#and because of the tagging problem if I like anything Greek myth related my for you and other tabs are instantly flooded with epic

[sunnist4rs]

Tw Rant

I hate how the TRAs have to take over everything and make it about their stupid message. I’ve been a huge Greek Mythology fan all my life and Telemachus has been my favourite character ever for years and years (and years).

Personally I love Epic the musical, I think it’s a funny adaptation of my favourite book but in Different Beast (my fave song from Epic but it’s being ruined) Odysseus sings ‘I don’t have a daughter’. This is perfectly fine in context but the Tras have started using it to joke about trans!Telemachus.

At first I ignored this but they’re still talking about it, drawing art about it and now they’ve started saying ‘this is the modernised Odyssey’. I even saw people saying it’s transphobic not to headcannon Telemachus this way. It’s so annoying seeing them take a character like Telemachus who I’ve cared about before some of these people learn the alphabet and turn him into some annoying as trans ally.

I have plushys named after this guy (parents didn’t let me name our dog after him), see him as the ideal (and only good tbh) man and he’s just generally my comfort character. I don’t want to associate him with the removal of woman’s rights and the disfigurement (idk if that’s the right word so sorry if it’s mean) of children. It sucks that they have to go and trash everything without knowing anything about the source material.

[someoneimsure]

Aghdjd cass cain x Tim Drake Anon here I KNOW it’s so hard to find tagged content of the ship I want, if there’s even that much of it to begin with. Why are there so many characters named Cassandra 😭!! Also thanks for answering the ask so in depth with panels and all that was really nice of you. If anything I think I’d be #cancelled because of the age difference between the two rather than their ‘blood’ relations but I just wanted to make sure because I never really see posts about cass being anyone’s sister, I more get the vibe that general fandom views her more as like an associate if anything? But yea you’re probably right about general fandoms reaction thanks for giving it to me straight <3

I ask myself that question every single day! Why can't DC editorial come up with names that aren't just the names of random people on staff or that one Greek myth about speaking the truth and nobody listening? It's a sad state of affairs, anon. :(

Aww, thanks!! I try to be as nice as possible! <3 I want to make sure you're informed about the facts and unfortunate realities of our fandom spaces <3

I have looked at a lot of meta on ages and can assure you that age difference would not be a problem as long as fanon knows their real ages. (Btw, Cass is only 2.5 years older than Tim and they met when he was 16-17 and her 19.)

If anyone does try to use ages against you, anon, there's plenty of real life things we can try to get them to focus on. Such as how 16 is the legal age in many states for which a young adult can have sex with someone older than them even though girls are more likely to die giving birth if they are pregnant before they reach the age of 20. Unfortunately, my experience has told me that they rarely ever read the links. :(

I also found some really nice dc meta when I started asking myself 'How do Tim and Cass see each other in canon' question and found out they have met before in Batgirl 2000 #59. I like how their relationships with Steph are brought up in this one and how their ideologies conflict but they aren't enemies, just respectful.

*stares at Batman hard*

Thanks for the ask! <3

[voidcat]

– [untitled]

Characters: Oikawa Tooru/Reader

requested by @tpwkatsumu , prompt 14

wc & genre: 1k – slice of life & emotional hurt/comfort

a/n: it wasn’t mean to be that long or personal...... also thank u Nic for helping me figure out which genre this fits into dsffgf <33

Sometimes, realization hits at times so random, you keep doing whatever it is you are doing. The change can be so drastically big yet it comes as one returns home after so long, there’s no point in making a fuss.

It happens like that too and all you can do is keep munching on tha slice of pizza as a random sitcom plays on the screen.

That’s how he enters too, invites himself into your life with a carefree attitude so natural, it feels the two of you have been like this for eternity.

An instant click, a part of you thinks, it’s wonderful how despite the few shared interests you have, you two can get along so well.

Oikawa reminds you what makes conversing with someone for hours so fun, he can infodump about volleyball all he wants and you won’t find yourself yawning once. He keeps looking around for you when you’re not around and you never grow tired with him by your side.

