mischiefisreading

[mischiefisreading]

Omg hellooooo!! 👋 I remember!! I didn't know if you were still around! I'm so glad you are! I can't wait to catch back up with your projects!

It's my 5 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

[WRITEBLR RE-INTRODUCTION]

I honestly can't believe it's been 5 years since I started this writeblr. I was very active here for quite some time, and I enjoyed this writing community like no other.

I got a doctorate (you may now call me Mischief, MD or Dr. Mischief, which makes me sound like a DC comics villain) and that was obviously a huge privilege and milestone. But it also cost me a lot, particularly in my creative life! I've been taking some time to recover my creative spirit, and I'm ready to wade back into writing.

So consider this my writeblr re-introduction.

Name: Mischief, or Mis for short

I write: primarily scifi/fantasy, which is also my favorite genre to read. I'll dabble into anything though, including the occasional fanfic. You can check out old WIPs here on this blog!

I like: literally anything related to writing including asks, tag games, and getting to know your WIPs!

Details: I'm 25, fem, married, USA, currently living in the CST zone

That's pretty much it! I love the writeblr community so much, and I'd love to find new, at least semi-active writer friends to connect with and support. Please comment, reblog, DM, follow, whatever so I can check out your blog!

Follows & comments will be coming from my OG general blog, @mischiefisgreen. All my writing content is on @mischiefiswritten

[mischiefisreading]

mr darcy lived in derbyshire so he sounds like. lizzeh. ah lov yew moost ahhdentleh

[mischiefisreading]

Keep up your hobbitry in heart, and think that all stories feel like that when you are in them. You are inside a very great story!

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 66 to Christopher Tolkien on 6 May 1944

Christopher Tolkien more than once interrupted his father as he read chapters of The Hobbit to the Tolkien children in JRR Tolkien’s study. Their father would often let out an exasperated and resigned exclamation - but quickly strode across the room to make a note in his draft papers.

As the youngest son of beloved fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien was raised hearing fantastical tales of Bilbo Baggins and Middle-earth.

When his father died in 1973, the younger Tolkien became his literary executor. Over the next 47 years, Christopher sorted through 70 boxes of Tolkien’s unpublished work; ultimately, he compiled and edited 24 editions of poems, histories, translations and stories centered on his father’s expansive fantasy world.

Christopher’s first editing project was a tome of myths and legends from the world of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Building on a 12-volume compilation of drafts and rewrites left by his father, he published The Silmarillion in 1977.

The third son of J.R.R. and Edith Tolkien, Christopher was born in Leeds, England, on November 21, 1924. He spent his childhood in Oxford, where his father was a professor, and joined the Royal Air Force during World War II. Stationed in South Africa, he regularly corresponded with his father, who was then writing The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien often sent draft chapters to his son.

Christopher made small interventions when his father sought advice, he told the Guardian newspaper in 2009.

Referencing Samwise Gamgee, a Hobbit who accompanies Frodo Baggins on his journey, Christopher said, “[My father] wrote to me in May 1944 that he would change the name Gamgee to Goodchild ‘if I thought you would let me,’ ‘since Hobbits of that class have very Saxon names as a rule.’”

The younger Tolkien replied “that I wouldn’t at all like to see Sam Gamgee changed to Sam Goodchild; and Sam Gamgee remained.”

After the war, Christopher became a lecturer in Old and Middle English, as well as Old Icelandic, at Oxford University. He drew many of the original maps that accompanied his father’s first editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the 1950s, in addition to revised maps in the 1970s editions.

Later in life, Christopher moved to France with his second wife, Baillie Tolkien. He became a French citizen and lived at the foothills of the Alps. In 2016, he received the Bodley Medal in recognition of his contributions to culture and literature.

Christopher Tolkien died in Provence, France in January 2020. He was 95.

