#i just wish for more tana french books

[hallohartje]

it took me nearly 2 months to finish reading my sargent biography but after finishing it last week i went ahead and read butter by asako yazuki this afternoon in one sitting like, i feel inordinately powerful lmao i can actually focus and read!!

the next book i'll be reading is some old school scifi and then i'll figure out what's next (probably consistent dutch lessons for the rest of the year)

[incognitajones]

Reading meme 📚

What’s up readers?! How about a little show and tell? Answer these 13 questions, tag 13 lucky readers and if you’re feeling extra bookish add a shelfie! Let’s Go!

Thanks for the tag, @lucymonster, this was a lot of fun!

1) The Last book I read: The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr, finally, which has been on my radar since I saw her speak in 2022. /o\ I loved the narrator's voice & it lived up to the hype, though I might have some nitpicks about the ending.

2) A book I recommend: Like lucymonster, I have to ask "For who?" and "What are they looking for?" You can't make me suggest something completely at random!

That said, when this was my job, my go-to rec for anyone who enjoyed mysteries and/or thrillers was Tana French; for science fiction/action readers, Martha Wells' Murderbot series; and Kelly Link or Mariana Enríquez for litfic & fantasy folks. 

3) A book that I couldn’t put down: Hild (and its sequel Menewood)

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more): The last thing I re-read was The Worm Ouroboros. It's a strange book and almost indescribable; very much of its time but also written in deliberately, completely antique prose, sort of as if Tolkien had been inspired by Orlando Furioso.

5) A book on my TBR: SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

6) A book I’ve put down: These days I put down more fantasy novels and contemporary romances than I finish; I'm picky about prose and characterization and a lot of them are too bland.

7) A book on my wish list: The Mask of Fear. I'm not a fan of most SW tie-in novels, but Alexander Freed is one of my exceptions, plus I always want more Saw Gerrera and Mon Mothma!

8) A favorite book from childhood: Continuing on the theme of pony books from lucy - I read hundreds of them, but my all-time favourite was Fly-by-Night.

9) A book you would give to a friend: The last book I gave as a gift (to someone who's a massive local politics/municipal government wonk) was How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World.

10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own: Sadly, I don't actually own it anymore as over the past few years, I've drastically downsized my physical library. But before that, I held on to this edition of Akhmatova's selected poems in translation for decades. 

11) A nonfiction book you own: One book that made the downsizing cut and stayed on my shelf is LeGuin's The Wave in the Mind. Her essays were just as foundational for me as her fiction.  

12) What are you currently reading: Just started The Blighted Stars - Megan O'Keefe is one of the few romance writers whose work I consistently enjoy so I have high hopes for her SF.

13) What are you planning on reading next? One of two books that I have to read soon or return to the library: either the light contemporary romcom (Under Your Spell) or the thick history book (Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century) depending on my mood this weekend.

Tagging my reading peeps @englishable @mosylu @glorious-spoon @anghraine @rain-sleet-snow @intellectualcarrot plus anyone who wants to!

[adventures-in-asexuality]

End-of-year ramblings

Video games

Yeah, okay, let's start here. Obviously I played a truly inexplicable very explicable amount of FFXIV this year, and will continue to do so (can't believe Dawntrail will be dropping next year; we've stuck at it through all the waits between patches).

Baldur's Gate 3 was fun; I didn't expect to play it, but so many people I know loved it that I had to try, and I'm glad I did.

The same really goes for Cyberpunk 2077; honestly most of what I like about the game is the experience of it, rather than the stories. Whoosh! Zoom! Neon and doublejumping!

The other major new game this year for me was Mask of the Rose; I really loved it! I think the post-release patches helped it a lot as a game, but honestly I was hooked right from the beginning. (This was probably the start of the series of events that got a friend playing Sunless Skies/me replaying Sunless Skies/me returning to Fallen London and accidentally convincing some friends to also do so. No regrets.)

Music

Big album this year has to be Bury the Lede by Dessa. I was going to listen and enjoy it no matter what, but I really do like the way a lot of the songs resonate with growing older, still having all the same big feelings, but being way too tired to deal with them in any kind of high-octane way. What if I'm Not Ready in particular really tugs at something in me.

I'm not sure I have more new music this year; I've been a bit disconnected from everything, mostly listening to music when someone hurls links my way. Maybe next year!

Books

I read a lot of books this year, as ever, but the vast majority have been rereads; I've been quite low on book recs again. Here's a few of the new ones - I won't cover all of them because I don't have that kind of patience. (Counted - 33 new ones - which, compared to the sheer number of rereads, is low.)

She Who Became the Sun/He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan were a fun pair of books, about a girl who steals her brother's name and destiny when he dies so that she can shape the world/become the emperor. I liked some of the gender vibes you get in this - Zhu Yuanzheng's gender is never really defined, but also never at all fits in a binary mould. A lot of the second book, however, felt a bit extraneous and a bit gratuitous in various directions. Overall, I think this is a rec for reading the first one and skipping the second.

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle - everyone reading this probably already knows, but yeah, this is good. There's always something special to me about stories about queer kids in fundamentalist Christian churches - sure, it's usually American churches, but it's still a commonality that resonates powerfully with me. Read it.

Somewhere in summer I read all of Tana French's murder mysteries. I quite liked the Dublin Murder Squad books - nothing special but fun - but I honestly really disliked her two later standalones. The politics in them just set my teeth on edge a bit - The Wych Elm's protagonist is so dismissive about disability that, while I know it's part of his characterisation, it still left a bad taste in my mouth; The Searcher's protagonist has some views on politeness and morality that just make me sigh. (Rec for the murder squad books if you, like me, just really like murder mysteries.)

The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson: every year I'll read one more of her books, I guess. They're always good. They always haunt me.

Translation State by Ann Leckie was good; of course it was. I think it comes with my biggest overall caveat for an Ann Leckie book (I really wish Qven and Reet's subplot had ended differently; I know it was written as a metaphor for something else, but I read and resonated with it as a metaphor for aceness, which the ending doesn't leave space for) but it was still great. And we saw Sphene again!!

TV/film

Not much this year; my brain hasn't been in the right space for it.

Watched the Evangelion rebuild - I still haven't seen the original series so this was an interesting experience. I'm not really sure what my takeaway from it was, or what exactly I watched (apart from giant photorealistic Rei - we watched the fourth film in the cinema, so it was truly giant) but hey, I get more references now.

That same group of miscreants has been watching Lexx - seriously, do not watch this. It's rancid. It's so bad we have lost the ability to evaluate media, because everything else is good compared to it. Awful. Terrible. 15 more hours to go until we're free. I'm not going to describe it because the descriptions sound interesting and it is a terrible show. Never watch it. Strangle anyone who tries to make you.

Almost forgot, but I think this was the year I watched Yellowjackets - phenomenal even when your point of comparison isn't Lexx. I'm waiting for the third season with bated breath. It's so good. It's so awful. It's breaking my heart. Please watch this immediately and then come scream with me.

I'm also making my way through Young Pope, which - I don't know if I'd say that I'm enjoying it, but it is certainly doing things to my brain. It resonates with me in a similar way to Camp Damascus; even though they're on very different areas of the right-wing Christian spectrum, the fundamental beliefs and desires and angers and fears and reactions are the same.

Heaven's Official Blessing Season 2 finally happened!!! I'm still working my way through it - the friend I watch with has had no time this year, so we're using the holidays for it - but, oh, I love this book and these characters so much.

More personal stuff

Work has actually been quite bad this year; I've largely been on a project that's gotten worse and worse as the year goes on, in a way I fundamentally cannot fix but have to try to anyway. I've been circling between 'I hate this, I should job search' and 'I'm so bad at everything, only this job would put up with me' and 'at least wfh doesn't mean I'm in danger of losing it'. By Easter or so, I should be free from it at last, so I'll keep an eye out and hopefully things will even out again.

Home has, however, been a lot better. I moved towns at the end of last year to somewhere that has more friends and a more walkable town centre (and much cheaper rent) and it's been an excellent choice. Only having to walk five minutes or so to get to a shop or see a friend has meant that I've been able to practise walking five minutes or so (whereas in my last place, it was a walk then a twenty-minute bus ride just to the town centre) - and that in turn has meant that I've been able to build that up bit by bit, and occasionally run headlong into my limits in the process.

It's been a bit of a weird holiday season in particular for me this year, laced with grief and memories. Hosting a Christmas dinner and cooking with several other people felt right in a way it's hard to really put words to, and also reminded me very strongly of my grandmother. Her house was always a gathering place for all the family, as well as a refuge; it's eight or nine years since I last set foot inside it and yet I could still tell you the layout of her kitchen, the mnemonic for the bank of eight light switches in the hallway, the warmest place in winter and the coolest place in summer. Nowhere I've lived before has been nice enough for people to visit often, let alone to cook in or to know their way around; cooking and organising with people, seeing them remember locations and extend tables and understand the hob, soothes something it is difficult to explain.

Next year, then:

I hope to have somewhat more brain and less exhaustion (I've been so tired all year, which is tedious as fuck).

I hope for many of my friends to have considerably better years, and that the rest will continue to have good years. (I am threatening the years with a knife until they are kind to all of you.)

I hope to continue to shape this flat into somewhere pleasant to be, and persuade people to be there from time to time.

I hope to get a better idea of my work situation when I'm not on a horrible project.

I hope that the GIC might at least tell me that I'm on a waiting list!

I intend to find a tangible creative hobby one way or the other (taking suggestions as long as you can present a use case for the hobby; Queenie keeps suggesting knitting in the abstract).

And, as always, I hope to love more freely, be kinder and more helpful, and to try to build a future that has space for me.

[thoughtfulfangirling]

October/Autumn Books

Over the years, I've been trying to collect books good for reading around this time of year. I thought I'd make a masterlist of sorts. There will be categories, and books may be in several of them.

