#author: Peter Graham

[mariocki]

All Passion Spent: Episode 3 (1.3, BBC, 1986)

"I realise that he wanted me to enjoy all his beautiful things, but what did he imagine I could do with so much money? I can't believe, Mr. Bucktrout, that he knew what he was doing when he left all this to me."

"In the eyes of the world he has conferred a great benefit on you, Lady Slane."

"I know. I know, but I never wanted anything but to stand aside. Something, it seems, that this world of ours won't allow even at the age of eighty-five."

"Well, even the smallest planet is compelled to circle round the sun."

"Yes, but does that mean that we must all, willy-nilly, circle round wealth, position, possessions? I thought that I had escaped from all those things, Mr. Bucktrout, and now Mr. Fitz... of all people... he pushes me back into the middle of them. What am I to do? What am I to do? I always preferred the works of God to the works of man, because they're given - freely - to anyone who can appreciate them, pauper or millionaire. Does that make sense?"

"It makes perfect sense."

[eastsidemags]

Graham Crackery Food Detective Signing w/ Peter Loucks

NYC gives. Montclair receives.

Come by and meet Peter Loucks. Newest transplant from the BIG CITY to Montclair NJ and author of GRAHAM CRACKERY FOOD DETECTIVE - an amazing all-ages novel featuring the cupboard’s most determined detective!

About the book: An ancient relic has been stolen and only one detective has the stomach to crack the case. Join Graham Crackery, Food Detective as he fights the forces of the dreaded Gummy family while struggling with the demise of his late girlfriend, Marsha Mallow, and if there’s a connection between the two. Follow Graham and a cornucopia of his food friends through Kitchentown and into a world of adventure, mystery and a smorgasbord of food puns.

On September 30 from 2pm-5pm, you’ll be able to come by East Side Mags, meet Peter, grab a signed copy of his awesome novel that’s perfect for kids and full of fun food puns that get the adults chuckling too!

Support indie creators and authors! Support local! And let’s welcome Peter to the community!

[chic-beyond-the-wall-oc-acct]

So, project 2025 has been deleting their PDFs but a few lovely people have posted the list of books they want to ban and other than the fact that the entire list is stupid, here's some that stuck out to me + the reasons listed next to them. Most of the books on the list are lgbtq+ books which one would expect to find there, so I just did ones I didn't expect.

The Holy Bible - Challenged for religious beliefs and graphic content.

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin - Sexual violence, political intrigue.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - Death and religious content.

Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey - Toilet humor and "disobedience."

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak - Critique of the Russian Revolution.

Deadly Deceits by Ralph McGehee - Former CIA agent's critiques of the agency.

Emma by Jane Austen - Complex gender themes, social critique.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - Censorship and media manipulation by the government.

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling - Accusations of promoting witchcraft.

Howl by Allen Ginsberg - Explicit sexual content, anti-establishment themes

Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss - Concerns over violence against parents.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez - Mental health, sexual content.

It's Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris - Sex education content.

It's So Amazing! by Robie H. Harris - Sex education content.

None Dare Call It Conspiracy by Gary Allen - Discusses alleged hidden global power structure.

None Dare Call It Treason by John A. Stormer - Anti-communist and conspiracy-focused.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Critique of Soviet labor camps.

Operation Paperclip by Annie Jacobsen - Exposes secret U.S. program involving former Nazis.

My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier - Violence, anti-war themes.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt vonnegut- Anti-war themes.

Spycatcher by Peter Wright - Ex-MI5 agent's account of intelligence operations.

The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama - Criticism of religion, perceived political messages.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin - Female independence, sexuality.

The Book of Night Women by Marlon James - Slavery, graphic violence.

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede - Magic, feminism.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein - Themes of selfishness, parenting.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - Examines class and caste issues in India.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - Critique of religious extremism and patriarchy.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - Examines police violence and racial injustice

The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins - Depicts oppressive government and rebellion.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster - Political subtext, wordplay.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - Critique of colonialism and missionary work.

The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene - Critique of religion and political oppression

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle - Religious critique.

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli - Seen as a critique of political ethics.

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare - Often challenged for themes of submission of women in marriage.

Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer - Themes of violence, supernatural elements.

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore - Political rebellion, violence.

War is a Racket by Smedley D. Butler - Critique of war profiteering.

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein - Dark humor, "rebellious" themes.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak - Themes of rebellion, dark imagery.

Where's Waldo? by Martin Handford - Alleged inappropriate illustrations.

White Noise by Don DeLillo - Critique of consumerism and modern society.

Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes - Feminist themes.

Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss - Seen as political allegory.

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis - Critique of authority and societal norms.

[brawlite]

some horror fic recs for october 👻

i wanted to put together a rec list of my favorite horror fics for the spookiest month. there are a bunch of different flavors of horror in here as well as a number of different fandoms, so hopefully you can find something that tickles your fancy (though ngl i would still rec reading these bad boys even if you don't know the fandoms at all).

i tried to tag tumblrs when/where i could find them, but if i couldn't, the author name links to ao3.

a reminder as always: this is horror—please read all the tags.

thanks for reading and i hope you find something to enjoy!

also, pretty please feel free to reblog and add your favorite horror fic recs.

👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪

the ghost apple tree by @thefearofcod

10k words, rated m song lan/xue yang/xiao xingchen (the untamed/mdzs) summary:

Fixing up a decaying house in the woods is the same as addressing your problems. (sxx is haunted)

brawls' notes: i think about this fic a lot; i'm haunted by it. this is by far one of my favorite horror stories i've ever read—the vibes are off-the-charts and horrific in a very visceral, tense way. made me feel weird (positive). i hope it makes you feel weird too (this is a threat).

