#i've been reading virginia woolf for a class

[daydream-cement]

Beautiful Stranger

Larissa Weems x f!Reader x Beautiful Stranger

Synopsis: You are stuck between falling in love with Larissa Weems and a stranger. How do you pick between the beautiful Larissa weems and your beautiful stranger.

Authors Note: This idea is brought to you by @theonefairygodmother. I hope I did it a bit of justice. Thank you to Sappho for being a gay icon.

"Good morning, Principal Weems."

You had such a crush on her. She commanded attention when she entered a room. You almost felt like a satellite in her orbit, drawn to her with no hope of ever being released. You weren't holding your breath though, she was always such a professional and you knew she didn't see you as anything more than a coworker.

"Good morning, y/n. How are you today?" Larissa took a seat next to you in the teachers lounge, setting her cup of tea in front of her. You tried not to watch her as she crossed her legs and leaned back into her chair.

"Wonderful now that your here. I mean- I-It's good to see you. Not that it isn't wonderful. I-" You cringe as you stumble over your words, but you are comforted a bit when you see a smirk grace her red lips.

"So eloquent when reading literature to your class, but in one-on-one conversation you always seem to be stumbling over your words." Larissa teased, raising her cup to her lips.

"It's just hard to focus sometimes." Your eyes drift down to her lips, but you stop yourself from letting them linger there.

"Perhaps you are just stressed. Maybe you need to let loose a little bit. There is a new night club over in Burlington." Larissa shrugged, cutting the conversation short when the outcast anatomy and physiology professor walked in the room, "Dr. Thompson, I need to speak to you."

-------

You weren't typically one to go out on the weekends, but Larissa's suggestion really resonated with you. Now that you were there, you really came out of your shell. Happily you took a couple of shots to start the night, wanting to start off strong with straight liquid courage. By 11:00 o'clock you were face-to-face with a beautiful woman who you were determined to woo.

You both leaned onto the bar, your arm was outstretched, fingers lightly dancing across the back of her hand. Her tone of voice was low and seductive, "How come I've never seen you around here before?"

"Turns out I was searching for you in all the wrong places." You reach forward with and loop your fingers through one of her beltloops. You didn't pull on it, however. She stepped towards you through her own volition, her body now pressing to yours. She was so tall. You had to crane your neck to look up at her.

"A romantic are we?" She purred, raising her glass to her lips to finish the rest of the brown liquid before she set it aside.

You raise her hand to your lips, kissing the back of it. You turn her hand over and kiss her palm, "I see you everywhere, in the stars, in the river; to me your everything that exists; the reality of everything."

"Virginia Woolf... Very nice."

"Someone knows their literature..."

-------

You couldn't stop thinking about the woman from the past weekend. All week you had been thinking of her. You were thinking of her fingers grazing over your cheek when Larissa snapped you from your thoughts.

"Good morning, y/n. You have been so quiet this week. Daydreaming are we?" Larissa took her usual seat next to you, setting down a paper plate holding a muffin and a cup of coffee.

"My mind tends to wander, per usual." You heart began to ache. You felt so torn. You still pined for Larissa, but there was something so captivating about that woman from all those nights ago.

"Do share."

You finally looked up into her eyes. You forgot the stranger for a moment, remembering how mesmerizing this woman was before you, "I-I- Well I was thinking of this, uhm, this poem by Virginia Woolf. It, uh- I just-"

"The poem, y/n. What's the poem?" Larissa's smile was pulled into a smirk as she tried to get you back on track.

"I-I have deeply hidden and inarticulate desire for something beyond the daily life."

"Virginia Woolf... Very nice."

------

You decided to wait for her in a back booth, your heart stopping when you saw her enter the bar. You caught her eye as she sauntered over to you. When she was close enough, you took her by the hand, summoning her into the booth next to you. It was just small enough so you were pressed up against one another.

"I was worried I wouldn't see you again." Her head rested on your shoulder as she watched you kiss her palm and begin kissing your way up the inside of her arm.

"How... could I.... keep... myself... from you?" Each little section of words was separated by a kiss. You m moved across her shoulder to her neck.

She hummed in delight. Her head tilted upwards, "Do you have more poetry for me?"

"Awed by her splendor... stars near the lovely... moon cover their own... bright faces... when she... is roundest and lights... earth with her silver." Your lips explored her neck and her hands ran through your hair, a moan leaving the woman's throat.

"More..."

"...hoping for love... for when I look at you face to face... not even Hermione can compare... and it is no slight to liken you... to golden Helen.... mortal omen; and know this... from all my cares... dewy banks... awake all night."

You nipped at the exposed flesh of her neck, her hands on either side of your face. Her moans persisted as she melted under your touch. She pulled you away from her neck so she could place a searing kiss against her lips. Your arms wrapped around her neck as the needy kiss turned sloppy.

You felt her move and shift beneath your touch.

"Oh, y/n..." She whispered against your lips. Your breath caught, you knew that voice. You opened your eyes, the person now wrapped in your embrace was a panting Larissa Weems. You put everything together in a fraction of a second. The stranger wasn't a stranger at all. The stranger was, in fact, Larissa Weems.

Larissa must have been so distracted while making out that she returned to her normal form.

"Larissa- W-What? What is going on?" You begin to pull away from her, but her hands remain on your face.

"Y/n... I-I can explain. I just, I go out in a different form. It's just easier that way and I just noticed how you look at me at work. I didn't think I would see you out, but then there you were. And you started flirting with me and I didn't want to be dishonest, but it was so nice seeing you not nervous around me." Her words were rapid as she tried explaining everything. She didn't want you to be angry with her.

"I-I- Larissa- I-" There you went again. You were frozen before her. The stranger was beautiful, but she was ethereal. That's how she made you stumble over your words like no one else. You wanted her. You couldn't even be mad at her. You really were a stumbling mess around her.

"Kiss me."

You paused only for a moment before pushing your lips against hers. The kisses were deep and full of wanting until Larissa began smiling against your lips. She began moving down your jaw to your neck, whispering a poem back to you, "Once again... love drives me on... that loosener of limbs... bittersweet creature against which nothing can be done."

