#glad I’m a classical literature gay so I can pick up on these things

[sad-emo-dip-dye]

Is this a reference to Dracula’s wife?

[hellishvu]

Imagine BTS: when they have a boyfriend in university

a/n: ahhh writing this makes me miss college :( a lot of these could be full blown stories akfkskd like yoongi’s or hoseok’s or even seokjin’s! ahhh online school does not hit the same as in class :( but hey i’m glad i’m still getting education :> so that’s a bright side ! stay safe everyone and love yourself !!

Kim Namjoon: <3

˚✧₊⁎ Namjoon and you would always text each other late at night during finals week. Due to all the studying you two barely got enough sleep but you somehow manage to function.

˚✧₊⁎ Sometimes throughout the week you would stay at each others houses. Namjoon bringing a sport bag carrying mostly his textbooks, his ipad to check his notes, and his clothes. You happily brought him in while spending a little extra on food.

˚✧₊⁎ “Ahhhh ahhhhhh” Namjoon moans out while you look up seeing him rub his temples. “You’re stuck?” You ask seeing him nod. Getting up from your desk you looked at his topic being the one you’re quite good at.

˚✧₊⁎ Guiding him through the question you hear a small “oooh” come from his mouth. You were glad you could help while he kisses you as a thank you.

˚✧₊⁎ Hour passes by and you were burnt out seeing Namjoon was the same. You came from behind him wrapping your arms around him resting your head on his shoulder. “Let’s take a break.” You suggest the idea while Namjoon agrees.

˚✧₊⁎ “I deserve a kiss from all those questions.” Namjoon looks up still sitting down while you gave him one. He whines wanting more while you grin giving him a longer one. “There.” You smirks seeing Namjoon happy.

˚✧₊⁎ The door was knocked at midnight, causing you to groan opening the door. Namjoon jumps into your arms cheering loudly before he realized how late it was. “Baby what is going on?” Your deep voice penetrating his ears.

˚✧₊⁎ “Guess who got 100% on his Literature final? I did!” Namjoon kisses you not minding the sleep breath. You kiss back while he cheers a couple more time. You couldn’t be more prouder though, even if you couldn’t show it.

Kim Seokjin: <3

˚✧₊⁎ “Why do we always go here?” Your friend, Yoongi, curiously asks wanting the details. “My boyfriend works here, got to support his loans.” You explain while you made Yoongi turn around to see Seokjin in his cute work outfit.

˚✧₊⁎ “Wow you hit jackpot.” Yoongi chuckles going back to his studying. You see Seokjin look at you, signaling you to come close to the front. “I’ll be back.” You tell Yoongi while he looks up, “Get me a smoothie.” Yoongi winks knowing what you’re doing.

˚✧₊⁎ “Hey handsome.” Seokjin smiles brightly finally getting your attention. You wish you could kiss him, he’s so sweet, but he’s working. “Love could I get a smoothie and-” Getting cut off by him already knowing your favorite drink.

˚✧₊⁎ “That will be $5.43” Seokjin calls you bringing out your money realizing how cheap that sounded for two drinks. “Seokjin, wasn’t my drink 4 dollars?”

˚✧₊⁎ “Darling it’s on my tab. You don’t have to worry about paying here okay?” Seokjin passes your drinks, your cup specially made by him. Small hearts drawn around the cup. “Thank you baby.” You smile thankful for him every single day.

˚✧₊⁎ Passing Yoongi his smoothie you sat down. Yoongi seeing the receipt and the hearts on your cup. “He paid for you?” Yoongi asks you nodding in response. “And not for me?” He jokes around as you laugh. “Just enjoy your smoothie.” You snickered going back to your homework.

˚✧₊⁎ After his shift you came back wanting to take Seokjin out. Waiting just outside his job seeing him shocked to see you. “Y/N you scared me.” Seokjin held his apron in his hand. “Oh! Sorry. I just wanted to take you out.” You ask. “If that’s okay of course.”