—

convergence by @astrophyllitely

33k words, rated e lan zhan/lan xichen, lan zhan/jiang cheng (the untamed/mdzs) summary:

Lan Wangji regains consciousness in a crashed spaceship on an unfamiliar planet. He is not alone; Lan Xichen is there. He is not alone; Jiang Wanyin is there. But never both at once.

brawls' notes: space horror? check. psychological horror? check. uneasy and tense alien vibes? also check. beautiful push and pull of the narrative, paired with an an intense feeling of claustrophobia. there's a particular moment that had my heart right in my throat. stunning.

—

mockingbird by MarInk

82k words, rated e stiles stillinski/peter hale (teen wolf) summary:

Stiles works tirelessly to keep the roof over his heads and longs for a proper challenge for his brains. Peter chafes under his sister's authority and nurses big, bloody dreams. One day, the two are connected by a mistaken text message. One never knows who is on the other end of a wrong number. Sometimes it's somebody one will come to cherish and adore. Sometimes it's a ruthless, unapologetic monster. Sometimes it's both.

brawls' notes: sometimes you read something and are just blown away by it, forever altered. that's what this was for me. want a type of monster-au you've never seen before? this is it. also: ostensibly a wrong-number au, but don't be fooled. (i was.)

—

never meant by nonhicsumus

3k words, rated m alex krycek & dana scully (the x-files) summary:

Sometimes the past isn't worth digging into.

brawls' notes: whump and psychological horror? plus alex krycek?? my favorite. every word of this is perfection—i instantly wanted to read it again for the first time. you can.

—

fais do-do by @moku-youbi

18k words, rated e will graham/hannibal lecter (hannibal)

summary:

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (this fic does not have a summary, but begins with this quote)

brawls' notes: a different-meeting au packed with everything you need for the perfect horror story: violence, blood, a chase scene, and an unreliable narrator. delightful.

—

blackbird, fly by @acroamatica

19k words, rated m kylo ren/armitage hux (star wars: tfa)

summary:

One sunny afternoon in the mountains of Washington state, Ben Organa-Solo walked out into the woods. He never came home. Six years later, a journalist specialising in missing-persons cold cases decides to follow his footsteps and see where they might lead.

brawls' notes: a masterpiece of vibes. this reads so much like a spooky mystery novel, but with a creeping, anxious dread. perfect for the season if you want that true autumnal sort of chill. i've carried this fic in my heart for nearly a decade now—it has inspired me in my own writing so much over the years.

—

grey stars on the rise by @iodhadh

4k words, rated e song lan/xue yang/xiao xingchen (the untamed/mdzs) summary:

Xiao Xingchen comes back. Xiao Xingchen comes back wrong. It takes too long, maybe, for Xue Yang to realize something is wrong with Song Lan too.

brawls' notes: the exact embodiment of: be careful what you wish for. brutal and crushing and so deeply, utterly satisfying. absolute yi-city perfection: the vibes are wretched but strangely romantic (chefs kiss).

—

half your life you've been hooked on death by @whatever-you-can-give-me

4k words, rated m vash the stampede/nicholas d. wolfwood (trigun) summary:

Wolfwood is cornered in an alleyway. Things get worse before they get better.

brawls' notes: and what's a horror rec list without a little bit of gore? whump and blood and near-death-experiences—oh my. this is brutal and feverish and exactly the right flavor.

—

black rock mountain by @bokuno-jinsei

24k words, rated e will graham/hannibal lecter (hannibal) summary:

Will is a hitchhiker with questionable hobbies. Hannibal is a man who has questionable motives. When Hannibal drives by Will who just so happens to need a ride, things quickly take a turn from the questionable to the downright depraved.

brawls' notes: you know That Fic that is really the epitome of that pairing for you? yeah, this is it for me. perfect alternate first-meeting fic. lives rent-free in my head.

👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪

and hey, why not be a little self-indulgent: i can't help but rec a few of my own horror fics here, too:

old growth

21k, rated m song lan/xue yang/xiao xingchen (the untamed/mdzs) summary:

There’s something in the woods outside of their hometown. Xue Yang and Song Lan are going to find it.

brawls' notes: i tried something new with the formatting on this one and i think it panned out solidly and was a desperately fun way to tell the story. this is full of spooky, sleepless forest vibes.

—

what's real or isn't

57k, rated e kylo ren/armitage hux (star wars: tfa) summary:

Hux's new house is not haunted. It isn't.

brawls' notes: i honestly love playing favorites and this is one of mine. this was a load of fun to write—it's chock-full of vibes, personal experiences, local history, and love notes to my favorite horror stories.

—

acquiesce

16k, rated e original luo binghe/original shen qingqiu (svsss) summary:

After seeing the gentle and loving Shen Qingqiu of the other world, Luo Binghe returns to his own with a hunger that can only be satisfied by one thing—a Shizun of his very own.

brawls' notes: this isn't spooky or haunted, but it is psychological horror—packed with nightmares, flashbacks, dread, and manipulation. enjoy!

👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪

and that's it! hope you find something fun to read for this october 🖤

and again—please reblog and add your own horror recs if you are feeling so inclined!

[senselessviolets]

random will graham headcanons (childhood, teen years, college, etc.)

Rating T

WARNINGS:

Mentions of murder (canon typical), homicidal ideation, child abuse, alcoholism.

Author’s Notes:

Title says it all. Just some headcanons based off of the show, bits of Red Dragon and my own personal intuition because I'm THAT good. /s

He doesn’t know why his mom left because his dad refuses to tell him and would get furious anytime he brought it up as a child. 

He experienced corporal punishment from his dad but if asked, wouldn’t consider it to be abuse—no matter how emotionally traumatic it was for him. 

His dad George was a survey technician in the US Army Corps of Engineers. His mother Adaline had worked as a pharmacist before Will was born. 

He was never allowed pets growing up, hence why he now owns so many dogs.

