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diovival

diovival

Joined November 2016

Speculative fiction is my first love.
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Vlad by Carlos Fuentes
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Russian Fairy Tales by Aleksandr Afanas'ev
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diovival
C. C. Mellor Memorial Library | Edgewood, PA (Library)
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Can't resist browsing one of my favorite annual library sales 📚 💕

Hooked_on_books Oooooooo! 🤩 1w
30 likes1 comment
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diovival
Memetic | James Tynion IV
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Pickpick

My insides feel all twisted up. Bleak. Bleeeeeaaaaak. Page after page, things kept getting weirder and more hopeless. Whew. I need a hug now?

#40for40

ShyBookOwl What a description! 😅 1mo
diovival @ShyBookOwl I'm still thinking about it! Just gobsmacked 1mo
Reggie You had me after the second bleak and weirder and weirder. Stacked! 1mo
19 likes1 stack add3 comments
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diovival
Memetic | James Tynion IV
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Wild premise...what am I reading... apocalypse by meme? LOL

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diovival
Vlad | Carlos Fuentes
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I nodded to indicate that I was happy to be of service.
"Can I get you something to drink?" he added right away.
"Perhaps a little red wine," I accepted out of politeness, "if you'll be joining me."
"I never drink," said the Count, with a theatrical pause, "wine."

☠️

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diovival
Vlad | Carlos Fuentes
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Trying a new book and a new coffee shop tonight 📖 ☕

RaeLovesToRead Mmm matcha!! 🍵 2mo
diovival @RaeLovesToRead So good! Chai, matcha and lavender fogs are my coffee shop faves. 2mo
20 likes2 comments
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diovival
Aya | Marguerite Abouet, Clment Oubrerie
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Pickpick

Finished my first book of #40for40 a few days ago and I didn't realize this was part of a series until now. Like, there's more!!?!!!?! OMG. I have a thicc stack of library books waiting for my attention but I'll absolutely be returning to this story.

A graphic novel set in the Ivory Coast, 1978. Brimming with drama and mess. Maury Povich levels of mess. Loved it.

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diovival

I am determined to read more books this year and engage with my Litsy community again. With that in mind, I'm pushing myself to finish forty books in 2024. Since my reading goal is partly inspired by my milestone birthday, I've been calling it #40for40. Looking forward to sharing my reads with y'all!

Christine Such a fun goal! And welcome (or welcome soon) to the 40s! I‘m loving them. 🙂 2mo
ravenlee Happy birthday (whenever it is)! And welcome to the club; all the cool kids are here. And by here I mean at home, individually, because we are absolutely over all that late-night extrovert stuff and we‘re happily at home reading! 😆 2mo
See All 7 Comments
diovival @Christine @ravenlee Thank you both! This club sounds amazing!! 2mo
BookmarkTavern Good luck! And happy birthday! 🍀🎉🍀 2mo
diovival @BookmarkTavern Ooo, I could use some luck! 2mo
Reggie Good luck and looking forward to your reviews! 2mo
15 likes7 comments
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diovival
Stray Dogs | Tony Fleecs
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Pickpick

Fucked up and fun. Quick read. Nice palate cleanser of a book.

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Mehso-so

I really really really wanted to like this book. So much about it reminded me of the iconic Candyman movie of the 90s. Tragic death. Vengeful ghost. Birth of an urban legend within an oppressed community. Alas, it went left (sexy encounters) when I desperately wanted it to go right (scare the shit out of me).

Reggie I agree with all of this. This book reminded me so much of what I love about Clive Barker. I liked the sexy parts but she owed this book maybe 200 more pages. 3mo
18 likes1 comment
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"It looked as if I was stepping into a lake of crimson, a place of baptism. It was so dark there was no telling how deep it could be."

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I've reached the halfway point of my third book and this feels like a good place to end my readathon run. I've had a great time picking out books throughout the day and then settling in for some dedicated reading time. Felt like each book was better than the last and now I'm ending my readathon with an absolute banger.

I really needed this omg 😭

#deweysreadathon

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diovival
The Daughters of Ys | M. T. Anderson
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Pickpick

Wonder, loss, betrayal. The burden of responsibility. Magic and monsters.

#deweysreadathon

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The Daughters of Ys | M. T. Anderson
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Well damn! 👀

12 likes1 comment
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diovival
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Pickpick

"Still, giving up writing and reading, abandoning my work and my books, would leave me without any consolation. It would be like giving up life itself." p.17

#deweysreadathon

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"Readers seek out fellow readers as much as they seek out books, though fellow readers are, alas, more difficult to find. So we hold onto them for life."

