#anna whateley

[slaughter-books]

Day 12: JOMPBPC: Floral

Some pretty flowers and the pansexual pride flag made out of books! 🩷💛💙

Happy Pride Month! 🌈

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

JOMP BPC - March 13th - Debut Author

I love it when you fall in love with an author on their first book. Margot McGovern, Andrew Joseph White and Anna Whateley all wrote incredible debuts but are each yet to follow them up 👀 I can’t wait to see what they write when they do!

[monriatitans]

2023 Wrap-Up

Artist Shout-Outs Shared

Current AI ‘art’ is created on the backs of hundreds of thousands of artists and photographers who made billions of images and spend time, love and dedication to have their work soullessly stolen and used by selfish people for profit without the slightest concept of ethics. – Alexander Nanitchkov

Shout-Outs Total: 140

January: 14

February: 12

March: 9

April: 14

May: 10

June: 9

July: 15

August: 12

September: 13

October: 11

November: 12

December: 9

Times a Shout-Out was asked to be Removed: 2

2023 Causes – Trigger Warning

National Black Business Month Quotes of 2023

QUOTE 1: Jeffrey G. Duarte

QUOTE 2: Madam C.J. Walker

QUOTE 3: Aliko Dangote

QUOTE 4: Rosalind Brewer

QUOTE 5: Vernon Jordan

QUOTE 6: Marjorie Joyner

QUOTE 7: Oprah Winfrey

QUOTE 8: Kenneth Chenault

QUOTE 9: Russell Simmons

QUOTE 10: Richard Parsons

QUOTE 11: Lena Horne

QUOTE 12: Wilma Rudolph

QUOTE 13: Sheila Johnson

QUOTE 14: Tyra Banks

QUOTE 15: Best Ayiorwoth

Library Sign-Up Month Quotes of 2023

QUOTE 1: Sarah J. Maas

QUOTE 2: Lemony Snicket

QUOTE 3: Walter Cronkite

QUOTE 4: Ray Bradbury

QUOTE 5: Catherynne M. Valente

QUOTE 6: Dwight D. Eisenhower

QUOTE 7: E.B. White

QUOTE 8: Terry Pratchett

QUOTE 9: Gail Honeyman

QUOTE 10: Stephen Fry

QUOTE 11: Ta-Nehisi Coates

QUOTE 12: Robin Sloan

QUOTE 13: Mark Twain

QUOTE 14: Roger Zelazny

QUOTE 15: Carl Sagan

ADHD Awareness Quotes of 2023

QUOTE 1: Albert Einstein

QUOTE 2: William Dodson, M.D., LF-APA

QUOTE 3: Jesse J. Anderson

QUOTE 4: ADDitude

QUOTE 5: Anna Whateley

QUOTE 6: Sylvia Mercedes

QUOTE 7: Holly Smale

QUOTE 8: Richard Pink & Roxanne Emery

QUOTE 9: Sasha Hamdani

QUOTE 10: Sari Solden

QUOTE 11: Jenara Nerenberg

QUOTE 12: Emma Thomas

QUOTE 13: Rebecca Solnit

QUOTE 14: Shayne Neal

QUOTE 15: Shannon L. Alder

Adoption Awareness Quotes 2023

QUOTE 1: Eleanor Brown

QUOTE 2: Sarah Sentilles

QUOTE 3: Charlena E. Jackson

QUOTE 4: Kristen Howerton

QUOTE 5: Nitya Prakash

QUOTE 6: Diamond Mike Watson

QUOTE 7: Christina Rickardsson

QUOTE 8: Joyce Maynard

QUOTE 9: Lisa Wingate

QUOTE 10: Janine Myung-Ja

QUOTE 11: Nicole Chung

QUOTE 12: Steve Pemberton

QUOTE 13: Celeste Ng

QUOTE 14: Liz Tolsma

QUOTE 15: Rachel Hollis

TW – Human Trafficking Awareness Quotes 2023

QUOTE 1: Asa Don Brown

QUOTE 2: Jeremy Harding

QUOTE 3: Bob Mueller

QUOTE 4: Dillon Burroughs

QUOTE 5: Gladys Lawson

QUOTE 6: Aberjhani

QUOTE 7: Blue Campaign

QUOTE 8: Blue Campaign

QUOTE 9: Blue Campaign

QUOTE 10: Department of State

QUOTE 11: Department of State

QUOTE 12: Department of State

Poems Shared

Poetry of 2023

Art Theft Haiku

Money

Communication 101

Twitter

Public Policy

Art

Work

Lies of P

Understanding

Doritos

Raindrops

“Not All Men”

Neurodivergence

Small Talk

Honesty

Details

“Attention Seeking”

Education

“Deserve”

Communication 102

For the Future

“Behaviors”

“Puzzle”

For all poems, click here.