With his undiagnosed ASD and constant moving around for his dad’s job, Will struggled to form any long-lasting, meaningful relationships in his youth.

His dad would occasionally write letters to Will and send him various gifts (Bourbon, aftershave, new lures) around the time of his birthday or the holidays. He stopped after Will was imprisoned and hasn’t written to him since. 

Will tried to approach girls he had crushes on when he was a teen but they were always dismissive of him or thought he was weird.

He lost his virginity in a clumsy drunken one-night stand in his sophomore year of college. She was his roommate’s ex and there was some drama over it.  

Will has experienced lots of frustration with the women in his romantic life who in his mind toyed with his feelings and strung him along. He was always so willing to commit himself to the right girl and even imagined himself as the kind to settle down and get married young but the opportunity never arose.  

Throughout his teenage years, he imagined often how he would kill his dad and was convinced he could get away with it.

Will dated a Law student in his junior and senior year of college and they had been going steady until after they’d slept with each other one night and Will had a hyperrealistic dream in which he strangled her in her sleep, dismembered her, and scattered her all around campus. This dream disturbed Will so deeply that he broke things off with the girl right after, providing little explanation as to why.

Will’s want to become a father and to protect and nurture his “strays” (Abigail Hobbs, Georgia Madchen, Peter Bernadone, his actual fucking dogs) is very much ego-driven. It’s not as genuine or wholesome as he might want you to think or how he even perceives it to be.

Will was pretty widely disliked at the police department he was a detective for as well as the FBI Academy.

His alcoholism developed as a way to numb his overstimulated senses and to cancel out the intrusive thoughts he has. As time has gone on, his reliance on liquor has only grown; a habit he picked up from his father.

Will is a notoriously harsh grader and is quick to shut down any dissenting opinions about his “style of teaching”.

He’s definitely had inappropriate thoughts/fantasies about a few of his students, ranging from shallow sexual attraction to full-blown abduction. 

He doesn’t own a television or a computer and begrudgingly owns a smartphone for his job. 

The majority of his interests and likes/dislikes are ones he got from his dad. His dad loved to fish. His dad’s favorite singer was Johnny Cash. His dad liked the color green. Will probably feels as if these are what he should like and if you actually asked him how he felt about ____ or if he really liked XYZ; he wouldn’t know how to answer. 

A huge part of the reason he loves dogs is that they do not know they are ‘kept’. As opposed to a human being who could recognize if they were taken from everything they know or forced to live the life of another; dogs don’t think that way and above all, they are undyingly loyal. 

^^ And yes, this is my way of saying I subscribe to the popular headcanon that Will has stolen some of his dogs.

Morally grey sweaty dog man.

I hate him.

Follow me on twt: @endlessviolets

<3

[veliseraptor]

November Reading Recap

Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer. Either I'm not smart enough to follow this book or it's just not terribly coherent as a novel, and either of those is equally possible, to be honest. I am finding that I like Vandermeer's earlier work on the whole more than his later work, though.

I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. A fun romp. It didn't blow me away, or anything, but it was a lot of fun.

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. I remain most attached to the move adaptation of this novel, unfortunately, so that's always in my head when I'm reading. But despite that, or maybe because of it, this novel still delights me. It's like a warm blanket.

Catching Chen Qing Ling: The Untamed and Adaptation, Production, and Reception in Transcultural Contexts ed. by Cathy Yue Wang and Maria K. Alberto. I was very excited to read this book! I was thrilled when I saw that a collection of academic essays on The Untamed was coming out. Not all the essays in the collection are created equally, naturally, but I particularly appreciated the ones about the morality police in the fandom and the one focusing on (the violence of) translation to English. What I missed from this specific volume was more analysis of the text itself as a literary object, but that wasn't the remit of this collection, and I certainly hope that more studies will be forthcoming.

Cassiel's Servant by Jacqueline Carey. Mostly this book made me want to reread the Kushiel's Legacy series; I'm not sure if that is praise or an enticement of this book itself. I wasn't enchanted with it on the whole, though that might be because Joscelin was never the character I was most attached to. I would read the shit out of an alt POV from Melisande.

Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle. Finally finished this book after stalling out on it for literal months. It was interesting! Conceptually and in execution. It did feel very much like it was written in the 80s (which it was), though without the kind of objectionable stuff I would've expected. A review of it did describe it as having a "leisurely opening" which I would say is accurate.

Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton. I really liked The Spite House so I definitely wanted to pick up this one, and while I liked the former more this was also a really fun take on vampires unlike what I've read before. I'm picky about my horror (I'd say I don't like most of what I read) but I'll bestow the "horror I actually liked" crown on this one.

Persians: The Age of the Great Kings by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones. For a book that was really emphasizing that it was going to lean on Persian sources rather than Greek ones for a less Greek-biased version of Persian history, it certainly felt like the author ended up relying a fair amount on Greek sources. That being said, I learned more about the (early) Persian Empire than I have before, so it was edifying in that way, if not a particularly outstanding book.

Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-Il Kim, trans. Anton Hur. I'm very glad to see that this book is apparently the beginning of a series and not finished, because while I enjoyed it as a whole the ending felt a little rushed and far too neat for me. So hopefully that will be complicated in further volumes, which I probably will read. The use of dead necromancers to power an empire is, on its own, a very neat worldbuilding conceit, and I think that (interesting worldbuilding) more than character is the appeal of this work to me.

Remnants of Filth: Vol. 5 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou. I continue to really enjoy this one despite the fact that the initial lure has abated somewhat in the course of the plot. I'm excited to see where this goes - this volume included a plot twist I definitely didn't see coming, which is always fun. It's not my favorite danmei I've read but it is a standout.

Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones. I don't know quite why I keep reading this series when I'm not really a slasher fan and it is clearly tailored toward the slasher fan. I mean, it's certainly meant to have broader appeal as a horror novel, but it is a slasher first and foremost, and I'm just not that into that subgenre. I think it's because I want to be into it. I can recognize a good book when I read one, though; just not for me.

