#but she does love Anne of Green Gables!

[sassysnowperson]

thriftbooks, have I got news for you

[capybaraonabicycle]

Anne: I want to be like you: Unmarried because I don't give a shit about romance.

Josephine: Anne, I'm a lesbian. And my wife just died.

[runawaycarouselhorse]

Yeah, that's what I noticed when you listed Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, and even Dear Daddy-Long-Legs! They all have strong female leads and can be described as proto-feminist in a way that does often get diluted by adaptations, so people often get a very different view of the books if they never... they were progressive for their time!

Little Women has comforting stories of timeless familial love and funny little scrapes kids get into and squabbles with siblings, but also a tomboyish main character who wants to go out there and DO something to help her struggling family--something that isn't just the typical (marry rich to restore her down on their luck family to riches) method, although there's nothing wrong with that (that's Amy's method!), it's just too passive for Jo.

Even the more traditional and even religious aspects are beautifully framed--when Mrs. March is grossly disappointed in how Meg behaves at the party (Meg Goes to Vanity Fair), among the things she says to her, very calmly and evenly...

Western literature and shoujo manga.

If you're, like me, someone whose passion is old shoujo manga, you may have noticed that at least one or more of your favorite mangaka has written manga adaptations of famous American and European novels. But why ?

According to this essay by Kawabata Ariko and Murakami Riko, in the early 20th century, because there was no Internet, people had no choice but to rely on big bookstores to learn more about and to purchase foreign novels. It was therefore not common to read them. The Iena bookstore, located in Ginza, was a rare indie bookstore that sold art-related foreign books and, while unfortunately, the store has closed today, many shoujo mangaka remember going there often to look for reference material amongst foreign works.

Alice in Wonderland, Daddy Long Legs and Heidi translated in Japanese with covers by Setsuko Tamura in the 80s.

This other essay by Oogushi Hisayo states that foreign novels were only broadly introduced in Japan for young girls in the 30s. Famous girls' magazines (which are to be differentiated with shoujo magazines) such as Shoujokai (created in 1902), Shoujo no Sekai (created in 1906) and Shoujo no Tomo (created in 1908) started introducing Western literature in their issues from the 1930s to the 1940s. Works such as "The Little Princess", "Heidi", "Little Women", "Daddy Long Legs" and more were published in these girls' magazines, making them more known to the Japanese audience and resulting in shoujo manga adaptations in the following years.

Little Women illustrated by Nakahara Junichi in the Girls' magazine Shoujo no Sekai.

Three works in particular seem to have gained a lot of popularity in the 40s: "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott, "Heidi" by Johanna Spyri and "Anne of Green Gables" by Lucy Maud Montgomery. All three are coming of age stories of young girls, and all three have one theme that seems to stand out: family. In the aftermath of WW2, many Japanese lost their families and many young children became orphans. In such times, novels that showcased happy families comforted Japanese readers. The popularity of these three works did not end in the 40s though, since in the 70s and 80s, all three got their 50 episodes anime adaptation in the Calpis Gekijou series (also known as World Masterpiece Theater), which, by the way, I highly recommend watching.

It is to be noted that these three works also became popular because they showcased independent and developed female leads, which has since then become a staple of shoujo manga itself, regardless of genre.

Heidi by Macoto Takahashi, Anne of Green Gables by Sakamoto Midori (1977) and Heidi by Watanabe Masako (1966).

In the 70s, a few mangaka published works that reminded critics of the "Bildungsroman". The Bildungsroman is a literary genre born in the 1800s in Germany, and it is a sub-category of the coming-of-age story. The Bildungsroman stands out from regular coming-of-age stories by focusing on the psychological and moral growth of its protagonist. Examples of that would be Moto Hagio with The Heart of Thomas in 1974 and Takemiya Keiko with Kaze to Ki no Uta in 1976 (though she never intended to write a Bildungsroman). The West was still shown in a more traditional version in these works, as both stories take place in old catholic boarding schools.

Similarly to how Audrey Hepburn, a Hollywood actress, was seen as a fashion leader in Japan (more about that on my other post about her influence on shoujo), Japanese people at the time had an idealized view of the West and anything from the Western world seemed fashionable and trendy. A great example of that is Sanrio. If you look at early Sanrio characters, a lot of them are from the West: Hello Kitty is British, the Little Twin Stars were inspired by Christmas, My Melody by the little red riding hood, Jimmy & Patty are American etc.

This view of the West began to shift in the 80s and the western literature that inspired shoujo mangaka started to change as well. Instead of comforting, idyllic stories about family life in a traditional American or European country side or stories taking place in traditional European catholic schools, manga inspired by more realistic and contemporary works started publishing. For example, Banana Fish by Akimi Yoshida (1985) draws inspiration from "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" by J.D. Salinger and two of Hemingway's works: "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "Islands in the Streams". All three of these focus on either modern issues like overconsumption or darker themes like death and loneliness. The change can also be seen in the gender and age of the protagonists. Instead of being about young teen girls that shoujo readers could identify with, Banana Fish is about adult men. The inspiration is also a lot more loose, and instead of an adaptation, there are only references to J.D. Salinger and Hemingway's works throughout the manga.

The Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio (1974), Banana Fish by Akimi Yoshida (1985) and Alice in Wonderland by Mutsu A-ko (1983).

To conclude my post, I really wanted to include this line from the essay by Oogushi Hisayo: If America (can apply to the West as a whole) was once the backdrop of stories for those who yearned to read about "somewhere that is not here", it has, from the 80s onward, become the backdrop of stories for those who yearned to read about "the now and here".

[books]

Writer Spotlight: Rose Sutherland

Rose Sutherland @rosesutherlandwrites is a Toronto-based writer who grew up a voracious reader with an overactive imagination in Nova Scotia (where she once fell off a roof trying to re-enact Anne of Green Gables!). She's been to theatre school in NYC, apprenticed at a pâtisserie in rural France, and currently moonlights as an usher and bartender—in between writing queer folktales, practicing yoga, dancing, singing, searching out amazing coffee and croissants, and making niche jokes about Victor Hugo on the internet. She's mildly obsessed with the idea of one day owning a large dog, several chickens, and maybe a goat. A Sweet Sting of Salt is her debut novel.

Keep reading for more about character arcs in A Sweet Sting of Salt, Rose's favorite fanfic tropes, and some excellent reading recs 👀

Can you tell us about A Sweet Sting of Salt and how you came to write it?

A Sweet Sting of Salt is a queer (f/f) historical reimagining of the classic folktale of the selkie wife, set in 1830’s Nova Scotia. I call it a “reimagining” because while it draws on the folktale, it’s not a retelling of that tale so much as a story playing out in relation to that mythology. I’d wanted to write something centering a love story between two women for a while, but the initial spark came from a Tumblr post! It suggested the idea of selkies testifying before the UN as victims of human trafficking, which reminded me of all the things I disliked about the original folktale and its inherent darkness that is generally glossed over, starting me down the rabbit hole toward finding my own story.

How did you approach research for A Sweet Sting of Salt, and what is a favorite historical fact you learned?

I joke that I did a lot of research by osmosis: I already had a lot of base knowledge about the location, having grown up in Nova Scotia, and then set the story in a period that I’ve been absorbing information about in a low-key way for ages—1832 is also the year of the student rebellion in Les Mis, so I’ve been gleaning tidbits about this era since I first got into the musical and book back in high school. However, I had to do more specific research into things like British divorce law, period midwifery, and animal husbandry. I also visited some small, hyper-local museums on the South Shore that gave me an invaluable glimpse into daily life. I also did some fun practical research into things like “How long does it take to walk from x to y?” and “How cold IS a plunge into this body of water in March?” (Spoiler: Very.) 

