#and I really want to read his novel written in latin!!!!!!!!

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

Hey! What books by POC got a majority yes result? I'm interested in reading more by authors of color but when I used the be loathed Tumblr search function the only posts it brought up as tagged 'result: yes' were by white authors. Also, any personal recommendations for sci fi by POC?

hello! don’t mistake the stats — no books by authors of color have gotten a yes result either here or on the fantasy blog, and I don’t think any are likely to at this point (if Jemisin’s The Fifth Season couldn’t do it on the fantasy blog, I highly doubt anything else will); authors of color simply have an average yes percentage here that’s only slightly lower than the average percentage for white authors.

I’m happy to give my own recommendations, though:

any of Samuel R. Delany’s sci-fi. I think Nova is maybe the most approachable starting point (and quite good in its own right), but if you want to jump off the deep end, I think Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand is the greatest science fiction novel ever written; whether or not one agrees with that statement, I think it is pretty unequivocally the most science fiction novel ever written, by which I mean that no other book I’ve encountered or heard of has made such a thorough use of everything science fiction can be and do as Stars.

I also would be remiss to not recommend Octavia E. Butler; I’m personally not a huge fan of her books, but I do think every sci-fi reader should read at least one of them. the Earthseed duology (Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents) is probably most-discussed in recent years because they seem to parallel current developments in US politics, and the Xenogenesis trilogy (first book Dawn) is also considered a classic.

the elements of it that read as (at least potentially) science fiction upon publication now read as fantasy, but if you’re interested in something older, Pauline Hopkins’s Of One Blood, or The Hidden Self is an early work of science fiction/fantasy by a Black writer — it was serialized in 1903. it’s part lost world narrative, part last gasp of (pseudo)scientific mesmerism/animal magnetism theory, part troubled romance (caught up in turn-of-the-century racial politics).

Zainab Amadahy’s novel The Moons of Palmares is a cool (though a little short) novel about a racially diverse mining colony trying to break away from Earth’s capitalist / colonial domination.

I’ve enjoyed several of Aliette de Bodard’s Universe of Xuya books, which are mainly short — I think the first I read was On a Red Station, Drifting, and I also enjoyed The Tea Master and the Detective (even though I often don’t really care for Sherlock Holmes adaptations) and The Citadel of Weeping Pearls.

if you like science fantasy, I loved Jacqueline Koyanagi’s Ascension when I read it back in 2014. it hits a lot of ~found family~ notes that I think would appeal to what people on tumblr (say they) like.

I also would recommend any of Yoon Ha Lee’s books; I think the best starting point for his work is his short story collection Conservation of Shadows, which is incredible and also contains “The Battle of Candle Arc”, which I think is the best intro / preparatory reading for his Machineries of Empire trilogy (first book Ninefox Gambit), which is excellent (though very dark) but can be challenging to get into.

I read and enjoyed a lot of Nnedi Okorafor’s books in the past, although I haven’t read most of her more recent stuff, and I would particularly recommend Lagoon, as well as her short story collection Kabu Kabu, which includes some excellent sci-fi stories, especially “Spider the Artist” (also available online).

if by any chance you read Spanish, I can’t recommend Edmundo Paz Soldán’s Iris highly enough — incredible, deeply fucked-up novel about an anticolonial war in a corporate dystopia somewhere in ambiguously Latin America-slash-Oceania.

also “authors of color” isn’t necessarily the right rubric for these, since he’s Wajin in Japan, but if you like military sci-fi I’ve been really enjoying Tanaka Yoshiki’s Legend of the Galactic Heroes novels, although tragically Tyran Grillo’s translations of the middle novels are very bad.

Masande Ntshanga’s Triangulum was something I’d picked up entirely on spec at a bookstore a few years ago and it absolutely blew me away — I’ve been recommending it to everyone.

if you liked The Locked Tomb and ever found yourself thinking, “what if this decadent space empire ran on sex magic instead of necromancy”, I’d highly recommend Bendi Barrett’s Empire of the Feast

and some other short fiction collections (some with the same caveat re the utility of “POC” as Tanaka Yoshiki):

Gillian Ybabez, Homeward Bound, and other stories includes some sci-fi and some science fantasy, published as part of the now sadly defunct Trans Women Writers Collective booklet series and is still available through its successor, River Furnace.

Ted Chiang, Stories of Your Life and Others (now sometimes titled Arrival)

Hassan Blasim (ed.), Iraq + 100

Basma Ghalayini (ed.), Palestine + 100

Sofia Samatar, Tender  — Samatar is imo the greatest living fantasy author, but this collection is also about 50% sci-fi and she’s just as good at sci-fi.

most of it is realist but I have to mention Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s This Accident of Being Lost, which has two excellent sci-fi stories (“Big Water” and “Akiden Boreal”); Simpson has imo perfect prose — never a word out of place.

Sunyoung Park and Sang Joon Park (ed.), Readymade Bodhisattva

Michel Jean (ed.), Wapke, which was originally published in French but is apparently now also available in English

it wasn’t all my preferred kind of specfic, but Chelsea Vowel’s Buffalo Is the New Buffalo is worth a read in any case.

#not a poll

[alphamalereviewsfanfics]

CAN YOU TASTE MY LUST? CAN YOU FEEL MY SIN? By Heartofhubris

SUMMARY: “But, the issue had arisen during your nights when he filtered into your dreams. Nights of imagining him taking you in the pews,laying you out on the dark woodtostrip you bare to his whims.
When you focused back into the Father, you felt your blush travel up to your ears. The thoughts would only offer more confessions, and you didn’t want to add in more sins you had to confess.
“We are all sinners,” Father Ford said.

Enjoy the sacrilege, you damn heathen

Priest Ford AU where he's aware of what he can do and he does it.”

PREGAME: Happy Easter my fellow alphas!!!!! My partner requested this one and I thought it would be silly if I was a bit sacreligious on this holiday because I kinda hate it 😎😎😎 not because of like the religious shit itself but like because the rabbit shit doesn’t compute in my brain and also because of how my family celebrates good ole Easter but what can you do. I’m not catholic, but I was raised pretty non-denominational Christian and I haven’t been to church since I was 10 so like I know nothing about this shit. I’ll take most of my knowledge from watching midnight mass so like if it’s insanely inaccurate to how this catholic shit goes then that’s not on me that’s on the author, who describes themself as “catholicphobic.” Also I only read this twice instead of my usual five times before reviewing so sorry if the review sucks ass that’s just the alpha way though.

