#erin mccarthy

[xtruss]

How Did the Teddy Bear Get Its Name? President Theodore Roosevelt Had Something To Do With It. So Did A Real Bear.

— By Erin McCarthy | August 30, 2024

The Teddy Bear Has a Very Specific Origin Story. Carol Yepes, Getty Images

Perhaps the question first occurred to you in the toy aisle when you were picking out a present for the kid in your life. Or maybe it was when you were cleaning out your old toys from the attic of your childhood home that you asked yourself, “How did stuffed bears come to be called ‘teddy bears,’ anyway?”

It’s a story involving President Theodore Roosevelt, a bear hunt, a political cartoon, and a candy shop owner in New York.

The Hunt

The Cartoons

The Toy

The Hunt

In November 1902, Mississippi governor Andrew H. Longino invited Roosevelt on a bear hunt, and the president—who would be in the state to try to settle a border dispute it was having with Louisiana—eagerly accepted.

His luck, however, was terrible: For the first few days, there was not a bear to be found near Roosevelt, let alone shot. Anyone on the hunting party who did spot an ursine was forced to hold their fire. According to biographer Edmund Morris in Theodore Rex, Roosevelt “insisted on first blood,” writing ahead of the trip, “I am going on this hunt to kill a bear, not to see anyone else kill it.”

President Theodore Roosevelt speaking to onlookers in Vermont. Historical, GettyImages

(Roosevelt had an interesting history with bears: He was nearly killed by a grizzly on a solo hunt in Montana in 1889, and some of his supporters from West Virginia sent him “a small bear”—which his children named Jonathan Edwards, after the revivalist preacher—as a pet in 1900. He wound up giving the bear to the Bronx Zoo the next year because “we do not have the accommodations to keep him.”)

Things came to a head on November 14. Holt Collier—a formerly enslaved man and legendary bear hunter who was serving as Roosevelt’s tracker—and his dogs flushed out a black bear into a clearing where the president was supposed to be waiting. The dogs chased the bear into a pond, where, Morris wrote, “Collier threw a lariat over the shaggy neck and pulled tight … and cracked the bear’s skull with the butt of his gun—carefully, because he wanted it to stay alive.”

Unfortunately, Roosevelt was not where Collier thought he would be. After waiting in the designated area for hours, the president and his hunting companion assumed no bear was coming and returned to camp for lunch. A messenger was dispatched to get Roosevelt, who rushed back to the scene to kill the bear—but when he saw that the scrawny creature was tied to a tree, he refused to shoot it. Someone else ended up killing the bear (not with a gun, but with a knife).

Ultimately, Roosevelt didn’t bag a single bear on the trip—but in a strange twist, he would soon end up lending his name to one.

The Cartoons

Reporters checked in on the hunt once a day, and it wasn’t long before reports of Roosevelt’s refusal to kill a restrained bear made the papers; the president was lauded for his sportsmanlike behavior. (The papers had harsher words for the bear, derided as “incorrigible and uncultured,” and for “these Mississippi people,” which one paper opined “seem as ignorant of modern methods as they are lacking in the finesse and technique of true sport.”)

Washington Post political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman, reading about the event, found himself struck by inspiration: He drew a black bear—“a poor measly little cub with most of its fur rubbed off,” he would later write—with a white handler holding its leash. Roosevelt holds one hand out; in the other is his gun, butt on the ground, muzzle up. The illustration appeared on November 16, 1902, and was captioned “Drawing the Line in Mississippi.”

“Drawing the Line in Mississippi” by Clifford K. Berryman. Library of Congress//Public Domain

“I drew the cartoon of it from the description as sent by the Associated Press,” Berryman recounted later. One senator “thought it so good that he ’phoned to me and asked me to make another bear cartoon when Roosevelt returned to the city.” The resulting illustration, published November 19, was captioned “After a Twentieth Century Bear Hunt.”

“It seemed to make a hit,” Berryman said, “with the result that I continued the bear in all future cartoons in which the President appeared.” The bear got more adorable with time; you can see all of Berryman’s bear illustrations in this collection from the Theodore Roosevelt Center.