Then comes few moments that fele unreal, you’re at a loss of what to do and how to feel. Little secrets of intimacy, whisper secrets and old confessions, things that have eaten him inside for years and stuff that has rotten inside your soul.

What a funny coincidence, you hear someone talk about the old myths concerning humans and soulmates later that week,  “According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.”  rises a quote from Plato’s Symposium and you decide that’s what the two of you are. Two competible souls there for one another. Soulmates do not necessarily share romantic interests after all.

But then comes bad things as swiftly as the good ones.

Settling with what you already have, being content, leads to passiveness; you remember a bit too late.

And so you find yourself one night on the balcony sipping wine as your best friend celebrates his engagement party, talking and laughing, having the time of his life.

Yet it doesn’t sting as you expected it to be. Maybe because you knew you had a place in his heart no matter what.

After all it was an usual night when you realized you loved Oikawa Tooru. The anticipating building of sings and events led to it one night. All you could do was to let out a small “Oh.” and return to your oatmeal right after. It was natural, it was easy, it was how the two of you have been since forever.

So when Oikawa finds you by yourself that night, you’re not even surprised. He would notice sooner or later than something was off, you could hide for only so long.

“Ive been looking all over for you!” He says in the singsong voice of his you grew too familiar with. A smile takes over your face before you can notice but it must be one of those he sees rarely; because his eyes change and lips are pulled to a firm line. You want to swipe it off, worry shouldn’t take over his aura when the night should be a happy one.

“You wouldn’t get it, Tooru.”

“When have I not understood you, helped you? Tell me.” And he is right, he always did and even though he couldn’t possibly relate, he would understand.

“Things been coming at me, a lot, again. Not in a kind way this time. I’ve found happiness in some things lately and was content but it’s this stillness that will bring me my end. I settle with what I have, I don’t push like you do, take a step into the darkness, I don’t want to take risks too ahead of me and lose what I have. But this stillness of me, like grass or sedge, it grows too inanimate and people think suddenly dies away the light in me. And now I have these problems in general, a madness at my ineptness, trouble at work and my turtle...”

The moon shines upon the house, in a celebratory light, however the only ones to enjoy its delight are in the dark.

“Why... why didn’t you tell me?” He sounds hurt, probably feels betrayed that you kept all this from him, despite the worries and the pain, your face is dry. Still, Oikawa cups your cheek gently, more a motion to meet your eyes, to show he cares and he’s here.

“Because you were happy.” is all you can say.

A gulp.

“Because you looked so happy, and it was your happiness that was enough for me. I love you, I think I’ve loved you for a while now. I never said anything because I knew, you loved me in a way, I didn’t want to pursue anything romantic because it was your friendship and care that was enough for me too.”

“I’ve learnt with you the many other ways to love and be loved. Confessing anything could make things complicated so I settled with all your love I could get. Because you never missed movie nights, always tagged along to newly opened cafes by my side. You were there when I was in grief and you were there when a partner of yours would accuse us for having an affair.”

“I think it’s time I move on too. To out the things I’ve learnt from you to use. But I don’t know what to do- I don’t-”

Rest of the words die out on the physical but he hears them all loud and clear,  embroidered into the night.

And still, despite all that you’ve said it feels as it always was. A thought you knew of all along, gaining a name only now.

“Just- Please be my best friend right now, not the guy I just confessed my love to.” you find yourself say, voice unfamiliar and too far away.

“Then- Hear me out.” He says and holds your hands. “Tonight, let’s take one last night off and celebrate the newcomings of our lives. And tomorrow, we will take that first step, together.”

It seems easy, just like letting him into your life was. He takes another step towards you and puts his hand on your heart. “Because no matter what, I’ll always be by your side, right here, as long as our hearts beat and we breathe in and out.”