REVIEW: When I was younger I desperately wanted to learn latin. I watched this Wes Anderson movie called Rushmore (it was an earlier one so it wasn’t filled with the crazy aesthetics he has now) and I was in love with the idea of taking Latin and going to a Latin club and reviving an almost dead language. It drove me mad and I would try to teach myself Latin with google translate (because duolingo and sites like that weren’t really a thing) and I learned all about the etymology of words in the English language and I was obsessed with it and I would tell everyone what the root of certain words was and it annoyed the shit out of people (especially my sister). Anyways the point of all this is that Latin is not sexy. And it never will be sexy to me. And I don’t know why I was so fucking hung up on the mention of latin because like there aren’t even any latin words in this fic!!!!! It just mentions it!!!! So moral of the story don’t be me. This is pretty well written though bro. The author succeeds with constructing a kinda like repentance vibe in the first few sentences. Like it feels like there’s nothing else to be written besides priest porn. Like that’s the end goal. Even if there wasn’t priest porn in it I would get the vibes of priest porn like just read the first few sentences l think Aw man this’ll either be some good religious horror novel or some killer priest porn. And I respect the hell out of that bro like it got the tone down bro. And like the porn itself is pretty well written like man I’m bewildered that the tone just fit so well bro like I don’t get it I’m baffled bro this is insane!!!!!! Like the porn was so well written bro it has tone and emotion to it you don’t get usually bro trust me. Anyways my partner said they were really into this fic and I gotta support them on that it was well written even if I find the father thing kinda silly but like I don’t know I’ve never tried it. Also priests are silly and I couldn’t see Ford into religion like characterization wise buuut I’m putting the mischaracterization aside because it’s just made for people who want to get off to priest ford pines and I gotta respect that. So if you’re into ford pines and you’re into priest shit this fine Easter Sunday then do some sacrilegious shit and read this fic

RATING: 6/8 fingers (BETA MALE STATUS)

Happy Easter and Ramadan and Passover and death anniversary of Margaret Thatcher my alphas 😎😎💪💪🔥🔥🔥

#alpha review #fanfic review #gravity falls fanfiction #Stanford pines x reader #ford pines x reader #I love my partner and their taste is impeccable

[sitp-recs]

Hello! Any writer!Draco fics you can recommend?

Hi anon, absolutely! I reckon that’s a pretty common trope in fic nowadays. I’ve decided to include journalist!Draco as well, in case you’re interested:

He Whose Hand and Eye Are Gentle by khalulu (2017, G, 5k)

Draco reads poems and sometimes writes them. Harry receives poems and sometimes reads them. Rutherford delivers poems via the scenic route.

i just want your extra time and your.... by @bonesliketambourines (2020, E, 9k)

Ron should know better than to speak Latin in a magical library. If he’d just left well enough alone, instead of trying to badger Malfoy for the details of his newest novel, Harry wouldn’t have to listen to all of this chatter about how bloody decent Malfoy is, and he wouldn’t be dealing with all of these...feelings.

coffee & communication: a (slow) romance by @softlystarstruck (2022, E, 11k)

Nearly a decade after the war, Draco has made a life for himself in Muggle London, writing romance novels and hanging out with his cat.

Dream by the Fire by GallifreyisBurning (2020, M, 11k)

When Draco Malfoy resurfaces in England after eight years abroad—tattooed, pierced, and wanting to take over a corner of Harry's coffee shop to work on a writing project—Harry can't help but be intrigued.

Write the Way Out by carpemermaid (2017, E, 14k)

When Draco finally gets his first real assignment as a reporter for the Daily Prophet, he didn’t imagine that he would be given the Potter beat.

100 Beats per Minute by @oknowkiss (2022, E, 14k)

When Draco left the Magical World behind at nineteen, he didn't expect the cusp of thirty would find him comfortable and secure, with a stable life and a successful career as a sex columnist.

Romance, in Quartet by @potteresque-ire (2014, E, 14k)

Draco Malfoy, the writer of WWN's The Romance Hour, found solace in his quill as his son Scorpius battled cancer.

Reading Malfoy by Femme (2013, M, 15k)

After thirteen years of hiding himself away in Muggle London, Draco Malfoy shows up again in the wizarding world--with a wickedly amusing memoir in hand. Harry doesn't want to read it. Really. He doesn't.

Sourdough by @academicdisasterfic (2021, M, 17k)

Draco writes romance novels and doesn't leave his apartment much. Harry bakes bread and sells it to Draco. Draco is quite weird. Harry might like that.

Sparks from the Fox’s Tail by khalulu (2013, T, 17k)

Draco is frustrated with his career as a travel writer, when a mini-tirade from Mrs Weasley and an encounter with the portrait of an intrepid great-great-great-aunt lead him to Finland to study wandless magic.

Gossip Boys by mypetelephant (2012, E, 24k)

Confiscated Dark objects have been disappearing from the Ministry, and journalist Harry Potter is on the case. Unfortunately, he has to drag along Draco Malfoy, gossip columnist extraordinaire, whose subject of choice is everyone's favorite desultory hero.

If We Were Honest by @daisymondays (2018, E, 26k)

Two years ago, Draco and Harry had a whirlwind secret romance that ended in heart-break. Since then Draco's written a best-selling novel based on their relationship, but with one key difference—the characters get a happily ever after.

The Boy and the Sleeping Prince by phoenixacid and @writcraft (2014, E, 26k)

Harry is miserable and tired of being an Auror, coasting through life until he’s forced to make some changes. Spurred on by his passion for drawing and working with best-selling author Draco Malfoy, Harry develops a charm which gives children a magical, interactive reading experience.

Written Proof by @m0srael (2021, E, 34k)

Draco's move home to Wiltshire after more than a decade is anything but easy. He's given up an illustrious career in journalism to pursue poetry, his mother's health is declining, and it seems that the War isn't quite as 'in the past' as Draco assumed.

All Roads by @korlaena and Saulaie (2019, M, 36k)

Draco hates his job at the Prophet. He hates it even more when he’s assigned to write an article on Harry Potter, who left the country three years ago after their falling out.

Picking Up Pieces by @tessacrowley (2017, E, 44k)

Fifteen years after the War, Draco is a social recluse and award winning author. Harry is an auror who works too hard, ensuring his old war wounds never heal.

Antonym of Silence by @xx-thedarklord-xx (2021, M, 45k)

No witnesses, no sign of a break-in, wards intact and a missing person. Just what happened to Draco Malfoy? Was he even still alive? All Harry's got to go off of is a wrecked house, a silent painting, and a journal full of private emotions.

Had To Be You by @lettersbyelise (2018, E, 59k)

Draco Malfoy is possibly the last person Harry expects to find at the wheel of a Muggle car, on a beautiful summer day on the road to London.

Who we are in the shadows by @quicksilvermaid (2019, E, 99k)

What happens when you’re forced to become the very thing you despise? Ex-Auror Harry Potter, tossed out of the Ministry for something he had no control over, has been looking for a way back to his former life.

Turn by Saras_Girl (2013, E, 306k)

One good turn always deserves another. Apparently.

