#source: lemony snicket

[megala-theia-praxidike]

Wednesday to Tyler:  I will love you as a thief loves a gallery and as a crow loves a murder, as a cloud loves bats and as a range loves braes. I will love you as misfortune loves orphans, as fire loves innocence and as justice loves to sit and watch while everything goes wrong

[aseriesofunfortunatetexts]

incorrect ASOUE

[embeccy]

"But I must admit I miss you terribly. The world is too quiet without you nearby."

- Lemony Snicket

🥺🥺🥺

- Embeccy

[incorrectdnb]

(Expunged watches The Emperor's New Groove)

Expunged: Man, whoever does the voice of Kronk, I'm telling you, he's one great actor.

(Expunged watches Family Guy)

Expunged: Oh, Joe's actor is quite the comic thespian!

(Expunged watches A Series of Unfortunate Events)

Expunged: Wait a minute, here...they're just using the same actor over and over! What kind of cut-rate production is this?

[astroboyart]

Source: Colin Brady (YouTube)

Link 1

Link 2

Lost media of early development animations from the 2009 Astro Boy movie, dated from March 28 through May 15, 2007.

Many Astro Boy fans will likely recognize the thumbnail of the second video, as it is an image that was widely shared online for the 2009 Astro Boy movie as far back as the late 2000s.

They were posted on Colin Brady's YouTube page on May 29, 2024. Colin Brady was the original director for the 2009 Astro Boy movie before Imagi Studios switched to David Bowers.

Colin Brady worked on many high profile movies in the past, including Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Men in Black II, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Hulk (2003), and TMNT (2007). Brady is currently the Chief Creative Officer of AMGI studios, a studio he helped to create.

[dmercer91]

happy birthday, ee73

i was today years old when i learnt i share a birthday with eddy and shango

this is short but i ran out of cryptic college hockey boy things to say

yourusername

liked by edwards.73, markestapa and 629 others

yourusername: eddy can have his first legal drink since last summer! (when he was home and could literally legally drink) happy birth you stupid prick, i love you <3

view 112 comments..

edwards.73: i am not stupid

→ yourusername: that’s not a real airtight defence baby i still called you a prick

→ edwards.73: that i can be

→ markestapa: @/yourusername who do u think you are calling my boyfriend baby

→ yourusername: YOUR boyfriend 🤨 ethan???? who is this??

→ edwards.73: uhhhh baby i can explain

→ markestapa: WHICH ONE OF US ARE YOU TALKING TO

→ edwards.73: FUCK IDK STOP YELLING AT ME MAN

edwards.73: thank you, baby <3

→ yourusername: <3

nolan_moyle: cold hamburger

→ yourusername: mmmmmmm lukewarm actually

→ noylan_moyle: scalding hot french fries?

→ yourusername: oh yeah

markestapa: birth is a term which here means the emergence of a baby or other young from the body of its mother; the start of life as a physically separate being. in this case, that would the process ethan edwards' mother endured on the sixth of june, 2002, and not the event taking place on the sixth of june, 2023. the word you are looking for at the beginning of the final sentence in your caption is 'birthday', which here means the same date an individual was born, but in the years following their birth.

→ yourusername: bro thinks he's lemony snicket

dylanduke25: excellent use of foreshadowing with that last photo

→ yourusername: excuse me

→ dylanduke25: what did you fart

lhughes_06: i see the insults aren't put on hold as a birthday gift

→ yourusername: it's my only source of comedy luke please stop trying to make me be nice

mackie.samo: why include duker in the birthday post

→ yourusername: cause ethan looks hot all sweaty and shirtless

→ mackie.samo: i need to start keeping these questions to myself

→ yourusername: and take away all my chances to call eddy hot??? that comment was very anti me i fear

seamuscasey26: hap bjorth

→ yourusername: real

g.brindley4: proposal before marriage 😟

→ yourusername: right?? in this day and age?

luca.fantilli: dog

→ yourusername: rat

→ adamfantilli: cat

→ jdrusk53: nelom 👹

→ yourusername: ok who let him out

→ rutgermcgroarty: ...

view more comments..

[friedwizardwhispers]

The thing about the "character are unreliable narrators" is that when they are, you have to take that into account when talking about the character and the story

Like for example, let's go with Lemony Snicket in a series of unfortunate events who is telling the story of the Baudelaire children, he is an unreliable narrator because he a) only have second-hand sources about them b) he is on the lamb from the law while "writing the book" c) has a vested interest because of his relationship with the Baudelaire parents and d) is part of a secret organization, all of these are part of his character so when you analyse the story and the characters you have to take that into account, right ?

