#Sorcery & Cecelia

[haveyoureadthispoll]

A great deal is happening in London and the country this season. For starters, there's the witch who tried to poison Kate at the Royal College of Wizards. There's also the man who seems to be spying on Cecelia. (Though he's not doing a very good job of it--so just what are his intentions?) And then there's Oliver. Ever since he was turned into a tree, he hasn't bothered to tell anyone where he is. Clearly, magic is a deadly and dangerous business. And the girls might be in fear for their lives . . . if only they weren't having so much fun!

#book: sorcery and cecelia #author: patricia c. wrede #author: caroline stevermer #genre: fantasy #genre: historical fiction #genre: young adult #year: 1980s

[ofliterarynature]

JUNE 2023 WRAP UP

loved liked okay no thanks (reread) bookclub*

An Unsuitable Heir | The Winter of the Witch | An Unnatural Vice | Bloom* | An Unseen Attraction | Masters in this Hall | (The Mislaid Magician) | Gilded Cage | The Age of Innocence | (The Grand Tour) | Any Old Diamonds | The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter | (Sorcery & Cecelia) | (The Goblin Emperor) | A Gentleman’s Position | The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street | Dust and Shadow | A Seditious Affair | A Fashionable Indulgence | Subtle Blood | Proper English | Range

Let’s just say I was feeling a bit unhinged this month…

I don't know what was up with my brain this month (it was stress, probably. ugh.), but it was comfort-reads-only central. Which spun out of control a little with the KJ Charles, but we'll get to that.

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World started things off with a great non-fic pick. It spoke so deeply to me that it made me very angry at the world while also being very comforting. Would highly recommend.

Dust and Shadow is Sherlock Holmes solves Jack the Ripper, but hewing much closer to canon than say, that other one I fell in love with last year (The Angel of the Crows). I couldn't help comparing the two, and while it was interesting seeing each author's interpretations of the Ripper case, this one did not come out on top for me.

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is a sort-of sequel memoir to the author's collection of letters published as 84 Charing Cross Road that I read last month and loved. A little different but still a delight, and I've got another one of her related memoirs waiting for me on my desk right now.

The Goblin Emperor... what can I say, my brain needed comfort, I caught up on the AO3 tag, and thought why not. It was amazing to go back and see all the little bits of Maia I'd forgotten.

Sorcery & Cecelia I picked up partially as a consequence of my KJ Charles/historical romance rampage that fully put me off of the other audiobooks I already had checked out. I've been meaning to reread them for a while (it's probably been a decade) because I wanted to explore my mixed memories of the two sequels. And I don't blame younger me! The original book is a delight sort of in the vein of Diana Wynne Jones and The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, with adventures and almost a comedy of manners element to it. The much later sequels lose a lot of the whimsy and brightness, are much more serious and adult, and are much more explicitly mystery novels. Now I love a mystery novel, and I think if you distance them from the original book they're not too bad! The Grand Tour is the worst, I think, both because of the unexpected shift in style and because I don't think the epistolary format they chose works well (I really would have loved to see some letters they wrote to other people, imo, rather than diary entries). The Mislaid Magician brings things back around much closer to the original novel's format both literally and narratively, if not in style, and I liked it a great deal.

This next one goes out to Lauren, who will probably never read this but - I finally read The Age of Innocence! Not the copy you gave me, but I did it. It wasn't quite to my taste, but it absolutely fits with what I know of your other favorite things. Sorry this was like 8 years too late.

Bloom I've had on my shelf for years and it's totally my doing that we read it for book club - it was a nice read, I love the art style, but ultimately it was a bit forgettable. Maybe if it'd focused on resolving the non-romantic conflicts as well, idk.

It took me MUCH longer to get to Winter of the Witch than I had planned, but I did! It felt a little clunky trying to get all the ends tied up, but overall I liked it, I was very glad to get away from the politics of the second book. This was such a well written series, I definitely recommend it, but it also made me feel angry and anxious enough while reading it that I can't see myself ever revisting it. (I'll definitely keep an eye out for more of the author's work though).