˚✧₊⁎ “Of course it’s okay. Thank you.” Seokjin kisses you, while you take his hand leading him to the best option that is in your budget.

Min Yoongi: <3

˚✧₊⁎ Ahh college parties, never really Yoongi forte, certainly not ballsy enough to go to one alone. He was a first year barely getting to know the campus. His friends had invited him to come yet minutes into the part had completely left him behind.

˚✧₊⁎ “I swear I’ll kill those idiots.” Yoongi looks around seeing massive amounts of people, searching for any face that bring comfort. “You seem new.” Yoongi jumps turning around seeing you sitting on a high part of the building.

˚✧₊⁎ “Come up here.” You invite him from the massive chaos from the bottom, passing him a red cup that you got fresh from the bottom. “It’s empty you can check.” Passing the solo cup to him.

˚✧₊⁎ Yoongi fiddles with his cup, unsure what to say or do. You were obviously a higher year into college “What are you studying?” You sip from your cup raising your eyebrow to see Yoongi pour some into his cup.

˚✧₊⁎ “Music.” Yoongi speaks passing back the bottle to you. Somehow the party gets louder and more people show up, you clearly see the anxious body language from Yoongi. “Name is Y/N by the way.” You get up stretch.

˚✧₊⁎ “You seemed lost so call this a favor. Let’s go get some burgers or something. You like pizza?” Checking your wallet you signal him to follow along, walking to the near pizza place. “My name is Yoongi.”

˚✧₊⁎ “Well Yoongi you’re cute.” You confess opening the door for him. This had to be date.. maybe? Yoongi’s first date at college ahhh he’ll have to gay panic later.

˚✧₊⁎ “I’ll pay for you. You can pay me back by giving me your number though.” You smile seeing Yoongi blush from the compliment sharing his number.

Jung Hoseok: <3

˚✧₊⁎ Hoseok was your typical jock boyfriend, being on the football team he was charming in all senses. You had met him through a volunteering event he had to do for his football requirements. He only joined your event due to your very cute smile.

˚✧₊⁎ All the times you said you would never date a jock to Seokjin went to shit when he asked you out. He was all in his cute jersey after a very intense game that you had been invited to by him.

˚✧₊⁎ Hoseok became one of your biggest supporters. Through many study halls and many breakdowns about money, studying, or anything he was there to make you feel better.

˚✧₊⁎ “Hey Hoseok are you joining us at the club?” Hoseok’s teammate asks after a successful game. He nods no giving the response he had something planned already.

˚✧₊⁎ The plan was coming to your arms, already laying in bed at the dorm room that was near Hoseok’s room. He knocks on the door while you get up with his varsity jacket comfortable on you.

˚✧₊⁎ “Congratulations. I saw the game on TV.” You kissed him while he hugs you. Enjoying the time with you. “I still can’t get over how good you look in my jacket.” Hoseok chuckles bringing you to the bed.

˚✧₊⁎ During practice you would always try to make it, wether it’s doing homework on the bleachers while watching him. Hoseok would always look up at you while he’s seated to wave at you.

˚✧₊⁎ “Who’s that guy? He’s quite cute.” Hoseok heard one of his teammates say causing his head to turn quickly. “Uhh... he’s-” Jungkook, Hoseok’s teammate, tries to mention the relationship status but that was cut off when you turned around to grab your backpack.

˚✧₊⁎ “Oh-” The teammate saw the big letters on your back “Jung” and his team captions numbers. “Yeah. He’s my boyfriend.” Hoseok smirks seeing the teammate start running laps around the track.

Park Jimin: <3

˚✧₊⁎ You were in a crisis. This math problem has been eating away at you, it was the very last problem you needed to finish for your math class. Desperate times calls for desperate measures.

˚✧₊⁎ Acessing the school forums you saw the tutoring blog where not a single soul posts there. No one likes to admit when they need help supposibly. Tutoring was closed during the weekends so this would have to do.

˚✧₊⁎ “Hi! My name is Y/N. I can’t figure out this math problem. I can’t upload a picture of it on this forum but I’ll pay you if you come to the Library :( please?”

