#audiobooks really saved me with the reading challenge as well

[noahsbookhoard]

📚April 2024 Book Review (Part 2/3)📚

Lots of "first" this month: there are so many classic authors I had never read before! But they were all really enjoyable, it is another good batch.

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

To save her family's pub, Polly Perks has to find her brother, a Missing in Action soldier of the Borogravian army. She disguises herself as a man and enlist in the army under the name Oliver. A brilliant idea she might not have been the only one to have.

This one I was impatient to read, the concept was such a classic of fantasy novel that I had high hopes Terry Pratchett would make something awesome out of it.

I love the characters in every Discworld novel but this one especially: all the soldiers have different reasons to be here but they all stay together and care for one another. And I love the clown car effect of "surely this one isn't a woman too!" I couldn't get enough of it.

The story in itself is a bit blury in my memory, sorry. It's probably because I listen to the audiobook and I sometimes lose sight of the plot, on top of it being 5 months behind me. I remember most of all the Nuggan's ever expanding list of Abominations (religious taboos which includes the color blue, people under 3ft tall and sneezing) and the question of The Duchess (deified ruler of Borogravia) being alive or dead.

The message of the novel isn't subtle but if you need to be told that war is bad, religious bigotry and jingoism are bad and misogyny is bad you might be beyond subtlety. I love that Terry Pratchett is definite in his position, razor-like in his satire but always entertaining and funny. Fantasy is a political tool and he proves it everytime.

And (because I am still a fangirl inside) I had my little Vimes cameo as the cherry on top. 10/10 no notes.

Murder at the Vicarage (L'affaire Protheroe) by Agatha Christie

The Colonel Propheroe is widely disliked in the village of St Mary Mead, even his wife is cheating on him. So when he is found shot dead and with a strange half written note, there is no shortage of suspects, not even the Vicar with his very unkind words a few hours before. Miss Jane Marple, the Vicarage's neighbour, decides to solve the mystery.

My first Miss Marple novel! I have absolutely no reading order, this is a bit disjointed so I thought it was my first Christie but I remembered that technically I read And Then They Were None some time ago, it just completely slipped my mind. At that point I hadn't read any Hercule Poirot either so I was quite fresh to Christie's writing and ready for the challenge.

I made the questionable decision to read her novels in french because I wanted to give myself the best chance to solve the mystery. I thought reading in my native language would be easier. Well, apparently the most common translation is old and really not that great so I might rethink that! But for the foreseeable future (at least september) I will have read them in french. And completely failed at solving the crimes but that's another issue.

I don't want to say too much about the plot because that's the whole point of a whodunit but Agatha Christie always has the art of making an asshole the victim of the murder and you still want to know who did it just for the thrill of the chase.

But what I love with Christie is her detectives. The characters are usually quite flat and archetypal, but Poirot and Marple are a delight. Where Hercule Poirot is well established and respected in his craft, Miss Marple is just the nosy neighbour with a sharp mind and an even sharper tongue. The narrator is just so done with her putting her nose in this case which makes it even funnier. I love Miss Marple so much, I want to be her when I grow up.

I was absolutely lost in all the clues, so I did not deduce any part of the revelation but even if I had I would not have seen the murdered coming, I was floored. Everything is there, you know it is, and the culprit still takes you by surprise. Great job Mrs Christie, you did it again.

I, Robot (Robots #1) by Isaac Asimov

In the 2050's Dr. Susan Calvin, famous robopsychologist, answer a reporter's interview and tells him several stories about robot intelligence and their interaction with humans.

Asimov is a legend in SciFi so it was a prerequisite in my discovery of the genre. I read very few short stories anthology so I was a scared I wouldn't enjoy it but as always good books prove me wrong.

I don't remember all the short stories, the one who stuck to me are Robbie, Reason and Catch that Rabbit! but they were all good. Some more compelling than others (Catch the Rabbit! stayed in my memory because I STILL don't understand it) but I'll try to give an overall review rather than story by story.

The play on the Three Laws is at the heart of almost all of them: either it is a source of conflict or it helps in the resolution but it is endlessly creative.

Susan Calvin is an interesting character: a woman, pioneer in her field, a respected authority and she represents a more serious and scientific approach. The stories in which she appears are very murder mystery-like: there is a problem, some set of rules; how do you use the rules to solve the problem? Boom, done.

On the other hand you have the more comicsl stories with my goats: Mike Donovan and Gregory Powell! They approach each assignment as if it was some punishment in a hell design specifically for them (mood) and their first step to solving any problem is always to complain about it and bucket with the other. They are such and old couple together, please give me 10 more shorts stories with Donovan and Powell!

House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski

While rummaging in a dead man's appartment, Johnny Truant found a stack of paper, disorganised, written on scraps of paper, some half destroyed. Johnny will lose himself trying to organise the notes, which turn out to be an essay on a documentary film called The Navidson Record. In this film Navidson, a famous photographer, records the exploration of the house he moved in with his family and the strange dark hallway that appeared in the living room.

I've heard about House of Leaves A LOT and had no idea what it was about, I thought it was some dark academia novel and since Fourth Wimg I am weary of social media's popular book rec. A booktube account I follow talked about it and although its reviews was very lukewarm, I was intrigued. The dedication sets the tone: "this is not for you" and that finished piquing my curiosity.

I loved the actual House on Ash Lane subplot the most: it's the heart of the book, the most mysterious and the spookiest. I loved the mise en abyme, and how it saltoed back to be a book in the book's universe. The academic paper language and scientific description of the events contrast with the uncomprehensible nature of the house and the format growing more and more indecipherable as the exploration of the house progresses. It was creepy, I felt pulled in the story, I deeply enjoyed that.

I was more lukewarm toward Johnny's subplot. Watching him slowly lost himself in Zampano's work and lose his grip with reality was chilling but there came a moment where I was lost in references. It was mostly the part with her mother where you can't say what is dementia and what is real. Some theories online are interesting but some or batshit insane and made sense of a small element of the book at the expense of all the rest. At least the Labyrinth under the house doesn't make sense in a somewhat linear matter. I can deal with linear nonsense. The fact that some part of the book (some of his mother's letters and poems) are still undecyphered (That's not just a matter of turning the book upside down) was just frustrating to me: there's content here and I just can't read it? Why?

I read it while oscillating from the french paperback (there's no way you can read it on an e-reader) and a pdf of the original I found in the subreddit for the book. Sadly there's a lot that's lost in translation but also some translating choice I am still pulling my hair about. (September 19, 1988, in which the words aren't translated literally, the name of Parisian streets and landmark aren't the same... either they were throwing things at the wall trying to see what sticks (unlikely) or they knew something us reader don't...)

Overall it is an interesting book, I understand the craze. However I am not obsessed enough to spend much of my free time trying to decypher it. I lurk sometimes in the subreddit trying to see if someone came up with an interesting theory but not much more.

[the---hermit]

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

I am writing this right after I have finished the audiobook, and I have yet to understand how I feel about this book. I am actually writing this review right away in the hopes it will help me figure out how to rate this novel. This is a thriller book that was inspired by And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (which is my favourite murder myster novel), I picked it up knowing only this and to be honest going in blind was a great choice. Of course knowing very well the book it takes inspiration from made a few things predictable, but it was overall enjoyable.

In case you don't want to be like me and want to know a bit more about the plot here it is: the Darker family is a pretty disfunctional family, most of them have been ignoring each other for years, but they all come together for Nana's 80th birthday. Nana was a very successful children's books author, she is an eccentric lady who lives on a small tidal island. This means that on certain moments of the day the island is totally cut off from the rest of the courntry. As the night unfolds things will get pretty scary for the Darker family as they have to deal with who they are and their secrets.

I have a lot to say. Firstly if you know anything about me, you'll know that probably my favourite trope for this kind of books is when a small number of characters are isolated in some way from the rest of the world. It's surely an obsession that started with Christie's novel, and for some reason I just love the vibe. I must say it was done pretty well in this novel, you can see the increasing panic of the characters as things progress during the night. I was a bit intimidated by the fact that this book is inspired by one of my favourite novels, I didn't want to read it with a bias and not appreaciate it. But overall the book is self aware enough of this bond with the classic, and I appreciated it. As I said I saw a few twists coming, but a couple of things I really couldn't tell and I was pleasently surprised, because I didn't think this book could shock me as it did (more in the spoilery section below the cut). My main criticsm is that the characters felt very flat. They are really one dimentional, there's no growth for any character in the past or present, and I feel like each one of them has one or two characteristics and that's it, nothing more. There's the self obsessed mean sister who feels like a middle school bully trapped in the body of a 30-something year old, the divorced parents who hold grudges of past decades, and so on. Daisy, the main character, spends the entire book whining about how no one loves her, and it's honestly really annoying after a while. It gets too repetitive on that point, so much that you start not to empathize with her but being very much annoyed. The book started a bit slowly for my taste, but when it picked up its pace it was really intiguing, and I feel like the audiobook helped a lot. It was definitely the right way for me to enjoy this book. I am not sure yet about how I feel about the big twists, but I overall enjoyed it. I don't feel like giving a super high rating to this book because of what I said about the characters, and I would definitely recommend the audiobook version of this novel.

I read this for the thirller prompt of the jumbo reading challenge.

spoilery thoughts under the cut!

This section contains spoilers so read at your own risk.

I feel like writing a spoilery section to talk about how I felt about the twists, I don't always do this, but I am in the mood for it today. So, knowing And Then There Were None very well I knew I had to look out for a character that only pretended to die, and I got the feeling it was Nana very early on. I will admit my main suspect for the murders was Daisy until the very end, but I also had a feeling about Trixie hidying something, especially after she was saved (as well as the fact that she's a kid, so for the entire book I had a feeling the author would find a way not to have her murdered). The two twists that actually got me were the fact that Conor is actually Trixie's father, I was shocked by it. You definitely have all the hints to get it but I didn't see it coming at all. And the fact that Daisy was actually killed. This is the main thing I don't know how to feel about, I wasn't expecting anything supernatural and the whole I have been a ghost all along thing sometimes feels a bit cheap? As I said I am not sure yet whether I like this twist or not. I didn't love how everyone in this family is obsessed by Conor, but that also has a lot to do with what I was saying about the characters feeling really flat. As you can tell I am still a bit torn on my opinions of this novel.

[lakecountylibrary]

Reading and Rolling

Do you consider yourself a nerd? Are you a Dungeons & Dragons player or dungeon master? Or are you perhaps a fan of the lore or fantasy stories? Maybe you're just a fan of Stranger Things and you're generally curious about the game.

Well, if you've answered 'Yes' to any of those, then this selection of books just might catch your fancy.

Some you might be familiar with; others might be something completely unexpected. Read them to inspire your DnD campaign, or maybe just entertain yourself!

Not sure what to pick? Well, why not decide with the roll of an 8-sided die? Happy reading!

(All of these are of course available at your library, assuming your library is LCPL. Yes, even the official manuals!)

1. Endless Quest: Into the Jungle by @mattforbeck

Get ready! As a Dwarf-cleric, you've been given a task to rescue an adventurer who holds a very important artifact. Can you survive the jungles of Chult? Trust me: in this land, everything's a danger to you, and even victory might not feel so sweet, either. I love choosing my path in these stories, but these ones feel heavy. Good luck! *Only available in audiobook format.

2. ORCS! (Vol. 1) by Christine Larsen

A fun, somewhat juvenile, little trade paperback (without the paper if you get the Hoopla version) featuring a family of orcs banished because of a squirrel-related incident following a frustrating adventure. They'll cross paths with monsters and humanoid races common in fantasy adventures, while winding up on new adventure tying in with another ongoing story.

3. Goblin Quest by @jimhines

Now this is a fun alternative to the classic D&D-esque tropes we're all familiar with. Here we've got a klutzy, near-sighted goblin named Jig who's essentially the runt of his community... a community of cannon-fodder for adventurers! Naturally, you'd think he'd be dead when living with these bullies (especially after crossing paths with a team of adventurers). Instead, he's now their “guide” on a mission that's all too likely to get him killed.

4. The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins by Clint McElroy & @careydraws

If you want some laughs, good art, a surprisingly well-thought-out story, and a even a little bit of seriousness, this might be the book for you. You've got a human warrior, a dwarf cleric, and an elf wizard being guided by the dungeon master on an adventure based on a particularly popular podcast. Too bad this trio is so incompetent! Think they can manage some basic “gerblins” before things get really challenging? See for yourself.

(Editor's note: More titles under the cut to save your dash, you're welcome)

5. Volo's Guide To Monsters

Want to learn about monster lore in the latest edition of D&D? Maybe create a community or dungeon? Perhaps you want to play as a monster? That's right! You can! This book is the perfect supplement for players and dungeon masters or a fun read fans of the fantasy genre.

6. The Monsters Know What They're Doing by Keith Ammann

Are you a new dungeon master setting up your first campaign or maybe a veteran DM looking for ideas to spice up your latest campaign? Do you want to make your enemy encounters more than just a hack 'n slash? Then this book just might be for you. You don't have to figure out how to get inside the monsters' heads; Keith Ammann does it for you!

7. Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons by Patrick Rothfuss

Were you expecting this? I know I wasn't! You're gonna get a lot of laughs and maybe learn a bit about the history of D&D and its past versions in this graphic novel. It might even give you some campaign ideas, or perhaps just an appreciation for how different players play the game.

8. Tasha's Cauldron of Everything

Do you have a character that doesn't quite fit standard D&D mechanics? Are you player or dungeon master who perhaps favors more homebrew-styles in your campaigns? Then this might be for you. It's a more recent entry in the franchise that offers optional, reasonable variations of rules for playing, including stat bonuses, class features, and a campaign.

See more of Garrick's recs

[kindaconfusingme]

Since it's the end of november, I thought I'd give an update on my reading for the Autumn Reading Challenge 2.0 :)

I am working on a few other prompts atm so I think I will be through kind of soon. I have decided to pick books I already own for all of these so I can use this challenge as motivation to reduce my tbr. I fear this post will be kind of long so be prepared :D

Number in the title: Million Girl Vol.1-3 by Kotori Momoyuki

I read the 1rst and 2nd volume of this years ago when I was a teenager and bought vol 3 secondhand for this challenge bc I always wanted to finish it. It’s about a girl at a very elite high school who finds out that her family owes a lot of money to the yakuza. To repay them, she enters the Money Game that is established at her school, which consists of multiple rounds of competing against different opponents in different challenges, cheating is allowed. While I enjoyed the atmosphere and the reading experience, I’m not the biggest fan of anything beyond the first volume. It gets a little absurd and one does not get the chance to solve the mysteries of the rounds alongside the protagonist, which I would’ve liked to try.

Book with riddles: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I love the movie, so I hoped to like the book as well. Sadly, I was disappointed :(

I think one of the problems with it was the pacing, because a lot of the moments that are essential for the plot and should be interesting to read are just really hard to transfer to written text (while looking cool on screen). It’s not that interesting to hear Wade talk about how he has to beat a Pacman-high score. Moments like these were either boring to listen to (audiobook) or skipped over by the author, the latter option being weird as well because some of these moments were quite important. I also found Wade to be pretty annoying and full of himself. I think he compensated a lot of his low self esteem by feeling like the absolute best at knowing niche pop culture details. I kind of relate to that bc my self-esteem is held up by similar things, but I would like to think that I am not as insufferable. Or maybe I am but nobody notices bc nobody can read my thoughts. And I had to listen to Wade’s through the whole book, which made me want to scream sometimes. Artemis was pretty cool, but I felt like a lot of her character was the way it was to make sure she’s the ideal girl that lonely gamer guys wish to meet somewhen (spoken in cliches, I don’t want to shame lonely gamer guys in general here). I guess you can read this book either as a homage to 80s pop culture and be happy about a virtual reality adventure or it reads as a slightly problematic self-insert. … Idk, the book had its moments but ultimately it was a bit of a letdown. I will stick to the movie. And I still love the premise of this story a lot.

Nostalgic read: Sieben Pfoten für Penny – Freiheit für einen Delfin by Thomas Brezina

This book is part of a large series of books about a teenage girl named Penny who gets involved in different stories with animals that usually need saving. Like Flipper 2, the dolphin this book is about – or rather: Should be about. The story of saving this dolphin would be enough to tell a compelling story, if it was detailed enough. Instead, a lot of different side plots get introduced and solved within a few scenes and everything just felt rushed, mismatched and weird. I wondered whether that was because I am reading this as an adult now or if it was because of the way it was written and I landed on the latter since I read plenty of children’s books as an adult that I enjoyed a lot.

Nonfiction: Interest and Investment in fictional Romances (van Monsjou & Mar, 2019)

I stumbled upon this study while researching for my thesis and downloaded it bc boy oh boy am I myself invested in fictional romances – so why not find out what science says about it. I will not go into detail here bc there are too many tiny findings for that, but I was expecting what the authors were expecting as well: That high involvement in fictional romances compensates one’s one loneliness/dissatisfaction with love life and correlates with attachment anxiety. Interestingly enough, the attachment anxiety part was more or less there (they listed some statistically insignificant findings as well though and I don’t remember whether this was one of them and I also don’t remember whether it was found in all studies that included the attachment anxiety measurement). The loneliness/dissatisfaction thing was not found, instead people who were more interested in fictional romances seemed to use those as an exploration for their own romantic wishes – which makes sense, I guess. It is to be said though that the sample was taken from people who were not very involved in fandom over all, only a slight number of participants read or wrote fanfiction for example. As well as the authors, I do think that in a sample that consists of people who are actually involved in shipping and stuff, the results could be more consistent with the expectations, because I do think there is a big difference in the reasons for enjoying the chemistry of a fictional couple casually and being extremely invested in a fictional couple to the point of obsession. Therefore, I’d like to read follow-up studies that have these samples; so far, I have not seen these anywhere.

[luna-helps-writing]

Hello!!!! Could I by any change get a LOTR, Marvel (MCU) and Star Wars (clone wars, originals or prequels - I’m fine with either)? I’m female/straight. I’m 5’1, athletic build, with long black wavy hair, brown eyes, tanned skin, and cat eye glasses. Im a Slytherin, Leo and chaotic neutral. I’m quite the lone wolf and extremely independent but I can be outgoing with very close friends. I’m creative, independent, confident in my own skin, and quite laid back. However, if someone tries to control my thoughts and actions I can be very stubborn. I have a sarcastic and witty sense of humor and love banter. I love art, digital art, video effects/vfx, video game design and graphic design. Literally anything to do with art combined with technology I adore. I also love kickboxing and strength training. I love playing video games and watching all sorts of movies (sci fi/fantasy being my favorites). I don’t physically read much but I love audiobooks. I also love conspiracy theory, sci fi and true crime podcasts. Thank you!

Sorry this took so long! I have lots of request and I had to work all day long, but I’m here now! Thanks for your request❤️

For Lord of the Rings, I ship you with Legolas!

• He is much of a lone wolf himself, and whilst he loves your company, he also appreciates some alone time. Whenever you deem it necessary to be alone for a while, he’ll give it to you without any arguments, because he understands you.

• As an elf, he has seen many ages and many different things, but your art style is something entirely new to him. Not that he minds; he loves it! He is truly fascinated by it and can stare at you for hours when you’re working. You’ve offered to teach him once, as he seemed so interested, but he claimed he didn’t need to do it himself. He just loves to watch you create something so beautiful, even if it takes hours for you to finish.

• I feel like, in modern day, he would be a total nerd. He’d know every podcast or conspiracy theory. He loves to listen or watch it with you, to which you both share your thoughts afterwards. When you don’t agree on something, it always turns in to a playful banter where the both off you will end up with tears streaming down your eyes of laughter.

• Where you are extremely stubborn, he’s very easy going. If it’s something too extreme, of course he’ll try to hold you back, but he loves to see where your stubbornness leads to. He’ll let you go your own way, but he will absolutely be that person who will end up saying “Hate to say ‘I told you so’, but I told you so.”.

For the MCU, I ship you with Peter Parker!

• Listen, we all know he listens to conspiracy theories. He basically radiates that energy. You’d have to be blind to not see it. I can absolutely see the two of you have a notebook with all sorts of conspiracies. You even made one yourself where Ned is an alien imposter. Don’t tell him though.

• He’s great with technology, but not with drawing. He’s more the 3d, physical kind of guy. Not the one who’s great in editing. (As we’ve seen). He loves a creative S/O, but one who makes digital art? He’s sold. Absolutely sold. You sometimes give him little art things, because it just makes his day! He knows the time it takes to make something, so he’ll save it somewhere and look at it for days.

• Yes, he probably got his muscles thanks to the whole Spiderman thing, but he loves to work out with you. He’ll sometimes make a joke about ‘taking it easy on you’, but he will kick his actions up a notch when he notices how well trained you actually are. Spoiler alert, when he can’t win, he’ll tickle you, so run away.

• There will be days where the two of you have a date night, which consists of laying on the couch, eating some snacks, sharing headphones and listening to an audiobook the two of you chose.

For Star Wars, I ship you with Lando!

• Please, just...your humor together? Amazing! You have the best laughs with him. A lot of conversations are made with sarcastic comments and witty remarks, which eventually grows out into some sort of roasting moment, where the both of you can’t stop laughing anymore.

• He knows EXACTLY how stubborn you are. He will absolutely try to stop you though. It’s one of the things you don’t really like. It’s all in good means, you know that. He’s just looking out for you, but sometimes it gets really annoying. You can easily tell him if it bothers you; he’ll stop, but makes sure you think about what you’re doing.

• He’s pretty confident in his skin. Sometimes, he’ll ask you things like “how do I look?” To which you respond with “Not nearly as good as me.” Makes him laugh every single time.

• He made a whole special room where you can practice your art. He even made a little corner where he can sit while you’re busy, just doing his own thing in silence, yet it’s enjoyable to the both of you.

• Game night is a thing. You’ll have one night every week where you’re just preparing to beat each other in video games. He’s pretty average at most, but, for the love of all good; so not challenge him in something like Just Dance or Dance, Dance Revolution, because he will win and it really gets on your nerves.

I hope you liked it! Stay safe during these times❤️

[study-with-wastel]

My #productivity apps

EXTENSIONS :First one I want to tell you of ones of my favourites extension that im using now that are:

Momentum extension: This one show up a beautiful pic behind a minimalist hour log ,followed by a to do list where you can put your most importand to do of the day. This app really help me to focus more in the activity that im doing.

Focus-to-do : This extensión let us put the activities that we have to do at the day, tomorrow ,next month, and also some day. IT give us the possibility to do each homework by pomodoro sesiones that really help me to keep concentrate.

2. LANGUAGE APPS : These apps and resource are ones that I'm currently using to learn French and English And they result usefull!

WordReference : English Traductor. One of the best in my opinion.

Drops :This let us train some languages for 5 minutes a day for free.

Beelinguapp :IT has a lot of Audiobooks to learn languages at whatever level.

Duolingo: This app help us to learn a whole language. Its súper recomment when you sre satrting learning a language

Voyage Comment: This Blog has a lot of podcast to learn French

Bussu : There you can practise a language and level up a lot the pronuntation. You can help other people with them pronuntatiok , and them to you to...

Courses Resource (2 ) :These are resources that a I catch of Coursera Free Courses. They are so interactive and usefull.

DeerPlus : IT teach you a language by games.

Memrise : IT is one of the most complete apps to learn a language. IT has all.

Google translator:I dont recomment this one but it is soo good if you need to translate a paragraph and of you are reading a book in other idiom so you have to translate some words.

Entraînement TCF : This blog also has a lot of podcast with comprensension to learn French

MosaLingua Business English : IT teach you by Flashcards Business English.

3. BLOGGER APPS : These are so bassic apps to edite pictures, help with your blog ,etc...

Canva :This is an editor app. You can make edits, power Point presentations , wallpapers and the only limit is your imagination .

VSCO : Woth this app you can edit your photos with beautiful filters.

Photoshop Express :I dont really use it but IT has a lot of opcions. Photoshopea is one other that that I really recomment👀

Word : Well ,there I write my things in case the post doesn’t charge and got deleted

Genially : This like Canva . However there you have more opcions . Yo can make really good animations with this one . Really recommended

IbisPaint X : With this app you can draw whatever your imagination wants. It one of the best i ve EVER played and if you dont have money to buy an "to draw app" you can try with this, which is free

Background Eraser : IT is to neatly erase the background of some photos . You can make really good elements for your projects with this app...

4. MUSIC APPS:

Spotify : The algoritme of this app help me a lot to know new and beautiful music

Atmosphere: There you can hear a lot of very relaxing sounds to study. Lately I've been using a lot this app and it is really usefull and charming.

Lo-fi Radio: This is a Radio which always plays LoFi music. IT results really comfortable and relaxing.

5. ORGANITATION APPS

Taskade: This is an app to organize your to- do list in a very simple and funny way. You can also do works with other people ...

Alarmy: This is an alarm which have an opcion so usefull that obligate you to take a determinated photo to turn of the alarm... You will really wake up with this opcion...

Habitica : This app have a kind of Habit tracker, a to-di list , projects and a task list. The fun fact is that this app act like a game . So if you complete one of your to do (habit, etc,) you earn money that will let you avance . However, If you dont , your character will lose "life".

Forest : This app let you do Study sesión, unhabilitated all your apps and leting grow app a tree or a plant ... it is so joyful and fun😅

6. HEALTH APPS:

Madbarz: IT have a lot of routines and workout challenges.

Home Workout: IT help you to make your own challenge and have a lot of workout routines.

Freeletics: IT has a lot of routines according your needings and time.

Training: IT help you with the habit of run.

Yoga Studio: IT has yoga sessions with timer included.

