#stephanie morgenstern

[letterboxd-loggd]

The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Atom Egoyan

January 14th 2023

[twistedappletree]

Modern!AU Zhuiling going on regular bookshop dates because Jin Ling knows how much Lan Sizhui loves books—and though he’d never admit it out loud, he loves watching LSZ zoom around the bookshop, piling several books in his arms and lighting up at all the titles that catch his interest.

Sometimes they huddle up on the floor together in an empty aisle and flip through pages while LSZ reads random passages out loud and JL rests his chin on LSZ’s shoulder, reading along and listening to his gentle ‘library’ voice.

Eventually, they grab coffee at the bookshop’s cozy little cafe filled with warm faerie lights and flickering neon signs buzzing on the walls while LSZ gushes over his new collection of books and JL watches him from across the table with the most adoring smile that he immediately tries to hide by shaking his bangs in his face and nervously sipping his coffee every time LSZ looks at him. ✨

[moondustbooks]

June JOMP Day 17 - Female Author

A few favorites. ❤️

[likeclarabow]

2024 Books Read

In a Holidaze - Christina Lauren (Jan 1)

The Long Games - Elena Armas (Jan 2)

The Seven Year Slip - Ashley Poston (Jan 3)

Something More - Jackie Kalilieh (Jan 3-Jan 4)

A Study in Drowning - Ava Reid (Jan 8-Jan 13)

Cockroach - Rawi Hage (Jan 17-Jan 24)

Confessions of an English Opium Eater - Thomas De Quincey (Jan 18-Jan 24)

The Night Circus (reread) - Erin Morgenstern (Jan 24-Jan 29)

Manfred - Lord Byron (Jan 29-Jan 31)

White Nights - Fyodor Dostoevsky (Jan 26-Feb 1)

Murder on the Links - Agatha Christie (Feb 1-Feb 5)

Fronteras Americanas: American Borders - Guillermo Verdecchia (Feb 8)

Total Chaos - Jean Claude Izzo (Feb 7-Feb 16)

I Was Their American Dream - Malaka Gharib (Feb 17-Feb 21)

Once in a Promised Land - Laila Halaby (Feb 26-Mar 1)

Babi Yar - Anatoly Kuznetsov (Feb 17-Mar 2)

Northanger Abbey (reread) - Jane Austen (Feb 27-Mar 3)

Delicious Monsters - Liselle Sambury (Mar 10-Mar 11)

The Flatshare - Beth O'Leary (Mar 12-Mar 13)

Divine Rivals - Rebecca Ross (Mar 13-Mar 14)

The Breakup Tour - Emily Wibberly + Austin Siegemund-Broka (Mar 14)

Foul Heart Huntsman - Chloe Gong (Mar 15-Mar 16)

I Hope This Doesn't Find You - Ann Liang (Mar 16-Mar 17)

Less - Andrew Sean Greer (Mar 17-Mar 18)

Night of Power - Anar Ali (Mar 20)

Winter in Sokcho - Elisa Shua Dusapin (Mar 20-Mar 22)

The Last Man - Mary Shelley (Mar 19-Mar 30)

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels - Janice Hallett (Mar 30-Mar 31)

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin - Timothy Snyder (Jan 10-Apr 4)

The Reappearance of Rachel Price - Holly Jackson (May 5-May 8)

Winter Garden - Kristin Hannah (May 14-May 16)

Conversations With Friends - Sally Rooney (May 17-May 28)

Biography of X - Catherine Lacey (May 30-June 9)

Her First Palestinian - Saeed Teebi (May 30-June 10)

Funny Story - Emily Henry (June 11-June 16)

November 1942 - Peter Englund (June 16-June 26)

Alone With You in the Ether - Olivie Blake (June 23-June 27)

A Man Called Ove - Fredrick Backman (June 27-June 29)

Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin (June 29-June 30)

The Girl in Question - Tess Sharpe (June 30-July 3)

The Girls I've Been (reread) - Tess Sharpe (July 4-July 5)

The Man in the High Castle - Phillip K Dick (July 6-July 12)

Ruthless Vows - Rebecca Ross (July 12-July 16)

Body Grammar - Jules Ohman (July 17-July 19)

Shanghailanders - Juli Min (July 19-July 23)

They're Going to Love You - Meg Howrey (July 24-July 26)

So Late in the Day - Claire Keegan (July 26)