˚✧₊⁎ While waiting patiently at the library you saw a response, seeing the username being ‘ParkJimin’. The response having his description of looks so you could tell who he was when he walked in.

˚✧₊⁎ Jimin walks in, and you didn’t expect him to be this attractive. You look at your outfit being in clothes you haven’t changed from the past night due to not having time. Meanwhile Jimin walks in with fashion that deserves to be a runway.

˚✧₊⁎ “Hello, I’m assuming you’re Y/N?” Jimin asked while he sat down. You not realizing how adorable he was. Giving a late response you nod. “Math? Was it?” Jimin asks looking at your closed textbook. “Math?” You question him. “The subject you’re struggling on.” Jimin points at the textbook, while you hide in embarrassment.

˚✧₊⁎ Jimin and you grew closer, becoming official study buddies. Things moved from the classic Library to visiting his dorm. Sometimes you would do him a solid and help him on his projects. Growing closer to Jimin, you always felt your heart pounding when Jimin smiles at you.

˚✧₊⁎ You were the first one to make a move on him. Seeing Jimin’s eyes blink a couple times before answering your question to go on a date. Small butterflies flies in Jimin’s stomach when he said yes.

Kim Taehyung: <3

˚✧₊⁎ Taehyung and you started dating early into the semester, already knowing each other during the summer. He had helped you moving in only just for a small price.

˚✧₊⁎ Many people knew already knew and it had taken you back. Learning that Taehyung proudly announces and talks about you nonstop with his friends. It became known to everyone that you two were dating.

˚✧₊⁎ Sharing a class was purely a coincidence. Arriving early already picking your forever spot for the quarter. You looked up seeing Taehyung walking in, giving you a quick wink.

˚✧₊⁎ “Oh my god he’s checking you out.” Your classmate, Hoseok whispers to you. “Yeah we are haha.. dating.” You tell Hoseok the newer student here at the university.

˚✧₊⁎ As the class progressed you saw small notes arrive on the side of your desk. Opening them to see small writing of different sweet messages such as “teehee ur cute <33”.

˚✧₊⁎ After class you met with him, Taehyung chuckling seeing you hold his notes. “You’re such a flirt.” Placing the notes in your bag saving them for your box. Taehyung shrugs his shoulders. “It’s funny seeing your reaction love.”

˚✧₊⁎ Next class you turn to Taehyung seeing his eyes staring at you. He had a dreamy look while you signal him to pay attention to the board not you. He sticks out his tongue focusing back to the subject.

˚✧₊⁎ Taehyung sees a note slip to his desk, seeing it he looks up to you. Seeing just your back, he opens it up. “I love you baby - Y/N” with a heart eyed face.

Jeon Jungkook: <3

˚✧₊⁎ “Someone is stealing my snacks all the time. And I’m this close” You show your fingers being close together. “from snapping Namjoon.” Throwing yet another bowl of empty ramen. Your favorite flavor too? A monster.

˚✧₊⁎ You shop around with Namjoon, finding new snacks to last the quarter. Bought them with your own money passionate to keep them. “Bun wanted banana milk.” You search through the isle trying to find your dear boyfriend his favorite drink.

˚✧₊⁎ Coming back to the dorm you placed the groceries on the rack, signifying a little note of ownership. Closing the door you walked back up seeing Jungkook resting on your bed.

˚✧₊⁎ “Bun is tired.” You clear his part of the bed seeing empty food wrappers and ramen cups. Quickly recognizing your favorite snacks eaten by no other Jungkook. “Jeon Jungkook wake up!” You yell causing Jungkook to jump up.

˚✧₊⁎ Jungkook knew he was in trouble when he heard you speak of his last name. He quickly rubbed his eyes seeing your snack that he was gonna throw away before you got home. Jungkook was caught red handed.