AND NOW FOR THE KJ CHARLES!!!

I started off the month finishing up the Will Darling/English books, which, do not follow my example, you should absolutely read in chronological order (and pay attention to character names!). These were not books I fell immediately in love with, but exposure and persistence, not to mention some great side characters, won me over. I also cannot BELIEVE that KJ waited until the very very end to introduce the "proteges" concept, and it's the best thing I've ever heard I am emotionally devastated (and cackling, lmao).

I've mentioned elsewhere my accidental discovery (too late) that the next 3 series were related, but I did manage at least to start with the correct one. Society of Gentlemen was...okay. The first one might actually be the worst KJ Charles I've read so far, but the other two were definitely better, if not exactly to my taste. I like the mystery/action/adventure plots more, I suppose, rather than...politics? I think? and respectability is boring anyways.

I managed to accidentally skip over Sins of the Cities directly into the Lilywhite Boys, which is a pity, because they're much more closely related to each other than Society (which honestly you don't need to read beforehand). Even without the more detailed background from Sins, I LOVED the Lilywhite novels and novellas. Thieves and shady characters who are extremely competent, excellent lovers, a little violent, and with their own moral codes are catnip for me, I could not have resisted.

I then went back to Sins of the Cities, which were also good! The leads in the first book were sweet but a little bland, the love/hate thing going on the second book was fantastic, and I loved that the third book had a genderqueer/nb lead. I appreciated getting all the background to events hinted at in the Lilywhite books, but I also admit I spent less time focused on the murders and more on "ok but HOW does X become the Earl???????" I had so many theories lol, none of them right. I just wonder if these would have hit a little harder if I'd read them first.

As I write this in July, I'm still working my way through the rest of KJ's catalogue but I think the worst of my brain fever is over, and I'm hoping to soon have the mental capacity to read the new Victoria Goddard I've been ignoring for a couple of months. Wish me luck, and happy reading!

#book log #2023 #wrap up 2023 #bec posts #kj charles #david epstein #Helene Hanff #the age of innocence #bloom #sorcery & cecelia #winternight trilogy #dust and shadow #booklr #books

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot | Author: Patricia C. Wrede / Caroline Stevermer | Publisher: Harcourt (2004)

#books #Sorcery & Cecelia #The Enchanted Chocolate Pot #Patricia C. Wrede #Caroline Stevermer

[chief-cook-and-librarian]

I went to the used bookstore and found these!! I'd never seen the original Sorcery and Cecelia cover, and I can't stop giggling at tree!Oliver looking like some sort of damsel in distress. I'm also looking forward to comparing the original Talking to Dragons to the updated version.

#i know 80s covers look outdated but i love them so much #patricia c wrede #enchanted forest chronicles #sorcery and cecelia #talking to dragons #dealing with dragons

[six-of-snakes]

oooh, loving the snippet from all the words i cannot say, thats some tasty description. why not do some more for it? happy wednesday!

aw thank you, and of course! Happy Wednesday to you too!

They arrive in England on a cold, gloomy Saturday, one of those days when rainwater coats the cobblestones and turns them dark gray, when it's better to just stay inside.

Thomas insists on wandering all over. He relishes being back with booksellers, and all sorts of entertainments, and James resigns himself to soaked clothes and water trickling under his collar as he trails Thomas around.

If he's being honest, he doesn't really mind.

But still, he wishes that it was a little less… wet.

