#4 MONTHS IN THE MAKING THAT'S WHAT'S UPPPPPP

[clownplague]

[songforeddiemunson]

THE EDDIE MUNSON BOOK!!!

Here is the synopsis from Amazon.com:

Two years before the events of Stranger Things Season 4, Eddie Munson—Hellfire Club leader, metalhead, and Hawkins outcast—has one shot to make it big.   Hawkins, Indiana—for most, it’s simply another idyllic, manicured all-American town. But for Eddie Munson it’s like living in a perpetual Tomb of Horrors. Luckily, he only has a few more months to survive at Hawkins High. And what is senior year, really, but just killing time between Dungeons & Dragons sessions with the Hellfire Club and gigs with his band?   It’s at the worst dive bar in town that Eddie meets Paige, someone who has pulled off a freaking miracle. She escaped Hawkins and built a wickedly cool life for herself working for a record producer out in Los Angeles. Not only is she the definition of a badass—with a killer taste in music—she might be the only person that actually appreciates him as the bard he is instead of the devil incarnate. But the best thing? She’s offering a chance for him to make something of himself, and all he needs is to get her a demo tape of Corroded Coffin’s best songs.   Just one problem: Recording costs money. Money Eddie doesn’t have. But he’s willing to do whatever it takes: even if that means relying on his old man, Al Munson. His dad just stumbled back into his life, with another dubious scheme up his sleeve, and yet Eddie knows this is his only option to make enough dough in enough time. It’s a risk, but if it pays off he will finally have a one-way ticket out of Hawkins.   Eddie can feel it: 1984 is going to be his year.

SO MANY THINGS TO DIGEST HERE.

This confirms that he really is a super senior and that he wasn't just being hyperbolic in the cafeteria. There was confusion about this because his missing poster erroneously listed his age as 17, even though in the cafeteria scene they essentially said that he had already tried to graduate twice. So it's good to have confirmation of that at last. This means Eddie is probably 20-21 in 1986, making him the oldest of the "older" kids.

His dad's name is Al! We are going to meet him and find out more about him which will undoubtedly break some headcanons but hey, at least we will know

Since we know that Eddie doesn't make it big and get out of Hawkins (which would have saved his life), are we going to be fucking devastated by this book?

Let me know your thoughts! Let's discuss!! Hit me upppppp

[ritzcrackee]

september tbr yayyyyy

rereads are marked by a ✩, new reads are marked by a ♡, library reads are italicized and new acquisitions are bolded

physical tbr: 8

dune messiah - frank herbert - ♡

oedipus rex - sophocles - ♡

antigone - sophocles - ♡

medea - euripides - ♡

the way of kings - brandon sanderson - ♡

wuthering heights - emily bronte - ♡

circe - madeline miller - ☆

the immortalists - chloe benjamin - ☆

digital tbr: 2

the hundred years war on palestine - rashid khalidi - ♡

in the shadow of the sun - em castellan - ♡

last months books: 8

a dowry of blood - s. t. gibson - 5/5

this was a rereaddddddd and it held up! i'll always feel mildly conflicted about alexi's age but its not enough of a hang-up for me to lower my rating. i like this book a lottttt yippee

dune - frank herbert - 1.5/5

guys. i fuckinf. ifucghinh. i did it. i rwad dune. slamsmy head againsy the wall.

i haven't talked about this yet (i think), but i kind of read dune twice? i realized very early on that the physical book wasn't the way to go for me. something about trying to absorb complex information when there's pretty lights and sounds and tiny tiny text on a weirdly shaped object was truly? impossible for me. BUT!! my good friend (hiii king) had given me his special annotated copy so i really wanted to read his thoughts on everything?

anyways, the way i solved this problem was to just... read everything twice. once, physically, as more of a vibes catching heavy skim, and then again, digitally, really trying to understand the minutiae of it.

this approach maybe worked? i still couldn't tell you very much of the plot, but knowing what was coming helped me enjoy it more? idfk

my favorite part wasssss the annex at the end and the chapter where the ecologist dies ❤

(franz please don't be offended by my rating and come to my house and kill me IM SORRY IM BAD AT SCI-FI I STILL LIKED IT)

in at the deep end - kate davies - 2.5/5

meh. writing style was fast paced and interesting, but a little too #qUirKy for me. the author said she was a big fan pf pheobe waller-bridge, and like... yeah you did kind of write knock-off lesbian fleabag didn't you? (to be clear i did enjoy this somewhat, just a perfectly average amount lol.

done deal - skrifores on ao3 - 4/5

woo hoo this was a 50k word modern au gentlebeard fic :3 i feel like 50k is enough to count as a novella? i guess we r tracking long fics too now. um yeah this was very sweeeet and very cuteeeeee

turn on the light - smallest church on ao3 - 5/5

THIS MADE ME TEAR UPPPPPP my babies.... (also a gentlebeard modern au fic but THIS one was 55k. so. yay)

divorce towers - ellen meister - 1/5

yeah idk what i expected. i got a free trial of amazon prime and this looked like the most interesting of the free book options? wish i had dnfed it halfway through but yk. i'm sure its for someone out there.

beastars vol 1 - paru itagaki - 5/5

yayyyy beastars ❤ fun fact i absolutely hated the anime on my first watch but like,,, in that obsessed way yk? rewatched it recently and LOVEDDDD it so i'm making my way through the manga :3

beastars vol 2 - paru itagaki - 5/5

i love to love animal cannibals....

last months goal: find a tbr system that fits my current goals better lmao

i just added a library marker lol. i was gifted a couple books, so my physical tbr got a lil longer. alsoo i keep reading novella/novel length fanfics so i'm tracking those as well heart emoji.

this months goal: read some stuff off of my fall tbr

gang i'm tired. the reading slump has been so real and i KNOW the fall weather is gonna kick my ass. i'd also love to finish a hard book this month but realistically i will read six fanfics and a romance. fml.