Same with Katniss in the Hunger Games, she is an unreliable narrator because she is a teenager with her own bias (see her pov on Peeta for almost the entirety of the first book) who doesn't know all of the secrets and who is actively being manipulated by adults. This is part of her character.

This is when we go to MXTX and why I am annoyed when people call the main characters, unreliable narrators. First of all, they are not telling anyone theirs stories, there is no intent here .

Second of all, the narration is absolutely unreliable that is true but the characters are not actively lying to us about it. If they were we would have to take that into account when analysing them.

Xie Lian for example is not lying to us or trying to trick the reader into thinking he doesn't know who Fu Yao and Nan Feng are, the narrator,who isn't Xie Lian revealed that he knew all along later because of the rule of funny. It wasn't a choice made by Xie Lian in the story, if it was we would have to wonder why he did it.

Shen Qingqiu is not actively lying to us about when he is crying right before he is about to detonate himself for Binghe, he is lying to himself. There is no intent to trick us because he is still not the narrator.

Wei Wuxian is not actively hiding the core exchange reveal from us because he doesn't want to talk about it or whatever, the narrator is keeping the reveal until the most dramatic moment.

If a character is an unreliable narrator, then that's also part of theirs characterization which is not the case for any of our main characters.

[runningoutofbooks]

There should be a documentary style film about Lemony Snicket with all the sources from The Unauthorized Autobiography and the Leading Snicket Expert needs to be Daniel Handler

[unfortunatetheorist]

What happened to the statue of The Bombinating Beast? - Part 1: ATWQ to ASOUE

This theory is dedicated to @ven10, whose post depicting the statue in the episode of The End (https://www.tumblr.com/unfortunatetheorist/758594891663212544/it-certainly-is-ven10-it-certainly-is?source=share), inspired my thoughts. There are also inferences made by @snicketsleuth (and @snicketstrange) which are used.

So, by the end of WITNDFAON (which I admit I haven't read yet but will get round to), we know that The Bombinating Beast statue is of great importance, as well as:

"Snicket fed Armstrong to the creature, and then wandered into the Clusterous Forest with the statue. It is unknown what he did with the statue and what happened to that beast, or its siblings, after this" ~ Snicket Wiki.

The only hint we have of The Bombinating Beast is that Lemony wanders into the Clusterous Forest with it's statue. Therefore it is important to take into consideration an extra detail about the Clusterous Forest, which links the ATWQ universe to ASOUE:

Lucky Smells Lumbermill gets its green timber from The Clusterous Forest.

This is my line of reasoning as to what happened:

1. Despite being an agent of VFD, Lemony is still a child, so there is a chance he feels some remorse for killing Armstrong Feint/Hangfire.

2. It is out of said remorse that Lemony decides to have nothing to do with the Beast again, burying the statue of the Beast deep in the forest... or so he thinks.

3. During ASOUE (just before TMM) a worker (e.g. Evander) chopping trees for Lucky Smells Lumbermill comes across the statue.

4. Not knowing what to do with it, and being under hypnotic influence, the worker promptly hands it to the foreman, who gives it to Sir.

5. It is extremely likely that Sir (The Miserable Mill) and Wiley Smogface (FU:13SI, ATWQ) are in fact the same person; however, there is no reference of any connection whatsoever between Sir/Smogface and The Bombinating Beast's statue. This implies that he knows nothing about the Beast, which makes little sense given that he is from Stain'd-by-the-Sea.

This logical gap can be filled: if Sir/Smogface had a "very terrible childhood" as Charles has clearly stated during TMM, this could refer to his parents bouncing around from town to town as they seek different jobs with more and more money. Hence, Wiley is left by himself in his parents' latest job-stop - Stain'd-by-the-Sea - unaware of the legend of The Bombinating Beast.

6. Sir has no idea of the power he holds... but apparently, neither does Georgina! There's also no reference to Georgina knowing anything about the statue - she's just a VFD optometrist with a bad reputation who lives in Paltryville, even during the events of ATWQ.

This implies that the statue... well... just stood there, as an ornament, in Sir's office.

7. Someone took the statue from Sir's office at Lucky Smells Lumbermill. But who? Well, whoever it was must have known two things:

a) The importance of the statue

b) It's location

There are only 3 people who seem to fit the bill perfectly - Lemony, Ellington and Moxie.

We know that each of them have their reasons:

Lemony: To use its power to somehow help the Baudelaires.

Ellington: To end it all after falling into a depression from the loss of her father OR to claim revenge on Lemony after having gone through the grief mentioned above.

Moxie: For a great story and the Mallahan legacy; after all, Lady Mallahan allegedly slew the Original Bombinating Beast.