[sapphicbookoftheday]

Peta Lyre's Rating Normal by Anna Whateley

Today's sapphic book of the day is Peta Lyre's Rating Normal by Anna Whateley!

Summary: "At sixteen, neurodivergent Peta Lyre is the success story of social training. That is, until she finds herself on a school ski trip - and falling in love with the new girl. Peta will need to decide which rules to keep, and which rules to break…

'I'm Peta Lyre,' I mumble. Look people in the eye if you can, at least when you greet them. I try, but it's hard when she is smiling so big, and leaning in.

Peta Lyre is far from typical. The world she lives in isn't designed for the way her mind works, but when she follows her therapist's rules for 'normal' behaviour, she can almost fit in without attracting attention.

When a new girl, Sam, starts at school, Peta's carefully structured routines start to crack. But on the school ski trip, with romance blooming and a newfound confidence, she starts to wonder if maybe she can have a normal life after all.

When things fall apart, Peta must decide whether all the old rules still matter. Does she want a life less ordinary, or should she keep her rating normal?"

[canonlgbtqcharacters]

Peta Lyre from Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal is wlw

[ndcharacters]

Peta Lyre from Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal is autistic and has ADHD

[bookwritemeow]

Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal by Anna Whateley is wonderful. I loved it so much and cried a lot. So relatable. I wish I could send it back to pre-alphabet teenage me. #OwnVoices books are super important. I think Peta and Jeb’s friendship just might be my favourite ever. ★★★★★

[auslgbtqya]

Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal by Anna Whateley

(2020)

From the publisher:

At sixteen, neurodivergent Peta Lyre is the success story of social training. That is, until she finds herself on a school ski trip - and falling in love with the new girl. Peta will need to decide which rules to keep, and which rules to break…        

'I'm Peta Lyre,' I mumble.

Look people in the eye if you can, at least when you greet them

. I try, but it's hard when she is smiling so big, and leaning in.

Peta Lyre is far from typical. The world she lives in isn't designed for the way her mind works, but when she follows her therapist's rules for 'normal' behaviour, she can

almost

fit in without attracting attention.

When a new girl, Sam, starts at school, Peta's carefully structured routines start to crack. But on the school ski trip, with romance blooming and a newfound confidence, she starts to wonder if maybe she can have a normal life after all.

When things fall apart, Peta must decide whether all the old rules still matter. Does she want a life less ordinary, or should she keep her rating normal?

A moving and joyful own voices debut.

'Honest, perceptive and gutsy; I loved tuning into Peta's world.' - Emily Gale        

Goodreads

[notabled-noodle]

🌼 - What’s your favorite book series?

I did answer this one yesterday, but this time I’ll pretend it says “book” not “book series”

my favourite book is probably *is immediately filled with indecision and regret*

um

I’ll give you a list??

I’ll Give You The Sun — Jennifer Niven

More Than This — Patrick Ness

Leah on the Offbeat — Becky Albertalli

Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal — Anna Whateley

I’ve also gotten back into Anne of Green Gables after almost 10 years of not reading it so!! that’s a series!!

[kazuoishiguro]

ok hi- the lgbt books i read in june! plus my ratings :-)

radio silence by alice oseman  (★★★★★)  ⟲

hani and ishu’s guide to fake dating by adiba jaigirdar (★★★★☆)

wayward son by rainbow rowell (★★☆☆☆)

the gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue by mackenzi lee  (★★★☆☆)

taproot by keezy young  (★★★★☆)

red white and royal blue by casey mcquiston (★★★★★)  ⟲

swimming in the dark by tomasz jedrowski  (★★★★★)

the magic fish by trung le nguyen  (★★★★★)

only mostly devastated by sophie gonzales (★★★★☆)

i was born for this by alice oseman  (★★★★☆)

carol by patricia highsmith (★★★★★)  ⟲

heartstopper series by alice oseman (★★★★★)  ⟲

perfect on paper by sophie gonzales (★★★★★)

spinning by tillie walden  (★★★☆☆)

peta lyre’s rating normal by anna whateley (★★★★☆)

less by andrew sean greer  (★★★☆☆)

[slaughter-books]