[awed-frog]

in which caesar doesn’t do anything much and all the women are named julia

[Hi, this is me stanning Adrian Goldsworthy’s biography of Caesar. I studied Classics, but not this period, so all I can contribute here are squeals of delight, a few mistakes and the occasional witty comment. If you’d like to know more, please buy the book - it’s really good and a fun read.]

PART 2

The thing is - there’s a lot of boring relevant political stuff going on in this chapter, but I’m mostly fascinated by the glimpses we get into the world of Roman women. 

As I said, this is not really my area, so I know random, unconnected facts about how life was like for them; also it doesn’t make much sense to talk about ‘Roman women’, because, as a reminder, ‘Rome’ stretches from the 14th century BC to the 14th century AD, came to include dozens of very different regions, and obviously was home to an incredibly diverse population. And if we’re talking about the late Republican / imperial aristocracy, there’s a sharp divide anyway: on the one hand, the ‘ideal woman’ is the same old model we’re all used to and heard about (silent, obedient, virtuous, chaste, a perfect mother and so on), but on the other, Roman noblewomen had a lot more freedom than, say, their Greek counterparts, so there was usually some political scheming going on - something that in Greece was reserved to a handful of very well-placed courtesans. 

(In this sense, think about the contrast between Lucretia, the mythological wife of Collatinus, whose fridging created the Republic, and Agrippina, mother of Nero, empress and all-round badass bitch.)

Anyway, this chapter made me think about women because it starts with Caesar being born and getting his name - it’s sort of an urban legend, btw, that every single Roman had three names: that was just for the Moste Noblest - and how Goldsworthy casually mentions that, unlike men, women of noble birth would just take their family surname as first name. In Caesar’s family, for instance, all the women were named Julia.

(As a reminder: his given name was Caius, then ‘Julius’ identified the tribe, and finally ‘Caesar’ was a nickname that was possibly given to his grandfather for something elephant-related. 

People whose grandfathers did not do elephant-related stuff generally never enjoyed the prestige of a funny nickname passed down through the generations.)

So it’s bad enough that twins might be named ‘Peter and Not-Peter’ or ‘Peter and Twin’, but imagine going to the park with your buggy and meeting your old friend Oldest She-Jones (daughter of Ferdinand Jones), now married to George David Taylor, and her five kids - Louis David Taylor, She-Taylor, She-Taylor the Second, She-Taylor the Third and She-Taylor Born on Christmas. So damn cute, and also the reason why the Romans never developed smartphones or social media - how the hell are you supposed to find someone on Vultocodex when every single cousin and aunt has the exact same name?

Poor management, that is.

But anyway - as I said, there’s a dissonance here because women being treated like garbage (like, not given normal names and married off at fourteen) also led to the very peculiar phenomenon: generations of (male) politicians and VIPs being raised by very forceful, strong, and ambitious (widowed) mothers. Because if you count old age, wars, trampolining injuries (let’s be honest, men have always been obsessed with attempting dangerous stunts just for the fun of it) and the general risks of Roman politics, it was very usual for a noble kid to not even remember his father at all.

(Nero is a good example of how weird and all-consuming this boy-mother relationship could become - there’s entire books about it, but I’d point 16-and-over readers to Suetonius’ Life of Nero for details.

Keep in mind 95% of it is propaganda because Suetonius hated Nero, but still. HBO-worthy stuff in there.)

All this to say - we know that Caesar had a very close relationship with his mom (named ‘Aurelia’ because - you guessed it - she came from the Aurelii family), who was a near perfect figure of virtue, intelligence, beauty and common sense. Very powerful in her own right, Aurelia raised Caesar basically on her own, because her (much older) husband was either away at war or dead for most of their marriage.

Aside from drinking in Aurelia’s wisdom, Caesar’s education also included the normal lessons noble Roman boys were required to learn: self-worth, narcissism, delusional manias, rhetoric, martial arts, horse-riding, and writing really bad fanfiction based on Greek myths.

And now for the MEANWHILE part.

(I have no idea why this gif was tagged ‘meanwhile’, but I’m not enough of an idiot to let it go to waste, so.)