#asks #anon #drarry reclist #writer draco #journalist draco

[milkywayan]

hi. could you recommend medieval literature? thank you :)

uuh, yes i can but that really depends on the fact if you can understand german! i dont know if there are english translations of it (i read them in dual language editions, with middle high german and new high german) - i only have read one book that is not german

But in case you can, here are the ones i read in the past year (the not german one is the last one):

Collection of poems by Walther von der Vogelweide - one of the most famous german speaking minnesänger, lived from 1170 - 1230, and has stolen my heart with his diss tracks to the pope; author of the Famous 'Palästinalied' written as propaganda during the crusades

Collection of poems by Neidhart von Reuental - another important german speaking minnesänger, born around 1180/90, so a younger contemporary of Walther, sings a lot about the 'stupid peasants' and how they try to emulate life of the nobles (great fun, the peasants hated him); the Neidhart persona was very self depricating, depticting an unlucky knight; my favourite song of his is 'Meie din liechter schin'

Der Ackermann by Johannes von Tepl - probably one of my absolute favourite books ever, written in the early 15th century as a story for a friend of Johannes von Tepl, who himself was an educated man from northern bohemia; technically already early new high german and not middle high german; the story is a dialogue between a man and death - the mans wife has just died and he starts insulting death, demanding to bring her back. it goes back and forth, and they discuss life, death, humanity creation, god and grief. i loved it

Ein kurtzweilig Lesen von Dil Ulenspiegel - written around 1515 by an anonymous author in early new low german; german speaking people are more familiar with the modern name Til Eulenspiegel. I grew up with the modern adaptations of the story, but the late medieval ones are so, so much more crude. it is a collection of short stories, telling the tale of Dil Ulenspiegel, a silly boy/young man who does silly things. a medieval comedy, nothing profound. the original print has nice wood cut illustrations. it was widely popular, because medieval people could read (although they couldn't necessarily write)

Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach - written around 1200-1210 in southern germany, picks up athurian legend. i am half way through and have personal beef with wolfram. but it is good, a lot of depictions of noble life and medieval morals and ideas. makes A LOT of references to other writers of the time, including Walther von der Vogelweide, Gottfried von Straßburg (see next book) and Hartmann von Aue (see below)

Tristan by Gottfriend von Straßburg - written around 1210, is the german adaptation of the tale of Tristan and Isolde. I have not read it yet, but the books are on my shelf to be read as soon as I am done with Parzival

Erec by Hartmann von Aue - written around 1180/90 is said to be the first arthurian story written in german and an adaptation of the old french Erec et Enide - same as above have not read it yet

Iwein by Hartmann von Aue - second arthurian story, written around 1200, also adaptation of the old french story - same as above i have to still read it

The tale of the two lovers by Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini (future Pope Pius II) - written in latin (there are english translations!) in the mid 15th century for a friend while at the court of Vienna, this is the most famous medieval erotic novel we have! It is about a married woman falling in love with one of the holy roman emperors men while they visit the town in italy she lives in, and the spicy affair they end up having, probably based on a similar story that happened. Aeneas lived a wild life and was old beyond his age, having 2 kids with two different women in two different countries out of wedlock and being a well travelled poet. he also hated women, like, A LOT. after he became pope he wanted to supress the circulation of the book, but is was a best-seller so it didnt work evidently, as i have read it in the 21st century

In addition to that, as a historical fencer I also read the sources, but these will be boring to people who dont care, but here are some anyways:

The Art of Swordsmanship by Hans Lecküchner - most famous source for Langes Messer techniques

Das Fechtbuch by Albrecht Dürer - yes, THE Dürer wrote a fencing book, completely in verse with nice illustrations!

Jude Lew - his fencing manuals are also nice, no illustrations only text

Hope this helps in a way.. again, i read mostly german medieval literature, so idk if this is useful as idk if any of these books have been translated

#personal #medieval literature #middle high german #medieval studies #any real medievalists could add something that is more useful #i am just a hobbyist reenactor

[lyxthen]

Extremely mildly niche academic-ish rambling ahead. Might wanna skip this one. It is long and boring

One thing that does make me happy is the Latinoamerican Literary Boom was so big it actually went on to be translated in other languages. There are still authors that I feel need to have their works translated (mostly women, I wonder why) but many of the video essayist I watch keep mentioning Borges in their videos, and truly I can't blame them because his work is rad. I don't know about him as a person but he lives 30 layers of post ironic meta fantasy or some shit like that. Cortazar is really cool also. In terms of living authors I really like Juan Villoro, his writing style is very fun. The Wild Book is a children's book about literary theory, like, Theory of Reception, Death of the Author, stuff like that. It was a really fun read as a child but the themes are interesting as well.

I feel like, I don't know, it's so hard to find Latin American fantasy books these days, or at least they are not as available. The YA genre is dominated by books originally writen in English or on books written in Spain (think Laura Gallego, which I just found out has a Netflix series made out of her most famous series of novels, but I am derailing) with the exception of Benito Taibo, who is Mexican, and has one (1) high fantasy trilogy that is kinda mid. The ideas were great, but they could've been expanded, you know? Camino a Sognum had so much potential, and you can *see* that it was inspired by classic epic fantasy like Earthsea, but it needed some more *spark* to actually work. I have not read Normal Person, but I plan to. Maybe it is better made?

And it's funny, because a book like Mexican Gothic, that was written in English, is so darn good! But only if you read it *in English* because the Spanish translation did this thing where they try to "neutralize" the accent and manerismd of the characters to make it appeal to the wider Spanish-speaking world and it doesn't sound or feel Mexican at all.

I am not sure where I am going with this. I have been discovering the local literary scene lately (and I mean *local*, like city-wide local) and it is mostly so boring because no one is writing fantasy! No magic realism! It's all kind of depressing dwellings on how we are being gentrified and indigenous people keep being oppressed by the mestizo majority and corporations and the goverment keep stealing the land to make Coca Cola and we are dying of diabetes and we don't got water and Capitalism sucks. LIKE I AGREE BUT CAN YOU PUT FAIRIES IN THERE OR SOMETHING. And I guess that's why I've never wanted to read Cómo Agua para Chocolate, because it is just *too real*, cuz it's a story I know by memory and I don't wanna live it all over again verbatim. Probably a great book, but I just cannot.

I don't know man idk idk.

The funniest think about this is that my favorite book ever (like actually, for real) is a children's book, written from the perspective of the imaginary friend of a child, and it is so gracefully narrated, and the characters so well constructed, and it touches real problems like Teen Pregnancy and Childhood Depression and Anxiety while also managing to be funny and whimsical? The very premise of the book (memories of an almost true friend, it's called) is already so creative and the execution is masterful. BUT I AM THE ONLY GUY ON PLANET EARTH THAT SEEMS TO KNOW ABOUT ITS EXISTENCE ITS DRIVING ME INSANE.

Where was I going with this. Ah yes. Youtubers talking about Borges. Well. Um. I. I think imma translate some of my own texts to English and put them on Wattpad or something. They are not the kind of thing Wattpad people are into but I gotta archive them somewhere and doing it on AO3 feels wrong since they aren't fan works. And on that note, I also wanna write more fan works.

Ugh I could be writing an essay but you got me writing a Tumblr post. What is wrong with me. I'm too bad at word weaving.

Aaaa (??????

Thoughts?

Help

I did take my meds today BTW. I don't know what is happening to me I just wanna WRITE ok I LOVE WRITING BUT WHY MUST I DO TUMBLR INSTEAD OF MY PASSIONS?

