YABookgate

[Someone in a Tree]

And, again, the reviews remind us of why we should never try to pander to people like this:
View attachment 1346283

Aphobia didn’t exist until asexuals decided they wanted a place in the oppression Olympics. And though the reviewer claims they rarely cite trigger warnings, the kind of people who do so do it ALL THE TIME.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

And, again, the reviews remind us of why we should never try to pander to people like this:
View attachment 1346283

"Aphobia" can mean either "fearlessness" or "fear of asexuals/asexuality." Today I learned. And now I wonder how long is it until the Tumblr definition crowds out the normal one?

BTW, did you see that SE Hinton, the author of The Outsiders, also thought this was a parody of that book. Was gonna post that but I got bored after all that typing. Plus I needed a brain cleanse after wading through all that crap. The Tranny's name is Pony and Hinton took it from there. And the book title is, well...Where could it possibly be from? I dunno, man. No clue.

GoodReads noting Hinton 41%ing eleventy billion trannies that day:

https://www.goodreads.com/questions/1811264-s-e-hinton-herself-considers-this-a

The Twitter thread:

https://twitter.com/se4realhinton/status/1253455220719472645

Spoiler: sperg/rant

Sometimes I think SJWs are kind of like Morgoth, only able to offer up mockeries and debasements of the work of others. I'm sure there are some very creative SJWs out there, but...you stumble across this sort of thing with them more than any other group. Or so it seems. I wonder if Hinton is on to something and this did in fact start off as fanfiction?

 

[Syaoran Li]

There's really no YA for boys anymore. It doesn't really exist (and a ton of it was written by women anyway, which is fine, but nowadays the only women around are insane). So boys are basically stuck with assigned books, older books or adult books. For Young Adult, there's really not much that's politically appropriate that will appeal to a teenage boy whose hormones are raging (sex, violence and the like). Power fantasies are universally a no-no (unless its a female power fantasy). So you're not going to really catch them reading.

The best bet is to have a parent that understands this and shovels classic fiction and adult fiction their way so they can hop out of the gap. Really the only thing I can think of that will catch boys is a genre that doesn't exist in the West: The Japanese Light Novel. These cover all sorts of topics and are basically written to be very easy to read. Descriptions very short and curt, simple dialogue, simple plots. They're made to be written quick and read quick.

The problem is this genre doesn't actually exist in Western cultures. And if you do read Japanese light novels, the problem is that the dialogue and wording is very stilted because of the translation. This happens with pretty much any foreign book unless you get a dedicated translator, author and editor (you kind of actually need a PhD to translate literature, because some languages have wordings, verbiage and even the way the sound together to convey meaning, which is lost in English translation).

"Young Adult" Book consumers are almost always female. So they're going to be written for that demo. Writing 'Young Adult' for boys almost seems like a pointless endeavor to me. You're better off trying to replicate an easy-to-read style of Light Novel and going straight to popular fiction and skipping the genre altogether.

I understand that there's this desire for young boys to have something, but for me growing up, I basically skipped right from books in school to Stephen King, Pratchett, Tolkien and Lewis. What you have is basically to build that bridge, get boys the reading skills and maybe make them find books on their own.

Honestly, I think the writers who do an American take on the light novel format and explicitly go and market it to boys could make a decent name for themselves and maybe a bit of money too as well, especially if they market it right and go for self-publishing.

It's an untapped market with a lot of potential, and self-publishing will be the key to getting it out there.

I'll be honest, I've often considered being one of the ones who builds that bridge and writes a book like that.

 

[Piga Dgrifm]

GoodReads noting Hinton 41%ing eleventy billion trannies that day:

https://www.goodreads.com/questions/1811264-s-e-hinton-herself-considers-this-a

Trans authors and trans stories are already at such a disadvantage to get published

Lol no. As we've seen time and time again, plenty of poorly written tripe will be trotted out and heavily promoted purely because of what politics it has. It doesn't matter if the story is shallow and poorly told, and thus the representation is shitty, it just matters that that representation is there to start with.

Take a look at Alex Gino's work as an example, his books are extremely badly written and one book is mostly just copy-pasted text messages, but he's gotten awards because he puts LGBT or black characters into his books and has them spout text-walls about how oppressed they are.