A fact that fascinated me but didn’t make it into the book was that some early European settlers in the area were granted lands by luck of the draw, pulling from a deck of playing cards: Each card was assigned to a specific 50-acre lot, and whatever you pulled, you were stuck with it.

When we meet them, Jean and Muirin are isolated for different reasons. What do you hope readers still searching for their people take away from A Sweet Sting of Salt?

That there’s always hope. It’s valuable and important to keep reaching out to the world around you, to be open, and not cut yourself off—the biggest reason for Jean’s loneliness at the beginning of this story is the way she has come to keep everyone around her at arm’s length, shutting herself away out of fear, and refusing to let anyone truly get to know her because she thinks that’s the best way to protect herself from being hurt again. Reaching out to others can take a real act of courage, especially if you’ve had bad experiences in the past, but “your people” will reach back to you.

Found family elements play a strong role throughout the novel, within supernatural and mundane settings and across species. Was this something you intended from the beginning, or did this grow out of writing the relationship between Jean and Muirin?

I always intended for Jean to have a found family of this type, which is something that a lot of queer people identify with, but those bonds also got stronger and more meaningful as I wrote, especially once Jean and Muirin began growing into their own family unit—their new relationship and the real danger that comes along with it put pressures on Jean’s other relationships that I hadn’t originally considered. Disagreements with Anneke and Laurie over Jean’s choices arise from their deep concern and love for her, and her own love and care for them, reflected in her responses, is a big part of what made them feel like a real family, for me. Jean and Laurie always having each other’s backs while also being the first to call one another out on their bullshit ended up being one of my favourite dynamics in the whole book.

The selkie myth carries an inherent element of transformation. What is a character transformation you most enjoyed writing, and why?

On a character level, the change in Jean’s worldview following a conversation with her childhood sweetheart meant a lot to me—it heals an old wound for her. I love how grounded and self-assured she is afterward, in spite of the daunting task still ahead of her. But my favourite transformation to write was the antagonist’s mask-off moment, where they directly threaten Jean for the first time. It’s so sly and coded so that only she will understand the menace behind it, a real dun-duh-dunnn moment, which was a lot of fun for me—I also enjoy the foreshadowing elements in that exchange.

This is your debut novel. Did anything surprise you about getting it from manuscript to published book?

Oh my gosh, how LONG it took! After I finished the original draft and decided it was worth attempting to publish, I spent over a year revising based on my own thoughts, input from beta readers, critique partners, and my mentor, Maureen Marshall (whom I connected with through the now defunct Author Mentor Match program, and whose book, The Paris Affair—about a young gay engineer attempting to help Gustave Eiffel secure the funding to build a certain celebrated Parisian landmark— is coming out in May). After that came a full year of querying agents and getting rejected. A lot. People loved Salty but weren’t quite sure what to do with her or where the book would fit in “the market,” which was hard to deal with at the time but is hilarious in retrospect: Salty was snapped up less than a month after she finally went out on submission! But that was back in 2022, and the book is only coming out now. Publishing can be painfully slow.

You’ve written fanfic in the past—do you have a favorite fanfic trope?

I’m not sure either of these counts as a trope, but I adore a character that’s “pure of heart, dumb of ass”, and love a truly unhinged Fanon Explanation For Canon Object. As a longtime Les Mis stan, I ship Tholomyes/Getting Punched. If you know, you know.

Do you have any favorite queer retellings of folktales you can recommend?

Right here on Tumblr, I’m a huge fan of @laurasimonsdaughter, who writes delightful riffs on classic folktales, truly inventive urban fantasy spins on old lore, and her own original folktales. 

I’m currently reading Spear, an amazing queer, gender-bent, Arthurian novella by Nicola Griffiths. Anna Burke’s books Thorn and Nottingham are up next on my TBR. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of brilliant queer historicals that aren’t retellings (I recently loved Suzette Meyr’s The Sleeping Car Porter and Heather O’Neil’s When We Lost Our Heads) and wonderful historical retellings that aren’t queer (I highly recommend Molly Greeley’s beautiful, heartbreaking Marvelous, about the real-life couple that inspired Beauty and the Beast). Queer, historical retellings aimed at adults seem to be considered quite niche, still, and can take some digging to find! So, throwing this out to Tumblr: Do you have recommendations for me?

Do you have a writing routine? Is there a place/state of being/playlist you find most conducive to your writing practice?

My routine is chaotic at best, but I find I do my best work earlier in the day, so I usually scribble in my journal while I have breakfast, and then progress to working on my current project as I drink my second cup of coffee. I’m lucky—my day job is an evening gig, which mostly allows me to write on my preferred schedule… but I’ve also been known to have a bolt of inspiration strike at 10pm and dash home to write until well past midnight on occasion. Nothing quite like the hyperfocus zone!

What’s next for you? Are you working on anything you can tell us about?

No official news yet, but I’m currently working on a story set in 18th-century provincial France based on a true unsolved mystery of the past. It has me delving into a very specific branch of French folklore, and I hope future readers will pick up on common threads with one popular fairytale in particular. I’m really excited about where this one is headed, but keeping the details close to my chest for now!

Thank you Rose for taking the time to answer our questions! If you love queer fantasy and old folktales, grab yourself a copy of A Sweet Sting of Salt, and be sure to share your queer folktale reading recs with Rose on @rosesutherlandwrites!

[esther-dot]

oh and I hope you don't mind (we can share my mood) 11k by @thkingslayer

“You make presumptions, your highness.” “I do not. I know how unwanted I am by you, Lady Sansa.” Her mouth opens as she struggles to find the words to tell him it isn’t true. She’s a lady. She would be nice if he would. She just wants— She just wants— -- When the king travels north, Sansa takes an immediate liking to Prince Aegon. She does not, however, want anything to do with her cousin Prince Jon—the brooding, dark haired, younger brother. She's quite sure he does not want anything to do with her also. And by the Old Gods and the New, she will not let him ruin her mood.

Dawn 19k

Like her mother before her, Sansa will do her duty. She will marry a man who is practically a stranger, mere days before he sets off for war.

All That Glitters 3k by @rumaan

Sansa is annoyed she has to give up a day with Prince Aegon to show his boring younger brother around Winterfell. Some alone time with Prince Jon makes her re-evaluate her opinion.

Sapphires and Salt 9k by @wendynerdwrites

The Princess to be is jilted, the unwanted prince rises

Salty Teens one, two, three by @blackholeofprocrastination

Sansa bursts into his solar in a swirl of skirts, her precious courtesies forgotten. Jon remains seated behind his desk, earning a scowl from his lady wife.  “What did you say to Jeyne?” she demands. “Nothing.”  It’s not entirely true, but he is still too furious to be cowed in his own damn solar.

Learning to fight, learning to Dance 1k by @myrish-lace-love

Lyanna Stark survives, and Jon and Aegon are half-brothers. Jon is in a hastily arranged marriage with Sansa Stark. They get on each other's nerves constantly during the day, but their nights are a different matter.

What a Disappointment 7k by @justadram

Sansa Stark and Jon Targaryen are married and neither of them is pleased about it. Set in a world where Rhaegar lives and Jon was raised in King's Landing as a legitimized bastard.

lights still shining in the room, you left me here 11k

Perhaps at one point, her marriage to Jon had become less of a sham. But with a history of three dead children between them, even the strongest of unions would break, let alone one as fragile as theirs. When Sansa tries to save herself, her actions lead to some interesting revelations.