@snicketsleuth's post, 'What is The Great Unknown?' (Full post here: The Snicket Sleuth — What is “The Great Unknown”? (tumblr.com)), says the following:

"Following the events of “All The Wrong Questions”, Ellington eventually escaped from the prison cell with Kit Snicket thanks to the skeleton key in Ellington’s bag. Kit and Ellington, before going their own ways, exchanged a good deal of information. Kit Snicket could not help noticing Ellington acted extremely angry towards Lemony and VFD in general.

In the following years, Ellington worked tirelessly to recover her father’s remaining assets as well as uncovering the secrets of Inhumane Society. Though the book Caviar: Salty Jewel of the Tasty Sea was destroyed, she had had the opportunity to read some chapters Lemony hadn’t. No one knew about the CBB more than her. With some effort, she managed to find the animal hiding in the Clusterous Forest, as well as the Bombinating Beast statue that Lemony had buried there. With the statue, she was now in control of the CBB. Eventually she managed to track down an octopus-shaped submarine which used to belong to Hangfire, only to lose it to Count Olaf.

As Olaf escaped with the submarine (now rebaptized the Carmelita), Ellington pursued him. She used the statue to control the CBB, ordering it to seize the Carmelita. The CBB first encountered the Queequeg in close vicinity to the Queequeg. Unsure whether these two crafts were allied with each other, Ellington ordered the CBB to stand down. Captain Widdershins mistook the question-mark shape on their radar for an enemy submarine.  Later, Ellington witnessed the Queequeg being attacked by the Carmelita, and decided to approach the CBB to scare Count Olaf and help the crew of the Queequeg. Count Olaf also assumed the mysterious entity was an enemy submarine."

I agree with Ellington being the one who takes the statue...

...but I don't think she found it in the Clusterous Forest. Sorry, @snicketsleuth.

8. If Georgina's reputation was really as bad as Moxie made it out to be, there is a chance that Ellington would have visited the Lumbermill in disbelief - I think it is here that she stumbles upon the statue.

9. This happens:

"With the statue, she was now in control of the CBB. Eventually she managed to track down an octopus-shaped submarine which used to belong to Hangfire, only to lose it to Count Olaf.

As Olaf escaped with the submarine (now rebaptized the Carmelita), Ellington pursued him. She used the statue to control the CBB, ordering it to seize the Carmelita. The CBB first encountered the Queequeg in close vicinity to the Queequeg. Unsure whether these two crafts were allied with each other, Ellington ordered the CBB to stand down. Captain Widdershins mistook the question-mark shape on their radar for an enemy submarine.  Later, Ellington witnessed the Queequeg being attacked by the Carmelita, and decided to approach the CBB to scare Count Olaf and help the crew of the Queequeg. Count Olaf also assumed the mysterious entity was an enemy submarine.

The Queequeg eventually escaped from the clutches of the Carmelita. While making their way to the Hotel Denouement, Olaf, Esme and Carmelita Spats realized the Baudelaire orphans’ absence and were betrayed by Fernald and Fiona who let the imprisoned youngsters start a mutiny. Ellington followed the entire mutiny from afar. The youngsters were released. Esme, Olaf and Carmelita fled. The octopus-shaped submarine was eventually given back to Ellington Feint who promised to help Fernald and Fiona if they were ever in trouble."

10. Ellington had no further use for the CBB (as she already gained her father's submarine, which was the intention) so she [presumably, most likely] discarded the statue in the sea, before it washed up on the island, as @ven10 describes.

Part 2 (Post-ASOUE) coming soon,

~ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph, Unfortunate Theorist/Snicketologist

[moldygreenblue]

(Lack of) Impulse Control

(Day five prompt for Woevember, created by @asouefanworkevent.)

(AO3 link is here.)

Klaus keeps quiet as he heads towards the in-bookstore café, bag in hand. While he was prone to do impulse purchases, most of the time they were limited to clothes shopping, having unexpectedly finding the perfect accessory for his usually plan outfits (mainly bowties; his fondness for them hasn’t waver over the years).

This impulse purchase though, was due to unexpectedly seeing proof of what Violet and Sunny told him weeks prior. Violet mentioned hearing the familiar name of–

SNICKET

–on her day to pick up Sunny and Beatrice from school. Sunny saw–

SNICKET

–on a list of potentially banned books at the school library. In both cases, the context of–

SNICKET

–relates to a book series. A book series that revolved around them, in the time period the three siblings agreed to be the most unfortunate phase of their lives. And it was damn fitting that the series itself was call ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ written by Lemony Snicket.

Lemony Snicket, the brother of Jacques and Kit Snicket. The man who Violet would have been name after had she been a boy. The man who was thought to be dead by Kit Snicket on her deathbed, and to the Baudelaires themselves for years since their return to the mainland.