Oi I'll end it there

[mediaevalmusereads]

Hamnet. By Maggie O'Farrell. Vintage Books, 2020.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Genre: historical fiction

Series: N/A

Summary: Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet.

Award-winning author Maggie O'Farrell's new novel breathes full-blooded life into the story of a loss usually consigned to literary footnotes, and provides an unforgettable vindication of Agnes, a woman intriguingly absent from history.

***Full review below.***

Content Warnings: child abuse, blood, childbirth (including childbirth trauma), stillbirth, child death, disease

Overview: As an English major, I feel somewhat obligated to read historical fiction about Shakespeare, so when a few colleagues started picking this up, I figured I should too. Overall, my reactions were somewhat mixed; while I loved O'Farrell's prose as well as the relationships between Shakespeare, his sister Eliza, and his children, I wasn't exactly blown away by the narrative. I didn't find a whole lot of insight into things like grief, family dynamics, wanting to find your own way in the world, etc. Additionally, this book features a few tropes that I personally dislike, so this book gets 3 stars from me.

Writing: O'Farrell's prose is lovely. It feels very literary and, at times, almost poetic, though it's not so lofty that a reader feels lost or disoriented. I loved the expressions that O'Farrell used to describe the world of 16th century Stratford, and there were definitely moments when the affective phrasing left me feeling for the characters.

One of the more interesting choices that I very much appreciated was O'Farrell's reluctance to call William Shakespeare by his name. He's never called "Will" or any proper name whatsoever - he's always "father" or "the Latin tutor" or some such. I appreciated this choice primarily because it allowed me to detach Shakespeare the man from the prestige of Shakespeare the playwright. It was much easier to see him as a complex, "real life" person without the weight of his literary significance pulling the character down. It was smart, and I think O'Farrell did the right thing.

Plot: The plot of this book is told in two timelines. The first is the "present," sometime in the 1590s, in which a young boy named Hamnet is desperately searching for someone to help his twin sister, Judith, who has fallen ill with plague. The second timeline is the past, which narrates how Hamnet's parents came to be together (and how they parted).

On top of that, I don't think I got any new insight regarding Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Don't get me wrong: I don't believe Shakespeare should have been a prominent character, and I don't think O'Farrell needed to have made parellels to the plot of Shakespeare's play to make the Hamnet-Hamlet connection meaningful. But I also didn't get anything more than "he had a son with the same name." Given O'Farrell's historical notes, I thought the significance would have gone deeper than that, but it didn't.

If this book could be said to be about anyone, it is probably about Agnes, Will's wife and Hamnet's mother. She is present in a significant way in both timelines, and while there are scenes in which other characters enjoy the spotlight, this book is really Agnes's story. As such, I could definitely sympathize with her as she endured various hardships; she is treated as an oddity and is very isolated on account of her husband living apart from her and her children. But even so, I ultimately didn't get a lot out of reading about her struggles. There's something about the way this book is written that makes me feel like we're being kept at a distance, like we're not fully allowed to feel emotion along with Agnes. We're told that she has emotions, and there are times when the writing feels very affective, but overall, I struggled to fully connect with the characters. As a result, I didn't find Agnes's life to be particularly inspiring or insightful. We're not necessarily invited to feel things like grief, longing, etc, and I think it's because Agnes is constantly isolated and lacks meaningful, intimate relationships.

Characters: There are quite a few characters in this book, so I'll speak about them somewhat generally and provide specific comments on a couple of prominent individuals.

Overall, I found the characters to be fairly well-rounded and complex. Each of them had backstories and histories that made them sympathetic, and they had motivations that were understandable, even if we as readers don't agree with them. For example, I was incredibly sympathetic towards Will's desire to escape his abusive father and the way he used both Agnes and the theater to do. I also sympathized with the eldest daughter, Susanna, who felt like she had to keep the household running and felt burdened doing so.

However, I was somewhat disappointed in that very few characters seemed to have strong positive relationships. Agnes is tormented by her stepmother Joan, Will is tormented by his father John, Susanna is weighed down by her responsibilities, etc. There are very few moments when characters are emotionally intimate and connected to one another, the sole exceptions being Will's and Agnes's interactions with Will's sister Eliza or in twins' recollections of playing with one another. Not even Agnes and Will's relationship felt entirely joyful; their romance didn't quite feel genuine, since we are told about their live but only ever see moments when they are miserable together. In this criticism, I don't mean to suggest that all relationships should be happy or that all stories must be optimistic; but I do struggle to see how characters find the motivation to keep living if so much of life is mired in muck.

TL;DR: While I admire and respect the author's prose and think there were parts of this book that were well-crafted, I ultimately could not give this book a higher rating due to my issues with the protagonist's archetype and feeling like I was being held at a distance.

This is especially true once we break down the construction our protagonist, Agnes. Agnes is fine as a character; her motivations, desires, and feelings are apparent, but she seems so alone in the world that it was difficult to see her as part of a community or, alternately, as some kind of critique of a society that isolated her. She just seemed to exist, and I wish I had a better understanding of what for. On top of that, Agnes is a character type that I'm frankly sick of reading about - the woman who knows a lot about herbs and the forest so is regarded simultaneously with trust and suspicion, especially by the Church. I've read stories about this character so many times in historical fiction and fantasy that I don't much care for them anymore, and this book is no exception.

[thebookhoard]

Title: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Author: Ocean Vuong

Pages: 242

”On Earth We‘re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family‘s history that began before he was born, a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, masculinity, and our current American moment - immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma but undergirded by compassion and tenderness. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.“

I saw a quote and sent it to a friend, not quite realising that it was from this book. I just loved what it said. My friend, who had already read that book at that time, told me that I‘d enjoy it - it turned out that this was quite the understatement. On Earth We‘re Briefly Gorgeous touches topics I cannot relate to, for my reality is quite different than Little Dog‘s, but that doesn‘t lessen the fact that there are indeed many parts that I could actually connect with. To quote Ron Charles (The Washington Post) ”Not so much briefly gorgeous as permanently stunning.“

Some of my favourite quotes:

”I am writing you from inside a body that used to be yours.“

”What I really wanted to say was that a monster is not such a terrible thing to be. From the latin word monstrum, a divine messenger of catastrophe, then adapted by the Old French to mean an animal of myriad origins: centaur, griffin, satyr. To be a monster is to be a hybrid signal, a lighthouse: both shelter and warning at once.“

”Sometimes being offered tenderness feels like the very proof that you’ve been ruined.“

”(…)’what were you before you met me?‘ / ’I think I was drowning.‘ / A pause./’And what are you now?‘ (…) / I thought for a second. ’Water.‘“ (The one I‘ve sent to my friend)

#on earth we're briefly gorgeous #ocean vuong #books and literature #lgbt books #book blog #literature #book review #not really a review and more what i thought about it in a few words #spoiler free #book lover #book hoarder #thebookhoard #book recommendations #if someone wants to know more about the book please feel free to ask

[thepalmofyourfreezinghand]

Hey I send you an ask a while back but I think it got lost amongst all the craziness. As you are a lover of classic literature what do you think would be good books if someone wants to start reading classics and are ‘easy’ to get into.