Meanwhile, all sort of messes were going on.

As I’m sure you remember, at some point the consul was Marius - Caesar’s uncle and a military genius, but not much of a politician. His negotiation tactic of choice was secretly inviting groups of unconnected people to his house on the same night, serving them dinner in two separate rooms so they wouldn’t see one another and try to work out some kind of agreement between them. Whenever a new point came up, Marius would say he had diarrhoea, pretend to run to the bathroom and instead sit down with the second group and see what they thought about the first group’s proposal.

(Isn’t ancient Rome magnificent?)

A big problem Marius had to deal with was how to grant citizenship to the allied tribes in Italy without pissing off current citizens. Basically no one wanted these other guys to be given new rights, but since they supplied more than half the soldiers of the Roman army and got nothing in return, their patience was running a bit thin. At some point, Roman bureaucrats started to erase foreign-born citizens from their lists claiming they were not actual citizens (something so openly dishonest NO OTHER GOVERNMENT would EVER attempt it again), and next yet another tribune working on a citizenship reform was stabbed to death in the street. 

So the allies went to war. 

(This war, confusingly, is known as the Social War, because ‘socius’ means ‘ally’ in Latin.)

As you can imagine, it was a disaster. Most of the allied communities had been part of the Roman republic for I don’t want to check but let’s say decades, they lived side by side with Roman families and fought in the same wars, so it was more of a civil war than anything else. Some tribes chose to remain faithful to Rome, others didn’t. Lots of people died.

Caesar was too young to be a soldier, but this was Cicero’s first taste of war (bet you never thought of that weaselly weasel as a soldier, uh? appearances can be deceiving, folks!). Marius was also involved, but since he was old as shit and had famously weak and leaky guts (hahahhaha), he mostly stayed out of active combat, which wasn’t all that normal for a Roman general. In the end, the whole of Italy, down to defeated tribes, cows, dogs and random patches of mossy rocks, was granted citizenship and everyone went home. Their votes, however, were inserted in the system in such a way that they didn’t count much. 

On the whole, the one winner of this war was Lucius Cornelius Sulla, one of the military commanders, who became a consul soon after.

Another war, because this is Rome and Romans were dicks, but! this one was in the East, which means every single soldier would get super rich and also! wars in the East were considered easy because *insert racist trope here* and! Sulla had been promised that, as the big winner of the Social War, he could go there with his legions and basically enjoy this Disneyland of golden cups and ultraviolence but! at the last moment, Marius, who never liked Sulla much, managed to snatch the commandership from him, which! was completely legal but also *insert outraged emoji* and wait for it! instead of going gentle into the good night, Sulla made a fiery speech to his soldiers all like GUESS WHAT FOLKS WE’RE STUCK HERE SCRATCHING OUR TESTICULI AND THOSE IDIOTS FROM THE 25TH ARE TAKING YOUR GOLD AND YOUR UNWILLING WOMEN and! Sulla’s entire army marched! on! the! city! of! Rome!

It was the first time a Roman army had ever invaded Rome. Nobody was expecting it, and people panicked. Sulla’s men won easily, burned down some buildings, killed some people, generally had a great time; and then Sulla announced a bounty for anyone who’d disembowel his political enemies (including Marius) because he didn’t have time to go to Braavos and learn how to do it himself (remember, he still had his war waiting for him in the East).

(This turned out to be a success, btw. One guy was even killed by his slave - Sulla gave him the promised reward, then shoved him off a mountain because duh, slave and “When I said ‘anyone’, I meant people, not IKEA furniture” and “Honestly”.)

As nobody could have imagined and/or predicted, as soon as Sulla left for Greece Weak Guts Marius came back with an army and took back the city, beheading his way to the Senate and leaving a trail of blood wherever he passed. As soon as he got there, however, he dropped dead - heart attack, trampolining, diarrhoea, who can tell - and the city was taken over by his second-in-command, Lucius Cornelius Cinna.

(Man, what a ride.)

