from our shelves to yours
40 Discord favorites and a new bracket battle.
Hi friends,
I'm incredibly grateful to be surrounded by thoughtful readers. And I mean "readers" in the broadest sense, in the way that Elaine Castillo talks about in How to Read Now:
"When I talk about how to read now, I'm not just talking about how to read books now; I'm talking about how to read the world now. How to read film, TV shows, our history, each other. How to dismantle the forms of interpretation we've inherited; how those ways of interpreting are everywhere and unseen."
I love the idea that we can treat stories as living things, and conversely, the world as something readable, if only we're willing to pay time and attention. And my Discord, in particular, has become a little ecosystem of that kind of reader, curious and thoughtful, honest and generous with the way they think and feel.
I say all of this now not only to brag a little about one of my favorite corners of the Internet, but to paint a picture of this space where we collect and curate recommendations from readers who honor both the head and the heart.
Inspired by this post by Meg, I wanted to share with you the 40 books my Discord recommends the most, at least, as determined by us, based on what felt right:
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
Adult Fantasy, 2023
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
Non-Fiction, 2021
The Apothecary Diaries by Natsu Hyuuga
Manga, 2014
The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Adult Fantasy Romance, 2017
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Non-Fiction, 2013
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
Adult Fantasy, 2015
Chain-Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Adult Sci-Fi, 2023
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
Adult Fantasy Romance, 2025
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Adult Fantasy, 2014
The Graceling Realm by Kristin Cashore
Young Adult Fantasy, 2008
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
Adult Sci-Fi, 2020
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
Children's Fantasy, 1995
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Young Adult Sci-Fi. 2008
Interesting Facts About Space by Emily R. Austin
Adult Contemporary Fiction, 2024
James by Percival Everett
Adult Historical Fiction, 2024
The Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews
Adult Urban Fantasy, 2014
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
Young Adult Fantasy, 2021
The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir
Adult Science-Fantasy, 2019
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Adult Fantasy, 1954
The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko
Young Adult Fantasy, 2024
Metal from Heaven by August Clarke
Adult Fantasy, 2024
Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano-Córdova
Adult Horror, 2023
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Adult Sci-Fi, 2017
The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante
Adult Literary Fiction, 2011
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
Adult Fantasy, 2022
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Adult Fantasy, 2011
Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill
Adult Historical Fiction, 2023
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Adult Horror, 2022
The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente
Adult Sci-Fi Novella, 2021
Penance by Eliza Clark
Adult Contemporary Fiction, 2023
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
Young Adult Fantasy, 2019
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Adult Fantasy, 2020
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Adult Classic Romance, 1813
The Queen's Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Young Adult Fantasy, 1996
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
Adult Sci-Fi, 2020
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
Adult Fantasy, 2022
They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib
Non-Fiction, 2017
To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
Adult Fantasy, 2023
Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
Adult Horror Romance, 2023
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
Adult Historical Fiction, 2024
I've added them all to a dedicated shelf on my bookshelf, in case you want to add 1 (or 40) to your TBR.
Thank you to my Discord for having excellent taste (I've read 28 of 40, plus 4 more first books in the series, and 2 I'm currently reading) and for helping me compile this list. If you are in a paid tier/in my Discord, we're adding reading one of these books to our Q1 Bingo Board, so stay tuned for that!
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Round 3
Higher
Album: Sundowning
I could make you a little list of the types of Sleep Token songs I love, and that list would absolutely include the ones that are basically seven different songs stacked in a trench coat, as well as the ones that build until they spill fully into metal, like a pressure valve being released. (I've only just had this thought, so I'm not sure what else would be on that list yet, but those two categories are a lock.)
And "Higher" is a song that builds so that by the time he's screaming "the debt that I owe," it's both cathartic and slightly feral, which perfectly matches this song that is lyrically about two people circling the same wound from opposite angles. And how exhausting is misalignment? Perhaps only slightly less than addiction to wanting different things, needing different things, remembering differently, and forgetting differently.
The push and pull here are my favorite, particularly in the lyrics:
'Cause I look for scarlet and you look for ultraviolet
And we are exhausted by all this pretending, we just can't resist the violence
And you need a melody, I only need the silence
But each time we battle, the blood and the fury takes us a little higher
Put "You need a melody, I only need the silence" on my grave.
Damocles
Album: Even In Arcadia
If "Higher" is a song about misalignment between two people, then one could venture that "Damocles" is a song about the misalignment between a person and the persona they've built. And if "Higher" is one of my favorite kinds of Sleep Token songs musically, Damocles is my favorite Sleep Token subject lyrically.
I love it when we start to see glimmers of the man behind the mask and when my personal theory of Sleep being a stand-in for the artist's bargain really comes through.
This song takes its name from the story of the Sword of Damocles. In it, Damocles is offered the throne for a day so he can have a taste of the luxury he envies. But it's on the throne that he notices a blade suspended above his head, held by a single horsehair. It's a lesson orchestrated by the king: it was easy to covet what he was seeing from afar, but the danger became clear with proximity. Danger that is not lessened by luxury or adoration and that certainly feels like a trap.
That feeling of the sword hanging over Vessel's head?
Who will I be when the empire falls?
Wake up alone, and I'll be forgotten
A man hiding behind a mask fears the temporary nature of fame and the almost certainty that none of us really know him.
I also love how "Damocles" has taken on a life of its own in the fandom via Projekt Damocles. I find something almost unbearably tender in responding to a song about fear of disappearing with a message of collective care.
I have to go with the emotional hit this round: It's Damocles for me.
Round 1: Jaws wins over Sugar
Round 2: The Love You Want wins over Descending
Round 3: Will it be Higher or Damocles? Vote below!
❤️
Mari
If you are reading this and haven't yet followed me, please do so! It's free and takes 15 seconds to sign up. If you'd like access to my Discord and bonus content, consider spending $5 a month to support my work and publishing journey. Either way, thanks for being here!
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Dec 2
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