 

[KimCoppolaAficionado]

I'm male and I read them since I'm like 12 years old and they were the most important influence on my world view and character development after cartoons and Disney comics.

This explains a lot about why you have crippling Asperger's.

 

[Webby's Boyfriend]

This explains a lot about why you have crippling Asperger's.

Says the animefag.

 

[Someone in a Tree]

This explains a lot about why you have crippling Asperger's.

Says the animefag.

Fellas, fellas. We’re on Kiwi Farms. All of us are irredeemable monsters and spergs.

 

[neverendingmidi]

There's really no YA for boys anymore. It doesn't really exist (and a ton of it was written by women anyway, which is fine, but nowadays the only women around are insane). So boys are basically stuck with assigned books, older books or adult books. For Young Adult, there's really not much that's politically appropriate that will appeal to a teenage boy whose hormones are raging (sex, violence and the like). Power fantasies are universally a no-no (unless its a female power fantasy). So you're not going to really catch them reading.

The best bet is to have a parent that understands this and shovels classic fiction and adult fiction their way so they can hop out of the gap. Really the only thing I can think of that will catch boys is a genre that doesn't exist in the West: The Japanese Light Novel. These cover all sorts of topics and are basically written to be very easy to read. Descriptions very short and curt, simple dialogue, simple plots. They're made to be written quick and read quick.

The problem is this genre doesn't actually exist in Western cultures. And if you do read Japanese light novels, the problem is that the dialogue and wording is very stilted because of the translation. This happens with pretty much any foreign book unless you get a dedicated translator, author and editor (you kind of actually need a PhD to translate literature, because some languages have wordings, verbiage and even the way the sound together to convey meaning, which is lost in English translation).

"Young Adult" Book consumers are almost always female. So they're going to be written for that demo. Writing 'Young Adult' for boys almost seems like a pointless endeavor to me. You're better off trying to replicate an easy-to-read style of Light Novel and going straight to popular fiction and skipping the genre altogether.

I understand that there's this desire for young boys to have something, but for me growing up, I basically skipped right from books in school to Stephen King, Pratchett, Tolkien and Lewis. What you have is basically to build that bridge, get boys the reading skills and maybe make them find books on their own.

By that definition of "light novel" it seems like you're describing what used to be called "pulp fiction". Things like the original James Bond books and the like.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

By that definition of "light novel" it seems like you're describing what used to be called "pulp fiction". Things like the original James Bond books and the like.

I think Illustrations are considered an integral part of light novels as I understand the genre, and have been since the 1970s. Aside from lurid (for the time) covers I don't think they were common at all in pulp fiction, at least in novel form. (Maybe in magazines?)

As an aside, it is kind of a pity the people behind Hard Case publishers are so overloaded with TDS. Still kind of amusing how they're deliberately trying to port in a 1950s look to all their books, both reprints and new titles.

 

[Secret Asshole]

By that definition of "light novel" it seems like you're describing what used to be called "pulp fiction". Things like the original James Bond books and the like.

No, its different. Its hard to explain. But there are illustrations, which lends a manga-like feel. There's also a cut-down on purple prose and description, so it doesn't fall into the pulp fiction category. Its very streamlined and to the point, which allows a lot of them to be pumped out at once.

Nah, couldn't be could it? I mean, take a look at the "New YA releases" GoodReads is pushing for May/June 2020:

https://www.goodreads.com/genres/young-adult (obviously link updates at some point)
edit: http://archive.md/StX8u

View attachment 1345659​

As the saying goes, my sides have left the building. There's literally (maybe?) two books on this list that would interest a teenage male who is heterosexual.

Clap When You Land - Dominican Guurrrll power as two half sisters realize daddy played around and had a second family.

Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle #2) - Second book in a space opera trilogy, this is the one that MIGHT be of interest to straight boys. But IIRC chicks on a book cover are typically of limited interest to boys. Which this has.

The Fascinators - Two boys with superpowers...who might just have "feelings" for each other. Looks like the authors of m/m slash fic are now all grown up and have found homes at Big 5 Publishers.

Henna Wars - Lesbian Muslim girls, hopefully with descriptive scissoring or something. Or even better Mom and Dad throw her off a building. HaHaha, who am I kidding?