I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones. On the other hand, the above all being said: I actually really enjoyed this one! It was certainly playing with a lot of the same tropes but in a more, idk, playful sort of way that I enjoyed. Definitely heavy lampshading, so if that doesn't work for you then this book won't. But for me at least, it did what it was trying to do.

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. I'm looking forward to hearing what people in my book club have to say about this one. I will say that the rape felt unnecessary and it definitely read like sci-fi written in the 50s by a man. I don't think I can say that I liked it. I'm not sure I can say I hated it, either, but I definitely didn't like it.

Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko, trans. Julia Meitov Hersey. I've had this one on my shelf for a long time and it was good to finally read it! For someone who says she doesn't read a lot of 'magical school' books I've certainly read a lot this year, but this one is probably the most interesting and definitely the most inventive of what I've read. Not necessarily my favorite, but I'm fascinated by what the author is doing. I know there's a sequel, and I'm torn on whether I want to read it or not; I'm curious where the author would go, but I'm also satisfied with the story as it's left at the end of this book.

Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire by Priest. Possibly my favorite danmei I've read, and at this point I've read a few. It's not going to trigger my fic writing brain, I don't think, but that's mostly because it already gave me so much of what I wanted. It's very, very good in terms of the story it's telling, the themes of monstrosity and human weapons are right on point for what I like, and the plot is pretty damn tight and good at not sprawling the way some danmei is prone to. Fucking fantastic. I can't share the translation I read, but it's being published by Rosmei in English starting in January 2025.

---

I'm currently reading Challenger by Adam Higginbotham for a little bit of nonfiction (my first in a while, you may notice); after that I'm not sure what I'm going to read. I'm traveling at the end of this month, so it'll be a little dependent on what's on my Kobo/if the sequel to Feast of Souls by C.S. Friedman arrives in time/what books I find that I want to read at my parents' house.

[jeannereames]

Hero Alexander vs. The Real Alexander

Moving to the second half of a recent question:

And if I'm not wrong, you mention at one place that you don't "heroize" Alexander. That's interesting, since he's often worshiped as a mythical hero. Why did you move away from that?

As a writer (and a reader), I’ve always been intrigued by the challenge of humanizing the “inhuman” (which can also include the ridiculously talented).

When I fell in love with Tolkien as a girl, I wanted to know what it would be like to be an elf, to have magic, to live that long, etcetera. Maybe that’s also why I always preferred Marvel superheroes over DC. Their hallmark was to make the fantastic (mutants, etc.) more human.

Now, I love me some traditional mythopoetic fantasy, but I’m no good at producing it myself. What is mythopoetic style? Peter Beagle, Patricia McKillip, Nancy Springer, C.J. Cherryh’s sidhe novels, my friend Meredith Ann Pierce … and of course Tolkien himself, where magic is real and magical creatures are…well, magical. Inhuman. Elves … not hobbits. Like a fairy tale…a myth (hence “mythopoetic”).

Anyway, I love reading that, but can’t write it to save my soul. When I write epic/historical fantasy (and I do see SFF as my home genre), it’s closer to anthro SF than to any mythopoetic style. My current MIP (monster-in-progress) is a 6-book series set on a secondary world where two branches of humanity survived, one of which, the Aphê, have super-convenient prehensile tails. 😊 The character journey for one of the protags across the first three novels is to recognize the Aphê as human and fallible rather than as a “noble savage” wise people. (Yes, questions of “What does it mean to be ‘civilized’?” are among the series themes.)

When it comes to historical fiction, I take the same tack. Alexander is interesting to me because he was a real person who accomplished extraordinary things.* What might he have been like in real life?

Making him too perfect—good at everything, no/few mistakes (just misunderstood), always honorable, etc., bores me. That’s the Alexander of his own marketing campaign. (laugh) It was adopted and refined by some later historians such as Arrian, and Plutarch in his rhetorical pieces (less in the Life but still there). That’s why I’m not a huge fan of Renault’s Alexander, and generally prefer her other Greek novels. Manfredi and (sorta) Pressfield do the same. Tarr and Graham also keep him deliberately at a distance to allow him to remain heroized, but it bothers me less because he’s at a distance. (Btw, I do not dislike Renault's ATG novels; they're just not among my favorites, either on Alexander, or of hers.)

Yet I’m not a fan of the other approach, either: to “humanize” him by taking him down a notch—making him NOT all that, just lucky (Lucian, and Nick Nicastro). Or by upending the heroic narrative altogether and turning him into a megalomaniacal “wicked tyrant” ala Pompeius Trogus/Justin or Seneca (and Chris Cameron).

I want something (and someone) more relatable, even while letting him remain truly astonishing. To humanize the “inhuman.” I realize that’s a challenge as, the moment we do humanize him, it removes him from the realm of the hero, which in turn makes it harder to allow him to be “all that.” For some, any fault is “too much”—the proverbial clay feet—because they’re desperate to have an idol, a hero…not a person. So the haters come out when, for instance, Simone Biles pulled out of the Olympics for mental health and the Twisties. How dare she!

I’m interested in the person. Even if Alexander wanted to be Herakles Take II, he wasn’t inhuman (divine). He was just a guy, and for me, the fact he was “just a guy,” yet still accomplished all those extraordinary things, is the most remarkable part.