The Toy

As Berryman created illustration after illustration featuring Roosevelt and an adorable bear, Morris Michtom sensed an opportunity. The Brooklyn-based candy store owner had his wife Rose hand-sew a cuddly stuffed bear, which he placed in their store window; it quickly sold. Rose made more, ultimately selling so many that the Michtoms began mass producing what they called “Teddy’s Bears” in 1903 (apparently with Roosevelt’s blessing, though the president apparently believed the toy would amount to nothing). Around the same time, the German toy company Steiff made its own stuffed bears, shipping 3000 of them to U.S. toy stores. Soon, the cuddly toys were going by “Teddy Bears.”

Teddy Bear With Teddy Roosevelt Tag. Hulton Archive, GettyImages

Roosevelt himself used the teddy bear in his 1904 re-election campaign, even though he hated the nickname Teddy (perhaps because it was used by his first wife, Alice, who died after giving birth to their daughter, also named Alice). When a lawyer used the nickname in his presence, Roosevelt declared it an “outrageous impertinence.”

The toy took off, selling in the tens of thousands, enduring a brief controversy, and paving the way for beloved bears like Winnie the Pooh, who was inspired by a teddy bear purchased for A.A. Milne’s son Christopher.

There was also an unsuccessful imitator: Billy Possum, which was presented to then-President William Taft, Roosevelt’s successor, on a trip to Atlanta in January 1909 and was, according to the Theodore Roosevelt Center, “designed to replace Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘Teddy Bear.’ ” Taft endorsed the cause, and soon, there were Billy Possum stuffed animals, buttons, and posters. But Billy Possum was ultimately a failure; the toy’s time in the spotlight was over by the time the holiday season rolled around in December.

The teddy bear, however, has never ceased to be popular. Today, the stuffed animal remains a popular gift and the industry was valued at about $6.4 billion in 2022. It’s also the state toy of Mississippi, and a Michtom-made bear owned by Roosevelt’s descendants has a spot in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

[meetmeinmontana]

2022 PWBA US Open | Championship Match: Danielle McEwan vs Erin McCarthy

[righthandedleftturn]

Ghostbusters: Answer the Call

[warningsine]

Weird Barbie's foreshadowing

[gay-for-kristen--gay-for-kate]

they were supposed to be in college when they released their book, so i aged them down a little, just to see.

babies 🥹

[lgbtqreads]

October 2023 Book Deals

Adult Fiction Sunday Times-bestselling author of A MARVELLOUS LIGHT Freya Marske‘s SWORDCROSSED, pitched as Ellen Kushner’s SWORDSPOINT meets LEGENDS & LATTES; a second novel pitched as Grey’s Anatomy meets A DEADLY EDUCATION; an untitled novel; and an untitled novella, to Ruoxi Chen at Tor, in a six-figure deal, in a four-book deal, for publication in fall 2024, by Diana Fox at Fox…

[astrolovecosmos]

Saturn in Aries: “Scars fade with time. And the ones that never go away, well, they build character, maturity, caution.” ― Erin McCarthy

Saturn in Taurus: “Maturity, one discovers, has everything to do with the acceptance of ‘not knowing.” ― Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves

Saturn in Gemini: “Don't you understand that we need to be childish in order to understand? Only a child sees things with perfect clarity, because it hasn't developed all those filters which prevent us from seeing things that we don't expect to see.” ― Douglas Adams

Saturn in Cancer: “Childhood isn't just those years. It's also the opinions you form about them afterward. That's why our childhoods are so long.” ― Kim Stanley Robinson

Saturn in Leo: “In the end, it's a mental maturity to let your best come out.” ― Lindsey Vonn

Saturn in Virgo: “If you’re any good at all, you know you can be better.” ― Lindsay Buckingham

Saturn in Libra: “Maturity implies otherness... The art of living is the art of living with.” ― Julius Gordon

Saturn in Scorpio: “To live with fear and not be afraid is the final test of maturity.” ― Edward Weeks

Saturn in Sagittarius: “Sometimes problems don’t require a solution to solve them; instead they require maturity to outgrow them.” ― Steve Maraboli

