bookstodon #ScottishAuthor

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A flyer for Her Borrowed Grave. A supercell storm coils like a poisonous black snake, its forked tongue is sheet lightning. A brown book half covers the storm. A question mark is cut out of the cover revealing letters of a fancier cover beneath. Text reads: Her Borrowed Grave. Arriving 8th October 2026. Old Magic. Cold Cases.

Do you think it's okay to DNF (abandon, not finish) a book after you've started reading it? #bookstodon #polls

2️⃣/2️⃣
Preserving 78rpm discs helps ensure future generations can hear the joys, struggles, voices, and sounds that shaped the 20th century.

🛒 Purchase Vanishing Cultute in print: https://betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/vanishing-culture-a-report-on-our-fragile-cultural-record-9798995425014/new

#VanishingCulture #DigitalMemory #InternetArchive #Bookstodon

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Book cover titled “Vanishing Culture” on a teal background. Pixel-art style graphics show a VHS tape, open book, film reel, chain link, and vinyl record dissolving into digital fragments. At the bottom, a cursor icon points to the word “SAVE,” alongside an archive-style building icon, evoking digital preservation.

Book 8 was Network Effect by Martha Wells (narrated by David Cui Cui and a full cast).

Everyone’s favourite SecUnit is back with its original crew
Now with babysitting duties
Murderbot x ART = all that sass

Get it in #KoboPlus: https://www.kobo.com/en/audiobook/network-effect-dramatized-adaptation

#bookstodon #queerbooks

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Network Effect by Martha Wells (narrated by David Cui Cui and a full cast).

“Sometimes I wish I could photosynthesize so that just by being, just by shimmering at the meadow's edge or floating lazily on a pond, I could be doing the work of the world while standing silent in the sun.”

'Braiding Sweetgrass', by Robin Wall Kimmerer

#Bookstodon #ClimateEmergncy #Politics #NoPlanetB

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Image of a climate protest. Front and centre is a huge green banner reading NO NATURE NO FUTURE

I work in #infosec and consider myself pretty well educated on what’s happening with #AI.

But I’m about 33% of the way through @emilymbender and Alex Hanna’s book, “The AI Con”, and I’ve really learned a lot more.

If you’re skeptical or curious about AI, this is a must-read. I’m recommending it to everyone I know.

“The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want”, by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna

Edit: Added text in this post with the title and authors. It's also in the image's ALT text. Sorry!

#books #bookstodon #reading #AI #technology #nonfiction

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“The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want”, by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna

Quasit's Daily Book Recommendations: "A Fine and Private Place" (1960) by Peter S. Beagle

Age Range: 16 to adult
Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural

Some authors are so damned talented. It's almost depressing. But at the same time, they give the world books that are pure gold. "A Fine and Private Place" was Peter S. Beagle's first novel, and there's nothing else really like it. Although at times it reminds me a little of "Our Town".

If you've never seen a performance of "Our Town", by the way, I'd strongly recommend it. It's deeply moving and very different. I once had the good fortune to see it live at the American Shakespeare Festival, with Fred Gwynne (you might remember him as Herman Munster from "The Munsters", but he was much more talented than that) as the Stage Manager.

Beagle is best known for writing "The Last Unicorn" (1968), which is unquestionably one of the greatest classics of fantasy. But "A Fine and Private Place" is, well, special. Different.

[The baloney weighed the raven down, and the shopkeeper almost caught him as he whisked out the delicatessen door. Frantically he beat his wings to gain altitude, looking like a small black electric fan. An updraft caught him and threw him into the sky. He circled twice, to get his bearings, and began to fly north.

Below, the shopkeeper stood with his hands on his hips, looking up at the diminishing cinder in the sky. Presently he shrugged and went back into his delicatessen. He was not without philosophy, this shopkeeper, and he knew that if a raven comes into your delicatessen and steals a whole baloney it is either an act of God or it isn't, and in either case there isn't very much you can do about it.]

See what I mean?

Jonathan Rebeck is a former pharmacist who has been living in a New York cemetery for twenty years. His only living companion is a raven who brings him food and (sometimes) other necessities, but that's not his •only• companion. Somehow over the years Mr. Rebeck started to see ghosts.

They're not creatures of horror, though; just what's left of people after they die. They pop up out of their graves not long after being buried. For example, the recently-deceased Michael Morgan:

[Then he came over a low hill and saw the mausoleum and the small man sitting in front of it. The man had his knees drawn up and his chin on his folded forearms and was looking at nothing.