Ive started reading The Count of Monte Cristo- not exactly an easy read, I know, but my favourite actor is portraying the lead protagonist and so I think that makes it a lot easier for me to get into it

Thanks for taking the time ❤️

I'm so sorry, anon! Yeah, the past couple of weeks things have been kinda crazy hahaha.

TCoMC is a veeeeery long read, but Dumas is also what I like to call a "beach read" for the classics, so it's not really too hard to get into it, imo: lots of adventures, easy dialogue, and not too much introspection. That being said, yeah, it's still very long (and I sometimes struggle with very long novels). But if you feel like it absolutely read it all the way through! It's easier to read a difficult book you wanna read than to read an easy book you're not interested in, imo.

Here are a couple of suggestions of "easy" books:

Thérèse Raquin (Emile Zola). This is the story of a woman who convinces her lover to kill her husband (this is not a spoiler, it's the premise of the novel). She's profoundly dissatisfied with her life and she thinks that by getting rid of her husband she can get the life she wants, but, as it turns out, that's not what happens. She gets together officially with her lover and she's left even more dissatisfied than she was before. And, even though they never get caught for their murder, they pay the consequences of their actions in much more dire ways. Full disclosure, Zola was an exponent of the current of naturalism, and this novel is his biggest example of that. It's full of very realistic and detailed descriptions of cadavers, for example. It's nothing you can't digest (it was the XIX century, after all, although this novel was VERY criticized when it was released for how crude and realistic it was), but just beware of that. Overall, it's a short novel (around 220 pages), it's very well written, and Zola poured his entire soul in it, defying the expectations of his time. He just wrote the lives of these people as objectively as he could, without moralizing in any way, and it's such a breath of fresh air for our modern eyes.

Chronicle of a death foretold (Gabriel Garcìa Marquez). This is another story about a murder, I'm sorry, I swear I didn't do it on purpose haha. But it's very different: instead of Zola's dry objectivity, here we have Marquez's dreamy and evocative prose. We're in sun-drenched Latin America, and the Vicario brothers are looking to seek revenge against Santiago Nasar, who supposedly took their sister's virginity, which, in turn, made the sister's new husband leave her on their wedding night. The brothers are almost "forced" to kill Santiago, largely due to the patriarchal society they live in, but they seem to not want to. They spend hours telling multiple people in their town about their plan, almost "hoping" that someone will stop them, but that doesn't happen, because nobody really believes them. It's a story of love and revenge and morality and Marquez perfectly paints the atmosphere of the pueblo: you can picture the small houses and the old shops and the burning sun. There's a layer of anxiety throughout the whole novel and the end just leaves you breathless. It's even shorter than Thérèse Raquin and soooo well-written!

#books #classic literature

[anathemafiction]

anna i love youu dont you worry your pretty brilliant little head the hype hasn't died at all❤️❤️I'm practicing restraint by not reading the extended demo so i can read all of it when the full game gets released haha but its difficult🤧idk if you've been asked this before but what are your favorite books? like real books.

It's very hard for me to pick a list of favorite books, I love so many of them! My interests and obsessions tend to shift over time, but looking back, some titles have always stayed with me. For different reasons and with different depths but these books, no matter how fresh they are in my mind, left an impression so I suppose these are my top 5.

I'll put them under a read me more because, by God, it got extremely long! 😄

In no particular order:

1984 

I love dystopian books, and out of the ones I've read, this is the one that I always come back to. It's not a feel good book - it's the very opposite. There are scenes in it that made me physically uncomfortable, scenes where I wanted to stop reading, and characters that deeply disturbed me. 

But that's exactly the point. It's a dark, harrowing tale where the main character isn't a hero, and it's a tale that perfectly encaptures what George Orwell lived through and witnessed. You can feel the claustrophobia, the control that Big Brother has on every single thought of his subjects, and the narrative is so well written that I felt afraid whenever Winston did something that he wasn't supposed to. I felt as paranoid as he did. 

Just a masterpiece of dystopia, and I can see why it's considered a classic. It's not a horror in the traditional sense, but what could be more terrifying than the totalitarian empire of Oceania?

One Hundred Years of Solitude

I'll admit: I've tried reading other works of Gabriel Márquez, but I didn't enjoy them very much. This one though... this one, I have a hard time putting into words why it marked me as it did. But damned, it really did. 

The story follows not a character but a family. We accompany the Buendía family from the first generation when they settle in Macondo, to the very last descendent. And we feel the years and time move forward while eerily, oddly, staying exactly the same. Time is not a line but a circle that is bound to repeat itself - fate acts on the grandpa in the same way it does on the grandson. And each person, each generation has its struggles and victories, but they're always connected to the ones who came before. It's so hard to put into words the fatalism of this tale and how it makes you feel - and think of your own history, your own family, your own culture. 

It's been a while since I last read it, and many details of the story are blurry in my mind, but I will never forget the ending. I remember I couldn't see the words, for tears were spilling out of my eyes and I could barely breathe because everything leading to that last page is a masterclass on how to write. I don't know how Márquez did it, but he wrote one of the best, maybe the best, endings I've ever read. 

The book is also a window into life in Latin America, for the town might be fictional but it's obviously influenced by Latin countries. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (another book that I love, but doesn't make the top 5 by a tiny margin) or, to be fair, any book by Allende, is the only other piece of media I can think of that gives such a raw and clear account of Latin America.

Memorial do Convento

José Saramago is my favorite author, I think I've read all his books, and let me tell you, it was very hard not to fill this list with his works. But if I must choose only one, then it's a no-brainer: it's this one.

The story follows the making of the Mafra monastery, a construction only made possible by the gold and diamonds the Portuguese crowd imported from our colonies in Brazil. It has both a macro scope - the monastery's construction - and a micro one; the love story of Baltazar and Blimunda, the novel's "protagonists".

Like pretty much all of Saramago's books, it deconstructs and critiques the rich's exploitation of the poor, the sacrifices and importance of free speech and freedom of thinking, and, especially, the corruption of the Church. All written in his unique style that always has me reading with a smirk on my face and endlessly in awe of the masterfulness Saramago has of the Portuguese language - there's no one like him. The man makes the Portuguese dictionary his personal toy. 

There's a chapter I particularly love. It's called The Epic of the Stone, on which a group of 600 men and 400 oxen carry an enormous stone from the quarry to Mafra - a journey that took 8 days and cost the lives of several men. This was done because the king wanted a beautiful balcony, and they didn't want to cut the stone into several, smaller parts - it had to be one big, magnificent piece. 

There's not a better metaphor for how the rich are built on the back of workers. For how, despite History saying that it was King João V who build the monastery, it was actually the hundreds of unnamed men who did it. 