Day 10: JOMPBPC: Ampersand

I decided to spell out the prompt using the titles of these gorgeous diverse books! 🧡

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

JOMP BPC - June 22nd - Away From Home

I loved it in Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal when Peta was able to go on her school trip and figure out how she felt as an independent person

[monriatitans]

ADHD AWARENESS MONTH QUOTE 5 OF 6: Anna Whateley

Thursday, October 12, 2023

"My room is the safest place my body has. My mind doesn’t really have a safe place." - Anna Whateley

[beautifulpaxielreads]

September Wrap Up

Books completed (ratings out of five stars)

King of Fools (The Shadow Game #2) by Amanda Foody (★★★★)

Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal by Anna Whateley* (★★★★)

The guy, the girl, the artist and his ex by Gabrielle Williams* (★★★)

White Night by Ellie Marney* (★★★★1/2)

Books currently in progress

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia edited by Anita Heiss (anthology)*

All the Stars and Teeth (All the Stars and Teeth #1) by Adalyn Grace

Loveless by Alice Oseman

Ida by Alison Evans*

*Australian author/s

New followers

A whopping 81!!

As always, this does not include ghost/blank blogs. For future reference, I will consider a blank blog to have neither posts or likes (one or other is the fine), AND uses the generic format for new blogs (ie no customised header or avatar). Any blogs that meet this criteria will be blocked immediately.

Reflections on September and Goals for October

I’m definitely liking the new wrap-up format - I think I’ll keep it this way. I’m considering jettisoning the section for new followers, because it doesn’t really consist of anything besides me bragging over how many new followers I’ve got – and complaining about the innumerable ghost blogs out there.

I definitely read less books this month, but I’m not too worried, especially as I changed my reading goal for 2020 from 70 to a more manageable 60. So far it’s working well – I’m already ahead!

I feel like I’m diversifying my reading material generally, although I still feel I could be reading more by authors of colour, particularly by Indigenous Australian authors. I’m still reading Growing Up Aboriginal Australia, but I’m staggering my reading, which works for this book because it’s in an anthology format. This month, I also plan on reading Benevolence, which is written by Julie Janson, an Burruberongal woman of the Darug Aboriginal Nation.

As I said in this post, I now have so many books I want to read that I’m taking a leaf out of @thereadingchallengechallenge’s book (literally, lol) and picking out what I want to read next using a lucky dip system. Some of these include books that have sat on my shelves for ages, as well as books that I have tried to read before and gave up – which I’m trying again, for some unknown reason. I’ll start with picking out books from my “library” category first – which includes the abovementioned Benevolence, The Dark Tide by Alicia Jasinska, and The F Team by Rawah Arja. These three are all Australian, by the way. Did you expect anything less of me?😉

I have so many books I want to borrow from the library at the moment – the lists I’ve set up have gone up to nearly 80 at this point, and it’s still growing. At the rate I’m going, I’ll probably be set until the end of 2021.😂

I’m considering taking part in a few reading challenges this month, so keep an eye out for posts about them! I’ll let you know how I went at the end of the month.

Thanks for reading and see you in November. Until then, happy reading!

[thenightmotherwrites]

OC Can DO!

Swampfolk  Anna-Marie Whateley can …

tagged by @bagheera-is-back​ (art as well)

Rules: BOLD WHAT YOUR MUSE CAN DO ( italics for what they could do, but have never attempted to)

swim / scubadive / read and write / do calligraphy / ride a bike / ride a unicycle / ride a motorcycle / drive / draw / sing / play an instrument / maintain a rhythm / converse in a language / converse in more than two languages / converse in more than four languages / do basic maths/ do algebra / understand structural formulas / read a floorplan / assemble ikea / build a working piece of furniture / build a house / sew a button / customize clothes / make clothes / bind a book / use a vacuum / clean windows without leaving streaks / boil water  / make pasta / remove the pit of an avocado / cut bell peppers / cook / bake / basic first aid / cpr / close a bullet wound / fire a gun / load a gun / shuffle a deck of cards / shuffle a deck of cards one-handed / play or read tarot / use matches / use a lighter / make a fire without either / code / start a computer / hack / steal a car without keys / pick a lock / kick down a door / throw a punch / put an opponent smaller than them into a chokehold / put an opponent larger than them into a chokehold / intentionally break a bone / make a cast / chop down a tree  / put up a tent / make a knot / create a shelter without tools or brought materials / make a cocktail / cut a line of cocaine / change a diaper / recite a nursery rhyme from memory / recite an important religious code from memory / recite the table of elements from memory / recite all pokemon in the pokemon song from memory / recite a 10-digit code 24 hours later after only reading it once / tell a person’s zodiac sign / tell a person’s age / play football / play basketball / play another ball sport / iceskate / use an audio recording device / use a camera / tattoo / do a piercing

my little goblin has many weird ass talents

tagging: @bluegrasskitty​ @pilotjohngrant​ @baddmintonsart​ @wafflesthedragonslayer​ And anyone else who wishes to join!