Each of these books I feel have something to offer in terms only that they fit what I feel is readings for the season within their vibes. Any YA books will be explicitly marked as such. Additionally, my actual opinion of the books will be marked with 1 through 5 asterisks (stars), and because I hate rating books, I'm going to preface by saying I'm being very loosey goosey with them XD

Autumn Vibes (weather)

Autumn at the Willow River Guesthouse by C.P. Ward**

Feelgood fall read. It makes efforts to evoke autumn, having a bike trip be a part of her work routine sometime between the months of late August to October. I don't know that I personally thought it succeeded, but it tries, and I'll give it that. It also has themes of shedding an old life. In her late 20s, Lily loses in the span of a couple days her job, her apartment, and her fiance. She leaves the city to go back to her country home to figure out what she wants to do with her life. The book has the bones for a good autumn read, but the execution didn't do it for me. Judge for yourself if this sounds interesting. (I probably should just give it one star because it doesn't even MENTION Halloween, but I did like that it spent so more time with Victoria than the love interest XD)

The Coldest Girl in Cold Town by Holly Black *****

YA. Vampires exist, and the world knows about it. The world is dealing with it as best they can. Barriers between overnight workers and the public, habits to close all windows every night, avoid evening events, and the conversion of large towns into prisons for vampires and those who wish to become them. Within this world, Tana is just trying to have a normal teen's life, but that all changes when a drunken night at a friends and a forgotten open window results in her waking up seemingly the only survivor of a vampire attack. That's enough for a teenager to have to deal with, but as it turns out, not all the vampires are gone. (The audiobook for this one is exceptionally creepy and good.)

Doll Bones by Holly Black *****

Contemporary. YA. Kids try to keep the magic of youth alive by going on an adventure (running away) to a doll they want to believe is haunted to her grave site in early-ish autumn.

Cemetary Boys***

YA. Takes place during autumn, and much of the book is set outside, not infrequently in a cemetary no less. Pretty good for autumn vibes. It's been a while since I've read it, so it may be more just the general weather climate that's evoked than falling leaves and such, but still, definitely feels like fall and is a story about ghosts and witches, and blood rituals. How do you go wrong with that?

The Girl in the Green Silk Gown by Seanan McGuire *****

Sometimes, living is the true thing of nightmares. Such is the case for the hitchhiking ghost Rose Marshall. She's hitched the ghost roads for decades longer than she's been alive and content with her undead existence despite being haunted still by the man who killed her, demon-pact and all. When he curses her, she finds that only by living again can she remove the curse. It was only supposed to last one evening, the only evening the dead can return to flesh: Halloween night. (This is a book 2)

In the Woods by Tana French ****

In his childhood, Adam Ryan was out with his friends when those friends went missing. It became a huge story, especially because when they found him, he was so traumatized, he had no memory of what took place. They never solved his mystery, but he became an investigator himself. He thought that was all behind him, except he is put on a case that has a mysterious link to that cold mystery. Ryan shouldn't be working this case, but no one has linked him to it yet, and he can't help but try and see if this new case will reveal anything about his own.

The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo ***

Alex Stern is in the fall Semester at a college that deals in magic. Normally, an outsider like her wouldn't have been recruited to help keep order among the magic houses that operate out of the college, but there's something special about Alex: She can see ghosts, a rare gift. At least that's how she's seen. To Alex, it can be more of a curse. One she will have to use though if she is going to find the mentor who mysteriously disappeared earlier that semester under supernatural circumstances.

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth *****

Half historical, half contemporary. Chunks of the book occur during autumn months and lovely descriptions of the weather and orchards, and a repeating motif of apples.

The November Girl by Lydia Kang ****

YA. Hector is a runaway, and he has planned his time hidden away until his 18th birthday perfectly to escape being in his uncle's custody any longer. On the last day a tourist island on Lake Superior is open, just before the November storms are expected to come and batter the island, he boards the fairy there and remains in secret. The island is expected to be abandoned and dangerous. It does prove to be dangerous, but what it doesn't prove to be, is abandoned. There is a strange girl also still left upon the island, and the creeping cold and raging storms only seem to give her power. She doesn't seem fully human.

Tithe by Holly Black ****

YA. Halloween approaches, and Kaye finds that her world may just be more preternatural than she expected as suddenly she is encountering fairies. Her encounter does more than open her eyes to a new world, it seems to be changing her too, and the stakes will reach a peak Halloween night.

Horror Vibes

Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink *****

When her wife goes missing and doesn't reappear, one woman gives up the life she knows to become a trucker. On the road, she expects to find herself... or her wife. What she finds are mystery and horror instead.

Dracula by Bram Stoker *****

Does anyone actually even need a summary? Look, if you like to read books for Halloween and haven't read this one, just do it. You're on Tumblr; make sure you know what all the Dracula Daily posts are going on about. They're excellent.

The Exorcist by William Blatty ****

What is more horrific than watching a beloved child deteriorate into self harm and bad health and getting no answers, having to trust to faith instead of anything you've trusted before. Or how about a believer faced with evil powers one never expected to truly come face to face with?

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid ***

The witch daughter of a cruel wizard is persuaded by her two elder sisters to sneak out of their carefully controlled home to see a ballet. For her, this is out of character to disobey her father, but she finds the show changes everything. She is enraptured by the performance, and more specifically, the lead, who she chances upon meeting while going out to get some air. For once, she has found something worth coming out of her shell for, but should she have left home when there are dark rumors of a man-eating monster stalking the night and the tentative tranquility of their home, and their voracious father, is as risk? Contains explicit sexual content.

Mexican Gothic****

Noemí leaves her bustling city of Mexico City to go to London to visit her cousin who married into an old family. Her cousin seems sick, having sent for Noemí to rescue her. It is believed her cousin is suffering the effects of a mental illness. Once there, Noemi is struck by how isolated the home is, how run down and mildewy it is. It is not at all what she imagined, nor are the people there, or the family dynamics she could never have guessed at. All she wants to do is get out of there as soon as possible, but first she has to her cousin, and then, she finds she simply cannot leave.

The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo ***

Alex Stern is in the fall Semester at a college that deals in magic. Normally, an outsider like her wouldn't have been recruited to help keep order among the magic houses that operate out of the college, but there's something special about Alex: She can see ghosts, a rare gift. At least that's how she's seen. To Alex, it can be more of a curse. One she will have to use though if she is going to find the mentor who mysteriously disappeared earlier that semester under supernatural circumstances.

The Girl with All the Gifts *****

I was so hooked starting this book with zero information about it other than it was a good spooky read, and since it was such an experience, I simply cannot get myself to say much about this. It follows a special child student, her teacher, and the head of the locked down school's security team as they navigate a dystopian world behind walls, and attempts to reach the outside world have proven unsuccessful so far.

The Lamb will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy****

Danielle is a hitchhiker headed to a socialist commune in Iowa that has largely been abandoned by government interests. The town takes care of itself, and they have a unique way of protecting their own against charismatic leaders who want to make this community their own. Danielle's friend had been living there before he comitted suicide, and so, she needs to know what has happened. A spirit of judgement and execution stalks the daylight hours, killing those with darkness in their hearts. But who doesn't have some amount of darkness inside of them?

The Mall of Cthulhu by Susan Cooper

Danielle "When Ted stumbles onto a gropu of Cthulhu cultists planning to awaken the Old Ones through mystic incantations culled from the fabled Necronomicon, calling forth eldritch horros into an unsuspecting world, eh and Laura must spring into action, traveling from Boston to the seemingly-peaceful suburbs of Providence and beyond, all the way to the sanity-shattering non-Euclidian alleyways and towers of dread R'lyeh itself, in order to prevent an innocent shopping center from turning into... The Mall of Cthulhu

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones ****

Most people experience the past coming back to haunt them in some way, shape, or form. But three men who grew up on a reservation feel like they are being haunted by more than the memories of the past. They don't talk about the incident much, not since they were banned from that part of the reservation, but they feel like perhaps they should as they find themselves fighting for their lives against the ramifications of that day.

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth *****

Half historical, half contemporary. A haunted swath of land, or a curse? The deaths may seem natural, but are they? And why do all these wasps keep showing up every which way?

Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims ***

The apartment complex must be haunted. What else explains the series of horror visitations that happen upon 13 different residents who live in the building? Each storey is unlike the other. Almost a series of short stories, except... they do seem to be connected. Everything seems to point in the direction of the apartment's landowner as each resident receives an unexpected inviation to a dinner at his top floor penthouse in too timely a manner with the unexpected.

Under the Pendulum Sun *

Gothic Horror. What happens if the fairy are real and known of during the Victorian era? Well, we must preach to them of course! But it may just be that within the strange land of fairy a brother and sister find themselves in for their purpose of the gospel, the lords and ladies of fairy are more interested in the sins at the heart of the people than their hope for their souls. Very Victorian Gothic. The prose was gorgeous, and an atmosphere of eerie unease was well painted; however, beyond the stunning prose, I did not find the stories or the characters' choices all that compelling. The plot/character work wasn't for me, but if one is in the mood for eerie, haunting prose, then this would be the perfect read.

A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons ****

Separated from his wife and broken up with by his lover, a professor returns to his home town in the Midwest in late November where the snow has already accumulated. He finds himself lingering over the death of a childhood friend and haunted by his past. Isolated in a small town with wanna be skinheads probably isn't the best time to suddenly feel like shadows are moving in, and he feels like the target.

Eerie Vibes (Horror Light)

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu *****

Only a novella in length, Carmilla is a fascinating read. Follow a lonely girl outside of her country of origin come to have a visitor, Carmilla, stay at her estate under mysterious circumstances. She quickly finds herself enamored with Carmilla and quickly grows ill with her worry over unhappy events which seem to plague Carmilla overnight. Despite them however, Carmilla seems just as robust as ever despite her habit to sleep away the mornings. This book predates Dracula, and it strikes me that it lent much of its lore to Stoker's later novel.

Cemetary Boys****

YA "In an attempt to prove himself a true brujo and gain his family’s acceptance, Yadriel decides to summon his cousin’s ghost and help him cross to the afterlife. But things get complicated when he accidentally summons the ghost of his high school’s resident bad boy, Julian Diaz – and Julian won't go into death quietly. The two boys must work together if Yadriel is to move forward with his plan. But the more time Yadriel and Julian spend together, the harder it is to let each other go."