I’ll conclude with what I wrote at the end of the author’s note in the back of Dancing with the Lion: Rise (also available on the website):

In the end, whatever approach one takes to Alexander, whatever theories one subscribes to, more or less hostile to the conqueror, we are left with the man himself in all his complexity and contradiction. The phenomenon called “Alexander the Great” has evoked vastly different interpretations from his era to ours. It’s tempting to seek internal consistency for his behavior, or to force it when it can’t be found. Yet no one is consistent. Even more, history itself is distorted by those recording it in order to serve their unique political narratives, whether then or now. Conflicting politics create competing narratives, and histories of Alexander were (and are) especially prone to such distortions. That, in turn, brings us back to where we began: history (like historical fiction) is about who we are now, and what it’s possible for us to become. So Alexander was neither demon nor god, whatever he wanted to believe about himself. He was a man, capable of cruelty and sympathy, brilliance and blindness, paranoia and an open-handed generosity. As remarkable as he was, he was human. And that's what makes him interesting.

--------------------

* That some of these extraordinary things would be—and should be—reviled by modern standards is part of the uncomfortable contradiction, and legacy, of the ancient world. This is something I also try to depict in the novel. So there is never a “simple win” in a battle. There’s something ugly shown in or as a result of every single one. On purpose. Battle is, and should be, deeply disturbing.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Bibliography for FAQ

This bibliography lists all the books quoted in the FAQ. However, details for some of these books is missing. This information will also be added to over time. Some books are listed in more than one edition. This is due to the process of revising the FAQ for publication and using the most recent versions of books quoted. Once the revision is complete, the old details will be removed.

The bibliography is split into four sections: Anthologies of Anarchist authors; books by anarchists and other libertarians; books about anarchism, anarchists and anarchist history by non-libertarians; and books by non-anarchists/libertarians.

Anarchist Anthologies

Avrich, Paul (ed.), The Anarchists in the Russian Revolution, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 1973.

Brook, Frank H. (ed.), The Individualist Anarchists: An Anthology of Liberty (1881–1908), Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, 1994.

Dawn Collective (eds.), Under the Yoke of the State: Selected Anarchist Responses to Prisons and Crime vol. 1, 1886–1929, Dawn Collective/Kate Sharpley Library/PMB, Oakland/London/Berkeley, 2003.

Dark Star (ed.), Quiet Rumours: An Anarcha-Feminist Reader, AK Press/Dark Star, Edinburgh/San Francisco, 2002.

Beneath the Paving Stones: Situationists and the beach, May 1968, AK Press/Dark Star, Edinburgh/San Francisco, 2001.

Dolgoff, Sam (ed.), The Anarchist Collectives: self-management in the Spanish revolution, 1936–1939, Black Rose Books, Montreal, 1974.

Ehrlich, Howard J, Carol Ehrlich, David De Leon, Glenda Morris (eds.), Reinventing Anarchy: What are Anarchists thinking these days?, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1979.

Ehrlich, Howard J. (ed.), Reinventing Anarchy, Again, AK Press, Edinburgh/San Francisco, 1996.

Friends of Aron Baron (ed.), Bloodstained: One Hundred Years of Leninist Counterrevolution, AK Press, Edinburgh/Chico, 2017.

Glassgold, Peter (ed.), Anarchy! An Anthology of Emma Goldman’s Mother Earth, Counterpoint, Washington D.C., 2001.

Graham, M. (ed.), Man! An Anthology of Anarchist Ideas, Essays, Poetry and Commentaries, Cienfuegos Press, London, 1974.

Graham, Robert (ed.), Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas — Volume 1: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300CE to 1939), Black Rose Books, Montreal/New York/London, 2005.

Guerin, Daniel (ed.), No Gods, No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism (in two volumes), AK Press, Edinburgh/San Francisco, 1998.

Krimerman, Leonard I. and Perry, Lewis, Patterns of Anarchy: A Collection of Writings on the Anarchist Tradition, Anchor Books, New York, 1966.

Woodcock, George (ed.), The Anarchist Reader, Fontana, Glasgow, 1987.

[emmanuellececchi]

9 books I plan to read...

Thanks for the tag @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras. My problem is that I have a long list of books to read... I will just name those close enough (my bedside!).

The Archimedes Engine by Peter F. Hamilton (received yesterday, novel and background lore for the new Exodus game I'm excited about)

The archeology of weapons by R. Ewart Oakeshott (about weapons, for my medieval romance).

Early Medieval Europe 300 - 100 by Roger Collins (for my medieval romance)

Forges of Mars by Graham McNeill (set in the Warhammer 40 k world, a novel about the martian's mechanicus).

Castles, their construction and history by Sideny Toy (for my medieval romance, you guessed it)

The Warrior Queens byt Antonia Fraser (historical female figure who kicked ass, for my medieval romance)

The illustrated world encyclopedia of knives, swords, spears and daggers by Harvey J. S. Withers and Dr Tobias Capwell (for my medieval romance).

Not on my bedside but on my list (planning to go buy them):

Shogun, by James Clavell (A white guy in Medieval Japan, wiiiiiiiiiiii!)

All the seas of the world by Guy Gavriel Kay (historical fantasy by one of the best author to write this kind of books - set in Renaissance Italy)

Tagging whoever feels like sharing their books and suggestions of reads for this year! (yes I like to add books to my to-read lists!).

[risingphoenix-nowreading]

What I Read In 2024

First of all, I highly recommend getting a library card, as my local branch and Libby are responsible for about 80% of this list. Second, if you want to read more classics, you might give Serial Reader a shot. Their collection is huge. Third, italics will indicate a reread and a heart means it's one of the year's faves and I might talk about it in depth one day. Lastly, it looks like I trended towards haunted houses and Peter Pan retellings this year, and also found a new favorite author...

