#its by natalie haynes i think
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2023 Reading Wrap Up
I tried starting this post about 20 times already, and no introduction is really hitting. I am quite a bit hungover, and in dire need of a rest. But alas, I want to talk about all the books I read last year.
So I had the goal of reading as much as I physically could last year. Why? After finishing my degree, I was having trouble reading for the sake of reading. I wanted to be someone who read a lot, but my self-motivated reading habit was in the dumps. My sibling and I ended up making a bet to see who could read more in 2023, and I was determined to win.
I did win, but that's besides the point. My importantly, I am now back in the habit of reading again.
I really enjoyed starting my reading tag and making little write-ups summarizing my thoughts. I really appreciate everyone being so patient with my book-posting, especially as I gradually went from writing a sentence or two to rambling bullet point lists to well-thought out reviews. If you ever interacted with one of those posts-- thank you so much! I hope to continue in this upcoming year.
So to wrap up my year of reading, I figured I would rank all of the books I read. If I read an entire series, I'll count it as one entry on the list. Also, the ranking is going to be determined less by quality and more by personal enjoyment.
All that being said, let's go~
Ranking My 2023 Reads
#17) Breaking Time by Sasha Alsberg - This was my first read of the year, and my worst. This book is near unreadable in terms of prose, and features one of the most infuriating lines I have ever read in my entire life:
Add the most unoriginal plot I have ever seen, and this makes for one bad read. I knew it was going to be bad going on, but the levels of incompetency on display here was mind-boggling.
#16) Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan - Is this the worst book I read this year? No. But it definitely pissed me off more than the others. I didn't need this book to be good; I just wanted it to be fun, but it couldn't commit to a plot line long enough to do so. I will give this book credit for having one of the unintentionally funniest villains I have ever read. That man failed upwards and it was GREAT. No notes.
#15) Ariadne by Jennifer Saint - I don't think this book is terrible, but its flaws are the most glaring to me. Structurally, it's a mess. The prose tries to use imagery to cover up how much telling it's truly doing. Both hampered an overall decent plot.
#14) Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - This book wasn't really for me. It was an entertaining read, but the references to pop-culture were more cringey than humorous. I also could not stand how the book was ashamed to be escapist literature and tried to uplift itself with shallow critiques of American politics.
#13) Lightlark by Alex Aster - That I am putting this book so high on the list is a crime and an insult against every book ranked below it. If I was ranking off of quality alone, it would be the second worst book I read this year. Unfortunately, I started an inside joke with my friends about how I'm Lightlark's #1 Fan, which ended up increasingly my enjoyment of this very stupid book exponentially. #TeamOro
#12) Garrison Girl by Rachel Aarons - This book really isn't anything special, but its place in publishing and anime history tickles my brain. It's not bad but it's not all that good either.
#11) The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack - Someone with a more thorough baseline on science would probably find this book more enjoyable than me. As is, I didn't understand half of it.
#10) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - A fast, enjoyable read. I think it reveals its hand a bit too quickly, but the plot overall is really fascinating. Lacking on prose, but it didn't need a lot of it. This is a book begging to be made into a movie (which will probably be better than the book itself).
#9) A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes - What this book lacks in originality and plot, it makes up for with comprehensiveness. As much as I enjoyed reading all of its varied perspectives, I am still peeved by how Penelope's perspective was wasted and how Haynes had no interest in writing from Helen's perspective.
#8) The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin - A prime example of a book series that is objectively excellent, but was simply not for me. My interests didn't align with what the narrative thought was important. However, the characters are fantastic and what there is of the central conflict between mother and daughter is earth shattering.
#7) The Poppy War Trilogy by R.F. Kuang - An incredible fantasy series with some excellent characters and ideas. While I do think that the series is a little simplistic, it makes up for it by being endlessly entertaining. Except for the last book, which leaned too heavily into its grimdark flares.
#6) Beowulf by Unknown (Translated by Seamus Heaney) - A reread featuring a fantastic introduction from Heaney that connects the text to his Irish roots. The translation itself, while good, prioritized brevity a bit too much for my taste.
#5) Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - A long overdue reread that reaffirmed why I found this book life changing when I first read it in junior high. Lyrical, brutal, and surprisingly funny, this book paints an honest picture of depression and trauma in adolescence.
#4) In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado - A lyrical, dreamy exploration of an abusive relationship. I love how this memoir pushes the limits of its own medium as it also tries to establish a canon for abusive queer relationships. Machado's imagery is insane, and I devour it every time.
#3) The Catcher In the Rye by J.D. Salinger - My last and most surprising read of the year. I did not expect to love this novel as much as I do. I will never forgive the world for insisting that Holden Caulfield is an archetypal male manipulator when he's a traumatized kid (albeit a bratty one) who desperately wants to be feel happy.
#2) Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price - An incredible, comprehensive look on the history, culture, and legacy of the vikings. Price parses through popular fiction to bring humanity back to a historical group of people every subculture wants to claim as their own, for better and for worse. This book broke a damn in my head that was preventing me from doing world building for a piece of original fiction I want to write.
