#and i read the comics first

[librarygraveyard]

long fuckin update

wow. hi.

so, uh, updating as i read got away from me because i just started...tearing through books again. i have some backlogged notes that i wanted to make into posts, but a one-two combo of ADHD meds and rediscovering the many, many magics of the library, but particularly the “oh shit, that library book is actually due, i have to read it before that date even if i can renew it because if i dont read it NOW i never will” deadline-imposed executive functioning really knocked me straight into like, 10 books at once.

all that to say: 1) i finished My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry (Fredrich Backman) and it has perhaps become my favorite book of all time. definitely an oomph of a book in the best way. i wanted to write a more thorough post about it, but i was knocked out by COVID, so i went on to read 2) coraline (neil gaiman)! i’d never read it, and i think if i’d read it when i was a bit younger i’d have loved the adventure and suspense of it, but given that i read it a) after i saw the movie in college (adore the movie) b) as a 23 year old, it fell firmly in the category of “i’m glad i’ve read this. i am very glad this book exists. i am also very glad the movie exists, if only because i feel like the soundtrack adds and because coraline should forever have blue hair and a yellow raincoat.” 3) then i read As the Crow Flies (Melanie Gillman), which is a graphic novel about a teen kid at a church retreat, and while the art is stylistically lovely and the story tries to do some interesting things, it felt like it ended at least two chapters too early? There were a lot of unanswered questions despite the nuances, and the kids are supposed to be 13-14 and they read like 15-16yos, in my opinion. It was less than I thought it would be, given how critically acclaimed it is---but I often find anything intersecting religion and queerness in an interesting way seems to receive critical acclaim (and critical ire) if it’s executed decently, because that’s what’s “interesting” now. 4) Then The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman) --Another Gaiman I’d never read, and this one I found delightful; it’s slightly episodic as it tells a coming-of-age story, and yet also explores themes of loss in life: loss of community loss of family, change of family dynamic as a type of grief, and loss of home---even if as a temporary displacement---as its own grief, and how grief is in itself a form of longing, and how that longing can’t always be fulfilled with an exact replacement, but how life is yours for the living and as long as you are alive you are in motion and you have potential, and to die is to end that potential. you have completed all the changes you will make in yourself and in the world. i even named a spotify playlist around this theme, and captioned it with a quote from Silas, the main character’s guardian: “face your life; leave no path untaken”---“You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you can change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream....That potential is finished." 5) by the time I finished TGB I had finally tested negative for COVID and recovered in full, so I was able to pick up Spinning Silver (Naomi Novik) from the library. And oh. Oh my fuck??? I want this book for Christmas. Someone please get me this for Christmas. I saw the first page posted on twitter, which is how I found out about it at all and got hooked in the first place, but to go from that to an incredibly intricate story that balances so many arcs??? I mean, does she do it perfectly? No. There are absolutely some questionable points where I wonder if the plates are going to fall. There are absolutely some dropped threads that, yes, the world is richer for them having been hinted at, but also, given the tightly-woven story with so many threads so carefully developed, dropped, and continued at later points, it is weird to get to the end and go “Wait, but what about...????” My friends and I had a long conversation about SS last night---like, two hours long, and this being a full month and three books on after I finished it (and they read it ages ago), so I’ll spare you the analysis. But, the aspects of magic in the book, the commentary on work as proof of magic and economics as power and opening the door to both self-power and social power and that itself being magic; the political commentary and EVERYTHING going on with Mirnatius and Irina individually and as an arranged, very political marriage; the mythology of the world...yeah. yeah. if there’s anything i would recommend you on this list wholesale not knowing you, it’s Spinning Silver. 6) then, Sensory: Life on the Spectrum (Rebecca Ollerton) had come out, so I worked my way through that---it’s a comic anthology entirely from autistic artists talking about various parts of their experiences. I found it mostly to be geared toward autistic acceptance/narratives surrounding “life sucked. then i got diagnosed with autism/learned autism exists and realized im Not shit, im just Neurodivergent,” which is a fantastic resource to have and i’m very glad it exists, but the comics that stood out to me the most in the anthology were the ones that deviated from that structure. The two most memorable comics in the anthology, to me, was one that used pocket watches (the artist’s special interest) as their central imagery, and one that had circulated around tumblr that discussed neurodivergence and non-negative self-injury using stylized fruit characters. I would mostly recommend this anthology to someone who is new to the autistic community, or to neurotypical people.

7) i hit a bit of a slump after this (because how the fuck do you follow Spinning Silver?), but I was literally like, 85% through a reread of Norse Mythology (Neil Gaiman) via audiobook from a road trip I went on in May, with only about an hour and a half left to listen. So I wrapped that up. I had never listened to the audiobook---the first (and only) time I read Norse Mythology i began it just before my flight home from college......and then I devoured it across my two flights home and two flights back, despite my return flights being at like, 6AM. Hearing it in Neil Gaiman’s voice and cadence definitely brought the stories he was telling to life, whether on the winding back roads of Tennessee or in my living room while I finished an art project for a friend’s very, very belated birthday. 8) the last and latest book I’ve finished is Turtles All the Way Down (John Green), which was good, and then the last two pages absolutely knocked me flat on my ass. it was like, “oh, this is a good YA book about mental health, and there’s nuance without losing sight of the fact that Mental Illness Is Fucking Hard To Live With, and everybody feels 16, and---oh my fuck WHAT” so anyway. no spoilers, because to spoil it would be to ruin your chance to get knocked flat, but Turtles All The Way Down for YA book about living with mental illness of all time.