The Damned Thing - Ambrose Bierce

Carmilla - J. Sheridan Lefanu

The Maker of Gargoyles - Clark Ashton Smith

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

❤️ Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

Fire - Kristin Cashore

❤️ If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio

The Trouble With Twelfth Grave - Darynda Jones

❤️ Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik

Thornhedge - T. Kingfisher

Blood and Chocolate - Annette Curtis Klause

A Walk In the Woods - Bill Bryson

Nettle and Bone - T. Kingfisher

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor - Bianca Marais

❤️ The September House - Carissa Orlando

We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson

Hell House - Richard Matheson

Longshadow - Olivia Atwater

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty - Anne Rice

❤️ Camp Damascus - Chuck Tingle

Light Magic For Dark Times - Lisa Marie Basile

The Woman In Black - Susan Hill

A Study in Scarlet Women - Sherry Thomas

The Familiar - Leigh Bardugo

Final Girls - Riley Sager

My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell

The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle - Alexandra West

❤️ The Child Thief - Brom

Your Shadow Half Remains - Sunny Moraine

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol 1 - Naoko Takeuchi

Family Business - Jonathan Sims

❤️ Gerald's Game - Stephen King

The House That Horror Built - Christina Henry

❤️ Wolf Creek Origin - Greg McLean

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

❤️ Bury Your Gays - Chuck Tingle

It Came From the Closet - Joe Vallese (editor)

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches - Sangu Mandanna

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol 2 - Naoko Takeuchi

❤️ Labyrinth - Jim Henson, A.C.H. Smith

Night Shift - Stephen King

The Accidental Highwayman - Ben Tripp

Fright Favorites - David J. Skal

❤️ My Heart Is A Chainsaw - Stephen Graham Jones

Dead End Girls - Wendy Heard

Doctor Sleep - Stephen King

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol 3 - Naoko Takeuchi

Lifeblood - Gena Showalter

The Creeper - A.M. Shine

The Crow - James O'Barr

Harmony House - Nic Sheff

The Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith

Hook's Tale - John Leonard Pielmeier

The Cruel Prince - Holly Black

Juniper and Thorn - Ava Reid

The Lost Boys - Craig Shaw Gardner

Dracula - Bram Stoker

❤️ Don't Fear the Reaper - Stephen Graham Jones

Bloody Jack - L.A. Meyer

Scarlet - A.C. Gaughen

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol 4 - Naoko Takeuchi

Murder at an Irish Wedding - Carlene O'Connor

❤️ My Best Friend's Exorcism - Grady Hendrix

Wakenhyrst - Michele Paver

In These Hallowed Halls - Marie O'Regan (editor)

[mariocki]

All Passion Spent: Episode 1 (1.1, BBC, 1986)

"She's not one of those clever women, thank God. Mother has always allowed others to make decisions for her. And now that Father has gone..."

"I suppose, since I have always lived at home, that I should really bear the brunt."

"Brunt, Edith? I'm sure we shall all regard it as a privilege to look after Mother. Brunt is an entirely unsuitable expression."

"Oh dear, when you say it like that, Carrie, I'm not even sure what it means."

[zannolin]

hello! sorry to bother you, but I saw you said you're reading your book number 91 (!!!! That's impressive) and I've been looking for book recommendations lately, so if you don't mind, would you share some book recs you have? (of fiction if it's possible). thank you!

haha yeah i tend to spend most of my free time when i'm not writing (or doing fiber crafts) reading books. absolutely so happy to give recs!!! all the time!! will talk ceaselessly about the books i'm reading!!

anything by ann patchett ever but my favs by her are bel canto, the magician's assistant, and commonwealth. she's litfic and very very good, even her nonfiction stuff

the scorpio races by maggie stiefvater is my fav book of ALL time. it's ya urbanish fantasy. lifechanging.

the locked tomb series by tamsyn muir. lesbians abound. sci-fi/fantasy absolutely gorgeous in every way. cuts me to the bone

jurassic park by michael crichton. yep there's a book! i am almost done reading it right now (it is in fact book number 91) and i seriously love it like could not recommend more.

any of kristen arnett's books but mostly dead things by her is my fav! it's about a lesbian taxidermist

it's middle grade but the beyonders trilogy by brandon mull is so so so good and i love it deeply

lockwood & co by jonathan stroud is a fun ghost/paranormal series; literally the best ghost series i have read bar none

if you like peter pan, fairytale retellings, or having the heart ripped out of your chest by the concept of loneliness and growing up or the lack thereof, the peter and the starcatchers series by dave barry & ridley pearson is a really good peter pan retelling. if you're willing to overlook how some aspects of the peter pan story as a whole have not aged very well. book four is so fucking good tho

i don't often recommend ya fantasy or romance of any kind but the folk of the air series by holly black is a really good fey series with enemies to lovers i actually liked

in a similar vein of the two above, the lunar chronicles series by marissa meyer is a really fun sci-fi retellings of fairytales; heartless by her is not connected in any way but is also a fairytale retelling i fucking LOVE

our wives under the sea by julia armfield is queer, excellent, and a little horrifying

authors i have only read a few from but highly recommend and need to read ALL of include octavia butler and toni morrison

her body & other parties by carmen maria machado is a life-changing collection of queer horror short stories; in the dream house by her is also incredible but it's a memoir and you should look up content warnings on it beforehand if you're a person who doesn't do well with heavy content

i've only read the first two books but the beartown series by fredrik backman is REALLY good; it's about hockey and friendship and living in small towns and stuff. it does deal with some heavy content as well so again w warnings etc but truly i'm obsessed

mexican gothic by silvia moreno-garcia was another horror book i really liked

middle grade again but i adore the twistrose key by tone almhjell (it's fantasy and about like growing up and beloved pets and things) (i'm trying not to rec a ton of middle grade here because i know it's not for everyone but i am an enjoyer of a lot of middle grade series if you ever want recs lol i am like supreme lord of reading puzzle/mystery/adventure series)

i have only read one book by tj klune thus far but my friends swear by him

the princess bride by william goldman is unironically SO good

if you like vague horror, suspense, and having your mind boggled, mona awad is really good

the dead lands by benjamin percy is (stay with me here) a post-apocalyptic retelling of the journey of lewis & clark (yeah the guys from us history) and i'm gonna be real. i was shocked by how much i liked it. it's WILD.

