#R.F. Vincent

[readerviews]

"The Girl with Autumn Eyes" by R.F. Vincent

Funny, quirky, and heartwarming: A romantic comedy about breaking out of your shell. #books #bookreview #reading #readerviews

The Girl with Autumn Eyes R.F. VincentFriesen Press (2024)ISBN: 978-1038318978Reviewed by Stephanie Elizabeth Long for Reader Views (08/2024) After being ruthlessly abandoned and thrown into a dumpster as a newborn, MC was lucky to survive and come away from it (relatively) unscathed. Still, his childhood was anything but conventional; stuck in foster care and fraught with crippling social…

[cinnamontails-ff]

New Year Writing Tag

Happy New Year everyone!

I love this time of year for how it invites reflection and a general (re)assessment of where I am as a writer. I've seen a few "new year writing" tags floating around, but didn't love their focus on numbers, so I decided to make my own. Feel free to use the template if you're interested, leave stuff out, etc!

What's been your biggest learning point this past year?

Readers are fickle, and winning yourself an audience is not the same as maintaining it. Still, there will always be people who love your work, exactly the way it is.

How has your writing developed this past year?

I think my grasp on the English language has definitely improved! I find I'm more comfortable with varying my sentence structure, and the fact that I'm finally getting the hang of punctuation also definitely helps haha That said, I've been leaning into my overwriting tendencies. MA was supposed to be 150k words and now it's gonna clock in at nearly 200k. And that's ok because it was a difficult project and I'm proud of myself for pulling through, but I definitely need to rein myself in, moving forward.

Good writing habits?

Finally installing automatic backups through my writing software! Also, investing in a nice keyboard for the first time in my life. Life-changing.

Bad writing habits?

Pushing too hard rather than taking a break because my general modus operandi in life is "Work hard now, so you can relax later" - except, I never let myself get to the "later" part.

Favorite thing you wrote?

Chapter 20 of "Magistrate's Advocate". If you know, you know, but it was a very unusual, very challenging chapter for me, and I love how it came out.

Favorite reads?

"A Sorceress Comes to Call" by T. Kingfisher

"Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang

And my re-reads of "Guards, Guards" and "Small Gods" by Terry Pratchett, but what else is new :D

Biggest win?

Making friends through writing. Connecting with people in a way that goes so much further than storytelling. Getting to go to the wedding of someone I met through fandom (and then try to explain to the other guests how you met :D). Sitting on a riverbank in a European city with a lovely reader for 4h straight, receiving the most beautiful fountain pen as a gift. Really, everyone who's made me feel like they care about me just as much as they care my stories ❤

Goals for the new year?

Finish the translation of my original novel.

Stop beating myself up over the things I have not achieved.

Forget AO3 statistics exist.

Shamelessly re-read my own fics over and over again.

Your favorite words of the year, aka the words you check each chapter for, making sure you didn't repeat them 788 times?

"little", "gaze", "look", "smile", "quite", "absolutely", anything to do with "shoulders", "hands" and "eyes".

Seriously, what is it with me and shoulders?

What are you excited for in the new year?

I've just recently started a writing group with a handful of lovely people I met through fandom, and I am extremely excited for it! It's hard to find a group of like-minded people, and while I love the focus on positivity in fandom, I really miss being told where my writing still needs work :D

No-pressure tags (and feel free to pick and choose your favorite questions!): @davenswitcher @obsessedwhyyes @larvasmoon @wobblyweasels @roguishcat @amoremagnificentbastard @lady-vincent @ladyduellist @canon-in-too-deep @khywren @karinamay @bananaiguana and everyone else who loves their new year's reflections!

[bookworms-haven]

25 Books in 2025

Carrie - Stephen King

2. Before your memory fades - Toshikazu Kawaguchi

3. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

4. The perks of being a wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

5. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer

6. The boy who fell from the sky - Benjamin Dean

7. Bunny - Mona Awad

8. Circe - Madeline Miller

9. The girls I've been - Tess Sharpe

10. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

11. Yellowface - R.F. Kuang

12. Where Fireflies Dwell - Samantha J. Won

13. In search of Shrodinger's cat - John Gribbin

14. The man who mistook his wife for a hat - Oliver Sacks

15. Wasted - Marya Hornbacher

16. Small Pleasures - Clare Chambers

17. The postman always rings twice - James M. Cain

18. Naked Portrait: A memoir of Lucian Freud - Rose Boyt

19. Blue Machine - Helen Czerski

20. This is how you lose the time war - Max Gladstone

21. Self-portraits - Osamu Dazai

22. My dark Romeo - Parker S. Huntington, L.J. Shen

23. the letters i will never send - Isabella Dorta

24. Spare us! - Bruno Vincent

25. Where the crawdads sing - Delia Owens

[pesbianlanic]

march 2023 reading

books in bold are especially recommended! i had the pleasure of reading some absolute bangers this month.