[dulwichdiverter]

The movie monster of SE22

LEGENDARY HORROR ACTOR BORIS KARLOFF WAS BORN IN EAST DULWICH. WE FOLLOW IN HIS FOOTSTEPS FROM FOREST HILL ROAD TO FRANKENSTEIN

BY MARK BRYANT

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of film, TV and theatre actor Boris Karloff (1887-1969), best known as the monster in three classic, black-and-white horror films based on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein. Not only was Karloff born in East Dulwich, but four of his brothers were educated at Dulwich College and the area has a number of other connections to his life and work.

Karloff, whose real name was William Henry Pratt, was the 10th surviving child of Edward John Pratt, an Anglo-Indian diplomat who had worked as an assistant collector for the Indian Salt Revenue Service in Bombay, before retiring and moving to London in the 1870s with his third wife Eliza and their seven children.

At the time of the 1881 census the family were living at 23 Landcroft Road, which runs parallel to Lordship Lane between Crystal Palace Road and Whateley Road in East Dulwich. Edward’s ninth child (and seventh son) Richard Septimus Pratt was born there in 1882.

By 1887 the family had moved to 15 Forest Hill Road (later renumbered as 36) and it was here – as recorded by an English Heritage blue plaque above what is now a fish-and-chip shop – that their youngest child, William Henry Pratt (known as Billy) entered the world on November 23, 1887. At the time of his birth, his father was 60 years old.

Karloff’s mother, Eliza Sarah Millard, was the Indian-born daughter of a sergeant-major in the British Army in India. Her aunt was Anna Leonowens, who was governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam (now Thailand) and was immortalised in Margaret Landon’s bestseller Anna and the King of Siam (1944) and later in the award-winning film The King and I (1956) starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr.

The young Karloff had two older sisters: his half-sibling Emma, who was his father’s adult daughter by his first marriage to Julienne Campbell and was born in 1850; and Julia, born in 1874. He also had seven older brothers. Of these, the four eldest were educated at Dulwich College, where they were contemporaries of the writer AEW Mason and philosopher GE Moore.

His oldest brother, Edward Millard Pratt (1865-1949), became a judge in Bombay High Court, and the others all achieved distinction in their chosen careers, notably the sixth son, Sir John Thomas Pratt (1876-1970), who was British consul-general in China, adviser on Far Eastern affairs for the Foreign Office and vice-chairman of the governing body of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

The only sibling who showed any theatrical inclinations was the second son, George Marlow Pratt (1867-1904), who worked for a time under the name “George Marlowe” as an actor in the West End but died in his 30s.

In 1888, when Karloff was one year old, his father abandoned the family and by 1891 his mother and the children had moved to a smaller, cheaper house on nearby Friern Road. Then, in 1893, when Karloff was seven, he moved to stay with his half-sister Emma – now aged 43 – in Enfield, Middlesex.

Here he attended Enfield Grammar School before moving to Merchant Taylors’ School in London – where his brother Richard had studied before him – and then to Uppingham School, a private boarding school in Rutland.

He later attended King’s College London, intending to take the exams required to enter the diplomatic service like other members of his family. But in 1909 he decided to give up his studies and sailed to Canada.

At first he worked as a manual labourer in various parts of the country, until one day in Vancouver in 1910 he bumped into Henry Hayman Claudet (son of the pioneer photographer Francis George Claudet), an old Dulwich College friend of his brother John.

As he later recalled: “I was wondering what to do next when a man stopped me in the street and asked if my name was Pratt. I said it was.

“The man was a school friend of my brother Jack at Dulwich and he recognised the likeness. He gave me a note to the works superintendent of the British Columbia Railway and I got a job at 28 cents an hour with a pick and shovel laying tracks.”

Karloff later became a real-estate salesman before starting work in repertory theatre, changing his name from Billy Pratt to Boris Karloff and beginning with the Jeanne Russell Company in Kamloops, British Columbia.