babel by rf kuang is like. massive. but it's really good historical fantasy.

the only good indians by stephen graham jones is really good horror and i've heard really good things about the rest of his books

meddling kids by edgar cantero is this really funky scooby-doo inspired horror/mystery novel that i love. it is Very quirky.

not fiction but animal vegetable miracle (barbara kingsolver; about farming and american food culture and family and stuff), the shallows: what the internet is doing to our brains (nicholas carr; about information technology etc), long live the tribe of fatherless girls (t kira madden; memoir, trigger warnings again), and the radium girls (kate moore; us history) are just. so so so good. in many different ways. couldn't not rec them!!

thistlefoot by gennarose nethercott is really good fantasy; it's an urban fantasy take on the baba yaga mythos that i really loved

four treasures of the sky by jenny tinghui zhang is historical fiction with a tinge of fantasy; gorgeous writing

the girls at the kingfisher club by genevieve valentine is a flapper retelling of the 12 dancing princesses

tender is the flesh by agustina bazterrica is really really fucked up horror/dystopia about a world where cannibalism has been legalized; very graphic in a sense but like. WILD to read.

i hope that's a good range! i read allll sorts of books and i know not all of them appeal to everyone but those are the ones i've really really enjoyed within the last couple years. hope you find something you enjoy out of all of them!

[clementinecompendium]

Book List: Aesthetics, Neuroaesthetics, & Philosophy of Art

Why Science Needs Art: From Historical to Modern Day Perspectives 1st Edition by Richard Roche (Author), Sean Commins (Author), Francesca Farina (Author)

Feeling Beauty: The Neuroscience of Aesthetic Experience by G. Gabrielle Starr (Author)

An Introduction to Neuroaesthetics: The Neuroscientific Approach to Aesthetic Experience, Artistic Creativity and Arts Appreciation 1st Edition by Jon O. Lauring (Editor)

Brain, Beauty, and Art: Essays Bringing Neuroaesthetics into Focus by Anjan Chatterjee (Editor), Eileen Cardilo (Editor)

Philosophy of Art: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy) by Noël Carroll (Author)

Philosophy of the Arts: An Introduction to Aesthetics 3rd Edition, by Gordon Graham (Author)

The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics (Oxford Handbooks) Revised ed. Edition by Jerrold Levinson (Editor)

Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: The Analytic Tradition, An Anthology (Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies) 2nd Edition, by Peter Lamarque (Editor), Stein Haugom Olsen (Editor)

What Art Is by Arthur C. Danto (Author)

After the End of Art: Contemporary Art and the Pale of History - Updated Edition (Princeton Classics Book 10) by Arthur C. Danto (Author), Lydia Goehr (Foreword)

Ways of Seeing: Based on the BBC Television Series (Penguin Books for Art) by John Berger (Author)

Art and Its Significance: An Anthology of Aesthetic Theory, Third Edition 3rd Revised ed. Edition, by Stephen David Ross (Editor)

But Is It Art?: An Introduction to Art Theory by Cynthia Freeland (Author)

The Art Question by Nigel Warburton (Author)

Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (Arguing About Philosophy) 3rd Edition by Alex Neill (Editor), Aaron Ridley (Editor)

Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Cynthia Freeland (Author)

Aesthetics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) Illustrated Edition, by Bence Nanay (Author)

The Cambridge Handbook of the Psychology of Aesthetics and the Arts (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology) by Pablo P. L. Tinio (Editor), Jeffrey K. Smith (Editor)

Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology (Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies) 2nd Edition, by Steven M. Cahn (Editor), Stephanie Ross (Editor), Sandra L. Shapshay (Editor)

Philosophies of Art and Beauty: Selected Readings in Aesthetics from Plato to Heidegger by Albert Hofstadter (Author, Editor), Richard Kuhns (Author, Editor)

Art, Aesthetics, and the Brain Illustrated Edition, by Joseph P. Huston (Editor), Marcos Nadal (Editor), Francisco Mora (Editor), Luigi F. Agnati (Editor), Camilo José Cela Conde (Editor)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Emma Graham-Harrison and Peter Beaumont at The Guardian:

A UN investigation has accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity on and since 7 October, the date of Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel. The allegations were contained in two parallel reports prepared by a commission of inquiry formed in 2021 by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, chaired by the former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay. The first report focused on crimes committed by Palestinian armed groups during the 7 October attack, while the second examined Israel’s culpability in the large-scale deaths of civilians in the subsequent Israeli offensive against Hamas in Gaza. Pillay, a South African legal expert, is viewed with hostility by Israel for her previous criticism of Israel’s human rights record. The reports constitute the first in-depth investigation into the events since 7 October by a UN body. The commission, which has no power to impose any penalties, described serious crimes committed by both sides in the conflict, including by Palestinian armed groups during the attack on Israeli communities near the border with Gaza on 7 October. It accuses Hamas’s military wing and six other Palestinian armed groups – aided in some instances by Palestinian civilians – of killings, torture, sexual violence and systematic kidnapping. “Many abductions were carried out with significant physical, mental and sexual violence and degrading and humiliating treatment, including in some cases parading the abductees,” the report said. “Women and women’s bodies were used as victory trophies by male perpetrators.”

In a statement, the panel said it had identified a pattern of sexual violence by Hamas and concluded that these were not isolated incidents, but similar events occurring in different locations. The report also described the desecration of bodies, including in a sexualised way, as well as decapitations and burning. The commission was equally damning about Israel’s conduct in the war, accusing it of using disproportionate force that amounted to a direct attack on civilians, resulting in a casualty rate “unparalleled across conflicts in recent decades”.