#larissa weems #wednesday netflix #fanfic #gwendoline christie #larissa weems x reader #oneshot #love triangle

[linguenuvolose]

2024 goals - March progress

I can't claim I focussed on my goals at all this month... Idk I don't really see them as goals either they're just kinda.. things I keep some track of. I know I said this last month but I think April will be more productive because this month for sure spring will feel like it's here (we're still waiting for the trees to turn green, it snowed A Lot last week, just to give you an idea of the situation).

Anyway love and light below are some reflections on my specific goals :)

Get back into a reading routine

I've kept on reading Orlando by Virginia Woolf and I only have 35 pages left. I'm still not consistent at all with it, I read a bit about once a week. I find it so hard to reach for the book instead of my phone, it's annoying because I really do enjoy the book.

Meet friends at least once a month

I've had some good hangouts this month, mostly others that have been reaching out. I'm happy because one of my friends came to my boyfriend's show and was so excited about it and I'm happy they are bonding! In April I have plans to go visit a friend who lives in another city (one of my closest friends who will also meet my boyfriend for the first time) and I'm also planning to reach out to another friend!

Do the damn exercises for my back :(

I did them like.... 2,5 times :( not good at all. And my salsa classes stopped in the middle of the month and I've decided to not continue so it's not looking perfect. Hopefully with the extra light we get now I can have more energy to do them in the evening.

Get better at Portuguese

I signed up for the Portuguese course at uni <3333 Hopefully I'll get in and I'll be able to do that in the fall. I studied in some way 11 days of the month which isn't nothing!! Started doing Clozemaster and I really like it, especially on the writing mode (let's be honest, all my knowledge in Romance languages makes the "choose from these four options" a walk in the park for me). It's super annoying that the free plan only allows you 30 words a day. What I really should do is produce more, write little texts and stuff.

Get my license

We're still waiting for the permit to be able to practice driving with my boyfriend but it's taking a while... I've had 2 lessons though (was supposed to have 3 but one got cancelled). I don't know that I feel that I'm getting any better but I do really have to start studying the theory. It would be nice to talk to my instructor also and ask him what he thinks a reasonable time frame would be for me. In my head I'm seeing myself getting the license during the summer but who knows.

Get back into the habit of going on walks

I have been on some walks this month but more in the sense of I am somewhere and walk a bit instead of taking the closest subway. But I mean now with the change of the hour and the warmer weather I for sure am seeing myself going on more walks!

Go to the theatre more (youth discount my beloved) and also to some museums!

I went to the Maurizio Cattelan exposition at the Modern art museum because my friend had a free entrance with her job. I actually really liked it! Unfortunately I was in a bit of a hurry so I didn't have time to meander or look at the other expositions but I would love to go back! They do the free entry on Friday evenings so I think I might go!

Improve my sleeping schedule

I actually compiled my statistics for this this month (yay!). Slept an average of 7h15 but if we just look at work nights it's 6h20. Not great... It's not something I've paid particular attention to this month but I think I should. I think a goal could be maybe sleep before 1 more often (this month it was 3 times hihihi ma come siamo messi raga).

#snicksnack #2024 goals

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

I've been slacking in the literature dep here, despite saying I'll talk more about that. But today I thought I might show a really really small part of my book collection. More than 80% of them are somewhere else and one day when I move into a larger place, I'll have my own study/library room that I can fill with everything I own.

Most of the books here are in English. I find that in some cases, reading a translation doesn't do it justice. Like in Joan Didion's case. That is not to say that translation is not an art in and of itself.

I'm not the biggest Virginia Woolf fan. I initially had to force myself to read Mrs. Dalloway, but then I got accustomed to her style. I'm still not a fan and I still haven't touched the book you see in the photo, but perhaps someday.

I picked that famous Jane Goodall book after I watched a documentary about her work in the 60s. I only knew her by name, but no details. The book also filled that big gap and it was just amazing to read how she developed an entire field of study.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation was a purchase influenced by some recommendation made on this website The Attic on Eighth. It's made by these young women who write about literature, art, politics, fashion and food and from what I could tell, they all met through tumblr!

Anyway, the book was an experience, to say the least. Anyone looking for appealing main characters to root for should stay away from it. But if you've ever gone through depression and have no issue reading about the habits and actions of a spoiled rich girl (and a real bitch too), then go for it. I don't regret it.

Hm, what else? Let me go through quickly for a few others. Enchanted April is perfect for easy session of reading when you want to relax on a lounge chair. And if you can do it in a garden, even better. And then if you want something a bit more scandalous, some satire of 1930s British upper class, Evelyn Waugh is the way to go. Perhaps pair it with Maurice as well.

I couldn't finish that Margaret Atwood novel and the Foucault is just for research. The Secret History was another purchase influenced by scrolling through tumblr. A lot of hype around it, but it's a good book too. So it deserves its reputation in a way.

I read Proceed With Caution (fanfic readers might now it) and Giovanni's Room was mentioned. A few weeks later I saw it in a bookstore so I grabbed it. I was bawling my eyes out towards the end and I remember finishing it during working hours because I couldn't put it down. I'm glad I work from home.

As to Joan Didion, my plan is to have a collection of her entire works. I know comparing and wishing to write similarly like someone else is redundant, but my god I wish I could have a particular style like her. Didion has a special way of looking and examining the world around her in ways that are not so obvious. It's difficult for me to describe her writing style. It's journalism through a personal filter, but like in this sort of perfect balance. Reading one essay of her and you'd know exactly what I'm talking about.

So that would be it for now. There are some other titles scattered there, but some I have yet to read.

#m thoughts #booklr #book recommendations

[metamatar]

February Reading Round Up! In reverse chronological order of finishing

Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India by Gail Omvedt

Been meaning to read for a long long time, was serendiptiously a reading groups' choice and on my tumblr dash. Very good, detailed tour of movements that have complicated "class first" - caste, gender, peasant, tribal and their evolution theoretically and historically. Enjoyed how obviously socialist and critical Omvedt is of regressive trends and fair to the demands of popular organising that trouble us. I made so many notes, and intend to revist her perspective later when I've studied more. Where I was familiar with secondary literature like, caste I think she did an excellent job illustrating the limitations and need for Ambedakrite movements.

