#read through these books again

[batcavescolony]

Katniss is such an unreliable narrator. She says "Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me" girl you deliver strawberries to the Mayor, you hunt and trade for the district, when you fell at Prim being chosen someone caught you, when you went to Prim people parted for you, when you volunteered EVERYONE stopped. Idk how to tell you but I think you're a pillar of the community.

[notbecauseofvictories]

sometimes, you wake up and your first thought is "I cannot be a person today." often---most of the time---you have to then get out of bed and proceed with being a person, regardless of your feelings on the matter.

but sometimes, occasionally, once in a while....it's nice to email your boss, get back in bed, and go the fuck back to sleep.

[crustaceousfaggot]

Shout out to Cishet White Teenager Christopher Paolini for realizing that if you give people infinite time, a completely non-judgemental society, and the power to change their bodies any way they want, lots of people are gonna start doing Freaky Anthro Transgenderism on themselves.

Like yeah, if I had the option I'd probably turn myself into a bizzare eldritch creature too

[thecryptkeeper]

i need to be alone for a moment.

[oxymoronicdumbass]

alas, the “literary genius as a kid” to “chronic ao3 user” pipeline claims yet another victim…

[romanovanatalia]

"There is no greater love than to give one's life for friends."

SOCIETY OF THE SNOW (2023) dir. J. A. Bayona

[sableeira]

this skk trc au is probably my most self indulgent artwork to date. If this sounds confusing, random, and very niche. It is! You can check out this post for more info on what the hell this au is about (I fear it’s not getting less confusing tho!) or you can read The Raven Cycle 👍

[benevolenterrancy]

@pazithigallifreya why would you ask for him :( he doesn't want to be here :( he doesn't want to be singled out :(( he wants to be left alone :(((

[umbrvx]

a villain’s journey

[bixels]

I'm not getting into The Giving Tree discourse...

[darthmalewife]

I see so many modern AUs that have Obi-Wan as like a teacher or something and he always reads romance novels and old history stuff and while I absolutely believe that I think we're missing the opportunity to also have him read really fucked up psychological horror and just general horror novels. Like think of the opportunities:

Anakin: what's happening in your book now?

Obi-Wan: the main character has just realised the ring her boyfriend gave her actually has one of her dead sisters teeth in it :]

Anakin: oh, that's fun :/

Or Cody picking up his book to skim over what it's about and he ends up texting Rex

Cody: i think my boyfriends a psychopath

Rex: i told you so, i've seen what kinda bland shit he eats

Cody: he's british leave him alone, i meant the book he's reading, it's about a woman who talks her girlfriend into giving herself a tapeworm because they're long distance lesbians who can't get pregnant

Rex: you do know how to fucking pick them don't you, what are the pros to you staying in this relationship other than you getting murdered

Cody: have you seen the man's legs?!

Rex: stop being gay and go back to your serial killer boyfriend

[mikimeiko]

Caliban's War (Book 2 of The Expanse, by James S.A. Corey)

Part 4 - Just... everything else

Parts 1|2|3

[nesyanast]

A young man studying for conversion turned to his teacher and said, "But, Rabbi Kushner, Fitzpatrick isn't a Jewish name." To which Kushner replied, "It will be."

-Choosing a Jewish Life by Anita Diamant

[ash-and-starlight]

Hello, I saw you say in your 2024 short book review that Iron Widow sucked? May I ask your reasons? I've had this book in my hands multiple times and thought of buying but never did, and by what you said, and accounting for us seemingly having similar tastes, I think you might give me a good idea about what to expect from the book and whether I'd like it?

So yes just. Your thoughts on Iron Widow and why it sucked would be awesome if you could find time for it

Have a nice day!

udhghh ok honestly the reasons are so many and i cant even string them together correctly so i really just recommend going on the goodreads page and reading the one star reviews bc they all illustrate point for point why i think it sucked so much. like ok reason one is that its simply not well written. like its marvel level jokey "oh he's right behind me isn't he" kinda writing. Reason 2 is that the plot is just all over the place nonsensical, there are in-universe things that you're just supposed to accept at face value but just make zero sense once u think about them for longer than 5 seconds. It professes itself to be a girlboss feminist narrative and its the furthest thing from feminist u could ever find. wu zetian sees herself (and is framed by the narrative) as the only hashtag woke hashtag empowered woman that exists and goes on thinking every other girl she meets is a dumb whore. this never gets disproved. she never changes her mind. (which is not WRONG per se but at least dont market it as a #feminist book just for clout). Also like. i was expecting for the heroine's story to bear some resemblance to the hystorical wu zetian's story and uhh idk if this changes later on but so far their stories dont rlly have a thing in common. AND i like the author a lot i think they're super knowledgeable & must've done a ton of research for this so why,,, did they decide to basically discard all of it,, and also it should've gone through a few more drafts,,, one beta reader at least- anyway the things that i DID like were the qi based mecha system. that was conceptually rlly cool and i always love a mecha situation. and the fact that the love triangle got resolved in an ot3 (..... not that i liked any of the characters enough to care...)

[somegrumpynerd]

Do you think Nightmare ever wonders if Passive is still alive?