The Coldest Girl in Cold Town by Holly Black *****

YA. Vampires exist, and the world knows about it. The world is dealing with it as best they can. Barriers between overnight workers and the public, habits to close all windows every night, avoid evening events, and the conversion of large towns into prisons for vampires and those who wish to become them. Within this world, Tana is just trying to have a normal teen's life, but that all changes when a drunken night at a friends and a forgotten open window results in her waking up seemingly the only survivor of a vampire attack. That's enough for a teenager to have to deal with, but as it turns out, not all the vampires are gone. (The audiobook for this one is exceptionally creepy and good.)

Doll Bones by Holly Black *****

Contemporary. YA. A child's parent keeps an eerie doll locked up in a cabinet, and the children's playtime has turned her into a queen of sorts. Then suddenly one of the children has a dream; a girl was murdered and her ashes placed in the doll. Her soul is restless and wants to be laid to rest in her grave, and the kids — her subjects — must find it and take her to it.

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould ****

YA. Why is it that the worst of humankind can flourish so proliferous in the most beautiful of places? The small town of Snake Bite is littered with shadows and mystery, and it seems to be targeting the town's teens. First, Ashley's long time boyfriend goes missing, and then newcomer and outcast Logan's new friendly acquaintance is found dead. The town might hate Logan, and Ashley might come from the most prominent family in the town, but the two girls can't help but investigate the odd happenings that disappeared Ashley's boyfriend and implicated one of Logan's dads in that disappearance. The town believes he killed him, Logan is determined to prove him innocent, and Ashley still believes he's alive. She can feel his presence still all around.

The Best of Edgar Allan Poe

I have never read an author that, in so little time of story, manages to dredge up so much feeling of dread. If you want to set a dark and dreary mood, Poe's your man. In today's age, I don't know that his stories come off nearly as spooky as they once did, but they certainly evoke a sort of low mood spooky stories often aim for. It's like the counter of a thriller which often evokes high, frantic energy instead of the low, desolate mood of Poe's work.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley ****

For current readers, I don't know if this quite works as horror, but there is definitely something to the carelessness of men who create without considering their creations.

The Girl in the Green Silk Gown by Seanan McGuire *****

Sometimes, living is the true thing of nightmares. Such is the case for the hitchhiking ghost Rose Marshall. She's hitched the ghost roads for decades longer than she's been alive and content with her undead existence despite being haunted still by the man who killed her, demon-pact and all. When he curses her, she finds that only by living again can she remove the curse. It was only supposed to last one evening, the only evening the dead can return to flesh: Halloween night. (This is a book 2)

The Lamb will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy****

Danielle is a hitchhiker headed to a socialist commune in Iowa that has largely been abandoned by government interests. The town takes care of itself, and they have a unique way of protecting their own against charismatic leaders who want to make this community their own. Danielle's friend had been living there before he comitted suicide, and so, she needs to know what has happened. A spirit of judgement and execution stalks the daylight hours, killing those with darkness in their hearts. But who doesn't have some amount of darkness inside of them?

Mexican Gothic****

Noemí leaves her bustling city of Mexico City to go to London to visit her cousin who married into an old family. Her cousin seems sick, having sent for Noemí to rescue her. It is believed her cousin is suffering the effects of a mental illness. Once there, Noemi is struck by how isolated the home is, how run down and mildewy it is. It is not at all what she imagined, nor are the people there, or the family dynamics she could never have guessed at. All she wants to do is get out of there as soon as possible, but first she has to her cousin, and then, she finds she simply cannot leave

Our Wives Under the Sea****

Miri's wife returns after having been missing on a submarine dive deep into the depths of the ocean, and she must contend with the fact that her home now feels a host to a stranger. She feels lonelier as ever as Leah slowly seems to turn farther away from the woman Miri knew into something completely Other.

Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire *****

Follow a hitchhiking ghost over the breadth of the continental US. She was run off the Sparrow Hill Road in 1952 on her way to prom and never made it there. Instead she haunts the highways of the US, hitchhiking her way from roadside diner to roadside diner. She finds a calling in spending time with someone before their last moments, fated to die on the road. Sometimes though, she gets to alter that fate. But there is one out there who has an unpleasant fate in mind for her, and he haunts the roads in his immortal demon car, determined to get the prey who escaped him in the early 1950s.

Sorrowland by Rivers Soloman****

Vern escapes the cult she was brought into pregnant with twins. Her escape only extends to the forest surrounding the commune though. A single young woman shouldn't be able to survive with two children alone like this, and yet Vern does with ease. Something is different about her. Her body starts to become foreign in parts, to change, and she realizes something was done to her. Something that haunts her and alters her. It helps her protect her children, but can will she survive it?

True Irish Ghost Stories by St. John Seymour & Harry Neligan***

Interested in 'true' ghost stories? Well find here collected stories Seymour and Neligan sought out from real people in Ireland who vouched to the veracity of their accounts. The stories are disjointed and with no real beginning or end, but read much like tales told around the campfire in the dark of night.

The Vampyre; A Tale by John Polidori**

Vern "A short work of prose fiction written in 1819" "often viewed as the progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of fantasy fiction." Our protagonist becomes fascinating by an intriguing gentleman and takes up with him only to begin to suspect a dark explanation of the man's behaviors.

Dark Stories

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson ****

A letter from one vampire to her maker whom she has murdered. The story is their story, the one of living under a man she thought a savior, who turned her into a monster, and showed her an initial love that hid a vindictive, controlling menace amidst the monotonousness of his vampirism. Explicit sexual content.

Fledgling by Octavia Butler****

What if vampires were born and not made? And how fun would it be to have a book that's a thriller, complete with a justice system, but all made up of vampires and their symbiotic humans? If that sounds appealing, it might be for you. Just check the trigger warnings if you are one who benefits from that!

The Girl with All the Gifts *****

I was so hooked starting this book with zero information about it other than it was a good spooky read, and since it was such an experience, I simply cannot get myself to say much about this. It follows a special child student, her teacher, and the head of the locked down school's security team as they navigate a dystopian world behind walls, and attempts to reach the outside world have proven unsuccessful so far.

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid ***

The witch daughter of a cruel wizard is persuaded by her two elder sisters to sneak out of their carefully controlled home to see a ballet. For her, this is out of character to disobey her father, but she finds the show changes everything. She is enraptured by the performance, and more specifically, the lead, who she chances upon meeting while going out to get some air. For once, she has found something worth coming out of her shell for, but should she have left home when there are dark rumors of a man-eating monster stalking the night and the tentative tranquility of their home, and their voracious father, is as risk? Contains explicit sexual content.

King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair **

The princess and heir to a kingdom besieged by a vampire army finds herself preparing for her father's surrender to the Vampire King. An unexpected and unpleasant stipulation of the treaty of surrender is the princess's hand in marriage. For her people, she agrees, but her people expect her to assassinate her new husband despite his immortal durability. Fairytale elements. Intrusive thoughts. Contains smut.

The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo ***

Alex Stern is in the fall Semester at a college that deals in magic. Normally, an outsider like her wouldn't have been recruited to help keep order among the magic houses that operate out of the college, but there's something special about Alex: She can see ghosts, a rare gift. At least that's how she's seen. To Alex, it can be more of a curse. One she will have to use though if she is going to find the mentor who mysteriously disappeared earlier that semester under supernatural circumstances.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones ****

Most people experience the past coming back to haunt them in some way, shape, or form. But three men who grew up on a reservation feel like they are being haunted by more than the memories of the past. They don't talk about the incident much, not since they were banned from that part of the reservation, but they feel like perhaps they should as they find themselves fighting for their lives against the ramifications of that day.

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin***

Talk about a book that feels like horror for me in particular! You can tell that this is an older book, but for those who knew what it was like for a married woman then, that adds all the more to the horror. This is a slow and quiet horror for the most part but very poignant. I anticipated that after all the buildup, the ending wouldn't be able to live up, but I actually quite liked it. Though don't let that allow you to suspect a peachy resolution XD

Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims ***

The apartment complex must be haunted. What else explains the series of horror visitations that happen upon 13 different residents who live in the building? Each storey is unlike the other. Almost a series of short stories, except... they do seem to be connected. Everything seems to point in the direction of the apartment's landowner as each resident receives an unexpected inviation to a dinner at his top floor penthouse in too timely a manner with the unexpected.

Mystery

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould ****

YA. Why is it that the worst of humankind can flourish so proliferous in the most beautiful of places? The small town of Snake Bite is littered with shadows and mystery, and it seems to be targeting the town's teens. First, Ashley's long time boyfriend goes missing, and then newcomer and outcast Logan's new friendly acquaintance is found dead. The town might hate Logan, and Ashley might come from the most prominent family in the town, but the two girls can't help but investigate the odd happenings that disappeared Ashley's boyfriend and implicated one of Logan's dads in that disappearance. The town believes he killed him, Logan is determined to prove him innocent, and Ashley still believes he's alive. She can feel his presence still all around.

Fledgling by Octavia Butler****

What if vampires were born and not made? And how fun would it be to have a book that's a thriller, complete with a justice system, but all made up of vampires and their symbiotic humans? If that sounds appealing, it might be for you. Just check the trigger warnings if you are one who benefits from that!

In the Woods by Tana French ****

In his childhood, Adam Ryan was out with his friends when those friends went missing. It became a huge story, especially because when they found him, he was so traumatized, he had no memory of what took place. They never solved his mystery, but he became an investigator himself. He thought that was all behind him, except he is put on a case that has a mysterious link to that cold mystery. Ryan shouldn't be working this case, but no one has linked him to it yet, and he can't help but try and see if this new case will reveal anything about his own.

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin ****

Under the rule of King Henry II, within Cambridge, there is amongst the people a deranged serial killer targeting children. The people point the blame at the local Jewish population, but after a raid sequesters them within the castle walls and the killings don't stop, a woman of the station of what we might call today coroner is summoned from out of the country to learn from the dead children what she may to uncover the identity of a serial killer eager to target those who would try to track them down. Historical fiction. Some explicit sexual content.