[mischiefisreading]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

something about lotr that I truly appreciate is its love for Bilbo. it is so hard to put this into words... but as someone whose first Tolkien book was The Hobbit and loves Bilbo Baggins, it just! makes me Feel Things. the way Frodo has so many fond memories of Bilbo, and misses him, and wants so badly to see him again. how the hobbits sing songs that were passed on to them by Bilbo. how they casually refer to events in Bilbo's adventure, stories that they heard as children and grew up with. how so many other characters are friends with Bilbo: the elves (who joke with him and listen to his poetry)! the dwarves (who would not betray him to Sauron)! don't forget Gandalf and Elrond! and Aragorn! who can forget Aragorn reciting that bit of poetry Bilbo wrote for him! Sam talking about the tales that really mattered, and wondering if the end of their tale might be like old Mr. Bilbo's. Pippin's last thoughts before getting knocked out at the battle of the black gate suddenly drifting back to Bilbo; the eagles came in his tale, long ago. the good things that happened in The Hobbit aren't undone in lotr: lotr looks at old adventures and tales with reverence and love! and Bilbo himself, though his story is touched with nuanced and bittersweet sorrow, finds peace in the end. something immensely comforting about how the planned ending of his book he lived happily ever after till the end of his days is fulfilled

[mischiefisreading]

“Don’t be a fool, Bilbo Baggins!” he said to himself, “thinking of dragons and all that outlandish nonsense at your age!”

••J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Hobbit”

[mischiefisreading]

One of the things I love most about The Hobbit is that Bilbo Baggins, our hero, is literally just going along with everything for the majority of the book. He has no idea what he's getting into or what's going on.

He's not a warrior. He's not even a good burglar.

He's just a wholesome person going on an adventure practically on a whim. He misses his comfy home and his books and his food almost the whole way, and he often wonders why he ever left the Shire. He finds his courage along the way (as most of us have to in life) and he proves himself a most loyal friend, with mercy and compassion in his heart.

[mischiefisreading]

Is there anything more comforting than opening The Hobbit to the first page again and reading the words, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit..."

[mischiefisreading]

I was just gifted this beautiful collection of Jane Austen's novels - perfect for spring reading! 🌷🌳🦋

What books are on your spring reading list? Do you have any on your TBR that give you spring vibes? What's the last book you gave or received as a gift?

[mischiefisreading]

Reasons The Hunger Games Works and None of the Knock-Offs Do:

I just reread The Hunger Games Trilogy, and I have some thoughts about why they work so well and so many others just don’t.

Katniss Is Lucky: At every turn Katniss gets lucky. This isn’t a “anyone could have done this but no one’s tried before” or “main characters is special in some way” story. If Katniss’s name had been called instead of Prim’s, she probably wouldn’t have won. If anyone other then Peeta had been called she wouldn’t have won. If Cinna had picked any other year to become a stylist she wouldn’t have won. If her father hadn’t been a hunter she wouldn’t have won. If Madge didn’t give her the pin (how Rue decided to trust her) she wouldn’t have won. I can’t really explain why this is so important to me, but it is. Katniss isn’t special or super powered. She’s lucky.

Katniss Is A Symbol and 13 Has an Army: Katniss is not a rebel leader. There isn’t a group of ragtag teenagers who follow her and take on a corrupt government all on their own. She’s a symbol to inspire the people in the districts to fight, but no one ever puts her in charge of an army. Why should they? She’s a 17 year old, traumatized, child. The only time we do see Katniss lead is at the end of Mockingjay, and then it’s a group of about ten people, most of who end up dead and the mission doesn’t succeed. More importantly, 13 beats the capital because they have a fully functioning, highly trained, military ready to go.

These Are CHILDREN: Yes, every young adult story focuses on a teenager, but so many of these stories seem to forge they’re talking about teenagers. They act as if they are twenty somethings, or in the society set up you are considered an adult at 16. The Hunger Games hammers you over the head with the fact that these are kids. Katniss goes to school. I do not know a single hunger games rip off where the main character goes to completely normal every day school.