Felix Ever After - Fat Beaner who is also tranny and genderqueer, lookin' for love. Apparently not in a wheelchair, much to my surprise. Sure to be a hit between rounds on Fortnite with all those 13 year olds, right?

House of Dragons (House of Dragons #1) - Another maybe. Seems like a Woke D&D campaign? And a generic fanasy cover is probably better than anything else on this list. The majority of the MCs are even male, by my count.

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea - Not even sure WTF this one is supposed to be about, TBH. Lesbian magical pirates who crossdress, maybe?

By the Book - YA teen romance. For those nerd girls into Jane Austen and Emily Bronte, but who also demand hot guys (who fawn all over them) AND a feminist message. I sense the beans already flicking.

Parachutes - HaHaHa, WTF? As if any wealthy Chink family would dump their daughter into an LA beaner home. I'm sure they'll be lots of gurrllpowah and best fweindsies foeva by the end of this one, though.

The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly - Another YA romance with a feminist message. And hawt guys, presumably. Blah, blah, blah women can't LARP as knights in MY medieval themed restaurant as main theme/conflict. Yup, they went there.

This Coven Won't Break (These Witches Don't Burn #2) - Lesbian witches being chased quite literally by the forces of the patriarchy who want to steal their magic. U Go Gurl!

Stay Gold - Transgender "boy" going "stealth" at a Texas High School. And the "cisgender" girl who is drawn to "him."

Forged in Fire and Stars (Forged in Fire and Stars #1) - Female blacksmith becomes some sort of Loremaster to a dethroned princess. IDK, not as off-putting as most on this list, but nothing I could see here as appealing to a boy. Does not have an instant turn off cover, though. Nah, still rejecting.

Date Me, Bryson Keller - Openly gay nerd secretly dates in the closet gay popular dude. Doubtless high school hilarity ensues.

The Paper Girl of Paris - YA Romance set in Paris, presumably pretending the place isn't Little Algiers at this point. Maybe historical flashback to WWII, dunno and don't really care.

Summary: Of the fifteen books GoodReads recommended, there are two iffy at best books straight boys might read. And one of those has a cover that will more likely than not make boys reject it.

Hadn't meant to do all fifteen, but I guess I got on a roll. And I guess I was curious to see if it was as bad as I first thought. It was, sadly.

Yeah, these are books for adult women. These aren't 'young adult' by any stretch of the imagination. That's why boys basically have to read adult fiction.

Honestly, I think the writers who do an American take on the light novel format and explicitly go and market it to boys could make a decent name for themselves and maybe a bit of money too as well, especially if they market it right and go for self-publishing.

It's an untapped market with a lot of potential, and self-publishing will be the key to getting it out there.

I'll be honest, I've often considered being one of the ones who builds that bridge and writes a book like that.

The tough part is that there's no real pipe-line from 'web novel' to 'published novel' in the US. If you were Japanese, yeah, its WAY easier to get a LN published. But for the US, you're basically stuck with amazon. There's really no good 'web novel' sites (and any that did exist would be curated to fuck and back, defeating the point).

I guess you'd just use Amazon, hire a manga-type artist for the cover and go that route. The problem is that the 'light novel' is really against a descriptive style that I enjoy. There's also a lot less room to play around.

 

[Furina]

So seeing how all these books are written by and for adult women who can't read books for their age group... What are actual young adults reading? I'm assuming most Kiwis are in their 20s, so not the best people to ask but maybe someone can enlighten me what's popular with the kids these days? Not required reading, obviously, but for pleasure.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

Second helping of GoodReads New YA Releases. Thematically this batch doesn't seem quite as out to lunch as the last batch, but this time I see nothing -- as in zero -- that would interest a young man. Or at any rate a young, straight man. And probably not even a young gay man.

As an aside, the way the site is organized for purposes of this discussion gives me hives, and I'm not normally on the GoodReads hate train. New Releases for June 2020 is the same but with a different format from June's Most Anticipated Young Adult Books and the latter has more books. And both are different from NEW RELEASES TAGGED "YOUNG ADULT, the information I used on my last post. Possibly the first two are paid promotion and the last one is data from users, dunno. Or maybe the other way around, though the second entry is from their blog. Whatever, confused me at any rate.

Anyhoo, without further ado...