˚✧₊⁎ “Haha.. Y/N..” Jungkook rubs the back of his neck, you crossing your hands. Minutes later Jungkook is kicked out of the room, pouting behind your door with just his boxers and your shirt.

˚✧₊⁎ “Don’t leave me out here!! Y/N!” Jungkook whines while trying to cover himself up. Checking the halls to see if any of his classmates could see him.

˚✧₊⁎ “Y/N I’m sorry I took your snacks! I was hungry and I didn’t have money at the time. You weren’t at the dorm and I was starving.” Jungkook explains while you set the bag of new snacks on the bed.

˚✧₊⁎ Quickly opening the door you grab Jungkook by the waist dragging him back in your room. Jungkook welping out while you press a kiss on his lips. “I forgive you. Check the bag there’s banana milk.” You winked at him while Jungkook sees the sweet delicious milk brand through the bag.

[santaclausdeadindian]

Sorry for doing it this way, I think OP deleted their post or blocked me like a mature, balanced person would, so I have to tag you in

@mr-laugh

Oh boy, lot to unpack here.

So you didn’t even know there were that many subgenres of fantasy, one of the most popular classifications of fiction on the planet... And you think you know enough to tell ANYBODY what classic fantasy is?

And where exactly I attempted to do that, huh?

If you don’t even know the most common subgenres of this vast pool of fiction, why are you jumping into this discussion? You just admitted you don’t know anything!

There is no discussion, there is a stupid ass post. Don't flatter yourself, you don't know jack shit.

Me not knowing what exactly are the precize subgenres of a genre of literature, which, btw, are completely arbitrary and for your information, sword&magic is a legitimate category, has absolutely nothing to do with what that post you were so keen on agreeing with above. It was you who said pretty much any classic fantasy is like that: some poorly written, self-indulgent and borderline racist.

Did ya read the link, buddy? Howard talked about knowing what burning black man smelled like. He was quite approving of these things! And the books are pretty racist, it’s not hard to see, unless you ain’t looking.

Yes, I started reading and by the end of the first paragraph I was convinced he was ahorribly racist man. And? Still doesn't change the fact, that for my 12 year old self, there was nothing racist about it. I definetly wasn't looking for it, that much you got right. If I'd read it again, I'm sure I'd catch on to it now, that I know what kind of asshole he was. So the implied racism would be there. You got a point for that.

Rugged individualism? It always amuses me how that argument always pops out of the mouths of guys who are aping what they’ve heard their buddies say. If ten thousand mouths shout “rugged individualism”, how individualistic are they?

Then you should amuse yourself by looking up why this thing crops up as of late. It's coming from certain, supremely racist yet unaware of it publications that claim ridiculous shit like "rugged individualism" is a hallmark of white supremacy, among other, equally laughable things, like punctuality. It's a joke.

Again, I will give Howard to you, if someone that racist writes a black man saving the hero of the story, I bet there was something else still there to make it wrong.

Conan’s not some avatar of rugged individualism.

Uhm, yeah, he pretty much all that.

He’s as unreal and unrealistic as the dragons are,

It's called fantasy for a reason, buddy.

but more dangerous because White Men model their ideas of reality on Big Man Heroes like him;

Glad you are totally not racist, yo!!! It's such a relief that White Men are the only ones with this terrible behavior of looking up to larger than life, mythic superpeople and nobody else. Imagine what it would be like, if we would have some asshole from say, hindu indian literature massacering demons called Rakshassas, by the tens of thousands, or some bullshit japanese warlord would snatch out arrows from the air, or a chienese bodyguard would mow down hundreds of barbaric huns without dropping a sweat, or some middle eastern hero would fight literal gods and their magical beasts in some quest for eternal life.

it's a poison that weakens us, distracting us from actually trying to solve the world’s issues, or banding together to deal with shit.

This is what you just said. It's up to the white man, to get their shit together, be not racist and solve the world's problems, because those poor other people's just can't do it. If we would just not be oh, so racist, then China would surely stop with the genocides they are doing now, or blowing more than half the greenhouse emissions into the athmosphere, the muslims would stop throwing their gays from rooftops or ramming trucks into crowds and would just start treating women as equals, India's massive rape problem would be gone, subsaharan African would be magically bereft of the host of atrocities committed there on a daily, yeah, you sure have that nonracism down, buddy!