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to know what Caesar was doing during this time.

Personally, I like to imagine him in Rome - a well-dressed, grey-eyed 15-year-old, freshly orphaned, horrified and exhilarated by the violence exploding all around him - I see him running down the streets, stopping to watch the corpses float in the dark waters of the Tiber, daring his friends to go and touch the severed heads nailed to the doors of the Senate; recognizing many of those heads as friends and colleagues of his father and uncle (passing a hesitant finger on the cold flesh, remembering how they’d once laughed and frowned and spoken about boring matters from the dais). 

The truth is, Caesar was just a kid. He was supposed to learn about the Republic, and his own role in making it great, by watching his elders. 

God knows what he actually learned, and what he thought, as he was passing through Rome’s paved streets, now shimmering with blood. 

PREVIOUS — NEXT

[hourglassgod]

Mythical Creature Test

<https://uquiz.com/vt5GNs/which-mythical-creature-are-you?p=47965>

I was tagged by @milk-and-ilya

I’ll tag... @atomicshitpost and @agent-darkbootie

It’s basically doing the quiz for your apprentice(s).

Nero: Ogre

An ogre is a being usually depicted as a large, hideous, manlike monster that eats human beings. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world. They appear in many classic works of literature and are most often described in fairy tales and folklore as eating babies. In mythology, ogres are often depicted as inhumanly large and tall and having a disproportionately large head, abundant hair, unusually colored skin, a voracious appetite, and a strong body. Ogres are closely linked with giants and with human cannibals in mythology. If you get this result, you are known to be very sensitive. You may often be very negative due to the people around you. The moment someone decides to ruin your day, you automatically become bitter. People generally steer clear of you because you are known to start trouble. You do have a few close friends, but not many. Ogres are usually seen as the jock type of creatures, so there is a possibility you have amazing endurance and great physical strength. You also have a problem with speaking before you think.

((Savage. I mean, he is a swordsman. And slightly crazy. But that’s to be expected when you lose part of your humanity coming back from the dead.))

Alys: Dragon

A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that features in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern mythologies, and the Chinese dragon, with counterparts in Japan (namely the Japanese dragon), Korea and other East Asian countries. Getting this result, you are generally viewed as the motherly figure of your friend group. You look after your friends and tend to their needs. For example, you probably lend your friends money or do favors for them without asking for anything in return. You don't need anything else but the satisfaction that you're helping your them out. You give the impression of being always easygoing and harmless until someone pushes your buttons. When you lash out, you become NASTY. You will insult, unrelentingly rage, and spew every curse word until someone is on the floor crying, especially when someone insults or hurts your friends. You're very protective of the people that you love and NOT a force to be reckoned with.

((Honestly, I was just like “wot???” until I read it. This makes a lot of sense. Considering their reaction to Lucio was “burn the painting because you were a bitch to Nadia” it is surprisingly accurate))

Alastair Nemrac: Phoenix

In Greek mythology, a phoenix or phenix is a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. According to some sources, the phoenix dies in a show of flames and combustion, although there are other sources that claim that the legendary bird dies and simply decomposes before being born again. According to some texts, the phoenix could live over 1,400 years before rebirth. Getting this result, you are probably a very mature person at heart. You're practically laidback about everything and couldn't care less about anything. You're definitely a 'go with the flow' type of person who doesn't mind change. You're generally apathetic and you don't exhibit much emotion. People don't mind having you around because of how calm and collected you are. You're open-minded and tend to see things from both sides of a situation. You don't like to argue or fight and you typically like to talk things out. You have a few close friends, but not many.

((Fitting for my distant, cunning, apathetic mathematician apprentice. Do phoenix(es?) sing?))

[positivelyamazonian]

Microreview Round Seven: BOOKSHELVES

This round is open to interpretation, so don’t let the word bookshelves stop you. Whether your collection is big or small, physical or digital, your parents’ or from the library, it counts as a bookshelf here. To play: answer the prompts and tag your friends to do the same. Optional: use #microreview and check out @microreviews  for “rules,” reviews, and more!

