#lyra's thoughts

[lyra-azalea]

2024 reading stats

Author's nationality (this could be flawed)

Favourite reads

Other books that stood out to me

Thoughts

I'm quite happy with my reading this year. I wanted to get back into reading, since last couple of years I've been constantly distracted by other things and reading published work hasn't grabbed my attention like it used to. The number of books read could be higher, and it pales in comparison with some readers, but it's good enough for me.

A while ago I've noticed that my reads tend to circle around my interests at the time. This year these themes were women-centered stories and authoritarianism. Also, I read several authors that were in the 'one day I'll read this' category and I'm happy about that. Looking back I'm seeing that short stories tend to fade from memory faster, especially those that were read in one sitting. I should try to gravitate towards longer books next year, but time will tell where my interests will take me.

I've been thinking for some time that I'd like to read more diversely, specifically authors from different countries and this year I took that goal a bit more seriously. I've read books from countries I've never read anything from, including Colombia, Haiti, Egypt, Uruguay and others. I'm happy that I've found new authors whose other work I'm interested in going trough, mostly Olga Tokarczuk and László Krasznahorkai. Hopefully this trend will continue next year.

[saltair-and-webweaves]

and bless the daughter but fuck the family

it lingers for your whole life - katie maria/the sun is also a star - nicola yoon/the lost girls: a poetry collection on girlhood, grief, and growing up - lyra wren/crush - richard siken/unknown/on earth we're briefly gorgeous - ocean vuong/ @emmajadepaige/stick season - noah kahan/promises of gold - josé olivarez/matilda - harry styles/susan smith - wych elm/tangerine - nolune/#6 - aroara/right now - gracie abrams/love & a loaded gun - emily rose cole/someday I'll love - ocean vuong/ @parentless-suggestions/unknown/the burning - venetta octavia/you can love him but you can't keep him - @pencap/a poem from the adult daughter to the narcissistic mother: not your fault, not mine, just is - katherine fabrizio/courtney love prays to oregon - clementine von radics

[kashmimo]

Attempted apology

[lanterns-and-daydreams]

Reporter, to Libby: So, how does it feel to be marrying someone so out of your league?

Libby: Well-

Nash, cutting her off: Feels amazin', darlin', thanks

[stringbeanartist]

Oo-oo-oa-oa

[casualavocados]

I actually think it's more complicated than that. I think, if bad people think it's bad, then, maybe it's good.

HIS DARK MATERIALS 2.01 | The City Of Magpies

[bixels]

bit of an insane request but i love your au a lot and im hoping you have one palestinian-american character in it! im palestinian and i have family in america who have been there since the 1910/1920s. im unsure if you have any arab characters, but i suppose itd be fun?

I actually do have a character planned. Doctor Whooves is gonna be a Palestinian engineer and scientist who immigrated to America.

[wyvernity]

sss day my favorite national holiday WOOOOHHHH

bonus

[macaroonkitti]

Dropping my designs for the Johto gang :]

[downrightbooks]

Okay so I have a theory/assumption

First off I will state the fact that I have always hated Tobias Hawthorne for what he did to his grandsons (absolutely messing up their psyche), but I have been wondering for a while what happened to make him change the way he “parented/raised” his grandsons. Like he treated/raised his own children (even Nash for that matter) differently than he did Grayson, Jameson, and Xander. For example, he said in his letter from The Hawthorne Legacy that he would raise the next generation differently than how he raised Zara, Skye, and Toby.

But… if you see in the letter he also said that he came close to finding Toby once but found something else instead.🤔

I THINK IT WAS ALICE!!!

So my theory is that whatever happened when he found Alice or whatever she asked of him ultimately changed the way he raised his grandsons. I think he realized that whatever Alice was up to, or whatever she was involved with was very dangerous (that was why he pushed his grandsons to be better and stronger willed).

In the Exclusive Edition of The Inheritance Games Tobias says “In this life, to be what I am, to do what I have done, to have all that we have…Sacrifices have to be made. Things get broken.” But then he goes on to say “Never forget the broken things, the ones you leave behind. Clean up the shards, because when you don’t….People get hurt.”

(I believe he must be again talking about Alice and whatever she’s mixed up in)

Furthermore, while I was rereading The Grandest Game Odette says that Alice randomly revealed to Tobias that she was alive around 15 years ago. So I was doing the math and Grayson (who is either 21 or 22 in the Grandest Game) would have been about 6 or 7 when Alice came to see Tobias.

So I did a little bit more digging and in one of the chapters in The Brothers Hawthorne there is a flashback “Eleven years and 10 months ago” (which is about 12 years ago) in the flash back Jameson is turning 8 the next day and Grayson will be turning 9 the day after that. They both had to show their completed challenges to Tobias, and they were going to show him their skill that they had cultivated. In this chapter Jameson says that the old man would make him and Grayson fight each other to show off what they had learned.

The highlighted part also says that they had been practicing martial arts for the past 3 years which means that Tobias started the whole “Invest, Cultivate, Create” thing around this time, which also would mean that Grayson would be around 6 years old and Jameson would be around 5.