7. READERS APP:

Wattpad: It is a really good app to read stories for free and start like a writer . There you can also learn languages by changing the idiom . However be carefull with the grammar of the story that you read.

Goodreads: It is like whatever social red but for readers. There you can find a lot of books reccomendations . Choose a book will never be a problem again.

Sparknotes : There are some books for free with their own study guides

ReadEra: IT is a really good app to saved and organised your pdf books.

Studyblr community challenge

2nd day_____________

Explain your studyblr URl!

My Studyblr URL has a funny reason, almost for me 🤣.Well, when i was joining to play roblox , the game give me the name "wastelfull0999 " :(. So Wastel is an abrevation of that name . And studyblr is because of my content.

3rd day_____________

Why did you create your studyblr?

I create this studyblr beacause I always wanted to do an account who talks about study tips, studying life, books and nerdy things . I dont want a studygram cause probably my friends would critique me ,and when I found this community i found me so free that finally I could post whatever i want on a social web. So there I am .Lot of things are coming...

[thefeastandthefast]

@fishylife tagged me to list my top 10 books of 2020.

This year has been an utter ratking and I can’t remember half the stuff I read or listened to in desultory attempts to distract myself from the obliteration of normalcy as we knew it. This is more a record of books that actually managed to penetrate the dense mental fog enough to actually claim some space in my magpie mind. In no particular order:

My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante

Hands down, the best goddamn novel I read this year. To use a tumblr cliché for a book that crushes clichés about female friendship, about southern Italy, about coming-of-age stories- Lila and Lenù will live permanently rent-free in my head from now on.

Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik

A Eastern European Jewish reimagining of Rumplestiltskin with winter fae and a touch of katabasis. I felt like a kid again, wanting to know what happens next, thoroughly entertained by a well-told story that makes familiar fantasy tropes feel fresh. The time jump ending felt rushed but overall I had a great time reading this.

The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia - Megan Whalen Turner

These taut, clever, and unexpectedly moving books got me interested in reading fantasy again. I had forgotten how transporting well-written fantasy could be, how immersive and pleasurable.   

Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi

This book was a bit uneven, as stories told from multiple POVs often are, but I couldn’t put it down. After getting brief glimpses into the lives of descendants of the same 18th century Asante woman, I wanted more, since so many of the characters’ stories could have filled their own novels. Still, I really enjoyed this ambitious intergenerational journey through time and space.

Know My Name: A Memoir - Chanel Miller

Chanel Miller is a woman in full, formidable command of her art challenging us to bear witness and it’s devastating, in the best way. A friend who had never read her victim impact statement before overheard just a few snippets of the audiobook and was so gripped by her use of language that he now plans on teaching her writing in future linguistics courses. 

Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding - Dorothy Ko

Dorothy Ko writes engaging feminist history because she is especially attuned to the value of material culture in illuminating the lives of Chinese women. The bound foot itself is culture embodied; created for myriad social purposes and now co-opted as a symbol for myriad purposes. (Reminder to self to read The Body as Material Culture by Joanna Sofaer.) This is an incredibly tough topic to cover without tipping into either apologetics in the name of cultural relativism or savior complex polemics- because it involves such a stomach-churning, politicized historical practice and because of the dearth of primary sources from women. Ko manages it with graceful scholarship. The most fascinating chapter was “The Body Inside Out: The Practice of Fangzu, 1900s–1930s”, which described the waning days of the practice and the sociopolitical upheavals that completely altered almost overnight the priorities of the educated class that had always dictated cultural norms. For women with bound feet, resolving the tension between their carefully and permanently altered bodies and a society that suddenly had no room for what those bodies represented was a task that demanded of them an unimaginable amount of investment in that new society. Just an unbearably poignant chapter. 

Story of the Stone: Volume 1, The Golden Days - Cao Xueqin, translated by David Hawkes

I’m slowly working my way through the first volume of five. The David Hawkes translation does indeed live up to its reputation as the foremost English translation of the classic novel also known as Dream of the Red Chamber/Dream of Red Mansions. 

Disclaimer: I’ve not read the original Chinese because this book is far too long to enjoy if I have to read it with the Pleco dictionary glued to my hand but I did read the Gladys Yang and Yang Xianyi translation when I was fifteen. I was enthralled by the story but I do recall the Yangs’ prose being more old-fashioned. The Hawkes translation is actually fun to read and preserves the feeling of vernacular Chinese, which is so important for such a landmark work written in the vernacular and not classical Chinese. I hugely appreciate the poetry, which is such an integral part of the original text and nigh untranslatable. He’s also done an admirable job of conveying the distinct personalities of the huge cast of characters (they feel so alive!) and clarifying the intricacies of the many relationships. The appeal of Jia Baoyu, in particular, had always been difficult for me to understand, but he comes off as such a deeply and sincerely emotional weirdo here that I can’t help but be charmed. And so many complicated, fascinating, sometimes objectively terrible women. Wang Xifeng is a total masterpiece of characterization.

Lacquer: Technology and Conservation - Marianne Webb

I worked on Chinese lacquer for the first time at the beginning of this year and this book saved me on multiple occasions. 

EDITED TO TAG @saltr0se @zerogravitykitty @drivingsideways @seeorseem @rocknghorss @rughydrangea @straydogsandsaranghaes @thatlittleegyptologist (No pressure, y’all!)

[accidentalspaceexplorer]

It is finally the end of 2020, so it’s time to look at my reading stats for the year!

Overall, I’m happy with how much I read this year, since I exceeded my goal of 100 by a good margin, but I didn’t actually like what I read this year as much. Including my ratings for the books I DNF’d this year, my average rating was 3.82/5, which is much lower than last year’s total (4.13/5). Overall, I think this happened for a couple of reasons: the pandemic meant that I wasn’t checking things out from the library for like three months so I wasn’t getting as many things I was excited about, I was more focused on my goals this year (more on that later), and I read more things outside of my comfort zone. I did read some really awesome stuff though, and I’ll have my favorites for this year up soon, but I also read a lot of stuff I didn’t like as much.

Other stats:

I DNF’d 15 books this year

I re-read 14 books this year

74% of the books I read were by female authors

I read 6 books by nonbinary and genderqueer authors

25% of the books I read were by authors of color

42% of the books I read had LGBTQIA+ representation in them

I read 9 nonfiction books

My top 3 genres were fantasy (49 books), romance (36 books), and science fiction (28 books)

It is now time for the aforementioned check-in with my goals! I have a separate post that I’ve previously used to track my goals here but I’m going to talk about the final results down below (spoiler alert I didn’t do them haha)

I definitely didn’t do very well on the goals I set for myself this year. Part of that is that each individual goal is reasonable but without doubling anything, I wanted myself to read at least 115 books to meet my goals. Given the number of books I read this year, it was doable, but it would have required me to be on top of my goals from the beginning of the year and read like no mood books, which is pretty unreasonable I think. Next year I will be setting up my goals very differently! (A separate post will be going up soon about that.)

On to the actual goals now!

finish the books that have been sitting on my Goodreads currently reading list for years - the only one left is Clariel, which is one I was re-reading as an audiobook with my husband, so since he hasn’t been in the mood for it it didn’t happen. Otherwise I was successful! I’m actually really pleased that I managed to finish the rest of them. (6/7, success)

get my physical TBR bookshelf down to one shelf of books - this one didn’t quite happen. My physical TBR is now primarily on one shelf, with the second shelf being devoted to my library TBR and a few of the physical TBR books I’d really like to get to soon. (fail)

read more romance novels - in 2019 I read 33 romance novels, and this year I read 36! By percentages it’s a failure because I read a lot more books this year, but by flat number it’s a success so I’m taking that one haha. (36/34, success)

read through the first twenty-two books on my Goodreads TBR (up through The Collapsing Empire) - I got so close on this one, but didn’t end up finishing The Collapsing Empire before the end of the year sigh. (21/22, fail)

review every book I read - I didn��t quite make it to this one, although I am planning to catch up soon. There are probably 7 books that I read for the first time this year that I haven’t writtten any kind of review for. Weirdly, almost all of them are books that I loved. (120/127, fail)

read Harrow the Ninth - success! I loved it too. (1/1, success)

read Network Effect - success! I also loved this one. (1/1, success)

read more fantasy and sci-fi romance novels - last year, I read 4 fantasy and sci-fi romance novels, and this year I read 8, so I win! (8/4, success)

read more books by non-binary authors - I read 5 books by nonbinary authors this year and one by a genderqueer author, which is much better than I have been doing. (6/3, success)

read at least 5 books in translation - I only read 3: Daughter of Fortune, Persepolis 2, and Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. (3/5, fail)

read 2 books in Spanish - I DNF’d Cien años de soledad, does that count? (.5/2, fail)

read The Laird of Duncairn - I just didn’t do this (0/1, fail)

read Zeus Grants Terrible Wishes - I also didn’t do this (0/1, fail)

find a book club I like - I started one with my friends, which was a great way to get around my problem of not liking the selections in the book clubs I was looking at. (1/1, success)

read 4 more Discworld books, up through Maskerade - I am currently listening to Maskerade, but we’re not done with it yet. (3.5/4, fail)

read 8 nonfiction books - I read 9, although I did DNF one. I did really enjoy some of the ones I read, although there were some definite misses as well. I read The Curve of Time, Because Internet, The Lost Kingdom of the Monkey God, Organizing Success, Wait Till Next Year, Storm in a Teacup, Knitting in the Old Way, Strangers in Their Own Land, and Persepolis 2. (8.5/8, success)

read 3 volumes of poetry - I only read 2 - Felicity and the princess will save herself in this one, neither of which I liked. (2/3, fail)

read Full Fathom Five - this book was really excellent! (1/1, success)

read another book by Guy Gavriel Kay - nope (0/1, fail)

catch-up on at least 3 series - I caught up on 5 and finished 4, although I did start 3 of those in 2020. I also started 15 series, so like...not ideal. However I technically did it haha (9/3, success)

Overall, that’s 10/20, which is not great. One of the things that I really noticed by the end of the year when I was really trying to catch up on the goals was that I had really made reading into a chore. I would catch myself thinking, “No I can’t read Take a Hint, Dani Brown, I have to read Daughter of Fortune next, because it’s on the list.” and that kind of thinking really saps the fun out of reading for me. So next year, I’m not setting concrete goals like read 3 ___ books or read more ____ books, although I am going to encourage myself to read certain categories of books. More on that in the goals post!

[rigelmejo]

random thoughts:

i want to do a guardian print novels comparison lol.

i have a simplified edition which in some ways is excellent: it has the kunlun prequel text, all of the extras, the chapters are edited in a way that clearly indicates priest polished it up to make the story ‘better’ (priest changed chapter 1 from Guo Changcheng seeing a random guy with no legs to Zhu Hong’s tail and fainting, adds details to a lot of chapters). The only thing its missing is the explicit sex scene (I think - it might even have it for all i know, but i’m guessing not since that’s usually cut out of simplified print novels i think?). But like in general - my simplified chinese Guardian novel seems to be the most complete version of the novel as far as final edits/extras. This isn’t necessarily the link I bought from, but this is the simplified print version I have (aliexpress does have a lot of priest books for sale).

I just got the traditional character version of the books (which is so beautiful WOW the covers and inside looks so nice). So far, its chapter content is more like the webnovel (so no scene edits/details added like my simplified version, no Kunlun prequel). There are a few edits of wording on small things (suddenly versus abruptly, next/then, that kind of thing). I don’t think it has any of the extras, so its not the original traditional published version with the shen san extra (i thought it was?). So upside is my simplified copy does seem to be the most complete, and the traditional one i have matches the webnovel most if i wanted to compare differences. Downside is i’m surprised the traditional version has so little content? This is the traditional print versions I bought, volume 1 and volume 2. That site can be ordered from in english, worldwide.

feeling the urge to do something with japanese again but i don’t know what. logically, doing nukemarines memrise decks is... probs the most effective thing to do. i don’t feel like doing flashcards though.

i kind of feel like listening to japanese core 6k or japaneseaudiolessons, just because i can just play them in the background (easier mentally than flashcards). maybe reading japanese audio lessons basically textbook - but that’s if i feel like reading? 

also just kind of. feel like playing a video game - maybe kh2 since i know the game well enough i can still ‘speed play’ if i don’t want to slow down and read everything on screen (whereas persona 3 and crisis core took 1 hour to get to save points since i had to slow down and read everything). i read some scripts yesterday in japanese... and watched some shows yesterday (though that hardly counts since they had eng subs). my mind just wants to ‘do’ things, not really do flashcards lol. so like? listening, watching, playing - my brain thinks it sounds fun! but reading lessons/doing flashcard drilling of study materials, i feel tired lol...

i also kind of. just want to do some challenge for myself like: do clozemaster japanese for 1 month and see how much i get through/how much i improve? or do japaneseaudiolessons for 1 month and see how far i get etc.

chinese wise: i officially re-did all 12 chapters of Guardian with Listening Reading Method step 2 with the other audiobook by wheat. Now I’m officially on a new chapter 13, with avenuex’s audiobook, and going back to doing step 2 AND step 3 (for vocab). Again, as SOON as i switch to avenuex its easier to follow what’s going on without looking things up - i think part of it is the way she narrates sort of... slows down and speeds up depending on the emphasis in the sentence? so its easier to catch exactly what’s key info/characters interacting versus description. and also her voices for everyone are more different, and she edited in guardian drama music so a lot of the scenes i bet have some ‘ingrained’ memory from when i watched the show helping me recognize the scene that’s going on. i imagine for ‘comprehensible input’ this version just has a lot more i ‘get.’ also just in general i love her audiobook ToT. 

though wheat’s is really nice! i like wheat’s voice and would love to talk like them. For shadowing, I find wheats is really good because the audio is mainly just voice, and a deeper voice (which i both would rather sound like and find easier to identify the words clearly as far as for repeating), and all an even speaking speed except dialogue - so i can repeat after what wheat says in small phrase bursts without falling behind too much. So for listening in the background, more general listening practice, and for shadowing practice i plan to use wheat’s more. 

while step 3 is more focus intensive, i think doing it once minimizes how many words i have to look up in step 2 and how many times i feel step 2 would benefit me. when i skip step 3 i feel like i could do step 2 for 3-4 times and keep picking up a lot of new words. so to speed up progress, probably just going to do step 3 then step 2 again (or step 2 then 3 we’ll see).

