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“Babel: An Arcane History” by R.F. Kuang
R.F. Kuang’s “Babel: An Arcane History” follows Robin Swift, an orphan brought to London from Canton by Professor Lovell, a translation professor. Professor Lovell trains Robin in Latin, Greek, and Chinese so that Robin can attend Babel – Oxford University’s Royal Institute of Translation. Babel supplies England with magical silver bars charged with the meanings…
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My Thoughts on BookTok (Pt.2)
Hi all! Welcome back! Last week, I started a little rant about BookTok, the bookish subculture on TikTok. Last week, I talked a bit about the marketing of romance books, the normalisation of adult content in YA novels, and what they label as “must-reads.” This week, I wanted to tackle some other issues like the…
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My Thoughts on BookTok (Pt.1)
In the 18th century reading was considered a delinquent activity. Teenage girls were banned from reading alone in their rooms out of fear that they would become too aroused by the story. Sounds absolutely crazy and unreasonable, right? Now, enter today’s romance books, and its subcultures, specifically BookTok — a section of TikTok where book-related…