The Final Question by Chattopadhyay, Sarat Chandra

Bengali literature written in dialogue with the anti colonial movement's understanding of the new role of the Indian woman, this book is angry in the best way. Something very Dostoyevsky like in the arguments between the characters, but, instead of a religious worldview you have a deeply modern, materialist worldview being sharply advocated for against revanchist cultural trends in the novel's heroine Kamal. It holds up really well for a book in 1936, and its tenderness in handling every character's hopes and despair is deeply touching.

The Play Of Dolls Stories by Narain, Kunwar

Tumblr Mutual Book Club pick! Short Story collection by Hindi experimental poet and writer. Very evocative stories that have the best onion like layers of thematic interests. Oft satirical but never bleak, with the exception of the last story which felt like an odd addition to the set.

Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Machado, Carmen Maria

Short Story collection as well, feminist and queer themes. I'd already read the Husband Stitch and was interested in what else the author could do, unfortunately not a lot more thematically. The stories are tightly written and gripping, only that they don't reveal much to me.

Dumb Luck by Vũ, Trọng Phụng

Tumblr Mutual Book Club pick as well. Relentlessly, satirically bleak, also colonial writing. This one is set in Vietnam when it was in French Indochina. Tetra said that every character is an antagonist and FR. Vicious, and a little too bleak for my taste, this is a more traditionalist critique of Vietnamese elite aping the French. The gender politics are absolutely bonkers, the translation I read does a pretty decent job of transferring the text's humor to modern idiom.

Vita & Virginia: A Double Life by Gristwood, Sarah

Biography of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackwille-West, picked up on a whim because of my interest in Woolf's 'madness' and her romantic letters. Really enjoyed reading the complicated polyamorous love lives these literati had. Virginia's struggles with her illness are quite movingly portrayed. Illustrated with pictures of the beautiful homes and gardens the subjects spent their time in so fun for me! Enjoyed how conversant the author was with their literary output and its critical reception and impact. Made me want to finish reading my Woolf books.

The Stranger by Camus, Albert

I thought I'd like this more. The distanced narrator is very poorly executed, so the protagonist's redemption? revelations? towards the end of the novel kind of fell flat. Style over substance problem I think.

The Horizon (Sumer, #2) by Gautam Bhatia

Conclusion to The Wall, also one of those I wish I'd liked a lot more than I did. Very fast paced in its third act, well plotted but weakened by its repeated revelation of this character is ACTUALLY on this SIDE. Like, its done with every family member of the protagonist. Worldbuilding remains memorable if a bit predictable. Would make a better movie.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Personally I love an old man vs a fish, even if it does not have the gay content Moby Dick promised. Excellent use of the novel for investigating the interiority of a man. It's been a short story kind of month I suppose.

Lady Chatterley's Lover by Lawrence, D.H.

I have already complained about how fascist this book is. Why does modern commentary elide on its very violent racism and sexism and homophobia? I don't think its erotic worldview offers much to not fascist post sex liberation readers lol.

The Idiot by Batuman, Elif

Sorry. Girl at Harvard was not compelling as expected, but I did get a lot from the third act where the protagonist confronts her love interest for real - honest writing that doesn't shy away from difficult conversations.

The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov, Mikhail

Stalin era Soviet satire (its a month for it!) Very conversant with Faust, which I had not read so that I think diminished my understanding of the book. Absurd, very Christian and very funny about the comedic aspects of Soviet life. Loved the ending, almost Tolkein like in its hope for pretty broken characters.

The World in a Grain of Sand: Postcolonial Literature and Radical Universalism by Majumdar, Nivedita

Postcolonial Lit: The Takedown. Incisive, excellent, gave me a lot of books I want to try that the author points to as bucking the trend of compliance to particularist, oft parochial and usually defeatist understandings that dominate the genre.

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

also Bookclub pick. Devastating. Very effective use of the limited POV to illustrate the way shame damns love. Every few pages wrecked me. Tight and sparing with characterisation + description, but delirious with how emotionally close you ride with the protagonist. Best book I have read in a while.

#after seeing a do these for months i have given in finally! #thanks a <3 #what i'm reading

[djservo]

HI CAS you managed to beat me to it and remind me that i will also be away around our typical wrap up time! travelling gals. i've seen some of your goodreads activity too and i think we've managed to keep in line with books read which does make me laugh a lil. how was your buddy read? your august reading? new vibes for autumn? i want to know everything!

omg we're so in sync I love it and I hope your traveling went/is going well!! <3 first buddy read (out of a projected total of 4) went well, as did the rest of my august reads!!

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

the first of the buddy-read chronicles with my buddy and it was a success! fitting for these seemingly ever-changing phases of independence/womanhood/#HoningThyCraft that we keep morphing into and within. it was a bit of a slow start and made me think of jenny slate talking about books which I sent to me friend like 5 pages in like "omg please tell me it's not all like this" but we pushed through the initial slump and were pretty engaged with the rest of it. I highlighted so many passages to chew on, some favs being -

"the beauty of the world which is so soon to perish, has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder"

"What effect has poverty on fiction? What conditions are necessary for the creation of works of art?"

the iconic -

"a good dinner is of great importance to good talk. One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well."

and even some lil funny bits -

"the chief glory of a woman is not to be talked of, said Pericles, himself a much-talked-of man"

miss woolf has jokes!! but yes overall really ended up enjoying and connecting with this more than I expected at the start and it's short/low stakes enough to where I think anyone could give it a shot and end up resonating and/or taking something deep from it

High Blood/Pressure by Michelle T. Clinton

I forget who exactly posted it, but Someone whose taste I wholeheartedly trust had posted a snippet of Good Sense & the Faithless on their insta story which first put Michelle T. Clinton on my radar. devoured this one in an afternoon, I was so hooked and charmed by her prose and the way she sets up a scene!! not necessarily setting wise, but this sense of interaction/conversation that's both natural yet distinct in tone. personable yet frank, which isn't really easy for me to pick up on when I'm first getting into poets - like I feel like I need to read several poems for their voice to really click for me because I'm too focused on connecting more superficial dots of understanding, whereas this one clicked right away. fav poem was MANIFESTING THE RUSH/HOW TO HANG but I really did love each one + I've already tracked down a used copy of Good Sense & the Faithless online that's on its way to me now hehe very excited

