#Erin Morganstern

[thehauntedair]

Starless Sea Book Mentions:

The Catcher in the Rye- J.D Salinger

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Little Stranger- Sarah Waters

The Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis

Harry Potter - J.K Rowling

The Long Goodbye, Playback, The Big Sleep- Raymond Chandler

Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Les Indes Noises- Jules Verne

The Age of Fable, Beauties of Mythology- Thomas Bullfinch

The Princess Bride- William Goldman

Where the Wild Things Are- Maurice Sendak

Hamlet- William Shakespeare

The Kick-Ass Writer- Chuck Wendig

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell -Susanna Clarke

The Secret History- Donna Tartt

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

[therequisitewatson]

The unspeakable intimacy of being so closely bound, so much alike, that fate can't tell you apart anymore and you can take each other's place in the story.

[iterumvivere]

The Night Circus

A Review Of The BookbyErin Morganstern published on my sister site,Entertaining Angels Bookshelf.

[acolytesandtea]

Welp the weather is below 80 for a few hours so it’s time to begin an Erin Morganstern book again

[studykac]

7•2•24 Tuesday, July 2nd, 2024

2/31 Days of Productivity ☆ July Challenge~°

화요일은 회사에서 쉬은 날이예요! 오늘은 인쇄 좀 하고 책 몇 권에 표시해 뒀어요! 집에서, 책을 다 얽었어요! 오디오북이 들을 때 수채화를 좀 해보려고 했어요!! 아직도 안 좋으니까 너무 재미있어요!

Today was my calm day at work! I pointed some things, and marked some books, and that's about it ㅋㅋㅋ I went to a café to do my homework after I finished work, and then went home. This weekend, I bought a set of watercolors and a coloring book, so I decided to test it out tonight while listening to the last few chapter of The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern!

📚 Margaret Atwood, Surfacing

🎧 The Bee Gees, Too Much Heaven

I wanted to start a monthly challenge in July and though I'm a full day late (lol) it's okay because most challenges are only 30 days long!!

Day One: What are your main goals for this challenge?

Answer: I wrote all of my main goals into my Korean writing journal! They mainly cover the usual "resolutions" like working out, reading books, making plans with friends, but I also included things like looking after my skin because I have an entire draw of face masks that need using ㅋㅋㅋ

[docholligay]

Doc's Quarterly Patreon Book Thing: Fantasy

Okay, so, I've been trying to think about how I want to do this, which is basically letting my patreons force me to read a book. I have picked three genres I would say I do not read a lot of, but I know y'all do, and then the fourth quarter will be either open season or as a children's book for children, I haven't decided.

SO. Nominations will be opened on the Patreon Feb 1st. RULES AND THINGS TO KNOW/HOW THIS WILL WORK:

It will be pitchless. You don't need to pitch me! Just Title, Author.

One nomination per person. Your first nom will be considered your nomination, all others will be ignored.

Must be available in print

For this quarter, the genre must be FANTASY. Below, I point out some fantasy novels I have enjoyed and negative-enjoyed, which'll give you both an idea of what i like and what I might consider fantasy. Just good faith effort.

Must think I would like it. You don't have to think it'll slay me and change my life, but this isn't 'let's clown on Doc'. I am doing this in good faith and I assume you will nominate in good faith.

I will RANDOMLY DRAW FIVE of the novels. These five will then be PUT TO A VOTE on patreon. I will not read the comments so if you want to pitch, the comments on that poll will be a good place to do it.

Whatever wins the vote, I'll read.

Okay, then, FANTASY BOOKS I REMEMBER TRULY ENJOYING OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, AS AN ADULT

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

His Dark Materials Series by Phillip Pullman

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (the first 4 or 5 anyway)

A Song of Ice and Fire Series by G.R.R. Martin (the first 4)

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

FANTASY BOOKS I REMEMBER DISTINCTLY NOT-ENJOYING OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD

Eragon By Chistopher Paolini

Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling (This is 10000% not a solidarity thing or anything, I fucking hate these books and think they are Not Good. I would not put something I decided to hate for author's politics in a guide for recommendation)

A Wizard of Earthsea by Urusla LeGuin

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan

The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern (In full fairness, i loved this one until the fucking bullshit eyerolling ending)

See?? Despite being an insufferable hater, I do like things! This list of course doesn't include anything where I was like, "That was perfectly fine!" It's made to show the highs and lows.

Does this make sense? I'll put the nomination post on Patreon Feb 1!

