#charles dickens ac

[sir-yeehaw-paws]

John "Faking my death and dumping the body in the Thames wasn't enough can you go fake kidnap my fiance so I can fake rescue her" Hammon, everyone.

I mixed the clip order up WHOOPS. I can't be arsed to fix it.

At one point Jacob is like "Shh, I'm just kidnapping you for a friend!" *Beat* "No, that still sounds awful-"

ARE YOU ALL ON THE GROG???

(This is by far one of the wackiest side characters yet I stg: sorry for the slightly choppy editing I cut out the 15 mins of wandering around the train station for an exit)

[probablygayattorneys]

I'm breaking my no self-promotion rule (okay, not a rule, just more a pattern) once again to share that over on my Ao3 account, I have written a story just for this holiday season, and once again my incredible friend ziegfried_jpg of Twitter drew some PHENOMENAL art for, so if you have some downtime this holiday season and would like somewhere to set your bags down and get the color back into your cheeks and rest awhile, please enjoy Miles Edgeworth being supernaturally terrorized into being a better person!

[walterkov]

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate  ► Charles Dickens & Charles Darwin

[d8nielaa]

sodapop asking you to read to him while pony is in windrixville :( he misses his brother and he can't read that well, but you have always been able to comfort him

Authors Note: yess anon omg!! Soda would actually be in a slump..thats so saddddd

Read to me?

Sodapop Curtis x fem!reader

Ponyboy had ran away. That was all that you knew. Well, thats all you could get out of Soda. It was bad, Soda had been thrown into this slump, that none of you really knew how to get him out of. He was working himself to the bone, coming back home exhausted every night. Which worried you, because Soda wasn't like that.

He was always so happy, and charming and just very golden retriever energy. So it made you wonder what happened that night, but you didn't bother to ask because you knew that making him rethink it would just make the situation worse.

He had been quiet, really only talking to Darrel, you, Ace, and Two-Bit. Yet nobody could comfort him like you. Nobody could save him, like you.

It was Monday night, about 2 days since Ponyboy had ran away. And Soda, well he wasn't doing so great. You laid in Soda and Ponyboy's bed, which was empty on the nights that you didn't stay over. You were laying in the bed, having heard the door open and slam shut.

You sat up, knowing it was Sodapop. He walked through the door, looking more tired than the night before. You smiled at him sympathetically, patting the empty space next to you. He immediately climbed onto the bed, laying on top of you with a sigh. You gently laced your hand through his greased up hair, his arms wrapping around your waist.

His head was pressed against your chest, which hurt just a little, but you didn't have the heart to tell him.

It was quiet for a moment, the two of you finding peace in the storm. Then, Sodapop glanced on the floor, something catching his interest. It was one of Ponyboy's books, specifically, "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. You had read the book once, and fairly enjoyed it. But, you didn't think Soda would care much for it.

He moved one of his arms off your waist, grabbing the book from the floor and bringing it closer to him to read the title. He was thinking about the conversation him and Ponyboy had the night before he ran away. Tears slowly began to brim his eyes, but he held them in as he shakily brought the book closer to you, his voice soft yet so emotional.

"Can you-will you read it..for me?" He asked, bringing th book even closer to you, his eyes pleading. You immediately nodded your head, pressing a soft and comforting kiss on his forehead before taking the book from his hands, and opening to the first chapter in the book. Your arms were around him, his head still pressed against your chest as you began to read.

"My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.

I give Pirrip as my father’s family name, on the authority of his tombstone and my sister,—Mrs. Joe Gargery, who married the blacksmith. As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father’s, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. " (Dickens, 6)

As you continued reading, Soda slowly let the sleepiness get to him. Those two days of barley sleeping out of fear that his brother would return and he would be asleep when he got there. His eyelids grew heavy, and soon enough they fluttered shut.

He laid on top of you, his soft breathing and occasional subconscious squeezes to your hip, letting him know that he was okay. Letting him know that you both, were gonna be okay.