Gilded by Marissa Meyer - 5/10. i dunno. i loved the Lunar Chronicles, which is the main reason i picked this up. while i enjoyed a lot of the horror-lite world-building, there were parts of it that confused me. i also thought that the pacing and the ending were off. i’m going to read the sequel in hopes that it gets better. we’ll see.

Empty by Susan Burton - 7/10. hard to get through. but i appreciated the writing and her insights.

On A Sunbeam by Tillie Walden - 8/10. beautiful art and cute gay story. what’s not to love?

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller - 9/10. y’all. i am obsessed with this. i want to live inside sam j. miller’s mind because OH MY GOD this was amazing. we love queer-centering anti-capitalist speculative sci-fi about a world after climate change! literally want a tattoo inspired by this book immediately.

Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang - 10/10. i was once again entranced by Kuang’s prose, world-building, and commentary. i’ve been thinking a lot recently about the *apparent* inevitability of imperialism and capitalism, so this was very cathartic.

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon - 9/10. an enchanting and powerful book. i will be thinking about this one for a long time.

Our Colors by Gengoroh Tagame - 8/10. i always love gay coming-of-age stories. 

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo - 8/10. i think i preferred Ninth House, but this sequel still holds up! it’s fun, bloody, mysterious, and magical.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters - 9/10. i enjoyed this novel. it was an interesting exploration of gender and parenthood, and it made me go down a rabbit hole investigating queer temporality.

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir - 10/10. DEVASTATING! I NEED ALECTO THE NINTH IMMEDIATELY. I WILL NOT BE NORMAL ABOUT THIS BOOK

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - 2/10. the more i reflect on this book, the more i wish i hadn’t wasted my time reading it. a few reasons why: (1) the characterization of the two Black people in this book seemed racist in a song of the south way. (2) i think i’m losing my patience for straight people lit. i think i’m becoming heterophobic. (3) kya gave me mary sue vibes (don’t get me started on her poetry). (4) the ending was rushed and cliche, and i skipped most of it. (5) also, SPOILERS but kya did turn out to be the murderer in the end, so where was my murder scene hm???? i wanted to see that asshole get killed. it gets a 2 for its excellent descriptions of nature, because that is clearly delia owens’ true wheelhouse.

The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins - 9/10. excellent exploration of US-backed anticommunist violence (mass murders), its personal and devastating effects for the victims and survivors, and how it shaped the world we live in today.

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White - 10/10. holy shit. this was everything my queer, religiously traumatized ass needed. this is the kind of queer representation i’ve been waiting for. beautiful, messy, horrifying, cathartic, and inspiring all at once. i will be following AJ White! i’m so excited to read The Spirit Bares Its Teeth later this year.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata - 8/10. this was a really interesting exploration of work culture, non-conformity, and the ways that essential workers (such as the titular convenience store woman) are looked down upon by society.

Dolly Dingle, Lesbian Landlady by Monica Nolan - 8/10. a fun, modern take on lesbian pulp fiction of the ‘50s/’60s! don’t expect anything too deep or artistically aspirational, because that is not the point. it’s just an entertaining, gay, easy read.

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia - 9/10. a beautiful, magical, queer book that examines the complexities of immigration, empire, and violence in the guise of a blood magic fantasy novel.

The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long - 6/10. as a telling of the author’s father’s real experiences in the ‘60s, it’s personal and compelling. however, this graphic novel mainly centers white people grappling with racism (because we don’t have enough stories about that /s). could be appropriate for introducing young (white) kids to the history of the Civil Rights Movement and issues of racism.

bonus - a book i stopped reading:

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith. the premise of this book was intriguing and sounded like exactly the kind of thing i’d enjoy reading. however, something about the characterization and dialogue grated on my nerves. the main character, claire, especially annoyed me. also, when i see 8 ellipses within the span of a few paragraphs, i start to get peeved. it made me want to reread Good Omens as a palate-cleanser with similar vibes. maybe i’ll try it again at some point, but for now this book is not for me.

goodreads shenanigans here

[tele-mesmerism]

im still narrowing it down to 9 but heres my long list of fave books this year :)

The Seed Keeper - Diane Wilson

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

The Stationery Shop - Marjan Kamali

The Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel

Knot My Type - Evie Mitchell

Yellowface - R.F. Kuang

How to Be Sick - Toni Bernhard

Ghostwritten - David Mitchell

these last 3 have ? next to them so i need to choose one.. coincidentally all are NF and theres only one NF for sure in the top 9

Tastes Like War - Grace M. Cho

The Poisoner's Handbook - Deborah Blum

Vincent and Theo - Deborah Heiligman

[aaronstveit]

read in 2023!

i did a reading thread last year and really enjoyed it so i am doing another one this year!! as always, you can find me on goodreads and my askbox is always open!