That's Not My Name - Megan Lally (July 26)

The Blonde Identity - Ally Carter (July 27)

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands - Heather Fawcett (July 27-July 29)

The Sittaford Mystery - Agatha Christie (July 31-Aug 2)

Beautiful World Where Are You - Sally Rooney (Aug 3-Aug 8)

Mr Salary - Sally Rooney (Aug 9)

Penance - Eliza Clark (Aug 9-Aug 10)

Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata (Aug 11)

Educated - Tara Westover (Aug 12-Aug 14)

The Couple at No. 9 - Claire Douglas (Aug 15-Aug 20)

A Curse for True Love - Stephanie Garber (Aug 17-Aug 19)

London - Edward Rutherford (Aug 20-Aug 28)

The Girls - Emma Cline (Aug 28-Aug 29)

The List - Yomi Adegoke (Aug 30)

Florida - Lauren Groff (Aug 30-Aug 31)

Less is Lost - Andrew Sean Greer (Aug 31-Sept 1)

Love in the Time of Serial Killers - Alicia Thompson (Sept 1)

Zoya - Danielle Steele (Sept 1-Sept 3)

Where Are You, Echo Blue - Hayley Krischer (Sept 4-Sept 7)

Bellies - Nicola Dinan (Sept 8-Sept 15)

A Contract With God - Will Eisner (Sept 17)

The Rachel Incident - Caroline O'Donoghue (Sept 19-Sept 21)

Richard II - William Shakespeare (Sept 15-Sept 22)

Maus I - Art Spiegelman (Sept 19-Sept 24)

This Ravenous Fate - Hayley Dennings (Sept 22-Sept 25)

The Unwomanly Face of War - Svetlana Alexievich (Sept 15-Sept 25)

Foster - Claire Keegan (Sept 26)

Anne of Windy Poplars (reread) - L.M. Montgomery (Sept 21-Sept 30)

The Pairing - Casey McQuiston (Sept 26-Oct 1)

Dept of Speculation - Jenny Offill (Oct 2)

Watchman - Alan Moore (Sept 29-Oct 4)

The Getaway List - Emma Lord (Oct 3-Oct 5)

Death at Morning House - Maureen Johnson (Oct 6-Oct 8)

The God of the Woods - Liz Moore (Oct 9-Oct 13)

Boy Parts - Eliza Clark (Oct 13-Oct 14)

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (Oct 19-Oct 22)

Bliss Montage - Ling Ma (Oct 23-Oct 26)

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf (Oct 18-Oct 27)

Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi (Oct 24-Oct 28)

One for My Enemy - Olivie Blake (Oct 26-Oct 31)

Graveyard Shift - M.L. Rio (Nov 1-Nov 2)

Funny Boy - Shyam Selvadurai (Oct 26-Nov 4)

Rouge - Mona Awad (Nov 2-Nov 6)

[themattress]

So, I think the Viz dub of Sailor Moon is unquestionably the definitive English dub, no question about it. It blows DiC and Cloverway out of the water, and while I miss some of DiC's musical scores and songs, it is still clearly superior. With that said, these are the voices from those old dubs that I feel are just as good - and rarely, even better - than Viz's ones.

Usagi - Tracey Moore (DiC). To this day, Tracey Moore might be the most believable voice Usagi has ever had. Kotono Mitsuishi and Stephanie Sheh may be more definitive, but both are clearly putting on a high-pitched voice, whereas Moore's high-pitched voice sounded natural, like a real teenage girl's. More importantly, she nailed Usagi's character. Beyond Terri Hawkes being completely failed by her incompetent fanboy of a voice director who lacked all objectivity when it came to her and Linda Ballantyne being miscast, neither of them got Usagi's character right, voicing her as if she's a regular teenage girl which Usagi is not: she's a 14 year old who starts out with the maturity of a 7 year old. Moore had that childish quality down perfectly, as well as the heroic quality as Sailor Moon. That she ended up voicing the character the least out of anyone due to DiC rushing production is absolutely criminal.

Ami - Karen Bernstein (DiC). C'mon, how can you not like that odd Trans-Atlantic accent she gives Ami? Or the way she says "Mercury Bubbles - BLAST!" It sounds so appealing.