Looking For Mr. Goodbar by Judith Rossner

similar to Secretary where the movie's been on my radar and I've been itching to watch but the purist in me wants to read the book first and then I read the book and don't watch the movie LOL 'when you give a mouse a cookie' ass situation!! I think the story's still too fresh on my mind and if I were to watch the adaptation right away, though it would make sense for the sake of comparison, it'd feel too much like homework ykwim like in college I took a class about film adaptions of literary works where we'd get this short window of time to read a book then watch the film in class and discuss/dissect + I guess it kinda spoiled that act of reading then immediately watching, or turned it into something very clinical whereas I wanna be able to watch the adaptation for what it is without being a hypervigilant critic... ANYWHO!!!! I actually had no idea this was based on a true story/crime? so I think most of my qualms, which are narrative-wise, are kinda irrelevant since that's like.. literally what happened! that's the truth! but I guess I felt there wasn't enough explanation as to how the protag's sexual appetite/curiosities developed the way it did (unless you wanna be an armchair psychologist and connect the dots to her childhood upbringing, but I personally don't think even that's enough). I read a good chunk of it at an airport bar and it felt very fitting + I think I should start scouting my reading settings according to the book I'm reading bc it does indeed add to the ambience of the story and DRAMA of it all !!!!

since the start of September I've finished 2 books, unconnected in vibes but still somewhat complementary. I'm reading Quarry by Jane White now which is our second buddy read/the start of our "dark childhood/boyhood" theme that I think will bleed nicely into October, I really struck gold at the used bookshops during my travels but they're all kinda meaty and require some supplementary reading/context (to me) and idk if that's the vibe right now. kinda wanna stay in a fiction bubble a little while longer and there's certainly no end in sight given some of my recent TBR adds on goodreads so!! we shall see!!!

#will catch up with sims stuff soon but the pixels repulse me at the moment so pls hold x #ask #cheesehair #reads

[pacifymebby]

Do you have any fave LGBTQ+ literature, tv, movies, content creators?

Okay so I'm still trying really hard to find queer books that I like because beyond Allen Ginsburg in college we weren't taught any LGBTQ+ authors/poets (except Carol Ann Duffy but the only thing I'd recommend about her work is to stay away because I hate it haha)(I probably hate it because of school tbh, sorry Carol) so anyway yeah, when it comes to this I've had to do all the searching myself and I don't really know how well I've done.

But for books:

🍂 Orlando / Virginia Woolf

I kind of can't believe Virginia Woolf wasn't on my other recommendations because The Waves is one of my favourite books (again I think you have to have a lot of patience but it is beautiful) and this one is brilliant too. A man wakes up in a woman's body and gender roles are revealed to be a little bit silly.

🍂 Thérèse and Isabelle / Violet Leduc

Erotic novella about two girls at boarding school, low-key spoke to me as a bi girl who kind of started realising her bisexuality when exploring sexuality was sort of thrust upon me by female friends at school I guess. It's just a good example of feminine sexuality and desire written by someone who knows.

🍂 Chelsea Girls / Eileen Myles

I'm very into Eileen Myles as a poet and these stories are so so so so so fucking good too!!!!

🍂 In The Dream House / Carmen María Machado

I got into this because it's what Google recs when you finish The Dangers of Smoking in Bed / Mariana Enriquez and honestly, I didn't enjoy it as much but it was still amazing. It's gothic horror af but also a really important work on abusive relationships within the queer community which the author has personal experience of and thinks isn't spoken about enough. Its really haunting, did fuck me up a bit but ultimately in a good way. But be careful because it does chronical abuse and that can be upsetting.

🍂 On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous/ Ocean Vuong

Another one where I love their poetry and think they can do no wrong tbh, I haven't finished this yet (I keep getting distracted but don't be put off by that I'm just really easily distracted!!) And I think it's wonderful idk. It's also written in quite a cool style which is always a bonus I find.

🍂 Our Wives Under the Sea / Julia Armfield

I actually only read this because I read an essay on the Exorcist and body horror by the author where she talks about her experience with having a cyst that had to be operated on twice. The essay was so stunning that I was like damn, gonna have to read that book everyone's talking about now and bestie, was worth it. The books class also.

🍂 Sister Outsider / Audre Lorde

I just think everyone should read Audre Lorde, Audre Lorde should have been on the curriculum instead of endless Simon Armitage idk. I read this and Your Silence Will Not Protect You as a 19 year old and they changed the course of my life idk.

🍂 Communion / bell hookes

Read this and broke up with my shitty ex boyfriend. It's not entirely about lesbianism but more kind of, love in general, platonic, romantic, what it really means to love. She talks about the feminist choice to choose lesbianism which was a phenomenon in the 70s and also discusses a lot to do with how misogyny impacts womens ability to love and be loved. It was a really important read for me, made all the more important because when I picked up the book my boyfriend ripped into her name and tried to be like lol what would you read her for...and then I read it and was like oh HE'S the problem.

Poetry:

🐇Howl / Allen Ginsburg

I know he's problematic but for me Howl was the prototype, the first massive poem I read and loved as an adult, the first one where language really sounded musical to me, the first poem I heard that Hurt. If you can you should listen to the YouTube of him reading it in San Francisco,that's amazing.

I also really like A Supermarket in California.

🐇 Sappho

Just all of it I guess, I think we're all eventually pushed towards Sappho and for good reason.

🐇Emily Dickinson

Read her letters to Sue, Open Me Carefully. I read these one summer between school years and I think they changed me. Her poetry in general is wonderful, some of it occasionally comes off as very old fashioned (shock horror our girl was born in the 1800s) but there's much to savour there. Also apparently there's a TV series about her life on Apple TV, I don't have Apple TV though so I haven't seen it.