I could go on and on about this book. It's beautiful and tragic and perfectly satirizes the darker side of not only my nation's history and government, but Europe at large.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy

I know, it's cheating, but I really can't separate the books! It's LOTR, on its whole, and I'd go as far as to throw in the Hobbit too because I adore it almost as much. 

To be honest... what can I say about them? I love, love, love fantasy - I've spent so many hours in my childhood devouring fantasy books - and of all the ones that I love, none can quite reach Middle Earth. It's magical. I have a hard time explaining it, Tolkien's work feels like home to me. 

I love the theme of perseverance, of believing even when you're in the darkest of nightmares. Of having hope that the sun will always rise, and if it doesn't, then you'll face death not without fear but refusing to lose yourself to desperation. 

An army of merciless, grotesque orcs is coming, and there's so little hope, but you still pick up the sword. It's a lesson that I try to take with me - maybe not apply it in such a dramatic way, of course, but in my own daily struggles and my fears. A little hobbit made it to Mordor, despite all the odds, despite all the pain - and he saved the world. 

Maybe there's some hope for me too?

The Graveyard Book

I... adore this book. If One Hundred Years of Solitude has the best ending I've read, then this book has the absolute best beginning. 

"There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife."

I'm getting chills from it. The book is a treasure, both in the way it's written and the story itself. It's whimsical and light, even as it touches subjects as heavy as mortality and what it means to be alive. The main character and all of the characters, even the villains, are so well written. I am a massive fan of Neil Gaiman, and I think this is one of his best works. 

This book is deceitfully simple, but it's one that I think about from time to time. Maybe because it's about themes that have always fascinated me - and I've always feared too. Life and death, seizing the moment, and, most importantly, the importance of moving on. I don't know, it's a story that I carry with me. 

#and thank you for your kind words T_T #book recommendations #personal

[transmasc-wizard]

Hi Nico! Do you have any recs for:

Queer fantasy with good POC rep

fantasy written by an author of color

anything with good autistic rep (sci-fi/fantasy are my faves, but I'll take anything!)

aro/ace rep (one or both) (particularly in fantasy, but I'll take anything)

heist stories

fantasy or sci-fi written by a disabled author

Thank you!! I'm always looking for more books to read.

~Morri🗡 (@memento-morri-writes)

alright i will go in order for this. bc i will be listing many things, i will not give plot summaries, but you can find all of these on goodreads

Queer fantasy with good POC rep: The Gilded Wolves (bi mlm, Haitian, Indian, Filipino, ethnically + religiously Jewish) by Roshani Chokshi, Cemetery Boys (transmasc, gay, Latine) by Aiden Thomas

Fantasy by an author of colour: Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong, both books I rec'd in the first point, The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna, The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang, Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen. I am cringe and have not read some of these yet but IM GETTING TO THEM and theyre supposed to be good

Autistic rep: The Gilded Wolves! Again! Chokshi is allistic and the autistic character is a bit stereotypical, but she is loved & supported for who she is. (It's not said on page but that's bc its historical fantasy that takes place like 60 years before the diagnosis existed--its confirmed in interviews.) Even If We Break, which I rec'd to Bat, also has autistic rep (ownvoices). C.G. Drews' contemporary novel The Boy Who Steals Houses is some of the best autistic rep I've ever read.

Aspec rep: Loveless (aroace + alloace) by Alice Oseman, Little Thieves (demisexual MC and demisexual love interest) by Margaret Owen, Raybearer (asexual biromantic) by Jordan Ifueko, The (Un)Popular Vote by Jasper Sanchez (aroallo + bi ace), Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez--I think? Apparently Sal is confirmed aromantic in book 2, but I haven't read it yet.

Heist stories: the gilded wolves. you want to read the gilded wolves. also: six of crows, the lies of locke lamora sort of, spellhacker, and aces wild (which also has an all ace cast! didnt rec it in the previous post bc i have not read it, but yeah)

disabled author fantasy or sci fi: the entire grishaverse by leigh bardugo (epic fantasy), one for all by lillie lainoff (historical fantasy), lycanthropy and other chronic illnesses by kristen o'niel (urban fantasy/comedy horror). i really really wish i had more recs for this point but to be honest this is something i'm trying to find more of too :')

#asks #momento morri writes #bookish asks #bookblr #book recs

[grandhotelabyss]

Italian doesn't generally loom large in world literature after the Renaissance, so what do you make of the fact that two of the most celebrated novelists of the postmodern period, Eco and Calvino, were Italians? You've written before about DeLillo's immigrant background — do you think there's something there? Is it just the Catholicism?

Somebody or other—I wish I could remember who; Clive James maybe—said that the modern Italian genius went into music, primarily opera, rather than other forms of art. My working-class paternal grandfather and his brothers and sisters were all named after opera characters, but the names were anglicized upon arrival in America. Thus my own namesake, Uncle John—I'm not sure I ever met him—was originally called Ernani, after the Verdi opera based on the Hugo play. I have never read-seen-heard either play or opera, despite Paul Berman's crediting it—the play, anyway—with the aesthetic origins of romantic terrorist totalitarianism in his Terror and Liberalism (another of the Bush-era political books I read back between 2001 and 2008, as discussed here).

Anyway, I've only read one novel apiece by Eco and Calvino, so I'm not an expert. If I had to guess, however, and with The Leopard also in mind, the answer may be that Italy was almost a "Third World" country in the early and middle 20th century: underdeveloped, given to authoritarianism, harried by theocracy, battled over by the superpowers, beset with nationalists and communists and extremists of every stripe, paranoid and often rightly so. It may therefore have encouraged the writing of postmodern fiction due to a similar set of cultural and political conditions as inspired Latin American writers like Borges, Carpentier, and García Márquez in the same period. I don't think this applies to DeLillo; he may have had the slanted perspective of the immigrant's child and the visionary authority of Catholic aesthetics, but he wrote from the heart of the empire, not its periphery, and was given to a kind of oracular futurism, not to fabulism or intellectual satire.

I really need to read If on a Winter's Night a Traveler because I'm revisiting David Mitchell right now, and it was his inspiration for Cloud Atlas (the one Calvino I have read is Invisible Cities). To anyone who hasn't seen it, you may want to check out my epic review of Eco's Foucault's Pendulum.

#italian literature #umberto eco #italo calvino #literary criticism #postmodern literature

[bookdepositori]

Dont know if I’d call this a book haul post or not, but I figured I’d post an update with all of my recent book acquisitions because I’ve been inactive for a while and I’ve slowly been picking up some books Im really excited about.

Some notable books I’ve gotten recently include:

Chinua Achebe - The African Trilogy

I LOVED Things Fall Apart, it was a book that occupied my mind during all of my waking hours when I read it. I wanted to read the rest of the trilogy and decided to sell my paperback and replace it with this hardcover of the entire trilogy. Very excited to read these last two books and maybe even re-read the first.

Marilynne Robinson - Housekeeping

This is actually a book I’ve already read. After I read it the first time, I gifted my paperback to my mother and since then, I’ve been reflecting on the novel and I’m starting to feel like it might be my favorite novel I’ve read. It’s full of such gripping, visceral prose from cover to cover and the more I thought about it, the more I thought I wanted to read it again. So now I have this 40th anniversary edition of the book to replace the one that previously occupied my shelf.

