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Beauty of flower

The beauty of a flower is a delicate marvel of nature. It's a symphony of colors, shapes, and fragrances that captivate the senses. Each petal unfurls like a work of art, and the intricate patterns of veins and hues in the bloom tell a story of life and growth. The vibrant colors, whether soft pastels or bold, fiery reds, evoke a sense of wonder and joy. Their fragrances, from the sweet scent of roses to the earthy aroma of lilies, create an ethereal atmosphere that soothes the soul. Flowers are not just nature's ornaments; they are poetry for the eyes and the heart.

#flowers #art

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#lupin netflix #assane diop #youssef guédira #sofia belkacem

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“By now Jia Dai-ru, Jia Dai-xiu, Jia Chi, Jia Xiao, Jia Dun, Jia She, Jia Zheng, Jia Cong, Jia Bin, Jia Heng (I), Jia Guang, Jia Chen, Jia Qiong, Jia Lin, Jia Qiang, Jia Chang, Jia Ling, Jia Yun, Jia Qin, Jia Jin, Jia Ping, Jia Zao, Jia Heng (II), Jia Fen, Jia Fang, Jia Lan, Jia Jun and Jia Zhi had all arrived (...)”

- The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin, Volume 1, Chapter 13 (Translation by David Hawkes)

... and here I was already having trouble telling the characters apart.

#the story of the stone #dream of the red chamber

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#behind your touch #kdrama

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Another piece from earlier this year! My take on Tress from Secret Project 1!

#tress of the emerald sea #cosmere #cosmere fanart

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(TRG spoilers below the cut)

‘Corm said you’d need two or three outfits?’ ‘Ideally,’ said Robin. ‘I promise I’ll be very careful with them.’ ‘Oh, don’t worry about that, I’ve got far too many clothes… it’s my weakness,’ Prudence admitted, with a guilty smile. ‘Sylvie’s just got old enough to start borrowing stuff I can’t get away with any more, so I’m kind of hanging off giving it all to charity. What size shoes do you take?’ ‘Six,’ said Robin, ‘but—’ ‘Perfect. Same as me.’ ‘—you really don’t have to—’ ‘If you’re trying to look wealthy, accessories count,’ said Prudence. ‘Quite exciting really, helping someone go undercover. (...)’ - The Running Grave, Chapter 9

Just realised that Robin going undercover in the cult is a reverse Cinderella, with Prudence as fairy godmother, Mazu as evil stepmother and Strike's BMW's as the pumpkin carriage.

#the running grave #robin ellacott #prudence donleavy #mazu wace

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Finished The Running Grave the other day. Spoilers for the whole series below the cut.

Robin's last chapters undercover had me on the edge of my seat, I was so stressed for her.

Once again didn't realise whodunnit until Strike laid out the facts. I was in the “Daiyu is still alive” camp. After we learned that Mazu originally claimed that Alexander Graves was Daiyu's father, I thought the title of the book was a clue to her still being alive but… nope XD

Then again, the only character we met that could have been her was Becca, but she didn't quite fit the bill, did she? As Abigail said, “’Er sister an’ bruvver would’ve known she wasn’ Becca! ’Er muvver would’ve known! (...)” And it didn't explain the role of the hatchet or the burned rope.

One thing I wasn't surprised by was Charlotte's suicide, though I expected it to happen later on in the book.

Some background: after the first sample came out, I'd found out through some research that Dream of the Red Chamber (or The Story of the Stone), a novel in which one of the main protagonists is called Daiyu, had been adapted in a English-language opera in 2016. One of the changes in the opera version was that Daiyu kills herself by drowning into a lake after the man she loves marries someone else. In the novel, Daiyu succumbs to chronic illness before the marriage takes place.

Considering Tannhäuser turned out to parallel Strike's love life in The Ink Black Heart pretty closely (for an in-depth explanation, see this series of posts on The Strike & Ellacott Files Blog), I did wonder if Daiyu's suicide in the opera and/or other plot points of Dream of the Red Chamber would play a role in The Running Grave. A synopsis of the opera is available here.

Of all recurring Strike characters, Charlotte seemed the most likely to commit suicide. She has attempted it in the past. Plus, some aspects of her character seemed similar to Dream of the Red Chamber's Lin Daiyu:

[Daiyu] is an icon of spirituality and intelligence: beautiful, sentimental, sarcastic, self-assured, an accomplished poet, but subject to fits of jealousy. - Dream of the Red Chamber, Wikipedia

I couldn't see (or didn't want to see :P) a Strike/Robin marriage being followed by him becoming a monk though.

Hindsight is 20/20, as they say. In the end, here's how The Running Grave parallels the opera adaptation of Dream of the Red Chamber:

In both stories, Daiyu only drowns in the retelling (the opera / the story what was spread by the UHC).

Daiyu and Charlotte are tragic characters, who both had been “unwell for a long time” (to quote Strike).

Daiyu / Charlotte kills herself because she can't handle the love of her life being with someone else. However, Charlotte doesn't drown, though she dies in a bath. Robin is the one who almost drowns.

Baoyu turns to religion after Daiyu's death / Strike visits a religious building (a church) after Charlotte's death.

After Robin escapes the cult, the story takes a very different turn, concluding with Strike's sort of confession. At first I was worried that Murphy was going to propose to Robin (since Daiyu's murder at Abigail's hands was clearly supposed to mirror the siblicide of The Cuckoo's Calling), but this was much better.

Who knows what awaits our heroes in Book 8 though… Hopefully not more (un)intended consequences of Strike's fling with Bijou. She said it wasn't his but she could be lying (or, more likely, have no idea who the father is).

P.S. Special mention to Pat who, along with her husband Dennis, was amazing in this book.