As for TV and movies I don't think I have anything at all. I don't watch a lot of TV and I mostly only watch the same 5 old man movies on repeat. I think books have always been my thing, I can concentrate on reading in a way I can't concentrate on TV and also just the fact you can put your book in your pocket and get it out on the bus, in the staff room, at school, at the pub when you're waiting for your pals etc... I was always a headphones and books gal so I don't really have any recs for TV. Sorry :/

EDIT: Kill Your Darlings!!!! As in the movie, if you're into the beats you should watch it, it's very good and a real insight into what was in reality a pretty nasty little scene.

#pacifymebby recs #pacifymebby books

[supersoakerfullofblood]

My Favorite Cover Designs

I just posted about how I love cheap paperback book printings that aren't first and foremost concerned with aesthetic value, and that the recent drive of "books as aesthetic decoration" is wack,

BUT

that doesn't mean you can't love a good lookin book! The aesthetics of a book's cover should be admired, even if that isn't the book's main purpose. So here's a thread of my favorite book covers:

This cover series of Evelyn Waugh's work by Back Bay Books. (Not all books pictured.) Haven't read too much Waugh, but these covers are beautiful and get at the hearts of Waugh's stories: satirizing the high-class culture of England.

Pengunin Random House's Vintage Classics Collection. They don't all have this cover motif, but a lot of them do, and it's charming. A good chunk of them have the plant/flower design motif, but not all of them do, and I love them all regardless. The colored triangles on the side is an attractive way to show that it's a cover series, and the covers (at least the ones I've run into) are matte, which I love!

Penguin Random House's The Master and Margarita

Just the best book cover I've ever seen. And one of the best books I've ever read.

Not a huge Gaiman fan personally (his stuff is great, just not for me), but damn do these books from William Morrow Paperbacks hit.

Not a big Chabon fan either--just not for me--but this series gives his books an undeniable character. Couldn't find the publisher to credit.

Mariner Books's series of Virginia Woolf's most popular novels has been my favorite cover series for a long time. It really feels like Woolf's prose in a way I can't put into words because I don't know artistic lingo, but it's there.

Dell Publishing's series of I believe all of Kurt Vonnegut's work gets at the witty, comic nature of Vonnegut's novels and are instantly recognizable by color.

#writeblr #writing #bookblr #booklr #reading #books

[murderballadeer]

end of year book asks: all prime numbers ^_^

1 - how many books did you read this year? 36! i was trying to get to 50 but i don't think that's happening. might get to 40 tho.

2 - did you reread anything? what? yes! i reread the haunting of hill house, east of eden, anna karenina and a bird in the house!

3 - what were your top five book of the year? probably (in no particular order) we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson, beloved by toni morrison, a long petal of the sea by isabel allende, travels with charley: in search of america by john steinbeck and to the lighthouse by virginia woolf

5 - what genre did you read the most of? i read a lot of plays this year so probably that if we're considering it a genre! otherwise just general literary fiction as usual lol

7 - what was your average goodreads rating? does it seem accurate? average rating was 4.1/5. i'd say that's pretty accurate!

11 - what was your favourite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read? tbh basically nothing i've read this year has been a new release so my top five would apply again

13 - what was your least favourite book of the year? maybe from heaven lake by vikram seth? i read it for a class and it was ok but i got kinda bored lol. also i had mixed feelings about 'night mother by marsha norman, it was well executed but it made me feel so genuinely miserable and distressed that that i wanted to cry after finishing it and not in a good cathartic way i was just genuinely miserable so i can't say i enjoyed it very much

17 - did any books surprise you with how good they were? not really! i tend to go into books expecting them to be good so i didn't rly have any experience like that

19 - did you use your library? yes :)

23 - what was the fastest time it took you to read a book? excluding plays bc i regularly read those in one sitting it was cup of gold by john steinbeck, which took me two days to finish! it's not very long tho

#thanks kittens!! #asked and answered #mutuals 💕

[findekano]

tagged by @samarqqand!

favourite colour: lately, it has been green - all sorts of shades (save neon, perhaps). however, i do always come back to the original and reliable blue.

currently reading: to be completely and entirely honest, not much fanfic at all as of late, though i eagerly await the next samarqand piece, whenever it may arrive.

i've been working my way through a lot of books, namely: the lais of marie de france, to the lighthouse by virginia woolf, beowulf, trans. j.r.r. tolkien, and the house of the spirits by isabel allende. of course, there is also all my coursework readings, and a re-read of the silmarillion for the class i am helping run this semester. and a constant flipping through the history of middle-earth for my own purposes (elemental imagery themes).

last song: may hard times pass us by by le ren, whom i saw live fairly recently! she has such a rich, resonant voice and lyrics that just come over you unexpectedly.

last series: i am not an avid television watcher, though i do make my way through series that my partner wants to watch with me, so: part of the way through yellowjackets, warrior nun, and the wilds. seeing as many of my beloved mutuals with impeccable taste are into the x-files, maybe that will be own my list.

sweet, savoury, or spicy? savoury!

currently working on: the entity known as cainfic, which has been rattling around in my brain for. over a year now. and is hopefully coming to a close soon. hopefully.

and also collecting material for an expansion on a big tolkien paper i wrote, but that will probably never be finished, so instead i think only about Themes. also considering creating my own index for HoMe, but again, another large undertaking that would probably take years, knowing me. maybe a few lines of poetry rumbling around.

no pressure tagging (and if you've been tagged already and i've missed it, my apologies): @meadowlarkx @jouissants @woodashandoliveoil @mistergandalf @ashorelandpiper and whoever else would like to do it! i am nosy and i love knowing things.