#1) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas - I have been haunted by this book since I was a little kid, promising myself that I would one day gather the courage to read this behemoth of a story. As long as it is, every word was worth it. It was both parts entertaining and stimulating, and I ended by the book knowing why so many people call this the best book ever written.
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And that was my year! Please feel free to share what you read this year. Let me know if there's anything I should try to read in 2024. You can also fight me about any of my opinions lol
#me rambling#me reading#books#bookblr#bookish#books and reading#The Count of Monte Cristo#Children of Ash and Elm#The Catcher in the Rye#In the Dream House#Speak#Beowulf#The Poppy War Series#The Broken Earth Trilogy#A Thousand Ships#The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo#The End of Everything#Garrison Girl#Lightlark#Red White and Royal Blue#Ariadne#Daughter of the Moon Goddess#Breaking Time
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april tbr post yayy
rereads are marked by a ☆, new reads are marked by a ♡, and new acquisitions are bolded
physical tbr: 20
what moves the dead - t. kingfisher ♡
an education in malice - s. t. gibson ♡
juilet takes a breath - gabby rivera ♡
stories of people and civilization, greek ancient origins - lindsay powell, j. k. jackson ♡
rebel girls - elizabeth keenan ♡
the silent stars go by - dan abbet ♡
touched by an angel - johnathan morris ♡
dracula - bram stoker ♡
dune - frank herbert ♡
dune messiah - frank herbert ♡
frankenstein - mary shelley ♡
sense and sensibility - jane austen ♡
hippie - barry miles ♡
evernight - claudia gray ☆
stargazer - claudia gray ♡
the handmaids tale - margaret atwood ☆
the testaments - margaret atwood ♡
aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the
universe - benjamin alire sáenz ☆
would-be witch - kimberly frost ☆
the ballad of songbirds and snakes - suzanne collins ☆
digital tbr: 2
pandora's jar: women in the greek myths - natalie haynes ♡
wild is the witch - rachel griffin ♡
read: 7
a million kisses in your lifetime - monica murphy - dnf
i got like 80 pages in and then just,,, could not continue. no shade if u liked this book it was just solidly, solidly not my thing.
my monster valentine - various authors - 3/5
debated putting this on here for obvious reasons but i neeeeed to be accurate i guess. i only read about half of the stories in this collection and they were pretty hit or miss. it was free though so yk. vibes.
high spirits - camille gomera-tavarez - 2.5/5
this book was pretty alright! i don't have much to say about it (hence the middling rating) but i would reccomend it if you're looking for a fast read :D
the coldest touch - isabel sterling - 4/5
THIS WAS SO CUUUUTTTTTEEEEE!!! i liked the way the author portrayed the genuine hell that being stuck at 17 would be. please get me out of here i want a fully developed frontal lobe. AW and all of the characters were super likable. truly so adorable i was squealing the whole time.
im knocking a point off for the romance being a littttllllleeeee rushed and the character descriptions feeling off (it felt odd that both pov characters categorized every single person into a specific race? i think its good practice to make a characters race clear, but idk if that applies to a random teacher with no dialogue). to be so real though i loved this book enough that it didn't bother me too much.
beastly & bookish - catrina bell - 5/5
did i finish this book in one sitting? yes. did i stay up until 1am doing that? ...mind your business. honestly, im maybeee being a little bit generous giving this 5 stars but !! i really liked it!!! rom was soo mecore. i'm excited to read the rest of the books in this collection (even though they're all christmasy), and i can't wait for my physical copy to get here!!
holly's unjolly christmas - lark green - 2/5
this book was truly just fine. like, the definition of pretty alright. the tropes weren't my thing and the romance felt wildly rushed, but the writing style was easy to read and there were some funny bits. i also felt like the demon characters fell pretty flat? idk felt mid overall. (tbh the highlights of this book were when rom and noelle showed up. my babiesssss)
holidays ablaze - lucy limon - 3/5
v cute 👍 i love samite he's so autistic 💗
last months goal: finish dune
hmm ok. so i did not finish dune. i don't know why i thought i could. whatever possessed me to believe i could finish an 800 page sci-fi book in one month was truly of the devil herself. what the fuck. that was a blatant temptation towards hubris and I FELL FOR IT. anyways i hit 300 pages. everyone clap.
this months goal: finish a re-read
i have a lot of books i'd like to re-read but!!! i just never get around to it!!!! there r always newer shinier books that grab my attention!! i'd also like to carve away a more sizable chunk of my physical tbr this month because i have officially run out of space on my bookshelf TwT. everything is so so crammed in there, i truly cannot afford any more physical books. public library here i come!!
