#jen reads

[nightspires]

i'm reading funny story by emily henry and dfkngdfgb god it's making me feel like my nerves are standing on end bc a) the angst is just SO GOOD, and b) i can RELATE to a lot of it TOO MUCH

[jenniferstolzer]

I'm currently rereading Redwall

I read it over 20 years ago and felt like revisiting. As a child I loved how sweet and cute the mice were and how astonishingly violent the fights were. As an adult I have two observations;

1, Constance the Badger is still the best girl and star of the day.

2, Cluny sucks.

[etoiline]

This one makes me feel old, friends.

I was not super excited about the Hobbit or the LotR books growing up, mainly because the library copies didn't have blurbs to entice me, or fun covers to make me look (and we're talking the 80s/90s here, so no real way to look up summaries or get recommendations from friends--the friends I had were not readers like me).

So it wasn't until they started releasing info about the movies during my junior year of college (specifically that first promotional picture of Legolas, played by Orlando Bloom, oh my god did I have a crush on him) that I was like, maybe I should give these books a try. The campus bookstore had an omnibus edition of the Lord of the Rings, and I spent pretty much the entire school year working my way through it.

It was okay, but it was a bit of a slog, and while I appreciated the artistry in the dribs and drabs of info we got about the movie I wasn't all that excited to see it. The premiere date of Fellowship of the Ring was the day after the last exam of the fall semester of my senior year (for some reason they always scheduled the math class exams in the final exam slot of the final day, and let me tell you that was brutal), and when I got back to my dorm, furiously trying to get myself ready to move out for winter break, my roommate came in, said they had an extra ticket to the midnight premiere for FotR, and would I want to go?

I'd never been to a midnight premiere before, and I was so busy getting ready to leave the dorm for four weeks (I only had a few hours to get out before the dorms closed for break), but I liked my roommate, and the book was okay, and there were gonna be some handsome people in the movie, so I plucked up my courage and said yes.

I was able to find my roomie in line when I got there (oh the days before online ticket reservations), and I've never had so much fun queuing. Folks were dressed up, all sorts of Middle-Earth philosophizing going on, and when we got into the theater there was a roaming Gandalf and a Ringwraith going up and down the aisles.

And then the movie! Wow. I saw FotR five times in theater and once on a friend of a friend of a friend's ahoy-made DVD. Of course, you remember how I basically ran out of the dorm before that midnight premiere? Well, I left a lot of stuff there, because I didn't think I'd need it over break, and one of the things I left was my omnibus copy of LotR.

After that midnight premiere, I went to the bookstore (in the days when you could still walk into any of a half dozen bookstores nearby), and bought the trilogy, with the movie covers, and read them all again over the break. Because now I had faces to go with the characters, and scenery to imagine, and action sequences to compare, and it was much easier to read these lore-heavy books when armed with that information.

Needless to say, I went to the midnight premieres of The Two Towers and Return of the King as well.

[elephantlovemedleys]

After the initial hugs and greetings from the lathered-up welcoming committee, including yours truly, putting on my most convincing friendly face, the hunky actor asked if he and I could step outside so he could have a moment alone with me. He [Patrick] took my hand and led me down the hall a little ways. Once out of earshot, we turned to face each other, Patrick scanned me in my cut-off black tights, dance briefs rolled down, a sports bra and vintage blue satin high heels, and said, “Whoa. You clean up good, girl.” “This is a great part for you. Congratulations.” “I know, right? It’s crazy.” This was softening me up. It felt good to be able to share my news with someone I knew. “I know, you’re probably thinkin’, ‘Aw, no, not this idiot again.’ ” Then his eyes started to well up. Real tears. And with the most earnest delivery imaginable, said, “You know I’ve always loved you.” He stared into my eyes. “And I’ve been really workin’ on gettin’ my shit together. So, if I get the chance, I swear I’m gonna make it up to you. You will not be sorry.” I said, “Uh-huh.” He smiled and was working hard on getting me to smile back. “C’mon, you know if we did this together, we’d kill it.” There was no question that our bodies liked each other, in spite of what my head was saying. There has never been anyone with Patrick’s combination of grace, brawn, sensitivity, and fearless, reckless gusto. - From Out of the Corner: A Memoir by Jennifer Grey (2022) PATRICK SWAYZE and JENNIFER GREY in DIRTY DANCING (1987) dir. EMILE ARDOLINO

[silkentine]

I’ve been obsessed with the ♠️ Pirate Sabo AU by @otaku553 Their artwork is total inspiration fodder. I DROOL over their line quality, story telling, and how they can implement so much symbolism with the colors alone. (So I wanted to try my hand at drawing him too 😊)

I’ve been wanting to draw Tage for weeks now; his design is just SO solid (have I mentioned I love men with long hair?). Imagine my surprise when I found this in my inbox today:

So obviously it was finally time to draw Tage. Actual squee. Thank you for creating such beautiful comics! I hope you enjoy being mutuals with me ☺️🩵

[codgod]

something wicked this way comes

[this is a redraw, here’s the original :p]

[etoiline]

I have a special place at home for these books. Just about anything Carol Berg (but especially Restoration and Breath and Bone). Jim Butcher's Changes. Pat Rothfuss' Name of the Wind. Gael Baudino's Strands of Starlight. Brent Week's The Burning White. Robin Hobb's Assassin's Quest. The Forever King by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy. Destiny by Elizabeth Haydon.