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book by J.R.R. Tolkien (★★★★☆)

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo* (★★★★★)

Beowulf by Unknown, translated by Seamus Heaney (★★★★☆)

The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Lee (★★★★☆)

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (★★★★★)

Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado (★★★★☆)

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (★★★★★)

The Shadow of Kyoshi by F.C. Lee (★★★★☆)

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta (★★★★★)

Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson (★★☆☆☆)

Sharks in the Rivers by Ada Limón (★★★☆☆)

Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang (★★★★★)

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (★★★★★)

Paper Girls, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

There Are Trans People Here by H. Melt (★★★★★)

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson (★★★★☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 4 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (★★★★☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 5 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

The Guest List by Lucy Foley (★★☆☆☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

The Princess Bride by William Goldman (★★★★☆)

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (★★★★★)

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid* (★★★★★)

Goldie Vance, Volume 1 by Hope Larson, Brittney Williams

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White (★★★★☆)

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (★★★★☆)

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (★★★☆☆)

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis (★★★★★)

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (★★★☆☆)

Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. (★★☆☆☆)

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (★★★★★)

Going Dark by Melissa de la Cruz (★★★☆☆)

Working 9 to 5: A Women's Movement, a Labor Union, and the Iconic Movie by Ellen Cassedy (★★★★☆)

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley (★★★★☆)

Hollow by Shannon Watters, Branden Boyer-White, and Berenice Nelle (★★★★☆)

Heavy Vinyl, Volume 1: Riot on the Radio by Nina Vakueva and Carly Usdin (★★★★☆)

Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado (★★★☆☆)

Heavy Vinyl, Volume 2: Y2K-O! by Nina Vakueva and Carly Usdin (★★★★☆)

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (★★★★☆)

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (★★★★★)

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (★★★★★)

The Backstagers, Vol 1: Rebels Without Applause by James Tynion IV, Rian Sygh, and Walter Baiamonte (★★★☆☆)

The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson (★★★★☆)

The Backstagers, Vol 2: The Show Must Go On by James Tynion IV, Rian Sygh, and Walter Baiamonte (★★★☆☆)

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (★★★★☆)

Happy Place by Emily Henry (★★★★★)

After Dark with Roxie Clark by Brooke Lauren Davis (★★★☆☆)

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (★★★☆☆)

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (★★★★☆)

A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy (★★★★☆)

Built From the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, America’s Black Wall Street by Victor Luckerson (★★★★★)

Cheer Up!: Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier, Oscar O. Jupiter, and Val Wise (★★★★★)

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages by assorted authors, edited by Saundra Mitchell (★★★★☆)

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher** (★★★★☆)

St. Juniper's Folly by Alex Crespo** (★★★★★)

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan** (★★☆☆☆)

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (★★★★★)

Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould** (★★★★☆)

Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass** (★★★★★)

Princess Princess Ever After by Kay O’Neill (★★★☆☆)

Thieves' Gambit by Kayvion Lewis** (★★★☆☆)

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron (★★★☆☆)

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (★★★★☆)

Devotions by Mary Oliver (★★★★★)

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan* (★★★★☆)

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan* (★★★★☆)

The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan* (★★★★★)

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (★★★★★)

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan (★★★★★)

Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Muñoz** (★★★★☆)

The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (★★★★★)

All That’s Left to Say by Emery Lord (★★★★★)

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee (★★★☆☆)

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Joseph Andrew White (★★★★★)

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

M Is for Monster by Talia Dutton (★★★★☆)

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan (★★★★★)

Our Shadows Have Claws: 15 Latin American Monster Stories by assorted authors, edited by Yamile Saied Méndez and Amparo Ortiz (★★★★☆)

These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall (★★★★☆)

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (★★★★★)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins* (★★★★★)

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston (★★★★☆)

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins* (★★★★★)

