#pick a book any book

[noodles-and-tea]

Back at it with my enchanted merthur shenanigans

#when Merlin goes to work #(I am undecided on what he does but I think he does have a job (probably a librarian I’d that’s not TOO cliche…)) #he sets Arthur up with a bunch of history books and documentaries to try get him up to date (as much as he can) #and in the evenings they watch all Merlin’s favourite tv shows and movies #I can’t pick what kinds of movies Merlin and Arthur like #I get the feeling they both like pride and prejudice but I’m also biased #I think Arthur would like murder mysteries #ALSO If anyone’s got any fics where Merlin introduces Arthur to modern society please please PLEASE GIVE THEM TO ME #my art #bbc merlin #merlin #merlin emrys #arthur pendragon #merthur

[geryone]

Holy Feast and Holy Fast, Caroline Walker Bynum

#quotes #quote #Caroline Walker Bynum #id in alt text #literally just started this book tonight but I’m really enjoying it #& I got a cheap used copy online so I highly recommend if you have any interest!! pick up a copy & we can chat about it!!!

[gorgonsagainstrape]

do you think forgiving rapists / abusers is necessary for healing? i've been reading a lot of essays and articles that all basically boil down to the same thesis: i couldn't heal until i forgave him. many of them also say that they wanted to reject the idea that survivors are all angry and want their rapists / abusers to die, which is something i have been struggling to find anywhere. there's margaret cho [Margaret Cho Explains Why She Wants To Kill Her Rapist] but beyond that i couldn't find much on this topic aside from people criticizing it.

there seems to be a consensus that all survivors want is accountability. all they want is their rapist / abuser to admit they did it and apologize. and then that's it? what about the research that sex offenders cannot be rehabilitated? there is no known program to rehabilitate sex offenders that works in any meaningful way. they go through the program(s), learn how to game the system, get released, and immediately go back to harming women and girls.

why is it so taboo to hate them? hating them doesn't make us the same as them. it's quite literally the opposite. they love the violence they do and we abhor it, there is no way anyone can look at it and say our hatred is just as bad as theirs. we hate them for what they do, they hate women and girls for what we are. massive difference. if they don't want to be hated, they shouldn't rape. it's that simple.

i think a reason why it's generally frowned upon to want any kind of meaningful justice or to hold any rage or hatred in your heart for rapists is because men as a whole are aware of how many of their own are rapists. they know that if every rapist was imprisoned or killed, there would be maybe 5% of men left in the general population. and that scares them. i wish we lived in the world they think we live in, the one where being a rapist and being called out for it means your life is ruined or even ended. wouldn't that be nice.

#radblr #notes #i'm going to keep doing research on this topic tho so this isn't my final opinion by any means #i might compile a reading list if i find enough resources #i heard judith herman's new book deals with this topic.... will definitely have to pick that up soon

[franklyimissparis]

analysing mclennon feels like being an academic and pouring over historical texts and connecting the dots between passages because you basically are doing exactly that

#if old white guys can come up with their own beatles theories and write books and be taken seriously in an academic space… #then so should we #i trust beatles tumblr users opinions infinitely more than the opinions of 87% of music journalists out there #ppl will complain about beatles rpf fans cherry-picking evidence as if music journalists aren’t 100x worse abt doing just that #anyway i just really love mclennon lore and finding sources to support our theories #feels like putting my half-finished history degree to good (questionable) use #also enjoy that mclennon genuinely just feels very different to basically any other rpf ship #the beatles #paul mccartney #john lennon #mclennon #beatles rpf

[sainamoonshine]

My unpopular opinion is that in languages with grammatical gender like french, it does make sense for Murderbot to be referred to by whatever pronoun is usually used for robots or constructs. (In french, therefore, grammatical masculine.) Because there are no traditional « it » pronouns in these languages for objects, and while there are neo-pronouns, they are things one must choose for themselves. Do you honestly think MB actually spent time thinking about its pronouns?! No it didn’t. On forms it picks « non-applicable ». When people ask it what pronouns they should use, its honest opinion is « why do you even need to talk about me. Just don’t fucking do that. Don’t think about me either. Just fucking stop perceiving me altogether! »

Thinking about what pronouns to use probably makes it way more uncomfortable than letting people call it what they’ve already been calling it. Making a conscious choice about its identity? And telling other people about it??? No thanks bye, it’s just gonna walk into the ocean now, see you never.