I was tagged by my dearest @luluvonv and... how could I not do this? I’m a bookworm through and through. I’ve always dreamed of having a big, wide library for all my books, plenty of bookshelves, and with appropiate conditions - that means, in glass cases because I’m allergic to dust - and I finally achieved it! Right now many shelves are still empty because I expect to fill them throughout my life... but the space is prepared! Let’s do this!

What genres or types of books dominate your shelf?

Mostly related with two - rather three - themes: History, Art, and religion. The two first because I’m a bitch for History and Art being myself a History teacher, so I love having a History-Art related books - that means, no historic novels, but actual History and Art books. 

The religion ones - not just my own religion, the Catholic Roman Christianism, but also many others - are related with a main field of self-research I’ve been conducting for years. I’m a Christian believer but also a feminist - I can’t start explaining how hard is to live like this among this community - so my personal research dwells among the strongest and most inspirational women of my religion: the female martyrs. That’s why I buy, collect and search with passion everything related with this heroines, from holycards to postcards, to books, to photos and travelling to the places where their remains rest, if they still exist. 

Hell, I even rule a blog where together with other friends I used to write and share articles by myself about these women. In fact I still own some copies of a compendium which was kindly edited by a friend of mine, an Orthodox Romanian priest who had the gentleness to include my articles in his personal publication - I’m noted inside the book, btw. I can say it’s kind of, my second publication after Irene, my first novel.

One of my latest purchases in this matter is a double-volume in Greek and Spanish from the Life and Miracles of Saint Thecla, an early female preacher known as the Protomartyr of Women because she was the first known Christian woman to be killed for her faith, but also the first one known for being a public preacher, disciple and equal to the apostles. I was happy I got this ancient text (II century) also in the original Greek, since it’s been a while since I practiced my Ancient Greek skills.

I also got a big, complete book about St Lucy of Syracuse in my last trip to Venice. It’s my hope that people who reads this know that these are not just pious and devotional but also historical, artistic and archaeological books: I try to find the woman behind the myth. These women existed, they were real, and it’s my hope to write, some day, a book about them, so that believers and non-believers can realize they are far more than just beautiful statues in churches.

Anyway, apart of these related issues, I own a lot of historical novels from my young times before going to the university, when I thought History was something else. Now I mostly dislike them, they are just entertainment and if I read them it’s just for fun, like the amazing Pope Joan I’m reading from Donna W. Cross, a fantastic, well-researched novel... but a novel, after all. Just like any other historical novel. They are not real History. One must seek harder if they want to learn actual History... and study, of course.

Ah, yes. I not only own oddities and weird books. I also own a lot of epic fantasy novels, which are my personal fun and enjoyment, and also a lot of Spanish and Catalan literature.

What do you wish you had more of?

I wish I had more ancient texts and good editions of the basic enciclopaedias and compendia I need for my researches. But they are either too expensive or written in languages I don’t know, like German or Arab. I learned Italian to have access to good stuff and I’m satisfied with my progress as I’m a self-learner, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to read in German or Arab. And this is my great frustration.

I wish I could afford also many facsimiles of Middle-Ages books with all their illuminations, but they are terribly expensive too, despite being copies - the originals are kept in monasteries/museums, as it must be -. Fortunately my deceased father-in-law enjoyed to collect some of them and could afford them, so I’ve inherited many from him.

I wish, also, I could have my favest books in their original languages and not just Spanish, like The Lord of The Rings by Tolkien. This is more affordable and possible, so I don’t discard I’ll be doing myself and original-written-language-books shelf one of these days :D

And of course, more books about Art. You’ve never enough books of Art, believe me. You can claim you know a lot about Art and own lots of books and visit lots of museums but I can tell, you still don’t know shit about Art.

Smallest book?