Made New 3k

Sansa does not get the wedding night that she longed for and has to fix it

Tell the Ones That Need to know (We Are Headed North) 10k by @vixleonard

After years of confinement in the Red Keep with Ned prisoner in the black cells, the Dragon Queen comes. With the knowledge that Jon Snow is actually a Targaryen, she agrees to let the Starks return to Winterfell only if Jon marries one of the Stark daughters. Sansa volunteers so they can all go home. Soon she figures out being married to Jon isn't bad but it is complicated.

half a kingdom and a princess 2k by @misshoneywheeler

“Guess you’re stuck with me, old girl.” Old girl. He’s never called her that before. He’s never called her anything but Sansa and my lady, or sometimes Lady Stark, a title that gives them both discomfort as Lady Stark is still Sansa’s mother to each of them. Something in Sansa thrills at the strange endearment, though she should – and may – protest at being called such a thing. There’s just something so familiar in the words, in Jon’s soft affection as he says them. Something intimate and real.

A Convenient Inconvenience 4k

Once Daenerys takes the Iron Throne she knows the battle is only half over. Now that she has the throne she must keep it. Since she cannot have heirs of her own she names her new half-brother, the former Jon Snow, now Jon Targaryen, the Crown Prince. And a prince needs a princess which is where Sansa Stark comes in. The pair marry yet it takes months for Jon to realize that Sansa thinks of their relationship as more than just a duty.

PRE CANON - WESTERN - FAIRYTALE - REGENCY - LITTLE WOMEN - HOLIDAY - SEASON SIX - ANNE OF GREEN GABLES - THE GIRL IN GREY - FREE CITIES - FAIRYTALE PART II - POLITICAL MARRIAGE - POST CANON

[la-femme-au-collier-vert]

From The Library of Anne Rice (Part 1)

A list of books owned by Anne Rice including annotation information taken from auction listings at Bonham's, October 2024. Will continue in Part 2.

Frazer, James G. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (abridged edition).New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1963. She writes on the flyleaf in June of 2012: "When I bought this book I don't know. I know I read it or a copy of it in the 1980s when writing The Vampire Lestat. It is essential to me." On the jacket spine she has added "Sacred!"

Frazer, James G. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. 1981. Marked on the cover, "Gift to Stan from Anne 1985 / Save Always, AR," and internally reads in Stan's handwriting: "A gift to me from Anne because I've never read it."

Gaskell, Elizabeth. Tales of Mystery & the Macabre. Wordsworth edition, 2007. bears Rice's ownership signature to title page ("Anne Rice / May 29, 2012 / The Desert") and is tabbed and annotated throughout. 

Gaskell, Elizabeth. North and South. Penguin Books, 2000. bears her ownership signature on the title page.

Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom the Bell Tolls. New York: Charles Scribner's Son, 1940. Original beige cloth stamped cover and spine, in facsimile dust jacket. First edition with the Scribner's "A" on the copyright page. With Post-it note to front pastedown indicating that the book was a gift "From Becket and Christina / Christmas / 2012."

King, B. B. & David Ritz. Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King. New York: Avon Books, 1996. First edition, inscribed to "To Anne / All the best to you / B.B. King / 10-18-96." 

Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables. Cutchogue, NY: Buccaneer Books, 1976. Anne Rice ownership signature dated February 7, 2015, Palm Desert. Annotated on front pastedown; "It's immediately a pleasure, and making me want to write."

 Montgomery, L.M. Emily's Quest. Oxford City Press, 2009. Anne Rice ownership signature dated February 21, 2015; annotated and tabbed.

Montgomery, L.M. Emily Climbs. Sourcebooks, 2014. Anne Rice ownership signature dated February 12, 2015.

Montgomery, L.M. Emily of New Moon. Ameron House, c.2015. Anne Rice ownership signature dated February 6, 2015, inscribed: "Reading the paperback and loving it so much I had to have a hardcover." 

Montgomery, L.M. The Blue Castle. Sourcebooks, 2011. Anne Rice ownership signature dated May 12, 2015 to title page.

Puzo, Mario. The Godfather. New York: Putnam, 1969. Book club edition. On May 26 and 27, 2013, she writes, "Badly need this, Studying in detail" and on page 74 she writes, "Note how easily it flows." She has great praise for the nimbleness of the novel's p.o.v. and is often asking herself "how can I learn from this?" On p 225 she writes, "This is a most impressive piece of work and is masterly. Again I marvel at vocabulary, tone, and placement—organization of the book. I fight OCD as I write, I've come to see that, and this helps me to see what this novel accomplishes. Presenting the Don as a 'great' man, a 'genius,' without apology is a conscious approach that is so powerful."

Puzo, Mario. The Godfather. Another copy, later edition, lacking jacket. With Anne Rice's ownership signature.

Puzo, Mario. The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions. London; William Heinneman, 1972.

Puzo, Mario. The Fortunate Pilgrim. New York: Random House, 1997. Anne Rice ownership signature. 

Wallace, Lew. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1908. Anne Rice re-read this copy of Ben-Hur in 2006, a used copy she picked up somewhere, leaving detailed marginalia throughout and summing up her thoughts on the first flyleaf: "12-12-06: This is an amazing achievement: a Judeo-Christian novel. Jewish history and honor are here! And a woman tells this history to her son! How did we get away from this to The Robe ... 12-15-06: I've spent over two days reading & studying this wonderful book. It does seem unique—and it covers an amazing amt of material including a physical description of Our Lord, the crucifixion, etc. It is not anti-semitic. It presents Jews as exotic, 'oriental.' It has a primitive quality ... why is the prose so difficult? so 'dated'? Compare to Dickens." Rice's notes in the margin often compare the novel to (presumably the 1959 version of) the film, finding the novel superior in every way, and commenting more than once on its structural similarities to Dickens: "the whole spectacle and the co-incidence" (p 166).

Cleland, John. 1709-1789. Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. New York: Penguin Books, 1985. Annotated and with ownership signature to the title page: "Anne Rice / January 2014 / Palm Desert." Rice underscores Cleland's descriptions of bodies and physical acts, and in particular, wonders about the novel's p.o.v.: on p 108 she writes in the margin, "Is this a man's view? A gay man? An author who is male and female?"

Clinton, Bill. Born 1946. My Life. New York: Alfred Knopf, 2004. Jacket spine with label "From the library of Anne Rice" laid down to tail. First edition, inscribed on the title page, "To Anne—After doing this book, I admire you even more—Bill Clinton." with: a note on the Office of William J. Clinton letterhead: "2/17 —Huma—For author ANNE RICE.—Thanks, Sally." When Clinton published his memoir in 2024, Rice was one of the VIPs to receive a presentation copy, in which he expresses his admiration for her work after having written a book of his own.

Bellman, Henry. 1882-1945. Kings Row. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1943. Annotated and with ownership signature to front free endpaper: "Anne Rice / June 27, 2013 / Palm Desert." Rice has carefully read and annotated this copy, complementing the writing (particularly when Bellamann writes about Father Donovan) and adds a long note on the rear pastedown: "Pages & pages of this book are about the mind—about how the mind learns, expands, grows, experiences." Sometimes her comments are in conversation with the text, as when, on p 153, she underlines the town of Auvergne and writes "Auvergne, what a coincidence! As I plan a trip there and write about Lestat!"

Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield.  New York: Penguin Classics, 2014. With ownership signature of Anne Rice dated June 11, 2018, tabbed and annotated throughout. On the preliminary leaf of Copperfield, Rice writes, "Again with my beloved David, and my beloved Dickens. I have just read Claire Tomalink 'The Invisible Woman' and her later bio of Dickens. I'm writing my new novel in my head."