Sensation seemed to return to Michael: curiosity, interest, a little fear, pleasure, and a spoonful of hope came slowly back, saying to one another, What is this? How is this? Is the house not empty yet? And Michael Morgan called gladly, "Hello!"

The small man blinked, looked around, and smiled at Michael. "Hello," he called back. "Come on down."

Michael came slowly down the hill, and the man got up to meet him. He looked to be in his early fifties, for his shoulders were a little rounded and his hair was gray-white. But the smile he gave Michael was warm and youthful, and his eyes were the color of the earth. "How do you do?" he asked. "My name is Jonathan Rebeck."

"Michael Morgan," said Michael, and suddenly he was so happy to see this small man, and so happy to realize he was happy, that he grabbed for Mr. Rebeck's brown hand—and watched in dull horror as it went completely through his own.

Then he remembered, and for the first time he saw life as the dead see it. He backed off from Mr. Rebeck, and would have turned to run if the small man's eyes had not been full of brown sadness. So he sat down on the steps that led up to the mausoleum and tried to cry; but he didn't know where to begin.

"All right," he said finally, "I'm dead."

"I know," said Mr. Rebeck gently. He paused and then added, "I saw your funeral procession."

"Did you?" Michael looked up. "How did it look from the outside?"

"Very nice," said Mr. Rebeck. "Very quiet and tasteful."]

What happens when ghosts fall in love? Read it and find out. You won't regret it.

I believe it's still in print. Your library is likely to have it; if they don't, they can surely get it via interlibrary loan. I've found copies in used book shops a number of times. It's available as an ebook from the usual suspects (please don't use Amazon). And you can borrow it for free from the Internet Archive.

https://archive.org/details/fineprivateplace00beag

There's a complete spreadsheet of all the books I've recommended here to date (along with links to each post) here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSzubtaPojvprNwZCeR6N4xzCpZzMeb4xrrEHPtk6Bvx3RGj1Bxdg2KWY0CcjHjxUfMTGTF1eYpyoFn/pubhtml

Happy reading! 🤓📖

#Books #Bookstodon #Fantasy #Ghosts #Supernatural #Classic #BookRecs #BookRecommendations #DailyBookRecs #QuasitBookRecs

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Ballantine/Fantasy 24754/$1.50 A Wildly Splendorous Novel of Love and Last Chances by the Author of THE LAST UNICORN A Fine and Private Place Peter S. Beagle A man sits on the steps of a crypt in a cemetery in front of a chess board. A translucent human female form sits opposite him on the grass, while a male translucent figure (all three wearing modern clothes) stoops over the board and observes. In the foreground a raven watches the scene from a gnarled tree.

Book 7 was A Swift and Sudden Exit by Nico Vincenty (narrated by Gabby Naylor).

Time traveller x immortal woman 🕰️
Saving the future and falling in love 🔮
Butch / femme 🛠️💄

Get it in #KoboPlus: https://www.kobo.com/en/audiobook/a-swift-and-sudden-exit-1

#bookstodon #queerbooks

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A Swift and Sudden Exit by Nico Vincenty (narrated by Gabby Naylor).

Question about the Gideon bibles left in hotel rooms: I've seen them in Dutch, English, French and German. And all have the same dorky drawings.

Do they use the same drawings globally? Is it a standard package approved by the boars of Gid or something?

#bookstodon #religion

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Dorky drawing. Enhanced with cool 4-colour-pen

Benefits of reviewing indie books:

*Impress the peons with your literary taste!

*Use adjectives, adverbs, and exclamation points with abandon!!

*Reward the deserving, elevate the overlooked, punish the wicked!

*Typing is fun! (Or else what are we doing on this site?)

*You can use big words. Stretch that vocab! You're writing for readers. Go for three syllables!

*Call yourself an influencer at your next class reunion. (Take that, MLM Karen!)

*Perfect excuse to buy more books!

#bookstodon

@AllysonShaw’s Widdershins is so pretty! It doesn’t really show in the photo but that’s super shiney embossed silver on the front and it has black page edges (course couldn’t resist a little ‘moth’ treat from her jewellery alter ego @feralstrumpet too). I’d been holding off on reading the ebook while it was being printed/shipped. #bookstodon

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Hardback book entitled WIDDERSHINS and a moth pendant on a wood table.