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comfort things tag game
I wasn’t tagged in this, but I've been seeking out my comfort things a lot lately, so I went looking for a tag game, and added the last two, because we love to overshare
Comfort Show: Castle, probably, simply thanks to the fact that it was my very favourite show growing up. And Taskmaster, which is really random
Comfort Movie: National Treasure. Literally named my cat after Dr Abigail Chase (and Love Actually, for all it’s faults
Comfort Book: Honestly, Agatha Christie books, like in general, not one specific book of hers
Comfort Article of clothing: An old football shirt from my father, that’s at least two sizes too big on and older than me
Comfort Song: I don’t think I have one, really (correction: No Troubles by Other Lives)
Comfort Food: bellpeppers in tomato puree with beef sausage served on rice. I've never encountered it outside of my maternal family, but my grandmother, mother, aunt, cousins and I all make it, with our own spin on it (you can swap the sausage for feta, although I would serve it on pasta in that case, and it does loose a lot of its flavour. Still good tho)
Comfort Place: My bed, under multiple blankets, with my cat next to me, fairy lights and maybe a candle on
Comfort YouTube channel: Emma Angeline. Fucking got me through the back half of 2020, and has remained my go to comfort watch since then
Comfort Podcast: Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics. I've listened to all of the episodes multiple times, and will many many more (currently listening to the episode on Cicero)
Tagging @freizusein @bumblebee-and-tea @the-law-of-progress and @notgoodatcreatingnames
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Home: Rodrigo Sanchez x Reader
Written because I love Rodrigo Sanchez and haven’t written him in an age and because I love @smaoineamhsalach who introduced me to his world. Thank you so much!
It was raining when Sanchez last laid eyes on you, cascading in sheets, a tropical storm in the heart of Singapore. You’d stood in front of the window, watching the lightening flicker beyond the curtains, illuminating the toom in a flash of cold light. You hated storms, he remembered. Memories from a time when he hadn’t been in your life. You didn’t talk about it much, but he could see it in the way your body tensed as the thunder rolled through the air like dust after an explosion.
Like him, you challenged your fears, faced them head on.
“I can’t keep doing this Rodrigo.” You told him during a moment’s silence.
“I know.” He had responded from a bed of tousled sheets. The scent of your perfume clung to your pillow, infiltrating his nostrils as he propped himself up against the headboard. You were talking about the distance, flying over here whenever you got some leave, the Skype calls between the two of you, it wasn’t working. Your relationship existed in the eight thousand miles of airspace between your two residences.
You’d caught a plane back home to L.A the next morning and he had poured himself into his work, pretending he didn’t feel a weight in his chest, that his heart hadn’t been stabbed repeatedly. He caught himself thinking of you from time to time, wondering what you were up to, if you were taking care of yourself. The fact he hadn’t got a phone call off one of your team members was testament enough that you were keeping out of trouble.
That had been a year ago. Now he was back on US soil standing outside your door, hand poised to knock. A lot could change in a year, he knew that. He had run through the possibilities in his head on the flight back home. You might have taken a lover, moved, got promoted. He didn’t know because the two of you had agreed not to keep in touch, it was too hard in the long run. You both needed a fresh start.
He rapped his knuckles against the wood, the same way he had when this whole thing had started over two years ago. He could hear movement behind the door, he waited, his hands clasped in front of him, spine straight.
When you appeared, it was as if nothing had changed at all. Your smile was still radiant, its warmth surging through him as your eyes met his. The scar at your hairline was new as was the tattoo of that familiar constellation on your wrist. He reached out and grasped it gently, turning it so that he could see the full design.
“Cassiopeia.” He smiled.
He remembered that night. You’d been standing on his balcony, head tilted up towards the stars when he’d pointed it out. It was the only constellation he knew the name of, he could barely remember the story that went with it at the time, but you knew. You were a fan of authors like Natalie Haynes and Madeline Miller, revelling in the retellings of historical events. He remembered the hours you had spent in the museums whenever an exhibit on Ancient Greece turned up. He wasn’t much for history, but your enthusiasm and your passion were infectious. He loved seeing the way you lit up.
“Something to remember you by.” You told him as his thumb trailed over the inked lines. “That night was one of the best of my life.”
It had been one of his too. Hearing those three little words on your lips, saying them back. Knowing that you were his entirely as he made love to you in the open air…
“This past year…” he began, his dark brows furrowing into a frown as he tried to select the right words. “…has been hell.”
“Things haven’t been much better here.” You admitted. “I was stupid to think I could just let you go like that, that I could just move on…
He wanted to ask you if there had been others, but he wasn’t one to judge. He’d lost count of the number of women he’d fucked trying to forget you. It hadn’t worked, it never worked because you had given him something he hadn’t even realised he craved. He’d never planned on falling in love, he hadn’t believed in it and then there you were on his team, a complete pain in his ass.
“I’m home now.” He said quietly, stepping into your proximity.
It had been too long since he’d been in your presence, too long since he’d allowed himself to give into that sense of yearning that encumbered him whenever he was in your life.
“For good?” You questioned.
His thumb traced over the apple of your cheek, his lips brushing over yours as he gazed into your eyes.