L-R method has really helped my vocab for guardian ToT i have no problem reading the traditional version now. i also have far less trouble reading new chapters for the first time (still have words i need to look up, just its not enough to prevent me from following the main idea and details). I’m really glad I decided to try L-R method with guardian. I’m really excited how this is going to affect reading other priest novels later (or L-R tian ya ke, sha po lang, mo du). Because i can already notice it making Mo Du a bit easier. and i’m only 13 chapters in out of 100+ plus extras. I notice it makes reading and listening skills better. I don’t know about its claim from some of “from A1 to B1″ in 30 hours (which is what someone did with Italian, with some previous romance language study). Because I was probably like a A2 or weak B1 when I started trying this? (Idk I was like HSK4 with a smattering of extra passive knowledge that didn’t line up to HSK 5-6 exactly, so i could read Xiao Wangzi and watch Shan He Ling etc but only knew like half the words on HSK 5-6). So I don’t know if for a beginner, if L-R method for chinese would get them very far, or how many hours it would take. I’d say for a beginner-intermediate learner though, it will boost your listening level quickly (vocab a bit slower but i do notice progress now). And since listening level can fall behind reading, that’s a nice thing. 

I read about someone who’d done L-R for mandarin for 300 hours though with less progress made though and i’m still curious why. Because i’ve done about maybe 30 hours and seen a lot more - idk if just having a base in chinese first helps a lot (like i got the 300+ hours basic learning done before i even tried L-R method and they just need to get through their hours to hit milestones too), or if they do something different. But given that experience, i do think if L-R isn’t giving small noticeable progress at least every 5 hours or so (and reasonably noticeable progress like easier listening comprehension of previously studied chapters or learned some handfuls of new words in 10 hours) then it makes sense to switch it up or try something else. like for me - switching to a literal word for word text using pleco dictation-translate tool has been much more effective. i would guess in part because its word for word so i don’t have to put in mental effort to re-arrange sentence grammar to the words i’m hearing in the audio (but more effort to know chinese grammar so not as helpful as a beginner in some ways unless u understand the story beforehand with step 1 reading the text in a language u understand). and in part because it keeps my translation synced to the audio so i don’t lose my place, can replay portions, and don’t therefore waste time being as mentally drained or confused. and doing step 2 in pleco (or anything with a quick click dictionary) so i can see some definitions with step 2.

still kind of want to just binge the videos on “learn korean in korean” youtube channel. he just makes such good lessons even though i’m not really studying korean. 

also... mmm... korean clozemaster... mmm (i would probably learn nothing because translations do not tend to be literal for many asian languages on there so chinese and japanese only work for me cause i know enough words/grammar already to catch when things are not literal/outright wrong)

[ladyherenya]

Books read in December

I set myself some reading goals for the end of the year -- finish any books I’d already started, read the books I'd already borrowed, and to read ebooks I’d bought before buying any more. But I guess most of those books just weren’t the right genre? A few exceptions aside, this month I read a bunch of other things instead.

Also read: The Frost Fair Affair and Holiday Brew by Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Sweetest in the Gale and 40-Love by Olivia Dade.

Reread: Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn and Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston.

Total: thirteen novels (including two audiobooks and two rereads), three novellas, and three story/novella collections.

Favourite cover: The cover was what caught my attention for Finding My Voice and Old Baggage.

Still reading: Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks, Or What You Will by Jo Walton and The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett.

Next up: A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis.

*

Queen’s Play by Dorothy Dunnett (narrated by David Monteath): In 1548, Francis Crawford of Lymond arrives in France, incognito in order to protect Scotland’s queen, seven-year-old Mary. I enjoyed this, even though I am not very interested in the antics of the French court and thought The Game of Kings benefitted from having more characters who I found wholly likeable and/or who matter, personally, to Lymond. Dunnett is an impressive storyteller -- vivid descriptions, lively dialogue, nuanced characters and twists that take me by surprise. Moreover, those satisfying puzzle pieces explain the plots and intrigue, give insight into personalities and develop the narrative’s themes (here, the consequences of power). 

The Kinship of Secrets by Eugenia Kim: In 1950, four year old Inja lives with her grandparents and uncle in Seoul, while her sister Miran is in America with their parents. War delays the family’s reunion. This is a fascinating portrayal of two sisters growing up in different countries, and an incredibly poignant story about a family separated. Compelling, and beautifully written, and despite moments of intense grief, hopeful. I liked how, in the end, Inja and Miran didn’t have all the answers.. But I wonder if I’d have found the ending more satisfying if I had a deeper understanding of who they both were as adults.

Teacup Magic series by Tansy Rayner Roberts:

Tea and Sympathetic Magic: Stephanie Burgis recommended this novella as something similar to her Harwood Spellbook series and it certainly has a similar appeal: romantic fantasy, bordering on comedy-of-manners territory. Like Georgette Heyer but with magic and diversity and an intention to challenge problematic and outdated attitudes. Charming and cosy, like a good cup of tea rather than a frothy hot chocolate. Miss Mnemosyne Seaborne, a reluctant guest at a houseparty. She joins forces with the other guests after an unexpected abduction occurs. Entertaining, and even though it was too short for me to really become invested, I immediately wanted to read the sequel.

The Frost Fair Affair: After her previous adventures, Mneme has new friends, a suitor and a campaign: overturning the social conventions which prevent women from travelling by portal. After someone in Town steals her political pamphlets, she gets caught up in a mystery. I enjoyed this oh so much! I found myself caring a lot more about Mneme and her relationships; I liked the mixture of intrigue and danger, and how in the cause of dealing with these, Mneme learns more about the man she hopes to marry; and the Frost Fair, on a frozen river, makes a delightful setting. I'd love to read more.

Belladonna U(niversity) series by Tansy Rayner Roberts:

Unreal Alchemy: Oh, this is my new favourite! Urban fantasy about Australian uni students who are connected to an indie rock band, Fake Geek Girl. These stories are funny, geeky and romantic, with great chapter titles and lots of fandom references. They employ different points of view and different narrative styles in a way that’s really effective. I love the characters and how important and intense their non-romantic relationships are. Between them they have a variety of romantic/sexual relationships and feelings, but friendships and familial relationships, like the one between twin sisters Hebe and Holly, also drive the narrative. The first collection contains four stories/novellas.

Fake Geek Girl -- Ferd moves into the Manic Pixie Dream House; Holly and Sage argue about the future of the band.

Unmagical Boy Story -- Viola has feelings about her best friend losing his magic, transferring colleges and making new friends.

The Bromancers --  The band and frriends spend a weekend at a magical music festival.

The Alchemy of Fine -- A prequel about the band’s origins.

Holiday Brew: This collection is more serious and less overtly fandom-y than the first, but arguably still very meta (especially if you consider Viola, Jules and Ferd as a response to the trio in Harry Potter). I sat down intending to read just one of these stories -- and ended up reading them all.

Halloween Is Not A Verb -- Holly invites various people to their mums’ place for Halloween.

Solstice on the Rocks -- A short story about university graduation.

Kissing Basilisks --  Begins on New Year’s Day, is compelling, and picks up the non-band-related narrative threads from Fake Geek Girl.

Missing Christmas by Kate Clayborn: This novella is loosely connected to Beginer's Luck but stands alone. It's sweet. Business partners and best friends Jasper and Kristen pay a last minute trip to a client and get trapped by a blizzard, which pushes them to reconsider the boundaries they’ve drawn in their relationship. I liked the moments which showed that they’re an effective team because they know each other so well and can communicate through subtle body language. 

Finding My Voice by Marie Myung-Ok Lee: Ellen is a Korean-American teenager in her final year of high school. Her story is about applying for college, gymnastics training, Ellen’s relationships with her best friend and her first boyfriend, dealing with racism at school and with her parents’ expectations that she will follow her sister to Harvard. It’s very short, first published in 1993. I was aware of all the places where a YA novel written today would be allowed to give more details and to expand the story, but it was still interesting.

The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas: I’ve borrowed this several times this year, only to return it unread each time, and I was starting to wonder if I really wanted to read it. But once I actually sat down and focused, I quickly realised that I definitely did! I became completely engrossed in this Mulan retelling. It’s a tense adventure. I enjoyed the characters and their interactions, particularly the elaborate courtesy of formal conversations, and the way Mulan and her companions value loyalty and camaraderie. I thought this was a very believable take on the whole girl-disguised-as-a-boy thing too.

Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce: In 1940, Emmy wants a newspaper job but is instead typing up letters for a women’s magazine and discarding mail from readers whose problems are Unacceptable. Frustrated that Mrs Bird won’t offer advice to so many women in need, Emmy's tempted to take matters into her own hands. Her optimism means she makes some naive mistakes, some of which made me wince, but it’s also an incredible strength. She's delightful company. I really like how much of this story is about her friendship with Bunty and I enjoyed the insight into women's magazines and the Auxiliary Fire Service.

The Lonely Hearts Dog Walkers by Sheila Norton: Recently separated, Nicola moves back in with her mother, starts as a teaching assistant at her daughter’s new school, gets a puppy and joins a group of dog walkers, who embark upon a mission to save the local park. This was very low-angst and, once I realised the sort of story it was, kind of predictable. I can recognise the appeal of this brand of realism, but personally would have preferred more humour or more emotional complexity. Were Nicola a colleague, it’d be easy to find things in common to discuss, but her story wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett: When Josie and her mother return to Beauty to look after the family bookshop, Josie has plans -- keep to herself, finish high school, secure a photography apprenticeship, move to LA. But after Josie accidentally breaks a store-front window and her childhood friend Lucky takes the blame, Josie’s priorities change. I enjoyed this more than I expected to. I particularly liked how Lucky subverts people’s expectations, and how Josie’s family works at communicating better with each other.

Old Baggage by Lissa Evans (narrated by Joanna Scanlan): It’s 1928 and Mattie Simpkin, a now-middle-aged militant suffragette, lives in Hampstead with her friend Florrie Lee (aka The Flea). Mattie gives lectures about the suffragettes but realises she’s not reaching the younger generation. So she starts a club for “healthy outdoor fun” for teenage girls. Mattie is wonderfully forthright -- amusing, engaging and informative when it comes to things she’s passionate about -- but she’s also fallible.  A really delightful yet bittersweet story about friendship and loss and the opportunities available for women. I liked its awareness that being able to loudly be yourself is a privilege not everyone has. 

There’s Something About Marysburg series by Olivia Dade:

Teach Me: Rose is unimpressed -- not only must she share her classroom with the new history teacher, he’s been given her Honors World History class. There’s something particularly satisfying about people who have been hurt and lonely finding support and love in each other. I like that they get to know each other over many months. I like Martin’s relationship with his teenage daughter and Rose’s relationship with her ex’s parents is so touching that one scene made me cry. And it was interesting seeing the US school system from the perspective of experienced teachers; I appreciated the details about their jobs.

Sweetest in the Gale: a Marysburg story collection contains three novellas about couples in their forties.

Sweetest in the Gale -- Griff is worried when Candy, a fellow English teacher, returns for the new school year uncharacteristically sombre and subdued. A really sweet romance about people who are navigating loss and grief.

Unraveled -- Maths teacher Simon is assigned to observe and mentor the new art teacher, Poppy. I enjoyed the threads of mystery.

Cover Me -- After a concerning mammogram result, Elizabeth marries an old friend so she’s covered by his health insurance. Predictable as anything, but that made it a safe position from which to explore serious and sobering topics.