Like, okay. The way I think of it (because I want it to be possible for everyone to be happy in the end) is that when Passive ate all the apples, he and the corruption fused. Like, they both are controlling his body but the corruption had complete (or at least majority) control for a long time because of the concentrated power from all the apples. But Passive was still in there, and over time he was able to pry back more and more control over his body and mind.

But he probably wouldn't realise that was happening because how do you tell the different parts of you apart after so long. Do you think he thinks Passive died in the incident and he's just the sentience of the corruption? Do you think, in a truce situation, Dream calls him brother and Nightmare wonders if any part of Dream's brother is even in there anymore?

[lactoseintolerentswag]

when they've got interpreting spiderman noir under a specific cultural lens at the function [picture of me going insane]

I cant help myself.. what can i say. And since you've mentioned some research going on behind the scenes.. do you have any fun interpretations? Or even anything fun about the 1800s!

OH HI

Hm. I don't have anything as fun as historical dancing, but I suppose this does give me the excuse (thabk u) to blab about Noir's childishness.

(wow putting this under the cut bc it got longer than I thought it would LMAO)

I think what a lot of people (including Noir's contemporary writers and yes even the spiderverse interpretation) fall for when trying to read Noir's character is the imitation of his idea of what an adult is, that he hides behind. Like Noir's persona is incredibly exaggerated. He's playing pretend. Look here, he's practicing.

A lot of his persona as Noir is imitation! Imitation of his uncle, of Urich, of the violence he's been exposed to. He's running around in his uncle's old uniform. Fundamentally misunderstanding WHY his uncle had been ashamed of it and his role in the war.

And then he goes ahead and steals Urich's alias because it sounds Cool (which is such a teenage thing to do jesus christ).

But like that imitation of The Adult isn't something that's limited to that exaggerated persona that Noir encapsulates. Peter himself is trying So Hard to be grown up and tough and responsible that it loops back around to him being a brat who would try the three guys in a trench coat trick. He even gets beat up for it when trying to defend his aunt. And I mean I've posted about him being a brat.

About how he looks at Urich as a Prime Example of what a strong and knowledgeable adult is (which is part of why he reacts so volatile in response to Urich showing he's not exactly as morally righteous as himself, he's wounded and let down). Whiskey? Whiskey sounds like someone Mature and Cool would drink, I'll have it too. And then proceeds to throw his drink at Osborn and laugh about it. The illusion was broken for me then.

But well it's not broken for everyone. I mean like obviously I poked at the contemporary writers, but I'm more talking about the other characters in the narrative. Mainly Urich and Felicia.

Urich taking Peter under his wing isn't entirely under the motivation to nurture Peter. I think it Becomes that, but he's really envious of that kid. He wants to see him lose that hope that he once had (ruh roh the opposite thing happened, being around the kid made YOU more hopeful Ben. Guess you gotta be good. Hope you don't die now).

Urich really is exposing him to an extremely harsh reality, and taking him places where adults are typically only allowed. He's letting Peter get a glimpse into what it's like, which will eventually enable Noir's tool of violence. All these tests will accumulate into what Peter thinks someone powerful and strong can be and do.

Then his problematic relationship with Felicia (writers I'm malleting you for this). He's clinging to her adulthood and the safety she represents, and he's young but she sees some adult strength in him. I mean she trusts him with the blackmail Urich gave her, which she really. Shouldn't, even if that's what Urich wanted.

Anyway, strength is something she's been consistently drawn to her in her partners. Strength to feel as her own. Even if it's to hers and others' detriment. There's also a part of Peter that's drawn to Felicia because Urich was. He's still honing in the good parts of Urich he wants to be.

I think the one person in the narrative who doesn't fall for it? Is Aunt May. You could argue it's just her being naturally motherly, but for someone who was about to be eaten alive she's pretty frank with Noir. I think she can see that that violence and exaggerated grittiness comes from someone inexperienced and young. Even if she can't consciously recognize the similarities between Noir's persona and Peter's protectiveness of her. I don't think she wants to see that. I actually have a short comic script about that, but it probably will never see the light of day.

Ugh he's like a cat puffing up to scare away a predator. It's fake!!!!! It's all fake!!!!!! He gets intimidated by JJ, he never ties his shoes, gets powers and then immediately guns to beat the shit out of Osborn, sings about the sandman when he's getting his face bashed in, crawls to Felicia all pathetic and sad, and he made a costume to run over roofs at night in.

And it's funny how he's forcing himself to grow up, but also really sad because all the things he's being exposed to is already forcing him to grow up. He's witnessing things no kid should ever see or experience.

Then there's the time period to consider. The aftermath of WWI, being in the midst of the Great Depression, and WWII just around the corner. He's faced incredible hardship and is going to continue to face so much hardship, and he's going to mature faster than he ever should have. It should have made him crash and burn Hard when he became an adult, and to me he still does because I'm ignoring everyone after ewaof LMAO.

As for my research on the 1800s NY that's for my own spider iteration run I'm working on, so not too related to Noir until I reach the 30's :3

Hope that was satisfying!!