[englishproject2024]

“I am tired of trying to hold things together that cannot be held. Trying to control what cannot be controlled. I am tired of denying myself what I want for fear of breaking things I cannot fix. They will break no matter what we do.” – Erin Morganstern, The Night Circus

[oswlld]

ive decided recently that im making myself commit to a full reading year for 2023. i really like what i have going on with my watchlist and plan to apply a similar system for my tbr. so far, i think i can manage one book and one collection of short stories/poem a month, ✨HOWEVER✨ i have no idea where i want to start.

i had a tendency to juggle two/three books at one time, which ended up with me having more dnfs than completed ones. not that anything i picked was particularly bad or boring, but having worked in publishing (esp in a position that led to severe burnout) made me feel like it was a chore when it should have been a source of comfort or enjoyment.

wanna get back into that without waiting for The Book to reel me in, yk?

in order to figure out what i want to read this year, i’ve decided to sample my nightstand and take it from there. i have 21 books that i have to cut down to 11 by the end of the month. got no real barometer for how many pages to start, but sufficient enough for me to really get a vibe before i move on. 

i will keep the sample list updated throughout the month and see where this goes. tbh, i hope this system sticks!

READ || PASS - The Starless Sea, Erin Morganstern ON THE FENCE? || PASS - Kaikeyi, Vaishnavi Patel READ || PASS - The King of Infinite Space, Lyndsay Faye READ || PASS - Harlem Shuffle, Colson Whitehead READ || PASS - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid ON THE FENCE? || PASS - Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner READ || PASS - Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr (a dnf im picking up again) READ || PASS - Scythe, Neal Shusterman READ || PASS - The Gravity of Us, Phil Stamper READ || PASS - The Regional Office is Under Attack!, Manuel Gonzales READ || PASS - Superminds, Thomas W. Malone READ || PASS - Circe, Madeline Miller ON THE FENCE? || PASS - Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo (a dnf im picking up again) ON THE FENCE? || PASS - I'll Give You the Sun, Jandy Nelson READ || PASS - Babel, R. F. Kuang READ || PASS - The Fifth Season, N. K. Jemisin READ || PASS - Illuminae, Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (a dnf im picking up again) READ || PASS - Originals, Adam Grant READ || PASS - The Forgetting Time, Sharon Guskin READ || PASS - The Atlas Six, Olivie Blake (a dnf im picking up again)

NOTE: i have an idea what will be on my shortlist for the short stories/poems, but i wont be tracking it as rigorously as the above; theres just no way i can turn off that part of my brain that wants to juggle stories, so this is my solution.

[vnards]

Just finished The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern....

Overhyped imo. Not bad whatsoever, great story telling and worldbuilding. Characters are dynamic and leave the err of mystery to them.

But over all?

Meh

Booktok made it out to be this beautifully written, come-off-the-page story about a magical circus and I'm all in.

I found myself wondering when the story would start almost 100 pages in. I was bored. This took me months to get through because I found myself uninterested in the characters as the world and magic systems were more interesting.

The pacing was offputting. From taking pages of settings things up, leaving hints about things that never seem to have an end, to wrapping everything up within 50 pages. The build-up just didn't seem worth it and all the loose ends felt rushed.

It's a shame really. I believe if I went in blind, I would've had much more fun with this book than I did.

I believe this may be a case of overhyping a good book into believing it was great. Unfortunately this was not the expereince I had and don't see myself falling in love with the characters. (The main love interests were predicatable and seemed like a cheap cop-out)

3.5/5

What are your thoughts?

[owenwilsonsbestfriend]

Books by the Erin morganstern my beloved

[thehauntedair]

I also just keep thinking back to that one conversation about video games. The way Zachary participates but Kat drives it. The way the observations the students make about storytelling are basically the themes of the book.

Long analysis under the cut

Starting with the difference in how Kat and Zachary introduce themselves;

Zachary saying “I mostly study video-game design with a focus on psychology and gender issues”. He studies games, he focuses on internal things that are part of them.

Kat saying “I mostly spend my time trying to turn games into theater and theater into games”. This is more active. She spends her time transforming things into other things. Affecting change.

A student asks “how are we defining ‘gamer’” and Zachary answers by saying the definition is in itself and that he resents defining things, and Kat changing the question and defining it at the same time. Kat chooses to define the parameter of “game”, the implication being of course that a gamer is one who plays games, and sets the terms of the conversation. And the term she sets being “everything should come back to story”.

Kat then prompts Zachary to explain the parts of a video game, points he says he has retread a thousand times in writing but finds refreshing to a new audience- Kat’s audience, who keeps veering into parallels with theater.