40-Love: I’m not interested in tennis or holiday resorts; I was disappointed that this novel wouldn’t show Tess being an assistant principal; and even though some of my favourite fictional couples have a significant age-gap, I’m wary about age-gap romances (and socially-programmed to think it’s odd for a woman to date a much younger guy). But I liked the other stories in this series and I was curious. It’s Not really My Cup of Tea, but I was convinced that Tess and Lucas were both capable of making their (somewhat unconventional) relationship work. An interesting exercise in challenging my social-programming.

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn: After watching Bridgerton (not always to my tastes but mostly fun), curiosity prompted me to read the opening of the second novel, and I was so entertained by Kate Sheffield verbally sparring with the viscount, whom Kate is determined to prevent from marrying her younger sister. I continued to be entertained up until the viscount acts a bit too entitled on his wedding night (that’s unattractive, if outrightly problematic). Which left me in rather an uncharitable mood for the final act, so I can’t identify if the drama of dealing with past traumas didn’t meet the standard of the earlier comedy or if I just hold such scenes to differing standards.

[jessgartner]

2020 Life Olympics

The real Olympics may have been canceled in 2020 but the Life Olympics persevered like the postal service of Olympics. 

First, I’d like to apologize for my role in the chaos of 2020 because I think I had a slight miscommunication with the powers that be and I feel partly responsible. Here was my plan for 2020: 

My theme for 2020 is Intention because I want to take the energy I feel right now and deploy it with more intentionality next year - bringing increased mindfulness to how I spend my time, money, physical and mental energy. And because I love wordplay, I also literally want to spend more time camping “in-tent” to enjoy more peace and quiet and beauty in nature.

The universe was like, “Oh, she wants to spend less money and more time outside? Well, shut it down. Shut the whole planet down.”

I mean, mission accomplished, I guess? I did spend less money and more time outside and had to be VERY intentional with my mental energy to survive the day-to-day morass of 2020. Next time, I will be more specific with my annual manifestations. Sorry to all. 

2020 was brutal for pretty much everything and everyone. I don’t know anyone who isn’t in some state of grief right now, including myself. I debated doing a Life Olympics at all this year, feeling like-- what is the point? Hundreds of thousands of people died, our democracy is hanging on by a thread, and millions of people lost jobs, businesses, and homes. 

Like many people, I’ve been struggling with anxiety and depression this year which intensified as it got darker and colder outside. At a low point, I talked with my therapist about the struggle of just not wanting to do any of the things that usually bring me joy-- and how periods of relief were so fleeting. “But you have to keep doing those things,” she said, “even if they’re not working right now, you have to keep doing those things and trust the process; the joy will return.” 

So even though I don’t really feel like it and kind of feel like it’s dumb, I’m writing the 2020 Life Olympics. I’m trusting the process.

2020 Life Olympics Recap

Work - Participation Trophy

Starting a company is hard, operating a company is harder, but running a company during a global pandemic and economic crisis is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. 2020 was not a fun year to lead a business; it was hell. On March 15, the plan for the year pretty much went out the window and everything went into survival mode. I never take the company or my team for granted, but I’m particularly grateful to be able to usher this work into 2021.

Despite the craziness, we still had some big wins this year. We launched new product partnerships with PowerSchool and Amazon Business. We rebuilt our tool for equitably calculating district funding formulas. And I got to flex my creative muscles with EdFinToks! Throughout it all, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a team of people who are as compassionate as they are talented. 

I’m worried about public education more than ever after this year, but I’m going to keep fighting every day to make it work better for kids. 

This is Work-Lite but I also spent a good chunk of time this year leading the modernization workgroup for Bill Henry’s transition committee after his spring primary election to become the new Baltimore City Comptroller, ousting a 25-year incumbent, Joan Pratt. This was an enlightening (and infuriating) experience for me that gave me a glimpse into the operations of a segment of the City government. This process also really helped crystallize how much I enjoy making public agencies function more efficiently; I’m excited to see what Bill does with the recommendations (some are already being put in action!)

Health - Gold 

This is the second year in a row (and ever) that I’m giving myself a Gold medal for Health. This was easily a year that I could have regressed on all of my healthy habits and no one would have blamed me. Instead, I leaned into protecting and improving my physical and mental health in 2020. It’s not an exaggeration to say that walking probably saved my life this year. I spent a lot of time walking around my neighborhood and various state and city parks-- walking is maybe not the best word; I stomp and charge around like I have a score to settle with the ground beneath me. My walking increased 370% in 2020. This is a habit of 2020 that I’d like to keep. My brain and body are happier if I can spend a little time walking-- stomping-- around outside each day. 

I also did a lot of biking this summer. My cycling increased 200% this year-- with much more time spent cycling outdoors. My crowning achievement this year was biking to and from Annapolis:

I spent a LOT more time outside this year which was critical for my mental health. On the downside, I only did 90% as much yoga and 60% as much strength training, so I want to try to be a little more balanced next year. 

I also invested a lot in my mental health this year. I kept up with therapy every 2-4 weeks and in October I decided to pursue a formal diagnosis for ADHD which I definitely have! Needless to say, staying in one place this year has been a special kind of hell for me. 

Home - Silver

Well, I definitely spent less money this year. And the way I did spend money made me (mostly) sad: 

Travel down 70% 

Auto & Transportation up 200% (boo cars)

Shopping down 60%

Personal Care down 35% 

Gifts and donations up 200% 

Food and Dining down 40%

Entertainment down 35% (I kept up my singing lessons virtually which accounts for a lot of this category) 

2020 was quite the palate cleanser from my 2019 year of hedonism but maybe we can go for a happy medium in 2021? Just kidding-- I will resume my hedonist ways the minute the world opens. 

I also redid my home office like every other work-from-homer on the planet and replaced my crumbling kitchen floor so the house got some TLC. 

But nobody enjoyed having me home all year as much as Darwin:

Relationships - Bronze

What a weird year for relationships of all kinds. I’m giving this a Bronze because while I invested a lot into a few relationships this year, there are also a lot of people in my life to whom I haven’t been able to give my time and love. 

One of the most important relationships in my life this year was with one of my former students. After bouncing around in the foster system for many years, we reconnected around the holidays in 2019 and he started crashing with me while we tried to figure out stable housing and employment. He was arrested in January and was incarcerated for the next several months awaiting trial. Finally, we were able to negotiate a plea agreement with the State’s Attorney and he came home around Independence Day. We spent the next several months getting him set up with a phone and various identification documents-- a nightmare in normal times and a total abyss during the pandemic. I got him registered to vote when we got his ID card and I took him to vote for the first time (a supreme treat for this former social studies teacher):

He’s now got a full-time job and stable living situation. Calling this THE success of 2020. Thank you to everyone who helped me with resources all year for housing, legal processes, and documents. It takes a village. 

It was a bizarre year for family. We lost my grandmother in September, so not being able to spend the holidays together felt like an especially cruel loss. Other big losses this year include a trip to France to celebrate a milestone birthday for my mother and my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding (Mosby seemed pretty ok with the alternative plan, though):

But in many ways, my family has been more together than ever this year thanks to prolific group chats and photo-sharing. Mostly, I’m just glad everyone else is safe and healthy. As my father often reminds me, “Our problems are small.” 

And dating? What to do with this weird Jane-Austen-esque dating scene-- as if modern dating weren’t fraught enough. Is this the universe punishing me for ending my 2019 dating hiatus early? I, for one, have given up. You win this one, pandemic. I’m just going to have my little Twitter crush and call it a year. Next year, though...

Horizons - Silver Gold 

You know what? It’s hard to expand your horizons without people or places. 

I did the best I could. I finally got back on track with my Goodreads challenge and actually had a really good year of reading, including finally embracing audiobooks through my Libro.fm subscriptions. I especially enjoyed Michelle Obama’s book Becoming and Mike Birbiglia’s The New One on audio-- both narrated by their authors. 

I camped in Pocomoke (MD), Western MD, Lake Michigan, and Ohiopyle (PA):

I explored over 30 new hiking/biking trails-- some favorites including the Youghiegheny River trail in PA, the NCR trail, Catoctin Mountain, the C&O Canal Towpath, Annapolis Rock, and of course, Stoney Run in my backyard. 

I left Facebook and started the Life Olympics newsletter. I’ll be honest, I don’t miss Facebook but I also don’t understand where that energy, time, and brain space went. I was spending cumulatively hours a day mindlessly scrolling Facebook and I quit cold turkey and barely noticed-- what black hole of our brains does social media occupy? I kind of thought that with all that extra time I would write the next great American novel or something. I’m probably spending a little more time on Twitter, which I could stand to cut back on. Other than that, I think I was just trying to process the shitstorm of this year. Maybe I’ll write the next great American novel post-pandemic. 

For the first time in my life, I feel somewhat ‘caught up’ on pop-culture. I finally watched Parks and Recreation (twice); I watched The Mandalorian and finally actually watched Star Wars (episodes IV-IX); I watched the final seasons of The Good Place and Schitt’s Creek; I’m caught up on Insecure; I watched The Prom and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Jingle Jangle; I even started Bridgerton. I know what everyone is talking about and I’m catching so many more pop-culture references these days. (I guess instead of writing the next great American novel I watched Netflix?)

2020 Lessons

I’ve spent plenty of time mourning the missed opportunities of 2020 and will probably always wonder what this year could have been in an alternate universe with a functioning government. But we only have this reality for now, and we made the best of it. 

I wanted to slow down in 2020, try to be more intentional, more mindful, and...

No thank you! I liked the pace of my life; it makes my brain and heart happy. I’m happiest when I wake up in a different city three days in a row. I like darting around every borough of Manhattan for nine meetings and three cocktails and then taking a red-eye to Europe. I want to run around to eight conferences for 18-hours a day for three weeks and then sleep for 22 hours. I miss overloading my brain so much that I need a deprivation chamber to sleep. This is who I am. This is how I like to live. And when I was locked down alone in the house for a year, slowing down, being mindful, I never once thought, “I should have... when I had the chance.” Because I always did. And I always will. 

2021

We shake with joy, we shake with grief.

What a time they have, these two housed as they are in the same body.

Mary Oliver

We’ve had enough grief. 2021 is going to be all about joy.

Universe, let me be clear: this is not a euphemism or code or secret signal.

I want pure, unadulterated, abundant, joy. I want multi-course dinners in restaurants with lots of close friends and good wine. I want the virus so far gone that I can make-out with handsome strangers. I want a rollicking good time in France and/or Brazil and/or Prague and/or New Zealand and/or Bali. I want to spend the day after Christmas in NYC with my father. I want to be a glutton for theatre and art and music. I want celebrations and parties and sequins. 

I want to shake with joy. 

If you’d like to receive the (shorter) monthly Life Olympics, subscribe here. 

[writeroftheprompts]

Back to School Tips

A lot of you might be going back to school soon (like me) or have just started. Since I’m starting my fifth year of uni (it’s a six year program 🙃) I figured I would share some of my findings. These things have gotten me through four years of university so far while working part-time with a great GPA, decent sleep, and time for myself. School is damn hard and I’ve made plenty of mistakes and had plenty of break downs but it doesn't have to be as bad as it seems.

Plan. Your. Shit. Listen, listen, I know this is what everybody and your mother tells you to do but there’s a reason. The thing is you need to plan ahead as much as you can in the best way that works for you. The next four points are about planning and getting organized and it’s what works best for me so maybe it can help you or you can incorporate some of those points in your own technique. But whatever you do. Plan your shit.

Use a calendar. If you are in college/uni you probably have a syllabus from your classes that breaks down what your readings will be and at least roughly when assignments and tests will be. In September an essay that is due in mid October seems like a far away problem, and realistically it is, but that doesn't mean it can't help you plan. Go through the syllabi and mark down when each things will be due. I like using the calendar app on my phone/laptop and make a different “calendar” for each subject with a different colour so that I can see everything easily. This can help you see things better at a glance and help you plan other things that pop up in the future.

Break down your time. If you can break down your time into specific chunks of time it will help you focus on that task and also allow you to rest. For me, I plan what I’m going to work on during my commute to campus (I take transit) and depending on my schedule I’ll also plan out chunks between classes or specific chunks when I’m at home. The key is SPECIFIC chunks, not just “On Tuesday I'm going to do X”. These chunks keep you accountable to yourself so you don't keep procrastinating it later in the day, help get your mind set on the task, keep you organized, make the task seem more manageable by creating a limit, and also help you allow yourself to relax. If you tell yourself “I’m going to work on my paper between 11am-1pm” and you buckle down and do it for those hours, then you can rest easier and not feel as guilty during your down time that you aren't working on something else now. You planned what needed to be done, assigned the chunk, and now it’s time to relax. Breaks. And. Rest. Are. Necessary. 

Build a routine. I like to plan out 1-2 weeks ahead of time. On Sunday I will plan out my studying for the next two weeks, as best as I can because there are always unknowns and things that pop up, and then the next Sunday I’ll plan out the following week. This means that things won't sneak up on me. It takes a little trial and error at the beginning of the semester but eventually I find a routine where, for example, I will do the weekly readings for one class on the Monday commute and another after lunch on my day off etc. Extra chunks are left over for assignments and things that aren't regular weekly tasks. Sometimes those chunks are left free (or for getting ahead if I want), sometimes on really busy periods I have to create more study chunks, but at least I have a routine to know what needs to be done when. 