Every so often I pick up my favorites and find the line that makes my stomach swoop or my breath catch.

y’all ever read a book that’s so good you just have to close it and b r e a t h e for a moment?

yeah that’s the stuff

[waterdroid]

Tactical Breach Wizards is such a GOOD fucking game, man. I thought it was gonna be a fun tactic silly game where you throw people out of windows but then it turns out it has a really interesting political plot about overthrowing fascist theocracies and stopping fucked up magic corporate colonialism??? While keeping the comedic characters balanced with some really good and deep characterization?? And it also integrates the whole "turn-based tactical game where you can rewind time" in a very hard-hitting history moment in which reading the FUCKING GAME IU gave me CHILLS--

so yeah i liked it a normal amount. I recommend it even if you don't really like tactical games-- that's like, my least played type of game and I finished this game no problem!

[halfstayed]

And if Helen knows one thing, despite the mess they’ve become, it’s that they will always be that person for one another.

— SPLINTERED by @elialys

[nightspires]

i am in a reading slump rn. i think i broke my brain by reading all 12 priness diaries books in 1 week.

anyway, i started reading about 648739 different books in the last week (incl: entreat me by grave draven, the hundred thousand kingdoms by nk jemisin, the curse of chalion by lois mcmaster bujold) and i didn't like any of them........ ;_;

but i just started red rising by pierce brown and so far it is holding my interest. so far, it's reminding me of the mars colonists in the expanse with a the hunger games vibe. i will report back!!!

[etoiline]

It is *super* rare for me to cry over anything I read, let alone fic. So when I tell you that @voidcat-senket's "Plant Your Roots Inside Of Me" made me cry, please know that it was because it whumped me so good. I will admit that I got to follow this fic as it was written, and there's also probably a lot of falling back into fandom and the obsession that goes with it coloring my view, but that doesn't change the fact that this story grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go until it was over. Still has me, really. It made me (try to) start drawing again. @iwishtocountthestars pointed out that this fic deserves so much more praise than it has because it's so dependent on a very specific condition: that you've played (and completed) the video game Jedi Survivor--and that you're open to the spyscrapper ship. So if that's true of you, and you're willing to get your heart stomped on, please, please give this fic a read. It has my love forever, and I hope it will find a place in your heart too.

Plant Your Roots Inside Of Me (53319 words) by Senket

I'm curious about everyone's "this fic hit me in the id so hard it changed my brain chemistry" fic. Whether it made you cry so hard it gave you a headache or scratched an itch so hard it gave you a new kink or made you laugh so hard you thought you were going to throw up, reblog and tell me the fic that rewired your brain!

[jenniferstolzer]

Locked Tomb musings

Lady Gaga is my Gideon soundscape

Florence and the Machine is my Harrow soundscape.

Marina and the Diamonds is my Nona soundscape.

And I guess Alecto is Aggretsko

[foxandcatlibrary]

32nd Book I Read in 2024

Title: Female Husbands

Author: Jen Manion

Notes: Bought this at Gay's The Word in London during a weekend trip last spring, but didn't get around to reading it until now. Such a great book though! Never knew about this part of trans history before and I am so happy I finally read it.

[stocknerds-from-nerdwell]

The coven getting the message using the ouija board: M R S H A R T

My dumb ass: who the fuck is "mr shart"

[etoiline]

I would also suggest:

In a hammock while on a camping trip

In a giant home library with a secret passage next to a roaring fire (during the winter, of course)

Next to the floor vent that's sending up lovely heated warmth, wrapped in a blanket

In bed, during the darkest hours of the night, your significant other curled up beside you, with the book you can't put down

I leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine which of these I've personally done.

[sugarsnappeases]

everyone stop what you’re doing and ponder lily evans w me. i’ve been rotating this quote for the last two months:

i’ve been thinking about it in relation to the way that lily is portrayed both within the books and within the fandom. the way she’s dismembered, split into all these different pieces (her green eyes, the power of her motherly love, her intelligence etc etc) and each of these pieces is exalted, nigh on idolised even. the way this means that the sum of these parts is something that is simultaneously more and less than a woman.

she’s a mother, she’s a wife, she’s a martyr, she’s a muggleborn, she’s head girl, she’s a sister, she’s a witch. she’s all of these things to the absolute utmost - every facet of her, every segment into which she’s cut, is put on a pedestal, she is the epitome of all of these separate things, and because of this she can never be Real. Tangible. Whole.

it’s like this:

over their dead bodies - kensuke koike

she’s more than a woman bc she’s made up of all these individually flawless parts of different women that have been projected onto her…. but she’s less than a woman for the same reason. she’s never complete. she’s a near-deity. she’s a fantasy. she’s everywhere and nowhere in the narrative. she’s dead. she’s alive in all these segments. she’s a fraction of a whole. she’s like trying to do a brand-new puzzle that’s still missing a good third of the pieces. she’s a ‘beautiful monster composed of every individual perfection.’

link to article in which i encountered the quote & link to article from which the quote originates (they’re both beautiful jstor articles about bestie petrarch and the way he portrays laura. haven’t acc read the second one (although i plan to soon!!) but the vickers article has enraptured me to an insane degree so if anyone’s interested i really recommend. might not make much sense if you haven’t read the rvf, but they’re so so interesting!!)