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Penguin Classics, 2008. Signed and dated June 15, 2018, tabbed and annotated throughout.

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnen. South Moon Under. New York, London: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933 (undated later facsimile edition).

Mitchell, Margaret, Gone With the Wind. New York: [Simon and Schuster], 2011. Rice reread this copy in March of 2015, tabbing dozens of pages and commenting in the margins.

Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace. New York: Alfred Knopf, 2007. The first date on this copy of War and Peace is June 30, 2010, and Rice writes: "The Desert / Being reborn in Tolstoy, studying at his feet—Searching for the Christ who is bigger than religion." In a different ink, Rice adds at the top of the same page, "Revisiting 7-16-17—Having seen much of the new BBC series with Lily James as Natasha." Rice has tabbed the pages throughout this volume and made extensive notes on character development and theme. On the rear flyleaf, she adds, "'Life is everything...' p 10064— use for L" as well as "The guiltlessness of suffering (do we make ourselves suffer to be guiltless)?"

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karinina. Translated by Rosamund Bartlett. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Signed and annotated February 19, 2015. Heavily tabbed, especially in the center part of the novel, and noted on the front flyleaf: "Reading chunks of the story of Levin & Kitty / So beautiful and smooth—"

[lostbetweenvampiresandmusic]

Love at first murder

Paul x f!oc

Happy New Year!

After closing her shop, Nora realised she is being followed. She is prepared and managed to prevent anything bad from happening, but then this handsome boy shows up.

Paul has been feeling like shit lately and figures out why: he has found his mate.

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

Sometimes, the boys would jokingly talk about finding their mate. Someone who would complete them in a way. David was deadly serious when he said that he didn't have a mate - although Paul thought Michael would have been pretty close to it had the whole Emerson affair not happened. Dwayne didn't mind the thought of a mate per se, but still, why would he need one when he was more than fine right now? Marko simply refused, even going so far as saying that he'd just kill his mate right then and there - no way that he would be tied down. Paul knew that realistically speaking, Marko wouldn't even be able to kill his mate, but the point was clear.

Paul, however, just always assumed he didn't have a mate. And if he did have one, it had to be someone who knew how to party. Someone who would yell along to his songs and didn't mind the drugs. But he, too, always said he didn't mind having no mate.

Lately, he had been feeling off, though. A strange knot forming in his stomach, tugging him a way from the cave and towards - well, somewhere. The feeling had started almost a month ago, and every single day that he tried to ignore it, it got worse. First, it was a small tug, but now it felt like he was slowly being ripped apart. So, he decided, after abandoning the boys for the evening, he would follow that bloody tug and see where it would lead him.

On the other side of town, in a small bookstore, a young twenty something year old girl sat behind the counter. The store was mostly empty, except for this grandma with her grandson, and she had decided that she could best spend her time reading while they browsed. Tonight's read was - once again - Anne of Green Gables. Oh, how she loved Anne and her dear friendship with Diana. And, how she loved the budding friendship between Gilbert and Anne. It never bored her, even though this was the ninth time that she read it.

Paul frowned as he sat outside the store in a tree. This girl - pretty but yet seemingly quite nerdy - had been the cause of all this? Was this girl - he realised this as the tug in his stomach lessened - his mate?

No. Paul refused. His mate would not be a hermit, a booknerd, someone who would describe every single drug as "You know, weed and such" and then giggle as if ot was something horribly tabboo. His mate couldn't be someone who probably never even heard of Black Sabbath before. How? In every store he heard about finding mates, he had always been told that they were made for each other. But this girl - she didn't seem to be the right fit for him. For Dwayne perhaps, but for him? He shook his head, deciding to leave.

"Was this everything?"

"Yes, thank you Nora. I'm so sorry for coming in this late."

"Nonsense," the girl behind the counter smiled. "I was still here, and I know how important a good book is."

"Grandma said this one had pirates," the boy looked proud. Nora grinned.

"It does! I'm certain you'll like this one. It's quite an adventure." She wrapped the copy of Peter Pan in some brown paper and handed it to the grandma. "That will be seven fifty."

As the grandma and grandson left, Nora closed the shop. She counted the money, put the bills in the save, locked the doors, and made sure the blinds were locked as well. Grabbing her bag, she looked around one last time before nodding. She had everything.

As she walked out the back, she couldn't help but feel as if she was being followed. Multiple times, did she stop and look around, but every time, the street was empty. "If this is your idea of a joke, it's not funny!" She called out.

"Who says it's a joke?"

Nora turned around quickly, seeing an older man standing four feet away from her. He had a sickening grin, as if she were his prey. Nora's look darkened.

"What do you want?" She sounded impatient, which she was. She just wanted to go home and watch a good movie, read some more, enjoy a cup of tea, and then go to bed.

"Smile for me, pretty."

"Fuck you, asshole," she crossed the street, her hand gliding into her bag. Her dad had told her to always be prepared. She had forgotten her pepper spray at home, but the boxknife she used to open deliveries to her store was safely tucked away in her bag. Her hand closed around it, ready to pull it out if needed.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you, bitch!" He came at her, quickly. She couldn't move away. He pushed her to the ground. He was out of breath, grinning madly. She looked at him. She tightened the hold on her knife. The man moved down as if to kiss her and-

She stabbed him. His cheek. His eye. He fell backwards, his blood covering both himself and Nora. She tried to push him off of her, but he was heavy - to heavy for her. She tried to crawl away from under him but had no luck.

"Shit!"

"Fucking hell, are you okay?"

Nora screamed, eyes widened. "Where the fuck did you come from?"

The boy, tall and looking as if he could have been performing at a rock concert looked at her.

"I heard some struggling and came to see what was going on. "

"Can you help me move him? I-" Nora hadn't even finished her sentence, or the guy had already lifted the man up. Seemingly as if the creep weighed nothing.

"Thanks."

"Glad to know you can defend yourself."

"Hm?" Nora looked up. She had been a bit lost in thought, wondering if she had killed him - and if so, what the consequences were. And then, what was this boy doing here, helping her? And why was he so familiar, so handsome, and why did he feel so safe?

"You did quite a number on him."

"Is he alive?"

"Barely."

"Oh." She sat on the curb still, shaking a little.

"You did nothing wrong," the guy held her hands, having a slightly proud look on his face. "You protected yourself. That's all."

"So we just leave him here?"

"Yeah. It's no one's loss. Believe me."

Nora nodded, getting up with his help. "Let's get you cleaned up. The boardwalk is pretty empty right now, so you can use the showers at the beach without anyone asking questions."

Nora walked with him, not asking how he knew about the number of people on the boardwalk or how he knew that no one would ask questions. Her whole dress was covered with blood, and she thought it was quite noticeable. When they arrived at the showers, the guy turned to look at her.

"I don't even know your name."

"Nora."

"Paul." He grinned. "What's your size? Than I'll get you some clean clothes."

"You really don't have to, I-"

"Come on, when I take you out that's when people will notice the blood on your dress."

"Wait, what do you mean take me out?"

"You know, a date? I'd like to know more about you."

Nora couldn't help but feel flustered. "Alright. I'm somewhere between an M and an L."

"Don't worry, I got you," Paul grinned, "I'll knock three times when I get back."

Nora smiled despite everything. Something about Paul made her feel safe. The way he helped her without asking any questions or being freaked out... she liked it. She liked him - which was weird because she only met him an hour ago. And yet, she realised as she washed the blood of her face, she would follow him to hell if he asked.

Paul still wasn't sure what to think. Nora was different than he thought her to be. Even before accepting that she was his mate had he realised that she was beautiful - but seeing how she protected herself, how she was clearly freaked out by the whole situation, and still managed to think straight. He liked it. He liked her. Maybe, he thought as he grabbed two dresses. Maybe she was the right fit. Maybe he didn't need someone who was exactly like him.