A rugged individualist would be smart enough to realize that even the most individualistic person needs others; no man’s an island, and a loner is easier to kill.

Individualism doesn't mean at all what you think it means, it's a cluster of widely differeing philosophies that puts the individual ahead of the group or state, it's ranging from anarchism to liberalism and is also has nothing to do with my point.

Central Europe?  What, Germany?  Because let me tell you, historically they are SUPER concerned about race!

Germany traditionally considered western european, central europe would be the people stuck between them and the russians, to put it very loosely. We are equally nonplussed by the self-flagellating white guilt complex and the woe me victim complex of the west. We did none of the shit those meanie white people did to the nonwhites and suffered everyting any poc ever did and then some. We don't give a shit about your color, we care about what culture you are from and if you respect our values.

I’m an American from a former Confederate state; trust me, race is everything.  It always is.

No it really isn't. How old are you? Asking without condescension, genuinly curious, because if you are in your low twenties at most, it's understandable why you think like this.

See that hike? Do you know what happened at that time that made virtually all american media suddenly go all in with racism?

Occupy Wall Street, that's what. It's a brilliant way to sow victimhood and hate and desperation amongst the people who have one common enemy, the powers that be, the banking sector, the politicians, the megacorporations.

Can't really blame you if you are in your early 20's at most, you grew up with this bullshit hammered into you. If you are older, step out of your echochamber please!

If you actually believe, that mankind doesn't progress naturally towards a more accepting society purely on the merit of there being more good people than bad and sharing a similar living with all the hardships in life, seeing that our prejudices inherited by our parents are baseless, that's how we progress, not virtue signalling courses and regressive policies. I was raised as any other kid, I had a deep resentment towards the neighbouring nations, I said vile, racist shit against people who I actually share a lot of genes with, of which fact I was in deep denial about, and then as I gradually got exposed more and more actual people of these groups, I started to realize I was wrong and everybody should be judged by their individual merits. It works throughout the generations, my grandma was thought songs about Hitler and how all jews are evil in school, she legit thought all black people at least in Africa are cannibals and shit, my mother stillsays shit that would get her cancelled in the USA, and I will probably have a mixed race kid as we stand now.

This whole racism is an eternal problem is laughable and disingenuous and I am actually sorry for you that you feel like that.

Moving on. As for Dany, the “noble white girl sold to scary dark foreign man” is a very popular trope, especially in exploitation films, which Martin draws on much more heavily than most authors do.

No, he fucking doesn't. I already wrote a bunch of examples from the books you seeminly ignore willfully. First of all, she is sold to those olive skinned savages by a white man, who is a terrible, increadibly evil man. He want's to fuck the then 11-12 ish Dany so bad, she picks his slave most resembling her and rapes her repeatedly, "until the madness pass." He also maimes children and traines them as disposable slave spies by the hundreds. There is no boundaries colour here, GRRM prtrays all kinds of people as reprehensible, evil and disgusting. Just like you can find plenty of examples to the opposite.

What is he drawing from your exploitation movies exactly? He writes about the human anture, he writes about the human heart at war with itself, that's his central philosophy of writing.

ASOFAI is basically just a porn movie with complicated feudal politics obscuring it, which is probably why it worked so well as an HBO series (up until the last two seasons or so.)

There is no gratuitous sex scene in the books, the rapes are described as rapes, they are horrible, they are very shortly described and usually just alluded to.

The people commiting them are not put into generous lights and one of the single most harrowing stories hidden behind the grand happenings of the plot is a girl named Jeyne Poole, whose suffering although never shown, is very much pointed out, along with the hypocrisy of the people who only fight to try and save her, because they think her a different person.