“Yea sweetheart, I’m home for good.”
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#Rodrigo Sanchez x reader#rodrigo sanchez#rodrigo sanchez imagine#s.w.a.t. imagine#s.w.a.t. cbs#s.w.a.t cbs#s.w.a.t.
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mid-year book freak out tag
@bloody-wonder tagged me so now I have an excuse to talk about books I read
1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2023? probably her body and other parties by carmen maria machado, my favorites stories from it being “the husband stitch” and “especially heinous”. I love how the former weaves together urban legends as a backdrop and the latter is a surrealist meta version of law and order svu, which is much better than it sounds.
2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2023?
3. New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To? I’m curious about juniper and thorn by ava reid, and I can’t say the amount of pearl-clutching over it hasn’t played a part in bringing it to my attention. but really, I just like gothic horror and dark fairy tales!
4. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2023? I dunno, I’m not up-to-date on these things
5. Biggest Disappointment? I’d say world war z and the southern book club’s guide to slaying vampires, but I had to read those for class so it’s not like I had any expectations anyway (for the record, WWZ I never finished bc all the militarism and boring technical stuff turned me off; southern book club kept my attention but its themes were delivered with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, the characters were thinly sketched, the ending was anticlimactic, and the broad and wacky tone did not mesh well with the grotesque (often sexual) violence), so a better example would be a thousand ships; admittedly my standards also weren’t very high; I have a sort of “I can fix her” attitude towards mythological retellings; I know a lot of them fall short, but they’re like comfort food to me, and when one hits, it fucking hits. natalie haynes, you did not hit! nothing the book did justified it as a retelling, there wasn’t any sort of unique spin or exploration into the female characters’ interiority; it just did the trojan cycle again but sometimes we’re reminded that women…were there. Whoever said this was a better version of TSOA was telling straight lies!
6. Biggest Surprise? I didn’t have high hopes for mexican gothic, mostly out of a pretentious impulse I have to expect popular new-ish releases to be mid. Still, I love a gothic novel, so I decided to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised to find it to be not only very engrossing, but also a clever reworking of gothic tropes tied to a specific cultural setting. It really understood gothic horror not just aesthetically, but also a vehicle for themes of corrupt aristocracy, and the overlap between desire and disgust, and fucked-up families in an incestuous cycle of abuse. It’s still pretty flawed - I think the dialogue could be a bit clunky, especially in the case of the old village woman who feels less like a person and more like an exposition machine - but overall a great read, and I’d love to see more from Moreno-Garcia.
7. Favorite New Author? I already loved angela carter’s work in the bloody chamber, but nights at the circus is the first full-length novel I’ve read from her, and it really cements her as one of the greats.
8. Newest Favorite Character? sophia fevvers from nights at the circus, a bawdy, cockney, rubenesque trapeze artist famed across turn-of-the-century europe for her wings. Also enjoys proto-feminism, gold-digging, and hanging out with her tiny, feisty, anarchist-leaning foster-mother. There’s maybe meant to be some tension throughout the story over whether or not her insanely eventful life story is exaggerated or not, but I never doubted her. Believe women.
9. Newest Fictional Crush? Lady Jessica, the coolest milf the bene gesserit ever produced
💕Best Ship?💕 I didn’t read much with good shipping material, but shout out to noémi from mexican gothic and her boy version of a fragile and sheltered victorian waif love interest whose name escapes me. She’s always describing him like “He was so pale and iron-deficient and frail like a little baby bird and NOT HOT. I desire him carnally.” and meanwhile he’s just showing her his many different types of fungi. Less alpha males, more guys like this.
10. Book That Made You Cry? “eight bites” from her body and other parties hit a little too close to home; it captured really well how dysphoria drives you to abuse your own body, and how that hurts not just yourself but the people around you. “my mother and I” by lucy dacus-coded
11. Book That Made You Happy? I don’t read happy books! But probably nights at the circus, there be whimsy in these pages.
12. Favorite Book Adaptations You Saw This Year? andrea arnold’s 2011 adaptation of wuthering heights nearly made me feral. there’s not really a definitive film version, but the one from 2011, - while not perfect as an adaptation since, like most of them, it only covers the first half of the book - I’d say does the best job of capturing the spirit of the original. the thing that really impressed me was its portrayal of heathcliff - not as a brooding romantic hero nor an inhuman psychopath, but a boy who became something terrible because society never saw him as anything else. It’s film very subjectively, with shaky cam, no score, and nearly every scene being from heathcliff’s perspective - the iconic “I am Heathcliff!” speech is never shown in full, since he left before hearing the rest of it. It’s a really strong artistic choice to place the story firmly in heathcliff’s perspective, and it’s made more interesting by being one of the few adaptations to play into the book’s racial subtext.
13. Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year?