The October Country by Ray Bradbury (★★★★☆)

Hamlet by William Shakespeare (★★★★☆)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (★★★★☆)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins* (★★★★★)

The Appeal by Janice Hallett (★★★★☆)

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (★★★★☆)

The Carrying: Poems by Ada Limón (★★★★★)

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi (★★★★★)

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen (★★★★★)

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins* (★★★★★)

Know My Name by Chanel Miller (★★★★★)

Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd (★★★★★)

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler (★★★★☆)

The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith* (★★★★★)

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson (★★★★★)

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi (★★★★★)

The Witch Hunt by Sasha Peyton Smith (★★★★☆)

That’s Not My Name by Megan Lally** (★★★★☆)

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (★★★★☆)

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson (★★★★☆)

Pageboy by Elliot Page (★★★★★)

All This and Snoopy, Too by Charles M. Schultz (★★★★☆)

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter (★★★★☆)

The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill** (★★☆☆☆)

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente (★★★★☆)

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei (★★★★☆)

Spell on Wheels Vol. 1 by Kate Leth, Megan Levens, and Marissa Louise (★★★★☆)

Spell on Wheels Vol. 2: Just to Get to You by Kate Leth, Megan Levens, and Marissa Louise (★★★★☆)

Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis (★★★★☆)

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (★★★★☆)

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett (★★★★☆)

So Far So Good: Final Poems: 2014 - 2018 by Ursula K. Le Guin (★★★★☆)

Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict (★☆☆☆☆)

Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon (★★★★☆)

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (★★★★★)

The Twelve Days of Murder by Andreina Cordani (★★★★☆)

The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson (★★★★☆)

The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The Twenty-Ninth Year by Hala Alyan (★★★☆☆)

Christmas Presents by Lisa Unger (★★★☆☆)

Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien

Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia (★★★★☆)

An asterisk (*) indicates a reread. A double asterisk (**) indicates an ARC.

[metamorphesque]

BTS bias book recs | Maknae line

🌼 bts bias book recs | hyung line

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio

At the End of the Matinee by Keiichirō Hirano

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

The Letters of Vincent van Gogh by Vincent van Gogh, Ronald de Leeuw (Editor)

War of the Foxes by Richard Siken

Bluets by Maggie Nelson

First Person Singular: Stories | Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

The Schrödinger Girl by Laurel Brett

How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino

People From My Neighbourhood by Hiromi Kawakami

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

[bulletnotestudies]

Summer Reading Challenge 2.0 - after a short break, we're back with more delightful book recs, this time ones by authors of colour ☀︎

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

When Jessamine Taoh moves back to Malaysia with her family, she starts seeing the ghost of her grandmother. Her grandmother has decided Jess is the one to help her get revenge against a business magnate who has insulted her god, the Black Water Sister and is not giving Jess any choice in the matter. As Jess is dragged into a world of gods and ghosts, she has to learn to stand her ground and control her own destiny, because if she doesn't, she might die. (blurb by @tungumalaast)

The King Is Dead by Benjamin Dean

Did you enjoy Red, White & Royal Blue, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, One of Us Is Lying, or all of the above? Have we got a treat for you! 17-year-old James suddenly becomes King of the UK when his father dies - but his sudden ascendance to reign doesn't come with ease. The media isn’t happy with a Black man on the throne and someone from within the Palace keeps leaking private information that creates even more scandalous press. When his secret boyfriend disappears and anonymous threats are made against James’s life, he isn’t sure who he can trust anymore - or if he can trust anyone at all. (blurb by @dreamofghosts)

[more recommendations below the cut]

MORE AWESOME BOOKS BY AUTHORS OF COLOUR: ☀︎ The City We Became - N.K. Jemisin ☀︎ Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi ☀︎ The Poppy War - R.F. Kuang ☀︎ Burn Down, Rise Up - Vincent Tirado ☀︎ Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao ☀︎ Light From Uncommon Stars - Ryka Aoki

[oatmilkenjoyer69]

January 2023 Media Breakdown

Movies:

This Place Rules (2022) - Andrew Callaghan

Strange World (2022) - Don Hall

City Lights (1931) - Charlie Chaplin

Loving Vincent (2017) - Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman

The Menu (2022) - Mark Mylod

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - Wes Anderson

Party Girl (1995) - Daisy von Scherler Mayer

The Lady Vanishes (1938) - Alfred Hitchcock

An Evening (Wieczór) (2013) - Sofia Bohdanowicz

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) - James Cameron

Babylon (2022) - Damien Chazelle

Casablanca (1942) - Michael Curtis

Bessie (2015) - Dee Rees

Grey Gardens (1976) - Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Muffie Meyer, Ellen Hovde

