#hopefully the book is better

[saltedbirdcat]

Screaming the tulip field is literally the lesbian flag Gaylinda we know what you are

[egophiliac]

You think this will be THE last update for book 7.. or will there be more chapters q-q. (I'm totally not desperate for book 8 HAHHA)

I think we're gonna get at least one more chapter where we wrap back around to the Diasomnia boys (I have THEORIES!!!!), but I think 13 will probably be the last one! maybe also 14 as a short epilogue/setup for episode 8, depending on where they cut after we deal with Malleus. we are definitely approaching the endgame though! ᕙ( •̀ ᗜ •́ )ᕗ the party is almost assembled...the light is at the end of the tunnel...it is almost time to go throw pies into Tsunotarou's silly face until he comes to his senses...

(disclaimer since I don't think they've actually officially confirmed that there's going to be an episode 8, that this is of course just me assuming that Grim's arc/whatever's going on with Crowley probably/various other wrapups are going to be a separate episode, and aren't gonna be folded into the absolute beast that has been episode 7. BUT it does make for a nice break point and makes sense thematically with Ramshackle being, like, the semi-official 8th dorm and all, so I think it's a pretty safe bet at this point!)

[lotus-pear]

i think you guys are onto smth..

i unironically got invested in this HELP

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park PART THREE | Love in the Big City

[camelspit]

wylie is so funny.. imagine your life kind of sucks (dead mom, exiled dad, kidnapped, etc.) and then the government forces you to be coworkers with a bunch of teenagers and led by the one that your dad went to mega jail for. i think that would be my last straw.

[stopper-my-heart]

Nothing like Heartstopper S2E8 removing some of Taylor Swift's "seven" lyrics just so that the singing can specifically come back in at "Or hide in the closet" while Isaac is processing difficult emotions related to the book he's reading (i.e., Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen).

Did I mention "Or hide in the closet" hits just as the camera focus finishes shifting away from Isaac?

This is fine

[kulliare]

tagged by @shrips for 9 books you'd like to read in the new year! ty for the tag-- i tag @halfagod @albatrossisland @eponine119 @tru-lyly

[kazoosandfannypacks]

IT'S HERE!

Hopefully this will encourage me to finish the book I started already this year, because as soon as I finish Tower of Nero I am going to devour this.

[lazywillowz]

I'm manifesting a Gem win this season, I can FEEL it :D

[qiu-yan]

in MDZS the novel, the innkeeper in Yunping mentions that people are too scared to go petition Yunmeng Jiang for help because someone once walked in on Sect Leader Jiang whipping a guy in the main hall, supposedly because the guy was a demonic cultivator.

[nooskadraws]

the non-fiction books i read in 2023

[samantha-and-nellie]

What’s so insane about Gard’s characterization?

honestly, not sure i’m going to do the best at describing it, but i’ll give it a shot. i think he mostly suffers from the amount of page time he gets, and from the books being from sam’s pov. so like 90% of the time he’s just “lalalaaa silly goofy uncle”… and then there’s these glimpses of both how grief-stricken he is, and honestly how smart he is. like this guy is a lawyer, but i’m pretty sure most of the fandom forgets this because sam’s perception of him is as her zany and cool uncle. basically, he clearly uses humor as a coping mechanism, but i’m not sure how much the authors of sam’s books actually wanted the reader to see that

[wutheringmights]

2024 Reading Wrap

Another year, another reading wrap-up. This was not a great year for me. I read way less than I wanted. While I managed to hit 21 books overall, they were shorter and easier reads by large. 

They also weren’t that good. Almost half of the books I read this year were either disappointing or outright bad. Granted, the worst books I read were on purpose. But many of the books I wanted to be good just weren’t. I soured on a lot of books the further I got from completing them, while there are a select few that have gotten better with time. Nonetheless, I am leaving 2024 with a general feeling of meh. 

I really want 2025 to be a good reading year. My goal is to read about 10 classic novels (though I’m going to be a little flexible about what I’m going to classify as a “classic”). I’m also in a book club now, so hopefully that will help filter out the slop. However, I won’t be entirely slop-free. I have another Fourth Wing sequel to read in a few weeks, plus three new Alex Aster productions to look forward to. As long as the things I read outside of those are good, I should be okay.

Anyway, onto the ranking!

Like last year, I’m going to group completed series together. If I didn’t read all of the books in a series, they’ll have their own spot on the list. Why? My brain just works that way. Deal with it. 

18. Heirs of the Founders: Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants by H.W. Brands

It’s genuinely shocking how blatantly biased this book is-- and not even to any of the men in the title! Brands has such an unflinching adoration for Andrew Jackson that I am skeptical of any of the other more “objective” narratives this book tries to push. Genuinely, the worst book I read this year, and that’s saying something.  

17. Nightbane (Lighlark Saga #2) by Alex Aster

Is this the worst Lightlark book? No, but it's also the most boring. A prime example of the sophomore slump, if the freshman year was also allowed to stink. Apparently, if it comes down to it, I will favor bad books that are at least entertaining in its badness over one that is more plainly trying. Aster really didn’t have to drag Cato, A Tragedy into this, though. 

16. Iron Flame (The Empyrean Series #2) by Rebecca Yarros

Another victim of the sophomore slump. I almost dislike this more than Nightbane because it doesn’t even try to hide how meandering it is. This book was so boring, my rental from the library ran out before I could finish it, and I had to check it out a second time. But it is an overall more competent product. I just need this narrative to stop painting Dain, a perfectly reasonable person, out to be the Worst Guy Ever. 