#sorcery and cecelia #my writing #wip wednesdays #poor James I'm sorry the rain is so wet please forgive me

[i-got-the-feels]

Porsche Pachara Kittisawatd

dedicated to lovely @domsaysstuff whom I have endlessly ranted to when working on these web weaves

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler/Keith Ablow/Unknown/Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven/Kiera Cass, The Heir/ J.K. Rowling/John Mark Green/G. N. Solomon, Blood So Black/ Sorcery & Cecelia, Caroline Stevermer/Richelle Mead, Last Sacrifice/Haruki Murakami/Anais Nin/Carrol Bryant/Hanif Kureishi/C.J. Carlyon, The Cherry House/Che Guevara/Emilie Autumn, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls/Glenn van Dekken/Tony Kushner/Unknown/Unknown/John Green/John Irving/Obert Skye, Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo (Leven Thumps, #1)/Victor Hugo/Jack Weatherford, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire/Becky Chambers, To Be Taught, If Fortunate/Shane Koyczan/Elie Wiesel/Natalie C. Parker, Steel Tide (Seafire, #2)

#kinnporsche #porsche pachara #apo nattawin #kinnporschesource #toboysbeloving #userlotad #usernuria #tonanons #tosnimeat #ondreamytracks #userjap #userjyu #userspicy #usermor #usermone #userpharawee #tagnads #vishingwell #lightmiup #userbenka #userjjessi #tuserhidden #tusersilence #usergooseras #igtf edits #kpww

[utilitycaster]

thanks for the book answer! would you share your fiction favorites in general?

Hi anon,

I'll post a few but I think to clarify - this is also kind of just going to be a list. I meant more like...are you looking for book recs? If so are you looking for specific things (eg: queer characters, fantasy and if so which subtype, sci fi and ditto, literary fiction, etc.) Or do you just like, want a list of books I have liked.

Anyway this is a list of a handful of books/series/authors that I'd count as favorites, loosely grouped, but I didn't go into any details about anything.

Fantasy I read a teen and has permanently shaped how I interact with fantasy fiction; some of this is YA

a large swathe of what Diana Wynne Jones has written

The Belgariad and Mallorean by David Eddings

The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix

Sorcery and Cecelia by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia Wrede (this came up on the comfort reads panel I watched yesterday and it is indeed a comfort read for me) and Mairelon the Magician by Patricia Wrede (set in the same sort of world)

Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

I read some of the Patternist series by Octavia Butler as a teen but then didn't revisit it until adulthood

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Piranesi is very different and also excellent but that came out when I was an adult, but it's still a favorite)

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (I also read a bunch of her fairy tale-based books which I don't know if I'd call them favorites still but I do think they're an influence)

Sandman by Neil Gaiman

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Middlegrade/YA fiction I read as a kid that also permanently shaped something

Several Ellen Raskin books but especially The Westing Game

Elizabeth Enright's books but especially the ones about the Melendy family and Gone-Away Lake

Fantasy and SF I read as an adult and would consider exceptional/a favorite

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisen

The City and the City by China Mievelle

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir

Phedre's trilogy of the Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey (have not read the others in the series so this isn't saying they're bad, I just can't speak to them)

The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin

Arcadia by Iain Pears

The Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Night Watch books from Discworld by Terry Pratchett; I have read like, one other Discworld book and it didn't have Sam Vimes in it so I didn't really care

Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delaney

Literary fiction/not sf I read as a teen or adult

(there's notably a lot less of this because I do lean heavily towards fantasy but)

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

#answered #Anonymous #ngl I used to be a MASSIVE rereader but i do not have the time so this is based on a scan of my bookshelves #and the last 8 years of my goodreads #in addition to what i know i have reread a bunch #m's book recs

[rainystarters]

* ☔ : dialogue from the novel SORCERY & CECELIA by patricia c. wrede and caroline stevermer. ( adjust pronouns, etc. as needed. )