Be realistic. So how do you actually assign these chunks? Underestimate yourself. Seriously. You think you can create that whole presentation in two hours? Give yourself more time. Maybe it actually takes less time in which case, congratulation, but if not you may be putting yourself in unnecessary stress. I actually like to make my own due dates for assignments a day or two before it is actually due. For example, if I have a research report I will plan out chunks for outlining, a few for writing and researching, editing and then actually write in the plan, highlighted, FINISH REPORT on the chunk I intend to finish so I can make sure I’m on track. Then I’ll add an extra chunk just in case but I don't actually expect to need it. It’s a fail safe for when something goes wrong or there’s something unexpected. Again, breaking down your time like this will keep you organized and on task when you need to be, but also help you see that all work you have to do isn't as all-consuming as it seems. You’ll be okay.

Here is a post I made a while back about research tips.

Use the library. Duh, right? But this is more of a money saving tip. This might not be too helpful to everyone but since I’m in English and History a lot of my readings are from novels and books that are readily available at the library. Rather than buy all the books, I try to find them at my university library or even my local library. I still have to buy a lot, especially textbooks that I’ll actually be using all year or in the future, but for that $20 novel I’ll only need one week I get it from the library. Those little books really add up and I save a few hundred every year. You can even use OverDrive which will connect to you free ebooks and audiobooks you can access through your local library. Best part is it is completely legal and you can download them on your phone with the app so you can read whenever you have time and the book will automatically be returned when the loan is over. 

Find the study environment that is right for you. This will be different for everyone. For me, I work best when I’m alone and with background sound. This is why working on a bus, in a noisy student centre or with instrumental music works well for me (music with lyrics is distracting). Some people need silence. Some people like study partners to bounce ideas or even just sitting at the table with them, but for me I know that sitting with friends will inevitably lead to chatting. Sometimes it’s nice just to talk over ideas but when I really need to focus I know being alone and with an instrumental playlist is the best way to go. Be honest with yourself and others about the environment you need to be successful.

Don’t be afraid to speak up when you need help. Your professors, teachers, and TAs are not evil (usually) and they usually do want to help. I won’t lie, going to office hours can be a little nerve-racking and it isn't always super helpful but when it is it has made a huge difference. These people have been learning, working, and teaching in this field way longer than you have and they can help make sense of your jumbled paper thesis or unravel a lecture you didn't really understand. Also, if you go to them with work done and they can genuinely see you are trying to take the course seriously, they can help you with due date extensions if you really need them. Be honest when you aren't understanding something because, trust me, the confusion and stress will just keep building. If the person you go to is worth anything as an educator they will help you and will understand that this stuff is hard and appreciate that you are trying your best. (Sometimes they’ll even give you the inside scoop on future assignments or test 😉)

Also, speak up to work managers or other people you are accountable to. It’s best to book off time ahead of time when you know you’ll be busy but it doesn't hurt to respectfully ask when you need help. Sometimes you’ll get a no, which sucks, but sometimes you’ll get a yes. Talk to friends or family too fi you have commitments that you know won't be good for you. Be respectful and honest about what is happening and they’ll understand. They may even be able to help out.

You can’t write a real paper in one day. Yeah, I’ve seen the memes and videos of people being like “Lol, teachers always say I can’t write an essay the night before. Challenge accepted!” You can’t do it. You just can’t. Maybe in high school but I don’t recommend it. Or maybe you are a superhero and can properly come up with an interesting thesis for a 12 page paper and organize all your points and find the minimum required seven outside peer-reviewed sources and write the damn paper, cite, and edit in one day but...I sure as hell can't. Just don't do this to yourself. See above planning tips and research tips to do this properly and with minimal stress. 

Colour code. Having organized notes can go a long way. When I’m actually writing them in lecture it can hard to make them look as clear as I want but I try to at least make subheadings and bold if I can. When I have time I might go back and clean them up a bit. When I’m studying I colour code. Most profs and teachers will give you an idea of main course themes and topics maybe in the syllabus or in outlines at the beginning of lecture. Some even give Key Terms! Take note of those and keep them mind while studying so you can colour code pieces of information by topic or theme. This will help you later on when you are trying to find a piece of information and also make links between the information that will give you a deeper understanding of the material. 

Learn to forgive yourself. Like I said in the intro, I’ve made mistakes. I’ve gotten grades I’ve been disappointed with or been late to something important or overworked myself or a bunch of other things. You are trying your best. School is HARD. If you are starting post secondary now it is very common to have your grades drop and it’s not because you are terrible at what you’re doing or not trying hard enough it’s because this shit is fucking hard. You’ll get there, you’ll get the feel for all this newness and you’ll realize that you’re doing okay. When you make a mistake, do what you can to correct it and learn from it, but then accept that what has already happened can't be changed and you can only forgive yourself and move forward. 

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. I can probably physically eat five full bags of salt and vinegar chips in one day but it will probably burn a hole through my stomach. I can work myself to the bone and pull all-nighters and keep studying through the tears but I shouldn’t. You might think you can work yourself to the brink repeatedly but you can't. You will burn out. If you wouldn't do something physically unhealthy like downing an obscene amount of salt and vinegar chips just because you can, you shouldn't do something that is going to break you down emotionally and mentally. Ask for help and do the best you can while still maintaining some healthy boundaries. 

[ba-mi-soro-orisha]

What books are on your nightstand?

“All the Stars and Teeth,” by Adalyn Grace; “Ninth House,” by Leigh Bardugo; “The Last Arrow,” by Erwin Raphael McManus. I always have an itch for great fantasy, which Grace and Bardugo provide. And I’m always interested in self-development and books that feed my soul like “The Last Arrow.”

What’s the last great book you read?

“Daring Greatly,” by Brené Brown! I was really moved by her Netflix special, and listening to her audiobook came at the perfect time in my life. She has a way of perfectly describing some of the most intimate human emotions and experiences, and she provides concrete, actionable solutions. She gave me a new level of self-awareness that’s helped me navigate my life in a meaningful way, so I’m a big fan.

Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?

Recently, no. The vast majority of American classics were ruined for me because schools made me read them too young. If I remember correctly, I think I had to read “Self-Reliance,” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, in seventh grade. I remember reading “Death of a Salesman” in high school and hating it, but when I read it in college I loved it. I was blown away by what Arthur Miller had created. Because of that, I’m saving my reread of the classics for a time when life isn’t too crazy and I can focus. I want to make sure if I don’t like what society has deemed a classic story, it’s because I don’t like the actual story, and not because I didn’t understand it when I was 12.

Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how).

My ideal reading experience is on the beach, under an umbrella, with my Kindle, and with a tasty drink and snack by my side.

What’s your favorite book no one else has heard of?

I don’t think I have one? I’m a pretty basic person. I’m not even cool enough to like niche anime. Everything I gravitate to is pretty well known because they are such amazing stories.

If I had to pick one, I’d say most of my younger readers probably aren’t familiar with “The Souls of Black Folk,” by W. E. B. DuBois, and most of my older readers probably aren’t familiar with “Six of Crows,” by Leigh Bardugo.

What book should everybody read before the age of 21?

“The Poet X,” by Elizabeth Acevedo. It’s a stunning story told in verse about a young Dominican poet learning to use her voice and take up space. I think as we grow up and start to discover who we are, we also have to discover what we want to say. Then we have to get comfortable saying it. I think this is the kind of story that makes you feel strong when you’re reading it, and then you can lean on that strength when you need to use your voice and take up space in your real life.

Which writers — novelists, playwrights, critics, journalists, poets — working today do you admire most?

For novelists, I’m a forever-fan of Sabaa Tahir. Her debut fantasy — “An Ember in the Ashes” — was the epic tale that inspired me to write “Children of Blood and Bone.” It moved me in ways a story hadn’t moved me before and gave me a chance to imagine a fantasy world with characters I’d never gotten to see before.

For journalists, Shaun King. The work Shaun does for the black community is incredible. I respect his strength, tenacity and passion, and I admire him deeply for the commitment to getting our stories out.

For critics, I think YouTubers like Cosmonaut Variety Hour and Alex Meyers? I get a lot of entertainment from their television and movie reviews, and also get refreshers on good storytelling.

What writers are especially good on adolescent life?

Angie Thomas, Nic Stone and Jason Reynolds!

How do you distinguish Y.A. books from adult fiction?

Honestly, the main difference to me is how quickly I’m captured and transported into the story. I find the best young adult novels have all the best parts of adult fiction — the extensive world-building, the complex characters, the beautiful prose — layered over a fast-paced, exciting plot. Most of the adult fiction I read takes its time building to the climax.

Which young adult books would you recommend to people who don’t usually read Y.A.?

I always recommend “An Ember in the Ashes” and “Six of Crows” after one of my readers has finished “Children of Blood and Bone.” I find those three fantasies crossover really well and help hook people into reading other young adult books.

What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?

That you’re not supposed to fight your anxiety, you’re supposed to fight the things that are causing your anxiety by setting better boundaries for yourself and for others. That’s one of the golden nuggets in “Daring Greatly.”

Which genres do you especially enjoy reading? And which do you avoid?

I love a good romance! I’m always game for young adult fantasy and sci-fi. I want to read more adult books, contemporary books and poetry. And sadly, I avoid nonfiction. When I read, I like to go somewhere else in my mind with stories that touch our real world without taking place in it.

What makes for a good fantasy novel?

I think the most magical fantasies will always be the ones with a world you want to live in forever. For example, I think we loved Harry Potter, but we were in love with Hogwarts. We all wanted to go to class with him. We all wanted our own wands. I think great worlds are important because they allow readers to play in that world with their imagination long after the book is done, but a great world isn’t complete without a great protagonist.

What moves you most in a work of literature?

Acts of love. Be it familial, friendly or romantic. A beautifully described, tender act of love destroys me.

How do you organize your books?

ORIGINAL STORIES: I have a lot of the stories I wrote when I was young on my Kindle — they are hilarious and incredible and always funny to read.

BOOKS ON WRITING: I always want to be a better writer/storyteller than I am now. I love books and YouTube videos that break down the art of story.

FICTION: Most of my library is Y.A., so this is where my “I’m an adult” fiction goes.

SCI-FI: Though I’m a child of fantasy, my interest in the stars and spaceships is growing.

FANTASY: Includes all the great franchises of the past and all the exciting, diverse stories that are being published today.

Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Your favorite antihero or villain?

Antiheroes: Zuko, from “Avatar: The Last Airbender”; Logan, from “X-Men”; Kaz Brekker, from “Six of Crows.” Villains: Light Yagami, from “Death Note,” and Magneto, from “X-Men.” I guess my Slytherin is showing, because I love my antiheroes and my villains more than my heroes.

What kind of reader were you as a child? Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?

I was a voracious reader when I was young. I lived for the summer reading challenges where I could read 50 books and get like three Airheads at the end of August. The authors and books that worked themselves into my heart were Mary Pope Osborne and her Magic Tree House series, J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter, Masashi Kishimoto and “Naruto.” I consider myself a creative child of fantasy and anime.

How have your reading tastes changed over time?

My Kindle is loaded up with several of the stories I wrote as a girl and as a teenager. It’s wild reading them now because I vaguely remember the nights and weekends I stayed up writing these tales, and I see the plots and character types that I’ve loved reading about and imagining since I was young.

I’ve always loved sweeping romances and magical fantasies. I’ve loved headstrong, determined female protagonists and epic battles. I still like to read the same things. I think the difference now is that I get to read all the things I like with characters who look like me. My childhood stories didn’t give me that. Even in the stories I wrote myself, I was only writing white characters and biracial characters. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that erasure was painful and damaging to my sense of self. So getting to create and read stories that fight that erasure and build on my sense of self is the only significant change in my reading tastes.

You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?

Oprah Winfrey, Octavia E. Butler and Toni Morrison. I would be extremely uncomfortable in the midst of all that greatness, and I probably wouldn’t speak. But while stuffing my face with little lobster rolls, I would get to learn from and be inspired by those three incredible women.

Whom would you want to write your life story?

Honestly, me, because I’m a perfectionist. But I don’t think I’m the best person to write my story because while I have a unique take on my story, I also lack a lot of necessary perspectives that would be needed to write an accurate life story. I’m going to cheat this one and say I would like Shonda Rhimes to do a highly dramatized mini-series of my life story.

What do you plan to read next?

“Blood Heir,” by Amélie Wen Zhao. I’ve heard really great things. I’m excited to check it out!

[entamewitchlulu]

so i did a reading challenge this year and i wanna talk about what i read

transcription under the cut

i did Popsugar 2019 and wanna talk about what i read:  Book Reccs and Anti-Reccs 

1.) Becoming a Movie in 2019: Umbrella Academy (vol 1) by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba

4/5. A fascinating take on superpowers, dysfunctional families, and the apocalypse. Can get pretty gory, confusing here and there and you have to pay close attention to panels for lore, but overall an entertaining romp.

