---
source: mastodon
date: 2023-01-14 21:44:08.96 +00
title: "Mastodon post from January 14, 2023, 109689742882840282"
in_reply_to: 109661276920611083
post_uri: https://mastodon.social/users/gravely/statuses/109689742882840282
post_id: 109689742882840282
tags:
  - mastodon
descendants:
- 109689761814653053
- 109697057493309399
---
second book down, the new Jason Pargin (f. k. a. David Wong), "If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe." It was fun! I lol'd a few times, didn't want to put it down, etc.

Jason put a tiny house of leaves gimmick in it (it's full of metafiction shit tbh) but I only noticed it was happening for the last word so if you read it, let me know what it says (I'm going to go cheat and google it right now).


![The cover of John Dies at the End #4"If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe", file under Jason Pargin / David Wong. The cover is a an illustration of a black hardback of the book with the title in silver on the spine and cover, made of arby's sauce dripping, and one of the drips forms a skull below, all over a solid, flat light green.](./109689731623004943.jpg)


ok, what the letters spells out is p easy to find on tvtropes[.]org which I'm told is a terrible website that'll rot your brain and your ability to perceive art as anything but strings of gimmicks (they probably have a name for people like me who believe this), so I guess if you look for it the right way, like I did, the answer is in the google preview (remember when things were like that?) and you don't have to click through.

but I'm also not gonna say what it is either, just read the book.

third book, "The Stories of your Life and others", Ted Chiang.

Cheating because I read the first half last year. I got another copy after leaving my first copy on a plane ( [https://mastodon.social/@gravely/109372422129728908](https://mastodon.social/@gravely/109372422129728908)).

I hope whoever found my first copy enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed my second copy.

"let's take one idea seriously and see what happens"

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223380.Stories_of_Your_Life_and_Others](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223380.Stories_of_Your_Life_and_Others)


![the current paperback cover of "Stories of your Life and others" by Ted Chiang. The title and author's name encircle the hands of a clock at about 11:10:30, over field of stars on the top half and cloudy sky on the bottom half. Inset in the top left is a cloud circle that proclaims that this book "Includes 'Story of Your Life," the Basis for the Major Motion Picture ARRIVAL.](./109697044144754617.jpeg)