What happens when the grammar police inevitably gets corrupted? 🤔 Is that where slang comes from? 😁

@linguistics @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop @writingcommunity @writingbooks

#LinguisticMemes #Meme #Linguistics
#Language #Words #Humor #Humour #Funny
#Reading #Readers #ReadingCommunity
#Novel #Books #Fiction #Bookstodon

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Photo of two women dressed up as cops with the line, 'Grammar Police: To Serve and Correct.'

Book 6 was Service Model, written and read by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

The new Luddite rebellion, starring a robot 🔨
C3PO on a quest to find a human to serve while in the company of a really weird robot 🤖
Join a union 💪

#bookstodon

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Service Model, written and read by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

"The fraud of men was ever so
Since summer first was leafy ... "

Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2 Scene III

https://www.opendemocracy.net/the-big-blair-era-loophole-behind-palantirs-tiny-tax-bill/

#ShakespeareSunday #Bookstodon #TaxTheRich #UKPolitics

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The big Blair-era loophole behind Palantir’s tiny tax bill Palantir’s UK CEO Louis Mosley says the company uses “a standard tax incentive” to minimise corporate tax. But the UK is one of the few countries that allows for this.

"The Books that saw it coming"

Bookstores and librarians ❤️

#Books #bookstodon

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This is a Books-A-Million display, often curated to feature classic dystopian literature and "banned books". The top shelf showcases George Orwell's "1984" and "Animal Farm" alongside Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". Middle shelves feature works by Octavia E. Butler and Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale". The bottom shelf includes "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury and "Red Rising" by Pierce Brown.

Tom Gauld on punctuation in the wild

Be careful out there

edit: hasjtag

#Cartoon #TomGauld #Punctuation #Writing #Bookstodon #cartoon

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A foru panel cartoon 1. A drawing f a house with open windows, punctuation marks are escaping ‘with the windows wide open to combat the summer heat, a breee blows through the punctuation factory scattering newly minted marks across the countryside . Two people talk in a light punctuation rain, ‘the, is….. “Very” odd’ “(indeed)*, confused locals find their conversations peppered with unexpected pauses and unwanted emphasis 3. A duck on the water, Naturalisst obersve the effect is not limited to the human populationQua’ck? 4 Fortunately a batch of explanation points drift into a =district council meeting causing it to proceed with unusual efficiency - people discussion things, each statement proceeded by one of more !s

My haul from Waterstones this morning. I went specifically looking for Body Work so was delighted to find it. I didn't mean to buy the two other books. I was initially drawn in by the lovely covers, then the 'buy one get one half price' stickers. I've enjoyed many Japanese novels in translation, starting with The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki a few years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Makioka_Sisters

#books #bookstodon

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Three books laid out on a sofa cushion. At the top Body Work by Ben Aaronovitch. Underneath two Japanese novels in translation: The Passengers on the Hankyu Line by Hiro Arikawa, tr by Allison Markin Powell, and More Days at the Torunka Café by Satoshi Yagisawa, tr by Eric Ozawa. That one has three cats and knitting on the front so I can't go wrong!

Stolen from @Funktious as I thought it was such a great idea: a thread of all the books I read in a year.

Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession, read for a #bookgroup that unanimously loved it. Set in modern day Ireland, it's a contemplative and gently humorous story of two men who in their own ways don't fit in to the world. It's lovely, and quite different in tone to the TV adaptation that treats them as a couple of kooky misfits. They are so much more than that. #books #bookstodon 🧵1

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Cover of the book Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession. A yellow paperback cover with what I assume is a sunfish drawn.

House of Splinters by Laura Purcell, a proof copy. I enjoyed this as I'm increasingly enjoying slightly spooky stories with a gentle supernatural element. It's set in the C18th and follows the events of a family moving into the family seat and facing up to the events of the past. I liked the protagonist Belinda and thought LP hit just the right note of 'is she imagining it or is there really something going on?'. Recommended if the tone and subject matter appeals to you. #books #bookstodon 🧵2

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Cover of House of Splinters by Laura Purcell: a dark cover depicting a loose wreath of roses with hands in it, with old fashioned sleeve cuffs.