My Neighbor Totoro (1988) - Hayao Miyazaki

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) - Hayao Miyazaki

Akira (1988) - Katsuhiro Ôtomo

Prey (2022) - Dan Trachtenberg

The 39 Steps (1935) - Alfred Hitchcock

M3gan (2022) - Gerard Johnstone

Ponyo (2008) - Hayao Miyazaki

Citizen Kane (1941) - Orson Welles

John Wick (2014) - Chad Stahelski

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) - Chad Stahelski

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) - Hayao Miyazaki

Seven Samurai (1954) - Akira Kurosawa

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) - Chad Stahelski

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) - Joel Crawford

Women Talking (2022) - Sarah Polley

Spirited Away (2004) - Hayao Miyazaki

Spotlight (2015) - Tom McCarthy

TV Shows:

Good Omens - Season 1 (2019)

The White Lotus - Season 2 (2022)

The Last of Us - Season 1, Episodes 1-3 (2023)

Wednesday - Season 1 (2022)

Books - Completed:

Wuthering Heights (1847) - Emily Brontë

The Bell Jar (1963) - Sylvia Plath

Graceling (2008) - Kristin Cashore

Parable of the Sower (1993) - Octavia Butler

The Witcher: Sword of Destiny (1993) - Andrzej Sapkowski

Shadow and Bone (2012) - Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm (2013) - Leigh Bardugo

The Poppy War (2018) - R.F. Kuang

The House of the Scorpion (2002) - Nancy Farmer

Gender Queer: A Memoir (2019) - Maia Kobabe

Ruin and Rising (2014) - Leigh Bardugo

Fire (2009) - Kristin Cashore

The Chosen and the Beautiful (2021) - Nghi Vo

The Kaiju Preservation Society (2022) - John Scalzi

Books - Started:

The Silmarillion (1977) - J.R.R. Tolkien | 28%

Borne (2017) - Jeff VanderMeer | 37%

The Lord of Opium (2013) - Nancy Farmer | 66%

Albums:

Small Groups: 1941-1945 - Benny Goodman (1989) | jazz

man - quinnie (2022) | indie rock/alternative

touch tank - quinnie (2022) | indie rock/alternative

Crafts:

Crocheted Sleeves - 3 pairs completed

Scrap yarn stash blanket - started

Chunky yarn vest to go under the sleeves - completed, but I might add sleeves and cuter ribbing later

Crocheted Bandanas - 4 completed and gifted

Pop-tab Chainmail Shirt - 1/2 complete

Enid’s Snood - Completed and gifted to my mom

[readerviews]

"Life at the Precipice" by R.F. Vincent

Fantastic Fiction #books #bookreview #reading #readerviews

Life at the Precipice R.F. VincentFriesenPress (2023)ISBN: 978-1039171497Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (12/2023) Travis Sivart is an Air Force navigation officer with a Ph.D. in Physics. Horribly distraught over a failed rescue mission where lives were lost, he finds himself needing to go on leave to reevaluate his life.  Around this time, he finds a red balloon attached to a…

[joseandrestabarnia]

François-André VINCENT (París, 1746 - París, 1816)

Retrato de tres hombres

1775

Óleo sobre tela

Altura: 0.81 m; Ancho: 0.98 m; Altura con accesorio: 0.96 m; Ancho con accesorio: 1.124 m

El artista a la izquierda en traje español, en el espíritu de las Figuras de fantasía de Fragonard. A la derecha está el arquitecto Pierre Rousseau (1751-1826) y detrás de él, sin duda, el pintor Philippe-Henri Coclers (1738-1804).

Adquirido en 1985

Departamento de Pinturas R.F.1985-15

Información del Musée du Louvre

[napoleondidthat]

Hi I was wondering if you had any recommendations of a biography of Napoleon? I wanted to read a good book but I don't know which is good. Thanks😊

If you are in the mood to tackle a big-ish book, the biography by Adam Zamoyski is a good over-view. I will also throw in Andrew Roberts biography, though I have not gotten to read that one yet (on the list!). 

It really depends on what you are looking for. If you want a general all around biography, those two you could start with, both huge books though that may be daunting. If you want a more smallish biography, the biography by Manuel Komroff I have a soft spot for. Napoleon, An Intimate Biography by Vincent Cronin is also a good book.