15. Skyshade (Lightlark Saga #3) by Alex Aster

In pottery, there’s this wedge tool you use on the wheel to smooth out the walls of your piece. One hand holds the wedge up to the clay while the other goes inside your piece and presses the wall into it. You use it to straighten lines to give a more professional finish. You might have seen it in a TikTok or something. 

Anyway, that’s what this book did to my brain. It was funny as fuck though, so props! 

14. Fourth Wing (The Empyrean Series #1) by Rebecca Yarros

Say what you want, but it is far more competent than the rest of the slop parade we’ve had so far. Did I like this? No. But that moment when I was on a plane and realizing that this entire book was just a reflection of American military intervention overseas? Transcendent. I felt like I was high. I could have killed god.

13. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

The more time passes, the more I realize that I do not really like this book. I called it a Neil Gaiman derivative when I first read it, and I still think that holds true now: the plot summary executes more of the premise of the plot more than the actual plot itself. For a “weird” book, it was pretty mid. 

12. Captive Prince (Captive Prince Series #1) by C.S. Pacat

The more time passes, the more I sweeten on this one. My unironic, favorite reading moment of the year was reaching that one line in the novel that perfectly explained why Laurent was the way he was-- the perfect set-up and execution, subtly and perfectly executed. A masterclass of restraint. Unfortunately, Pacat shot herself in the foot with nearly every other decision the book required. I would give this series another chance if my library had the next two books available. 

11. Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #1) by Tamsyn Muir 

This was the most disappointing read of the year for me. It really stung. For a book that I love the ideas behind, none of the execution worked for me. The humor, the pacing, the plot: they all came together to form a story that just felt at odds with itself. Sadly, it just paled in the shadow of years-long hype. 

10. Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

I still think three-quarters of this book was poorly paced and a slog to get through. But the last fourth where all the pieces came together were a wonderful exploration of monstrosity and trauma. Ultimately, I think Reid should have written a short story. 

9. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner 

Zauner’s ideal audience is someone who has never experienced the specific grief of losing a your mom, who you had a rough-ish relationship with, very suddenly and brutally to cancer while you are still an impressionable young adult with no direction in life. Unfortunately, I am not that ideal audience. 

8. The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce

I reread this series because I needed it to fix me. And you know what? It did. It fixed me. 

Also-- George Cooper if you are real, I am free Thursday night. 

7. The Epic of Gilgamesh  by Anonymous (Translated by Benjamin R. Foster)

I know a lot of people live and die by the tragedy of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Unfortunately, I just found the whole thing funny. Every now and then, I remember that time Gilgamesh played stick and ball while riding on the back of fatherless men and ended up having to venture into hell because they tossed the ball there by accident, and I lose it all over again. Foster’s footnotes and curated study guides were very helpful, though!

6. Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

Some chapters were more effective than others, and your mileage with Klein’s framing devices may vary. If you are already adequately well-informed and generally agree with Klein’s politics, you won’t get much out of this one. However, I think everyone should read her chapters on the convergence of the far right and wellness culture. 

5. Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse by Anne Carson

Almost a full year later, and I still don’t think I have a good grasp on what Carson is doing here. But the parts I did understand were incredible, and I have really enjoyed mulling over Caron’s prose. If I could, I would take a class on this novel. 

4. Normal People by Sally Rooney 

It got the job done 👍

3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 

I just recently watched the 1939 adaptation with Laurence Olivier, and it imbued me with a newfound appreciation for the way Bronte portrays Cathy and Heathcliff-- their love for each other and their unpleasant personalities. I also appreciate the biting social commentary that featured heavily in the second part. But as much as I love so many of the little moments in this book (the famous “whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same” barely scratches the surface of the novel’s iconic lines), I can’t decide if I like this book more than I respect it (or any classic, really). 

2. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Shortly after finishing this book, I got it into my head that it may be towards the middle of my end of the year list-- it’s the best installment of The Hunger Games universe, but it’s not perfect. But this was not a good reading year, and this book turned into a bastion of quality writing in my mind. I love the main character and his perspective, and as the year went on, I kept going back to think longer on what Collins had to say about power and privilege. 

1. The Iliad by Homer (Translated by Emily Wilson)

All year, I really wanted to read something that made me feel the same level of satisfaction that Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo gave me last year. This came the closest. Wilson’s translation is as impeccable as ever, and her introduction is still brimming with fascinating historical and cultural details. By the time Hector dueled Achilles, I was on the edge of my seat. It’s a fantastic read, and one I will surely return to again someday. 

[chatxkilluaxnoir]

I have Gravity Falls and Etc. fic(s) idea(s)

Which, I am going to write now while I am having this fic idea (probably going to be a short one, but in the future I might make a revised expanded version or something. Who knows).

I actually have multiple Gravity Falls and GF TAU and Reverse Falls and etc. stuff that stems from this specific The Book of Bill thing.

Specifically stuff exploring Dipper's nightmares.

(I have some other ideas for the other dreams and/or nightmares too. Sometimes even in relation to Dipper's in some way).

I love my boy, and his nightmares hurt my heart.

But also because I love him, I want to explore even more of issues/trauma/suffering and/or to do Dipper angst. And etc.

Because I want both happiness and/or suffering for my faves/the characters I love very much.

Like Dipper.

So he is going to be getting even more of that from me, probably.

Because he is great and I love him.

[freaky-flawless]

Ah ok, the Ghoulfirends books have aged just as poorly as the Lisi Harrison novels.

[dragons-in-spaceee]

sometimes I worry that im too excited about the phm film and the reality will disappoint, but then I remember how spectacular the martian film is (even though they cut some stuff!) and I breathe a sigh of relief