THIS IS AROUND THE EXACT SAME TIME THAT ALICE SHOWED UP!!

We know that something shifted around the time Grayson and Jameson were young kids because it said in the first few books that when Nash was a little kid he wasn’t really raised the same way compared to the way his younger brothers were. So he would have been around 12 years old when Tobias started the whole “invest, cultivate, create” thing which I don’t think he ever really cared for.

Basically what I’m saying is that as much as I absolutely hate Tobias Hawthorne, I think I hate Alice more. I think that Tobias was trying to help make sure that his grandsons would be taught how to protect each other and be pushed to the extremes to see the world differently to prepare them in case they got caught up in whatever Alice is involved with. But he did it in a very awful way and ruined his grandsons psyche, which I absolutely despise him for.

Hope this makes sense 😊

[kagooleo]

doodlin some joh’s

[lyrakanefanatic]

just thinking about how confusing it’s gonna be once lyra explains the story of her father shooting himself. not only does it call out the hawthornes (we know this already), but imagine how knox and brady will react when they hear the word CALLA lilys come out of her mouth. they are going to automatically assume that calla had something do to with lyras father, and that will start a whole CHAIN of arguments.

not only that, but the hawthorne brothers will 100% recognize the “what begins a bet? not that” riddle and automatically start questioning grayson. then that’s going to set off the “okay 13 years after the incident regarding my father i decided to call up a special someone” story from lyra and THEN jameson will understand why grayson gave her the 1000 yard stare when he first heard her voice on the helicopter.

okay lowkey this would make a pretty funny situation. like imagine:

lyra, having finished telling the story about how her father shot himself: “-and then my mom and stepfather were there and it was finished. that’s all i can remember, anyway.”

jameson: “that’s terrible… but did you say your father said, “what begins a bet? not that” before he shot himself?”

lyra: “yeah, why?”

xander: “i swear grayson told us that riddle… what, two years ago?”

grayson, with all his brothers eyes turning to him: “..”

lyra: “….”

lyra: “so here’s part two-“

[everyonewooeverywhere]

Important thought I had just now; do you reckon Yunho could press his ring, pinkie, and thumb into the pulse points on either side just under your jaw while sliding his middle and index fingers into your mouth? Because (and don't ask how I know, it's all for ✨️🎀 science 🎀✨️) I can absolutely do this and my hand is a fair bit smaller than his 🧐

~( @ateez-main-yapper )

i really hate (love) how you know exactly what to make me lose my mind 😔 and i hate that i tried this on myself before i even finished reading this.

but yes of course he would do this. the way i imagine it, he has you seated in front of him on the bed. his back pressed against yours. it started with him just letting you suck on his fingers, but then he wanted to push you a little further because you've been training so well for him.

and so he'll push his fingers a little further and let you gag on them a bit before he presses his fingers to the sides of your neck. and he's so encouraging about it, too. "good job, baby" "you're doing so well for me" "you look so pretty gagging on me like this" then kisses your neck and shoulders and smirking when you shiver at the feeling of his lips.

will let his other hand trace the insides of your thighs. loving how you whimper on his fingers every time he brushed over your panties. he'll give you what you want soon. you just have to be good for him first.

[riddles-n-games]

Why do you think Lyra is Avery 2.0?

So, to be very clear, I don't hate Lyra but she has many similarities to Avery that anyone should be able to pick up from the start:

-high intellect of some sort

-love for riddles, codes, etc.

-similar background with living a rough life (ok, Lyra's is definitely better by default minus the trauma of seeing one's murdered parent)

-having close relationships with parents

-biological father is/was deadbeat

-has some damn connection to the Hawthornes

-first Hawthorne brother interaction = Grayson

-some sort of rivalry with Grayson at first and also attraction to him

-has a Hawthorne for a partner for the Hawthorne-related mystery/game

-ballerina analogy (can't believe we made a full circle there from glass to real ballerina)

This is just from the top of my head. In addition, I can see there are clearly sequences that are supposed to mimic Avery's progression. Also, in a weird way, Grayson and Lyra kind of feel like pseudo Averyjameson in certain scenes. Like, it feels like I am reading a doppelganger perspective from something I read and wondering if I'm reading the same book but there's just a change of name.

For Lyra's sake, I hope JLB does a better job of fleshing out her character because even though we have three main POVs, she is the unofficial leading lady (look how many chapters she has if you don't believe me). I want her to win. But I also want some unpredictability. That's why I respectably have to let go of the rest of TGG.

[clarissaweasley-10]

Lyra : A mosquito tried to bite me and I slapped it and killed it. Lyra : And I started thinking. Lyra : Like, it was just trying to get food. Lyra : What if I went to the fridge and it just slammed the door shut and snapped my neck? Grayson : Are you ok?

[casually-salad]

Flowers will bloom anywhere - as long as they have the care they need. for a moment she thought "maybe im happy this is it" before the world around her fully set in, and for the first time in a long, long, time she felt like she wasnt alone.