" so i set a trap, as you see, and you have fallen in. " " i find that most amusing, don't you? " " it's no concern of yours. just mind your own affairs. " " what a rude thing to say! " " you are odious. " " i didn't mean to snoop. " " what are you doing skulking about in these bushes and spying on us? " " assignations are not at all the thing for a young lady of quality. " " you are the most unprincipled man i have ever met. " " you aren't planning to do anything...indiscreet, now, are you? " " only—i was admiring the way you tie your cravat. " " how dare you accuse me of any such thing. " " i thought i told you to stay in well-lit ballrooms. " " ill met by moonlight, my dear _____. " " nothing elegant, but it ought to do the trick. " " you shed hairpins the way hansel and gretel shed crumbs. " " now let us return to light, safety, and society. " " i never meant to flirt with any of you. " " you must stay the night, at least. " " are you concerned what the local gossips will say? " " well, but one must be practical, after all. " " in that case, we must clearly do something. " " will you take some more tea, _____? " " do you really dislike me so much? " " i wish you would accept it as the first of many things i wish to give you. " " are you foxed? " " i need a fiancée rather urgently. " " you'll be perfectly free to cry off when the season is over, you know. " " i'm neither rich nor titled, and as for prospects... " " i hardly think our marriage will last long enough to inconvenience either of us. " " don't play the innocent with me. " " i won't let you tangle me up with your sardonic remarks. " " i believe i owe you an apology, _____. " " what are you planning to do, drown me? " " i don't know what to make of you. " " lie down until you've got your breath back. " " you're the one who almost got killed. don't you have any sense? " " i had no idea you were a wizard. " " oh, dear, i am so dreadfully sorry! i can't imagine how i came to be so clumsy. " " what _____ tells me is none of your affair. " " please use your common sense for once and stay home. " " you said you could handle things by yourself. plainly you are mistaken. " " thoughtful behavior from a man who looks as though he'd like to kill me himself. " " save a waltz for me at the ball next week. " " it is one of the most unethical, immoral uses of wizardry imaginable. " " that is hardly a lady's mount. " " so this is where i find you, playing cards and drinking claret. " " a lady has no knowledge of such pursuits. " " i wish i could insult you in turn, but you are looking very healthy indeed. " " remember the promise i made you once, that i would dance at your funeral? " " i do not think i would ever expect you to do anything sensible. " " just because you dislike magic, you think everyone who uses it must be wicked! " " these magical bonds can sometimes prove painful. " " how dreadful to be caught up in a game and have no idea of the rules. " " i won't offer you such a pleasant fate now. " " it will be amusing to witness their reaction to your death. " " what do you know about anything except to hurt people? " " i like the idea of marrying you. " " you can't steal my magic! "

#rp memes #rp sentence starters #rp sentence meme #sentence starters #rp prompts

[itmightrain]

Favorite books I read in 2023

The Ones I Loved

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo - (genre: horror) idk what to tell you about this book, but you should read it. It's about ghosts and grief and Nashville and relearning how to be alive. The romance in it is gay and slowburn. If you love the All For the Game series, this book is for you.

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri - (genre: fantasy) One of the cleverest fantasies about empire and rebellion I've read in a long time. The female characters are fantastic and complicated, and it's so fun to be inside their heads. The gay romance at the heart of this book is tender and fucked up in all the best ways. Highly, highly recommend.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K.J. Charles - (genre: regency romance) Lovers to enemies to allies to lovers! A poor lawyer inherits an Earldom and discovers that the leader of the local smugglers is someone he is intimately familiar with. Very sweet and well written gay regency romance.

A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by K.J. Charles - (genre: regency romance) A grumpy, embattled new Earl with a heart of gold meets a lonely, competent smuggler-turned-secretary with a ulterior motives. I can't overstate how much I loved this book, the characters and their relationship, the way they make each other's lives better and fuller, the way they come to make each other better people gah it's so good ;-; make sure to read the first book in this series first, even though it focuses on other characters

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar - (genre scifi/fantasy) I went into this book knowing nothing about it besides the meme, and I highly recommend that approach. It is gay, the writing is very lyrical and flower, and you will need to let go of the typical scifi genre expectation that the world in which the story takes place will be explained to you.

The Ones I Enjoyed a lot

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher - (genre: horror) relatable 30-something divorcee and 50-something gay barista find a passageway to another world. The world they find...is bad.

The Black Death: New Lessons from Recent Research by Dorsey Armstrong - (genre: nonfiction) summary of the latest research on the plague! V interesting and well explained. Originally a video but the audiobook is available on Hoopla.

Life in a Medieval Village by Francis Gies and Joseph Gies - (genre: nonfiction) great little deep dive into the daily life of Medieval peasants from how the legal system worked to marriage customs.

Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie - (genre: scifi) the main character is the AI consciousness of a ship trapped in one of her ancillary bodies and her sidekick is one of her former lieutenants who was accidentally frozen for 1000 years and is having a very hard time about it.

Sorcery & Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer - (genre: regency era fantasy romance) this was a re-read from my childhood and it held up!

The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English by Hana Videen - (genre: nonfiction) did you know that "lady" evolved from the old english word for "loaf maker" and "lord" evolved from "loaf guardian"?

Role Model by Rachel Reid - (genre: romance) gay hockey romance between a hockey player and his new team's social media manager. Pretty standard romance novel but fun!

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh - (genre: fantasy) the green man of the forest is minding his own business when a young man shows up on his doorstep. english mythology vibes, also gay.

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid - (genre: romance) gay hockey players, enemies to lovers/fuck buddies to lovers romance. if this was originally geno/sid rpf i would not be surprised.

#book recs #kell reads things #books 2023

[ofliterarynature]

Based on my recent (re)reading choices, enquiring minds would like to know:

Feel free to add when you last read them in the notes!

#bec posts #I have some Thoughts™️ #but want to see the results before I make assumptions #sorcery & Cecelia #sorcery and Cecelia #booklr #books #Patricia C Wrede #Caroline stevermer

[mihrsuri]

I just realised my definition of ‘comfort read’ is possibly different definition but have a list!

The Immortals Quartet

Lord of the Rings/Silmarillion/Hobbit

Spinning Silver

Six of Crows/Rule of Wolves/King Of Scars

The Circle of Magic books

A Little Princess

The first book in Anne Bishops Black Jewels series

Kingdom of Ash

Sorcery and Cecelia

YBEB and a specific Sorcery and Cecelia fic

An ASOIAF AU fic

Gilded Wolves

Pellinor Series

#lils book feels

[snackerdoodle]

books I read in 2023

I had a huge reading year this year because of my gruelingly long commute. The list below the cut is mostly for my own edification, but I’m a nosy person who supports other nosy people, so if you want to know what I’ve been up to, have at it. Almost everything I read this year was from the library.

1/12 A Charmed Life, Diana Wynne Jones

1/18 The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School, Sonora Reyes

1/24 The Life-Changing Magic of 

Tidying Up, Marie Kondo

1/25 Hotel Magnifique, Emily J. Taylor

1/30 Spark Joy, Marie Kondo 

2/2 The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune

2/8 The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik

2/8 Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, Ashley Herring Blake

2/15 The Nile, Toby Wilkinson

2/23 The Painted Queen, Elizabeth Peters and Joan Hess

2/28 Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine

3/5 Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters

3/12 Lord of the Silent, Elizabeth Peters

3/16 Marie Kondo’s Kurashi at Home, Marie Kondo 

3/20 Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, Ruth Franklin

3/20 The Art of Simple Living, Shunmyo Masuno

3/26 The Bird’s Nest, Shirley Jackson

4/11 Life Among the Savages, Shirley Jackson

4/12 A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn

4/18 The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories, Charlotte Perkins Gilman

4/21 Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto, Tricia  Hersey

5/1 Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo

5/3 Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, Ashley Herring Blake

5/10 Fight Like Hell: The Untold Story of American Labor, Kim Kelly

5/11 Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, Joy Harjo 

5/12 Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge

5/15 The Lottery and Other Stories, Shirley Jackson

5/18 The Lives of Christopher Chant, Diana Wynne Jones

5/29 A Little Devil in America, Hanif Abdurraqib

6/3 A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske

6/6 Ducks, Kate Beaton 

6/8 Wild and Wicked Things, Francesca May (awful. Every character was an idiot. Why did I finish this)

6/10 Breathing Lessons: A Doctor’s Guide to Lung Health, Meilan K. Han, MD

6/19 The Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu

6/19 A Fortune for Your Disaster, Hanif Abdurraqib (I liked this even more than the last one I read. Maybe because it was an audiobook read by the author.)