The Witch Elm*****

Toby experiences a series of devastating events, the first of which is a break in and assault that leaves him with literal brain trauma, hazy memories, and a sense that he is no longer himself and will never be so again. So when a corpse shows up in the old summer home he and his cousins stayed at and it turns out to be an old pal from school, he is left absolutely untethered from all he understands in his world, and every attempt to make it makes sense seems to send him down the wrong path. The later part of the book does take place in the autumn months, but I didn't really get the sense that this took up a whole lot of the story

Classic Halloween Elements

The Coldest Girl in Cold Town by Holly Black *****

YA. Vampires exist, and the world knows about it. The world is dealing with it as best they can. Barriers between overnight workers and the public, habits to close all windows every night, avoid evening events, and the conversion of large towns into prisons for vampires and those who wish to become them. Within this world, Tana is just trying to have a normal teen's life, but that all changes when a drunken night at a friends and a forgotten open window results in her waking up seemingly the only survivor of a vampire attack. That's enough for a teenager to have to deal with, but as it turns out, not all the vampires are gone. (The audiobook for this one is exceptionally creepy and good.)

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu *****

Only a novella in length, Carmilla is a fascinating read. Follow a lonely girl outside of her country of origin come to have a visitor, Carmilla, stay at her estate under mysterious circumstances. She quickly finds herself enamored with Carmilla and quickly grows ill with her worry over unhappy events which seem to plague Carmilla overnight. Despite them however, Carmilla seems just as robust as ever despite her habit to sleep away the mornings. This book predates Dracula, and it strikes me that it lent much of its lore to Stoker's later novel.

Cemetary Boys****

YA, Featuring ghosts and witches and blood rituals. What is more Halloweeny? "In an attempt to prove himself a true brujo and gain his family’s acceptance, Yadriel decides to summon his cousin’s ghost and help him cross to the afterlife. But things get complicated when he accidentally summons the ghost of his high school’s resident bad boy, Julian Diaz – and Julian won't go into death quietly. The two boys must work together if Yadriel is to move forward with his plan. But the more time Yadriel and Julian spend together, the harder it is to let each other go."

Dracula by Bram Stoker *****

Does anyone actually even need a summary? Look, if you like to read books for Halloween and haven't read this one, just do it. You're on Tumblr; make sure you know what all the Dracula Daily posts are going on about. They're excelle

The Best of Edgar Allan Poe

I have never read an author that, in so little time of story, manages to dredge up so much feeling of dread. If you want to set a dark and dreary mood, Poe's your man. In today's age, I don't know that his stories come off nearly as spooky as they once did, but they certainly evoke a sort of low mood spooky stories often aim for. It's like the counter of a thriller which often evokes high, frantic energy instead of the low, desolate mood of Poe's work.

The Exorcist by William Blatty ****

What is more horrific than watching a beloved child deteriorate into self harm and bad health and getting no answers, having to trust to faith instead of anything you've trusted before. Or how about a believer faced with evil powers one never expected to truly come face to face with?

Fledgling by Octavia Butler****

What if vampires were born and not made? And how fun would it be to have a book that's a thriller, complete with a justice system, but all made up of vampires and their symbiotic humans? If that sounds appealing, it might be for you. Just check the trigger warnings if you are one who benefits from that!!

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley ****

What can have more than classic Halloween elements than a classic horror tale??

The Gilda Stories***

Vampires always fit this season. Follow a girl willing to kill to obtain freedom as she merges into life as a vampire and seeks out her people and a place to call home. 200 years of finding places for herself allow for a nice exploration of what it means for a vampire to live for a very, very long time.

The Girl in the Green Silk Gown by Seanan McGuire *****

Sometimes, living is the true thing of nightmares. Such is the case for the hitchhiking ghost Rose Marshall. She's hitched the ghost roads for decades longer than she's been alive and content with her undead existence despite being haunted still by the man who killed her, demon-pact and all. When he curses her, she finds that only by living again can she remove the curse. It was only supposed to last one evening, the only evening the dead can return to flesh: Halloween night. (This is a book 2)

The Girl with All the Gifts *****

I was so hooked starting this book with zero information about it other than it was a good spooky read, and since it was such an experience, I simply cannot get myself to say much about this. It follows a special child student, her teacher, and the head of the locked down school's security team as they navigate a dystopian world behind walls, and attempts to reach the outside world have proven unsuccessful so far.

The Mall of Cthulhu by Susan Cooper

Danielle "When Ted stumbles onto a gropu of Cthulhu cultists planning to awaken the Old Ones through mystic incantations culled from the fabled Necronomicon, calling forth eldritch horros into an unsuspecting world, eh and Laura must spring into action, traveling from Boston to the seemingly-peaceful suburbs of Providence and beyond, all the way to the sanity-shattering non-Euclidian alleyways and towers of dread R'lyeh itself, in order to prevent an innocent shopping center from turning into... The Mall of Cth

Mexican Gothic****

Noemí leaves her bustling city of Mexico City to go to London to visit her cousin who married into an old family. Her cousin seems sick, having sent for Noemí to rescue her. It is believed her cousin is suffering the effects of a mental illness. Once there, Noemi is struck by how isolated the home is, how run down and mildewy it is. It is not at all what she imagined, nor are the people there, or the family dynamics she could never have guessed at. All she wants to do is get out of there as soon as possible, but first she has to her cousin, and then, she finds she simply cannot lea

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin***

Talk about a book that feels like horror for me in particular! And though a lot of the book has a veneer of the mundane, don't be deceived. There are witches and blood rituals and demonic entities tipping the scales. Perfect for those who love the spooky elements of Halloween! Also, I anticipated that after all the buildup, the ending wouldn't be able to live up, but I actually quite liked it. Though don't let that allow you to suspect a peachy resolution XD

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

One of the classic horror books has to go among classic Halloween! You think you know this story, but if you haven't read it, you likely know less than you think! This is the perfect time of year to check out the original.

Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire *****

Follow a hitchhiking ghost over the breadth of the continental US. She was run off the Sparrow Hill Road in 1952 on her way to prom and never made it there. Instead she haunts the highways of the US, hitchhiking her way from roadside diner to roadside diner. She finds a calling in spending time with someone before their last moments, fated to die on the road. Sometimes though, she gets to alter that fate. But there is one out there who has an unpleasant fate in mind for her, and he haunts the roads in his immortal demon car, determined to get the prey who escaped him in the early 1950s.

Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims ***

The apartment complex must be haunted. What else explains the series of horror visitations that happen upon 13 different residents who live in the building? Each storey is unlike the other. Almost a series of short stories, except... they do seem to be connected. Everything seems to point in the direction of the apartment's landowner as each resident receives an unexpected inviation to a dinner at his top floor penthouse in too timely a manner with the unexpected.

True Irish Ghost Stories by St. John Seymour & Harry Neligan***

Interested in 'true' ghost stories? Well find here collected stories Seymour and Neligan sought out from real people in Ireland who vouched to the veracity of their accounts. The stories are disjointed and with no real beginning or end, but read much like tales told around the campfire in the dark of night. I mean what is more classic than ghosts, poltergeists, banshees, and the like?

The Vampyre; A Tale by John Polidori**

Vern "A short work of prose fiction written in 1819" "often viewed as the progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of fantasy fiction." Our protagonist becomes fascinating by an intriguing gentleman and takes up with him only to begin to suspect a dark explanation of the man's behaviors.

Nonfiction

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty*****

Is the west too disconnected from death thanks to a 20 billion dollar industry that makes loved ones disappear nearly the moment they leave the world of the living and their bodies corpses? What if we returned to a not so distant practice of taking part in death rituals, to have a purpose, be a link, in a loved one's passing from this world and the next? Doughty explores those rituals and more from cultures across the world and asks us to imagine a more fulfilling grieving process that included the body of those who've passed on.

Haunted Wisconsin by Michael Norman, Beth Scott****

Collected from around Wisconsin, this book contains tales of an "assortment of ghosts, apparitions and other supernatural occurrences."

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara***

"A masterful true crime account of the Golden State Killer—the elusive searial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California for over a decade—from Michelle McNamara, the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case."

Penguin Book of Hell by Scott Bruce **

Let's talk about hell. That's what this book is all about, from the ghostly afterlife of the Greeks to the hell we force on others. This follows in a pretty straight line from the Greek/Roman concepts thru the Christian concepts, to attitudes about endless punishment held today.

True Irish Ghost Stories by St. John Seymour & Harry Neligan***

Interested in 'true' ghost stories? Well find here collected stories Seymour and Neligan sought out from real people in Ireland who vouched to the veracity of their accounts. The stories are disjointed and with no real beginning or end, but read much like tales told around the campfire in the dark of night. I mean what is more classic than ghosts, poltergeists, banshees, and the like?

Vampire Forensics: Uncovering the Origins of an Enduring Legend by Mark Collins Jenkins*****

An "engrossing history draws on the latest science, anthropological and archaeological research to explore the origins of vampire stories, providing gripping historic and folkloric context for the concept of immortal beings who defy death by feeding on the lifeblood of others. From the earliest whispers of eternal evil in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, vampire tales flourished through the centuries and around the globe, fueled by superstition, sexual mystery, fear of disease and death, and the nagging anxiety that demons lurk everywhere."

The World of Lore Books by Aaron Mahnke ****

These contain the books Dreadful Places, Wicked Mortals, and Monstrous Creatures. I haven't actually read Wicked Mortals yet, but the other two were perfect for the season and am confident so too Wicked Mortals will be too. Follow Mahnke as he explores the history of these folk tales and spoopy histories! They also work as great audio listens.

It's October, so get ready to see this even more! I still have books I want to add to it that are pending, and more will be added as I read. But I'm always looking for more books to queue up for some spoopy time (and/OR Autumn reading), and when I find there's something I wish there was more of out in the world, I find it helps to put out into it what we'd like to see.

That is to say, please feel free to add to this! I will excitedly look forward to more spoopy recs.