#i love to be tagged

[grandhotelabyss]

Interesting essay above in Compact on "Austen's Darkness," and points for making the argument with reference to Emma rather than Mansfield Park. I wrote once about Emma myself, but I found the darkness darker still in Sense and Sensibility (David Mitchell's favorite Austen novel, apparently, since I've been on a Mitchell kick.) Ironically, the single most Compact thing I ever wrote—I wrote it two years before Compact was founded, in the midst of the lockdown but before the riot—is my essay on Sense and Sensibility. Here is the gravamen, perhaps a bit too apocalyptic, though understandably so given the circumstances of its composition:

For [Tony] Tanner, Austen commends this social arrangement by a rather punitive immuring of Marianne’s passion within the ideological architecture of the novel (“one might think that something is being vengefully stamped out”), but he praises Austen nevertheless for encoding into her fiction with an almost Freudian insight all that organized society quells and subdues. Later writers would take up the hint, for aesthetic and political purposes the reverse of Austen’s. Austen herself will develop the use of focalized narration begun in Sense and Sensibility into the free indirect discourse that makes Emma a formal paradigm of the modern novel. A century after Austen, free indirect discourse—the third-person narrator’s adoption of the inner language of the characters—will overspill the banks of reasoned storytelling to become less the proverbial streams than the spates and torrents of consciousness we find in Dorothy Richardson, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and other modernists. Marianne’s revenge on her deviser is to undermine from within the narrative method meant to secure the authority of Elinor’s perspective. The passionate individual in despite all of reason commandeers the novel, and the novel’s 20th-century abandonment of the marriage plot is a concomitant of its modernist commitment to desire, this in tandem with a middle class reproduced less and less solely in the domestic sphere. By the time Toni Morrison rewrites Sense and Sensibility as Sula in 1973, neither reader nor writer doubts that the eponymous anarchic “sister” Sula is in the right, and the socially reasonable one (named Nel, a plausible diminutive of Elinor) the victim of a respectable death-in-life that has throttled all love and ardor. Today we have replaced Austen’s socio-sexual contract—rationally feeling man provides rationally feeling woman a household, in return for which she proffers the intimate superintendence that legitimizes middle-class power—with the one foretold by Woolf and codified by Morrison on the utterly sympathetic behalf of social elements Austen haughtily ignores (the queer, the colonized, the marginalized). Yet just as Austen didn’t intend for her innovation in the form of the novel—free indirect discourse—to aid the triumph of an individualism she otherwise feared, so Woolf and Morrison might hesitate before the world their own innovations have helped to materialize. Now desiring individuals, liberated from the heterosexual bourgeois household and almost from gender itself, atomized in metropolitan space, form temporary contracts in a gamified and pornified virtual marketplace that funds (where it is not funded by credit) the means of social reproduction in the academic diaspora of broader “online.” This is the state of middle-class woman now (and “middle-class woman” is more a class category than a gender one: if you’re reading this—or, indeed, writing it—the term applies to you). Marianne Dashwood (or Lily Briscoe or Sula Peace) has triumphed: today, she issues defenses of desire on podcasts and Patreon and posts pictures of her swollen ankle and putrid tonsils for the fetishists among her OnlyFans subscribers. If Elinor still functions as her conscience, she does so in the administrative bureaus of the corporation and university—human resources, diversity and equity—where her job is to intercept and interdict threats to the untrammeled unfolding of Marianne’s consciousness. This metamorphosis has undoubtedly liberated the individual from the stifling convention of bourgeois domesticity, but is the place where it has installed her now, where she must sell soul and body by algorithm just to stay alive, any less a prison?

#jane austen #literary criticism #english literature #british literature

[esta-elavaris]

top 5 books of all time?

do you ever mark/dog ear books you own?

most disliked popular books?

what are things you look for in a book?

Top 5 (in no particular order)

The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden (for real if you only ever take one recommendation from me, let it be this one)

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

LOTR - J.R.R. Tolkien

The Heroin Diaries - Nikki Sixx (this one helped me through a lot as a teen - albeit not heroin addiction - so it's here because of that, not because it's a literary masterpiece, but it's still very good)

The War of Art - Steven Pressfield (another one that isn't a literary masterpiece, but I buy it for every creative I know because it's That Good for helping overcome procrastination/creative dread)

Honourable mention for The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, bc her ability to convey atmosphere and leave you feeling fucked up by the end is unreal.

Marking/dog-earing

I was super against it as a teen but I've gotten over that weird thing of "all of my books must be pristine and appear untouched!!!" unless it's a really pretty, special edition. I still can't bring myself to dog-ear pages or write on them, though - but I do use post-its etc to mark certain things. But these days I mostly read on Kindle bc I just do not have room for more books, so I use the highlight function on that a lot.

Disliked books

I abandoned the You series by Caroline Kepnes halfway through book two this year. The first book was good, although uncomfortable reading, the second book was just...not good at all. It sort of hit the bad combination of resurrecting some things I'd rather forget, as well as just being nowhere near as good as the first. I'm also a Twilight hater through and through even if I can appreciate the meme potential now.

The one I really, really can't deal with is modernist literature in general. I had to take a class for it in uni, and a few books crept in here and there in other modules too, and I just have no time for it. I can appreciate what it did for literature in general as a movement while just despising the individual books. Reading it makes me feel so bored I get nauseous. Just not for me. It did produce a very spirited rant mid-class about my own personal beef with Virginia Woolf when one of my teachers asked me why I didn't like the content, though, which is a fond memory. Hatred for modernism cured my social anxiety for ten minutes what a time to be alive.

Things I look for in a book -

I've been trying to cast a wider net with what I read lately, taking on different reading challenges just to round it all out. I lean towards historical non-fiction, fantasy, and biographies, but I'll honestly read anything (well, except modernism apparently) as long as it's done well. Like if the author is passionate about what they're writing, and that love and passion shines through. It's not so easy to pin down in a specific book (although Katherine Arden does it amazingly in the Winternight trilogy, combining her love for Russian folklore and history with an unparalleled writing ability in general), but it's very obvious when it's not there, and you can tell the author doesn't respect their story as a thing in and of itself, and is just using the story as a lifeless tool to be a patronising shit about x, y, and z.

I've noticed in writing circles that the people who do this are the ones who get very upset when other writers talk about their story/characters having a mind of their own etc.

But overarchingly, I love stories of resilience. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, a biography of Louis Zamperini, was phenomenal that way, but I'll probably never read it again because it was just so grim and such a difficult read. I just realised that's actually an overarching theme of all five books I recommended at the start of this dissertation. Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins is also my fuckin bible in that regard, because resilience is his whole existence.