The commission found Israeli authorities “responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity”. The alleged sexual violence by Israeli forces related to the stripping of Palestinian men and boys, pictures of which were made public by Israeli troops, which the report said was “intended to inflict severe humiliation”. The report also accused Israel of the war crime of starvation, saying Israel not only failed to provide essential supplies such as food, water, shelter and medicine to Palestinians, but also “acted to prevent the supply of those necessities by anyone else”.

A pair of UN investigations reveal that BOTH Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during the current iteration of the Israel/Hamas war that began on October 7th, 2023.

[the-stove-is-divorced]

So it just came to my attention that as an author with amazing writing and depth and quality, obviously you would know fanfics with amazing quality too

Like how a professional artist follow artist who makes professional art or sm like that

So like, what I'm trying to get at is, do you have any fic recommendations? Your favorite ones maybe?

Also Spider-Man ones and MHA one's please. I need something to get these fandoms out of my systems (I'm halfway through the Ben ten ones you recommend and oh my god your taste is perfect)

I do love hoarding fics I adore, so thank you! That's incredibly flattering ⸜( ´ ꒳ ` )⸝ And oh yeah, I have, like, 2k bookmarks, haha! Occasionally I delete some, admittedly, but ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE! ( ` ∇ ´ )ゝI will preface and say I don't know what you like to curate this list better, since I read a lot of fanfic, I've got a lot of choices to pick from.

Alright, for spidey fics, I dunno what iterations of Spider-Man you like? And what character interactions you go for? So here's a random assortment! -> -> -> college student!Peter is a long suffering intern of the Avengers (comedy, mcu) + peter just trying to graduate (mcu) + yummy psychological horror of peter w/ venom symbiote + spideypool exploration of spidery behavior + spideypool where peter fights for his fucking life to keep his identity hidden but ppl think spidey's harry osborn + poetic spideypool (love the writing style) + combo of mcu and comics where peter is trying his best to graduate, grieve, and more (series) + spideytorch chronicles peter trying to prove he can settle down for a kid on the way + just spideypool silliness

That was harder than I thought, but should be a good range, bonus crossovers tho, peter and felicia suffering as STEM students in Gotham + peter being spidery in gotham + post NWH gone wrong! peter suffers and Orochimaru barges into his life

MHA I will just admit straight up Izuku is my favorite character, so they're all gonna be focused on him! Also man this was a trip down memory lane, haha! -> -> -> incredible comedy horror about an exorcist Izuku + psychological drama about izuku's inability to die + fav au of quirkless izuku in HSC + all of izuku's bitter feelings manifest when a quirk changes his personality + epic ongoing story of izuku being half demon, WC: 500k + izuku can see spirits, is incapable of helping people, and suffers + comedy about izuku making friends with villains instead of going to UA + izuku time travels and concerns literally everyone around him (comedy) + HC's plan to study Izuku fails because this mf is haunted + izuku is blind + katsuki is haunted by a dead(?) izuku + literally one of the best DFO fics to me (comedy) + OFA users memories get muddled with Izuku's + quirkless journalist izuku discovers the truth

This quickly made me realize how much I adored Bnha. But that should be enough for ye!

If we're talking any fandom kind of favorites, hard to say?? Kinda like when I get asked a fav movie, a lot disappears from my mind, but here's some random ones: -> -> -> jeremiah keeps appearing in bruce's dreams nightmares and it's getting harder not to listen (gotham tv show) + will graham is catnip to every serial killer on the planet for 200k + literally anything by this author + time travel fic of the century (haikyuu) + khaji da discovers the beauty of consciousness and identity

Did not think this would take me this long, but this should be more than enough! (o^ ^o) Glad ya enjoying the ones I recommended before!

[thelonelybrilliance]

thelonelybrilliance's 2024 Reads

Total Books Read: 132 (Original Goal: 120) Total Pages Read: 35,000 Average Book Length: 255 Pages Longest Book Read: IT, Stephen King Most Books Read in a Month: 16 (October) First-Time Reads: 83

FICTION (new to me)

Favorite Novel: Light Bringer, Pierce Brown

Runners-up: Network Effect, Martha Wells; The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle; Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury

Favorite Novella: Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan

Favorite Short Story: So Much Cooking, Naomi Kritzer

Favorite Series: The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells

Least Favorite Fiction: Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë; Hope Ablaze, Sarah Mughal Rana; Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman, E.W. Hornung; Mistress Pat, L.M. Montgomery

Least Favorite Series: The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe

NON-FICTION & POETRY (new to me)

Favorite Memoir: A Heart That Works, Rob Delaney

Runners-up: The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion; A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis, Just Kids, Patti Smith; A Natural Woman, Carole King

Favorite Essay Collection: Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions, Valeria Luiselli

Runners-up: Winter Hours, Mary Oliver

Favorite Non-Fiction Investigative/Journalistic/Academic: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, John Carreyrou

Runners-up: Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, Ronan Farrow; Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History, Richard Thompson Ford

Least Favorite Non-Fiction: How to Dress: Secret Styling Tips from a Fashion Insider, Alexandra Fullerton

Favorite Poetry: I Know Your Kind: Poems, William Brewer; Enough Rope, Dorothy Parker

Least Favorite Poetry: Woman Without Shame: Poems, Sandra Cisneros

REREADS (by author)

Favorites

J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit: or There and Back Again & The Lord of the Rings)

Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, & Mansfield Park)

Megan Whalen Turner (Queen's Thief series, including Moira's Pen)

Pierce Brown (Morning Star)

Eloise Jarvis McGraw (Mara, Daughter of the Nile)

Constance Savery (Enemy Brothers)

C.S. Lewis (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader)

Elizabeth George Speare (The Witch of Blackbird Pond)

Betty Smith (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)

Joan Aiken (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase)

Kenneth Grahame (The Wind in the Willows)

Louise Glück (complete works)

Richard Siken (Crush)

Least Favorites

Baronness Emmuska Orczy (Eldorado: More Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel)