my absolute favorite book as a kid was trial by journal by kate kline, and as a tween it was the year of secret assignments, both of which are a combo of letters/emails/diary entries etc
I also liked speculative fiction/more grounded sci fi and fantasy:
-heir apparent by vivian vande velde, a vr middle school novel
-12 impossible things before breakfast by jane yolen, a series of creepy/fantastical short stories
-the true meaning of smekday by adam rex, a fun romp of an alien invasion novel from the perspective of a teenage girl
My number one rec is the book when you reach me by rebecca stead!! just a beautiful coming of age novel about friendship and love and also (unexpectedly) time travel. i haven’t reread most of the others in ages but I revisit this one every few years.
(Also possibly a controversial opinion, but if you never read twilight it might be worth it for the cultural experience lol)
Related Recs
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the tail of emily windsnap (mermaids)
mysterious benedict society (mystery)
uglies (scifi)
chronicles of narnia (fantasy)
Feb 28, 2024
these are all kinda books i enjoyed during my late elementary school years:
the fog diver series by joel ross — i had a fascination with steampunk things as a child and this let me dive headfirst into the thick of it
tales from outer suburbia by shaun tan — or anything shaun tan for that matter. his art is incredible and daydreaming with his works was such fun. i used to take this book out of my elementary school library almost every week just to stare at the pages
a tale dark and grimm by adam gidwitz — silly and spooky. perfect! and the other two books are just as marvellous :)
the last wild by piers torday — i think it was a book of the year in my school and i ate up story time.
Dec 29, 2024
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to understand pedophiles’ sick little games and know my enemy because I was already suspicious and wary due to having been raised on a diet of Lifetime movies by my paranoiac women’s studies professor mother.
Also:
* Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
* every Stephen King book I could get my hands on
* random bad murder mysteries by James Patterson/Phillip Margolin (his books made me want to be a lawye)/Jonathan Kellerman (his books made me want to be a psychologist…) or whatever
* The Mediator series — weird YA romance series written by Meg Cabot author of The Princess Diaries about a psychic girl who falls in love with a Spanish 19th century ghost and investigates murders?
* Blue is for Nightmares — generic series about yet another teenage psychic who is also a witch and she uses her powers to investigate murders at her boarding school
* The Seance by Joan Lowery Nixon — girl goes missing at a seance lol
* House of Night — wow this YA vampire series sure is bad
* The Sitter — bizarre and twisted young adult book by RL Stine
* The Face on the Milk Carton — YA thriller series about a girl who sees her own face on a missing children’s graphic on a milk carton and begins to believe she may have been kidnapped by her parents
* Princess Ai — manga series by Courtney Love lmao
* NOT TWILIGHT (jk I totally read and loved Twilight)
May 14, 2024
Top Recs from @lynnnnie
Jun 15, 2024
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Put on the robe, turn on adult swim or whatever, crank the ac, eat a late night snack in one bed and sleep in the other. The freedom of impersonal liminal space.
Oct 21, 2024
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hundreds of thousands of times over
The context may be different but no emotion is completely new— i can cope
Aug 1, 2024