[marnz]

some thoughts about life right now;

i've been on a really intense project since late July and let me tell you, i am tired! i'm one of the few people at my job that specialize in this type of work--we are excited to train more--but for now i am just hanging out here preparing to trade one high pressure project for another for the foreseeable future. which ultimately is fine! even though it can be stressful, I would rather be doing this type of work, which is interesting and super fulfilling and matters a lot to me, than other types of work, which do not feel fulfilling and are actually pretty boring.

it's a little confusing to find myself here because last year i went on medical leave for mental health reasons and prior to that i was doing a very different kind of work, and when i came back in january they started me off with this new kind of work (which i do prefer) with basically no training from my supervisor. which is fine, i am comfortable learning on the fly and/or teaching myself, and i have both a lot of experience doing this and a lot of experience in Complex Projects, albeit in a different practice area. then i moved onto this project in late july. so like again very little training in this specific type of work but i assure you, nothing is as stressful as my last job was. and i do love this project! even though it's stressful! i've since learned that this is just going to be my specialty! which like...i am happy with the outcome but i feel like i sort of tripped and fell into it in the least expected way possible.

while thinking about it, i think i thought i'd only make it to this kind of work, this kind of project, by working hard--and i had a specific idea of what working hard looked like, what striving looked like. but i have been working hard for the last year or so, healing, learning, growing, recovering, all of it. and that is hard work. and by taking time to tend to myself, and grow and change and learn and heal, i became ready for this kind of stressful work. and that's not the narrative we have around this. culturally we have a narrative of self sacrifice and unpaid overtime and being really fucking type A and having unhealthy work/life balance, but as soon as I stepped away and said actually, i've had enough, i will not burn my life out for you, i started down a road that led me to doing the type of work i want to do in a healthier and more prepared way. and that's fucking awesome!

for now i am just trying to make it to the end of this project in mid october. which means coping skills, baby! wish i could write but i don't have capacity for it rn, and that's fine. so my priorities are: maintenance days (cleaning/chores). reading. knitting. baking. yoga. hiking. i want to make life as easy and cozy for myself as possible right now.

i haven't knit for several months and I'm thinking of trying my first sweater--this gorgeous sweater called Mountain Mist. however i've never done colorwork before so the pattern suggests doing the same colorwork in a swatch hat (here) to practice. i am SO HYPE!!! this pattern is also admittedly deeply my aesthetic. i showed it to my partner and he laughed bc it's so typically me lol. i also checked out the first book in Tana French's Dublin Murders series on audiobook to listen too while knitting. spooky season means murder mysteries. 🥰

also my work office is being remodeled so i will be working from home for the next 6ish months, and we're preparing to overhaul my little work corner in our house so it is better/more ergonomic/has more storage/is cuter. also i am going to get a standing desk for my poor knees 😵‍💫 recently worked from 8:30 to 9:30 and my knees hurt sooooo bad 😩

it's nice to know that a year ago i wouldn't have been able to handle this project or really know how to slow down and prioritize self care and after a ton of hard work on my mental health i'm now i'm like, well, it is a bit stressful but we got this. progress 😌💖

[myinky-cloak]

13 Books

What’s up readers?! How about a little show and tell? Answer these 13 questions, tag 13 lucky readers and if you’re feeling extra bookish add a shelfie! Let’s Go!

Not tagged by @softest-punk but I saw it on their page and decided to get involved.

1) The Last book I read:

Just finished Tana French’s “Broken Harbour”. I LOVE Tana French, particularly her Dublin Murder Squad series. I wasn’t very satisfied with the ending. It required too much suspended disbelief for me. Too many characters descending into madness at the same time very conveniently. But it was interesting to consider how many issues we cause for ourselves by attempting to be someone we think we should be.    

2) A book I recommend:

Not to be basic Tumblr bitch but Neil Gaiman’s “The Ocean at The End of The Lane”. The way he can articulate the terrible things that happen in childhood, how we deal with them, how we carry the memories, and the effect they have on us for the rest of our lives left me shaken and breathless. ”You don’t pass or fail at being a person, dear.” I wish I didn’t need this reminder but I do, so thank you, Neil.

Plus, I find it fascinating to see the difference between people who can intimately relate to it and those for whom it is just a story.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

Stephen King “The Waste Lands” The third book of The Dark Tower series. A book series that started out so promising and ended with me throwing the final book against the wall in disgust and cursing Mr. King to high heavens. For all the issues the final books in the series had “The Waste Lands” was an absolute masterpiece. I remember reading it on a train to work and nearly missing my spot because I needed to find out what happens next.   

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

One book?? Right. Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot”. It absolutely terrified me when I read it as a teenager. I loved the feeling of small town America invaded by the supernatural which he writes so well. Plus, vampires!  I have a habit of re-reading it every time I go home, don’t really know why. I probably should get around to reading it in English at some point. 

Sometimes I re-read books by accident. I consume so much crime fiction that occasionally I will pick up a book from the library and happily read it with no recollection of the plot only to be told by GoodReads I’ve read it years ago.

5) A book on my TBR:

I am beginning to think this list was made by someone who isn’t a reader. One book? I guess it has to be R.F.Kuang “Babel”. I really want to read it. It's like The Secret History but in Oxford! I know I will enjoy it but I only have it on Kindle. I prefer reading long books in their physical form but the library copy is in hardback so it’s cumbersome to carry around. Thus it stays on my TBR.

First world problems of a bookworm.

6) A book I’ve put down:

Dan Brown “Angels and Demons”. I knew about his reputation when I picked it up, but I wanted something mindless to read and thought it would be fine. Reader, it wasn’t fine. Terrible, terrible writing. I couldn’t deal. Turns out I do have standards even for my trash reads.

7) A book on my wish list:

Stephanie Foo “What My Bones Know: A memoir of healing from complex trauma” I’ve read so many books on trauma and complex trauma both for my degree and for personal understanding. Surprising no one most of them are written by men. I’m very excited to read female perspective on it, plus she talks about generational trauma which is such an incredibly fascinating topic. 

8) A favorite book from childhood:

Alexander Dumas “The Three Musketeers”. I was obsessed with this book. OBSESSED. I’ve read it so many times I could recite pages of it. It introduced me to my first problematic fictional crush Athos, starting my love affair with all the sad tortured blorbos which going strong till this day. I named my dog Count de la Fere after him. I wanted to be a musketeer so bad. Still kind of do.  

9) A book you would give to a friend:

It does slightly depend on a friend but Amor Towles “A Gentleman in Moscow”. I was so blown away when I read it. I gave copies to my friends. I talked to everyone about it: friends, people on the internet, strangers in bookshops or on public transport (In London! Imagine the horror!) One of my friends refuses to read the last chapter till this day because she does not want the story to end. This is probably my proudest book gifting achievement.  

10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own

The OG problematic bae Lord Byron Selected Works. It’s a second hand school library's copy from 1950’s full of underlinings and scribbled notes. I love seeing evidence of other people engaging with writing and thinking about words. 

Such a problematic person. Such a great poet. 

11) A nonfiction book you own:

Cindy Crab “Things That Help: Healing our lives through Feminism, Anarchism, Punk & Adventure”. I found this book in the feminist bookshop in Brighton when things weren’t going so great for me for the umptheen time and it was like pouring healing salve on my soul. It’s not a book in a traditional sense but a collection of self-published zines collected into a little tome. It destroyed my very conservative idea of what a book is and how “professional” it should look that I did not realise I held until that moment. Most importantly, it reminded me there are other ways of being in the world that a conventional way of living.    

12) What are you currently reading:

Teo van den Broeke “The Closet”. It’s a memoir of a fashion journalist who tells of growing up, coming out and figuring out himself through clothes that were important to him. It’s written in an easy, conversational style. As someone whose wardrobe consists of jeans, leggings and t-shirts I find it so interesting to peek into fashionista’s world.   

13) What are you planning on reading next?

Isabella Hammad “Enter Ghost”. It is a book set in Palestine about staging Hamlet and possibly also a queer love story. What more could you want from a book? Cannot wait to start this one!! 

[chanbig]

2, 4, 22, and 24 for the book asks!

2. Did you reread anything? What? I reread books a lot haha you know this is perfect for me!! This year I reread the LotR trilogy, Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe which is a fun YA mystery I used to read as a teenager, and Sunchaser's Quest by Mary Stanton which is from a children's book series I read when I was little called Unicorns of Balinor. I've been scouring the bookshelves of thrift stores for copies of the books from this series that I dont have yet but its hard when its so old :’( 4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year? I really loved Piranesi by Susanna Clarke and The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho, both of whom I'd like to read more of! 22. What’s the longest book you read? Broken Harbor by Tana French at 450 pages. I think the LotR books might come close (including the appendices) but other than that it's Broken Harbor. Not my favorite Tana French book (The Likeness, The Secret Place, and In The Woods trifecta still cannot be beat) but i enjoyed it 24. Did you DNF anything? Why? LMAO I love to be annoying about this because i used to be ‘i WILL finish  books i start’ and then i became much more ‘if it sucks, hit da bricks!’ regarding reading and this year I did DNF more books than usual... unfortunately there were also some books I finished that I wished I had DNFed but we wont count those RIP

This year the dubious honors go to: When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O'Neill which truly dragged on soooo long. the beginning was such good dark humor but i really struggled after that. the satirical elements of the story began to grate after a while with not enough humor in the writing or depth to the characters which would have made it tolerable.

The Latinist by Mark Prins because even though it was marked as a mystery/thriller I felt like there was absolutely no tension in the story. if you are writing a thriller there should be a creeping sense of dread or things being revealed over the course of the story which begin to build up or something!!! everything the characters did was described in what felt like excruciatingly real time detail and I'm like please WHAT does the detailed description of the professor getting mustard out of the refrigerator to make a ham sandwich have to do with him trying to stalk his student. i have never felt so bored about a man being creepy in my life.