Lbr it probably thinks the only bots that get fancy pronouns are comfort units, and the pronouns are probably shoved into them by humans same as everything else. MB would meet a bot using a neopronoun and it would wish it could barf. Because in a language like french, he/him and she/her, when applied to objects, ARE fulfilling the function of the english « it ». Nobody is saying the table is a woman or related to feminity in any way outside of stand-up comedy; when it comes to objects grammatical gender really has fuckall to do with human gender even if we use the same words. Even animal species names have grammatical gender and everyone gets that there are male and female turtles even if the word « turtle » is a female word, it’s not that confusing.

(I know this is strange when your language has different pronouns for people and for objects, but understand that english uses the same word to indicate if I’m addressing one or many people, and that is confusing to me.)

TL;DR; stop harassing international fans for not getting the correct MB pronoun in english right off the bat. Yes in english calling it « he » or « her » or « them » is upsetting because it’s projecting an identity unto it. But same goes for trying to get a foreign language translation to use a pronoun intended to express or showcase an identity (or even a lack of one!). Murderbot has not thought about it this hard, refuses to think about it this hard -> and that is its only canon accurate gender identity.

#the murderbot diaries #taking a bat to an hornet’s nest there but I said what I said #I go by she/her because that’s the default people use for me even tho my own gender identity is also #ugh I would sincerely prefer not to have to deal with this think about it or even be perceived #and I would be hella pissed if a book of my life came out and people got into fights about my pronouns #trying to assign me the most politically accurate agender pronoun possible #when my own choice has always been specifically to let people call me the default because idc #and I don’t want to be identified by any identifier that might indicate I do care #and using a different pronoun even if its a gender neutral one is a CHOICE! #it does indicate a preference! and caring about it enough to pick a word and tell people about it!!! #Murderbot didn’t pick IT that is specifically the point! #it was used for it and MB just kept going with that #I mean imagine it if wrote down a different pronoun on its ID form one day and someone actually called it that #it would set itself on fire #its discomfort at having made a personal choice and the personal choice being respected would be off the charts #maybe it a later book after hella character development but I just don’t see it happening tbh #respect the agenders who just don’t want to get involved and use the pronoun equivalent of the default avatar that came with the account #PLEASE #that is all

[bowandbrush]

I walked into Goodwill.

walked out with a pair of genuine Sai

#SO #I was with my mom shopping at goodwill #I’m basically there for emotional support #And #we mostly look at books and CDs #And I’m walking past a shelf #And I’m like #YOOOO #I run up to the sai sitting hooked on the shelf and eagerly picked them out #And to my even bigger surprise #These guys are HEFTY #AND REAL #And I start freaking out and stuttering trying to show my mother #I literally got so hyped that I started drooling #No joke #and my mom looks at me with huge metal things in my hands and is like #??? #and I start yapping #And I put them in the cart after infodumping about these things #And there’s an older couple standing close to me #Giving me a dirty look #I guess they were also looking at them #But they didn’t make any moves sooo #Like I got them first #But they FOLLOWED US #Kind of #i was being paranoid #But if looks could kill #I’d be dead #Also I hate eye contact and these folks out here like a Wild West film

[themoonking]

i actually hate the whole "buying books and reading books are two different hobbies XD" thing. like you guys booktube / booktok already has a huge consumerism issue, we shouldn't make "i have a spending problem" into a funny little quirky trait.