Honestly, if you actually read the books and they came of to you as porn, you might want to do some soulsearching.Btw, the HBO series was a terrible adaptation, it immedietly started to go further and further from the books with every passing season and the showmakers made it very clear to everybody, that they didn't understand the very much pacifist and humanist themes of Martin. And neither did you.

We also get no indication Essos will eat it when Winter comes; hell, they seem to not know Winter exists, given the way people act, even though that is also unrealistic and weird.  Essos was just super badly designed, and Dany is a terribly boring character.

to be continued

[lizziestudieshistory]

Books of 2020 - March

Enforced isolation made me read a lot... Here are the 10 books I read!

The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive #1)    We all know I adore this series - I reread it every year after all. This time I read it to annotate the text and do a proper deep-dive into the world Sanderson is creating in preparation for Rythmn of War coming out later this year.

The Binding - Bridget Collins    I still don’t know how I feel about Collins’ book. It’s a historical fiction novel with a subtle hint of magical realism through the concept of Binding - using some form of magic (I’m not entirely sure how) to turn real memories into books. This concept is what made me and my uni friends buddy read this novel in the first place; it sounds fascinating, especially to bookish people like we us! However, this book is not really about book binding - it’s a love story between Emmett Farmer and Lucian Darnay.

If I’m honest the part two, which covered the original courtship of Lucian and Emmett, was the most interesting section of the novel. I thought their relationship was a bit cringey (as befits teenagers) and incredibly sweet. The romance made the novel. But it wasn’t the book we signed up for. I was expecting a book about the secrets about Binding - maybe a bit of a thriller/mystery but with beautiful writing and an ethereal setting? I was definitely expecting more information about Binding. Instead we got a angsty romance, endless cutting and gluing of endpapers for books and ONE scene of Emmett book binding that didn’t tell us what the process actually is.

For what the book actually is, which is an angsty gay romance in a very subtly magical alternate ‘Victorian’ society, it’s a decent book. If I’d known this I probably would have read it and considered it a lovely cutesy read. However, it’s not the book I was sold and it left me disappointed. I’d recommend giving it a shot, but it’s not a book I would necessarily read again...

The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orcsy    This was a ridiculous, over the top, and melodramatic classic adventure story. I had so much fun reading this! The Scarlet Pimpernel is a mysterious English aristocrat who, with his band of devoted fellow gentlement, travels to France during the height of the Revolution to rescue innocent French nobles from the guillotine. However, the French are at their wits end and Chauvelin blackmails the ‘cleverest woman in Europe’, darling of English society, and French wife of Sir Percy Blakeney, Lady Marguerite Blakeney, to find out the indentity of the Scarlet Pimpernel. 

From there we go on a wonderfully melodramatic romp through 18th century England and France, and watch as Marguerite tries to save the Scarlet Pimpernel. It’s a silly, over the top, novel in a similar style to The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. I’d highly recommend it as an entry into classic literature - or just as a ridiculous fun story!

Reticence - Gail Carriger (The Custard Protocol #4)   My last full length parasolverse novel was A LOT of fun. I adored Percy and Arsenic’s slightly cringey but incredibly sweet romance bloom, alongisde the exploration of the supernatural in Carriger’s version of 1890′s Japan. The Custard Protocol was my least favourite of Carriger’s three main series (plotwise at least) but Reticence was a beautiful homage to the entire parasolverse! I adored the cameos (or just the entire wedding scene, let’s face it!), silly humour, and Percy’s happy ending.

My small niggle with this novel was the plot. As with the rest of the Custard Protocol novels I felt the plot wasn’t spectacular. It was a bit thin on the ground, particularly in the first half... This series is about character, and I love all the characters, but I wanted a little bit more from all of the novels. I wanted to see a bit more of each country (and spend a little bit less time on the Spotted Custard whilst travelling through the grey...) Nevertheless, I think Reticence was the strongest of the four Custard novels and I really loved it. Carriger’s world is my comfort blanket, it makes me smile, and I adore the world she’s created - and for that I will be forever grateful to Miss Gail!