2.) Makes you Feel Nostalgic: Circles in the Stream by Rachel Roberts

4/5. Middle grade novel about the magic of music, belief, and of course, friendship. Definitely written for kids, and has some unfortunately clumsy Native rep, but overall an absolute joy to dive into once again.

3.) Written by a Musician: Umbrella Academy (vol 2) by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba

4/5. Ramps up the confusion to ridiculous degrees with some absolutely bonkers, unexplained arcs, but still fun to watch this dysfunctional family do its dysfunctional thing.

4.) You Think Should be Turned into a movie: All That Glitters by Rachel Roberts

4/5. Continuation of Circles in the Stream, but with more unicorns, more rainbows, and more fae, which makes it automatically even better than the first.

5.) With At Least 1 Mil. Ratings on Goodreads: 1984 by George Orwell   

1/5. I understand why it's important and all but wasn't prepared for some of the more graphic scenes and the overall hopelessness of the message.  Would not recommend or read again.

6.) W/ a Plant in the title or cover: The secret of Dreadwillow carse by Brian farrey

5/5. A fantasy world where everyone is always happy, save for one girl and the princess, who set out to solve the mystery of their kingdom. Poignant and great for kids and adults.

7.) Reread of a favorite: Cry of the Wolf by Rachel Roberts

4/5. Yet another installment in the Avalon: Web of Magic series, which clearly I am obsessed with.  Please just read them.

8.) About a Hobby: Welcome to the Writer's Life by Paulette Perhach

5/5. A welcome kick in the pants, chock full of great advice told without condescension, and full of hope and inspiration for writers both new and old.

9.) Meant to read in 2018: The Poet x by Elizabeth Acevedo  

4/5. Absolutely beautiful coming of age novel told in verse.  Do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook version.

10.) w/ "pop," "sugar," or "challenge" in the title: Black Sugar by Miguel Bonnefoy

2/5. I think maybe I just don't understand this genre.  Or maybe the translation was weird. I was confused.  

11.) w/ An Item of Clothing or Accessory on the cover: Our dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani

4/5. It had a lot more slurs/homophobia than I was prepared for, but otherwise is a very touching, relatable collection of queer characters living in a heteronormative world.

12.) Inspired by Mythology or Folklore: Ravenous by MarcyKate Connolly

3/5. A girl goes on an impossible quest to save her brother from a child-eating witch. Really wanted to like it more because I loved the first one, Monstrous, but it dragged a little.

13.) Published Posthumously: The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones

3/5. I adore Diana Wynne Jones, but this one was missing some of the magic of her other books. Not sure if it was because it had to be finished by someone else, or if I just grew out of her stories.

14.) Set in Space: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

4/5. Powerfully written story of a girl straddling tradition and innovation, who wields power through mathematical magic, surviving on a spaceship alone with a dangerous alien occupation after everyone else has been killed.

15.) By 2 Female Authors: Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

2/5. Ostensibly a story about a revenge pact in a small island town, but leaves far too many dangling threads to attempt alluring you to the sequel.

16.) W/ A Title containing "salty," "bitter," "Sweet," or "Spicy": The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith  

3/5. It's okay but I literally just never know what anyone means at any time. Are they being reticent on purpose or do i just not understand communication

17.) Set in scandinavia: Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura

2/5. Technically and historically accurate and well made, but the story itself is not my cup of tea.  Very gory.

18.) Takes Place in a Single Day: Long WAy Down by Jason Reynolds

4/5. A boy goes to avenge his murdered brother, but ghostly passengers join him on the elevator ride down. Stunning and powerful character-driven analysis.

19.) Debut Novel: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

4/5. Charming and then surprisingly heart-breaking comic about Nimona, a shapeshifter who wants to become a villain's minion. Really love the villain/hero dynamic going on in the background, along with the dysfunctional found family.

20.) Published in 2019: The Book of Pride by Mason Funk  

4/5. A collection of interviews with the movers, shakers, and pioneers of the queer and LGBTQ+ community.  An absolutely essential work for community members and allies alike.

21.) Featuring an extinct/imaginary creature: Phoebe and her Unicorn by Dana Simpson

4/5. Incredibly charming, Calvin and Hobbes-esque collection of comics featuring the adventures of Phoebe and her unicorn best friend.

22.) Recced by a celebrity you admire: The Emerald Circus by Jane Yolen

2/5. Recced by my fave author Brandon Sanderson. An unfortunately disappointing anthology proving that any story can be made uninteresting by telling the wrong section of it.

23.) With "Love" in the Title: Book Love by Debbie Tung

4/5. One of those relatable webcomics, only this one I felt super hard almost the entire time.  Books are awesome and libraries rule.

24.) Featuring an amateur detective: Nancy Drew: Palace of Wisdom by Kelly Thompson

4/5. REALLY love this modern take on Nancy Drew, coming back home to her roots to solve a brand new mystery. Diverse cast and lovely artwork, though definitely more adult.

25.) About a family: Amulet by Kabu Kibuishi

4/5. Excellent, top tier graphic novel about a sister and brother who have to go rescue their mother with a mysterious magic stone. LOVE that the mom gets to be involved in the adventure for once.

26.) by an author from asia, Africa, or s. America: Girls' Last tour by Tsukumizu

4/5. Somehow both light-hearted and melancholy. Two girls travel about an empty, post-apocalyptic world, and muse about life and their next meal.

27.) w/ a Zodiac or astrology term in title: Drawing down the moon by margot adler

3/5. A good starting place for anyone interested in the Neo Pagan movement, but didn't really give me what I was personally looking for.

28.) you see someone reading in a tv show or movie: The Promised NEverland by Kaiu Shirai

4/5. I don't watch TV or movies where people read books so i think reading an adaptation of a TV series after watching the series counts. Anyway it was good but beware racist caricatures

29.) A retelling of a classic: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Rey Terciero

5/5. We can stop the Little Women reboots and retellings now, this is the only one we need. In fact, we can toss out the original too, this is the only one necessary.

30.) w/ a question in the title: So I'm a spider, so what? by Asahiro Kakashi

4/5. Cute art despite the subject matter, and a surprisingly enthralling take on the isekai genre. Love the doubling down on the video game skills.

31.) Set in a college or university campus: Moonstruck (vol 2) by Grace Ellis

2/5. An incredibly cute, beautiful, and fascinating world of modern magic and creatures, but unfortunately falls apart at the plot and pacing.

32.) About someone with a superpower: Moonstruck (vol 1) by Grace Ellis

4/5. Though nearly as messy plot-wise as its sequel, the first volume is overwhelmingly charming in a way that overpowers the more confusing plot elements.

33.) told from multiple povs: The Long way to a Small, Angry Planet by becky Chambers

4/5. Told almost in a serial format, like watching a miniseries, a group of found-family spaceship crew members make the long journey to their biggest job ever.

34.) Includes a wedding: We Set the dark on fire by Tehlor kay mejia

4/5. Timely and poignant, a girl tumbles into both love and resistance after becoming one of two wives to one of the most powerful men in the country.

35.) by an author w/ alliterative name: The only harmless great Thing by brooke bolander

3/5. Much deeper than I can currently comprehend.  Beautifully written, but difficult to parse.

36.) A ghost story: Her body and other parties by Carmen Maria Machado

4/5.  It counts because one of the stories in it has ghosts. A sometimes difficult collection of surrealist, feminist, queer short stories.

37.) W/ a 2 word title: Good omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

4/5. Charming, touching, and comical, probably the best take on the apocalypse to date. Also excellent ruminations on religion and purpose.

38.) based on a true story: The faithful Spy by John Hendrix

4/5. Brilliantly crafted graphic biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and his assistance in fighting back against Nazi Germany.

39.) Revolving around a puzzle or game: the Crossover by Kwame alexander

4/5. The verse didn't always hit right with me, but the story is a sweet, melancholy one about family, loss, and moving on.

40.) previous popsugar prompt (animal in title): The last unicorn by peter s. Beagle

5/5. Absolutely one of my all-time favorite books, it manages to perfectly combine anachronism and comedy with lyricism, melancholy, and ethereal beauty.

41.) Cli-fi: Tokyo Mew Mew by Mia ikumi and Reiko Yoshida

4/5. Shut up it counts

42.) Choose-your-own-adventure: My Lady's choosing by Kitty curran

3/5. Cute in concept, a bit underwhelming in execution. Honestly, just play an otome.

43.) "Own Voices": Home by Nnedi Okorafor

3/5. The storytelling style was definitely not my style; while the first book was slow, too, it felt more purposeful. I found my attention wandering during this installment.

44.) During the season it's set in: Pumpkinheads by rainbow rowell

3/5. Cute art, but precious little substance.  The concept simply wasn't for me in the first place.

45.) LITRPG: My next life as a villainess: All routes lead to doom! by Hidaka nami

5/5. An absolute insta-fave! Charming art, endearing characters, an incredible premise, and so much sweet wholesome fluff it'll give you cavities.

46.) No chapters: The field guide to dumb birds of north america by matt kracht

3/5. It started out super strong, but the joke started to wear thin at a little past the halfway point.

47.) 2 books with the same title: Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roger

4/5. A brave and enduring personal story of growing up in and eventually leaving the Westboro Baptist Church. Really called to me to act with grace and kindness even more in the future.

48.) 2 books with the same title: unfollow by rob williams and michael dowling

1/5. How many times do you think we can make Battle Royale again before someone notices

49.) That has inspired a common phrase or idiom: THe Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

4/5. Definitely good and deserves it's praise as something that pretty much revolutionized and created an entire demographic of literature.

50.) Set in an abbey, cloister, Monastery, convent, or vicarage: Murder at the vicarage by agatha christie

3/5. I just cannot. physically keep up with all of these characters or find the energy to read between the lines.

ok that's all i got, what did y'all read and like this year?  (oh god it’s gonna be 2020)

[mautadite]

october book round up

19 books this month, which brings me to 125 for the year, and i’ve officially completed the yearly challenge! :) a little later than last year, but still earlier than i expected. i don’t imagine that i’ll read as much as i did last year, but i can still get a good bit done in two months i think. this month was pretty much just different flavours of romance, once again all audiobooks.

poison kiss - ana mardoll ⭐️⭐️⭐️ mixed feelings about this one. urban fantasy/paranormal with a neat setup and world building, but i feel like the author didn’t tell the story in the most effective way? not enough time spent on certain sections, time skips that were not needed, too many flashbacks. the poly romance was really sweet, though i didn’t much care for the love at first sight aspect when the third character was introduced. but this was a good book overall, with a unique plot and cast; might revisit the series.

the best boy ever made - rachel eliason ⭐️⭐️⭐️ very cute coming of age/ya romance. a conservative country girl is at first shocked when her best friend comes out as trans, but she slowly finds herself becoming his biggest champion, and then falling in love with him. took me a while to warm up to it bc i found the protagonist to be kind of obnoxious. and some of the later plot events were kind of ham-fisted. but i definitely liked it, mostly for sam and how good and kind he was.

i wish you all the best - meason deaver ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ BRUH I’M CRYING IN THE CLUB. this was a really fucking sweet ya romance. the main character finds themselves homeless after they come out as nb to their parents. they move in with their sister, enroll in a new school, and find themselves making friends with (and slowly falling for!) a literal ray of sunshine. this was great, another one of those books i wish i could have read when i was younger. dealt with coming out, depression, anxiety and first love, had great writing, and i’m still thinking about how great the ending lines were.

the neighbour - gerri hill ⭐️⭐️ eh... a book that COULD have been good (woman with a stunted career as a writer moves back home to take care of her ailing mother, finds herself falling for the rich lesbian player next door) but both main characters were so thoroughly unlikable lmao. judgemental, snooty, made jokes about harmful things, kind of elitist... there was one aspect of this book that i really liked (the main character changed careers later in life and it wasn’t seen as a failure, just moving on) but otherwise this was a disappointment.

the turner series - cat sebastian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ historical romance!!! always a fave. this was a pretty fun series; first three m/m, last one f/f. a bit of mystery and intrigue in all of them, good humour, and a great cast of characters through and through. the second one was probably my favourite; one of the mcs suffered from anxiety attacks in an era where there was a lot of wrong information about mental health, and his love interest (a cheat and a scoundrel) ended up being the best thing that happened to him. although now that i’ve said that i just remembered how very much i love the third book’s protagonist (the rake, to be specific). standout character for sure. the last book has a dear place in my heart bc even though you can tell that the author doesn’t often write f/f, and it was a pretty short novella, it’s still historical lesbians, and i eat up historical lesbians with a spoon. (i could make a pretty bad joke here but lo and behold; i have GREAT self control.)