Thank you!! 💜

#asks

[linguenuvolose]

2024 goals - February progress

January was much more of a productive month goals wise and I feel like I had more of a calm then. February felt eternal. I am hoping that now when March is here and spring truly is in the air that it's gonna help with stuff. We'll see.

Get back into a reading routine

I finally finished reading The years by Annie Ernaux this month! I liked it but it suffered from what a lot of the books I read do, that is I read them for so long that I loose the full experience of it, which is a shame. After that I started reading Orlando by Virginia Woolf and I'm really enjoying it! I haven't read at all in like a week though, I don't know why but I would like to get back to it! I have not been doing the thing I was talking about last month of forcing myself to read on public transport. Maybe I should.

Meet friends at least once a month

I've been quite good at it this month too! It has been nice also because others have been reaching out to me so I feel wanted and not like it's only me reaching out to others. I have been feeling a bit though that I'm prioritizing hanging out with my boyfriend instead of others but honestly I don't mind a lot. I was feeling a bit stressed last month about having so much going on every weekend so I feel like this month I've been a bit better at not planning too much stuff.

Do the damn exercises for my back :(

I still don't really do my exercises but I've kept going to my salsa class (skipped one week though because I was feeling like shit). I like the class but I don't know that I want to sign up for the second part of it. I'm a bit torn. Maybe I should search around for other classes, I would like something a bit more workouty. The salsa is so much technique, I don't feel like I'm getting a workout you know? But in any case I really really should do my back exercises. Even just getting into the habit of doing one set of one of them would be better than doing none.

Get better at Portuguese

I've kept listening and adding a bit to my Portuguese indie playlist. I think I did a tiny bit of Busuu and watched some videos too but honestly not enough. I've spoken a little bit with my boyfriend too and I more and more respond small things in Portuguese to him, but not near close enough to improve. In two weeks or so they open the applications for the fall uni courses and I might sign up for a Portuguese one. Idk it's tricky because I want to learn and of course it would be useful when his family comes to visit or if we travel to Portugal/Brazil but there's not much of an urgency in my learning.

Get my license

I have not had a single lesson this month... I did book three for March though and my boyfriend will do a course next week so I can drive with him. I also realized I can study theory for free and most libraries here so I think a goal for March would be to at least once go to the library closest to my job and do an hour or so of studying one day after work.

Get back into the habit of going on walks

I've gone on some walks but not a lot. As I said last month, it's probably more of a spring thing than anything else but now spring is really in the air so that's exciting!

Go to the theatre more (youth discount my beloved) and also to some museums!

I still haven't done this unfortunately. I would really like to but idk, between work and everything else I just don't. I've kept doing other culture things though so that's something!

Improve my sleeping schedule

I haven't been super great at this, but I do more often feel tired in the evening I think.

#2024 goals #snicksnack

[jonismitchell]

what are your all time fave books? I’m looking to add stuff to my tbr and I trust ur taste. also have a great day!

hello! thank you so much for this ask :') i was just thinking how annoyed i was that a book recommendations post i made two years ago is still circulating—my taste has changed quite a bit since then and i would write it a bit differently now. here are my all-time favourite books in a hopefully entertaining list format—but if you just want the titles i've bolded them. below the cut because i talk too much.

wuthering heights by emily brontë. this is my favourite book of all time. if i had to pick one book to take with me to a desert island, one book to read before i die, one book to assign the entire population to read—well, this would be it. the story here is a monstrous one of possession, isolation, and the heights of obsession, rendered in painfully human prose and ultimately returning to hope. [favourite quote: you said i killed you— haunt me, then! be with me always— take any form— drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where i cannot find you!]

the karamazov brothers by fyodor dostoyevsky. i spent a solid half of my life whining about my parents' attempts to make me read the classics (in my defense, who gifts an eight-year-old anna karenina?) and as soon as i engaged with them properly, i became fascinated enough to want to do an english degree. so that backfired. i love this book. i love what dostoyevsky has to say about humanity—in his work, goodness is always possible. [favourite quote: what is hell? i maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.]*

emma by jane austen. this is the romance novel of all time. it tells the story of emma woodhouse, a complex and multifaceted heroine, and her growth as a character is inextricably tied to the love story. it's also great social commentary, and austen was one hell of a wit. (that bit with miss bates at the picnic is funnier than ninety percent of standups today.) emma is my favourite austen heroine for her story of redemption. [favourite quote: if i loved you less, i might be able to talk about it more.]

ulysses by james joyce. i will not lie to my good, dear reader. i read every day, i've been reading since i was two years old, and i found this book difficult. it requires engagement and attention from the reader, a great deal of concentration and insight—and yet, for the devoted reader, it yields so much. it's a great novel, joyce is a brilliant prose stylist, and it provides endless opportunity for interpretation. truly the book that exemplifies italo calvino's 'a classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.' [favourite quote: history, stephen said, is a nightmare from which i am trying to awake.]

les misérables by victor hugo. i read this book only a few weeks ago, but it had such a profound effect on me that i had to include it in this list. hugo weaves a brilliant tale of love, hope, and redemption amidst the vivid backdrop of history. the story of jean valjean, the chapter 'javert derailed', the endless goodness of cosette... AND i got to learn new things about waterloo/fictional religious people/the paris sewer system? one of the greats of all time. [favourite quote: 'you don’t believe in anything.’ / ‘i believe in you.’]

so that would be my top five! more of my favourites (classics edition) are: a tale of two cities by charles dickens, madame bovary by gustave flaubert, anna karenina by leo tolstoy, the master and margarita by mikhail bulgakov, jane eyre by charlotte brontë, to the lighthouse by virginia woolf, franny and zooey by j.d. salinger, the bell jar by sylvia plath, swann's way by marcel proust; and the portrait of a lady by henry james.

in the likely scenario that you want to read something that you wouldn't have to in english class, more of my favourite books include: normal people, beautiful world where are you, and conversations with friends by sally rooney; a series of unfortunate events by lemony snicket; my year of rest and relaxation by ottessa moshfegh; the goldfinch by donna tartt; play it as it lays by joan didion; and the island of sea women by lisa see.