Research told Klaus that the man had been mistaken for dead several times before—especially by The Daily Punctilio. Butthe last report of death didn’t come from that dreadful newspaper. It came from a different source, The Ace Times. However, The Ace Times mentioned how the official report couldn’t make it a proper identification; Snicket’s dental records for some unknown reason couldn’t be found for comparison. As such, there’s a fifty-fifty chance Mr. Snicket may have in fact, written the first book of the series inside Klaus’ bag: The Bad Beginning.

As Klaus approached the counter, he looked up at the menu hanging above the barista’s head. The barista gave him a nod, and spoke in a clear voice.

“Hello, sir. What can I get for you today?”

“May I get an ice coffee with whipped cream and caramel sauce, please?”

Considering his book purchase, Klaus plans to go all out with his drink today.

[free-my-boy-grumbot]

what are the religious themes and parallels of ASOUE part thirteen?

I’m so glad you asked! and completely unprompted, too :)

okay so you know that karl marx quote “religion is the opium of the people”? and how that means that religion allows its followers to turn a blind eye to societal problems and to ease people’s concerns about their life? yeah well lemony snicket did that literally. the island in The End is a result of Ishmael realising that he had lost control of VFD. originally, he wanted to create a peaceful society of noble, well-read people — this led him to enforce a black-and-white view of morality onto its members. obviously, there were people who criticised this, but believe it or not ishmael is not an open minded man. once again, he believes that there is an objective view of morality, and those questioning it are inherently evil. so, he convinced the volunteers that those people were dangerous, which led to a schism, which led to. well you know. anyways that was a gross oversimplification because that’s not what i’m talking about! what i was GOING to say was that he took some people affected by the schism — people who were also seeking an escape from the horrors that VFD had put them through — and he created a civilisation for them on an island. the only source of drinkable water on this island was cordial contaminated with opioids, and he knew this. in fact, he actively stopped newcomers from creating a water filtrations system. he then did everything in his power to make the inhabitants forget their old lives. he convinced them they’d ended up here by shipwreck, he made them bring him anything that washed up to determine if it was “safe”, he stored any reminders of the past on the other side of the island and banned the inhabitants from going there.

“nothing wrong with a little opium for the people!!” SIR. SIR THERE IS. Ishmael believes that peace should be achieved through any means necessary. therefore, if a problem has become too difficult to solve, he is all for simply pretending it doesn’t exist. This is why he gives the opiates to the islanders. He believes that maintaining a peaceful VFD has grown too complicated, and that the only way a peaceful society can exist is if its members unquestionably accept his rules. He not only believes morality to be black and white, but enforces this belief onto the volunteers, teaching them that following his authority is inherently “good”, and those who oppose or even question it are inherently evil. Since he couldn’t run a society like this in the “real world” — he would always have opposition, which would always mean conflict — he simply created his own, smaller world, where the civilians were too high off their balls to think critically about his leadership. After that, he only had to seem benevolent on the surface because they would all be too comfortable to dig deeper.

Now, black-and-white ethics, dictation of peace, dismissal of societal issues, and lack of scrutiny towards authority are all classic criticisms of the catholic church, and you could definitely draw some parallels between Ishmael’s style of leadership and organised religion. This has all been quite generic antitheism so far. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!!!

There is an apple tree on the “bad” side of the island. the tree is hollow. there is a library inside, containing any books which may remind the islanders of their past life. these mostly include books from the volunteers and firestarters, the “good” and “bad” sides of the schism. one might say it’s a sort of. a s. a sort of tree of knowledge of good and evil, if you will.

And then later in the book, klaus and violet, a man and a woman, are given an apple from that tree by a snake. classic daniel handler subtlety <3 so ofc this represents genesis, but here is where we get Wierd With It.

The apple saves the baudelaires. They were poisoned with the medusoid mycelium, and the apple immunised them. in fact, the apple is not presented in a negative light in the slightest. this has VERY interesting implications in my opinion and it makes me think that daniel handler is saying, in the bible, eve was also never wrong for eating the fruit! we would be nowhere without the knowledge of sin and death and suffering, there would be no art without it, nor would there be appreciation for the good (ok this part might be me)! eve was in the right, and so was the snake!! which is also incredibly fitting because everyone thinks that the incredibly deadly viper is evil but it actually wouldn’t hurt a fly (we know because monty tried to feed it flies :))

“ohhh ur overthinking it” yes on purpose overthinking this series is my number one hobby. anyways i just thought daniel handler was making an interesting point here :33 anyways i will add more stuff if i think of it

[bestadaptationtournament]

Round 2: from Children's novel series to TV

His Dark Materials (TV)

Adapted from novel series by Philip Pullman

It is PERFECT. Like the visuals the actors the tone it’s just SO GOOD. You can just tell that everyone involved clearly loves this story and cares that it’s done well. And the novels are great, but I think the existence of the show elevates them because there’s aspects of them that when you read it you weren’t quite sure about but then you watch it and it’s like ohhhhh OH RIGHT! Plus it’s just a genuinely good show everyone should go watch it.