Saturn in Capricorn: “Maturity is when you stop complaining and making excuses in your life; you realize everything that happens in life is a result of the previous choice you’ve made and start making new choices to change your life.” ― Roy T. Bennett

Saturn in Aquarius: “Being popular or not, having company or being alone, are not issues of concern for the developed soul.” ― Donna Goddard

Saturn in Pisces: “There are many forms of love as there is moments in time, and you are capable of feeling them all at different stages of your life.” ― Shannon Alder

[s-soulwriter]

Books based on your MBTI

INFJ (The Advocate):

"The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

"The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

INTJ (The Architect):

"Dune" by Frank Herbert

"Neuromancer" by William Gibson

INFP (The Mediator):

"The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

"The Ocean at the End of the Lane" by Neil Gaiman

INTP (The Logician):

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams

"The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

ENFJ (The Protagonist):

"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

ENTJ (The Commander):

"Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn

"American Psycho" by Bret Easton Ellis

ENFP (The Campaigner):

"Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens

"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

ENTP (The Debater):

"Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk

"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger

ISTJ (The Inspector):

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson

"The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown

ESTJ (The Supervisor):

"The Firm" by John Grisham

"The Pelican Brief" by John Grisham

ISFJ (The Protector):

"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

"Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

ESFJ (The Provider):

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

"Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" by Fannie Flagg

ISTP (The Craftsman):

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

"No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy

ESTP (The Dynamo):

"American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

"The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

ISFP (The Composer):

"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho

"The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett

ESFP (The Performer):

"Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert

"Brida" by Paulo Coelho

[themousefromfantasyland]

The unproduced Into the Woods Adaptation with Jim Henson Company Animatronics

By Erin McCarthy | Dec 24, 2014

[...]

The show won three Tonys, but Hollywood didn’t come knocking until a few years later. In the early ‘90s, the Jim Henson Company and Storyline approached Sondheim and Lapine with a movie adaptation of the musical that would mix live actors with Henson creatures as the show's animals. The duo signed on, and Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel—who wrote City Slickers and A League of Their Own—penned the script.

Sondheim also wrote two new songs for the project, which he included in Look, I Made a Hat, the second volume in his books of collected lyrics. The first was a new opening number, “I Wish.” While the Broadway show’s first song featured the main characters singing about their wishes, the film version expanded the song to include villagers who sang of their wishes (“I wish my well was filled with beer,” “I wish my son-in-law would disappear,” “I wish my cow could go with me to school”) as they went about their business, and featured a narrator doing a voiceover.

The second new song, "Rainbows," was for the Baker and his Wife and “occurs a bit later,” Sondheim writes in Hat, “when the Baker is despairing about his inability to have children and the wife is trying to conceal her impatience with his pessimism.”

[...]

Sondheim.com, a fansite dedicated to the lyricist/composer, got a peek at a version of the script in 1994, and wrote that “The story basically follows that of the show's first act, although the story unfolds in a different manner, without a narrator or a Mysterious Man���:

Several confusions of the play have been fixed. For example, Rapunzel is no longer related to the Baker, nor does she give birth to twins, so the question of why the family curse didn't affect her has been erased. At the end of the first “act,” the Giant rises from his fall and goes on a rampage, allowing the rest of the story to unfold more-or-less as it did in Act II of the play. The intricate back stories of the Baker's father and the witch's mother have been deleted, eliminating "No More" and changing a bit of "Last Midnight." There is no "second bean," so the Baker's wife's scenes with Cinderella are fairly different. Finally, at the very end of the movie the wife reappears, having tricked the Giant into thinking she was dead. Strangely, there has been no effort to integrate “Children Will Listen” into the action. Rather, the camera just switches to a shot of the witch singing the song against a backdrop of Rapunzel's tower, followed by a montage of the survivors going about their lives after the giant.

“Although there will certainly be more work done on the script before it becomes a film,” the site concluded, “what we've seen is certainly promising, and will definitely be entertaining, even if it's not the Into the Woods we all know and love.”

