#borrowed from library

[murakamijeva-muza]

[valtsv]

hate it when there's a book where the premise is good but the execution is limp dicked because now i have to read it and grind my teeth over how good it could have been the entire time. look what you've done to me.

[fistfuloflightning]

Winterfell

[moonyfr]

The amount of fics I want to re-read, the amount of fics I want to finish reading, and the amount of fics I want to start reading is very impractical atm

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[cascadiums]

Nothing gives me a greater sense of pride and validation than bookstore employees telling me they like my choices. I'm going to get a good grade in paperback purchases, which is normal to want and possible to achieve

[doriana-gray-games]

Hi! Just wanted to say real quick I love love love your game and have been silently following it for over a year. This is the first time I’m sending in an ask though haha. What does Anne think of the ROs? And has she picked up on anything from Watson in their non-platonic route?

Thank you! Have cookie ❤️🍪 (I did not have kitkat.)

Anne and Neel feel the same about the ROs and it’s like this:

L: “Who?”

A: “Who??”

H: “😖 Too intimidating.”

W: “Best person ever (except Sherlock) ✨ So nice, approachable, warm ☺️.”

MC: “😳 or 🥺”

I think, at least in an opposite gendered route, that people would be gossiping and wondering about the MC and W's closeness, whether they’re platonic or not.

But I think Anne and Neel spend more time than most (except maybe Mrs Hudson, romanced Lestrade, or pining Watson themselves) about the nature of your relationship lol.

‘🤨 was Watson just being nice when they told me to save a slice of their favourite bread for Sherlock when they woke up? Could the bread be a grand romantic gesture? 😔 I need to ask Mrs Hudson again…’

[itslookingback]

omg i need to sleep but the starless sea.... what..... this is like. one of the best fantasy books i have read. every single story that you th ought was just a standalone is interwoven in the world and the worldbuilding is just beautiful. it is a book about stories and bees and honey and exploring and doors and spaces outside of time and feeling untethered and dying and being saved and protection and immortality and owls and so much jqnuary snow and libraries and ruins and cocktails and fate and the sea and love and i really should not finish it tonight because i have an alarm set but oh my god. this book

[canisalbus]

Have you ever drawn anything from Watership Down? The vibe of the story feels like it'd fit perfectly with your artstyle

Not in recent memory, but I should! Watership Down is probably my favorite book of all time, I've reread it in various points of my life and continue to resonate with it strongly.

[soracities]

Hi, do you or any of your followers have any recs for audiobooks? Preferably that are free, I just would like to listen to something while knitting but not sure how to start exploring since I don't know who are good narrators or things like that. Thanks so much!!

i don't listen to audiobooks unfortunately but any audiobook devotees please please send in your recs for anon, thank you 💗

[springs-hurts]

Meanwhile me to those thick classic novels—

[notreallyweinn]

idk if this meme has been made before.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

accidentally sapphic stack to get me started for June 👀 I'm not gonna only read LGBT+ books during Pride month but these will keep my queer lit cravings satisfied

[conartisthaiji]

[image description: 9 slides from a slideshow. The slideshow has a white background with black text in comic sans. Each slide is as follows.

Slide One: Witch Hat Atelier, by a little witch academia fan (sorry in advance)

Slide Two: Basic Overview

NOT to be confused with Little Witch Academia 

yes, they both have a cheerful bad-at-magic lesbian who is in love with a grumpy magic prodigy lesbian (...i think) and yes, the uniform features cute little hats and robes and yes they are at a magic school and yes the two main teachers have homoerotic tension and…huh.

Just don’t call it witch hat academia (<-has done that)

Next to the words is the cover for the first volume of Witch Hat Atelier, which shows a blonde girl, Coco, cheerfully jumping down.

Slide Three: Blonde Akko Kagari

She’s blonde 

Her name is Coco 

Very sweet looking like i bet she’s just the nicest 

Probably had something tragic happen to her i bet it’s qifrey’s fault

Oh my god maybe this IS little witch academia 

Next to the text is the cover for the first volume of Witch Hat Atelier.

Slide Four: Not Olruggio

Lesbian (my mutuals told me so) (okay actually one of them had Agott over a lesbian flag as their profile but that’s basically the same thing) 

I did confuse her with Olruggio wha but no, she is a lesbian and her name is Agott. 

Rhymes with fa-i am forcibly removed from the room.

I just know she’s emo as hell like she looks like everything thirteen year old me would LOVE. unfortunately I am in my twenties. 

See next slide for blorbo.

Next to the text is the cover for the second volume of Witch Hat Atelier, which shows Agott sitting in a chair and staring out with a bored expression on her face.

Slide Five: Richeh!!!!!!!!

Blorbo-in-law 

I mean, she’s gonna be my blorbo now.

Look at her i love her she can do no wrong.

Her eyebrows are my fave thing about her like they are so expressive

Next to the text are two manga panels of Richeh, one showing her eating noodles from a bowl, and one showing her cheering with her arms raised. Text behind her says, "Riche is sold out!" Next to these panels is the cover for the fourth volume of Witch Hat Atelier, which shows Richeh sitting on the side of a cliff.

Slide Six: The little pink one

She’s…pink 

I hate to say it but i do not know anything about her 

Not even her name

Sorry to all fans of the little pink one 

I bet she’s the energetic/upbeat one of the group though

Next to the text is the cover for the fifth volume of Witch Hat Atelier, which shows a pink-haired girl leaping gleefully into the air.

Slide Seven: Qifrey without a U

It’s QI-FREY. No u. 

Now why is he wearing a one-lens sunglasses. Sun monocle. 

It’s probably just the cover art sorry Shirahama

Gay and sad i just know it 

Honestly i got nothing on this man

Next to the text is the cover for the third volume of Witch Hat Atelier, which shows Qifrey holding a book in one hand. One of the lenses on his glasses has been darkened.