A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV)

Adapted from novel series by Lemony Snicket

The show keeps the story and tone faithful to the novels, and elevates the work with the addition of the excellent songs, added depth to characters such as the librarian-turned- carnival-fortuneteller Olivia Caliban and her involvement with the secret society instrumental to the plot, as well as introducing the secret society earlier and explaining it better than in the novels. —@donut371

[aseriesofunfortunatetexts]

incorrect ASOUE

[triflesandparsnips]

Good Omens Book Club

So I have, in other fandoms, talked about the importance of what an audience can actually see on the screen. Specifically: When a constrained format (like, say, between 45 to 56 minutes of a single visual/audio input) is telling a constrained story (like, say, something that must start, climax, and resolve within some kind of structure), it's useful for the audience to pay attention to what gets given the valuable real estate of camera/story time.

So when time is given and effort made to show the actual titles of actual books... well.

Figure 1. Local bookshelf weighted down by an over-abundance of literary allusions.

This is a screenshot from episode 3 of Good Omens's second season, as Jim is reshelving all the books in Aziraphale's book shop by the first letter of their first sentences. He's about to shelve Jane Austens's Pride and Prejudice ("It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.") and the red sideways book, that he is about to pick up, is Good Omens itself ("It was a nice day.").

But, unusually, we can see the title of almost every other book on the shelf. Several of them appeared in the advertising poster, too, as I outlined previously (if you click that link, be advised that I am very proud of several bits of that essay and also let's not talk about how my go-to for musical references is Middle English folk rather than, say, Buddy Holly). Anyway-- with this in mind, and the understanding that time, effort, and celluloid have been spent on getting this shot to the audience, it would behoove us, I think, to actually look at these books.

Figure 2. A pair of showrunners providing not-so-subtle ancillary notation suggesting the same thing, so really, this is a no-brainer in terms of meta fodder.

Okay, Trifles, so what about the book club

Technically, this isn't my idea. It's Neil's and Douglas's, so jot that down.

What I figure is, I can provide a list of the books shown, their first lines, and a VERY brief summary of each. Those are below. And as I rewatch the show, I may reblog this post with additions, but also...

I've read some of these, but not all of them, and not recently -- with at least one of them, though, I remember enough to know that the first line and summary do nothing to showcase the heartrending possibilities the book may be alluding to for the overall Good Omens narrative.

And further-- as I collected these summaries and first lines, I started noticing some compelling commonalities. Which I, for one, would like to confirm and dig into more deeply.

So while I'm going to start reading these, it might be a Nice Idea for other folks to do so as well. The more write-ups we can get, the greater the concordance of Interesting Insights might be available. (And if you tag me in your write up, or otherwise draw my attention, I will gladly link your essay up here for the edification of others omfg.)

ANYWAY

The "Jim Shelving" Book List

From right to left (which feels odd, but it's the actual alphabetical-by-letter arrangement), and summaries from various internet sources:

Herzog, by Saul Bellows

"If I am out of my mind, it's all right with me, thought Moses Herzog."

"Herzog is a 1964 novel by Saul Bellow, composed in part of letters from the protagonist [...] The novel follows five days in the life of Moses E. Herzog who, at the age of forty-seven, is having a midlife crisis following his second divorce."

A Series of Unfortunate Events, (series) by Lemony Snicket

"If you are interested in happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book."

The first book in the series, The Bad Beginning, "tells the story of three children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, who become orphans following a fire and are sent to live with Count Olaf, who attempts to steal their inheritance."

The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."

"The novel details two days in the life of 16-year-old Holden Caulfield after he has been expelled from prep school. [...] From what is implied to be a sanatorium, Holden, the narrator and protagonist, tells the story of his adventures before the previous Christmas."

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since."

"Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan."

The Bible, (anthology) by God et al.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

"25 And the Lord spake unto the Angel that guarded the eastern gate, saying 'Where is the flaming sword that was given unto thee?'

26 And the Angel said, 'I had it here only a moment ago, I must have put it down some where, forget my own head next.'

27 And the Lord did not ask him again."

The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler

"It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills."

"Private investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood to stop a blackmailer. Marlowe suspects that the old General is merely testing his caliber before trusting him with a bigger job, one involving Sternwood's two amoral daughters."

Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

"In George Orwell's iconic and prophetic masterpiece, 1984, a haunting vision of a dystopian future unfolds. Set in a world dominated by the all-seeing eye of Big Brother, the story follows Winston Smith, a lowly Party member whose very thoughts are scrutinized. As the Party manipulates history and suppresses truth, Winston's yearning for individuality and connection pushes him into a daring dance on the edge of rebellion."

[A title I cannot, unfortunately, read-- if anyone who HAPPENS to be familiar with the show and HAPPENS to perhaps also be on tumblr just HAPPENS to say what this book might be, that would be Very Much Appreciated]

"????"

[WOW I WISH I WAS A SUMMARY OH WELL]

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller

"It was love at first sight."

"Set in the closing months of World War II in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, Catch-22 is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never even met keep trying to kill him. Joseph Heller's bestselling novel is a hilarious and tragic satire on military madness, and the tale of one man's efforts to survive it."

Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel García Márquez

"It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love."

"The story, which treats the themes of love, aging, and death, takes place between the late 1870s and the early 1930s in a South American community troubled by wars and outbreaks of cholera. It is a tale of two lovers, artistic Florentino Ariza and wealthy Fermina Daza, who reunite after a lifetime apart."

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon

"It was seven minutes after midnight."

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a 2003 mystery novel by British writer Mark Haddon. [...] The novel is narrated in the first-person perspective by Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old boy who is described as "a mathematician with some behavioural difficulties" living in Swindon, Wiltshire. [...] Christopher sets out to solve the murder [of a neighbor's dog] in the style of his favourite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes."

The Crow Road, by Iain Banks

"It was the day my grandmother exploded."

A Scottish family drama about a perfect murder against the backdrop of the 1990s Gulf War. "This Bildungsroman is set in the fictional Argyll town of Gallanach, the real village of Lochgair, and in Glasgow, where the adult Prentice McHoan lives. Prentice's uncle Rory disappeared eight years previously while writing a book called The Crow Road. Prentice becomes obsessed with papers his uncle left behind and sets out to solve the mystery. Along the way he must cope with estrangement from his father, unrequited love, sibling rivalry, and failure at his studies."

No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley, by Rita Marley with Hettie James

"I was an ambitious girl child."

"Fans of reggae legend Bob Marley will welcome this no-nonsense biography from his wife, Rita, who was also his band member, business partner, musical collaborator and the only person to have witnessed firsthand his development from local Jamaican singer to international superstar."

I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith

"I write this sitting in the kitchen sink."

"I Capture the Castle tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her family, who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives, over six turbulent months, to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love."

...and because I happen to know and love this book, I'm aware of the devastating last lines...

"Only the margin left to write on now. I love you, I love you, I love you."

[asrisgratitudejournal]

Buku part 2

Haaaaaaaaa. Sudah selesai weekend minggu ini sodara-sodara dan sekarang sudah 22 (23 sekarang, itu draft semalam) September?? Wtf. Ku masih ada hutang mau ngelanjutin tulisan ya tentang buku ini.

Berhubungan dengan itu adalah: aku baru saja menyelesaikan 2 buku di beberapa hari belakang: Dallergut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee dan Poison for Breakfast-nya Lemony Snicket yang keluar 2021! Both were delights to read. Dua-duanya genrenya fiksi tapi yang satu fiksi totok betul-betul penuh hiburan dan penuh imajinasi, while satunya sangat… filosofis dan BANYAK banget bikin belajar tentang literature.

Ku pernah cerita di sini: https://www.tumblr.com/asrisgratitudejournal/758711603506135040/library?source=share pas ku beli si Miye Lee itu dan beneran emang lambat banget bacanya karena ku gak nemu waktu yang tepat untuk duduk dan focus baca aja sih. Terus yang Lemony Snicket terpicu dari recent twitter trend: ku menemukan foto bookshelf orang dengan buku-buku Snicket jadi kepo “dia gak ngeluarin buku baru kah recently?”. Ternyata ada! Di 2021! Awalnya tentu saja search di library dulu biar gak usah beli kan, tapi ternyata gaada di library. Search di google ternyata ada di Blackwell’s Westgate, dan cuma £7 pulak, jadi yaudah sikat deh habis pulang dari lab ke situ dulu.

Jujur kalau mau digali lagi waktu minggu lalu teh mau nulis apa tentang buku juga ga inget sekarang. OH! Bahas siapa aja yang kubaca dulu dan gimana awal mulanya ku senang baca. Pas lagi bahas sama Puspa dan Oliv tentang betapa bersyukurnya kita sekarang hidup di jaman kita bisa baca buku tulisan cewek, ku langsung mencoba nginget-nginget aku teh dulu baca siapa aja ya… kayanya standar anak kelahiran 90-an:

Esti Kinasih (Fairish WKWKW itu keluaran 2004, terus ada juga CEWEK!!! keluaran 2005); Dealova by Dian Nuranindya, terus dari situ kayanya langsung ke Tere Liye(?). SEMUA novel dia tuh ku beli dari Daun yang Jatuh, Hapalan solat Delisa, dst. Mulai berhenti kayanya pas kuliah. Terus juga sempat ada periode Andrea Hirata. Kayanya yang orang Indo udah sih itu doang.