The Death’s Aren’t Shock Value: Yes, Prim’s death is shocking. It’s heartbreaking. I knew it was coming and still cried. That’s not why it’s there though. The point is how far Coin is willing to go to make sure Katniss is on her side. Everyone else’s deaths also have a point. Finnick and the others on Katniss’s team show the sacrifice people are willing to make for the cause and for Katniss. Cinna to show Katniss what happens when she resists. Rue is the cruelty of the game. Madge, the cruelness of the capital.

The Goal Is Clear: Mazerunner comes to mind with this one. What was the actual goal after the first book? Hell if I know. In The Hunger Games series there’s no fancy plan or convoluted thing they need to do. The plan is simple. Hunger Games and Catching Fire: “Don’t die”. Mockingjay there’s a lot of background stuff happening, but for Katniss the goal is always one thing: kill Snow. Everything she does is a straightforward line to that goal for almost the entire book.

Gale and Peeta: Both Gale and Peeta are totally realistic and reasonable love interests for Katniss. Neither of them are always nice or always perfect, but it easy to see why Katniss struggles to balance the two of them. There is no clear choice between the two. More importantly, the choice is representative of a larger concept. Katniss herself makes the comparison, saying Gale is rage and Peeta is calm. It’s not just between two guys, it’s between two ways of life and what Katniss needs in her life.

She Picks Peeta: I can not stress enough how important this is. In any of the knock offs I guarantee you that she would have picked Gale. Or, more accurately what would have happened is they would have switched Gale and Peeta’s personalities. Peeta would have been the angry, tortured, mysterious guy, and Gale would have been the kind, artistic, best friend. In this case, she would have still picked Peeta, but the whole point would have been lost. For all intents and purposes it would have been picking Gale. But no. Katniss picks Peeta. She picks calm and peace rather then giving in to Gale’s anger.

[mischiefisreading]

That all sounds fabulous!

I was just gifted this beautiful collection of Jane Austen's novels - perfect for spring reading! 🌷🌳🦋

What books are on your spring reading list? Do you have any on your TBR that give you spring vibes? What's the last book you gave or received as a gift?

[mischiefisreading]

This is amazing and perfect and I agree with every single one 🙌

Can we just talk about the main characters in The Great Library series?

Or the Wolfe pack, if you will. Or Wolfe-gang, if you're a classical music fan.

Firstly, how is this series not more popular? And how on earth did I go so long without hearing of it/reading it? Why aren't more people talking about these books???

Jess - the mainest main character. He's morally grey, but he's loyal 'til the end, both to his ideals and the people who earn his friendship. I love that he's clever and ambitious and always driving events forward. There's nothing that will stop him from pursuing his goals.

Thomas - the genius inventor and complete golden retriever personified. I think Thomas is probably the true moral hero of these stories, if you had to pick just one. I adore his endless gentleness and compassion for his friends, which he extends even to enemies. Likewise, his love for the Library and the ideals it was created to honor and uphold is unbreakable, no matter what he goes through.

Dario - the scheming princeling. I love Dario because he was so hateable in the beginning, being set up as the class bully from the outset. He is pompous and a bit devious, but you still grow to love him (without these character traits budging an inch). His arrogance and selfishness are softened by his love and admiration for someone so wholly deserving...

Khalila - the desert flower and natural-born diplomat. She is everything the Library is meant to be, and her kind and wholesome heart has an undeniable magnetism. Her peaceful and merciful nature is built on a foundation of fierce self-assuredness and unshakeable belief. Truly a goddess among us.

Morgan - the girl set apart. Of all of them, I think Morgan was the one most trying to find herself. She knew what she wanted to do, but she struggled the most with who she wanted to be. Her journey of self-discovery is one everyone can identify with in one stage or another, and that's one of the things that makes her character so important among the rest of the cast.

Glain - the shield between the rest of these knuckleheads and the world. Honestly, how far would these people have gotten without Glain? She is a stalwart soldier through and through and puts duty above all else. And this is her mistake because whoops, instead of staying unattached to the idiots of her postulate class, eventually duty led to (love) deep care and devotion. Her relationships with the rest of the gang give me life.