#and in general i don't like the idea of making the act of purchasing something into a hobby #don't like glorifying capitalism et cetera et cetera #i speak #fandom nonsense #anti booktok #i don't watch any booktubers like regularly i usually look up the type of video i want to watch and then just pick one #but one of the like two booktubers i watch with some kind of frequency has like 500+ UNREAD books and she keeps buying more #and like i lover her personality and her videos are so fun but its like babygirl YOU HAVE A SHOPPING ADDICTION

[slightlyrebelliouswriter23]

tragic that when i type in 'love theoretically' into the search bar on tumblr dot wtf, i just get a bunch of posts about theories, and nothing about the tooth-rotting hand-warming cup-of-tea book that is Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood :(

#y'all it was so good #really the pick me up i needed after the emotional battering that was Happy Place by Emily Henry #should i make edits #or moodboards #cos currently i see none on here and that must be rectified #if you know of any please send #love theoretically #ali hazelwood #book rec

[marietheran]

Add what country you're from in the tags.

#for us it's a book that was printed in 1911 I think #or 1912? 1917? #anyway 1910s #a translation from English of a somewhat sentimental Christian book #(not saying that the things depicted don't happen irl but it becomes sentimental when it's a fictional narrative) #but frankly better than today's Christian fiction #I have no idea how we happen to have it #№2 would be a painting of the Virgin Mary and Child that my great-grandmother picked up upon first coming to Poland right after ww2 #(Ukrainian -- met my great-grandfather in Germany -- he was a forced labourer -- she... long story -- moved to Poland with him afterwards) #it's anyones guess how old it is #or what it's history would be... who first owned it... #She found it in an antique shop and - not having any money - traded her boots for it because she liked it that much #therese rambles #polls

[ohbo-ohno]

knee-deep in the latest booktok drama (began with this vid lmao) and im genuinely convinced the entire discourse could be solved if people learned what erotica actually is. these people are reading ICEBREAKER and calling it "pure porn" like im so sorry guys but you just don't know what porn is!! why does the guy in that video say it's crazy to see people reading colleen hoover on the bus!!! what do YOU think erotica is???

i know booktok mostly recommends romance books with smut in them but my god if i see one more person call a book with 1-3 sex scenes "erotica" im gonna lose my mind

#watching a movie with two sex scenes doesn't mean you're watching a porno #thinking about the person on tiktok who called window shopping by tessa bailey “basically cover to cover smut” #when that book has like. 2 and a half sex scenes #need these people to pick up the losers by harley laroux and then look me in the eyes and say colleen hoover is “pure smut” again #fuck pick up ANY book by shantel tessier #like guys a book with sex is NOT the same as erotica!!!

[learnelle]

August was a good reading month! I finished 6 books and my goal for September is to read these french ones I got in Bordeaux ♡ (the most wonderful early birthday present is being brought to a bookshop and being told you can pick out any two books that you want <3 asdfghjkl)

#the best early birthday presents are plushies or being told you can pick out any 2 books in the bookshop 🥰 #studyblr #langblr #light academia #cottagecore #bookblr #studyspo #student #bookshelf #jellycat #dark academia #aesthetic #grandmacore #myhoneststudyblr #bookish rambles

[shiroganeryo]

Late submission for Dazatsu Week, day 1: Future

I've wanted to draw this for a while and thought the idea suited the prompt very well 💖

As I mentioned in my post about Yuko-chan, Atsushi and Dazai take turns looking after her when she's at the Agency. One day, she wanted help reading a new book she had picked at the bookstore and since Dazai was idle, he complied while his spouse was hard at work.

