#book reqs

when the orphanage he was terrified to visit becomes the found family he didn't know he was missing: the house in the cerulean sea by t. j. klune (mlm)

enemies to corresponding lovers beyond the confines of space and time: this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone (wlw)

willing to go to war for him childhood friends-to-lovers (read: will cleave your soul in two by the end): the song of achilles by madeline miller (mlm)

enemies-to-lovers pining after each other through tv screens amid glamorous hollywood scandal: the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid (wlw, bi rep)

growing up queer during the nigerian civil war and the heartbreak that ensues (based on true stories): under the udala trees by chinelo okparanta (wlw, lesbian rep)

thinking of her crush (who may be stuck in a time loop on the ny subway) every time she buys a sandwich: one last stop by casey mcquiston (wlw, lesbian rep, bi rep)

girl sent away amidst new zealand wartime discovers the power of transformative magic and loves: no man's land by a. j. fitzwater (wlw, genderfluid rep)

ace girl seeking to avoid an arranged marriage and become a doctor is accidentally kidnapped by pirates: the lady's guide to petticoats and piracy by mackenzi lee (aroace rep, sapphic rep)

consumed by finding the girl who kissed her and disappeared, a girl angrily follows a trail of letters: i kissed shara wheeler by casey mcquiston (wlw, mlm, bi rep, nonbinary rep)

astronomer drunkenly married in vegas learns more about her new wife and, in the process, herself: honey girl by morgan rogers (wlw)

fake dating to satisfy friends and family goals is interrupted by... feelings?: hani and ishu's guide to fake dating by adiba jaigirdar (wlw, bi rep)

trans woman falling for childhood best friend as she supports him through grief: a lady for a duke by alexis hall (trans rep)

found-family of thieves attempting to pull off an impossible heist: foundryside by robert jackson bennett (wlw)

band kids/political pawns find solace and love as they attempt to finish high school: forward march by skye quinlan (wlw)

a journey surrounding the birth of a god and the chaos and upheaval that follows: black sun by rebecca roanhorse (bi rep, nonbinary rep)

when his death makes him realize his dad is a norse god: magnus chase and the gods of asgard by rick riordan (genderfluid rep)

seeking advice in a newfound friendship to get the girls of their dreams: she gets the girl by rachael lippincott and alyson derrick (wlw, lesbian rep)

realizing his nemesis isn't as bad as he thought and possibly... hot? (but in a political battlefield): red, white & royal blue by casey mcquiston (mlm, gay rep, bi rep)

fake boyfriends who act as each others' plus ones at public events and kiss sometimes: boyfriend material by alexis hall (mlm, gay rep)

childhood friends who accidentally involve themselves in resurrection plots and piracy: the gentleman's guide to vice and virtue by mackenzi lee (mlm, gay rep, bi rep)

opposites attract but within an arranged marriage to appease inter-galactic animosities: winter's orbit by everina maxwell (mlm)

plus, graphic novels/comics! (most of which are available for free on webtoon)

and they were stuck in a tourist train to the moon together: two losers from earth by kit_is_mad (mlm)

bug found family bug found family (need i say more): bugtopia by idolomantises (wlw, mlm, lgbtqia+ rep)

rockstar estranged from his family (and old friends) returns home for a wedding: it strikes a chord by springrooove (mlm)

found family and love amid the treacheries of high school in the uk: heartstopper by alice oseman (mlm, wlw, trans rep, gay rep, bi rep, nonbinary rep, ace rep)

enjoying the mundanity of life with his boyfriend by his side: duncan and eddie by doginacafe (mlm)

I find omniscient books do this pretty well too. I think it's the matter-of-factness of the speech patterns tied with a slight peculiar setting.

Thank you @ravenkinnie for the tag! :-)

This list is a bit all over the place, since I've never been a consistent reader (which I'm trying to be better about...slowly lmao). I tend to find things I really like and keep them as referentials for when I need to feel inspired.

Sometimes A Wild God — This poem put breath back into my soul after a huge creative slump years ago. I adore Tom Hirons's prose. It captures such a mystical flavor of dark, ancient, old-magick beauty. Absolute stylistic bookmark for me; I always come back to this when I want to evoke something otherwordly.

Residence on Earth — Favorite poet, favorite poetry collection (Spanish/English version). Neruda's been a staple on my shelf for years. Everything in here connects back to the elements in some way, and how the human experience coalesces in them all.

On Fairy Stories — I have to include Tolkien somewhere on here (The Hobbit and The Silmarillion are close runner-ups), but I'm opting for his essay on what defines fantasy as a genre. I've been inspired by his writing forever, and this piece is just a treat. Plenty of etymology breakdowns, as you'd expect, and analyses of historical fae-stories and myths.

On Trails — Getting into the nonfiction scientific prose side of things, this was my first real introduction into the genre. It's part-memoir and part-research study on the behavioral evolution of trail-making and its connection from ants to cities.

Voices of Chernobyl — Anthropology major coming back to bite me, but I love oral histories. I fell into a big rabbit hole with global nuclear disasters a while ago, largely thanks to HBO's podcast for Chernobyl, which was significantly based on this book.

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena — One of my favorites, for plenty of reasons: falls in the vein of historical fiction (set around the events of the Chechen Wars), multi-character POVs, protector-dad and rebel-daughter found family, and overall just a haunting, beautiful novel.

Cloud Atlas – In the same vein, this is also one of my favorites, for a similar set of reasons and more: multi-POV historical fiction plus time travel (jumps everywhere from 1800s to dystopian future), set around a murder mystery. Tons of humanistic themes in here on what it means to find purpose and connection through time.

The Return of the Native — Hardy's my Victorian-era author of choice, and this book is so damned broody, I love it. Basically just 1000 ways to describe how the English countryside will pick her teeth with generation upon generation of lonely souls in woe with their lovers—and I eat it up every time.

Red Dragon — Hannibal as a whole is just a solid top-of-the-list for favorite series—books, movies, show, everything. But there's something about how this book introduces it all that is just captivating. Something I always think about is how Harris writes in past-tense 90% of the time, but will switch to present-tense when talking about certain characters. It's downright eerie, and creates this sense of infinite presence you can't escape from. AGH. I just love his writing a lot.