Yang terjemahan tentu saja: Harry Potter (mama yang pertama kali beliin bawa dari kantor karena fomo ceunah wkwk), terus Hunger Games, Twilight, Divergent (semuanya penulis cewek). Oh! Sama tentu saja Lemony Snicket. Dulu hype banget asli dah. Semua orang di sekolah keknya baca atau kalau ada orang yang pas istirahat baca itu tuh kek keren banget gitu dan ku jadi mau pinjem. Sempat ada periode ku suka minjem buku random juga deh kayanya di perpus SMP, cerita-cerita rakyat gitu. Ku inget banget sampe pernah ada fase ku nabung sehari 3ribu apa ya, buat ngumpulin duit pre-order Harry Potter 7. Keluar Januari 2008. Itu aku kelas 12 SMA, mau UN malah baca Harry Potter.... Untuk anak SMA buku 270ribu tu mahal banget (sekarang pun masih terasa mahal). Itu dulu mahal karena hard-cover kayanya. Ku betulan yang dateng ke Gramedia matraman ngangkot beres sekolah sore2 terus jalan ke counter: “mbak, saya mau pre-order buku Harry Potter ini ya…”. Ku lupa bayarnya kayanya pas ngambil bukunya deh.

Baca Pulang-nya Leila S. Chudori boleh minjem punya mantanku dulu pas kuliah dan dia juga yang ngerekomendasiin. Terus pas kuliah udah deh tu ilang aja hobi bacanya. Masih baca tipis-tipis sih tapi tipis banget dibandingkan pas SMA, waktu itu lagi eranya YA (Young Adult) yang sangat sarat dengan mental health awareness, youth identity (LGBTQ+ and race being people of color etc), police brutality, social justice: John Green, Nicola Yoon, Jennifer Niven, Rainbow Rowell, David Levithan, Angie Thomas. Kayanya itu periode ku mulai transisi ke baca novel Bahasa inggris juga. Di Bandung untungnya ada Periplus Setiabudi, jadi ku suka banget ke sana. Itu juga jaman-jaman udah punya uang lebih dari ngajar olim, jadi kadang kalau lagi pulang ke Jakarta bakal ke Kinokuniya, Aksara kemang, sama ke Periplus juga. Harga buku Bahasa inggris YA ini dulu mungkin di range 150-250ribu kali ya.

Karena mahal, jadinya tidak bisa sering-sering beli bukunya. Sehingga di periode kuliah, ku jadi lebih suka nonton, dan emang dulu itu jamannya ngopi-ngopian film/series dari hard-disk gitu loh inget gak. Sama piratebay wkwkwk. Betul-betul 0 rupiah. Oh sama ada juga FTP ITB yang semua orang bisa download filem atau mp3 di situ. Dulu series yang ditonton ada: Heroes, Game of Thrones jelas, Revenge, Pretty Little Liars (OMG), House of Cards, Veep, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Teen Wolf(!!!), Sherlock, The Flash (awal-awal season doang nontonnya), Glee!!!, Empire, Gossip Girl, Mr. Robot, Master of None, Korra, Brooklyn 99, Orange Is The New Black, Westworld, mencoba nonton Breaking Bad tapi nggak nyangkut.

Tapi ku emang berprivilege seprivilege-privilegednya sih dalam hal baca (dan buku)… yang dari dulu tiap hari Kamis pulang kantor pasti mama beliin Bobo. Dari belom bisa baca pun di kasur dibacain cerita. Terus pas udah agak gedean, mama papaku langganan Kompas setiap hari dan di hari Minggu tuh ada Kompas anak. Di rumah juga papaku suka banget beli buku-buku Islam, ngelihat itu aku pun tumbuh besar menjadi anak yang “Oh membaca itu penting yah”. Pas mudik ke rumah mama di Klaten, di rak buku ada novel-novel Mira W. buanyaaak banget. Kayanya dulu ada 1 atau 2 yang kuhabisin pas lagi di periode lebaran itu. Jadi, ya memang budaya aja sih. Dan baca-baca reply twitter kemarin ya kesadar aja, oh belum semua orang seberuntung aku yah dalam hal ini. Bahkan punya teman-teman yang suka baca juga penting banget! Ada pulak yang cerita kalau dia malah dikata-katain kalau suka baca. Buset.