And then the conversation about why people play story based games: the peanut gallery posits that “you want the narrative there to trust in, even if you want to maintain your own free will”, “you want to decide (…) but you still want to win the game” “even if winning the game is just ending the story”. Their theory is you want both- choice and will. And positing “win condition” as the end of the story.

Zachary agrees with this, adding that this is especially true if the games have multiple endings, that the draw of story based games is “Wanting to co-write the story, not dictate it yourself”. Basically, wanting the illusion of being an active participant.

A student posits this works best in games and theater, and then another posits choose your own adventure stories, which Zachary had mentioned enjoying earlier in the book. And then vine girl makes a statement basically encapsulating the difference between Zachary and Kat: “text stories are preexisting narratives to fall into, games unfold as you go”.

And then Kat changed the conversation to “what makes a story compelling?” Of the answers provided (change, mystery, stakes, character growth, romance, obstacles, surprises) the one Zachary latches on to is “meaning”. His focus, after all, is finding meaning. In that very moment he is trying to find meaning for the book he is a part of.

And in answer to “who decides what meaning is?” He gets “the audience, that’s what you bring to it”. And they discuss how stories are personal, and everyone is already a part of one.

This causes a moment of self reflection- Zachary wonders “why he had spent so much time propelling stories forward” this in regards to playing video games- and wondering how to apply it to his current situation.

And then the conversation ends with a student asking if it isn’t just easier to write a book, given that a book can encapsulate endless possibilities, which is answered by “the words on the page are never easy” and “until you run out of ink”.

I get a lot from this. The interplay between valuing agency versus just wanting to be a part of something. Kat outside of the conversation driving it while Zachary is inside, a part of it. Zachary saying part of the reason to participate in a story based game is that it can lead you down paths with different endings- and Zachary in real life feeling basically purposeless until he starts following a story where there only seems to be one ending for him- the only choice he makes being to follow or to not follow the trail of the story, and continuing on after that. Zachary being the “text story” and Kat being the video game story.

What makes a story compelling? Meaning. But what defines meaning? You do. So you are the one making the story compelling to yourself, by engaging with it. By engaging with the story you are participating, you are adding meaning.

And setting up from the beginning the end of the story as the win condition. Why play story based games? You want to win the story. Can you win a story? Is winning really completion, or is it meaning, participation?

I also keep coming back to the participation of cat glasses girl who is the one to give Zachary information about his book. Obviously there is the overarching cat themes in this book but also looking at what she says- she is the one who says “you want the narrative there to trust in (and,…) your own free will”. And “the words on the page are never easy”. Often I have thought she is another vessel or agent of Fate, after all that is one of the purposes of the cats in the story. But also “the words on the page are never easy”. This, about writing, and about reading. Yes, writing is hard. It is difficult to trap your imaginings with words and leave them for others to experience. And yes, reading the words is also not easy- if only for the emotions they inspire, the meaning you ascribe to them.

The multiple levels to this conversation, and the fact that it is one of the only conversations that happen outside the Story Proper in the Starless Sea, give it a particular importance to me. I like how so many of the major themes are set up so early and so blatantly. It’s almost didactic- willing you to think about what you are about to read next.

Anyway I would appreciate any other thoughts on the matter

[jadelotusflower]

2022 Roundup - books read

Fiction

An Offer from a Gentleman - Julia Quinn

The Sin Eater - Megan Campisi

Romancing Mr Bridgerton - Julia Quinn

Wandering Stars - Sholem Alcehiem

A Study in Scarlet Women - Sherry Thomas

To Sir Phillip, with love - Julia Quinn

Once There Were Wolves - Charlotte McConaghy

A Conspiracy in Belgravia - Sherry Thomas

Binti - Nnedi Okorafor

The Starless Sea - Erin Morganstern

The Hollow of Fear - Sherry Thomas

The Art of Theft - Sherry Thomas

Ghosts of Sherwood - Carrie Vaughn

Heirs to Locksley - Carrie Vaughn

Murder on Cold Street - Sherry Thomas

Persuasion - Jane Austen (re-read)

Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen (re-read)

Miss Moriarty, I Presume? - Sherry Thomas

Love and Friendship (and other writings) - Jane Austen

That makes 19 - my goal for the year was to read more diverse authors/stories and an effort was made, even if I did revert back to my comfort zone of historical fiction and re-reading some Austen.