Slide Eight: Not a teenage lesbian

So Olruggio is actually a teacher.

Upon closer inspection i see that his hair is not curly. I truly thought it was. Sorry Agott.

Qifrey may be gay and sad but Olruggio is gay sad and tortured about it 

Whatever is wrong with him has nothing on whatever the fuck is wrong with Qifrey i bet

Why is this picture so fucking pixelated.

Next to the text is the cover for the sixth volume of Witch Hat Atelier, which shows Olruggio jumping with his cloak flowing behind him. The picture is far more pixelated than the other images in this slideshow.

Slide Nine: Ok the end because i don’t know who else is part of witch hat! But go read witch hat atelier! Or just wait for the anime but i’m gonna go read the manga (and maybe i’ll rewatch little witch academia too teehee) /end id]

so sorry wha mutuals i didn't pay enough attention to your wha lectures 🙇🙇🙇

[barnabyboppins]

Hopefully lukewarm take (i haven’t checked)

I recently finished reading the Heroes Of Olympus series (having read pjo immediately prior) and I think it’s pretty shitty that the worth of all of our good guy characters are, to a notable degree, measured by their ability to find and engage in romantic relationships and are then greatly defined by those relationships. (Disclaimer; I don’t think I’m in a justified position to discuss lots of the racial criticisms for HoO but I do agree with a lot of em and that aspect does factor into this topic)

7+ important recurring characters is quite a lot of people to balance, even in a five book series and all of the non-pjo characters suffered immensely for it. But one character arc I anticipated over and over again that never ended up happening was any one character finding fulfillment from the non-romantic relationships around them by de-prioritizing the idea of a perfect someone in favour of accepting the support of their friends/comrades/campers/family/etc. (Second disclaimer: I don’t expect a novel saga from 2010 to have characters declaring their orientations (or lack thereof) aloud but the idea of a character learning to define themself by or through something outside of romance isn’t a new one)

I think Percy and Annabeth are very cute and work well as a couple (are they the only white couple?) and I don’t really see any chemistry between Piper and Jason (I feel like they’re on very different paths from each other and Piper stagnates greatly in favour of supporting jasons development) but I think literally every other Good Guy character had the potential to not need romance in their arcs. Frank could have been raised to praetor by consensus and recognized by his peers and grandma, actively validating his growth rather than him achieving great feats and no one noticing or really caring except for Hazel. Hazel could’ve been shown learning about the modern day with Frank and Nico during downtime and reconciling her identity and trauma with the diversity of today while discovering a new freedom in acceptance (from the Seven) of who she is from back then and who she may yet want to be (and also not dated a 16 y/o at 13).

Leo, Reyna and Nico were the main ones I was thinking would forgo the need for a partner at least as a necessity for their growth/healing as all three have severe familial trauma, are distanced from other demigods socially somehow, and all were explicitly ousted from conventional romance in-writing.

Initially with Leo I had hoped he would confront his struggle being the “seventh wheel” by expressing how he was feeling overlooked as a friend (and as the ONLY shipwright) in favour of everyone’s romantic interests, which would lead into further emotional vulnerability in the party but, that never happened save for a few stoically non-communicative gestures of support to Frank and otherwise weird hang-ups on Hazel before he fucked off to Calypso, letting his friends think him dead for weeks. Leo lacked connection and felt inferior and less important than the rest of the Seven and the narrative validated that by only fulfilling him through an a Rapunzel-like hot babe trapped on an island who is physically dependent on his emotional dependence on her. That’s not a recipe for healthy relationship! I related to Leo initially as an aromantic person with 9 siblings, half of whom are already coupled so it was very disappointing when I realized by the third book that RR just didn’t take what was to me the most obvious arc for a character who is vitally important to a team but least noticed. Also the Hazel-Frank-Leo pseudo-love shape didn’t need to happen, at least in the way it did, and I think the Leo-Hazel-Sammy weird love thing was stupid.

I think Nico and Will are a very cute couple and I’m looking forward to reading their book when I come around to it but I felt unsatisfied that the thing that got Nico to stay at camp after 5 books was a guy who had little significant presence until the last book and not like, any of the other deeply important connections he made during his journeys? Nico’s been talking about never returning to either camp for a while and none of the Seven or Reyna (I think) thought to check in with him? I get that Will is supposed to be like the first person to insistently want Nico around but if Will really is the first then that’s kinda fucked up given the whole like, eight books worth of people he’s met. It’s a bit fucked up that after years of Nico’s presence, seemingly the first connection to anchor him down is an unspoken suggestion of a romance

Reyna’s character journey confuses me because I don’t if I missed or forgot it but I don’t remember her having a conclusion to her internal struggles. Aphrodite telling her she’s doomed to singledom gets brought up again and again and it’s mostly just to make you feel bad for her. She doesn’t tell anyone else. She doesn’t seek fulfillment in the platonic or familial connections she has. They visit her house, trauma dump about her abuse AND fakeout her sisters + the hunters + the amazons deaths just to have Reyna be even more hurt. Reyna and Nico come to understand each other while they’re travelling but by the conclusion of the series she’s just gone back to her isolating and stressful role as the praetor, but now with more work to do! Aphrodite’s words are never explained and their veracity is never tested and all it serves is to give Reyna more misery porn.

I guess what I’m saying is I think the story would have been better if The Seven & Co had a little more connection with each other and not just with their respective partners and if we could have seen some internal growth come from that.

[characters-at-the-library]

Redoing this poll with more options based on the tags

Had a lot of people talking about donating their books in the tags of the previous version of this post, and I cannot go back and edit it, so I’m dropping a new poll