14. Most Beautiful Cover? The barnes and noble special edition of dune I have, which is gorgeous but also really impractical to carry around (pic from google images, I’m not at home rn)
15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End Of The Year? I gotta finish dune since I started at the beginning of the year and paused since I was so busy with school (and later paused again bc I was bored 🫣).
tagging @antema, @stolehisdog, @betweenironyandsilver, @vampire-juicebox, @chdarling, @excuseforadrink, @danielarlingtongf, @borispavlikovskys, and @altraviolence, if u wanna!
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I have been reading Natalie Haynes A thousand ships and it's written so beautifully. I had to stop reading it and take a break after Laodamia's chapter (14) [pp. 112-123] cause it was just so touching. Although, every chapter so far has had its moments. But this one made me tear up. 🥺 Laedoma's husband would keep calling her little queen and it made me think of how Arthur in my dark ArMor au calls her his little fairy. Plus Laodamia & Protesilaus interactions really made me think of ArMor, at least the version of them that I tend to write. 🥺 like this quote 'she longed for his touch even when she had it'
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What is one book that deeply touched you? Why did you like it? What about it spoke to you?
This is a fantastic question, anon! thank you 🖤 I apologise for the ridiculously long answer but I got a bit carried away!
In my last year of university I consumed Greek tragedies, retelling of those myths and academic literature centred around ancient Greece like a woman starved. Anything I could get my hands on I read. But then I read a book by Natalie Haynes called Pandora's Jar, its a non-fiction book that revisits the stories of women from Greek myth who
are traditionally considered villains and sort of places them in context of Greek society except Haynes exposes the way that women are often exploited by men and made into monsters when often they are victims of a patriarchal society. I just made me think more deeply about what it means to be a woman and how often women are victimised and then demonised by society for advocating for themselves and their bodily autonomy.
In a lot of ways it made me stop and think about my own internalised misogyny and how I have also played into these patriarchal ideas about what a 'good' woman is supposed to be and while I'm still working on things I definitely think its made me a less 'palatable' to men in all the best ways.
#For fiction I think it would probably be a toss up between Interview with the Vampire and Carmilla (also a vampire novella)#I just love the yearning that comes with a vampire motif#the search for acceptance and identity in the face of eternity#confronting what it means to be human and to be mortal#idk i've got a lot of feelings about both of these books
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My thanks, yet again, to my friend Gareth for a burst of inspiration regarding new subject matter for a blog post, as I did not realise until I read a message from him at 8 o'clock this evening that today has been International Women's Day. Immediately, I think: "Oh, its going to be a bit rushed, but I'd better write a blog post about some woman or other I'm currently admiring. Hmm, the question is who?" Henceforth, the above photograph, from a notebook by my most recent discovery in the world of contemporary art, a Canadian artist called Julie Liger-Belair. She works in collage, prolifically applying the same recurring themes and motifs: woman/girl, house-shaped building, squiggley flowers, and usually brightly hued.
Who else am I admiring that hasn't been mentioned on this blog before? Well, I acquired an Eastenders habit just before Christmas and thought I could kick it easy. However, it's March now and I'm still tuning in every Monday to Thursday! So, I'm going to choose the characters Stacey, Whitney and Bianca because they all strike me as being strongly maternal and caring women who have each overcome tough times in the past and, by way of those experiences, have developed their own wisdom. More frivolously, and I'm not usually easily impressed by such things, the actress who plays Stacey has the most extraordinary, superbly conditioned, lustrously healthy, shiny looking hair!! I quite like the new landlady, Elaine, too. She's another strong and caring woman.
On a more intellectual level, I've recently been reading about Matilda of Tuscany, one of the most powerful political operators of the Italian Middle Ages, and today I read a recommendation for a couple of books by an author called Natalie Haynes about the women and goddesses who appear in Greek myths, but I don't know enough about either to write much else. Gareth's choice, for the record, was a podcast about Joan of Arc.
I'll finish with this track by Blondie that I woke up humming to myself despite not having listened to it since the early 1980s. (I'd seen the title written down in another context the night before.) It's from Blondie's fifth album, 'Autoamerican', and the style brings to mind Marilyn Monroe, a lady both Gareth and myself hold great affection for. I'll probably think of other examples of admirable women tomorrow - but then this blog is a continuous celebration of inspirational and unique women, anyway!
youtube
Blondie - Here's Looking At You.
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One of the review blurbs for Natalie Haynes's novel "A Thousand Ships" asserts that it "more than acknowledges the suffering of women." And, yeah. After reading this, I gotta agree: Women Do Be Suffering.
I read the majority of this while flying, which may have been the best environment for it. The narrative jumps between an ensemble cast of characters, which kept things fresh and engaging while never letting up on the bleakness of war. I didn't find any of the content particularly depressing or triggering, though.
Compared to the other Greek myth retelling I read this year, this one is a clear winner. I can't argue that it's doing anything really new but it does the classics faithfully.
Various thoughts:
Calliope was the most fascinating point of view, but I think it would have been smarter to break the 4th wall and have Calliope sing to Haynes and not an unnamed poet; I get what her POV is meant to explore, but it's been done before; I would have preferred something new
The Penelope sections were a waste. I do not need Penelope to recount the entirety of the Odyssey to me. I want to know what she's been doing. The quick aside that she was tempted by one of the kinder suitors would have been fascinating to explore if it was more than 2 paragraphs long. I do not need to hear her play by play on Odysseus's misadventures.
Cassandra, Hecabe, Andromache, and Clytemnestra had the most fascinating perspectives
Also Oenone's chapter was my favorite out of all of them.
What little Odysseus appeared in the story was great, which reaffirms to me how much he's my favorite literary character
I take issue with how the book markets itself as the Never Before Heard stories of the women in the Trojan war when there is such an extensive history of plays and poems written about them; for a while, I thought that the book itself believed in its own hype but reading Haynes's note at the end made me realize that I was being an idiot misinterpreting things and Haynes actually knows what she's doing more than I do
That being said, not writing Helen's point of view is a mistake; I get WHY Haynes declined to give her a perspective, but I was enthralled by her character whenever she did appear; I also would have liked to see Haynes's perspective on the idea that Helen ran away with Paris because Aphrodite made her insane (a la the Odyssey)
Overall, 4/5. Glad I read it!
#next time i read something with the greek myth it's going to be one of the sources. i cannot keep doing these retellings#though I just remembered that YA book that adapts the odyssey despite the author gloating about how she never read it#I think i need to read that to know if there is someone who could write Odysseus incorrectly#me rambling#me reading#a thousand ships#natalie haynes#a thousand ships by natalie haynes#thank you haynes for that end note because I was getting all up in my head about your credentials and I needed to be reminded#that I am a dumbass
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'The nominations have been announed for the 2023 film year with Andrew Haigh's beautiful and upsetting All of Us Strangers leading the pack with 9 nominations...
Film of the Year
All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Barbie (Warner Bros.)
May December (Netflix)
Past Lives (A24)
Poor Things (Searchlight)
That's a pleasing list, right? Nice mix of genres and styles and all critically acclaimed.
LGBTQ Film of the Year
All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Bottoms (MGM)
Passages (MUBI, SBS)
Rustin (Netflix)
Saltburn (Amazon MGM)
It’s nice not to see too much overlap in the top categories as it gets dull if the same films score everywhere. I can’t remember what I voted for here but it’s a pity not to see Cassandro or Maestro here -- yes yes you may quibble with either of those pictures as "Best" for various reasons but both are far more accomplished pieces of cinema than... Rustin. (Colman Domingo is fabulous, of course, but the movie around him is too generic as biopics go)
Director of the Year
Greta Gerwig, Barbie (Warner Bros.)
Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Todd Haynes, My December (Netflix)
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer (Universal)
Celine Song, Past Lives (A24)
Screenplay of the Year -Original or adapted
Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, Barbie (Warner Bros.)
Samy Burch, May December (Netflix)
Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Arthur Harari, Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
Celine Song, Past Lives (A24)
LGBTQ Screenplay of the Year (new)
Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Arthur Harari, Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
Dustin Lance Black, Julian Breece, Rustin (Netflix)
Arlette Langmann, Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias, Passages (MUBI)
Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott, Bottoms (MGM)
Film Performance of the Year
Colman Domingo, Rustin (Netflix)
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers (Focus Features)
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple, Paramount)
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
Greta Lee, Past Lives (A24)
Trace Lysette, Monica (IFC)
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer (Universal)
Natalie Portman, May December (Netflix)
Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Emma Stone, Poor Things (Searchlight)
Wonderful line-up, don't you think?
Supporting Film Performance of the Year
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer (Universal)
Jodie Foster, NYAD (Netflix)
Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Ryan Gosling, Barbie (Warner Bros.)
Rachel McAdams, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)
Charles Melton, May December (Netflix)
Paul Mescal, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Rosamund Pike, Saltburn (Amazon MGM)
Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers (Focus Features)
Pleased to see Claire Foy and Rachel McAdams land nominations here as the rest of the competitors were far better represented during precursor season.
Genre Film of the Year (new) -For excellence in science fiction, fantasy and horror
All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Godzilla Minus One (Toho)
M3GAN (Universal)
Poor Things (Searchlight)
Talk To Me (A24)
Interesting to see All of Us Strangers land in this category though given its plentiful nominations elsewhere. It does technically qualify with its ghostly elements but it might have been nice to see a less-honored picture here.
GALECA LGBTQIA+ Film Trailblazer Award -For creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity
Colman Domingo
Jodie Foster
Andrew Haigh
Todd Haynes
Andrew Scott
Five excellent excellent excellent LGBTQ talents so we’re quite pleased with this list...'
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GOALS FOR 2024
1. Read at least 70 books this year, I know people might think that is a small amount compared to the hundreds of books people read in a year but this is am amount I am happy with and I know I will enjoy the books, not rush them ans not stress myself ot if I'm unable to complete the goal. Reading goals are great but I sometimes think there can be too much competition to read a huge amount of books. My goal is for me and my enjoyment and comfort, if I do more great if less then its fine.
2. Finish all the unfinished books from last year (and the year before) I have 11 books unfinished so before I start another book (not including libby books) for public record these books are:
Divine Might by Natalie Haynes
The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Inimitable Jeeves by P. G Wodehouse
The Man Who Spoke Snakish bu Andre's Kivirähk
Death in Heels by Kitty Murphy
The Doll by Daphnie Du Maurier
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews
The Watchmen by Alan Moore ans David Gibbons
3. Continue to read diverse subjects and from different perspectives and backgrounds
And lastly
4. Make time to read
What's everyone else's goals
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Thoughts on A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes?
I actually really enjoyed it! It's one of my favorite of the myth retellings that i've read. I talked a bit about it when I was reading it and right after i finished so I'll reblog those posts.
But to sum it up, I really liked how the book covered pretty much the entire lore of the Trojan War even bringing in lesser known women to tell their stories. I think the book also benefited from having multiple voices so it never really got boring or slow. Weird comparison, but it was like the Royal Rumble (wrestling for those who don't know lol) where you were eager and anticipating who was gonna show up next!
I also liked how the book purposefully left out Helen, even tho I love Helen, because out of all the women attached to the Trojan War we have heard her story the most. It was time to give the other ladies a moment in the spotlight!
My only real issue with the book was Athena. She was way too self conscious and reminded me a lot of a teenage girl. But honestly my main issue was Athena having a crush on Odysseus. I just...no. Absolutely not. I hate it. Please take it back. I don't want it. No one can ever convince me that Athena has those kinds of feelings for Odysseus.
Thankfully tho, the entire Golden Apple scene is only one chapter so its easy to move past, but even with the eh portrayal of Athena that chapter is one of my favorites. Its hilarious and I honestly applaud Natalie Haynes for making that situation so comical. Usually authors make the gods so serious and stern and any interaction with them is full of fear, cruelty, sadness, and anger. But this whole chapter reads like the part in a Scooby Doo episode where the monster is chasing the gang through all different random doors while wacky music is playing in the background. I freakin loved it! xD (One of the posts Im reblogging goes more into detail about this chapter in case you are interested)
So those are my thoughts!
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Hi Sarah! Two questions… one, could you share an update on the books you’ve read this year? I can’t seem to find the post you were updating awhile back! Two, I know that you are private about your social media accounts but I was wondering if you have a Goodreads account and if you were comfortable sharing your handle? I absolutely love to follow what people are reading and how they liked it! 📚 🐛 Hope you’re doing well!
Hi! You bet. Updating books below.
(FWIW, everything related to books is in its own tag here)
My last book update was here so I'll do everything from that moment onwards. Which is ... a lot.
I am also not comfortable sharing my Goodreads and would prefer my personal accounts continue to be private.
Stay Sexy And Don't Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - I truly have no idea how I came across the book as I do not listen to the My Favourite Murder podcast. It's possible the title came up as a suggested read on my Goodreads and I thought "Wow what a great title" and read it on a whim but I had a blast reading it.
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston - A wlw storyline and also time travel what more could I want.
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid - I know plenty of people who didn't like this but I enjoyed it a lot! TJR is such an engaging writer who is particularly adept at writing such vivid characters. I think I liked this more than Daisy Jones but obviously not as much as the superior Evelyn Hugo.
Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell - A hard read
Harry Potter 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 by J.K. Rowling - My annual re-read. Don't ask me why I skipped 2 and 4 I just did.
Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan
They Both Die At the End by Adam Silvera - Interesting concept but felt a bit messy, ironically at the end.
White Ivy by Susie Yang
Nishga by Jordan Abel - Really redundant and a laborious read.
The Guncle by Steven Rowley - Charming.
The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant - I really enjoy this writer so this was a good read. Thorough, as is the author's signature.
Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad - Harrowing!
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes - A must for fans of Circe. Really loved this one about the Trojan War featuring the untold or looked over stories of the women in the war.
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto - For fans of Crazy Rich Asians. Absolutely ridiculous and funny.
One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Another great TJR book I finished in a day.
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris - This premise was really interesting but the backend of it was so mishandled and written really messily. It felt like a last minute scramble.
That Summer by Jennifer Weiner - Really good.
Unfollow: A Journey From Hatred to Hope by Megan Phelps-Roper - This felt like a very relevant read for the last few years. It opened up my eyes a lot.
Recursion by Blake Crouch - Awesome premise and pulled off really well. Loved it!
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson - A lighthearted book that made me laugh a few times.
Open by Andre Agassi - A reminder to me to read more autobiographies of prolific people in 2022. This was great - I learned a lot.
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix - Gave me some nightmares but I'm also a huge baby when it comes to terror/thrillers. Fun!
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book recs please i need some
also i'll rec u all the light we cannot see by anthony doerr its so sad but beautifully written and apparently it took ten years to write-
ooo book recs book recs, alr let's see
i've fallen into greek mythology based books again recently, the song of achilles and circe are pretty standard but im currently reading a thousand ships by natalie haynes which i really love, it goes into the lives of the women of the trojan war and it's just,, it's great, it basically summed up everything i thought about them and how they were always blamed rather than all the men who were actually at fault. it's great.
then i'm reading a little life by hanya yanagihara which i found a little heavier, it's about four rommates trying to make a living in new york and it's very much like that mulaney quote that's like
but i think it's worth a read, honestly.
but if you like tragic tales with poetic descriptions and also women then i'd def recommend a thousand ships. i honestly found it better than circe which i think is a little overhyped. and then the song of achilles would be overhyped but it's just,,,,,, geniunely really good ugh 😔
also thanks for the rec it sounds very much like the type of book i'd like!!
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For the cake ask! What about carrot, coffee and funnel cake?
Carrot: What's your favourite app on your phone
Hmm... probably BBC Sounds.
It's a radio & podcast app over here in the UK and I really love being able to listen to Podcasts whilst in drawing or working. At the moment 'Natalie Haynes Standing up for the Classics' is my favourite and I would really recommend it if you're into ancient Roman and Greek history and mythos!
Also she's an ex-comedian and now literary revisionist who's humour despite being middle aged fits perfectly for Gen Z and I love this woman.
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Coffee: What's a book that reminds you of your childhood
Tough one.
Probably between 3 books.
1, The first Percy Jackson book (Percy Jackson and the Lightning Bolt) which was the first action book I ever read. I think I was....maybe eight when I first read it? I remember getting in trouble in school for reading it rather than doing my maths and begging my mum to buy me then next ones as soon as I finished reading it. Her holding a plastic bag aloft on the playground and me knowing exactly what was in it as I raced over to her is probably one of my most memorable memories from childhood.
2, The Name of this Book is Secret oh my god this book? This trilogy? I remember reading it when I was 10 and thinking I was SO COOL because it was so secretive and funny. I had quite a nerdy group of friends when i was younger so reading books this 'mysterious' made you cool back then. This book reminds me of the friends I dont keep in contact with anymore - its a reminder of the silliness of those friendships.
And 3, The Hunger Games. It reminds me of my childhood because it's the book I was reading when I met my best friend (and my bisexual awakening if in being honest) and I remember reading one of Peeta's declarations and looking up and over to my best friend and going 'oh.' Like the scenes in cheesy fanfiction I had not yet read.
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Funnel cake: If you could live in any country where would you live?
I mean I love living in the UK because that's where I've always lived? But maybe Canada or Holland? Holland because I'm a History buff and theres so much history that the UK shares with Holland that it makes me want to learn about their history and culture and I want to experience it
Canada because I have family over there and I've wanted to go for a long time so I think it would be really interesting. Also I struggle with learning languages so going somewhere where I can speak one of languages would probably help.
Saying that though one of my friends is trying to get me to learn German with her so-
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If he tells me to sing one more time, I think I might bite him. The presumption of these men is extraordinary. Does he believe I have nothing else to do with my time than sit around being his muse? His. When did poets forget that they serve the muses, and not the other way around? And if he can remember new lines of verse during his recitations, why can’t he remember to say please? Does everyone have to die, he asks, plaintive like a child. Perhaps he thought he was writing about one of those other wars. Devastation is what happens in war: it is its nature. I murmur to him in his dreams sometimes (I do have other things to do, but I like how he looks when he sleeps): you knew Achilles would die. You knew Hector would die before him. You knew Patroclus would die. You’ve told their stories before. If you didn’t want to think of men cut down in battle, then why would you want to compose epic verse?
Ah, but now I see the problem. It’s not their deaths he’s upset about. It’s that he knows what’s coming and he’s worrying it will be more tragedy than epic. I watch his chest rising and falling as he grabs a fitful rest. Men’s deaths are epic, women’s deaths are tragic: is that it? He has misunderstood the very nature of conflict. Epic is countless tragedies, woven together. Heroes don’t become heroes without carnage, and carnage has both causes and consequences. And those don’t begin and end on a battlefield. If he truly wants to understand the nature of the epic story I am letting him compose, he needs to accept that the casualties of war aren’t just the ones who die. And that a death off the battlefield can be more noble (more heroic, if he prefers it that way) than one in the midst of fighting. But it hurts, he said when Creusa died. He would rather her story had been snuffed out like a spark failing to catch damp kindling. It does hurt, I whispered. It should hurt. She isn’t a footnote, she’s a person. And she – all the Trojan women – should be memorialized as much as any other person. Their Greek counterparts too. War is not a sport, to be decided in a quick bout on a strip of contested land. It is a web which stretches out to the furthest parts of the world, drawing everyone into itself. I will teach him this before he leaves my temple. Or he will have no poem at all.
A Thousand Ships, Natalie Haynes
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