emma > Recent Status Updates

in august i had my best reading month (i read 28 books) and my worst reading month (i hated them).

here is my full wrap-up.

how was your august?

i set out to read the 12 most popular books on my tbr.

i hated four, liked four, and had no feelings whatsoever about four. i spent months on library hold lists. i threatened to learn how to dnf. i considered removing myself from society and becoming a hermit.

i should never do that again.

(read the full adventure here.)

even when i want to read a beloved bestseller, i feel like there's no chance i'm going to like it.

so i read the 12 most popular books on my tbr to test it out.

just hated a book so much i read the last page, marked it as finished on goodreads, and immediately wrote 1300 words on why it's terrible

as a weird girl reader, i feel qualified to write a list of the weird girl books worth reading.

i still can't believe it, but i hit 100,000 followers here on goodreads.

to celebrate and say thank you, i'm giving away a free month on substack. you can subscribe here!

i can't believe i'm saying this: i hit 100,000 followers here on goodreads.

to celebrate, i'm listing my 100 most popular reviews i've ever written here. thank you from the bottom of my heart!

i just hit 100,000 goodreads followers.

the teenage version of me who shyly started reviewing everything she read would never have believed this could happen. i can hardly believe it myself.

it's been 10ish years of great books, bad books, book discussions, and so much fun. thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my dumb thoughts. i will never leave this hellsite.

there is nothing like the feeling of reading a novel so wonderful it prevents you from doing anything else (until you’ve finished it and entered the corresponding depression).

(these are the books that did that.)

when a book claims it's FOR FANS OF [insert one of my favorite authors], i fall for it every single time.

(i have 20 examples with sally rooney alone.)

i have been trying to hate read YESTERYEAR so, given the fact that after a month i am hold number #221, when i saw my local library had it on the lucky day shelf i thought i’d stop by when they opened.

i asked a librarian who it turns out had already scooped it for themselves. now i am the topic of library conversation for camping outside for tradwife bestsellers allegations.

i'm living an introvert nightmare.

i have a cold and unfeeling heart.

but these books got to even me.

there are so many good books coming out that i don't know where to start.

so i wrote a list of 50+ of them.

in july, i read 27 books, loved two of them, and hated many, many more.

(i talk about all of them here.)

how was your reading month?

people often ask me how i read so much.

i'm nothing if not literal, so i wrote a week-long reading log.

one of the worst things that can happen in life is a reading slump.

(here's what i think you should read if you haven't read in ages.)

sometimes instead of reading books i catch myself just reading wikipedia articles.

these are my favorite novels that feel like the best of both worlds.

recommending my favorite thing (books) based on my favorite things (summer, wikipedia articles, phoebe bridgers, etc) here.

do you have any categories you love across media?

reading a book so unputdownable you can't sleep until you've finished it >>>

(these are my favorite examples.)

sometimes it feels like literally every book is a nyt bestseller.

(these are the ones worth reading.)

i don't know how anyone can call themselves well-read. there's just too much to read.

but i think everyone should pick up these 12 books.

i have invented a new game: buy, borrow, avoid.

it's like f*ck marry kill but for books.

play a few rounds with me here.

just read a list of no plot, just vibes books on here and i'd read literally all of them.

these are my recommendations for reading about people just living.

i've read 147 books so far this year.

these are the 50 best.

how was your reading month?

in june, i read 25 books and found 3 favorites. i'm walking on sunshine. wrap-up here.

what's your favorite made-up niche subgenre?

i'm recommending books in 15 hyperspecific categories here.

after years of being called a nerd...now all the cool girls are reading.

so i wrote an essay about it.

one of my favorite parts of reading is rereading.

so i made a list of every book i've read again here.

i hate everything. except for reading.

these are my favorite books for haters.

i just got a new kindle and i marked the old books as read and somehow it connected to my goodreads and now i'm 92 books ahead on my reading challenge.

this is the world's worst website.