Wolfe and Santi - the dads. The love, the dedication, the unwavering support... need I say more? Watching their characters unfold was a wonderful surprise because I initially assumed they were going to be obligatory, somewhat distant mentor characters. I'm so glad I was wrong. I loved getting to know them and exploring their past traumas and delving into characters with a complex past juxtaposed with all these youths who are only now emerging into the world.

I think what I especially love about watching these characters over the course of 5 novels is that while they grow, they remain fundamentally who they were when we first met them. We just get to see them have the opportunity to be who they are and how that impacts the world around them. Which is what life is, especially in this transition from adolescence to adulthood. Instead of watching each of them become new selves, we get to know them more and more deeply and are able to see them grow into themselves.

Anyway, I love all of these people and the found family and how they all love one another. (Please read the Great Library.)

[mischiefisreading]

Book Recs Needed

Okay, I keep seeing gifs for the masterpiece that is The Mummy and it got me to thinking….

Are there any books with the same vibe? I can’t think of any off the top of my head so send me some recs, please!

[mischiefisreading]

I took my significant other from "I don't like reading and never will" to loving stories and excitedly binging through series and telling me all about what he's reading, and that will always be one of my greatest achievements in life.

[mischiefisreading]

People who dislike reading are just people who haven't read the right books at the right time.

[mischiefisreading]

Booklist for all the Dark Academics:

[Dark Academia book recs of all the different kinds I could think of. It's a long journey. Buckle up.]

The Classic Dark Academic :

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Anything by the Brontë sisters

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (this book birthed Dark Academia)

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Short stories by Edgar Allan Poe

Bram Stokers Dracula

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

Maurice by EM Forster

Madam Bovary by Gustav Flaubert

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

A Good Man is Hard to Find

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Macbeth by Shakespeare

Othello by Shakespeare

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

The Poetry-lover Academic:

Poetry of Baudelaire

Odes of Keats (ALL OF THEM ARE A MUST READ)

Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe (especially The Raven)

Shelley's Alastor, Prometheus Unbound, Masque of Anarchy

Kubla Khan by Coleridge

T.S Elliott's Wasteland

all Emily Dickinson poetry but especially 'I felt a funeral in my brain', 'Because I could not stop for death' (read them a thousand times already)

Pablo Neruda's Nothing but Death

Langston Hughes Poems

Tennyson's Lotos eater (underrated gem)

Sylvia Plath poems but special mentions to Lady Lazarus and the Bell jar

Paradise Lost by Milton (if you want to include something about the Devil in your list)

Poems by Sappho

Poems of Charles Bukowski (especially Love Is a Dog from Hell)

The Contemporary Dark Academic:

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

The Secret History by Donna Tartt (the origin of Dark Academia)

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Ace of Spades by Amanda Foody (could recommend it a hundred times)

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

If We Were Villains by ML Rio

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

The Girls are all so nice here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

The Likeness by Tana French

Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro

One of us is lying by Karen Mcmanus

Bunny by Mona Awad

The Plot by Jean Hanff

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

The Lessons by Naomi Alderman

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Conversion by Katherine Howe

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Love is a Dog from Hell by Charles Bukowski

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

A Quaint and Curious Volume

We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

The Lying Games by Ruth Ware

Black Chalk by Christopher J Yates

The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman

The Furies by Fernanda Eberstadt

The Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

Bad Habits by Charleigh Rose

Good Girls Lie by JT Ellison

Shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Queer Dark Academic:

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (yes, yes, yes it's the gay shit)

Notes on a Scandal (What was she thinking?) by Zoë Heller

Hex by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu (lesbian vampire, hell yeah!)