Lastly was Vanessa Yu's Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim. i really wanted to like this but all the characters felt wooden and the dialogue was so stilted in a way that was painful to read. and then there were bizarrely detailed descriptions of food. i am picky about modern romances and this just confirmed it

I did DNF these all within like 1 month, one right after the other... i was really going through it for a while there

end-of-year book ask

[rebeccadumaurier]

ok i guess i'll elaborate and then go to bed. (tagging @liesmyth if you wanted to read my thoughts since we had previously discussed this book! my opinions overall are mostly positive but this is mostly criticism anyway oops.) spoilers for both the likeness and donna tartt's the secret history:

a lot of it was a little predictable to me mostly because i think about the secret history literally every single week and there's a lot of similarities to that book. (daniel is henry, justin is francis, charles is rafe, camilla is abby, and i'd say cassie/lexie is simultaneously richard AND bunny. i called pretty early on that daniel would take the blame and kill himself in one fell swoop, because that is exactly what henry winter did.) thats not a complaint though! just an interesting observation since i like drawing links between books i've read

i was pretty sure most of the book that either (1) the whitethorn gang had murdered lexie and helped each other cover it up, because there was no way they could've done it alone with the others knowing (also again because i was comparing it to the secret history, and also the collaborative nature of the murder in murder on the orient express), or (2) it was someone from one of lexie's past lives. while i would have preferred it to be #2, because i'm a sucker for antiheroines (of a sort) with mysterious dark pasts, it was pretty clear the more i read that wouldn't be the case, because (1) there weren't any leads on her past turning up and (2) as evidenced from in the woods, tana french likes to write red herrings involving characters' pasts that don't lead to anything. HOWEVER ultimately i still do love insane unhinged codependency and i love that she chose that angle <3

elaborating very briefly on #2 of my OP i didn't like how rosalind was written off as "she did bad things because she is a sociopath" in in the woods, and i don't like rafe's little "daniel did this all because he's incapable of making any other friends." he's definitely right that daniel has major control freak codependent issues but it's a very unforgiving take on daniel's character (obviously rafe has ample reason to be biased and he's not entirely wrong, it's just a very "daniel is immutable and also a very broken person" tone the narrative has overall). the same goes for lexie, actually—i think the narrative has a lot more empathy for her multifacetedness and complexity than ITW did for any of its characters, but i wish it'd dug a little deeper into how she'd ended up with her ruthless cruel runaway tendencies, instead of just writing them off as "that's just her nature to hurt people." They're Just Like That is just...not enough for me, i know the protagonist is a cop and this is how cops think and this is part of why i don't like cops and maybe im complaining about something i signed up to read lol, but i dont like the idea people are just like, inherently broken or whatever

anyway. this was a major improvement from ITW imo and i love lexie and cassie and the whole whitethorn gang's messy dysfunctional love for each other. no joke this book was such an immersive experience that at one point i took an afternoon nap and had a dream i WAS cassie at whitethorn house but i only remember a few vague images, so credit to tana french for writing such a deeply absorbing novel. i would legitimately been perfectly happy if she doubled this book in length.

just finished the likeness after an all night reading binge and it was excellent. two thoughts:

daniel march vs. henry winter: fight (my money’s on daniel)

i’m not sure i like tana french’s pattern of writing people who are simply pathologically wrong, so to speak. i don’t believe in such dichotomies and find this binary a very uninteresting way of regarding the world. so i may give this series a rest for a while, but i’ll probably come back to it at some point because goddamn her prose is so fucking good

[sapphoshands]

30, 34, 35, 40. :)

30: Who’s your favourite author?

i... do not have one. i know, a cop-out, but i just can't! Tana French, Laurie R. King, Sara Paretsky, Pat Conroy, Nicola Griffith, Louise Penny, Taylor Jenkins-Reid, Madeline Miller, Val McDermid... so many more... D:

34: List five OTPs

ughhh this is surprisingly challenging? i don't HAVE that many book-based OTPs!

Julie Beaufort-Stuart/Maddie Brodatt, Code Name Verity (!!!!!!!); Shizuka/Shefali, the Ascendant trilogy; i fully broke up with Elizabeth George after what she did to Tommy and Helen Lynley in 2006 and have never looked back; Phèdre/Melisande, the Kushiel's books (shush, i was an impressionable youth); ....i don't have a fifth /o\

35: Name a book you consider to be terribly underrated

following from above, i really wish the Ascendant trilogy had gotten more attention: The Tiger's Daughter, The Phoenix Empress, and The Warrior Moon by K. Arsenault Rivera. they are truly epic sword-and-sorcery lesbian fantasy novels set in fictional china and mongolia and full of betrayal and politics and demons and love and tenderness and war. i hugely recommend them.

40: Name one of your favourite books from your teenage years

The Blue Place, Nicola Griffith. my local library put genre stickers on the spines of all the fiction books, including rainbow stickers for queer books; i used to start at the As and work my way down, borrowing any that were about women, which is how i ran across a number of my long-term favourites. the self-assurance and self-possession of Aud in The Blue Place really stuck with me; she's a terrible role-model in many ways, but i imprinted at a young age!

[docholligay]

The Secret History

Oh my god, am I so glad I didn’t read The Likeness after this, because I would have totally figured out what was going to happen from the word go, and I don’t think I would have enjoyed the Likeness as much. Which isn’t to say the Likeness is a carbon copy of The Secret History, it isn’t at all, but I feel like Tana French read The Secret History, was like, “Oh that gives me a neat idea!” and ran with it. 

I like Donna Tartt’s writing style, I just do, I am more than willing to say at this point. She has a real sort of poetics with words and how she talks about things, and I wish I would remember to bring my books with me when I wrote about them, but I have The Goldfinch at hand here for and example of what I mean: 

“..I’d felt drowned and extinguished by vastness--not just the predictable vastness of time, and space, but the impassable distances between people even when they were within arm’s reach of each other, and with a swell of vertigo I thought of all the places I’d been and all the places I hadn’t , a world lost and vast and unknowable, dingy maze of cities and alleyways, far-drifting ash and hostile immensities, connections missed, things lost and never found....” 

Fuck! My god! It’s exactly my flavor of writing and the next time some dipass tells me they don’t read adult fiction because it’s all about men having affairs I am going to hit them with one of Tartt’s books. I LOVE to read her prose, it’s complex as champagne on the tongue of my mind. 

Anyway the story itself: I did not like this as much as The Goldfinch. That isn’t to say I disliked it, because I love rich kid misery drama bullshit like this, and the old blueblood money shit, and everything going on with Bunny and Henry and their utterly bizarre relationship really interested me. I had an odd affection for poor Francis they I can neither place nor shake, and it was so interesting to me that, I think, within the novel there is no one great conflict. They are all great conflicts, and they are all tiny, small, petty bites out of relationships, things that undermine the group bit by bit and row by row. But the Goldfinch, I thought contained more of the sense of longing to connect and the impossibility of such a think, the way moments make us who we are, that I THINK The Secret History was also trying to do, but didn’t do as effectively. 

But I enjoyed it! I think Tartt will just go on my list of “authors I will pick up no matter what I write” so thank you @verbforverb for the recommendation! 

[reneehearts]

1: Top 3 ice cream flavors - mocha, cookie dough, s’mores

2: Top 3 Disney Movies - the lion king, frozen, 101 Dalmatians

3: Top 3 vacation destinations - key west, San Antonio, Germany

4: Top 3 places to shop - target, Victoria’s Secret, Etsy

5: Top 3 subjects of study/classes to take - English lit, memoirs, child development/social work

6: Top 3 make up products - glitter eye shadow, brown eye liner, mascara

7: Top 3 music artists - pierce the veil, jonas brothers, Taylor swift

8: Top 3 spices/herbs - cinnamon, garlic, salt

9: Top 3 drinks - coffee, iced tea, water

10: Top 3 apps to use - tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat

11: Top 3 months of the year - December, august, November

12: Top 3 clothing items - leggings, sweatshirts, bralette

13: Top 3 binge perfect tv shows - new girl, himym, friends

14: Top 3 romantic dates - intimate dinner/drinks, beach at night, hot tub

15: Top 3 kinds of flower - lilac, sunflower, tulip

16: Top 3 christmas movies - the Santa clause, the grinch, Christmas with the kranks

17: Top 3 OTPs - nick and Jess, Winston and ally, Ted and Tracey

18: Top 3 quotes to describe your life - spread kindness like confetti, and idk

19: Top 3 characteristics you love about yourself - friendly, kind, caring

20: Top 3 kinds of candy - dark chocolate nonpareils, Milky Way, maple cream

21: Top 3 ways to exercise/ be active - abs, dance, walking my dog

22: Top 3 spirit animals - monkeys, bailey, lion

23: Top 3 petnames - babe, boo, my love

24: Top 3 books read outside of school - water for elephants, the likeness, gone girl

25: Top 3 most used websites - gmail, google, target

26: Top 3 people you last texted - Jamal, Christian, chris

27: Top 3 hashtags you use - I really don’t

28: Top 3 instagram accounts you follow - Aussiesdoingthings, xomissdanielle, sophieturner

29: Top 3 guilty pleasures - old school Selena Gomez music, beets, asparagus

30: Top 3 summer activities - walking bailey, driving with the windows down, beach

31: Top 3 things to draw/doodle - hearts, flowers, stars

32: Top 3 aesthetics - pastel, rainbow/bright, princess

33: Top 3 things you'd buy if you gained three million dollars - house, private jet, pay off student debt

34: Top 3 ways to treat yourself - shopping at target, new underwear, Starbucks

35: Top 3 celebrity crushes - chris evans, ryan gosling, Aaron judge

36: Top 3 books from your childhood babysitters club, baby sitters little sister, Disney girls

37: Top 3 accents to hear - British, Australian, italian

38: Top 3 scents - pine trees/Christmas trees, lilacs, apple candle

39: Top 3 "Friends" quotes - PIVOT, they don’t know that we know that they know, soup I mean noodle soup, I mean soup!!!!

40: Top 3 cupcake flavors - yellow, chocolate, funfetti

41: Top 3 fruits - banana, strawberry, raspberry

42: Top 3 places you've had amazing pizza from - little Vincent’s, rosa’s in penn, Timothy’s

43: Top 3 sports teams to watch - Yankees, Yankees, Yankees

44: Top 3 crayola colors - I only really remember one specifically, razzledazzle, the pink one!