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Certain Dark Things: A Novel | Silvia Moreno-Garcia
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Tonight I opened my library book bundle bag and am thrilled to see Silvia Moreno-Garcia was included in the stack! I am so hyped for #deweysreadathon tomorrow y'all 😆

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The Book Eaters | Sunyi Dean
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I left the library with an arm full of books and one book bundle bag of Mexican fantasy and horror. It was all too enticing to leave behind. I'm definitely readathon ready now! Should I open the mystery bag or wait until Saturday for a readathon surprise???

rockpools I am intrigued! How does a library book bundle bag work? 5mo
diovival @rockpools There is a shelf at the library with different themed bundle bags to choose from. Each bag containing five books and stapled shut so patrons can't peak inside. The library puts their book barcodes on the back of the bag so it can be scanned at checkout without having to open and spoil the surprise. I love it! 5mo
rockpools @diovival That‘s such a fun idea! 5mo
20 likes3 comments
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This is obviously the universe telling me I should participate in the readathon this weekend. 📚

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Kingdoms of Elfin | Sylvia Townsend Warner
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Kingdoms of Elfin | Sylvia Townsend Warner
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Finally finally got to the top of my Fairyland book stack. Excited to get into it. Thanks for the recc @Bookwomble!

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Fun Bookmarks | Elizabeth Galloway, Tim Platt
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I'm loving these Library of Congress bookmarks my local library is giving away. The Nosferatu bookmark is my favorite. 🥰

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The Absolute Book | Elizabeth Knox
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The Way to Fairyland mystery bag book reveal. Anyone see a fave?

Bookwomble Definitely Kingdoms of Elfin! One of my favourite books 😊🧝🏼🧚🏽‍♀️🧝🏼‍♀️ 9mo
diovival @Bookwomble Oooo, good to know! 9mo
21 likes2 comments
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Summer Reading | Hilma Wolitzer
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Went to the library's summer reading event today and snagged an awesome mystery bag of books. Couldn't pass up The Way to Fairyland theme (peak into parallel worlds with five novels for adults)!

TheKidUpstairs I love that! (And I love your pants!) 9mo
diovival @TheKidUpstairs Aww, thank you! Bright colors and patterns give me joy. 9mo
23 likes2 comments
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diovival
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I left all my responsibilities behind and finally feel free to rest, to read. Nearing the end of this strange little book I started in January. Feels absolutely wonderful.

Michael_Gee Oo that is a strange one! Enjoy! 10mo
29 likes1 comment
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"He lounges with one arm supporting his head, surrounded by the carnage his imminent death has triggered...soothed to see the destruction of everything he has owned before he also dies, believing that he will find it all around him when he wakes again on the other side of his death, the fragments of porcelain miraculously reunited, the wounds of the women and horses and slaves miraculously healed."

Image: La Mort de Sardanapale by E. Delacroix

13 likes1 stack add
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Quenched my craving for bubble tea and finally sat down to read. A momentous occasion because I've gotten no reading done in months and months and months, so I'm feeling great right now.

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Someone wanted to check if this book really tasted of citrus. 🥲 #Bowser

AlaMich 😂 2y
diovival @AlaMich He is the newest addition to our family and is up to stuff often. At least he left me the rest of the book to read, lol. 2y
AlaMich @diovival He for sure understands that, if I don‘t look at her, she can‘t see me and blame me! 2y
ravenlee I bet he‘s a homework eater, too. 2y
diovival @ravenlee He's an everything eater. 😭 2y
24 likes5 comments
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First up in my #battleofthebooks prep. We've divvied up the competition book list between the three teammates. Off to a good start. Feels really nice to be reading again. #leftonread

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It's been a long hiatus and I haven't read much of anything since I've been gone (😭). My local library to the rescue! They are hosting a bookish, boozy trivia night in a few months. My team with @PMMREADS and @ConnieDavila is registered. My books are in transit. I'm excited to get reading again. Wish us luck!

Lcsmcat Welcome back, and good luck. 2y
rachelm Yay! Good luck! 2y
DivineDiana What fun! Cheering for you and your team! 👏🏻 2y
26 likes5 comments
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diovival
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"...I started to wonder, Where is my fantasy, my future? Why don't Black people exist in speculative worlds?"

Man, the editor's introduction took me back to my childhood. I remember falling hard for speculative fiction. Like her, I wondered what happened to all of the Black people that seemingly disappeared from various versions of those strange and familiar worlds. My suspension of disbelief depended so much on ignoring the absence of BIPOC.

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The Maze of Transparencies | Karen An-Hwei Lee
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Second warm day in a row!! I really needed this. 🔆

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diovival
The Maze of Transparencies | Karen An-Hwei Lee
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"The analog flying foxes of the air, the fruit bats with the wingspan of a child, roost under the eaves and orifices of the rotunda, upside-down like furled umbrellas in the groove of a coat rack or a lacquered tree."