[books-and-cookies]

May 2022 Reads

look at how well i’m doing at Remembering To Post These Updates

cookies for me

january 2022 post february 2022 post march 2022 post april 2022 post

i read four whole books during may, which, tbh, yay awesome unbelievable

* Lies Like Wildfire by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez - this book unlocked a whole new fear in me wow what a time to be alive. did i ever anticipate being scared of fucking wildfires? no. am i scared of wildfires now? yes omg. do i live in an area that is even remote prone to this? no but that’s completely irrelevant. i read this in one sitting, i sobbed when my favourite character died, it was a fun ol’ time, 15/10 recommend this if you want a quick read - 4/5 stars

* Contagion by Erin Bowman - reread because i am finally getting the sequel, it’s only been like 2 or 3 years, this is fine. still holding to my original review - this is how you write a horror in space - 5/5 stars

* The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones - randomly found out Emily had more books out so i did what any normal human would do, i went and bought one of them, because she’s genuinely such a great writer. the ending to this book Annoyed™ me, but overall the concept was great and i always love standalone books with fantasy elements - 4/5 stars

* The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James - sgaskjgdalsjgdkasgdaskgd i love when i stumble into AMAZING thrillers, boy do i feel alive. Stephen King vibes, creepy as hell, atmospheric and posing some great moral questions, this books was IT. Pick it up pick it up pick it upppppp - 5/5 stars

june is the month where i am doing my first dive into nonfiction, fun times await, because reading nonfiction makes me feel dumb if i don’t Understand Things

yolo

[ara--jamelia--hala--aurelia]

Today was one of the worst days I’ve had. I had a Christmas concert to perform on and I couldn’t stop crying the entire day. We had preparations and rehearsals and I was just sitting and walking around like a corpse with no light, just tears in the eyes. Everything that I had been supressing came out today and all the realisations hit me, it all came down so hard. Like, I was just so disappointed by the fact that it was practically Christmas and things I thought would’ve resolved months ago were still racking on my brain. My class wasn’t a true class anymore. People didn’t care, they just dismissed. And I hated that. I was so disappointed and couldn’t believe my own misery. I couldn’t believe all I thought about was Morris. I couldn’t believe Becca was still a thing. And then my rehearsal was kind of empty and gahhh I just bawled my eyes out for hours. But here’s the thing: Axel, Julia, Channa were there for me always. Ann, Jasper and Lena asked if they could help. Anna came to me dead serious „You have us. If you don’t want to talk about it now, that’s fine, but just know that you can do it later. You have us. We are here for you. You’ll always have us.” And then she hugged me and for the first time I think she truly meant it and I truly believed it. And then I just asked Vendela „Vendis, do you think I can do it without them?” and she had this „omg a revelation, yas, bless” look on her face like „Yes, of course you can! You don’t need them! Of course you can!” And I just got this new wave of energy and I was just like „Ok. Decided. Now let’s put on a show, we have people to blow away.” And I went to put my makeup on and grabbed Becca on the way. We talked about it and we’re kinda fine. So that’s good. We pinky promised to not let her do all that anymore when she’s sad haha. Then we went and performed and a ton of things went wrong but also a ton of things went right. I think I stole the fucking show. Julia was like „Girl honestly so what if you think it was a little messy towards the end, they were all blown away by your voice anyway too much to notice. I really don’t know what you’re gonna choose for your next gigs because I don’t know how you’re gonna top that.” So that was fucking bomb. My speech was A+ tho💁🏼✨Anyways - I sang Focus and Who’s Loving You - of course I looked at Morris tons because he wanted to sing the song first but then backed out and well because the lyrics do apply. Anyway, I think he took it as a personal attack. After the show, he saw me and literally did the most shady „Good job” while he smiled and half-hugged me for 0.5sec and then dropped his pretended grin and kinda ran away as fast as he could. Like thanks boi - grow the fuckkkkk upppppp. Fuck. I couldn’t fucking believe it. But I think that was good. I think God today was like „Make it better with people who are worth making it better with.” And so I did. After our part of the concert we were sitting on the side of the stage while the B group performed and I was looking up into the lights while Oscar was singing I Will Wait and Channa and Axel sat beside me, and I was just thinking of all the things that had happened in the past 4 months and all that I’ve went through and all that we’ve been through together, and I just felt relieved and I saw Channa smile at me and I knew that if I ever had a caleidoscope of flashbacks before I died, this would be one of them.