By 5D writer & book obsessive, Laurie S. Bachmann
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This year has seen me once again pick up a book and devour world after world in a crazed ADHD flurry. A bit of back story, I had not read a word since completing my degree back in 2014. This changed when I discovered TikTok, not the best place for the ADHD inclined – with millions of videos ranging from 7 seconds to 9 minutes; there is a universe of creators tailoring their content to moms, hoarders, socialites, budding makeup artists, cosplayers, comics and many, many, many more. It is a cornucopia of digital content to satisfy any demographic. I found myself on BookTok and my mind was blown; I was overtaken with book recs, TikTok “drama”, social discussions regarding representation and problematic tropes, and I was OBSESSED.
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I also discovered Legendborn by Tracey Dion, and thus the book-buying and book-devouring began. Did TikTok unleash a monster – why yes it did!
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For those that do not know (those that live in holes), Legendborn is a YA (young adult) retelling of the Arthurian legend. Set in an American university, it follows Bree as she navigates collegiate life at 16 years old. She becomes embroiled with a secret society, learning that they are in fact scions of the original knights of the round table, and they are about to engage in an epic battle between good and evil, Camlann – for those Arthurianites out there, you will know that this is the legendary final battle of King Arthur. There is a strong roster of characters and is just an epic rollercoaster of a ride. The sequel was released this year, and it is just as wonderful as its first instalment, which is developing well on the world built in the first book.
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I also discovered StoryGraph, and as any good Booktoker does, I began tracking the books I read, or more accurately devoured, over the course of what remained of 2022. I know nobody asked but it was in fact a final tally of 75; I was stoked.
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This year, I embark on an epic journey of sorts. I am engaging in yet another time-honoured TikTok tradition – the book challenge. I scoured the internet in search of the most ADHD-friendly challenge I could find and decided that as a mood reader I would need to do 2, as a sci-fi, fantasy and horror fan, I naturally chose two which focused on these.
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I joined Books of Horror on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/526308964218819/) and one of their users had created this challenge – consisting of 24 books, it seemed feasible to combine with the Fantasy challenge I had chosen on Storygraph.
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It focuses on Horror sub-genres and promotes the reading of BIPOC and Independent authors as well. The community is wonderful – we all know how scary Facebook can be for the Trolls, but BOH is a phenomenal collection of wonderfully deranged individuals united by all things horrifying.
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The second challenge chosen was created by a Stroygraph user, with the intention of focusing on Fantasy, however, one of my personal 2023 reading resolutions is to dive into Sci-Fi. I have never really read the genre before, but I love Sci-Fi shows. The challenge has proved a number of prompts which include: magic, stand-alone, witches, reluctant hero, secret truth, mentor, item of power, good vs evil, dragons (of course!) chosen one, quests, secret heir and many more. I will include a full list, as well as the chosen books throughout the course of this year.
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So, 2023 seems set to be a full year. I would love to hear what your Bookish resolutions are!
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If you would like to donate & support the 5D Pop Culture website & keep informed of more features like this as well as some additional treats for supporters only – go here: https://ko-fi.com/5dpopculturewebsite
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