​

My Calamity Jane - This might be the single most incoherent GoodReads blurb I've ever read, but I do see the protagonist is female, the setting is some sort of alternate history Wild West, and ... beyond that I'm honestly not sure. This is book # 3 in a series so perhaps that accounts for it. Whatever. The blurb reads like it was written by a drunk.

Forest of Souls (Shamanborn #1) - YA Fantasy with magical girl who has the one true power to do something nobody else can, 'cuz she's special. Will she save the world? What do you think? Not sure if the Romance is male/female, female/female or female/ghost, though it appears to be more implied than stated. Lots of ARC readers squeeeeing about how much they love the cover. (Not seeing the cover business, but I'm not a 31 year old woman, excuse me, teenage girl, either.)

The Court of Miracles (A Court of Miracles #1) - Thief chick in post-Napoleonic France doing thief chick things and keeping her little sister safe, 'cuz they're orphans. "Alternate 1828 Paris," so...eh, last of the Bourbons, I guess. The top reviewers don't seem impressed, and much to my surprise there's apparently minimal magic.

Sisters of Sword and Song - Standalone fantasy novel about "the unbreakable bond between sisters." Need I say more?

Burn - This is one I plan on reading, 'cuz it is by Patrick Ness. All the reviews are squeeing about how gay it is, which is weird since the main characters are a girl who lives on her farm with her father and the plot is all how they hire a dragon to help them plow their fields. Where's teh gay?

You Say It First - Contemporary YA Romance, between -- shocker -- two white teenagers, one male and one female. Is that even allowed? Anyhoo, the reviews are all about how "dark and gritty" this one is.

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, #1) - YA fantasy with a Romance and dark forces and magic and did I mention Romance? Princess and Bad Boy Who is a Refugee and, yeah, I'm sure I can guess what happens next.

The State of Us - Gay dude meets gay dude and gayness happens, except one gay dude is the son of a Republican woman running for President and the other gay dude is the son of the man running for president as a Democrat. You'd think all this gayness would be loved by the GR reviewers, but they're having none of it. Ahem:

​

Can't tell if "Sue" here started life as Sam or if "she" just has a strong jaw-line. If there's one thing KF has taught me it is to be suspicious of these things.

Apparently the author is being cancelled after he had a flamboyantly gay bitchy sperg out either in an interview or on twitter over how useless "Sensitivity Readers" are. This may in fact require further investigation. One can but hope it has not all been baleeted. (He is doubtless completely correct, but that is NOT the 2020 narrative, nosiree.)

At any rate, there you have it. Eight more new releases with all kind of goodness that every teenage boy will definitely be lining up to read.

Can't wait to see what July holds.

 

[Pond Scum]

Apparently the author is being cancelled after he had a flamboyantly gay bitchy sperg out either in an interview or on twitter over how useless "Sensitivity Readers" are. This may in fact require further investigation. One can but hope it has not all been baleeted. (He is doubtless completely correct, but that is NOT the 2020 narrative, nosiree.)

A YA book about gay teenagers written by an actual man? The book is worth something just for its novelty.

 

[Piga Dgrifm]

The State of Us - Gay dude meets gay dude and gayness happens, except one gay dude is the son of a Republican woman running for President and the other gay dude is the son of the man running for president as a Democrat. You'd think all this gayness would be loved by the GR reviewers, but they're having none of it. Ahem:

View attachment 1350518​

Can't tell if "Sue" here started life as Sam or if "she" just has a strong jaw-line. If there's one thing KF has taught me it is to be suspicious of these things.

Apparently the author is being cancelled after he had a flamboyantly gay bitchy sperg out either in an interview or on twitter over how useless "Sensitivity Readers" are. This may in fact require further investigation. One can but hope it has not all been baleeted. (He is doubtless completely correct, but that is NOT the 2020 narrative, nosiree.)

At any rate, there you have it. Eight more new releases with all kind of goodness that every teenage boy will definitely be lining up to read.

Can't wait to see what July holds.

That sounds like it could maybe be decently funny in the right hands, and I'm glad to see at least one writer not bowing down to the bleating shrews.