6/22 Disjointed, Diana Jovin (ed) (skipped parts that were totally unrelated to me and some things that were also too technical)

6/22 The Lavender Scare, David K. Johnson

6/26 Enquête au collège, Jean-Phillipe Arrou-Vignod 

6/28 The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner

7/3 Last Call, Elon Green

7/12 Cache Cache Petit Fantôme

7/13 Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint-

Exupéry

7/13 La fille qui navigua autour de féérie dans un bateau construit de ses propres mains, Catherynne M Valente

7/14 Lost in the Moment and Found, Seanan McGuire

7/14 Ich mag dich gesund sagte der Bär, Janosch

7/25 The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch

7/31 The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty

8/10 A Restless Truth, Freya Marske 

8/16 Camp Damascus, Chuck Tingle

9/6 The Body in the Garden, Katherine Schellman

9/11 Silence in the Library, Katherine Schellman

9/13 When Things Get Dark, various 

9/19 Death at the Manor, Katherine Schellman

9/25 Sorcery and Cecelia, Patricia C Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

10/3 The Grand Tour, Patricia C Wrede and Caroline Stevermer 

10/6 Murder at Midnight, Katharine Schellman

10/12 The Mislaid Magician, Patricia C Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

10/18 Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies, Elizabeth Winkler

10/18 Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen, JK Rowling

10/25 Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA search for Mind Control, Stephen Kinzer

11/1 Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date, Ashley Herring Blake

11/3 Nothing But Blackened Teeth, Cassandra Shaw

11/9 Unfuck Your Habitat, Rachel Hoffman

11/11 Safe and Sound, Mercury Stardust 

11/12 Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD (revised and updated), Susan C. Pinskey

11/18 Red Seas under Red Skies, Scott Lynch

11/20 In With the Old: Classic Decor A to Z,  Jennifer Boles 

11/23 Habitat: The Field Guide to Decorating, Lauren Liess

11/24 Vermeer: The Complete Paintings, Norbert Schneider 

11/29 The Conscious Closet, Elizabeth L. Cline

12/4 Leech, Hiron Ennes

12/6 The Star that Always Stays, Anna Rose Johnson 

P12/14 The Republic of Thieves, Scott Lynch

12/15 An American Sunrise, Joy Harjo

12/20 The Wife Upstairs, Rachel Hawkins

12/22 How to Keep House While Drowning, KC Davis

12/30 The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, Margareta Magnusson 

Gave up on: The Woman Who Would Be King, Kara Cooney (too speculative/fictionalized)

A Scatter of Light, Malinda Lo (nothing really wrong, it just wasn’t holding my attention at all)

14 histoires pour avoir peur mais pas trop quand même (turned into full cast audio and the music between stories was really annoying)

Manhunt, Gretchen Felker-Martin (not in the right headspace maybe, maybe just not for me)

American Cozy, Stephanie Pedersen (got annoyed at how much of the information hinged on living in a huge suburban home with 18 closets and a husband and multiple children you can make do your chores for you)

The Curated Closet, Anuschka Rees (not bad just not what I was looking for)

#Snackerdoodle actually makes a post #Books read 2023

[six-of-snakes]

anyone out there a sorcery and cecelia fan? anyone? I feel like I never see people who are into these books...

#sorcery and cecelia #thomas schofield #james tarleton

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (21-27 May 2023)

ᵗʰᵉ ᵃᵏʳᵒⁿ ᵃʳᵗ ᵐᵘˢᵉᵘᵐ ʰᵃˢ ᵒⁿᵉ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠᵉˡᶦˣ ᵍᵒⁿᶻᵃˡᵉᶻ ᵗᵒʳʳᵉˢ ᶦⁿˢᵗᵃˡˡᵃᵗᶦᵒⁿˢ ˢᵒ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ʷᵃˢ ᵃⁿ ᵘⁿᵉˣᵖᵉᶜᵗᵉᵈ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵉᵐᵒᵗᶦᵒⁿᵃˡ ˢᵘʳᵖʳᶦˢᵉ ⁽ᶦ ʷᵃˢ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗʰᵉ ᵏᵉᶦᵗʰ ʰᵃʳᶦⁿᵍ ᵉˣʰᶦᵇᶦᵗ ʷʰᶦᶜʰ ʷᵃˢ ᵃˡˢᵒ ᶠᵃⁿᵗᵃˢᵗᶦᶜ⁾

