#sad book

[julieverne]

We don't really ban books here, but this was a book that was never stocked in my school.

I haven't read it for years and might never read it again. A young Australian boy is sent to relatives in England while his younger brother experiences hospice care for terminal cancer.

The boy is determined to meet the queen and explain the situation to her, certain that her personal physicians will be able to help and that the doctors back home aren't trying hard enough.

His feckless cousin joins him on jaunts through the city, and in a house graffitied with the word 'queens', the boy makes a friend.

His friend is a gay man, whose 'friend', or rather lover, has cancer as well as AIDS.

There's a couple of inevitable conclusions the story draws to, and it's as masterfully wrought as any of his other stories - but better, because in all the humour he writes compassionately and realistically about a boy learning about the cruelties of the world - but also seeing that love exists if you know where to look for it. The scene where they share a tangerine is so humbling and devastating.

If you're looking for a good cry and a bit of historical context, give this a read.

[losingmyselfinsleep]

“Are you happy you’re back?”

He saw through my question before I did.

“Are you happy I’m back?” he retorted.

Call Me by Your Name

[rachel-sylvan-author]

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Victor Hugo

Thank you @its_a_good_read for the reread! ❤️

[m1ssrenee]

The other day when I posted that I got the Frankenweenie novel, I started to read it and I literally just now finished the whole thing! But the thing is, the book talked about how after Sparky died, Victor never wanted to get out of his bed after that. And to make matters worse, at the beginning when his mom and dad were “complimenting” Victor’s homemade movie, he shook his head because he knew that his parents were only “supporting” him and that they didn’t understand him or what he does :( Poor Victor 😭😭

[littlecowmoo]

So you see...

[my-darling-boy]

I was at a bookstore looking through the art section and I saw a spine that said The Camden Town Nudes which was interesting because this didn’t seem like the bookstore where I would ever find something like that and I wanted to have a casual look but like. This also wasn’t exactly the bookstore where you felt like you could look at naked pictures let alone just suggestive paintings of them, it’s a really small shop as well, so I was like right I’ll just take a quick peek, I’m an art student, I love history, maybe I’ll buy it. I looked both ways and saw the shopkeep had left momentarily and no one was about, so I opened it and found it was an entire book featuring nude Edwardian women all painted by Walter Sickert between 1905-1912 and it was actually quite a revolutionary set of paintings for its time given that it featured very raw depictions of working class nude women in dark London instead of the elegant, white bedsheet clad, Demure middle and upper class women usually depicted.

And of course RIGHT as I flip to this lady’s boobs practically taking up an entire double page spread, every customer in a 5 mile radius appeared from around the corners of the shelf including the shopkeep and immediately regressing to a wet, pathetic Edwardian man from 1908, startled, I dropped the large book which caused a giant SLAP on the floor in this already silent store thus causing all patrons to look down at me scrambling on my knees to close a giant book of Edwardian boobs and let me tell you it would not have been nearly as funny had I not immediately felt like some Edwardian local pervert who just tried to sneak a cheeky peek at the erotic book in the bookstore only to drop it dramatically causing a scene, red up to his ears trying to shove it back on the shelf. Like such a casual and normal thing in modern day but looking at Edwardian women suddenly turned it into this egregious act as I apparently became possessed by the spirit of a moustached man in a bowler hat and morning coat going Good Heavens I mustn’t gaze upon these images in public lest the constable haul me away!

[futuristic-koala]

[words-at-night]

[stump-not-found]

i don't think the theraprism is a good thing, guys

[loveelizabeths]

love elizabeth s.

[ashwatchedeverygayshows]

What’s the saddest book you’ve ever read?

[rachel-sylvan-author]

"The Travelling Cat Chronicles" by Hiro Arikawa book recommendation by Rachel Sylvan

[poetrybyserhatdogan]

[egophiliac]

still ruminating over Lost In the Book With Spooky Skeletons Part 1, so here's a selection of some of my favorite little bits! (...some more loosely paraphrased than others) (I just feel like Idia has no room to criticize in general, okay)

anyway, I'm sure we're just going to have a fun time celebrating Halloween and nothing bad is going to happen whatsoever! :)

[pineapple-frenzy]

Book 2 au: sparring sessions and short hair katara

They like to have sparring sessions in order to keep their bending skills sharp. They allow themselves to go all out and not hold back at all cause they know if anyone got hurt, Katara could just heal them

But anyways, wouldn't it be kinda funny if Zuko accidentally burned Katara's hair tho? Aofkqldkkajfjd

The "I think we can save the hairloops" line is from @linnoya-writes thank you for that!! :>>

[leto-wriggt]

I try to make something beautiful of my pain, but sometimes I just have to sit with it. Sometimes all you can do is sit with it.