On the outbreak of war in 1914 he volunteered for the British Army but was rejected on health grounds. He therefore continued to act in plays and silent films in Canada and later the USA.

His first screen appearance was as an extra in The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916), which was also the only film starring the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. However, he soon began to make his name, with a standout role as the mesmerist in silent film The Bells (1926). This film has a Dulwich connection, as the play on which it is based launched the career of the famous Victorian actor Sir Henry Irving, who laid the foundation stone of Dulwich Library in 1896.

Other films in which Karloff starred also had links with the Dulwich area. Six years after The Bells, he played the sinister criminal mastermind Fu Manchu in the black-and-white talking picture, The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), which was based on the fifth of a series of novels by local author Sax Rohmer (real name Arthur Henry Ward), who lived in Herne Hill.

Then the following year, after appearing in The Mummy (1932), he returned to the UK to make The Ghoul (1933) – the first major British horror film of the sound era – thereby reuniting with his family after more than two decades in North America.

In this film (which also features Ralph Richardson in his first ever speaking part) his co-star was Kathleen Harrison, who had been to school in Clapham and whose father was borough engineer for Southwark.

But he is best known for playing the monster in Frankenstein (1931) – his 81st movie – and its two sequels. By coincidence, the bosses at Universal Pictures, the studio that made the film, had originally wanted the part of Dr Frankenstein to be played by Old Alleynian Leslie Howard, but the director James Whale had other ideas and the role went to Colin Clive. In another curious link, Howard’s son Ronald (himself also an actor who was born in South Norwood) later starred in two 1961 episodes of Karloff’s American TV series Thriller.

In Bride of Frankenstein (1935) the female lead was Elsa Lanchester, who was born in Catford and later married the actor Charles Laughton, who starred in numerous films. Among them was Payment Deferred (1932), based on the novel of the same name by Old Alleynian author CS Forester, which was itself set in Dulwich.

During the filming of the third movie, Son of Frankenstein (1939), Karloff’s wife Dorothy gave birth to his first and only child, a daughter called Sara, and Karloff reputedly rushed from the film set to the hospital while still in full monster makeup.

Though he appeared in two later Frankenstein films, House of Frankenstein (1944) and Frankenstein 1970 (1958), he played the part of the mad scientist, not the monster.

However, he never starred in any of the seven Frankenstein-themed horror movies produced by Hammer Films from 1957 to 1974. Six of these have a link with south London as they featured Peter Cushing as Dr Frankenstein, whose family lived in Dulwich during the First World War. Cushing also starred as the archeologist in Hammer’s The Mummy (1959), while the archeologist in The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964) was played by Ronald Howard.

Karloff’s later successes included playing himself in the original Broadway stage version of the black comedy Arsenic and Old Lace (1941), in which one of the characters receives plastic surgery to look like Boris Karloff. Although he was unable to star in the 1944 Cary Grant film version of the play (as he was still acting the part on Broadway) Karloff reprised the role in TV versions in 1955 and 1962.

Other notable Karloff films with south London links include The Body Snatcher (1945) and Grip of the Strangler (1958). The former was based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson, whose novels Treasure Island, Kidnapped and The Black Arrow all first appeared (in serial form, before they were books) in Young Folks magazine, published by Dulwich press magnate James Henderson.

Grip of the Strangler, which was based on a story written specially for Karloff by his friend Jan Read, also features two actresses with local links: Brixton-born Jean Kent and Camberwell-born Dorothy Gordon.

In 1959, shortly after the release of Grip of the Strangler, Karloff retired with his fifth wife Evelyn – whom he married in 1946 – to “Roundabout”, his country cottage in the village of Bramshott, Hampshire, to enjoy gardening and cricket (though he still accepted small roles). He had been a keen cricketer throughout his life and when in Hollywood, he was an actor-member of the Hollywood Cricket Club along with Leslie Howard and Clive Brook, another Old Alleynian.

One of the last of Karloff’s cinematic appearances was as the voice of the Grinch in the 1966 animated film How the Grinch Stole Christmas, based on the children’s story by Dr Seuss. The original film, which Karloff also narrated, was shown in Dulwich last Christmas at a special screening to coincide with the release of The Grinch, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. It was shown at the East Dulwich Picturehouse on Lordship Lane, less than a mile from the Forest Hill Road home in which Karloff was born.

Dr Mark Bryant lives in East Dulwich. By coincidence his own stepbrother’s surname is Pratt (though, as far as the family knows, he is not a relation of Boris Karloff...)