I'm not sure why I stuck with the Bridgerton novels as long as I did, seeing as I found them mostly frustrating. I started out really enjoying the Lady Sherlock novels, however they unfortunately became a series of diminishing returns for me.

The Sin Eater was probably my favourite novel this year, something completely original and interesting and that has stuck with me. Once There Were Wolves had a really interesting premise but didn't really have the payoff, and The Starless Sea was a strange one because it seemed particularly geared to my interests and yet I just didn't vibe with it.

Non-Fiction

Top End Girl - Miranda Tapsell

Celtic Myth - Kevin Eyres

Celtic Myths - Jake Johnson

Troy - Stephen Fry

What People Wore When - Melissa Leventon

Under the Banner of Heaven - Jon Krakauer

Victoria The Queen - Julia Baird

Medieval Costume Armour and Weapons - Eduard Wagner, Zoroslava Drobna, and Jan Durdik

Scarred: How I escaped NXIVM, the cult that bound my life - Sarah Edmondson

Don’t call it a Cult: The shocking story of Keith Raniere and the women of NXIVM - Sarah Berman (re-read)

Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the wisdom and intelligence of the forest - Suzanne Simard

Out of the Corner - Jennifer Grey

1001 Arabian Nights Volume 1 - translated by Malcom C Lyons (partial)

That's 13 - some fascinating non-fiction this year, from actor memoirs, to myths and legends, to my continued interest in cults and cult-adjacent material.

In particular Under the Banner of Heaven, which I sought out after I watched the tv adaptation with Andrew Garfield and was extremely compelling, and Finding the Mother Tree, a super interesting exploration of the connectivity of the forest.

That's 32 total for 2022, less than my goal but who really cares.

[iterumvivere]

The Night Circus

By Erin Morgenstern. Erin’s book is set in the Le Cirque des Rêves. Rather than being entirely about the circus itself, the circus also serves as the backdrop to a ‘game’ spanning years. No one knows how many years, possibly even generations. The circus arrives without fanfare or warning. It is simply there one night. It opens at sunset, closes at dawn and is unlike any circus you might know.…

[quillsnquotes]

Tag 9 People You Want To Get To Know Better

tagged by @hylianengineer​

3 ships: I have sooooo damn many but my current list consists Destiel, WolfStar, and Sterek.

First ever ship: I’m gonna age myself here but I really don’t care. Drarry! I read it on Quizilla before I found FF.net. 

Last song: Iris - Cover of Goo Goo Dolls by Diamante and Breaking Benjamin

Last Movie: Klaus. Watched it while making ginger cookies last night.

Currently Reading: Fanfiction. So much fucking fanfiction. I’ve been meaning to read The Bird and The Nightingale by Katherine Arden but I haven’t gotten around to it. The last real book I read was The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern but that was over two years ago.

Currently watching: Nothing new really. I’m a college student with mild autism and ADHD so I’m constantly rewatching the same things because I’ve memorized them. I can write discussion posts and papers without too much brain power being used by the background noise. I usually pick Howl’s Moving Castle, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, or V for Vendetta.

Currently consuming: Homemade peppermint hot chocolate. I had surgery (I got sterilized!) today and it’s my comfort drink.

Currently craving: A hot shower and a non-sexualized back rub but I’m single and live alone so the shower is the only thing I’m getting for quite some time. I’ll simply live with that. 

@mathiaskejseren @rusc-of-airgead @greenbubbles375 @sweetlytwisted @lokighost @antichrist-vevo @salvanas @mounted-archer @talabear47

[procrastinatingreader]

12.3.22

I haven't posted in forever because school and stuff have just been so crazy. Swim season is kicking off and there are only a couple weeks of school left. I have high hopes for finals this year but then I always do until I procrastinate.

📚 The Starless Sea by Erin Morganstern

[uncivilliberties]

A near conclusion to the ongoing story, but what I'm really excited about is the next stage of this project. I've followed this for years through a number of changes and transformations, but what has always remained is a core of wild offbeat energy tempered with glimpses of emotional sincerity. It's a base of pulpy noir and action story but obfuscated through a setting that is never fully explained or understood. There's the constant sense that this is only a glimpse into the real action, like seeing shadows move in the depths under your boat at sea.

If you've enjoyed books like Perdido Street Station by China Miéville, The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern, or the Sprawl books of William Gibson, give this a try. These are VERY different works, but they all seem to share a similar relationship between characters and setting. Characters navigate the world according to rules they understand, but it is largely left up to the reader to figure out what those rules are.

Anyway, thanks @fireland, and I look forward to the next steps.