My Calamity Jane - This might be the single most incoherent GoodReads blurb I've ever read, but I do see the protagonist is female, the setting is some sort of alternate history Wild West, and ... beyond that I'm honestly not sure. This is book # 3 in a series so perhaps that accounts for it. Whatever. The blurb reads like it was written by a drunk.

I checked the other two books in the series, and nothing about them helps this seem more coherent, if anything it makes less sense now:

 

[Giant Throbbing Clit]

Who cares if YA novels aren't catered to boys? Most YA is trash and so are most YAs aimed at boys. They shouldn't be reading that anyways.

 

[Mola Ram]

Who cares if YA novels aren't catered to boys? Most YA is trash and so are most YAs aimed at boys. They shouldn't be reading that anyways.

Seriously, I don't see boys being forced to graduate to real books earlier than their pampered, cossetted, self-absorbed female / female-presenting / soydrenched sexual basket case counterparts as a negative in any way.

 

[Syaoran Li]

Seriously, I don't see boys being forced to graduate to real books earlier than their pampered, cossetted, self-absorbed female / female-presenting / soydrenched sexual basket case counterparts as a negative in any way.

Problem is because of the lack of YA books aimed at boys, a lot more boys just stop reading books completely compared to girls.

Because of the popularity and over-prevalence of YA books, a lot of boys are now dismissing books as girls' stuff and this culture war shit isn't helping matters.

Granted, they'd probably just end up getting stuck in their own YA bubble too from the looks of it, but stuff like YA was supposed to be the bridge for your middle school (and high school to a lesser extent) kids to move on from kid's chapter books without diving headfirst into "real" books like Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, or John Grisham, let alone the classic novels or "proper" literary fiction.

The biggest problem was that so many Millennial women refused to actually finish crossing the bridge, which is why YA got as bad as it did.

 

[Giant Throbbing Clit]

Problem is because of the lack of YA books aimed at boys, a lot more boys just stop reading books completely compared to girls.

Because of the popularity and over-prevalence of YA books, a lot of boys are now dismissing books as girls' stuff and this culture war shit isn't helping matters.

Granted, they'd probably just end up getting stuck in their own YA bubble too from the looks of it, but stuff like YA was supposed to be the bridge for your middle school (and high school to a lesser extent) kids to move on from kid's chapter books without diving headfirst into "real" books like Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, or John Grisham, let alone the classic novels or "proper" literary fiction.

The biggest problem was that so many Millennial women refused to actually finish crossing the bridge, which is why YA got as bad as it did.

I suppose that's true, but I never saw YA as a "bridge" into reading. Even at the age when it would've been appropriate for me I was reading "real" books and so were my male classmates. I guess it's been a long time since I've been in primary school but I've never seen boys dismiss books as things for girls, they just found them boring.
Edit: For reference, I was in primary school when YA shit like Hunger Games and Divergentwhateverthefuck were popular so YA was already tainted.

I'll agree though about the women not moving on from YA novels, it really brings down the genre as a whole when there's actual good YA books that even adults could get something out of.

 

[Syaoran Li]

I suppose that's true, but I never saw YA as a "bridge" into reading. Even at the age when it would've been appropriate for me I was reading "real" books and so were my male classmates. I guess it's been a long time since I've been in primary school but I've never seen boys dismiss books as things for girls, they just found them boring.

I was kind of the same way, having read The Stand at twelve and then reading Mario Puzo's novels when I was fourteen and I'm part of that last generation where kids mostly just dismissed books as boring and that was it.

I've noticed a subtle trend where a lot of boys don't read who otherwise would get into reading, and if they do read, it's more likely stuff like creepypastas, fanfics*, or the occasional web novel, the latter of which tend to also be female-dominated, but less so than YA novels, and also aren't pushed by the schools like YA novels are nowadays.

My younger stepbrother is like that and he's just now about to start high school. He didn't have much interest in reading books because to him, it was either boring school stuff or boring girly stuff. But he reads creepypastas and fanfics online, and he's got an interest in the kind of stuff you'd associate with SF/F, horror, and other genre fiction

My Dad got him to start reading The Wheel of Time books and he loves them.

Boys like him are the kind of dudes who are more likely to cross the bridge, and if he were born a decade earlier he'd probably be checking out novels from the SF/F section at the library or stuff from guys like Crichton, King, and Clancy and then maybe moving on from there.