Two readings of the script were held in Los Angeles: The first included Martin Short as the Baker, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the Baker's Wife, Neil Patrick Harris as Jack, Mary Steenburgen as his mother, Kathy Najimy and Janeane Garofalo as Cinderella’s stepsisters, Cynthia Gibb as Cinderella, Rob Lowe as her prince, Christine Lahti as the Witch, Daryl Hannah as Rapunzel, and Michael Jeter as the Giant. At the second, Robin Williams played the Baker and Goldie Hawn was the Wife; Cher played the Witch, and Steve Martin played the Wolf. Carrie Fisher and Bebe Neuwirth were the stepsisters, Moira Kelly played Cinderella, and Kyle MacLachlan was her prince. Brendan Fraser played Rapunzel’s prince. Elijah Wood was Jack and Roseanne Barr was his mother. The cast was rounded out by Danny DeVito playing the Giant. In 1995, Rob Minkoff, co-director of The Lion King, signed on to direct.

Source:

@ariel-seagull-wings @thealmightyemprex @the-blue-fairie @piterelizabethdevries @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @mask131 @princesssarisa

[brighter-by-the-daly]

Erin Cuthburt x Reader

Road Back Home

Part of the Beth McCarthy mini song series

What Do You Call It?

Can't help overthinking

Every, "What if, is it a phase? Will I get over it?"

Like, "What if things change, what if I'm fake?

What if it's all just for the hell of it?"

But I'm in it, I admit it, I wanted this, ayy

I'm in it, I admit it, I'm different

Driving back up to Scotland all the memories came flooding back. Your childhood best friend Erin was in the passenger seat singing along very badly to the radio. Scotland had qualified for the World Cup and you were making the long drive up north from London together. Erin was the type of person to be able to make everyone in the room laugh and cared deeply about people she loved. You’d grown up together since primary school and was the reason you got into football. She was always playing at lunch time with the boys and needed a goalie, she convinced you that you wouldn’t have to do much - just stand there. That’s when your love of diving in the mud and throwing yourself on the ground was born, much to your mam’s disapproval. You’ve been through every stage of your careers together - from academy to climbing the national team ranks to pro. But that’s when you grew apart, you were signed to Arsenal while Erin got signed to Chelsea. Although you both live in London, you rarely get time to meet up and your friendship now consists of extremely quick catch ups after derby days.

Erin knew her sexuality from a very young age but you, yours was a bit more blurry. In the past you’d always dated men but ever since you could remember your feelings about Erin were always a little bit more honest than any previous relationship you’d had. You both had grown apart but now she’s sat in your car about to fly to Australia for two months all those feelings had come flooding back. She was still making you laugh and still showing signs that she cared about you deeply. While you were in the toilet at the service station she’d bought all your favourite snacks in your favourite flavours. Specifically the Wispa Gold or the purple Nik Naks or the vanilla Coke you barely even see anymore. Starting the car back up ready for the last stretch she handed you a cup of tea, taking a sip to taste the exact number of sugars you like for long drives caused a sound of pleasure to exit your mouth. “6 sugars because those sachets aren’t full spoons, I remember!” she chimed pleased with herself as she kicked off her shoes and placed her feet on the dashboard. “If I crash you’ll lose your legs” you scolded, hitting her legs so she took them down. “Where’d you learn that, Grey Sloan?” she was joking but she was right. You were always butting in on medical situations with your knowledge earned from binging hundreds of hours of Grey’s Anatomy. Proceeding to recite the episode of a pregnant woman breaking her legs because her feet were on the dashboard, she laughed at you. “I think you should be our medic rather than our goalie!” she remarked as you joined back onto the M6 heading for Glasgow.

Dropping her off at her mum’s house you headed back to yours for a few days before you met up with the rest of the team. Your bedroom hadn’t changed since you left home at 17 for Arsenal and still had football posters on the wall. Your bed still hoarded the shoe box of all your childhood memories, including the friendship bracelet Erin gave you in Year 6. Flicking through the photos of you both as children you laughed at some of the outfits you were made to wear. Old boyfriends were amongst them which you quickly passed by before finding the day you both got signed professionally. Proudly wearing your clubs shirts and holding hands, vowing to stay friends forever.