Marilynne Robinson - Gilead

Naturally, loving Housekeeping so much, I wanted to read more by Robinson and picked this up as it’s one of her most universally beloved. If you notice in the picture, there’s a bookmark in this one because I’m already 100 pages into it. For the unaware, this book is written in the form of a letter, written by an old pastor for his only son. Essentially, the book is structured as if the pastor is telling you all of this directly with no chapter breaks or changes in perspective. Very unique experience and I think I’m really getting a lot out of it. I’ll post another update about this one soon.

Gabriel García-Márquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude

I don’t have much to say about the contents of the book themselves. I am excited to read this because I planned on reading a lot more Latin American literature this year (as you can probably see from the shelf picture). Though I’m a tad miffed because I went out of my way to find a copy without the “Oprah’s Book Club” stamp on the cover and ThriftBooks sent me one with it anyways. Aaaaaaaa why do all books have these on them now, why can’t these just be stickers I can remove after buying it, why do these have to be permanent?

Anyways, I have a lot of reading to do now and I’ll update y’all on it during the coming weeks.

#books and novels #books #fiction #reading log #reading #book blog #contemporary literature #tbr #classic literature

[goblincaptain-a]

basics. 

name. knickolas pnackleless hob. nicknames.   kp, knick, knick pnack, captain, hob. age. over 100.   species. hobgoblin / bugbear.

personal.

morality. as the goblin captain: lawful / chaotic / good / neutral / evil / true. after retiring: lawful / chaotic / good / neutral / evil / true. religions. raised believing in whatever goblins believe in, though he's not very religious himself. as a fey, he mostly just listens to the universe, and himself.  sins. greed / gluttony / sloth / lust / pride / envy / wrath. virtues. chastity / charity / diligence / humility / kindness / patience / justice. know languages. common ( english ), goblin, some elvish and sylvan, as well as phrases in human languages such as latin and french. secrets. his biggest secret is that he started questioning his court and what all the courts stood for, as well as beginning to debate whether fighitng as a military man was worth it, as he wanted to start understaind his own thoughts as feelings, rather than simply serving his whole life.

physical.

build. scrawny / bony / slender / fit / athletic / curvy / herculean / pudgy / average. height. 7′0″. scar / birthmarks. the scars that are visibel are aplenty. he has several across his snout and face, as well as long ones on his thighs and shins. on his back are many from both stab wounds and many arrows. even though hob can't die that easily, he still scars like a regular beast. his scars are pretty plain, too, because his fur never grew back over them properly. abilities / powers. hob is an excellent fighter. he has many years of combat training, and is skilled with many weapons, but his speciality is a halberd. he also his an amazing strategist, which is why he's won so many battles. he doesn't have any magic, he's just good at fighting. restrictions. he often follows his duty over his heart, and it can get in the way of friendships and relationships. he hasn't had a lot of socialization ( since you can't really chat on the battlefield ), so hob can be inept in social situations, but he does try. along those lines, he can be blunt and often hurt other's feelings on accident.

favorites.

food. goblins are known for eating just about anything, but though kp grew up on eating trash and refuse, he prefers the normal cuisine of the fae, such as sweets and simple delicacies. he also just isn't picky, he'll eat anything. pizza toppings. pizza doesn't exist in hob's world, but if it did, he'd be a simple guy and eat cheese pizza. color. red and brown. music genre. classical and slow and calming. book genre. before, when he was a captain, he mostly read history and anything that would get him ahead in battle. after renouncing himself, hob has to admit that romance novels are very intriguing.  movie genre. the only movie that exists in his world is the green hunter, and he saw it once and didn't get it. curse word. he doesn't cuss a lot, but he's probably said shit the most. scents. peonies, sweet smells, the smell of wet ground and grass.

fun stuff.

associated songs. hercules by sara bareilles, playing god by paramore, i hear a symphony by cody fry, little lion man by mumford & sons, iscariot by walk the moon, machine by misterwives. associated aesthetic. soft brown fur, a burning fireplace, wet dog smell, neatly written letters, red string, battlefield maps, pristine military uniforms, the expectation of doing what you're told, gold medals, tender hearts, burning candles that are almost out of wax, intense eye contact, claws.  sings in the show? when he's feeling particularly chipper, most definitely. but he tries to make sure no one's around when he does. likes puns? unfortunately yes, he thinks they're very funny. no many others do.

#picking the songs got me hype for some reason #study.

[orphicpoieses]

Hi, hi! For weird writerly asks! 24, 32, 38?

Thanks for the ask!💕 You picked the tough ones... 😅

It's going to be a long post so the answers are after "read more".

How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

It actually depends on what people define as prepping xD Jokes aside, I'm not much of a prep-person in first place. I don't write down story structures, climaxes, etc. I don't even think about stuff like this! (which might sound strange to you)

But, I love working on my story even without writing my draft. I usually get my ideas based on aesthetic or (like actually most of my stories) they were once born in a game of written rpg.

When the story begins to grow, I do nothing. I just sit and wait. But as soon as I have the idea of where this is going, I write this down. Mostly, it's like a blurb (Wings of Fate is very different here, because I started writing without knowing where it will take me so most of it was created by accident...)

And then, I start collecting scenes. I write them in small notes on my Notion Page for the new WIP. Sometimes it's just an #info dump. Sometimes I list the outline of whole scene. It depends on what I have in mind.

I normally don't prep more than this. I just collect daydreams and vague aesthetics, plot points and ideas and that is my prep.

What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

I don't have lines that stuck with me that I use for inspiration. Most of the time I see a quote on Tumblr or Pinterest (which is mostly a screenshot from Tumblr too...) and think: "Uh! This has a nice aesthetic!" And I save it to my boards.

But, I have two bookish quotes that have a deep impact on my everyday life!

One is from the Black Magician's Trilogy and it's somewhat about "Whine is for drinking, not for breathing." It's a quote by Akkarin when Sonja choked on her red whine and I annoy people all the time with it. Whenever someone chokes on any beverage, I just have to say "[insert beverage] is for drinking, not for breathing".

Second is from my other favourite book: Krieger des Lichts. (Again, if you understand German, go check it out! It's gorgeous!) In the boarding school, where the story is set, the headmaster is Archangel Raphael. And he has an office on the ground floor. And above his office door, he engraved a latin quote: Dum Spiro, Spero. It translates to "As long as I breath, I hope" and it touches me so deeply for many reasons that this phrase is the most precious quote I've ever read. I could make a whole post about the personal meaning behind this quote (not only because it perfectly represents Archangel Raphael!), but most reasons are very personal, so this short answer must do.

What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?

Something weird. Uhm... I know very specific details about my characters that are not really irrelevant to the story, but there is simply not enough room to share everything within the pages (like I know exactly what kind of car Uriel from Wings of Fate drives).