Aku dari dulu mimpinya cuma satu: punya rumah baca sendiri. Bisa bikin buat anak-anak/orang dewasa pun, bisa baca, senang baca. Dulu tuh masih ada rental buku gitu, di belakang stasiun Duren Kalibata, sama seberang pombensin volvo PasMing. Sekarang modelan gini masih ada kah? Dulu harganya se-buku 3000/minggu apaya buat minjem, murah banget kok. Dan bisa baca di tempat juga kalau mau. Kalau perpus-perpus yang hype di Jakarta kaya di Cikini dan Perpusnas medan merdeka gitu koleksinya ok kah? Ku pernah sih sekali ke perpusnas tapi jatohnya cuma buat liat-liat aja bukan baca. Sebetulnya di tempat kerja di UI juga ok sih perpusat tapi ak malah gak pernah masuk ke perpusatnya. Nanti deh ngecek kalau udah pulang.

Sejak tinggal di Oxford apa yah, tapi library tuh betul-betul tempat favoritku banget sih. Dulu pas di ITB masalahnya library tu lebih ke “tempat nongkrong TPB” dan agak bikin PTSD karena belajar ujian TPB semua di situ kan, jadi setelah Tingkat 2 udah boro-boro masuk ke perpus lagi. Kalo pas S2, bibliothèque-nya di basement jadi gaada sinar matahari masuk terus jadinya moodnya suram gitu, jadi malas deh.

Udah kayanya mau sampai situ dulu aja reminiscent tentang baca bukunya. Kalau sekarang, ku lagi suka banget eksplor penulis-penulis cewek tapi yang non-american/british dan non-white (karena sekarang ceritanya dah bisa Bahasa inggris jadi lebih gede options pool-nya). Gaktau kenapa sih, gaada alasan khusus, tapi kayanya di reading scene (di barat) pun, emang lagi banyak dinaikin penulis-penulis People of Colour/BAME ini? Ku terakhir baca Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie yang Americanah (bagus banget ku sangat merekomendasi). Dia Nigerian, jadi fresh banget diction/vocab yang dibawa. Terus ku bisa relate juga dalam hal privilege, economy background, culture-nya si characters karena Nigeria dan Indonesia mirip-mirip lah ya negara berkembangnya. Terus ada RF Kuang yang super hits 2 tahun belakangan, walaupun ku belum baca Babel sih… tapi Yellowface udah. Bernardine Evaristo. Penulis-penulis Jepang/Korea (translated dari Bahasa mereka ke English). Udah sih. Dolly Alderton palingan. Sisanya ku juga baca non-fiction tapi gak semenarik itu jadi malas kubahas. Komik juga dulu ku baca sampai di rumah ada koleksi Detective Conan, Doraemon, dan hai Miiko yang lumayan komplit.

Paling aneh dari ini semua, setelah ku-scroll lagi ke atas adalah: aku sekarang into kpop… jujur aneh banget.

Dah sekian dulu nge-rant-nya mau kembali bekerja. Buh-bye!

23 September 2024 18:01 flat 39 hujan seharian jadi di rumah aja

[littlestsnicket]

tagged by @gellavonhamster (thank you :) )

Rules: Go to your (current/main) AO3 account and find the following:

What ratings do you write most of your fics under?

General Audiences (81), so that is the overwhelming majority. idk. i think i factor in the source material to how i rate things. like if i wrote asoue fic with the same amount of sex as the sexy witcher fic i've written i probably would have rated it explicit instead of mature. or netflix witcher fic that contains the word "fuck" often still gets a general audience tag.

What are your top three fandoms?

The Witcher -- All Media Types (31)

A Series of Unfortunate Events -- Lemony Snicket (26)

The Witcher (TV) -- 25

(Community (TV) is next with 21, since there's duplicate witcher tags)

I do write a lot of drabbles so I end up having quite a few works

What is the top character you write about?

Jaskier (21)

What are your top three pairings?

Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier | Dandelion (13)

Annie Edison & Abed Nadir (7)

Beatrice Baudelaire/Lemony Snicket (5)

(and then platonic yennskier also has 5)

(how have i written that much platonic geraskier? probably because i read so much romance about them and then immediately go "ok, but what if they were platonic soulmates (maybe with benefits)?!?")

What are the top three additional tags?

Drabble (41)

Character Study (6)

Canonical Character Death (5)

Does any of this surprise you?

yeah, what the fuck even is that? uh... i should probably get better at tagging my fic. (also i'm pretty sure there are more drabbles than that. yeah... i just checked, there's 75. and that's works that contain exactly 100 words, not counting the many double drabbles or drabble sequences i posted as one work).

tagging: @astaldis, @kuwdora, @mossterious, @spoonietimelordy, @olivia-calidamn