Except, was just friends enough for me? Would telling her the truth ruin everything? What if we could be something amazing and I never tried? I’d famously dated male players my whole career, would I be seen as fake? As an attention seeker? Does this mean I’m gay? Is there a word for only fancying your best friend? The second I say anything everything changes. If I admit that I like her, I admit that I’m different. All the questions running through your head went on for days, you were distracted the entire time by thoughts of how you’re going to have to pretend for two months.

“What ya thinking about?” Erin asked, you’d been staring out of the plane window since you boarded, unable to look her in the eyes since you picked her up this morning. “The fact there’s probably still a desk with your name etched into it back at school” you mumbled. “What, why?” You turned to look at her but you could tell she knew what you meant the second your eyes locked together. Feeling the whirl of the engine power the plane as you rumbled along the runway distracted you from the awkward silence. Grabbing your arm rests tightly to prepare for take off, you hated flying, it always made you feel sick. The nauseating feeling was lessened by Erin clawing your hand away from the plastic and into her lap. “I got you” she said resting her head on your shoulder, “I got you”.

[isure-hopeso]

12.31.2024

52 books in 52 weeks?

Serendipity.

Scratches an itch in my brain.

Reviews!

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy 4.5/10 Bad vibe to start the year, my mistake. After pretty prose and exposition on the beautiful and terrible west, he decided to add plot at the very end. Coulda not.

Phantom and Rook by Aelina Isaacs 10/10 Incredibly diverse and beautiful, cozy yet emotional story with magic and found family and love and self discovery. Big big big ups.

Flipped for Murder by Maddie Day 7/10 My sister got me the 10th book in this series by accident, so I got the first few for myself for fun. And they ARE fun. Cozy diner murder mysteries, such a vibe.

The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor 8/10 Short stories that point out the darker truths of human hearts, with no mercy for the reader. No goofs here, super cool, super ahead of its time.

Curves for Days by Laura Moher 6.5/10 A fun little romance read about a plus sized girl. As a big booty girl, I love the representation, but the story was sorta ehhhhhhh.

Mixed Vegetables Vol 1 by Ayumi Komura 5.5/10 Sushi chef girl meets pastry chef boy, but they argue too much to realize they’re falling for each other. Cute, but moves too slow, even for a day-in-the-life story. 

Small Favors by Erin A. Craig 8.5/10 A bit freaky, a bit romantic, nearly-fantastical retelling of Rumplestilskin. Icky, but in a satisfyingly gruesome kinda way.

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas 8/10 Far longer than it needed to be, and the main character went off page for a bit, which I don’t love. But the world is still really interesting and I love to hate on the random smutty bits.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin 10/10 I love a fun puzzle story, this was a reread from childhood. I wish there were more proper puzzle-based stories like this today!!

We Are Taking Only What We Need: Stories by Stephanie Powell Watts 9.5/10 I am learning that I LOVE short stories.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas 6/10 Solid story, very book. Too long. Cool world-building, but the characters’ behaviors seemed to change a lot and some author choices really niggled at my brain.

The Hedgewitch’s Little Book of Flower Spells by Tudorbeth 7/10 Call me a Pixie Hollow Faerie, but I love a tiny book on flower spells.

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas 6.5/10 She got more into the characters in this one, letting me love and hate each of them a whole lot more. She also made more story choices I disagree with, but I’m in the Maasverse for the bit at this point.

Edgar Allen Poe: The Great Masters Library 8.5/10 I’m not the biggest fan of the stories he largely wrote for money when he was younger, but I’m a massive fan of his later works and poetry. Brother needed therapy.

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore 6/10 Just a fun romp through Regency England to explore romance and women’s rights.

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree 9/10 This book was like receiving a warm hug and cozying up with a hot cup of tea under a weighted blanket. Such a nice read, and I love Baldree’s writing style.

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas 8/10 The story started getting really interesting, the characters were developing a ton, and the world opened up a lot. That said, I have had enough of watery bowels.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green 8.5/10 Glad I finally read this, but I probably would have gotten more out of it if I’d read it as a teenager like I was supposed to.

Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey 9.5/10 Thus begins my attempt at reading the Pern series in chronological order. I love the early books and the late books so much. Only those ones, though, it turns out.

The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall by Anne McCaffrey 8/10 This one is a handful of short stories that flesh out the quickly-changing world. Again, I’m a big fan of short stories now.

The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas 4/10 As a prequel, this is better to read before the other books. I was soooooo bored.

The Faerie Path by Allan Frewin Jones 9/10 This book had been sitting on my TBR for so many years, and I was happily surprised at how much I enjoyed it. A fast read, not very fancy prose, but a fantastic story.

Dragonseye by Anne McCaffrey 8.5/10 Anne really brought out her anthropological knowhow to remind us that bullheaded dummies shouldn’t be in power. Oops America.

Grilled for Murder by Maddie Day 7/10 Book 2 of the series my sister accidentally got me book 10 to. I picked out whodunnit within the first chapter, but the why and how and what threw me for a new one.

Magia Magia: Invoking Mexican Magic by Alexis A. Arredondo 8/10 Got this in the massive set of witch books from 2023, and loved learning about the magic practiced here in the southwest. 

Anxiety by Jason & Daniel Freeman 6/10 A tiny Anxiety 101 book, smashed full of info. I wanted more, it just brushed the surface. My fault for not getting a whole ass textbook?

The Hobbit: or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien 10/10 Every year I read one of the Big Four, and I got to circle back around to the beginning this year for The Hobbit. One of my ultimate comfort reads.

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas 4/10 I’m sort of losing my patience and running out of steam for Maas with this book. Dudes need to talk about their feelings. I’m just holding on for the lore.

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer 8.5/10 A silly willy book jam packed with poorly veiled yearning, jokes, and murder. Points off for the cliffhanger, boo.

The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide by Magrane & Cokinos 9/10 Poems/stories paired with pictures and info on local flora and fauna. I wish this had been ten times longer. It was a tasty little snack, and I wanted the whole meal.

Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer 7.5/10 YES I bought the next book immediately. It rehashed a similar relationship arc from the first book, which I didn’t love, but the rest was so fun and I am chomping at the gosh darn bit for the next one. 

Beaverland by Leila Philip 9.5/10 Tell me why a literary nonfiction about the history of beavers and their effect on the planet had me so hooked. No worries, I’m already in therapy.

Dragon’s Kin by Anne & Todd McCaffrey 2/10 Todd, Anne’s son, is the worst thing that ever happened to the Pern series. This is poorly written fan-fiction that Anne lovingly slapped her name on.

Kitchen Princess Vol. 5 by Kobayashi & Ando 10/10 I went to Kitchen Princess for some post-Todd healing, and it worked. This series is just so sweet, pun not intended but embraced nonetheless.

When Autumn Leaves by Amy S. Foster 9/10 A reread, so I knew I’d love it. Ultra-fall commingling stories about weird magic and feminine power, best possible way to start October.

Crushing It by Erin Becker 7/10 A middle school queer book I picked up for a reading challenge. Wasn’t for me, but that’s because it wasn’t written for me. Big points for representation.

Dragon’s Fire by Todd & Anne McCaffrey 1/10 This book is SO BAD there is literally a page and a half copied and pasted again a handful of chapters later. Todd should have left his momma’s work alone. 

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina 7.5/10 My only audiobook of the year about Swiss pensioners going on crazy heists. Kind of a slow read, but hysterical – I love being reminded that old people were young like us!

Going Home by Nora Roberts 3.5/10 I bought a handful of Nora Roberts books because my mom loves them. My mom loves these. I need to buy her other books.

Supermarket by Bobby Hall 6.5/10 Logic wrote a psychological horror about a dude working in a supermarket, admittedly not very well. But, like. He’s a musician. It was still a very cool story idea.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne 6/10 Ya gurl made the choice to read this the day before Trump got reelected. I actually hate the “lessons learned” in this book, too, way outdated. Big mad time, you shoulda seen me.

When the Grit Hits the Fan by Maddie Day 7/10 I keep rating these the same, is that bad? They’re reliable! A cozy little murder mystery and the diner owner is all nosey, gotta love it. 