Nora opened the door after hearing three knocks. Paul stayed outside, handing her the two dresses. "I didn't know which size would be better, so I got both." Nora smiled. That was kind of him, she thought as she put the larger one on. It was comfy and warm.

"So," she said as she got out of the shower unit, "if we were to go on a date, where would you take me?"

"Dinner, obviously."

"Alright. But, " and she looked very strictly at him, "I pay. You already helped me with well, you know, and with the dresses. I pay for the food."

"That all depends on who gets the waiters' attention first, babe."

Nora smiled. They decided on pizza, and after finishing it, it had been Paul who had been the quickest in gaining the waiters' attention. It might have been because Paul had yelled: "Yo, we're ready to pay here!" Nora had given him the win.

"Paul?" It was in the early hours of the morning, and he had just dropped her of at home. "Do you want to hang out again? Tomorrow maybe?"

Paul was quiet for a moment before smiling. "Yeah, I would. Pick you up at eight?"

Nora nodded. She had almost reached her front door when she turned around, walked back and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek. "Thanks for tonight."

With those words, she disappeared inside her house, leaving Paul alone.

"What's got you so happy?" Marko asked as he entered the cave. "Found a good fuck?"

"Better."

"What's better than that?"

"I found my mate."

"Holy shit," Marko looked at him. "For real? What are they like?"

"Nerdy. Adorable. And absolutely amazing."

"You're whipped dude."

"How did you know?" Dwayne had walked in.

"Ah, it was love at first murder," Paul grinned. Maybe having a mate wasn't so bad.

[purple-phesh-and-cheps]

have read HEAPS so here's some hcs about marauders characters and books

lily loved whimsical, comforting books like anne of green gables (she read the whole series), heidi, and the secret garden. she also enjoyed reading more magical books like howl's moving castle, alice's adventures in wonderland and the borrowers

marlene obsessively tore through series' like a series of unfortunate events. she also really likes sci fi, reading books like cakes in space when she was little and then progressing to things like the wayfarer trilogy and inscape when she was older.

james loved high fantasy like dragon riders of pern, the hobbit and lotr. he really likes dune. (he also secretly enjoys trashy romance novels)

mary particularly likes to read murder mysteries and crime fiction. when she was younger she read every single roal dahl book. as well, she loves reading non fiction biographies of interesting people's lives

peter read all of the enid blyton books when he was younger (reread the secret seven books more times than he can count) he doesn't read so much now, but his favourite author is agatha christie and he loves to read all her books. more regularly he prefers doing crossword puzzles

sirius was forced to read classic literature as a child and was tutored in ancient greek and latin, and although now hating most of the classics because of this he does have a soft spot for dickens. now he prefers to read short, really strange classic dystopian novels like farenheit 451, a clockwork orange, a brave new world and slaughterhouse five

remus. remus would read anything he could get his hands on when he was younger, and he just loved, and still loves, to read. he does like to read classic literature, and enjoys all the books that sirius hates. some favourites are jane austin and the brontë sisters

[roses-red-and-pink]

Ok LMM tumblr, what do we think of Anne with an E? I am trying it again at the request of my roommate who is watching it with me. So far we have watched the pilot and the second episode. Due to this limited experience, my opinion is not fully formed.

First thoughts: Anne says too much what she thinks. I know this sounds incongruent with her character because we KNOW Anne, (especially young Anne) is opinionated and speaks her mind. But in reading the books, I always got this note of sweetness and cheerfulness. She always had this habit of saying terribly sad things that had happened to her with unconcern. (Which in itself is sad that she doesn’t see that as abnormal). AwaE has her yelling her feelings a lot more. Which is maybe realistic for some people? A lot of her dialogue during these yelling scenes sounds like a Twitter thread??? (Complete with hashtags like #girlpower) anyways it doesn’t feel very “Anne” to me.

Which leads me to my second point. Why is this not an Emily of new moon adaptation??? Her personality seems to match Emily’s more. The darkness and the seriousness seem to match the vibe of Emily more. Give me dramatic flashbacks to cousin jimmy and Elizabeth with their dad. Give me deep exploration of Teddy and his moms relationship! Give me Emily yelling at all her relatives and telling off farm boys, and having that Murray pride and snobbishness!! (That’s the other thing: Anne with and E seems to have this pride that doesn’t fit Anne of green gables pride. She had pride, for sure, but not the way Emily does. And I think Anne with an E matches that Emily pride more).

But things I do love are Marilla and Matthew ❤️❤️❤️. Also Rachel Lynde and Marillas friendship. How they backhand each other and yet care for each other so much. How marilla is like “oh no… Rachel is coming over… I guess I just have to put the kettle on… what an annoyance… oh well,, nothing for it” and Rachel is like “oh I just need to run these scones over… this has nothing to do with that little girl coming to live there… I have no need for gossip.., just helping a neighbor”. Also after Anne apologized to Rachel, I love how Rachel immediately accepted Anne. And the development of Anne and marillas relationship!!

Overall I’m trying to take it as what it is. I know it’s not a faithful adaptation. I know it’s very modern and explores topics LMM did not, (or in greater depth with modern understandings of trauma and abuse etc). I do think it will be interesting to see a development of Anne’s relationship with people at school since the first Anne of Green Gables book often skims over stuff. I mean it covers from 11-16 years old, with not much to go on of her relationship with Gilbert or other people besides Diana. Just brief mentions here and there. So I’m open to it.

Will tag people in the comments but feel free to not respond, or if you’ve already talked about this and don’t want to again that’s ok!

[leaves-lilies-and-esther]

Anne with an E didn't invent feminism in the Anne of Green Gables series

I just saw a post on tumblr about how AWAE has feminism (as opposed to the original series, which apparently doesn't???) and my reply went past the word count, so here it is:

Firstly, I think that Anne is an incredibly well-done feminist character in her own right, and that's what offers her enduring popularity. She literally smacks a slate over the head of a boy who comments on her looks, publishes stories, is the first girl from Avonlea to go to Redmond, succeeds wildly at Queen's, is principal of a school, refuses to marry at all unless it's for love, etc. Moreover, she does all of this while being interested in fashion and typical 'girly' things, as well as remaining a flawed character who still feels completely real. She doesn't reject femininity, but she does as she pleases.

It's not like the books push sexism under the rug, either. The mathematics professor at Redmond "detested coeds, and had bitterly opposed their admission to Redmond". The older women of Avonlea don't particularly approve, either- Anne gets plenty of discouragement that Gilbert and Charlie Sloane never receive, and some even admit that they don't find it particularly proper for a girl to receive so much higher education. Specifically, she's told that she's only going to get married. Later in the books people inform her that she will never be married because she's "too particular" (Mrs. Harmon or Jane's mom), and that she should just settle as soon as she can. This is only in Anne of The Island alone, btw. In either the first or second book I think she even voices support for women being ministers, which isn't even a position to be taken for granted today.

There are loads of things I love about AWAE- Ka'kwet's storyline was amazing and added so smoothly, the casting is superb, etc. But they didn't introduce feminism to the series. In effect, I've also heard the argument that AWAE is less feminist. They take out so many of Anne's accomplishments at Redmond, as principal, actually getting published, etc. They remove her conviction on marrying for love. They end her story when she kisses Gilbert as if that's the end of all things lovable and Anne-related (although I know that's more the fault of Netflix than the directors). We never see the town's canonical reaction to going to Redmond, staying a single pringle for as long as she did, etc. In fact, quite the opposite, because the show kind of rushed Anne and Gilbert together, and as a result missed huge chunks of their friendship and romance. Again, not the fault of the directors, but I can only react to what we actually got... which is the removal of everything feminist about the original series. Yes, they added other points, but still...