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰👂‍Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia and Kate #1) (Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer, author; Lucy Rayner, narrator) - epistolary fantasy regency - formative & beloved and still a fave comfort read

😍Werewolves in the Workplace (leveragehunters (Monkeygreen)) - 45K, stucky AU, were!bucky, vamp!steve, SHIELD, partners-to-friends-to-lovers - fucking awesome fic!

🥰👂‍This Is How You Lose The Time War (Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone, author; Cynthia Farrell & Emily Woo Zeller, narrators) - this had been in my TBR forever but all the recent fuss with bigolas dickolas reminded me and made me bump it to the top - I genuinely loved it and am looking forward to rereading it; books with wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff are good for a reread

🙂Politics and Animals (Kryptaria, zooeyscigar) - 73K, stucky no-powers modern AU with some D/s stuff - enjoyable enough and I don't regret finishing it but it left me kinda meh

🙂Pretty Good Neighbor (Jeffrey Ford) - freebie horror/sci fi short story

💖💖 +188K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Relationship Goals: Have a Relationship (cleo4u2, xantissa) - MCU: shrunkyclunks, 21K - reread, fave - wrong number AU

bene castigat series (Nonymos) - MCU: no powers shrinkyclinks, clintasha, 69K - reread, forever fave - really excellent BDSM series with tiny sadist dom steve and beefy masochist sub bucky + lots of great appearances/involvement of clint, natasha & sam

Flex and Flexibility (musette22) - MCU: shrunkyclunks, 4K - adorable meet cute

Push It (thepinupchemist) - MCU: stucky+peggy, 8K - modern AU, basically 3some pwp: they're all alternative models doing a lingerie photoshoot that turns into sex. very hot

i'm so in love that i might stop breathing (i wanna brainwash you into loving me forever) (instantcaramel) - Ted Lasso: Keeley/Roy/Jamie, 4K - post 3.11, jamie's not sure how he fits in but roy & keeley reassure him

My Heart Belongs to Captain Rogers (lavenderbucky) - MCU: stucky, 2K - established relationship, super cute accidental clothes sharing leads to social media meltdown (positive)

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Um, Actually - s3, e2-7; s8, e5

Ted Lasso - s3, e11 [x2]

Ghosted

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

The Sporkful - Comic Jamie Loftus’s Hot Dog Summer

Into It - ‘The Little Mermaid’ and the Black Princess Test

Re: Dracula - May 24: It Never Rains but it Pours

Vibe Check - You’re the Warm up Act, Honey

⭐You Are Good - Steel Magnolias w. Ali Soukovich

Re: Dracula - May 25: Mingle Our Weeps

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Tina Turner

Richmond Til We Die: A Ted Lasso Podcast - Willing a Roy Kent and Jamie Tartt Duet Into Existence (with Julie Stewart-Binks)

The Waves Plus - I Don’t Care If You Like Me

Re: Dracula - May 26: Count Me in Every Time

Into It - Are We Into the End of 'Succession' and HBO Max? (Plus: We Remember Tina Turner)

Pop Culture Happy Hour - The Little Mermaid and What's Making Us Happy

Ologies with Alie Ward - Field Trip: A Hollywood Visit to the Writers Guild Strike Line

⭐Sidedoor - The Funk List

Our Opinions Are Correct - Mini Episode: Our Favorite New TV Show of 2023!

Our Opinions Are Correct - MINI EPISODE: Are People Finally Sick of Superhero Movies?