and a nonfiction favourites section: everything i know about love by dolly alderton; a room of one's own by virginia woolf; strong opinions and speak, memory by vladimir nabokov; right wing women by andrea dworkin; how we survived communism and even laughed by slavenka drakulić; just kids by patti smith; invisible women: data bias in a world designed for men by caroline criado pérez; and girl, interrupted by susanna kaysen.

oh, and while i'm at it might include some favourite poetry collections: ariel: the restored edition by sylvia plath; the waste land and other poems by t.s. eliot; lunch poems by frank o'hara; deaf republic by ilya kaminsky; anything anna akhmatova wrote; and of course crush by richard siken.

hope you find something new to read :)

*my favourite unofficial quote from this book is 'your dad's not your dad if he's a bitch', which i wrote to summarize a monologue given in one of my favourite chapters.

#pastlifemp3 #sorry i've never concisely responded to an ask in my life #asking with you

[codenamebooks]

May (aka London) Book Haul

I bought 6 books while I was studying abroad in London! To make sure I didn't go overboard and weigh down my suitcase, my only rule for myself was that they had to be UK editions. The bookstores in London were phenomenal, the prices were unbeatable, and the selection was to die for. Here's what I got (and hopefully the Goodreads link to the exact editions I got):

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern | Goodreads

The first bookstore I went to was The London Review Bookshop where I bought this book. I have yet to see this cover during my on-again-off-again time on book social media and it is to die for. I figured I should read more of her writing after enjoying The Night Circus two years ago. Sadly, I did already get water damage on it.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller | Goodreads

I passed on another edition of this book at The London Review Bookshop for this 10th anniversary edition in a Waterstones in Greenwich! I had no idea how old this book is, given its recent popularity. I'm very glad that I turned down the other because this is a jacket-less hardcover and I have a fond spot for those.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Goodreads

I went to Word on the Water on my last day in London, which I didn't even know would be in the area, and I was amazed. It's such a cute and small space but it packs a punch with what's available. I had never seen this cover before (starting to notice a pattern) and was convinced it was finally time to buy it, since I've been thinking about it for many years.

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood | Goodreads

The dorm I was staying at had study rooms with books that we were allowed to take because past students left them there after classes. I have no idea what classes they were taking, but the selection was phenomenal. I grabbed this one because I loved The Handmaid's Tale in high school and never continued the series. Time for a reread?

Circe by Madeline Miller | Goodreads

Speaking of Madeline Miller, I picked up another one of her books in the study room leftovers as well. I would've taken more books if not for packing. I started seeing more of this book with the rise of The Song of Achilles. I'm excited for both because I know nothing about mythology and these might be good intro to the entire world of it.

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf | Goodreads

This one I got at the British Museum, which is within the neighborhood that she lived in. I wish I had explored more surrounding authors outside of the program but I've never read Virginia Woolf, so I figured this tiny edition would be a good start. It helped that I wanted to get something from the gift shop.

#may book haul #the starless sea #erin morgenstern #goodreads #the song of achilles #madeline miller #americanah #chimamanda ngozi adichie #the testaments #margaret atwood #circe #a room of one's own #virginia woolf

[megdocx]

September Reading Challenge!

I'm still five books shy of my annual reading goal, and don't have much of a following yet, but I wanted to post my September Reading Challenge to meet more people & share my thoughts on what I've been reading! You can follow my GoodReads here

The Challenge

Read one (1) book per-week with a dark academic theme or sub-theme within said genre (eg. occult, critique of class or society, classic literature in general).

My books:

Week 1 (Sept 1-9) Mrs. S by K. Patrick

Week 2 (Sept 10-16) The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Week 3 (Sept 17-23) Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

Week 4 (Sept 24-30) A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

I will be liveblogging my thoughts through the month with the tag #september reads and #read with meg.

#dark academia #dark academia reading #dark academia aesthetic #romantic academia #chaotic academic aesthetic #academia aesthetic #reading #read in 2023 #reading challenge #september reading challenge #fall reading challenge #read with me #read with meg #september reads #autumn #autumn reads #back to school

[metaphysicalrenaissance]

I above all promote brave soldiers

Years after my first encounter with Walt Whitman via Keri Smith in the Wander Society, I have started reading a collection of his works titled "Leaves of Grass". Coming across As I Pondered in Silence, I read these familiar words that I have used in the past to promote a more mindful way of living.

Back when I was teaching Mindfulness to first years, these lines, this question stuck with me when I asked myself where I was spending my time, and how I was spending my time.

The bravery Whitman alludes to isn't just that of bravado—like the emptiness of the other men Virginia Woolf outlines in The Waves. At the time what it made me reflect on within myself was whether or not I could be brave enough to pay attention, to sit with my own thoughts and feelings, to become attentive and mindful to my own existence.

 bravery to come to terms with everything, bravery is needed to be open, to hope, to dream, to be passionate, to be connected and to give all you can to something.

This is the slide I used for the class. "What singest thou" felt as much a pointed question as it did an opportunity to choose an answer that I wanted. It was a moment to examine how I had conducted myself up until that point and decide the way forward.

Whitman was past this already, naturally, and now looking back, I feel that the question has carried through into my greater sense of being. The presence of war ghosts, the trauma sifting through generations, has permeated the cultures I've been a part of. I like to think that in the same way, there has been a push towards embracing these songs of war in different ways, ways that make me forget how to be mindful, how to pay attention to feeling.

It feels like a more tenured resonance, where I still stand with this poem in hand saying that I still like doing difficult things, I still embrace challenge and have great resilience, but I will not spend my resources on numbing or bending or breaking the will of others. In that way I am brave—a brave soldier.

There is this looming omen of war that replays here in Whitman, but also in Rilke's turn of the century prophecies, even before the great wars came. I hope that the premonition of grief I feel in my time is a harbinger of healing rather than a prolonged sadness that will stay the next 100 years.

#poetry #walt whitman #r. m. rilke #virginia woolf #war #reflection #exposition #mindfulness #grief