If you’re looking for a more personal side of Napoleon, that is a different set of books. You may have to go older, like real older, to find these. There hasn’t been too many recent books on Napoleon in this aspect. Octave Aubrey has written several books on the personal side of Napoleon. R.F Delderfield has written some very good books on Napoleon’s more personal side also and his family.

You can always read up on his marriages, more written on Josephine, to find a more intimate history about him.

I would stay away from the Alan Schom biography.

[peculiarwem]

To be Read - 2018

This is for books I want to read in 2018 - this version is for mobile users

★ Books I'm excited about

______________________________________

★ To Finish: Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan (I'm currently on House of Hades)

★ The Raven Cycle Series by Maggie Stiefvater

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

And I Darken by Kiersten White

★ They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

Six of Crows and The Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Passengers by Alexandra Braken

★ Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman

★★★ Our Bloody Pearl by D.N. Bryn

The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling (I'm gonna read it even if I hate her)

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

Anything else by Rick Riordan

I will continue this later :P

[napoleondidthat]

Just wanted to let you know that I️ love your blog!!!!! It’s hilarious and I️ always get excited when you post . One favor to ask: could you possibly give me an introduction for books for Napoleonic history? I️ see people telling you about this book and that book, but I�� have no idea where to start. Thank you so much for your time!!!

First, thank you for the very nice comments on my blog! It makes me happy that I make others happy or at least look forward to my posts :)

And now onto some book advice.

Napoleon is supposedly the most written about subject after Jesus Christ, so that gives you a lot of books to shift through. The first thing I would ask you is what do you want to know about Napoleon? Do you want to know about the general times of Napoleon (i.e. The French Revolution, the Consulate, the First Empire period, etc.) Do you want to know about the solider, general, battle commander, and Napoleon as political figure? Do you want to know more about Napoleon, the person, the man? Are you interested in a certain period of Napoleon’s life (i.e. A certain military campaign, Napoleon’s early years, The Hundred Days, St. Helena exile, etc.) Once you answer those questions, you have a better idea of what you’re aiming for and what books might be useful to you.

If you want just a general biography, one that can give you an overview on Napoleon, the biographies by Emil Ludwig and Ida Tarbell are good starter books. Ludwig is a little on the larger side (724 pages paperback), but it’s written in a very understandable way. These books are a bit dated, but still worthy. 

One tip I would give is that if you’re just starting into this field, it’s worth sometimes looking into young adult biographies. I say this because it can be completely over-whelming to want to start a book on Napoleon and you’re facing down huge books that are filled with academia. They can be a bit of a big bite for someone who is just starting. When I started in this topic, I was a kid and in sixth grade. I checked out a book from my school library and the first biography I read was written for a young adult level. I would recommend that book to anyone to this day, especially someone just venturing in for the first time. I can’t remember the name of the author, but if you would be interested in this book, let me know and I’ll be able to get you the name of the author, as I have the book in my personal collection. It was a very good biography on Napoleon that wasn’t so daunting. I wouldn’t recommend the new book by Andrew Roberts at this point, just because it’s so big and overwhelming for a new reader.

If you’re interested in Napoleon as an individual, there are quite a few books you can check out on Napoleon and Josephine’s marriage, as well as his marriage to Marie Louise, (I don’t want to make this answer so in depth and long, so if this is where you’d like to pursue, I can give you a list in another post :) ).  There is also books on Napoleon and his many love affairs. 

Sometimes the best place to start besides a general biography is to get your hands on the biographies of Napoleon’s family. These tend to be interesting reads and you can get a good view of the different personalities that will be influences on Napoleon and his life as well as getting a good grip on the different people you will be familiar with the more you read. Some of the biographies are:

1. The Golden Bees: Theo Aronson

2. The Bonapartes: David Stacton

3. The Golden Millstones, Napoleon’s Brothers and Sisters: R.F. Delderfield.

General Bios:

1. Napoleon: Emil Ludwig

2.  A Short Life of Napoleon: Ida Tarbell

3. Napoleon: Vincent Cronin

These books are out of print (same goes for Ida Tarbell and Emil Ludwig), but through services like Amazon, ABE Books, Ebay, Thriftbooks, they’re pretty easy to track down.

Let me stop there for now. I hope this was a bit of help and didn’t confuse you further. But as you can clearly see by the length of this reply, when writing about Napoleonic books, I could write you pages. If you are interested in the book I first read, let me know and I’ll do a post on it. Or, maybe I’ll do a post about it in the future.

And please feel free you write anytime with book questions or other questions and I will gladly do what I can to answer and help :)