Switched on Pop - Listening 2 Daft Punk: Discovery

99% Invisible #538 - Train Set: Track Three

⭐Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - Vocal Stratosphere

Hit Parade Plus - The Bridge: The Sun Never Set on the Britpop Empire

Shedunnit - Bonus: Julia Jones on Margery Allingham

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Relaxing '80s Rock

my 'Likes' playlist [every song is a certified banger but it is almost 600 songs long and took me 5 days to get thru. no regrets!]

#sunday reading recap #bookgeekgrrl's reading habits #bookgeekgrrl's soundtracks #the reading week kinda ended with a whimper but that's ok bc there was still a lot of good stuff in there #cecelia and kate series #this is how you lose the time war #fanfic ftw #excited to be excited about ted lasso again #ghosted was a serviceable action film: perfect for background viewing as i folded laundry and painted my nails #re: dracula #sidedoor podcast #switched on pop podcast #20k hz podcast #99% invisible podcast #hit parade podcast #ologies podcast #vibe check podcast #the sporkful podcast #richmond til we die podcast #you are good podcast #shedunnit podcast #our opinions are correct podcast #pop culture happy hour podcast #into it podcast #the waves podcast #'80s music

[bellasbookclub]

G's Better Books for Bella

Or: the favorite books I would give her to make her sound more like a Character and less like a generic high school reading list or a self-insert of Stephenie Meyer

*Accordingly, these are not simply my own favorite books/authors, with the exceptions of Wilde, du Maurier, and Link

Books

For her charming childhood fantasy faves: the Talking With Dragons series

I also think she would like Cornelia Funke. I think she would be an Inkheart girl, but to work with the timeline, she could read Dragon Rider (1997) since she and Stephenie like dragons so much

Sorcery and Cecelia

To help her get over her appearance and self-esteem issues: The Ordinary Princess

Forget Little Women (I kid I kid, I promise I like it), Bella should read Louisa May Alcott’s A Long Fatal Love Chase since she loves toxic Byronic heroes so much

And forget Anne of Green Gables, I know Bella cites “L.M. Montgomery” in general but she should stan L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle instead to help her be less of a doormat

Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, because give her some VAMPIRES 

We don’t have to go as on-the-nose as Dracula but come on, you know this bitch would LOVE Carmilla

Tuck Everlasting, for the on-the-nose immortality themes. The movie came out in 2002, so 2004 was PEAK Tuck Everlasting era

Another timeline-incompatible suggestion, but I think Bella would like Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series since, like Tooth and Claw, it’s both dragon-y and historical fantasy

Authors

Some Ursula K. Le Guin

Some Eva Ibbotson

Georgette Heyer to maintain the period romance but make sure it has fun, three-dimensional heroines

Daphne du Maurier instead of the Brontës. Not to knock the Brontës (I quite like them and their work,) but if Bella had made Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel her whole identity instead of Jane Eyre she would be so much sexier and more toxic

Terry Pratchett

Kelly Link! Personally I’ve always thought her short story “The Wrong Grave” (from the collection Pretty Monsters) has major Edward and Bella vibes

Some Oscar Wilde. His comedies of manners seem like Bella’s bag

I just know if Twilight were set a little later, Bella would be a slut for edgy Melissa Marr books. RIP Bella you would have loved the YA supernatural romance boom you caused 😔

#bella's book club #bella book rec challenge #november challenge #book recs for bella #book recs #G's opinions

[peri-hellion]

Top 5 fantasy/sci fi novels

I just shot a panicked look at my scifi/fantasy bookshelf like the ones I didn't pick would *know*

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (really this entire list could be Connie Willis, I forced myself to choose one, but everything she writes is amazing. A must-read if you love the particular mix of competence porn and constant failure that comes with time-traveling academics falling in love in the Victorian era)

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull (urban fantasy battle of the bands meets fae in 90's Minneapolis. I wish Emma Bull wrote more)

Network Effect by Martha Wells (really the whole Murderbot series, but NE was my favorite)

Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce (note about Connie Willis above goes double for Tamora Pierce)

A hard tie between two very different 'regency era but with magic' books, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and Sorcery and Cecelia (which is more YA, but I adored as a tween)

#as always I am begging everyone to read connie willis