45: Top 3 things you hope to accomplish in college

46: Top 3 fanfictions you've read

47: Top 3 people you miss right now - Nick, Tony, Emily

48: Top 3 fears - burning alive, house fire, heights

49: Top 3 favorite literary devices - foreshadowing, symbolism, irony

50: Top 3 pet peeves - ppl who don’t use their blinkers, bad grammar/spelling (two, too, to etc.) ppl being late

51: Top 3 physical things you find attractive - abs, calves, smile

52: Top 3 bad habits - ED behaviors, over drinking when out, getting too attached

53: Top 3 pets you've had/wish to have - more Aussies, a monkey, lion

54: Top 3 types of foreign food - Italian, German, French

55: Top 3 things you want to say to someone in your lifetime - I just want to be able to talk to NG again 😔

56: Top 3 dog breeds - Australian shepherd, yorkie, German shepherd

57: Top 3 cheesy romance movies - pretty woman, the notebook, the last song

58: Top 3 languages you speak/wish to speak - Italian, French, Spanish

59: Top 3 series (book, movie, television) - friends, new girl, svu

60: Top 3 pizza toppings - just cheese please

61: Top 3 youtubers you're subscribed to

62: Top 3 tattoo / piercing ideas - astrology/Leo tattoo, finger tattoo, peacock feather

63: Top 3 awards you want to win - I don’t really need an award lol

64: Top 3 emojis - 😂🙈😍

65: Top 3 cars you dream of owning - pickup truck, Dodge Charger and 🤷🏼‍♀️

66: Top 3 authors - Tana French, Gillian Flynn, Sara gruen

67: Top 3 historical figures - MLK JR., Abraham Lincoln, Rosa parks

68: Top 3 baby names - hazel, violet, Ella

69: Top 3 DIYs - 🤷🏼‍♀️

70: Top 3 smoothie combos/flavors - peach, pineapple, strawberry banana

71: Top 3 songs of this month - mr. Perfectly fine, shake it out, dark horse

72: Top 3 questions of this post you want to be asked

73: Top 3 villains - scar, hades and 🤷🏼‍♀️

74: Top 3 Cities you want to see - Berlin/Munich, Sydney, Montreal

75: Top 3 recipes you want to try

76: Top 3 dream jobs - ice cream/candy store owner, school social worker, stay at home dog mom

77: Top 3 lucky items - my dog, my rings, my pop pop’s pocket watch

78: Top 3 traditions you have - Christmas Eve matching pjs with sister, reindeer food, and gingerbread cookies

79: Top 3 things you miss about being a kid - carefree, no bills, no responsibility

80: Top 3 harry potter characters

81: Top 3 lies you were told - only teenagers have acne, adults know what they’re doing/have it figured out, you can achieve anything you want with hard work

82: Top 3 pictures in your camera roll right now

83: Top 3 turn ons - hot body, nice smile, good sense of humor

84: Top 3 turn offs - disrespectful, rude, inconsistency

85: Top 3 magazines/news papers/ journals to read

86: Top 3 things you wish you had known earlier - what I wanted to study in undergrad, how bad heartbreak hurts, how complicated life/relationships can be

87: Top 3 spongebob episodes

88: Top 3 places to be in the world - northport, key west, Bahamas

89: Top 3 things you'd do differently - look more into options besides college, go to grad school right after AmeriCorps, have “the talk” with Nick

90: Top 3 TV shows from your childhood - Lizzie McGuire, Hannah Montana, Gullah Gullah island

91: Top 3 meals you love - ice cream, acai bowl, fries

92: Top 3 kinds of tea - just black please

93: Top 3 embarrassing moments - putting my foot in the muddy tree, getting sick from drinking while out, car accident

94: Top 3 holidays to celebrate - Christmas, New Year’s Eve, thanksgiving

95: Top 3 things to do in the rain - read, watch tv, snuggle with my dog

96: Top 3 things to do in the snow - stay inside and read, have hot chocolate, watch tv

97: Top 3 items you can't leave the house w/o - phone, ID, keys

98: Top 3 movies you'd like to see - last Christmas, hot tub time machine, zoolander

99: Top 3 art mediums - dance, watercolor, singing

100: Top 3 museums you've been to - museum of natural history DC, MOMA, Alamo

101: Top 3 school memories - leaving lmao

102: Top 3 things you don't/Won't miss - I’m not really sure

103: Top 3 pick up lines

104: Top 3 sports to watch - baseball, basketball, hockey

105: Top 3 taylor swift songs - mr. Perfectly fine, happiness, august

[pale-cheezit]

Can you answer every 5th question from your 216-question ask post? Thanks!

Girl you're killin me lol. I'm bored though so thanks for giving me something to do!! I know I'm really late posting this but oh well. Thanks for the ask :)

5) Book/series I reread?

My favorite author is Tana French and I've reread her books a few times. I've reread the book "The Shack" by William P. Young a few times as well. I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting right now.

10) The word that I use all the time to describe something great?

Probably fuck. As in, "that's fucking great" or "this is fucking awesome" or something like that lol

15) Last song I listened to?

Some new Five Finger Death Punch song that was on the radio

20) Favorite video games?

Probably New Super Mario Bros

25) Actor/actress you trust enough to watch whatever they’re in?

Ooof... I can't think of any off the top of my head. I have some actors that I like that make me go "oh theyre in this movie, it might be good" but I don't think I ever really watch anything just because of a certain actor.

30) Eye color?

Blueish/greenish. Changes colors sometimes depending on what I'm wearing.

35) Am I excited about anything?

Not really.

40) What do I think about most?

I swing wildly between thinking about insignificant nonsense and everything I'm worried/anxious about (my very uncertain future and what to do with myself and mental health shit I'm going through) and I think about my loved ones a lot too!

45) Last film I watched?

The Hunchback of Notre Dame lol

50) How do I destress?

I'm pretty good at pushing things out of my mind when I want to or need to (a blessing and a curse) Also smoke weed. Idk, feels like I'm always stressed about something in the back of my mind.

55) Play any sports?

I don't anymore but I played volleyball for almost 10 years of my life. Good times. I miss those days.

60) Pet peeve?

People that put masks on their kids.

65) What fictional universe would I like to be a part of?

Friskies world from the cat food commercial of course

70) Can I sing?

I think I can sing ok. I'm not amazing but also not horrible.

75) Where do I want to live?

Away from people and traffic!!! I hate how close together the houses are in the suburbs. But I don't want to be so far in the middle of nowhere that I have to drive hours to get groceries. Idk, maybe I wouldn't mind that after awhile, I'd probably get used to it. I just want my own land and to be able to walk out the back door and have my own personal shooting range on my property.

80) Can I drive?

Yeah. Can't drive stick though. I should learn.

85) Favorite genre of music?

Rock

90) Favorite sporty activity?

Uhhh like walking or hiking I guess. Baseball definitely.

95) How tall am I?

5'7"

100) Do I have more girl friends or boy friends?

I have NO friends lol

105) Last person I texted?

My mom

110) Do I like selfies?

Eh sort of. If I'm feeling good about myself, I might take a few but that's rare for me these days. I like to take pictures of much more interesting things instead! Selfies are boring!

115) Favorite number?

8 I guess

120) Am I much of a daredevil?

Depends on the situation and the mood I'm in. I can be. We all got a little daredevil in us if we drink enough lol

125) The Beatles or Elvis?

Elvis

130) Favorite piece of advice?

Hmm....Anything Jordan Peterson says is usually great advice lol. But I guess simple things like be yourself, enjoy the small things in life, never miss a good chance to shut up, others can inspire and support you- but only you can save yourself, assume you know nothing, listen to your elders cause they know a thing or two about life (SOMETIMES)

135) Do I like gossip?

Eh not really. It depends. I know I'm guilty of it because that's all women be doin but you can definitely cross a line with that stuff and some people have issues with that and that shit can be annoying. it's definitely something I try not to do too much because I wouldn't want others to gossip about me behind my back

140) Do I believe people are capable of change?

I'd like to think so. I mean, I think its not ALWAYS the case. There's definitely people that wont or cant change but there's also plenty of people that are willing to put in the work and have changed themselves and their lives.

145) In a film about my life, who would I cast as myself, friends and family?

Bitch nobody could play me or my family better than me or my family

150) What is the best decision I have made in life so far?

I honestly don't know. I thought of a few different things and realized none of them were really decisions I 100% made for myself /: I've had a life so far that's been filled with other people making decisions for me. Kind of one of my problems I gotta work on. I guess I would say choosing to finally leave the shitty relationship I was in but he kind of left me in the end so it wasn't completely my decision. There's probably a bunch of small decisions I've made in the past that turned out great for me that I'm just forgetting right now.

155) Who is the most intelligent person I know?

I used to think my brother was because he was a genius child but then I grew up and realized there's a lot of different ways to be intelligent. I was gonna say Jordan Peterson but I dont actually know him lol. It's a hard question for me because I truly believe people are intelligent in so many different ways and Ive met many people that are smart in some ways but dumb in others. I guess my Dad would make the list if I had to pick someone.

160) What color mostly dominates my wardrobe?

BLUE

165) Do I believe in fate?

I think so. I think we can change our fate though too.

170) One of my favorite quotes?

"those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."- Ben Franklin

"unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality"- Emily Dickinson

I have a TON of favorite quotes, I could take up pages lol. Those are just the ones I thought of off the top of my head.

175) Do I dream?

Yes, every single time I sleep. Even when I take a nap. I'm always dreaming.

180) Do I like shopping?

It depends on my mood and what I'm shopping for. Sometimes I'm in the mood to shop and I have fun with it but other times I'm not feeling it at all. I don't like spending money, it makes me feel guilty.

185) If I could master one skill, what would I choose?

Probably being an excellent shot. As skilled as Annie Oakley- if that's even possible haha

190) If I could time travel, where and when would I want to go?

60s or 70s. Maybe the 20s.

195) Would I ever want to encounter aliens?

Fuck no. Definitely wouldnt be like some sci-fi movie. It'd be fucking terrifying.