I have a little selection of the main books of several religions, namely the Bible for Christianism, Torah for Judaism, Al-Quhran for Islam, Tao Teh Ching for Taoism, Bhagavad Gita for Hinduism, and others. The sacred books are not whole, complete editions but most of the text is included. I purchased them because I’m a sentimental and also, they are cute as a button. They even have their own mini-shelf :D

And yes, they are just inches and can rest in the top of my fingertip - no way I could do this while taking a photo with my cell -. That’s why I’ve never actually read them - I’d destroy them!!! The only ones I haven’t read, I must confess, and I will never read... but I have larger versions of these too, so no problem :)

Largest book?

A perfect facsimil of the Martyrologium Romanum of Don Pedro de Aragón, a Middle-Ages big illuminated manuscript which depicts the feasts of each Saint of the day and scenes of their lives/martyrdoms. This one is so big and heavy I need another person to help me to carry it.

Of course, it’s not literally mine because I could never afford such jewel, I inherited it from my father-in-law after he died. Now I keep it this way, open as to enjoy the illuminations as if it was in its original context, a monastery’s scriptorium.

There are other facsimiles I virtually own but I am still to decide how to display them on my bookshelves, including a big, original Bible engraved by the always amazing engraver Gustave Doré, unfortunately very damaged by moisture. Some of them are too big, some of them are smaller, I just need to study them and figure how to place them correctly in the glass cases so they can shine open. There’s no point in owning an illuminated facsimil if you can’t enjoy the illuminations on a daily basis :)

And of course, I can read them too. Though I must confess my Latin is quite rusty right now...

Oldest book? Newest book?

Oldest:

A Rome travel guide from 1870, written by D. Severo Catalina. And I’m serious!! It smells of moisture and dust. It was given to me as a gift by an old aunt and you can read a lot of things about how Rome was in XIX century. In fact it describes many places and artworks and monuments that, after two World Wars, don’t exist anymore...

Also I used to own a Flos Sanctorum by P. Rybadeneira from 1619, but I had to return it to the person that give it to me because she regretted her decision (no comment). Fortunately, there’s plenty of access to this old text in Google Books. Anyway it’s not a really valuable text from a historiographic point of view, it’s just pious literature like the Legenda Aurea by Jacopo della Voragine.

Newest:

Santa Lucia a Venezia, by Giovanni Musolino.

As I said before, I just came back from Venice with a fantastic book about Saint Lucy of Syracuse, a IV century Sicilian martyr whose body is kept at her church of this city. I’m very pleased with this book because it contains the kind of information I need for my research: archaeology, history, paleography, historical proof, because God knows I had enough myths and legends and cute stories. No offense intended.

And yes, thank God I learnt to read in Italian. I won’t have a single chance of understand all this without it.

Does anything live there besides books?

In the bookshelves I’ve destined to epic fantasy and “nerd-related” novels and enciclopaedias I have my very recent TR collections of figurines... also in other I’ve some curious book-supporters related with Tolkien universe (Gollum, a replica of the Argonath, a replica of Minas Tirith) and other nice stuff, like the half-angel-half-demon from Angels & Demons movie.

Anyway, I’ve lots of books right now but I’ve only reviewed the most I have. I love the classics of Spanish and Catalan literature and I own copies of them, from Rimas y Leyendas by Bécquer to Cien Años de Soledad by García Márquez; from Tirant Lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell to La Plaça del Diamant by Mercè Rodoreda. And God, some Arab classics by Naguib Mahfuz, Amin Maalouf; and novelists I absolutely love like Isabel Allende or Amy Tan. 

I must stop here. If anyone wants to know more about my book heaven they’re free to ask. Also I decide freely not to tag anyone, whoever sees this is encouraged to share its book heaven too. As for me, it’s not just the place of my pleasure but also the place where I work and where I’m just now sit typing. In fact, you don’t see my library in my TRAOD live streams because a big chroma is displayed behind my back when I stream, but if I lifted the canvas you could see perfectly it :D

Anyway, enough! Thanks for this little personal moment and let’s continue the fun!

#microreview

#bookshelves

#bookshelf

#personal

#book he