Lindy 🦇👍 4y
22 likes1 comment
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diovival
The Maze of Transparencies | Karen An-Hwei Lee
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Someone please tell me. Is Karen fucking with me?? I just want to know. Asking for a friend. That friend is me. Because I am in tears, literal tears, crying laughing at the literary excess.

rockpools Exactly how I imagine an orphaned data cloud narrating 🤷🏻‍♀️ I‘m kind of intrigued by your quotes - it looks quite something. Are you actually enjoying it or...? 4y
diovival @RachelO I am oddly delighted by the absurdity. This is so much like beautiful nonsense. I keep reading but I don't know wtf I'm reading. It's a toss-up whether someone else would enjoy this or chuck it across a room. 4y
rockpools @diovival 😂😂 I don‘t think I could handle it right now, but I‘ll definitely keep it on my radar! 4y
21 likes3 comments
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diovival
The Forgetting Room | Nick Bantock
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We got a bit of sun and warmth today! FINALLY. I am so sick of the cold. It is the middle of May. Pittsburgh, do better.

Three books came in my Lit Love subscription from Amazing Books. I never know what's coming and it's fun to see what they pick for me.

#Minnie took a moment to sniff each book. Then #MooMoo decided these books were best suited for sitting and sunbathing.

AlaMich Same here in Chicago. Flannel sheets are still on the bed and the heat is coming on far too often. 4y
diovival @AlaMich Ugh! I just want to walk around in a tank top. I want to walk around in a sundress. I'd rather sweat than be too cold. I neeeeeeeed these cold temps to go away. 4y
41 likes2 comments
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The Mothers: A Novel | Brit Bennett
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Free audiobook to anyone willing to try the Penguin Random House audiobook app. The app rating in the Google Play store is not great. I wonder what this is like on the iPhone.

Sace I'm giving it a shot. No trouble downloading or listening (so far.) Thanks for sharing this information 😊 4y
diovival @Sace Yay! It sounds like they added some much-needed features to the app recently. Glad it's working. 4y
26 likes1 stack add2 comments
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diovival
The Maze of Transparencies | Karen An-Hwei Lee
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I cannot stop giggling. These sentences are extra as f***.

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The Maze of Transparencies | Karen An-Hwei Lee
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"The information highway, bereft of its data warehouses, lies noiseless as a liquid gold sun drops into the horizon, one glowing elegy to a bygone age of digital flotsam and jetsam."

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The Maze of Transparencies | Karen An-Hwei Lee
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Book: "...this age of crisis. No amanuensis...”

Me: *puts dictionary on speed dial*

39 likes1 stack add
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The Maze of Transparencies | Karen An-Hwei Lee
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This sounds like such a strange little book. #nextup

Sace That does sound....unique. 4y
ItsAnotherJen I'm intrigued. 4y
33 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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diovival
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Mehso-so

From cover to cover every story is a Filipino story. At times tender or absurd or unsettling. Siasoco created a diverse group of complex characters. After reading the first two stories I began to lose interest in this collection and needed to take a break to go hang with some others books. I'm glad I picked this up again a couple weeks later and gave it another shot.

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”Congratulations, Hugo, you are the equivalent of a human platypus."

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Nothing quite like a little casual bigotry to bring a character into sharp focus. Equating American with whiteness. The derogatory Tagalog used to reference people of Chinese descent. This made me bristle.

27 likes1 stack add
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diovival
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Pickpick

Comedy specials, Netflix rom-com and now this book. Loved them all. Count me in on whatever's next for Ali Wong.

34 likes1 stack add
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diovival
Readathon: Occasional List : Geleentheidslys | Gauteng (South Africa). Education Media Service
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That's a wrap! I really enjoyed my reading day. I clocked 11 hours 8 minutes of reading time and very nearly finished my second book. Now to sleeeeeeeeeep.

#24hourreadathon

ravenlee 😮 wow! 4y
24 likes1 comment
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"I'm your mother. I don't write fancy. I don't use words like 'facetious' or 'effusive.' I use words like 'doo-doo,' 'caca,' and 'punani.' Once I embraced that, these letters were an absolute pleasure to write."

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27 likes2 stack adds
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Pickpick

I've snacked. I've napped. I've finally finished a book! And, I'm feeling pretty good. Now I break for dinner.

#24hourreadathon

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Almost finished my book and going to join #MooMoo for a quick nap. You'd think I would get a good night's rest before a #24hourreadathon and you would be using the sense I wish I had yesterday.

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"Jen and Oona are in sync like ballerinas in the New York City Ballet. And I am the drunk clown who stumbles on stage in the middle of the ballet and trips on his own pee."