When Atsushi realized, it had been a while since he had last heard Dazai's voice coming from the leisure area so he went to check - only to find his two sweeties fast asleep. 😌

#dazatsuweek2023 #dazatsu #dazushi #lovechild oc #they actually don't wear their wedding rings on their fingers while at work but I won't miss any chance I get to flaunt them #the book is The Cat that Lived a Million Times (hyakumankai ikita neko) #she picked it because the cat on the cover is striped and it reminded her of Atsushi #but I think the message in this book is really nice too~ #papa's chest > the most comfortable bed in existence #my art

[fightingwithallreality]

Benjamin West and his cat Grimalkin (1947) written by Marguerite Henry, illustrated by Wesley Dennis

Original title page by me! See this post for the first edition title page

@antiqueanimals

#benjamin west and his cat grimalkin #marguerite henry #wesley dennis #photopia #this book had the most illustrations of any henry book I've seen #there were 42 illustrations in total! #I picked my favorites! #because there were so many i used photopia to combine images #and clean up some of the linework #just so many cats #almost too many cats #but it could never be that #i think the one with the ship is my favorite #but really hes just a little guy #horse art #illustration #ink #quaker #cats #mr crisp

[sunshineandchemistry]

#stormlight archive #cosmere #cfsbf #polls #I tried to just pick one per character. but we all know some of these guys have quotes for days #and some quotes are part of too long a phrase to be represented #and the first ideal doesn’t belong to any one character so I didn’t include that either #but man I love these books. time for a reread.

[actual-changeling]

Look, I could write a way too long post about autistic traits and how they apply to Aziraphale and Crowley, but in the end, it doesn't even matter because that's not the problem.

The problem is that people use "autistic traits" as an excuse to free a character of any responsibility for their actions by either infantilizing them a disgusting amount or giving them a blank pass to say & do whatever they want without consequences.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but being autistic, mentally ill, or neurodivergent in any other way does not give you the right to hurt people. It doesn't give you the right to not work on yourself.

If certain behaviours are causing harm to other people, it does not matter whether it's an autistic trait or not—it's hurting people so you need to deal with it. Redirect it, make an effort, don't talk to the people it hurts, do whatever you like, but it's your responsibility to do something.

Arguing that Aziraphale said cruel, hurtful things to Crowley because "he's autistic" does nothing except make it seem as if being autistic means you're inherently mean to everyone.

It does not matter whether he did something because of "autism", trauma, or anything else you might want to come up with—NOTHING absolves you of the responsibility to learn how to not hurt someone.

I'm autistic and I have BPD, which is the emotionally painful, absolute lack of impulse control disorder, and that still does not give me or anyone else the right to spiral freely and cause harm to the people around me.

One of the first things a therapist will teach is how to take responsibility for your actions because if you don't, you will never get better or learn how to cope in less harmful ways.

Nothing excuses hurting someone else, and I am so fucking tired of seeing post after post saying that Aziraphale cannot be held responsible for any of his actions because he's traumatized or autistic.

Aziraphale said what he said and he did what he did, and that is his fault, his choices, his responsibility, and there is no argument that can absolve him of that.

#alex talks good omens #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #good omens season 2 #go2 #aziracrow #crowley x aziraphale #ineffable husbands #ineffable wives #ineffable spouses #ineffable divorce #the final fifteen #good omens meta #like fucking hell have you ever been to therapy? picked up a psych book? talked to a doctor? #because if you say shit like this then you probably haven't done any of those or encountered particularly bad therapists

[crooked-hourglass]

Swiss Nameless Ghoul // Language of Flowers

Drawing process video [here] See more of my artwork [here]

The names and meanings of each of the flowers.. Fleur-de-Luce - Fire Lily (Day) - Flirtatious Behaviour Jasmine (Spanish) - Sensuality Poppy (scarlet) - Fantastic Extravagance Dittany of Crete (White) - Passion

#I have the flowers for all of the other Ghouls picked out already but it might take me a while! #This is my first time using any sort of colour in my art since 2019 so I'm a bit rusty #ghost #ghost art #ghost fanart #the band ghost #ghost the band #swiss ghoul #nameless ghoul #nameless ghouls #art #artwork #digital art #ghost bc #my artwork #swiss ghoul art #fanart #I used a Victorian book for the flower meanings by the way I know other sources have different meanings #botanical