Food Fights & Culture Wars by Tom Nealan 5/10 I thought this would show more forreal history of how food affected world events, but it was more like quirky far fetched ideas and fun facts loosely connecting their potential.

Medusa by Nataly Gruender 9/10 The author is from my hometown, was a classmate of mine, I admit that I’m biased. She didn’t write the story the way I would have, but that’s one of the cool things about Medusa’s story. No goofs here. Gruender did a fantastic job and is a phenomenal writer, and her Medusa story is lovely.

I Put A Spell On You: Autobiography by Nina Simone 8/10 Had to keep reminding myself that Nina was a black woman born in the 1930s, and having that perspective helped me accept her choices and priorities. But now the music that I loved already means so much more!

Circle of Magic #1 by Tamora Pierce 10/10 Tamora Pierce is the single author I would break down and cry to meet in person. I needed a comfort reread after the last two books about female hardship.

Circle of Magic #2 by Tamora Pierce 10/10 Okay, so maybe I needed TWO comfort rereads. Found family, cool worldbuilding, magic, the works.

Lightlark by Alex Aster 7/10 Hated this at first, but was enjoying it by the end. I’m suuuuure all the worldbuilding holes will be fleshed out in the following books, yeah?

Dragonharper by Todd & Anne McCaffrey 2.5/10 Get Todd out of here, please. I can tell, by certain sections that sound a ton more like Anne, that she or her editor had a bigger hand in parts of this book. While other parts made me gag. Literally why did they publish these??

Dragonsblood by Todd & Anne McCaffrey 6.5/10 Too many reused tropes from other books Todd spearheaded, the idea of this story was actually really cool and the writing reminded me a TON of Anne’s earliest Pern books.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman 5.5/10 After loving Neverwhere, I was surprised to feel so neutral about Stardust. The fun, colorful movie adaptation clearly set me up with the wrong expectations.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac 8.5/10 Kerouac could stand to be less of a racist and womanizer. That said, beat writing styles are just so tasty, like a cappuccino on a rainy day. 

A beautifully exact 7.25 average for the year! I tried to broaden my reading horizons a bit more, but also went back to a handful of rereads and chronologies I already loved. I somehow ended 2024 with even MORE books on my TBR than I had started, so let’s see what I manage to get through in 2025!

If you’re still reading this, I can’t help but wonder why. Regardless, I wish all that is good upon you. Health, well-being, justice, and good books in the year to come.

[righthandedleftturn]

Ghostbusters: Answer the Call

[warningsine]

[answerthesecondcall]

[writingquestionsanswered]

in your opinion, what are some modern day classics you think upcoming writers should keep an eye out for?

On "Modern Classics" and Book Recommendations

There's not really a universally agreed upon definition of "classic" when it comes to literature. The broadest definition of a "classic" is that it is well known and of high literary standard. More specifically, they're well known, of a high literary standard, and have stood the test of time. By that added criteria, we really have to define "modern" as at least mid-twentieth century, because something more recent than that hasn't had the chance to stand the test of time.

If, on the other hand, you're interested not so much in "classics" but modern literary books worth watching out for, that would be a little easier to do. But then we run into my personal hang-up, which is that I don't see any value in telling you what modern literary books I think are worth looking out for. Because reading is such a personal thing... what I think makes for amazing writing, an amazing story, or a modern day literary achievement may not be what you think fits the bill, or what another writer or reader or critic would think fits. I can tell you, "I think Modern Literary Achievement by Author K. Authorington is absolutely brilliant," but what does that actually mean? All it does is tell you that's a book that I found to be amazing, but that's not going to help you write a good book. Having said that...

Some "Modern Literary Classics" I've Read and Enjoyed:

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys The Shining by Stephen King The Color Purple by Alice Walker The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin The Road by Cormac McCarthy The Book Thief by Markus Zusak The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys Again, these are just books I've enjoyed that fit the bill of "modern literary classic," but I'm funny about calling any book "required reading," again, because what people enjoy is so personal. Just because I found something to be that amazing doesn't mean someone else would. :)

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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