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Maurice by EM Forster

Christabel by Coleridge

Poems by Sappho

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

Ace of Spades by Amanda Foody

The Dark Romantic Academic:

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth

The Lessons by Naomi Alderman

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Likeness by Tana French

The Temple House by Rachel Donohue

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Mythological Dark Academic:

(pardon me for my cluelessness)

I have not really read much about mythology but if Norse mythology is the area of your interest, Neil Gaiman is the God of it. (aka not only Good Omens and American Gods, but also the book 'Norse Mythology')

The Furies by Fernanda Eberstadt

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Circe by Madeline Miller

Ovid's Metamorphoses for Greek mythology enthusiasts

[Remember: Some of these books have dark academia as their major aspect but most of them have dark academia as their minor aspect, and many of them have been put into the list because I got a dark academia kind of vibe from them. Moreover these books have a lot more to offer than just Dark Academia, even if we ignore that aspect, these books are just great pieces of literature. This list is entirely created out of my own reading researches, friendly recommendations, and book recs from reddit, pinterest and the internet in general. If I have gone wrong somewhere or if you want me to add something new, feel free to drop an ask.]

[mischiefisreading]

It’s not the light or fluffy read I wanted, but the stories of Arsène Lupin has made for a great escape from reality these past two days. I’m one hundred percent in it just for Lupin, the clever and charming gentleman thief and master of disguises. I want him to get caught. I want him get away. He’s so fascinating. I should probably look into the Netflix series that it inspired 👀

Can’t quite decide what I’ll be reading next, aside from a manga buddy read I’m doing with @therefugeofbooks. I am spoilt for choice, though, and I hope they’d be good reads.

[mischiefisreading]

Can we just talk about the main characters in The Great Library series?

Or the Wolfe pack, if you will. Or Wolfe-gang, if you're a classical music fan.

Firstly, how is this series not more popular? And how on earth did I go so long without hearing of it/reading it? Why aren't more people talking about these books???

Jess - the mainest main character. He's morally grey, but he's loyal 'til the end, both to his ideals and the people who earn his friendship. I love that he's clever and ambitious and always driving events forward. There's nothing that will stop him from pursuing his goals.

Thomas - the genius inventor and complete golden retriever personified. I think Thomas is probably the true moral hero of these stories, if you had to pick just one. I adore his endless gentleness and compassion for his friends, which he extends even to enemies. Likewise, his love for the Library and the ideals it was created to honor and uphold is unbreakable, no matter what he goes through.

Dario - the scheming princeling. I love Dario because he was so hateable in the beginning, being set up as the class bully from the outset. He is pompous and a bit devious, but you still grow to love him (without these character traits budging an inch). His arrogance and selfishness are softened by his love and admiration for someone so wholly deserving...

Khalila - the desert flower and natural-born diplomat. She is everything the Library is meant to be, and her kind and wholesome heart has an undeniable magnetism. Her peaceful and merciful nature is built on a foundation of fierce self-assuredness and unshakeable belief. Truly a goddess among us.

Morgan - the girl set apart. Of all of them, I think Morgan was the one most trying to find herself. She knew what she wanted to do, but she struggled the most with who she wanted to be. Her journey of self-discovery is one everyone can identify with in one stage or another, and that's one of the things that makes her character so important among the rest of the cast.

Glain - the shield between the rest of these knuckleheads and the world. Honestly, how far would these people have gotten without Glain? She is a stalwart soldier through and through and puts duty above all else. And this is her mistake because whoops, instead of staying unattached to the idiots of her postulate class, eventually duty led to (love) deep care and devotion. Her relationships with the rest of the gang give me life.

Wolfe and Santi - the dads. The love, the dedication, the unwavering support... need I say more? Watching their characters unfold was a wonderful surprise because I initially assumed they were going to be obligatory, somewhat distant mentor characters. I'm so glad I was wrong. I loved getting to know them and exploring their past traumas and delving into characters with a complex past juxtaposed with all these youths who are only now emerging into the world.

I think what I especially love about watching these characters over the course of 5 novels is that while they grow, they remain fundamentally who they were when we first met them. We just get to see them have the opportunity to be who they are and how that impacts the world around them. Which is what life is, especially in this transition from adolescence to adulthood. Instead of watching each of them become new selves, we get to know them more and more deeply and are able to see them grow into themselves.

Anyway, I love all of these people and the found family and how they all love one another. (Please read the Great Library.)