the secret casebook of simon feximal - k.j. charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ when k.j. charles is good, SHE’S REALLY FUCKING GOOD. this is a paranormal-mystery/romance book styled after the adventures of sherlock holmes (if you must know one thing about me it’s that i’m a slut for acd holmes, don’t fucking @ me), set in the very universe itself. not quite a pastiche but close enough, and it was so well written, with great world building around the magic and paranormal events, great characters, GREAT ROMANCE. told as stories published by robert, simon’s biographer and lover. i adored this and will definitely reread.

puppy love romance - georgia beers ⭐️⭐️⭐️ a trio of f/f novels centred around an animal rescue, and the women who work and volunteer there and fall in love there. each of these novels was really sweet, grounded in a way that i like for contemporary romance, and they all had adorable dogs in them. and i feel like beers really knows her way around plotting and pacing a novel, especially small town romances. but i also had pretty sizeable nitpicks for each of them lol. part of it is that i just got tired of beers’ writing style (as you can see, i took a break between the series). this is such a weird complaint but oh my god she uses too many adverbs lol. also there was always an emphasis on how amazingly stunningly gorgeously beautiful all six women were and it got so tiresome. idk who wants to read about women who are physically perfect all the time, but it’s not me. and one half of the romantic pair in each book (lisa, emily and sydney, in that order) had attitudes that i found obnoxious and were not resolved and i felt bad for their girlfriends having to deal with them. a fun read all in all, but some of those things rubbed me the wrong way, and i’m ready to take a break from this author. 

bound series - ava march ⭐️⭐️ a resounding meh. historical m/m romance that wasn’t bad, but there wasn’t anything great about it. i only read these like maybe a week and a half ago but i’m struggling to remember details. there was bdsm, which i didn’t hate, but i also didn’t care. the plot was bleh, the sources of conflict were weak, and one of the dudes was kind of an asshole. /shrug emoji

reverie - eliza andrews ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ god... GOD. the ride i took with this book was like... a really sexy butch took me out to dinner, wined and dined me, and in the very last course she leaned over and spit in me food. the premise: a woman on the run from her abusive ex-husband settles into a small town where she find herself drawn to the only out lesbian in town, a sweet butch ex-marine, and her mysterious nurse of a neighbour. this book was soooooooo well written, so well crafted, so moving, so beautiful. a paranormal mystery that actual kept me guessing. i was ready to name it the best f/f book i read this year, if not the best romance period. and then the ending. the FUCKING ENDING. i’ve rarely been so let down in my life. i’m looking at the four stars i gave this and wondering if i should go lower because SERIOUSLY. thinking about it is getting me kind of upset. this book could have been SO good. uuuuuugh. 

brothers of the wild north sea - harper fox ⭐️⭐️ this is tricky because like. this book was definitely like, not good lmao, but it was good enough that i almost feel guilty giving it 2 stars. this is a historical romance that takes place more than a thousand years ago between a viking and a monk. it wasn’t badly written, probably wasn’t historically accurate but i mean, i don’t care. but it was too long, i didn’t care about the characters, it was badly plotted, and just really confusing overall. i think harper fox is great at writing romance, but all other aspects of this novel fell flat.

escape velocity - anah crow, dianne fox ⭐️⭐️⭐️ sci-fi m/m romance. a linguistic researcher and a pilot struggling with his religious beliefs fall into a whirlwind romance. pretty cute. i found it too short as i find most novellas, but i think the authors did a lot in relatively few words. definitely wish there was more worldbuilding. kind of hope the authors have plans to make this a series.

nowhere ranch - heidi cullinan ⭐️⭐️⭐️ a sweet romance between a farm hand and his boss. i didn’t think i’d like it much, but it was pretty enjoyable! very simple writing stuff that fit well with the gruff, no-nonsense, trying to shut everyone out protagonist. i really liked him; identified with him a lot, and his journey into opening up, dealign with his anxiety and self-worth issues. and the romance was sweet (though oooof, some of the sex scenes were too much). the book went from being really raunchy to really domestic and i kind of liked that. the resolution came a bit too quick, but i enjoyed it nonetheless.

that’s it for october! still currently unemployed, waiting for the people i signed a contract with to call me. since i don’t want to dip too much into my savings i’ve been doing odd jobs here and there, and might take a more steady part-time job in the meantime? all of that to say: i probably won’t be reading as much in november. i’m currently reading the first book in the spencer cohen series, and not... really loving it, lol, so i might pass on the others.

[lokilickedme]

Part 2 of Read By Loki Laufeyson - High Rise

By request

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own in 2016 (no longer available there) 

Rating:  Mature

Archive Warning:  No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:  F/M

Fandom:  Loki - Fandom, High-Rise (2015), Tom Hiddleston - Fandom

Relationship:  Loki/His Book

Character:  Loki (narrator), Robert Laing, Richard Wilder

Additional Tags:  Explicit Language, Loki Has Issues, Spoilers, Loki Does What He Wants, stick to the damn book Loki, lewd passages quoted from the book, references to bestiality and incest (thanks a lot for that, Ballard. You’re a dick)

Series:  Part 2 of Read by Loki Laufeyson

Stats:  Published: 2016-02-21   Words: 1220 (original version)

Part One: Loki Reads Chapter 9 of The Night Manager

  High Rise, Read by Loki Laufeyson 

by lokilickedme 

Summary:  Loki narrates another audiobook.  Apologies to JG Ballard, though not very sincere ones.  In fact I take it back, I’m mad that I ever had to read this.

Notes:  See the end of the work for notes 

  Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog... 

Well shit, lets just not waste any time at all getting to the good stuff, shall we?  When a book has the unmitigated balls to start off with a barbequed canine for the first course, you know you're in for an entertaining evening chock full of questionable culinary choices written in dirty grey prose, which we all know is just a gateway to every sort of perversion familiar to man and a handful or two heretofore known only to the Aesir - and I’ll tell you right now they get up to some kinky shit that’d make you want to tie your ballsack to a goat.  That’s not a metaphor, they’re known for literally tying their ballsacks to goats.  Okay, one of them is known for it.  Okay, I’m known for it.  It was me.  So once one has committed to snacking on the family pets, what comes after the appetizer, sex with a budgie?  What sort of sauce is the fellow using?  Did he sautee the dog or is that fucker deep fried?  Or am I missing a particularly rude innuendo here and he's actually giving the beast a blow job?  If that's the case then this might end up being a worthwhile read after all, and I can’t think of a much more romantic place than the balcony if you’re actually going to commit to pleasuring the wife’s poodle.

 ...Dr. Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months.  Now that everything had returned to normal - 

Hold up.  NOW everything's returned to normal?  You're eating a fucking dog, sir, either that or you're fellating it.  In what twisted realm is either of those scenarios considered normal?  We’re not counting Asgard, by the way.  And I'd rather like to know which part of the beast we're talking about here, I mean if it's the drumstick or the tenderloin then I hope you basted it with some herbs and a bit of olive oil before you slapped it on the hibachi.  If you're committing cunnilingus, then I'm presuming you know which part you're dealing with and I'll leave you to it, though the olive oil could serve dual purpose here.  But it does beg the question - is the beast male or female?  Not making a judgement, just getting the visual.

While we're pondering that, I'm going to do us all a colossal favor and skip ahead a bit.  This book really is difficult, and by difficult I mean I've had torture sessions on asteroids that were less annoying.  The story itself is good, heaven knows I enjoy chaos and mayhem and bestiality as much as the next power mad despot, but word for word this tale reads a bit like Lewis Carroll and Roald Dahl having the slowest orgasm in history during a mutual masturbation session while smoking Edgar Allen Poe’s gym shorts.  I actually think I might be having the slowest orgasm in history.

 'Come whenever you want to.'  Laing put his arm around her shoulders, steadying her in case she lost her balance.  In the past he had always felt physically distanced from Alice by her close resemblance to their mother, but for reasons not entirely sexual this resemblance now aroused him.  He wanted to touch her hips, place his hand over her breast.  As if aware of this, she leaned passively against him. 

And there it is my friends.  All good stories need an element of the forbidden, and it looks like sister-diddling wins the perversion jackpot for this evening.  This Laing fellow has the whoo hoos for big sis.  And you people give me shit over my "alleged" deviant relationship with my brother?  Last I recall adopted siblings were free to black hole it all they want, yet here we have a pair working out a tag-up without the benefit of notarized adoption papers.  Since we seem to be condoning this, lets all remember our hypocrisy the next time I'm catching grief for banging Thor, shall we?  And while we're at it, are we all just ignoring the Oedipus train wreck this man just owned up to driving straight into the wall?  'Big sis you look like mummy, here let me drug you and keep you as a sex slave while this whole place goes to hell around us.'  I may or may not be skipping ahead but I'll save you a little time and drudgery - it goes there, people.

 He pulled the drawers on to the floor, heaved the mattresses off the beds, and urinated into the bath. 

Ah, Wilder.  I do love a good silly mustache-twirling villain with self aggrandizing dreams of conquering worlds several floors above his own social status.  Because in the end we all want more than what we’ve got, don’t we?  Thrones, love, respect, use of the penthouse, a herd of stoned females.  At least he didn't piss on the mattress.  Nobody likes a bedwetter, even in hell.

 His burly figure, trousers open to expose his heavy genitalia, glared at him from the mirrors in the bedroom.  He was about to break the glass, but the sight of his penis calmed him, a white club hanging in the darkness. 

Yes my good man, welcome to the fellowship of the knob, our universal handshake is to sit on the sofa with one hand down the front of our pants.  Our penises calm us all.

 He would have liked to dress it in some way, perhaps with a hair-ribbon tied in a floral bow. 

Huh.  Just when I rather think I like this Wilder fellow and his obvious off kilter mental status, he shows us his wiener.  Which was more than enough in itself, thanks so very much for that.  Elegant move there, dipshit - whip it out and slap a bow on it, for times when you really want to class things up.  I for one can't think of anything more entertaining or intellectually fulfilling on a Friday night than tying a pretty ribbon on my schlong and running about with it hanging out of my trousers while I harass and terrorize feral women in derelict apartment buildings.  Sometimes I like to really mix things up by borrowing a pair of mother's clip-on earrings and dangling them from my testicles.  It makes me feel so fucking manly.  You know, for those times when you really want to bang your sister who looks like your mom and you know you stand a better chance of scoring if you really put in some effort with the self decor.  Or you could go all out impressing the masses by tying your ballsack to a goat, but granted, it’s not for everyone.

 This ultimate role had helped him on one occasion, when a marauding band of women led by Mrs Wilder had entered the apartment.  Seeing Laing being abused, and assuming him to be Eleanor's and Alice's prisoner, they had left.  On the other hand, perhaps they understood all too well what was really taking place. 

Yes, what was really taking place was this fellow Laing got himself a couple of kinky babes who were willing to tie him to a chair and beat him with the hind leg of an Alsatian.  I mean, who doesn't get off on that?  I tip my cap to you, Sir.  Never go fifty shades with one woman when you can go full-on Marquis de Sade with two.  And seeing as this merry band of female visigoths was led by that Wilder chap's wife, one can only assume he pilfered her pretty hair bows one time too many and the poor woman felt compelled to start tucking the ginsu’s into her gingham apron and go on raiding parties with her Wednesday night book club group.  Or perhaps it was the 'heavy genitalia' on display out of the front of his pants that drove her over the edge.  I understand leaving one's trousers open while traversing rapidly declining self-contained bastions of reverse civilization is valid grounds for divorce in some states.

 First she would try to kill him, but failing that give him food and her body, breast-feed him back to a state of childishness and even, perhaps feel affection for him.  Then, the moment he was asleep, cut his throat.  The synopsis of the ideal marriage. 

What - all marriages aren't like that? 

I’m going to stop right here so we can all go take a break, order in some Alsation, chase our sisters and next door neighbors around the room with gardening implements and figure out where we hid our morphine stash - which sounds disconcertingly like a typical Saturday evening in Valhalla to me, quite honestly - and summarize the rest of the book, which goes a little something like this:  Madness, mayhem, perversion, murder, violence, death, and why the fuck don’t these people just walk out of the damn building?  Yes I know, it’s an allegory on class warfare and societal prejudices and the shitty tendency humanity has to turn on each other and finally itself when faced with a breakdown in the decency and polite behavior that tentatively holds people at arm’s length until the shit hits the fan and everyone starts coming at each other with golf clubs.  Humans have a disturbing desire to go all Lord of The Flies the moment order breaks down, and this book casts a bloodshot eye on the fucked up results.  I’m telling you though, it’s nothing a good tug’o war match with a goat couldn’t have fixed.

All in all I would say this book is a challenging read, but worth it in the end if for nothing other than the visual of that guy with the bow on his schnitzel.  Best read while mainlining household cleaners directly into your lungs blindfolded and waterboarding yourself while listening to Raul Julia sing the Ave Maria on 45 rpms.  Trust me, you'll understand once you get to the part where the old ladies in cocktail gowns are brawling over use of the elevator. 

 End Notes 

Passages in italics are the property of J.G. Ballard from the novel HIGH RISE, copyright 1975.  I don’t own them, I didn’t write them, and dear god please don’t ask me about the dog.