Idk, I adore both but it still irks me when people say "if Anne was alive today/written more recently she'd be a huge feminist!!!". Yes, but she already was... in her own time. Anne-girl was a rebel from the start!

All hail Queen Anne 👑

[bespectacledbookworm]

OOOHHH MY GOD IM RAGING!!

Watching this stupid Walter Boys show and the moment I saw that Jackie was not that upset about the hair bleaching, I checked out. There should've been blood!! She should have decked one of those boys, sorry. Any girl I know who's gotten fucked up hair, either by stylist or prank, is L I V I D. Jackie is just like "oh... I guess I have to hide my hair under a hat and try not to be late for school...."

People who don't have long hair don't understand! Hair is such an investment. Like, I grew that with my body!

Are you kidding me?!?! She should have gone Anne of Green Gables. That was done well. What does Anne do after Gilbert calls her carrots?? SHE BREAKS HER CHALKBOARD ON HIS FUCKING HEAD!! AND THEN it takes a whole season and Gilbert GENUINELY apologizing and showing humility that Anne forgives him. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

Don't even get me started on the love triangles. 😒

Having your hair bleached as a prank is such bullshit. Someone would have gotten punched. It's such a violation of security. She doesn't know these people! And her whole family is dead?? IM GONNA TEAR MY ARMS OFF!

[derangedbookworm]

ok guys, here are some of my marauders headcanons. they're pretty modern (mentions of modern artists, technology, and media), and are not hogwarts/canon specific. i think the only ships i directly mention are dorlene, marylily, jily, and rosekiller, but they also aren't specific to any ship. i'll also add picrews of how i imagine each of them.

also, hey! if you don't agree with some of these, that's ok! please do not come into my tags or ask box hating just bc you don't agree! thank you!

(tw: colleen hoover mentions 😔)

~marlene: -lesbian -irish (galway or derry) (she and peter grew up together, and were childhood best friends) -i also love filipino marlene (i literally cannot decide anything) -very blonde hair -has hetechromia (one blue eye and one green eye) -she has cystic acne (dorcas thinks it's so hot) (me too dorcas) -LOVES messy buns with her entire being -cannot sing for the life of her -girl in red -renee rapp -5'8 -she and dorcas like to match outfits -her favorite color is orange -most septum piercing to ever septum pierce

~mary: -pansexual ~colombian (she speaks spanish) (her and james talk shit all the time) ~black (her skin is really dark) -has rosacea (you can't really see it bc her skin is dark, but when it gets hot she gets RED) -she likes wearing her natural hair (in the summer she gets protective styles though) -hazel eyes -showtunes and chappell roan -5'7 -waitress and wicked are her favorite musicals (she thinks glenda and elphaba should have been lesbians) (doesn't everybody?) -loves experimenting with makeup -yellow is her favorite color -wants to wear a yellow sun dress and go frolic in a meadow (real)

~lily: -bisexual -has curtain bangs for sure -scottish or irish (probably scottish) (and she speaks gaelic) -cheek dimples -she's a ginger so she freckles super easily (they're mary's favorite physical attributes of lily's) -anne of green gables (gilbert and anne are such a jily varient) -ambidextrous -she can sing really well -5'6 -PLUS SIZED LILY MY LOVE (i feel very strongly about this) (she's my baby) (i love her so much) -green eyes -six, waitress, and ride the cyclone are her favorite musicals -olivia rodrigo and maisie peters -loves experimenting with makeup -wears very boring clothes (never wears graphic tees or anything like that) (dresses like a beige mom most of the time) (it's ok though) (we forgive her) -her make up always eats (it has not missed once) (her eyeshadow and eyeliner skills are unmatched) -chappell roan

~dorcas: -lesbian -has a very wide nose (marlene worships it, so i had to give it an honorary mention) -5'10 -sza -wears a few different styles, but box braids are her favorite -doesn't actually wear that much makeup (probably just does mascara and eyeliner) -eyebrow piercing -BILLIE EILISH -very dark brown eyes (almost black) -lets pandora try different makeup looks on her and dress her up all the time -naturally very clear skin (marlene is jealous)

~pandora: -pansexual/queer/demisexual (i literally cannot choose) -probably polyamorous as well (she just loves) -black (lightskinned) -she and evan both have vitiligo -5'5 -blonde dreads (her and evan both) -loves those star and heart shaped pimple patches (she wears them even if she doesn't have a pimple) -pink doc martens and those valentines converse -either pheobe bridgers, penelope scott, gracie abrams, or ppcocaine, meg thee stallion, nicki minaj (and there's no in between) -sza -strawberries are her favorite food (she LOVES them) (wears clothes with strawberry patterns, watched strawberry shortcake growing up, strawberry flavored candy is her favorite) -refuses to wear wireless earbuds (1. she's scared one would fall out and she'd lose it) (2. she likes the aesthetic of wired ones better) -autism -light brown eyes -tooth gap (😍) -rock collection

~evan: -gay/asexual (i can't decide) -vitiligo -ocd -i love trans evan as well as cis evan -5'10 -black (lightskinned) -he and pandora have matching jewellery and he wears it all the time -the best brother EVER tbh -would literally kill someone who looked at panda wrong -snake bite piercings (he got them as a dare but ended up loving them) (barty also loves them) (they're so bad for your teeth though 😔) -his favorite color is pink but he pretends it's light blue (he's fooling no one) -blonde dreads -light brown eyes -deviated septum (he hates it but barty loves it) -nirvana, korn, and slipknot

~barty: -pansexual or unlabeled -italian -mullet (the underside is died neon green, and the top is black with some green highlights) -6'2 -raised catholic -BLUE eyes (seriously, someone get this man some brown contacts) -wears those collar chokers unironically (evan secretly loves it) -piercings everywhere (eyebrows, bridge, septum, tongue, ears)(evan won't let him get an albert though) (he's afraid it would get infected/heal wrong) -his favorite color is dark forest green -black clothes (he doesn't own any other color istg) -graphic tees and wife beaters -ripped black skinny jeans -black doc martens but he colors the yellow lining in with sharpie bc he doesn't like it -low-key kind of emo -metalhead but secretly enjoys all genres of music -ethel cain (was raised queer and catholic) -mother mother -mama's boy -him and evan are so fucking freaky (it's actually insane)

~regulus: -gay -autistic (got the good at school autism) -chronic insomnia -5'9 -loves oscar wilde -him and remus DESPISE colleen hoover (me too) -wireless headphones (probably beats bc he's rich) -half-deaf in his right ear, and no one knows why or how -left-handed but was forced to write with his right so he uses his right

-the original sad boi poetry writer -french -gray eyes -gets hot super easily and turns red -but has poor circulation in his hands (he's so me) -hozier -paris paloma (no one knows, don't ask) -ethel cain -loves greek mythology (his favorites are icarus, and pyramus and thisbe) (he just loves doomed love) (i may be projecting a little) -evan and barty have asked him for a threesome at least once -on earth we're briefly gorgeous, the picture of dorian gray, the song of achilles, and a good girl's guide to murder