The only YA franchises I can think of that were more gender-neutral are stuff like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and A Series of Unfortunate Events**. The former two are Tumblr/SJW bait and the latter was mostly seen as a relic of 2000's era mall goths and emo middle schoolers, at least until the Netflix miniseries came out.

*-Hell, fanfic is one of the few elements of "geek culture" that was majority female from the get-go. But that's neither here nor there.

**-I'll admit, I did enjoy reading A Series of Unfortunate Events back when I was eleven and twelve. They were actually pretty funny and witty in that absurd dark comedy sort of way for me as a kid, and I honestly think Dan Handler knew he was writing YA drivel, so he just went "Eh, fuck it" and had fun with it. As I recall, he wrote the series initially because he was required to by his publisher.

 

[AMHOLIO]

Nah, couldn't be could it? I mean, take a look at the "New YA releases" GoodReads is pushing for May/June 2020:

https://www.goodreads.com/genres/young-adult (obviously link updates at some point)
edit: http://archive.md/StX8u

View attachment 1345659​

As the saying goes, my sides have left the building. There's literally (maybe?) two books on this list that would interest a teenage male who is heterosexual.

Clap When You Land - Dominican Guurrrll power as two half sisters realize daddy played around and had a second family.

Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle #2) - Second book in a space opera trilogy, this is the one that MIGHT be of interest to straight boys. But IIRC chicks on a book cover are typically of limited interest to boys. Which this has.

The Fascinators - Two boys with superpowers...who might just have "feelings" for each other. Looks like the authors of m/m slash fic are now all grown up and have found homes at Big 5 Publishers.

Henna Wars - Lesbian Muslim girls, hopefully with descriptive scissoring or something. Or even better Mom and Dad throw her off a building. HaHaha, who am I kidding?

Felix Ever After - Fat Beaner who is also tranny and genderqueer, lookin' for love. Apparently not in a wheelchair, much to my surprise. Sure to be a hit between rounds on Fortnite with all those 13 year olds, right?

House of Dragons (House of Dragons #1) - Another maybe. Seems like a Woke D&D campaign? And a generic fanasy cover is probably better than anything else on this list. The majority of the MCs are even male, by my count.

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea - Not even sure WTF this one is supposed to be about, TBH. Lesbian magical pirates who crossdress, maybe?

By the Book - YA teen romance. For those nerd girls into Jane Austen and Emily Bronte, but who also demand hot guys (who fawn all over them) AND a feminist message. I sense the beans already flicking.

Parachutes - HaHaHa, WTF? As if any wealthy Chink family would dump their daughter into an LA beaner home. I'm sure they'll be lots of gurrllpowah and best fweindsies foeva by the end of this one, though.

The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly - Another YA romance with a feminist message. And hawt guys, presumably. Blah, blah, blah women can't LARP as knights in MY medieval themed restaurant as main theme/conflict. Yup, they went there.

This Coven Won't Break (These Witches Don't Burn #2) - Lesbian witches being chased quite literally by the forces of the patriarchy who want to steal their magic. U Go Gurl!

Stay Gold - Transgender "boy" going "stealth" at a Texas High School. And the "cisgender" girl who is drawn to "him."

Forged in Fire and Stars (Forged in Fire and Stars #1) - Female blacksmith becomes some sort of Loremaster to a dethroned princess. IDK, not as off-putting as most on this list, but nothing I could see here as appealing to a boy. Does not have an instant turn off cover, though. Nah, still rejecting.

Date Me, Bryson Keller - Openly gay nerd secretly dates in the closet gay popular dude. Doubtless high school hilarity ensues.

The Paper Girl of Paris - YA Romance set in Paris, presumably pretending the place isn't Little Algiers at this point. Maybe historical flashback to WWII, dunno and don't really care.

Summary: Of the fifteen books GoodReads recommended, there are two iffy at best books straight boys might read. And one of those has a cover that will more likely than not make boys reject it.

Hadn't meant to do all fifteen, but I guess I got on a roll. And I guess I was curious to see if it was as bad as I first thought. It was, sadly.

I don't blame any cis straight boy not caring, even teen bi girl me would rather stare at a wall for 5 hours than read most of those books. At least the gay popular and not popular dating one sounds like a cheerful comedy.