Don't Tell the Patient by Bill Inman. This is a cheat really as I've been reading it on + off for ages but finished it today. BI set up the yellow card scheme monitoring adverse reactions to prescribed drugs and worked in drug safety for 30yrs. This is a fascinating history, if a little leaden in style, and a real eye opener about the politics and finances involved, as well as going into incentivising GPs to prescribe new drugs. We aren't told enough about this as patients #books #bookstodon 🧵4

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Don't Tell the Patient by (Dr) Bill Inman. A hardback with a block yellow and white cover with the title in black capitals.

The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller. Bought for a book group meeting that I had to bale on. I loved this! Set in the snow of early 1963, it follows two couples both expecting their first child. It's mainly about relationships of all sorts, where people come from and how realistic or not their expectations are. It's excellently written and although the ending is a little vague it's perfectly in keeping with the story. #books #bookstodon 🧵5

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The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller. Appropriately pale snowy cover with a royal blue circle in the middle bearing the title in white letters. Just behind the book and out of focus, my cat Tails is curled up on an orange velvet chair.

Archaeology is Rubbish by Tony Robinson & Prof Mick Aston. This well-written storified skip through the process of a commercial archaeology dig is a fun and interesting read. I picked it up on a whim in the library then bought my own copy to augment my medieval #archaeology degree which taught me no practical skills whatsoever 😄 If you love/d #TimeTeam or are just generally interested in archaeology I recommend it, though some techniques have really moved on since 2002 #books #bookstodon 🧵6

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Archaeology is Rubbish - A Beginner's Guide by Tony Robinson and Professor Mick Aston.

As Many Souls as Stars by Natasha Siegel, another publisher's proof. A story about magic, selling your soul and living under a curse, set from the C16th-C20th. I felt all the way through that I wasn't quite grasping something, but there was enough in it to keep me reading. Overlong in my opinion: the charm wore off and I really wanted to be done with it, but the writing's not bad and it must have taken lots of research.

#books #bookstodon 🧵7

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A black book cover with a heavy design of flowers, leaves and stars. Gold capitals say LIVE MANY LIVES LOVE THE ONCE, which isn't the title.

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The spine of a black book with a pattern of flowers, leaves and stars and in gold capitals the author's name and the book's title.

The Defector by Evelyn Anthony. I loved this! This very copy used to sit on my grandparents' bookshelf, now on mine with a few of its fellows, so I thought it was time I read it. It's a spy story centring around an ex-KGB official, the Defector of the title, and the bargain he makes for sharing information on how far Russia and America are prepared to go to protect their oil interests in the middle east 🤷 I'll be reading the next two parts, probably starting tonight 😄

🧵8

#books #bookstodon

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Front cover of The Defector by Evelyn Anthony. A painted design of a man's head and shoulders, view straight up his nose, flanked by two smaller images of women.

The Avenue of the Dead by Evelyn Anthony. This was a poor successor to The Defector. The plot centres around the wife of a top US politician and reminded me very strongly of Second Lady by Irving Wallace, published just the year before. Another Davina Graham story, the plot is unlikely and hard to believe though to be fair I didn't see the crux of it til it was revealed. It ends on a good cliffhanger so I'll probs read the final part of the trilogy and leave EA there.

#9 🧵 #books #bookstodon

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The Avenue of the Dead by Evelyn Anthony, 1980s hardback. A Mexican statue is posed with a gun against a glowing red background.

Circle of Days by Ken Follett. I had such hopes for this as I'm right into the Neolithic 🪨. It's worth listening to the pod shown first. It centres on relations between three tribes, how that leads to the building of Stonehenge, and what's involved. Sadly it's 75% fantasy and that spoilt it for me. I loved the PotE series so hoped for more from this but a history book it ain't. Not one for purists, which it turns out I am. Some good research in places though.

#10 🧵 #books #bookstodon

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Screenshot of an The English Heritage pod episode interviewing Ken Follett about the book. It wouldn't just let me copy the episode link, ooooh no.

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Circle of Days by Ken Follett. Two superimposed images of Stonehenge on another glowing red background - summer solstice - with KF's name in understated inch high gold letters.

The Story Collector by Iris Costello. Some interesting snippets of WWI history in an otherwise quite familiar type of book. The plot was rather lurid in places and 100% did not need the Reid's grandson strand. The accents project turns out to be real which is lovely.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/09/world-war-british-accent-recordings

#11 🧵 #books #bookstodon

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Dark blue cover with painted flowers up the sides growing out of an open wooden box.