~james: -pansexual -bpd -adhd or audhd -6'1 -desi (monty) and latino (effie) (i couldn't decide so now he's both ❤) -only wears gold jewelry -speaks spanish -listens to traditional music and abba -taylor swift and hozier -super smart but got burnt out by the time he was 13/14 -bluey and paw patrol (tell me i'm wrong) (this man would eat up paw patrol) (marshall and chase would be his favorites) (and everyone loves bluey) -has the best singing voice of the group -a singular lobe piercing -his favorite color is red -VERY long lashes (the girls are so jealous) -scared of deep bodies of water and abandonment (omg reggie?) -prettiest hazel eyes you've ever seen -can dance really well -red converse -big pants, little shirt typa guy

~sirius: -bisexual or demisexual -french -gray/blue eyes -anxiety disorder and seasonal depression -cptsd -5'8/5'9 (he's shorter than regulus) (i have decided it) -freckles that only come out in the summer -poor circulation in his feet -left-handed -black converse and doc martens -draws on his converse -has a tattoo of the leo constellation on his chest (right above his heart) (☺) -is math and science smart -can't write for the life of him -pheobe bridgers, boygenius, conan gray, and olivia rodrigo -hozier -metallica and dream theatre -band t-shirts and ripped black skinny jeans -leather bracelets -double lobe, septum, and lip piercings

~remus: -gay -welsh -dyslexic -very tan skin and freckles -scared of heights -english and history smart -colleen hoover's biggest hater (real) -6'4 -scoliosis -chronic migraines -ren (go listen to him rn, he's amazing) -david bowie -brown eyes (hazel or dark brown, depending on his mood) -hates red velvet cake but loves chocolate (?) -greek mythology (likes medusa, and achilles and patroclus) -grandpa sweaters and cardigans -levi jeans and fuck-boy pajama pants -sleeper build -awkward as hell -fucking loser (and we love him for it) -bde -song of achilles, they both die at the end, the fault in our stars, the invisible life of addie larue, the picture of dorian gray, and the seven husbands of evelyn hugo

~peter: -omnisexual/straight/unlabeled -irish (galway or derry) -or german -learning disability -anxiety disorder -5'7 -plus sized -his hair is almost brown but still kinda dirty blonde -green/hazel eyes -favorite color is yellow or orange -probably listens to basic white girl music, or rap (idk which one😭) -like, he's either listening to taylor and ariana or he's listening to kendrick and tupac (i don't make the rules 🤷) (both are great anyways so it doesn't really matter) -wears button up shirts and khakis (his parents were super religious and proper growing up, and he hasn't been able to kick the habit) -loves christmas but hates new years -would be fantastic in american football (trust me on this one) (he's a little short but he'd do great) -he's an only child, but he grew up in a more suburban area, so he had lots of neighbors (marlene) -his parents struggled to conceive, and he was a rainbow baby after 2-3 miscarriages (he and james are kinda similar in that sense)

[isfjmel-phleg]

After my presentation of the Secret Garden and CEN paper, someone in the audience asked about applying the lens of CEN to other children's book from the same era. I thought about it afterward, and the best example that came to mind was Anne of Green Gables.

Anne Shirley, before her arrival at Green Gables, has experienced CEN. It has played out in a much different way for her than it does for Mary and Colin in TSG, due to differences in social class, but the principle has been the same. As an orphan raised in homes that viewed her as an inconvenience and a sort of unpaid servant, she has never had an adult in her life who prioritized her emotional well-being, who took the time to be kind to her, to listen to her, to teach her how to function in the world beyond basic survival. She is aware that no one wants her after her parents' death, and she is made to feel guilty by her caretakers for having the audacity to exist and need to be "brought up by hand." It's difficult for Anne to even talk about these experiences when Marilla asks her. She's relieved to get relating them over with, because "Evidently she did not like talking about her experiences in a world that had not wanted her."

And then there's this exchange:

“Were those women—Mrs. Thomas and Mrs. Hammond—good to you?” asked Marilla, looking at Anne out of the corner of her eye. “O-o-o-h,” faltered Anne. Her sensitive little face suddenly flushed scarlet and embarrassment sat on her brow. “Oh, they meant to be—I know they meant to be just as good and kind as possible. And when people mean to be good to you, you don’t mind very much when they’re not quite—always. They had a good deal to worry them, you know. It’s a very trying to have a drunken husband, you see; and it must be very trying to have twins three times in succession, don’t you think? But I feel sure they meant to be good to me.”

Anne has clearly been mistreated, but she's describing--and pointedly not describing--suggests less of aggression and physical harm and more of something missing, an emptiness, a lack of love--CEN. Likewise, she herself exhibits some signs that can be associated with this type of maltreatment. Difficulty with emotional regulation, attachment problems, extreme sensitivity to rejection, negativity toward herself, excessively immersing herself in imagination (a mild dissociative tendency), anxiety around social situations (regarding how to behave correctly and whether people will like her), etc.

And in a way, the entire first book of the series deals with how she finds healing from her past of CEN, through gaining the love and acceptance of her new family, of friends, of an entire community.

From what little I know of L. M. Montgomery's life, CEN was likely a factor in her own upbringing, and it repeatedly features in her novels (The Blue Castle and Jane of Lantern Hill, for instance, in particular feature heroines who have experienced CEN) with poignancy. Montgomery paints moving portraits of how badly children can be scarred by a lack of love and affirmation.

Anyway, situating Anne's backstory as rooted in CEN helped me put my finger on one of the reasons that I felt that the recent series Anne With an E--at least the first season, which is all I've seen--misunderstood the nature of Anne's past. In this version, we see flashbacks to Anne's past, in which she is being viciously bullied by other children for her talkativeness and imagination. They even go so far as to stuff a mouse into her mouth, and the show suggests that Anne has PTSD as a result of this kind of treatment.

And yeah, Anne's childhood in the book isn't great and clearly has hurt her deeply, but this interpretation felt off to me. What Anne has to say--and not say--about her past in the book suggests not that she was targeted as an object of others' aggression but that she was disregarded. No one was giving her a second thought. That's not as dramatic and shocking as vicious bullying, but it's another, more subtle, insidious kind of maltreatment, just as hurtful in its way but harder to pin down. It's easy to portray a quick, sensational scene of our protagonist being obviously, overtly, grandiosely mistreated, but how do you show the gradual piling up of years' and years' of being treated like you don't matter? All the tiny incidents that chip away at one's sense of self-worth? The building of a worldview in which you must earn love and acceptance but somehow you can never manage it and of course it's your own fault?

And I'm reminded how recent adaptations and retellings of TSG shift the narrative toward grief, which is easy to dramatize, big and impressive and full of obvious pathos. It's an easy way out of depicting a subtler kind of suffering, and the same way, Anne With an E replaces Anne's CEN with bullying and PTSD. There is a place for such stories, but Anne's isn't one of them. It's almost as if there's an inability to understand or a reluctance to depict any kind of suffering that isn't big and grand and shocking. There are many ways that people can be deeply hurt, and it doesn't always look like a major traumatic event that's easy to pinpoint. Sometimes the hurt isn't a tidal wave that engulfs in a single devastating event; it's a slow drip that erodes oneself away little by little. That's closer to what is depicted for Anne, and Montgomery's other protagonists who have experienced CEN, and it's important to recognize what exactly is going on because this sort of thing still happens every day in the real world, in many forms, and it needs to be seen and combatted. And seeing this form of maltreatment play out in literature helps us recognize it and empathize with and reach out to those whom it has impacted--or possibly even to identify it in our own histories and search for our own healing.

[esther-dot]

A Besotted Fool 1k by @sibyldisobedience

He scrubbed his hand down his face and found his attention drawn to the fluttering lace in one of the upper windows of the house. Suddenly there she was, his radiant girl; a soft, inscrutable expression gracing her lovely features. She nodded to him with a stately little dip of her chin, and he waved back at her, like some kind of overly eager green boy. He cringed inwardly and cursed himself for a fool. A pathetic, besotted fool.