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

Authors Note: Hiii everyone!!! So glad to be back! I got my nails done and they're so cutsie, but its hard to type on my laptop with them on 😭. PLEASE KEEP THE REQUEST COMING!!!

much love, dani 🩷

[shenanigans-and-imagines]

Hi! Hope you're well. I had an idea for you: what about a Charles Dickens "Christmas Carol" AU? With maybe Astarion as Scrooge and Evie as Cratchitt? Or a caroling orphan?

Okay, this is tricky because there are so many different ways you can go with this. I'm just gonna break down the two that came to mind. One being more in keeping with Dickens and one playing more fast and loose, simply holding onto the whole past, present and future thing.

Astarion x Evie (Ace!Tav) Masterlist

Ghost of Past, Present and Future with Ascending Astarion

Cazador is defeated and Astarion is able to convince Evie/Tav to help him Ascend; he is holding the staff in his hand, but before he can begin the ritual he is surrounded by three spirits of the past, present and future

All of the vision happen within a fraction of a second before he starts to ritual

The spirit of the past shows the pain of his past, the faces of all those he doomed and who he will now destroy for his own gain, possibly even show him Cazador's past on how he became a vampire and the torture his master inflicted on him

It doesn't excuse Cazador's actions, emphasizing the cycle of abuse and Astarion's part in it if he goes forward with this

The spirit of the present shows him Evie/Tav, how afraid she truly is and how helping him wasn't out of love, but fear, fear he too is acting upon

Emphasizes Evie/Tav's POV on the whole situation and how afraid they are of losing him and how much they love him for who his is now

The spirit of the future then shows him his Ascended form a full century in the future

He has everything, wealth, power, a command over armies and a city that fears him

He can walk in the sun and transform into mist, he can see himself in a mirror and feast to his heart's content

But then he realizes, he can't find Evie/Tav any where

The spirit leads him through the palace, he can smell blood and sees how the servants cower even when alone

He's led up a tower he doesn't recognize, higher than any in the palace and enforced with impenetrable stone

A single door greets him, one the spirit gestures him to pass through

It opens to a room, ornate in decoration and illuminated in candle light; all the windows are shuttered closed and locked so not a hint of sunlight can get through

In the center of the room he finds Evie/Tav sitting on the edge of a large four poster bed

They're dressed in the finest silks and jewelry, their skin a pale, but flawless, and they sit as still as a statue

His stomach twists at the sight, there is no life behind their eyes just a blank stare forever forward

He reaches out to touch her, but his hands passes through her like air

It's then the door unlocks and Astarion gets to see himself fully for the first time

Ascended Astarion greets Evie/Tav and Evie/Tav slips on a smile that Astarion can see doesn't meet her eyes

Astarion watches himself speak with Evie/Tav and feels the need to tear his reflect's hand away from her

It's not so much what he says, as how he says it; there is an ownership to his tone and touch Astarion recognizes, he knows his future self doesn't really love Evie/Tav, how could he love somebody he sees as an object

And then there's Evie/Tav; they're afraid, they're so clearly afraid, but they're too broken to leave

They barely speak, their voice hoarse from disuse, a far cry from the smooth tones that brought him so much joy and comfort

He never considered himself the hero type, he wasn't the one to rescue the princess in the tower, but seeing this, he thinks he might

He wants to deny it, he would never treat his love this way, he just wanted to keep them safe, both of them, but isn't that what his reflection is doing?

Locks on the windows to keep the sunlight from accidentally burning them, a high tower as opposed to a basement so when the night comes they can see the sky, no threat from enemies coming to take them away or kill them in revenge, no lecherous eyes to pluck out while still providing them luxury and comfort

His stomach turns as he realizes just how easily he could let this happen

He's brought back into his body and at the last second throws the staff away

Cazador mocks him for being too weak to take the power when it was right in the palm of his hand

Astarion counters that he is more than what Cazador made him and kills the man, ending the ritual before it could really begin

Evie/Tav is by his side the next moment and he weeps

He later tells them of his vision, of what he saw their future being

Evie/Tav confesses that they acted out of fear as well and they don't want their future to be dictated by it either

They're both looking ahead assured and braver than before

A Christmas Carol AU

This one is more in keeping with Dickens so no Cazador, Astarion is just a standard lazy magistrate who got the position through nepotism and is just relaxing in a relatively cushy government potion

Evie/Tav is still a bard and one day brought in to whatever the Baldur's Gate equivalent is to small claims court over some petty thievery

Astarion finds her guilty without really looking at the case, causing her to have to pay a fine she does not have the money for

Later Astarion sees her again and, feeling a rare moment of remorse, offers for Evie/Tav to play for him and some of the other elites of Baldur's Gate at a holiday party the next day

Evie/Tav cannot believe the audacity of this man "offering" her a job to pay off the debt he inflicted on her

She then throws it all back in his face telling him she's not going to be his little side project to temporarily sooth his guilty conscious only to undoubtedly throw her away the second he gets bored, so fuck off

They part ways and Astarion is effected by her words more than he cares to admit

Then, that night, he's visited by the spirits of past, present and future

His past would obviously contain a lot less torture in this version, but I maintain my head-canon that his parents aren't alive at this point, or at least so distant from him he doesn't have much of a relationship with them

His childhood would consist of a lot of lonely days that taught him that money and influence was the only way to maintain love and affection

I'd also include Sebastian as the Belle in this backstory; he and Astarion were in love, but Astarion's pettiness and ambition in maintaining his position eventually drove them apart

The present would show the next day where the holiday celebrations are under way

Astarion gets good look at his own party and sees it for the hollow thing that it is; a bunch of lazy bureaucrats and their minor petty rivalries

We still gotta give him a Bob Cratchitt, so we get a loot an his secretary and how their life is affected by Astarion's banal cruelties

Maybe Rolan? I don't think any of the party members would fit this very well

Either way, keeping those same lessons

He then gets unexpectedly taken to the lower city where Evie/Tav is playing at a local tavern

She's good, very good if he's being honest surrounded by a comradery he can't say he's ever felt before

Evie/Tav talks about the verdict to a friend and is unsure how she's going to get the money

Her friends assure her she doesn't have to worry about that now, something will come up, it always does, besides it's the holidays, extra performance and extra cash, they'll be loaded in no time

The future is a little trickier since being and elf he can't die, so ending up dead and utterly alone I don't think would work

I think he would have to find himself stuck in the same place, still alone, still with nothing truly his own and surrounded by people who would be just as happy to see him leave as to see him stay

I think then he'd have to be taken a tour of all the lives he did effect, the people not in his circle yet he still dictated the lives of and see what petty misery he spread for no good reason before finally landing on Evie/Tav

They're in debt, having had to go to the thieves guild for the money in the end

Instead of being the great musician Astarion saw they clearly could be, they're just as stuck as he is just older and working themselves to the bone just to keep their head above water

As tempting as it is to put the blame on Evie/Tav for not taking him up on his offer, he knows it's a poor excuse, he would have done exactly as they said and toss them aside and he had done so many other times

He then wakes up the next day with a new perspective and goes about making things right and trying to be a kinder, more empathetic person

[earlgraytay]

So I don't claim to be an expert on the British Victorian legal system by any means. Most of my knowledge comes from Dickens, who is writing satire, not nonfiction. (RIP Charles Dickens, you would have loved Ace Attorney...)

....but I do know enough to know JUST HOW HILARIOUS this is:

[ao3feed-jonmartin]

Ace Of Books

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/dfBWi0O by Ineffable_Ezra Aziraphale goes to the first meeting of an asexual book club, and meets some very strange people Words: 1123, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Good Omens (TV), The Magnus Archives (Podcast), Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer, Dead Boy Detectives (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne, Artemis Fowl II, Martin Blackwood, Crowley (Good Omens) Relationships: Aziraphale (Good Omens) & Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne, Aziraphale (Good Omens) & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, aziraphale & artemis fowl, artemis fowl & edwin paine | edwin payne, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne/Charles Rowland Additional Tags: Asexual Aziraphale (Good Omens), asexual artemis fowl II, Asexual Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Asexual Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne, they're all ace, References to Dickens, Mentioned Jurgen Leitner, Mentioned Gerard Keay, Mentioned Charles Rowland (DCU), Demiromantic Crowley (Good Omens), Asexuality, He/Him and They/Them Pronouns for Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, he/him and they/them pronouns for edwin paine | edwin payne, He/Him Pronouns For Aziraphale (Good Omens) read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/dfBWi0O

[corvus-the-trickster]

So are there cutscenes for every side quest completion like the marriage proposal one then? I'm sorry I'm asking so many stupid questions I just wanna make sure I have my facts straight for the game stuff aside from just looking over the ac wiki + character pages.

That's the only collectible cutscene i think (i still need to do the royal correspondence and the illustrations). But the london stories have wnding cutscenes: Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, Queen Victoria, Karl Marx.

I don't know if fully levelling the associate activities have cutscenes tho. And as for 1916 i also don't know.

But i can tell you the beers don't have an ending cutscene just a whole bunch of Shaun tasting victorian beer and hating every bit of it

[purplink8]

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better:

Thanks for the tag, @helendamnationx <3

3 Ships You Like: Lawlight (L/Light from Death Note), Narumitsu (Phoenix/Edgeworth from Ace Attorney) and Frostiron (Loki/Tony Stark from MCU)

First Ship Ever: Pokeshipping or Ash/Misty from Pokemon (I was just 12 when I started shipping it!)

Last Song You Heard: Red by Taylor Swift

Favourite Childhood Book: (Disclaimer: I hate JKR) Harry Potter, and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Currently Reading: the Hunger Games prequel Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which has apparently been out so long the movie came out last year! (same!!)

Currently watching: Castaway Diva (it stars Park Eun-Bin (cast for Woo Young Woo from EAW) too! :) and a Death Note rewatch!

Currently consuming: Bananas (literally lol)

Currently craving: Waffles and Peri-Peri Fries

Tagging:

@alliums4us @reaperlight @astralpenguin @isomorbism @mgcmind

@main-exam @ro-zden @floweryflees @qwanderer

[cataleya-donovan]

“I find the nights long, for I sleep but little, and think much.” – Charles Dickens

July 10th, 2023

Twenty-one weeks today. Cataleya sighed softly, resting her head against the plush pillow. Her legs were curled up as high as she could manage, her hands resting on the large, protruding bump while she stared out the glass French doors that led out to the balcony of her room. It was almost midnight but like many nights, Cataleya could not sleep.

Though she knew Adriel and Warren could handle themselves, she still worried. It had been months since she last saw her husband, months since he slept in their bed. The very thought brought her to easy tears. His side of the bed was empty and cold, she couldn’t help but hold onto his pillow though it had long lost its familiar scent.

Cataleya felt a flutter inside her, her eyes darting down. Her baby was also awake. “You can’t sleep either?” she murmured softly, blinking back the tears that started to pool in her eyes. “Or did you just want to keep me company?” Her gentle hands ran over her stomach, cradling it slightly as she moved to sit up. She felt uneasy, feeling the blood rush to her head, she wanted to vomit.

She closed her eyes and swayed slightly, waiting for the dizzy spell to pass so she could stand. Ace was in the living room, sitting on the couch with his feet propped on the coffee table. His hand held the remote, clicking through the options displayed on the screen.

Though he already knew Cataleya was awake and in the room, he hadn’t yet looked at her. Not until she sat down did he look away from the tv. “Hey, Kit-Cat,” he greeted though his grin faded when he noticed how pale she was. “Shit, Adriel will kill me if something happens to you. What’s wrong?” he asked her.

Cataleya shook her head though she felt her brother-in-law’s hand on her forehead, taking her skin temp. “Just a little nauseous. Can’t sleep,” she told him though this was nothing out of the norm. He eyed her then nodded, standing.

“I’ll grab you water. Stay here,” Ace instructed, disappearing into the kitchen for a cold glass of water. He returned moments later with water and saltines for her, plopping onto the couch and adjusting her so she could rest her legs on his lap.

Cataleya received the water, gulping it down then setting the empty glass on the floor. She reclined back on the couch, propping her head up on the pillows. She reached for the blanket that Ace handed her, thanking him before closing her eyes.

Though Adriel couldn’t be with her, Cataleya was fortunate to have one of her brothers there and though she told him often, she knew it was never enough to truly express how thankful she was for his presence.

When tears threatened to fall again, Ace gripped her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Get some sleep. I’ll be right here,” Ace promised her. Cataleya nodded and allowed herself to drift to sleep.

[profoundbondfanfic]

Surprise! You get an extra list of fic recs. Fifth and final day of sharing our favorite aro/ace/demi fics. Tomorrow we will be sharing a masterlist of all 55 fics included in our lists this week sorted by tags, so stay tuned!

Part 8

Checked Out by whelvenwings [General, 27K, Demi!Cas]

Castiel Novak can think of many writers who would not be welcome under the roof of Heaven’s Gate library, where he is the librarian: Ayn Rand ranks highly (no explanation needed), as does Charles Dickens (he hasn’t forgiven Charles for the month he lost to The Pickwick Papers). And, of course, Dean Winchester. Dean Winchester, local author and obvious a-hole, who is entirely too handsome to be true and who is clearly totally lacking in profundity, intelligence, sincerity, and self-awareness. Unfortunately, though, Dean’s been invited to do a book signing at Heaven’s Gate - and Castiel’s about to be confronted by some unexpected feelings when he finally meets Dean for the first time.

space(dust) & fine metals by quillquiver [Explicit, 5K, Ace!Cas]

Castiel wonders, often, if his blue blood is not just as tainted; only a wild thing groomed to tame a wild people would flee. And flee, he did. The ship was called Impala, its purpose mysterious enough for its mechanic-cum-captain to take one look at the offered credits and nod. Or, On their eighteenth anniversary, Dean and Castiel retrace their steps.

Unbroken by SailorChibi [Teen, 3K, Aro!Dean, Aro&Ace!Cas]

Somewhere on your body, there's half of a shape that's unique to you and one other person on Earth. That person is your soul mate and together, you make a whole. But then there's the people like Castiel, the ones who are born with a whole shape, the freaks who don't have soul mates. Castiel grew up used to the pitying stares that told him he would always be alone. He's not sure why he thought Dean Winchester would be different, or why he had to ruin everything by trying to prove otherwise.

rejoining by sharkfish [Mature, 8,6K, Ace!Dean]

“You moved an alpha in and didn’t even think to ask me?!" “I didn’t ask you when I moved Charlie in.” “I didn’t live here then, jackass. And she’s a lesbian, so it doesn’t count.” “I thought it would be a little rude to ask Castiel his sexual orientation,” Sam says, being a fucking priss. “Maybe he’s straight.”

As You Walk On By by MercyBraavos [Explicit, 23K, Demi!Cas]

Dean and Castiel grew up together. Fell in love together. Lost their virginity together. Made plans for the future, their future, together. There’s only one problem: Castiel doesn’t remember any of it.

Plain and Tall by destielpasta & mtothedestiel [Explicit, 69K, Demi!Dean]

Dean is a Kansas farmer who only wants to work his land and care for his infant daughter. With his wife gone and his brother moving on to a life beyond the homestead, Dean finds himself in need of another pair of hands. Castiel, a lonely drifter freshly arrived in town, may prove the solution to Dean’s troubles. Over the course of four seasons, the two men face the everyday challenges of prairie life, and learn to overcome the betrayals of their past to discover a new definition of family.

Typecast by mnwood [Explicit, 74K, Aro!Dean, Ace!Cas]

Up-and-coming movie actor Castiel Novak knows he'll never be taken seriously if all he ever plays is betas, and as an alpha he certainly doesn't think it's a wise career choice to play an omega. However, when he's offered the omega role in a gay romance and learns that the much more famous (and his crush) Dean Winchester is playing the alpha, Cas decides maybe it's time to take a risk. But when they meet on day one, Cas isn't sure what to make of Dean's scent.

[elitheaceofalltrades]

2024 Reading Goals

Hello hello! Happy New Year to all!

Fun fact, by posting this at 11:00am GMT, 2023 has officially ended in all inhabited countries as UTC -11 is the last inhabited timezone.

I haven't been a resolutions person for a couple of years now but I admit I do love a challenge and goal setting. I also love reading. I'm sure you don't need the title to tell you where this is going. I've had goodreads since Sept, 2016 and have been taking part in their reading challenge since 2020. I've met my goal evey year except 2021 and I hope to make three years in a row this year!

2023's goal was an ambitious 48 books and I somehow managed to read 48 (I attribute a good 1/3 to getting a library card and access to libby). 18 of those books were comics/manga though and while I do believe anything with a ISBN counts, I'd like for comics & manga to only be about 25% of my books instead of the current 38%. I feel like I might be setting myself up a bit but I'm not going to be too upset if at the end of the year, I don't lower the percentage. This is just a bit of fun.

Anyways in no particular order, here's a tentative list of the 48 books I plan to read in 2024. This is subject to change due to availability, gifts, recommendations and new releases.

~Eli

Ace of All Trades, Pro at None😆

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

The Lost Adventures and Team Avatar Tales by Gene Luen Yang & Faith Erin Hicks

Girls and Autism by Barry Cerpenter, Francesca Happé & Jo Egerton

Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

ATLA: The Promise by Gene Luen Yang, Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko

Windrush by Mike Phillips & Trevor Phillips

In the Castle of My Skin by George Lamming

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

ATLA: The Search Omnibus by Gene Luen Yang

Queer by Frank Wynne

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

ATLA: The Rift Omnibus by Gene Luen Yang

This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

ATLA: Smoke & Shadow Omnibus by Gene Luen Yang, Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko

The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

ATLA: North & South Omnibus by Gene Luen Yang, Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko

I Will Not Be Erased by Gal-dem

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Katara & The Pirate's Silver by Faith Erin Hicks

They/Them/Their by Eris Young

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Suki, Alone by Faith Erin Hicks

Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion

The Turn of the Shrew by Henry James

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Abertalli

Toph Beifong's Metalbending Academy by Faith Erin Hicks

How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Middlemarch by George Elliot

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

The Movement Vol. 1: Class Warfare by Gail Simone

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Hold Tight, Don't Let Go by Laura Rose Wagner

Saga Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughn

[aestheticvoyage2023]

Day 144: Wednesday May 24, 2023 - “Happy Birthday Mama”

Audrie called an audible that took us out to Postino’s for boards on her birthday.  The real treat though was in seeing her boys all dressed up just for her!  We met Jess and Erik and ViLee and they seated us all in a reserved spot for the birthday girl, right by the door to give the kids a convenient in and out! At the end of the night, Audrie couldn’t choose her favorite photos, amongst all those great one of her babies (mine was of the creme’ brulee)

 Its nice that she has solid friends with their best timber in their hearts that stick by us now as we grow families.  As much as it was coming out to celebrate Audrie’s birthday, the real celebration is seeing these two grow up together.

Song: AC/DC vs 50 Cent - Back In Da Club

Quote: “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” ~Charles Dickens

[harrison-abbott]

Having read many books, I often find bits of language which I find offensive, as a man living in 2023. There are many classic authors who use racist vocabulary, which I’ll notice, and usually tend to ignore – because I try to look for the good linguistic parts instead.

 I get that many older authors (who are now dead) were ‘living in different times’ and that they would not write like that if they were living today. If you agree? There are snippets in Moby Dick where Melville is flagrantly racist. Charles Dickens had the odd moment, too. John Don Passos’ U.S.A. trilogy is filled with it. They were all great writers; and it’s when there’s a slur or a dig at another nationality or skin colour you just think ‘urgh, that’s not cool’.

 So. ^ I was reading this earlier today. And it has a nice premise for a book, and it was quality writing. It’s set in Budapest, in the aftermath of World War II. I was liking it. Then in the first or second chapter, I noticed this anti-Semitic phrase used. I chose to brush it off. And kept reading … Until I got to page 35, where the narrator said thus:

 “The thought of being fed from some knick knack that had belonged to a destitute stranger bound for the gas chamber would have made him leap out of bed, half dead as he was.”

 Wow. I thought. That’s just brutal. The narrator is referencing a Jewish person that was ousted from Budapest and, umm, indeed, sent to a camp where he was murdered. And I stopped reading the book.

 There was that initial slight against the Jews, and then the above quote. I just couldn’t think of a good reason to continue reading the novel, if the writer makes that kind of remark. That’s a Holocaust jibe: awful – you don’t say stuff like that.

 And, do you know: this is not an old book. It was published in 1987. The author was fully aware of what she was saying and it was as crass and crude as that.

 I may have totally misunderstood the context in which these remarks were made – but I don’t think I’m wrong. Writers are supposed to be moral artists. Good people, with strong voices. Literature is supposed to be a power for goodness. And not the opposite.

 This is why I champion William Faulkner (again) because he was a white man from the South in America, who wrote throughout the 1920s – 1960s about anti-racism. He spoke up about the horrors that black people faced in his part of the world. When few other people were doing that. He was wise and moral enough to do that.

 Anyway. Just a thought. Feel free to disagree. I’m sure Magda Szabo is an ace storyteller; but she can count me out when it comes to the racist stuff. I have no interest in that.

[i-llbedammned]

I look sometimes over the things I have paid the most money for.  They are not necessarily the nicest things I own.  Like I own many beautiful leather-bound books, some of them even have fancy gilting on them or silver gilting (not sure what that is called to be honest).  They are thick and beautiful, elegant things with cloth bookmarks.  The complete works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie.  Even a really fancy version of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the complete works of Poe and Lovecraft with silver and gold and pretty engravings.

Instead what cost me the most is some out of print manga from Ace Attorney Investigations (volume 4) that I found for a special price of 60 dollars when the lowest prices I find otherwise are a hundred dollars at the cheapest I can find or 250 dollars on amazon.

Economics of value is bullshit, fam.  I am a trash king.

[goodbyenorthernlights]

Books Read in 2022

To Sir Philip, With Love by Julia Quinn (Reread)

History and Human Survival by Robert Jay Lifton*

10 Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn (Reread)

Stardust by Neil Gaiman (Reread)

Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck: The Don Rosa Library Vol. 1 (GN)

Albert Einstein: A Graphic History of the Father of Modern Physics by Ned Hartley (GN)

Heroes of Flight Who Changed the World by Jade Sarson (GN)

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn (Reread)

How to be Ace by Rebecca Burgess (GN)

Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander

Tower of Treasure by Scott Chantler (GN)

The Faerie Path by Frewin Jones

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

Middlegame by Seanan Maguire

The Disgraceful Mr. Ravenhurst by Louise Allen (Reread)

The Other Country: Legends and Fairy Tales of Scotland Retold by Marion Lochhead

All the Ways Home by Elsie Chapman

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Perfect Stranger by Anne Gracie

Gallant Waif by Anne Gracie

The Last Wicked Scoundrel by Lorraine Heath

Civilization on Trial by Arnold J. Toynbee

The Grave Robber’s Apprentice by Allan Stratton

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

*This particular book I think I actually mostly read in 2021, then had to return it to the library and finish it later, because it is a fairly dense history-philosophy type book and those go down slowly with me.