What's probably even more strange is that I always have multiple story ideas to the same characters. They do not always match perfectly, but the character traits are often similar. For example:

Feathers in Florence and Wings of Fate. Asra. She is in both stories present, she has similar character traits but its not the same character!

I just like to daydream with my favourite characters and sometimes different stories evolve which are completely different to my original work. I tend to refer to it as "my own fanfic of my works" (because I have no clue how to call this...).

If someone experiences this too, please share it with me! So I won't feel strange about it anymore! 🙈

#long post #ask game #weird author asks #ofwordsandfeathers #answered asks #creative writing #writing #writerblr #writers on tumblr #writerscorner #writeblr #writerscommunity #writersociety #literature #writblr

[gabeorade]

A Clockwork Orange Review

Recently I had the opportunity to watch A Clockwork Orange, directed by Stanley Kubrick. A Clockwork Orange was released in 1971, yet seems to take place in London in the near future at the time. All of the houses are abstract in design and have mid century modern style furniture and art(9:33-10:19). The movie A Clockwork Orange was an adaptation of the novel written by Anthony Burgess. Now, personally I haven’t had the chance to read the novel, but my mom has and she says that the film is a perfect adaptation of the novel. Anthony Burgess made up an entire new slang to incorporate into his works called Nadsat. The slang combines Latin and Russian sounding words which might be very hard to understand in the novel, but in the movie you can somewhat comprehend what some words mean giving context through how the characters use the slang. There’s even an entire wikipedia dictionary page dedicated to the language. Taking place in London in the near future the main character Alex played by Malcolm McDowell who is seen as a gang leader with his “droogs”, or friends rather. Alex’s gang members consist of Georgie and Dim; Georgie being played by James Marcus, and Dim is played by Warren Clarke. The gang runs around London causing mayhem. They rob, assault, and rape innocent people in their own homes tricking them into thinking that their friend is in trouble and they need to use the homeowners telephone to call for help. I don’t want to spoil any twists or turns in the story, but in short Alex finds himself eventually getting caught in his act. He then is sentenced to 14 years in prison after being found guilty for murder. Alex finds an opportunity to be released back into society through some experimental treatment. After becoming almost rebirthed in a sense he has an extremely hard time assimilating back into society; having to deal with his victims he had wronged in the past. I honestly love this plot even though it may seem cliché at times. Considering this movie was released in the early 70’s there weren’t too many movies that would really convey these tropes at the time. Stanley Kubrick’s directing was phenomenal as well. A Clockwork Orange was the origin of the classic trope the “Kubrick Stare”, where Stanley Kubrick would have his actor tilt his head downwards and stare into the camera through their eyebrows(0:52-1:55). This method allows the actor to immediately set the unsettling, threatening, and crazy undertones for their characters. Alex can be seen doing this all throughout the movie. The “Kubrick Stare” became revolutionary being used in all sorts of other movies like Full Metal Jacket, The Shining, and even movies in recent times, like the Joker (2019). The shot selection and soundtrack was great as well. The use of parallel editing, smash cuts, and even rhythmic montages made it a very fun watch. For example when Alex breaks into a home and smashes the piece of art on the woman’s face it’s an amazing example of a smash cut(42:38-42:46). The rhythmic montage of Alex in his room while Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven plays was very interesting(18:54-20:10). Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 winds up becoming a huge player in the plot in the story which feels perfect in the way Kubrick tells the story. Singing in The Rain by Gene Kelly also becomes a big catalyst for what happens near the end of the movie as well. We hear this during the gang’s first break in while Alex sings as the gang rampages the house(10:31-13:16). Now, I don’t exactly think this movie is positive at all really. The darkness and collective of rape scenes is pretty hard to watch nowadays, but I think the movie as a whole is very interesting and fun to watch. I love the story, directing, and the acting. I think this movie will forever stay a classic, but I don’t think it should be a movie that you sit down and enjoy with your whole family.

[toomanyhobbiesandthisisoneofthem]

Sheesh, AOT songwriters

Okay so I just want to talk about this because I get excited whenever it comes up in my head.

I'm wanting to relisten to a lot of the aot music and recheck lyrics and stuff, because there's a lot of stuff even in the earlier songs that just blew right over everybody's heads until the end of the series when they look back at the lyrics to various aot songs and suddenly go, "wait…waaait…WAAAIIIIIT"

Now, I realize a lot of people who haven’t seen/read Attack On Titan might think I’m exaggerating on this, or just not really know what I mean in the first place, so for any non-aot fan readers out there…Let me…Let me just put this into perspective here.

Imagine you're watching…say…The Hobbit.

Now, this particular version of The Hobbit exists in an alternate universe where not only were the movies made in chronological order, but they also were being developed shortly after the first book came out, before the LOTR novels were written.

So imagine in this hypothetical scenario, one of the songs in the ending credits of that first Hobbit film makes references to a seemingly vague figure that could…potentially be talking about Smaug.

The hypothetical lyrics (I just came up with these on the spot lol) go something like: "Dark Shadow of the East that threatens all our lands, your day of reckoning will come. When the Ringbearer makes his journey, your battle will be over before it has even begun." (But like, in Latin or Elvish or something so that people have to actually translate it to know what it's talking about)

The thing is, at this point in time, all the people watching the movies will automatically assume that the “dark shadow” is referring to Smaug and the “Ringbearer” refers to Bilbo, because as the story plays out, Smaug is supposedly the main obstacle/threat, and Bilbo finds a magic ring, so obviously he must be the Ringbearer.

It's vague enough that it's hard to say for certain whether it's Smaug or not, but since fans of the story in this alternate timeline haven't seen any evidence to the contrary, and Smaug lives in the Eastern half of Arda, everyone just chalks up any discrepancies to artistic license and lets it go at that.

Now, fast forward to the Lord of the Rings books/movies being published. You learn about Sauron, you see Frodo go off on his quest, and then one day you're listening to that song from that first Hobbit film again, only to abruptly realize that- "WAIT A SECOND, THIS IS TALKING ABOUT SAURON???!!!!!! WHAT THE HECK?!?!?! THE LOTR WASN'T EVEN OUT YET???"

… That. That sense of, “WHAT???!!! HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS BEFORE!”- is how Attack On Titan fans feel when, having finally finished the overall story, they're relistening to previous openings, endings, and OST songs and they go to check out the English translation of the lyrics just for fun and then suddenly:

“Foolish indecisiveness, nothing more than an illusion, what even now may be reckless bravery The pawn of liberty. The charge of the assault. Victory to the slave that runs!”

followed by:

“The absurdity in life is the beginning of the onslaught, the stolen lands, the world itself as Eren desires.

As unstoppable rage penetrates him, to the dusk he brings violet skies”

Just. I’m not gonna say anything specific about the lyrics themselves, but… These lyrics make so much more sense now, and I hadn’t even realized there was anything wrong with my previous understanding of them.

#attack on titan #attack on titan openings #music #i can’t even #I mean yes I can but the sentiment is there #Did isayama talk about the ending to the music artists or something? #attack on titan ending