#the running grave #cormoran strike #robin ellacott #charlotte campbell #pat chauncey #dream of the red chamber #just read #spoliers

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Sylphrena (!!)

#sylphrena #stormlight archive #cosmere #sa fanart

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🌊

#cormoran strike #robin ellacott #embroidery #the running grave #almost there

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props to philip pullman for showing us that love can be your greatest power and literally save the day/world but also reminding us that sometimes love alone is not enough to make everything right again.

#his dark materials #philip pullman

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A HAUNTING IN VENICE (2023)

"Every murderer is probably somebody's old friend," observed Poirot philosophically. "You cannot mix up sentiment and reason." - Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles

#a haunting in venice #hercule poirot #ariadne oliver #ahauntinginvenice edit

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Recently I read The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton which combines murder mystery and time loop. Was totally not trying to take my mind off The Running Grave's impending release >.> It's a bit confusing at first, since you know only as much as the main character does. It ended up being quite interesting, though some plot twists at the end felt a bit over the top.

One thing that stuck out to me was that, like in the Cormoran Strike series, there's a character named Madeline.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle came out in 2018, while The Ink Black Heart was released in 2022.

Since Galbraith/Rowling loves her literary allusions, I took another look at Chapter 3 (same chapter where she name-drops Tannhäuser) and noticed two things that seem to point at a deliberate reference on her part:

Strike and Madeline meet at a club called Annabel's

Madeline is part of a "party of eight"

(This probably won't make any sense if you haven't read The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, or The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle as it's called in the US).

On purpose or not, I find the reference somewhat fitting, considering what we later learn about Madeline. I'm not going to say more because I don't want to spoil anybody.

#cormoran strike #just read #the seven deaths of evelyn hardcastle #the ink black heart #madeline courson-miles #madeline aubert

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After finishing the recently released sample of The Running Grave, I couldn't help but wonder how the rest of the book will unfold (which I guess is the point).

(Spoilers under the cut)

The 2 deaths by drowning we're told about in the prologue intrigued me, so I decided to do a little research about drowning in Chinese culture and found some interesting tidbits.

There are folktales about drowned people becoming ghosts or spirits:

According to legend, Nüwa, a girl who drowned in the Eastern sea was turned into a bird called Jingwei after her death. To prevent others from meeting the same fate, she drops twigs and stones from the nearby mountains to fill up the sea.

Jennifer and Daiyu Wace both drowned on the sea off Cromer beach, which lies on the East Coast of England.

More chilling are the stories about shui gui (literally "water ghost"), drowned people who haunt the waters they died in and lure people to their deaths.

Folklore also claims that ghosts are particularly active during Ghost Month, the 7th month of the lunar Chinese calendar. During this month, it's recommended (among other things) not to swim. I checked - Daiyu Wace's death (on the 29th of July 1995) happened during Ghost Month.

I find it hard to believe this is a coincidence.

The names which Galbraith/Rowling chose for the Wace females are also quite interesting:

Mazu ("ancestor mother") is apparently the name of an East Asian goddess, particularly popular in Taiwan. It is said that, during her moral life, she saved part of her family from death at sea. Her father and brothers were fishermen and would have all died if not for her intervention. Having fallen into a trance while she was weaving at home, she was in the process of rescuing them when she was snapped out of her trance and dropped her oldest brother into the sea.

Jennifer is a Cornish form of the Welsh name Gwenhwyfar, which literally means "white phantom". Gwenhwyfar (better known nowadays as Guinevere) is also Arthur's wife in Arthurian legend. In the retelling by Chrétien de Troyes, she has an affair with Lancelot of the Lake. By the by, the first account of Arthur's life in Norman was written by a poet named Wace.

Daiyu ("black jade") is also a famous figure, namely in Chinese literature. A flower reincarnated as a girl to repay a debt of tears, Lin Daiyu is one of the main female protagonists of Dream of The Red Chamber (or The Story of the Stone), a Chinese literary classic which, according to most scholars, was never finished by its original author, Cao Xueqin. He is considered to have only written 80 of the 120 chapters of the first published edition. One of the plot lines involves a love triangle between Lin Daiyu, Jia Baoyu (the main character, "precious jade") and Xue Baochai ("jeweled hair pin"). In the 120-chapter version, Lin Daiyu, who was chronically ill, dies an early death at the time of Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai's marriage. Jia Baoyu ends up becoming a monk. In 2016, the year in which The Running Grave takes place, an English-language opera adaptation of Dream of The Red Chamber came out. In this version, Lin Daiyu instead commits suicide by walking into a lake after the wedding.

Not sure if we're supposed to look further into it… But if we are, this could be hinting that:

Jennifer's ghost is responsible for Daiyu's death (oh wait, it's not this kind of story)

Mazu is like a "mother" to the members of the cult. (Considering that Jonathan Wace is known to members as "Papa J" I could see that being the case)

Before Jennifer's death, she, Mazu and Jonathan had a love triangle of their own?

#the running grave spoilers #cormoran strike

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Morfydd Clark (as Sister Clara) Severed from her beloved dæmon. Sister Clara’s was a little white dog, Nicholas. HIS DARK MATERIALS (2019) [+] MORFYDD [GIF Collection 70+] 💙 [+] ..more posts on “His Dark Materials” 🎬🧭

#his dark materials #hdm tv #sister clara #morfydd clark

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Both enthralled and terrified by this tweet

#his dark materials #the book of dust #lyra belacqua

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#cosmere #stormlight archive #mistborn #taravangian #steris

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Was Benoit’s sexuality ever discussed in the first Knives Out movie?

#glass onion #benoit blanc #daniel craig #hugh grant