Aunt Lysa Settles the Question 5k by @sibyldisobedience

"But tell me now child, and be quick about it, who is this young man and what reason does he have to be alone with you in the parlour?” Sansa bristled at being called ‘child’, she was seventeen and had just received her first proposal of marriage for goodness sake! She turned to Mr. Snow, the poor man looked as though he wished the floor might open up and swallow him whole. “This is Father’s friend, Mr. Jon Snow.” “Snow? What Snow? Do you mean that boy’s tutor?” Lysa looked Jon up and down, and grimaced. She then turned the full force of her ire on Sansa, who could only wring her hands. “And what pray tell has Father’s friend been saying to make you look like a peony?” Before Sansa could begin to think of what to say in reply, for it really wasn’t any of the old fussbudget’s business, Jon cleared his throat.

Married Life 10k by @sibyldisobedience

Sansa and Jon settled into married life very easily. The Dovecote was small, to be sure, less than a third of the size of Winterfell, but the lovers relished their proximity to one another. How wonderful it was to be so close — in constant contact — when during their three year engagement, they had been apart longer than they had been together. After one entire week of blissful seclusion, the couple had to concede that they could not live on love alone. So Jon returned to work, and some gentle ribbing from his co-workers, and Sansa took up her housewifely duties.  As the young couple established a routine, they found that even after a few months, once the initial novelty of “playing house” had worn off, they were just as blissfully happy as they had been that first week. Sansa was as breathtakingly lovely as ever in her faded wrapper, beaming at him from behind the familiar coffee pot. And Jon’s deep Northern brogue never failed to send shivers down her spine, even when he was simply following up his parting kiss with the tender inquiry, "Shall I send home mutton or beef for dinner tonight?" 

(the above are all in the 14 part series Little Women of Winterfell)

marriage is an economic proposition 3k

Sansa meets her childhood friend Jon Targaryen while traveling with Aunt Lysa in the capital.

PRE CANON - WESTERN - FAIRYTALE - REGENCY - HOLIDAY - SEASON 6 - ANNE OF GREEN GABLES - THE GIRL IN GREY - FREE CITIES - FAIRYTALE PART II - POLITICAL MARRIAGE - SALTY TEENS - POST CANON

[blush-and-books]

QUESTION how does darvey compare to ur other ships?? i feel like their shared body language and the way they convey HISTORY is so unique ahaha

this is actually a great question and i would absolutely love to know your own other ships vs darvey, bc darvey is so different from so many of my ships!!!

i will say that joyce x hopper from stranger things is probably the only ship i have that even comes close to having any similarities to donna and harvey because of that sense of shared history, partnership, and platonic support leading into romantic support. but for the rest of my ships, it's like so opposite.

one of my main ships that is one of my most tagged ships on my blog is Julie and Luke from the netflix series Julie and the Phantoms!!! this series devastatingly only got ONE SEASON but had a huge following on tumblr. compared to donna and harvey's nine seasons and canonical 13 years of buildup, that inherently makes the ships very different, because Julie and Luke do not become "canon" (although mutual romantic feelings are made pretty darn clear). Julie and Luke have history together in an offhanded way - Luke is a ghost, and when he was 17, he actually met a young Julie's mom before she had Julie, and then he died, got trapped in purgatory(?) for 25 yrs, and then was brought back into the world as a ghost where he met Julie (after her own mom had passed away). This has resulted in a LOT of theories regarding them being soulmates - their characters mirror each other so well to the point that the colors of their costuming is often matching or inverted to each others clothing. They both have an undying love for music, mommy issues, and they fit together like two peas in a pod. Literally there's only one season of buildup, and there are over 3,000 works of fanfiction for them on ao3. Julie and Luke truly couldn't be more different lmao, because a lot of the magic that comes from them is a sense of destiny, inevitability, and their instant ability to be vulnerable with each other. With Donna and Harvey, the romance comes from the steadfast partnership and daily choice they make every day to choose each other.

Another big ship of mine is Anne and Gilbert from Anne with an E (or the whole Anne of Green Gables book series lol, but them in the AWAE tv adaptation is so good)!! They have a good amount of buildup and a sense of choosing each other, but the stakes are nowhere near as high as they are in Suits. Gilbert is so down bad for Anne the whole time. He's so the perfect man that I have a framed photo of him in my home. The TV show introduces us to their plotlines and character arcs as parallel tracks as they are finding their way through life and eventually meeting at the same place, whereas Donna and Harvey are definitely just on their own crazy journeys until they crash into each other and are finally in a place to be together. However, a very silly parallel that Anne/Gilbert has with Donna/Harvey is there is a sequence of Person B running to Person A when they realize that they're meant to be together. And Person A is a redhead.

Other ships I have are like Nina and Fabian from House of Anubis, or Zuko and Katara from ATLA. Also Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett from P&P. I think a lot of my ships involve the man blatantly worshipping the ground that the woman walks on and constantly being complimentary and admiring of her; where we get only crumbs of that kind of dynamic with Donna and Harvey. Harvey definitely thinks, and has stated as such, that Donna is the most amazing woman he's ever met, but because Donna and Harvey are not thee main plotline of the show or even arguably the main relationship (when compared to Mike and Rachel), there's a lot less room for there to be blatant moments where Harvey is like "wow she's amazing!!!" because he's just not that guy.

please also let me know your thoughts on this and what ships you have!!! do we share any?

also, my response to your domestic!Darvey ask is still unfortunately in the works. i just want you to know i did not forget about it!!! <3333

[oldfashionedbooklove]

Thoughts after reading Martin the Warrior for the second time ♥️

- I haven’t read many books that can transport you into a “too beautiful to be true” setting like Noonvale. Anne of Green Gables is the only equivalent. I don’t know how he does it because the descriptions are so cliché or basic, yet somehow you FEEL the peace and love and perfection…

- Felldoh. Oh my heart, Felldoh. He breaks me every time 😭 I want so much more for him, yet somehow he feels destined to his story. He’s such a great guy, really, when he isn’t consumed with justice and protection. I love him in juxtaposition to Martin. Both are warriors, both hate Badrang and intend to free the world from him, yet Martin has a larger nature that allows him to let go briefly, while Felldoh is obsessed. Even if Felldoh went with Martin & Rose to Noonvale he’d still be obsessed. I love Brome’s wise words about paths of vengeance, but also Felldoh’s & Martin’s wisdom in insisting we can’t just ignore evil and run from it but destroy it or not only will it hurt others as it hurt us, it will spread like a cancer.

- Martin, by the way, is something else. I don’t know why I love him so much but he’s amazing. Really. Such a fascinating, admirable character. I see why he’s the guardian of Redwall.

- I love the talk about bravery between Felldoh & Brome, about how not everyone can kill, and it’s good to be innocent, and being a healer is just as important and brave.

- Also…. poor little Juniper who gave his life… 💔 And I love Ballaw. He’s not as amusing as most hares but he’s good and noble and his words about stages and curtains fit things so WELL. And I have to mention Keyla, who’s absolutely amazing himself!!

- The last few pages are terribly beautiful. I still don’t understand why SHE had to die… really. I know the plot demands it in a way, but… why? She can’t really be… she’s too vibrant to just cease. But oh, Martin, my heart hurts for you so much. And his words about memories… ♥️

- There’s things and parts in the Redwall books that are silly and cliché and poorly written, and remind me he wrote these for kids. Then there’s some supremely awful and beautiful bits that remind me why I adore these books and why Martin is my favourite of them all…

- and the Treehouse TV show is so good for this book ♥️

*edited 23.1.24