--- in December, I set a goal for myself to read 12 books in 2022.

...I read eight of the ten books I’ve completed this year since September. 

Four of those I read in one (1) month with COVID.

I was prescribed ADHD medication at the end of August. 

this isn’t the blog where I yell about all that, but... i cannot imagine how different college could have been for me. how different my life could be.

anyway, meds are an access need.

[bixels]

me too, luna.

[hattersarts]

>>> Risk ineffable husbands, 7 pages

here's a little comic, it's not completely show!gomens compliant but its headcanons i enjoy

comic notes under cut :)

I enjoy Az already realising he likes Crowley by the time Adam appears but hasn't yet worked out what to do with that information bc acts-of-service Crowley Can't Talk, Wont Talk.

Crowley on the other hand has been VERY GOOD at ignoring why he spends so much of his time around Az so only on the crux of YOU'RE GOING TO LOOSE HIM did anything manage to force its way through to his brain. (i did not enjoy crowley being told he was in love with az in s2, i think he could have worked it out himself)

i rly enjoy hcs where they started sleeping together and with humans for fun (i mean the ox ribs scene sets some v good precedent for this) az sleeps with humans bc he indulges! he likes pleasure! crowely on the other hand is very bad at catching feelings and doesnt like it when they die so has mostly only slept with az (did i mention he's VERY good at ignoring his feelings) but they probably haven't slept together for a few hundred years when adam pops up.

my compliant show!hcs are still that az knows he loves crowley (i mean the scene with jim where he leaps out of the chair to attempt to protect crowley saying no he defo doesnt know ANYONE who he feels that way with, don't look closely at anyone he is with) and is just sort of sitting on it still, waiting for any hint from crowley, planning a ball definitely only for humans and no other reason. Crowley is obviously very protective of Az but he still hasn't clicked why he's worried about him but he doesn't have the excuse of heaven or hell anymore so it wouldn't have taken much for him to work it out (hello one of his first lines in s2 is "you ever think, what's the point?" the point is love you idiot)

(book!gomens is just they're already married and have been fucking for centuries but the book just doesnt mention that.)

[hinamie]

unconditionally

[gravygranola]

"Oh shit okay this talk is going to happen earlier than I thought that's okay I-"

"What."

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID in ALT] I've made posts before about Talia/Dick co-parenting Damian moments (will never happen but let me dream) and this came to me in a vision. Took me ages to finish for some reason 😭 and then even longer to post

[lazylittledragon]

ok someone please correct me if i'm wrong but am i weird for thinking those 'audiobooks don't count as reading' posts are ableist as fuck????

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

This wine tastes like pigs blood!

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[mimimar]

finally completed my comic based on the song ivy by taylor swift!✿ please zoom in to read the text and see the details~

✿.✿.✿

you can get the digital zine pdf here! it includes extras like character profiles, costume design, more art of willow and ivy, zine-exclusive sketches and an illustrated guide to the symbolism of all the flowers in this comic.

you can also get prints of individual pages here!

✿.✿.✿

[fanaticalthings]

Jason being the easiest kid is super funny. Bruce looking at Jason and remembering Dick at 18: “we can work through this. He’ll come around if I don’t give up on.”

Bruce, watching over a freshly street-snatched Jason: Why is he so calm

Having Dick as the rambunctious, feral, and unhinged first child must've given him SO much whiplash once Jason entered the picture. Lil guy just vibed in his own world. Just reading books and doing schoolwork. Baby Jason hurt nobody.

Bruce will just be going over the ground rules of the manor, remembering all the chaos Dick brought upon the household.

Bruce: No swinging from the chandelier.

Jason: ?? I wasn't planning to?

Bruce: No murder.

Jason: What? That never even crossed my mind-

Bruce: And please, for the love of God, don't sneak out and try to beat up the nearest criminal on our block

Jason:

Jason: WHO is responsible for these rules being created??

Bruce will just come home from a long day of work. He's tired and just wants a nice, quiet evening, but he's subconsciously psyching himself up to prepare himself for the chaos he'll witness once he enters the manor

but then Jason's just quietly doing his own thing, maybe even helping Alfred with some chores, reading, or just lounging about in the manor. In general, just causing no trouble and Bruce just turns to Alfred, all worried like, "Is he sick? I don't think children are supposed to behave this way."

[fluffyartbl0g]

THEY’RE ALL SO SILLY!1!1!1!!1

Speedrun/Time travel AU masterlist

@nia-rarita thanks for the ask! (Sorry I couldn’t fit both parts of ur amazing ask into this sbs, but I appreciate all the gushing XD)

[bubblingsteam]

[kiisaes]

"doomed by the narrative yaoi" yeah ok buddy (un-dooms the narrative)

[rosanishelios]

canon-typical homophobia

[cubedmango]

「安達が魔法使いにならなかった世界線の話」 + 「もしもの話」 — english translation

[xxplastic-cubexx]

your krakoa era cherik art has altered my brain chemistry

more krakoa era is to come from me my friend so i worry for your brain