200) Dragons or wizards?

Neither. Never been into either of those things. I also never got what the big deal about dragons is

205) Do I like my handwriting?

Yeah I suppose. Its very inconsistent. It goes from messy to neat to somewhere in between all in one page. Just like me lol

210) What is on my bucket list?

Travel. See the world. I dont have anything super specific but I definitely wish I could see all this world has to offer.

215) What is the weirdest talent I have?

I have no idea. I have no talent that I can think of. I'm sure there's gotta be something but I have no clue right now.

[exbeaut]

5, 10, 13 & 27 for the book ask :)

<3 <3 <3

5. Is there a book you own, but aren’t planning on reading? I just checked my bookshelves and I don’t think so like almost all the books I own physical copies of I’ve read at least once if not more, I love re reading books so much lmaooo 10. Have you ever judged a book by its cover? I mean probably yeah to some extent but if it sounds good despite the cover I’ll still read it so ?? Not really?? I guess it depends lmaooo 13. Are you a fan of autobiographies? It depends on the person but I really love Carrie Fishers Princess Diariast and Wishful Drinking and also I love Prozac Nation but not bc it’s good lmaooo but bc the memory attached to it and why it was gifted to me 27. What books can always make you cry? Oh MAN OH MAN I’m really a masochist like I’ll admit that like I seek out sad books so here’s just a few : the song of achilles (Madeline Miller), a little life (Hanya Yanagihara), the likeness (Tana French), and far from you (Tess Sharpe)

[the-blind-assassin-12]

5; 8; 10; 16; 19; 20 39; 43! 🤓

5: How did you fall into the tumblr hellpit?

I think I was looking for fanfiction for Jon Snow & Ygritte? Like a long ass time ago. And then I forgot about it’s existence until I decided to throw in my lot with writing. And now here we are.

8: Last song you listened to?

Caution by The Killers

Tonight the winds of change are blowing wild and free

10: In a perfect world, what animal would you most like to adopt?

There was a commercial a few years ago for… something… and in it DJ Khalid had a tiny giraffe. I want a tiny giraffe.

16: Your comfort food, and why.

Porkroll egg and cheese on an everything bagel. (GF and DF but I can pretend) because it reminds me of weekends and of early morning walks on the beach with my mom and sister.

19: Favorite trope nobody writes enough of?

Friends. Like a good friendship story without becoming lovers. I’m so guilty of always tossing them together like okay now kiss but one of these days I’ll refrain.

Also just real life stories without big crazy epic circumstances.

20: Rec me a book, comic, or anime, or other piece of media you wish there were more like.

Some standout books I’ve read over the years that I haven’t found anything comparable to:

Zoli by Colum McCann

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Likeness by Tana French

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

And a YA series I studied as part of my creative writing minor that not enough people have read because it’s not as sexy as vampires or as hopelessly romantic as love in the time of hunger games… The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

39:First writing prompt that comes to your head.

Person A doesn’t mean to but they can see into person B’s window and they catch each other’s eye… what happens next?

43: Shuffle up a random song on your media player. Now tell me what ship/story goes with it.

Sign by VHS Collection. This has See You in New York written all over it:

Stay one more night

I'm hooked like a junkie, and I'm here to fight

You say you'll be mine

Oh the city is burning and I've seen the sign

I'm halfway out of New York

And half of me I left behind

If we've got something to say then now is the time

Once in a lifetime you might find

Something that you needed its right there you can see it

In the night time you might find

Something that you needed

Just give me a sign

[ninety6tears]

Disorganized thoughts on Dublin Murders ep1 & ep2, here we go (spoilers probably for stuff I know from the books)

Overall, so far there’s some of those forced/heavy-handed moments I feared in an adaptation of a series written with a lot of baited subtext, but that’s at least half to be expected from an adaptation that isn’t relying on a fuck-ton of voiceover and stuff and so far I think most of it would work for me if I wasn’t reflexively comparing it to the text.

One of the worst things about adaptations is knowing that once I watch them my own closely guarded imagining of what the characters look like will be lost forever whether I like it or not. In this case I could get used to it. Like, RIP Cassie’s cute hair but these two have qualities that feel a lot like I pictured them, and there is some kind of chemistry between them. 

Cassie isn’t quite book!Cassie--I don’t see her doing cartwheels on the coast, she doesn’t cheerfully deflect awkwardness in the same way, she laughs less--but the story jumps into a tone that doesn’t allow for as much of that, maybe? And they do enough to establish that Rob and Cassie are close friends as well as partners--I thought it was nice to tell us that Cassie knows about Knocknaree just from how she reacts to the assignment (her concerned face, omg, Rob would never have described that).

I read a review before watching any of the series that praised Phelps for making Cassie more feminist as if In The Woods was some irrelevant relic of pre-#MeToo as far as writing women goes, and Christ, I resent the idea that a character not taking it upon herself to constantly teach men and realistically turning the other cheek when her boss says sexist shit (especially when you know Tana French has also written women who seem less low-key) overshadows her complexity as a tough female character. But whatever that was referring to doesn’t seem too forced in the show, and Cassie and Rob’s long game with dropping hints around O’Kelly about Cassie’s incompetence is funny, actually impressively subtle, and captures that feel from the book of her not giving an actual shit what men like him think as long as her partner has her back and knows what she’s capable of.

One review said: “Her friendship with Rob, one of perpetual banter and teasing in the source material is a little more mature and reserved here; certainly not lacking in evident closeness, but with warmth expressed more through shared smiles and easy silences than lengthy scenes of in-jokes.” True and kinda what I expected. I miss the like, studenty vibe of them constantly being idiots at her tiny flat eating cheap food and drinking whisky. But the way they work professionally is fire; they nail the way the two look at each other from across a room and can have an entire exchange in a couple glances.

And the thing is they clearly can’t be having their life-partner sleepovers every other night because Cassie has a love life (!) with Sam, which is different, BECAAUUSE

1) BZUH, I exclaim to myself when this this is revealed, IS SHE GOING TO CHEAT ON HIM WITH ROB??

2) Do I care if she cheats on him with Rob? (nope not at all I’m garbage)

3) “I’ve told you things that nobody knows, not even Sam”?!?!?! I struck my mattress with my fist, ARE YOU KIDDING ME, this AU is totally in character.

I didn’t know or remember that Quigley was gonna be in the series which made it funny how immediately I knew that was him. "I’ve got a partner,” lol, Rob hates him so much. I already wish there was less of him though.

I don’t really buy that Rob’s involvement in a disappearance case would have held him back from getting a job in law enforcement (??), and it’s not like he legally changed his name and citizenship, but if it did make a difference, background checks would have shook some of that shit out for sure. The problem is that French glazed over that plot hole by making the Knocknaree case largely almost forgotten and they’re not doing that here. I do kinda like the clincher they’re building differently where Cassie and Rob actually decided they can’t take the case but end up forced to ride it out. (Especially how Rob ~acknowledges her loyalty and ~tenderly touches her arm during that scene when they realize they’re gonna have to just keep lying out their asses for each other.)

FRANK THO. Okay, I really wish I hadn’t caught the casting news for Mackey because I would have been like WHAT IS THIS STALKER SUBPLOT and laughed really hard at the reveal. Also, interested to see if they go into Cassie’s history with the rape threat guy cause I couldn’t help thinking what book!Cassie would have done if she thought she was being creeped on. But also like, tell your partner about this shit, hon. I love that she’s just handling it and figuring it out on her own and KNOWS someone’s been at her place cause she’s Cassie (parenthetically I’ve gotten stabbed undercover) Maddox. 

Still bitter that Frank isn’t hot.

@cosetteferaud  since you asked ; )

[thehonestreader]

The Likeness by Tana French

Rating: C+

Detective Cassie Maddox is done with the Dublin Murder Squad, getting transferred out of the department for something a little calmer. But then she’s called out to a murder scene that shocks everyone there: the victim looks exactly like her. Not only that, but she was using Cassie’s old fake ID for Alexandra Madison, a name Cassie hasn’t heard since she worked undercover. Sensing a great moment, Cassie’s old boss at Undercover decides to send her in to the dead girl’s life to flush out what happened. Now, surrounded by potential suspects, not only does Cassie have to figure out who killed this girl, but also who she really was.

--

So, I know I read the first book in this series, In The Woods. It’s on my bookshelf, it’s marked as read on Goodreads, and I even wrote a review for it on this very blog. The problem? I don’t remember it. Like, at all. And that’s really something, the fact that nothing about the plot comes back to me, even now that I’ve finished this book. I don’t take it as a good thing, honestly. It means that the plot of that story was so forgettable that I don’t remember anything.

This is mostly a stand-alone story, which I was very thankful for, but it’s very obvious when Cassie is thinking back to things that happened in the first book. They’re not really all that important and they don’t bring anything new to the table, but I still wish I could remember that damn book. But those memories are gone, lost in the mush that is my brain.

Here’s my issue with this book in general: it took a long time before it finally held my attention. For a good chunk of the story, probably the first 150 pages or so, I kept finding myself having to reread paragraphs because I wasn’t interested enough to actually remember what I had just read. So I’d read a paragraph, realize I hadn’t absorbed anything it said, read it again, rinse and repeat. Glancing back at my review for In The Woods, apparently that was also a problem I had with that book too. It’s not until Cassie enters Whitethorn house that things finally began to pick up for me. It was nice....for a while, anyway.

Here’s my second issue: Cassie got on my nerves too much. While at first I liked the story more once she moves into the house with the college kids, she also got more and more frustrating for me. While I actually like these characters, with the exception of Daniel, I couldn’t get past the fact that Cassie is basically doing nothing to actually solve the murder. She’s disobeying her commanding officer’s orders, she’s covering for the others in the house, she’s hiding information. And after a while I just got so fed up with her that I began to hate her.

Once Daniel finds her out, things get rushed and weird. The way he reacts, and subsequently the way Cassie reacts to him, doesn’t feel natural. It’s just a mad dash to the end from there, and I didn’t feel all that satisfied with it.

-Review by C.M.