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Hey, y’all!

The discussion on “Does reading make you a better writer?” sparked this idea.

Which books have you (recently) read and what did you learn from them? It doesn’t have to be super in-depth, and you don’t even have to have enjoyed the book, but if it taught you something, I’d love to hear about it!

I’ll go first and list a couple off the top of my head.

Flavia de Luce books (First two) by Alan Bradley. 4/5 stars. 

Goodness, the character voice in this one!! It’s bright and vivid. The mysteries were… predictable at best, but the main character was so much fun she made up for it. It really showed me that the best way to make anything interesting is to give your main character opinions about it, and people will stick with mediocre plots if your main character is interesting enough.

The Princess Will Save You by Sarah Henning. 2/5 stars.

The damsel in distress trope isn’t about women being useless, it’s about a character, (any character, male included) lacking agency. It was an interesting subversion, but very poor execution. (Also, I really don’t like the title. XD) The main love story was kinda okay, but the main love interest had about as much agency as a flour sack. Also, think about your worldbuilding for longer than five seconds.

I’d love to hear about the books y’all read and whether you enjoyed them or otherwise!

Tagging some people:

@wingiby-iggiby

@calidris

@noah-cochran

@imwritehere1920

@sparrowhawke

@arindown

@this-is-not-an-alien

@joelle-stone

@irishcelticredflowercrown

@joy-caroline