Poison or Protect - Gail Carriger (Delightfully Deadly Novellas #1)   This novella was a lot darker than I was expecting from Carriger. The plot and on-screen action was just a silly and entertaining as I was expecting (Preshea goes to a house party to prevent the assassination of the Duke of Snodgrove, and stop his daughter marrying a gold digger, whilst falling in love with a dashing Scottish captain.) However, Preshea’s backstory was much darker than we usually see in the parasolverse, the only comparable one I can think of off the top of my head is Rodrigo’s abuse from the Templars! She suffered through years of abuse and neglect at the hands of her father and husbands, leaving her damaged and shying away from all relationships. 

The actual romance in Poison or Protect left me a little but underwhelmed. Gavin was actually what I was expecting from Connal Maccon in the Parasol Protectorate, and I’m much more on board with his ‘gentle-giant’ style romance with Preshea. I’m personally not a huge fan of the stereotypical kilt-wearing, enormous Scottish bloke... Just not my thing...but good for Preshea if she likes that! I just wasn’t that invested. 

Personally, I would have loved Preshea’s book to revolve a bit more on her relationships with women, not romantically (she has never read as bi or a lesbian) but platonically. In the Finishing School Preshea held herself aloof from the girls around her, never really having a proper friend or friendship group. Instead she was like a vampire queen surrounded by her hive - beautiful, deadly, and set above everyone around her. Preshea herself comments on it in the book! Because of this I would’ve really loved the novella to focus on Preshea learning to be friends with other women, not see them as enemies or competition, and maybe getting her man on the side. We did get this growth as a sub-plot with Lady Flo and Mis Pagril, but I think it was more important for Preshea with her Finishing School background and the abuse she suffered to find herself with other women before jumping into bed with husband number 5...

The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince - Robin Hobb (Realm of the Elderlings)    This was a fun little novella that expanded the backstory of the Six Duchies and explained why the Witted and Wit magic are so feared in the Farseer and Tawny Man Trilogies. It’s not Hobb’s finest work, but it did flesh out the history of the Six Duchies a little bit more. The story isn’t incredibly important to the main series but I’d highly recommend for fans of Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings and it’s best to read the tale either before of after the Tawny Man Trilogy.

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert   A disappointing classic. Madame Bovary is supposed to be selacious and scandelous. I found it tedious and irritating. Emma Bovary was one of the most uncompelling heroines I’ve read outside of Dickens - she was a selfish snob, with no redeeming characteristics for the reader to latch onto. She’s adored by her husband, but bored in her marraige because Charles is only a middle class, mediocre doctor... She is manipulated by the men around her (both lovers and the guy who lends her money, I can’t remember his name) but is also incredibly stupid in her decisions, particularly around money and her last fateful decision at the end of the book.

The language (both French and my English translation) was dry, and the pacing was off. Important parts of the novel went by in a whirl, but then there were long stretches where almost nothing happens. I’ve read similar novels that were much better with similar themes, plotlines, and much more interesting characters. I am glad I’ve read it but Madame Bovary is not a book I would read again, nor would I recommend it unless you want to cross it off your list of classics. 

Winter’s Heart, Crossroads of Twilight, and Knife of Dreams - Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time #9, 10, 11)    This post is incredibly long and I’ve spoken about this series at length already so I don’t really have any new criticisms to rasise. However I am slowly making my way through the rest of the Wheel of Time and I’ve now reached the end of the books solely written by Robert Jordan himself. Winter’s Heart and Crossroads of Twilight really were the height of the slump, however, I did manage to read through them both quite quickly with the amount of time I have at the moment. Both books were quite slow but had hugely important moments in them for the entire series.

Knife of Dreams was a return to form for Jordan before he died and we got the resolution to several tedious plotlines that had been running through the last few books (Perrin and Faile, Mat in Ebudar, Egwene travelling to the White Tower.) Personally, I loved Elayne’s struggle to claim the Lion Throne, however, this is one of the plotlines people tend to dislike and it had a particularly satisfying conclusion at the end of KoD. I’m incredibly excited to the series conclusion that I can see coming and I can’t wait to jump into the installments written by Brandon Sanderson in April! 

Currently Reading

I’m still working through Fellowship and the Companion... It’s fallen by the wayside slightly but I am still working through it.

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens    This is my buddy read book for March/April, but it’s also a reread for me (as we know from my turbulent relationship with this book from 2019) We have just finished Book 2 Chapter 5.

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon    I’m not a huge fan of this book so far, however, I don’t hate it. I think the plot and world building is quite shallow (circa. 200 pages in anway), and the writing makes me feel like I’m watching the characters through a glass screen. Hopefully it will pick up a bit, but at the moment I think it’s overrated. (I don’t think it’s helping I’ve been reading a lot of brilliant epic fantasy at the moment...)

[katiesclassicbooks]

Review: V For Vendetta by Alan Moore

Synopsis:

V for Vendetta is a graphic novel that was written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd. The final installment of it was published in 1988. This graphic novel is about a dystopian future in which a nuclear war has happened and in the wake of the disaster England gets taken over by a fascist government. A mysterious man in a Guy Fawkes mask who calls himself V is out to destroy this government and is an advocate for bringing about anarchy. 

Storyline: 

The story and concept were very interesting. The fascist government was done well and I liked how it held elements from classic dystopians such as 1984, but yet was scarily close in some respects to history and also to some things going on today. I found this a very prevalent read for what is going on in the US at the moment and with our current president. In the fascist government that is portrayed everyone is under constant surveillance and there are factions of the government called the finger, the eye, the ear, the nose etc. There are concentration camps that gays, jews, any one of color and people with liberal viewpoints get thrown into. Yet, there is the mysterious V who had escaped from one of these concentration camps and he seeks to destroy the way things are as he believes in anarchy. I liked his views on anarchy and that was a cool part of this book. I know Alan Moore believes in anarchy and I like how he brings that concept into his books. However as with Watchmen there is a bit of moral ambiguity. V says that they need to stop destroying, yet he is setting out to destroy the government so that anarchy can be the new way of life. Also, similar to in Watchmen, it raises the question about who has the right to decide these things? There was a lot about freedom though and deciding to be free and that you keep yourself in the prison of the system. 

Setting: 

The fascist government was done quite well and I liked how the art had bleak tones to it. V’s abode was pretty cool as it was filled with music, literature and art that no longer existed in the fascist government that had done away with culture. 

Characters:

V was a very interesting character. I wish I could have found out a bit more of his background. His views were interesting, but could be too harsh sometimes. He’s a hero you could say, but also sometimes a bit villainous. Perhaps that makes sense because he does say at one point that “Everybody is special. Everybody. Everybody is a hero, a lover, a fool, a villain. Everybody.” A very enigmatic character and one that will stick in my head for a long time to come. Evey was the other main character. She’s a 16 year old girl that V saves one night from the police. I liked her and the arc her story took at the end. Her relationship with V is a weird one though. She seems to have an affection for him and she starts to see his point of view, but there is something harsh that V puts her through. It gets across a point of his about freedom, but it was kind of crazy and messed up at the same time. All of the characters that worked for the government that were explored were hard to tell apart and weren’t memorable. I’ve heard complaints about that from others, but then it clicked that maybe they were supposed to come across that way. Especially since they were involved in a very uniform fascist government. 

Did I like It?:

Yes I did! A very interesting graphic novel and I did love the radicalism of the politics. A lot of viewpoints that I am on board with. This is the second graphic novel that I have read by Alan Moore, the first being Watchmen. Watchmen is still my favorite of the two, but this was great as well. I’m grateful to my love for introducing me to Alan Moore. These aren’t books I really would have picked up on my own, but yet I’ve really liked both of them, so I’m glad he’s leant them to me. 

Do I Recommend It?:

Yes! If you like dystopia and radical politics then you might find something of interest in this graphic novel. 

~Katie