Rei - Katie Griffin (DiC/Cloverway). Now I love Cristina Vee, and kudos to Emily Barlow for temporarily filling in for Katie and giving a damn fine impression. But something about Katie's voice for Rei just sounds, much like Tracey Moore as Usagi, natural. I tend not to hear someone putting on a voice performance with Katie; I just hear Rei / Sailor Mars herself.

Makoto - Susan Roman (DiC/Cloverway). She did a great job. Not much else to say.

Minako - Emily Barlow (Cloverway). I will say that Stephanie Morgenstern did a far better job in the Pioneer-issued DiC movie dubs than she did in the show proper, but I still felt she failed when it came to conveying Minako's comedic side. Emily Barlow, fresh off of filling in for Katie Griffin as Mars, did a great job with that part of Minako's character. She was hilarious.

Mamoru - Vincent Corazza (DiC/Cloverway). Rino Romano was good as Mamoru but not as Tuxedo Mask, while Toby Proctor sucked as both. While he's no Robbie Daymond, Vincent Corazza is still the first to actually do the voices for Mamoru and his alter-ego well.

Artemis - Ron Rubin (DiC/Cloverway). Ron Rubin took a long time to get this voice down, voicing him too deeply in his first two episodes and then too high and scratchy for most of the DiC dub afterwards. But by the movies and Cloverway, he'd settled into an appropriate sounding voice for the character, nailing both his even-tempered and his comedic moments.

Shingo - Julie Lemieux (DiC/Cloverway). Here it is: a rare case of an old dub voice being much better than the Viz dub counterpart. I have no idea why Nicolas Roye was cast by Viz, but it didn't work. Julie Lemieux's voice actually sounds like a young boy's and is fitting to hear coming out of Shingo's mouth, rather than endlessly distracting like hearing Roye's is.

Naru - Mary Long (DiC/Cloverway). "It's Mawwwwwly!" Look, take the memeable accent out of the equation and Mary Long still put on a sweet and earnest performance as Usagi's best friend. And while I normally prefer Danielle Judovits, Mary's acting in Nephrite's death scene absolutely puts her to shame. It truly sounds like a girl screaming and crying as her love dies.

Chibiusa - Stephanie Beard (Cloverway). It's Suga BayBee, do I need to explain more?

Queen Beryl - Naz Edwards (DiC). The only issue I have with Naz Edwards is that she often wasn't directed to keep her voice down when she should in a scene, but that's not her fault. That aside, she was incredible as Queen Beryl, giving a theatrical performance that is both amusingly camp when it needed to be and maliciously terrifying when it needed to be. I honestly think Viz lucked out, as Cindy Robinson is perhaps the only voice actress I know of who is capable of matching Naz vocally. It is very difficult for me to choose between them.

Jadeite - Tony Daniels (DiC). Kevin Lund could've been great as Nephrite but he sucked due to crappy direction, Kirsten Bishop was great as Zoisite but the gender was all wrong, and Denis Akayama was wildly inconsistent as Kunzite. Tony Daniels as Jadeite is the only one who got it down perfectly, with a suitably smug, sadistic, raspy voice that could also disguise itself whenever the character was disguising himself. I prefer Todd Haberkorn, especially since he can do equally well as Crystal's Jadeite, but Tony Daniels was still great.

Ail - Vincent Corazza (DiC). Look, Brian Beacock is more accurate to the Japanese voice and has a better script, but I just love Vincent Corazza's dorkier take. It's just so lovable!

En - Sabrina Grdevich (DiC). Look, Dorothy Fahn is more accurate to the Japanese voice and has a better script, but I just love Sabrina Gredvich's dorkier take. It's just so lovable!

Grandpa Hino - John Stocker (Cloverway). Another time an old dub voice surpassed Viz! Michael Sorich does great and all, but John Stocker is a perfect match to the Japanese voice and even looks a lot like the character in real life! It was a casting match made in Heaven.

Rubeus - Robert Tinkler (DiC). For a third time, the old dub surpasses the new dub. Steve Staley worked better for Rubeus in Crystal, whereas Robert Tinkler did a far better job embodying the far more monstrous version in the 90s anime, with a deep voice prone to bouts of unhinged laughter. He really made Rubeus a character that you loved to despise.

Esmeraude - Kirsten Bishop (DiC). This was Bishop's best role, IMO. She had already displayed a great cackling laugh as Zoisite, so her then playing Esmeraude was perfect.

Saphir - Lyon Smith (DiC). Not much to say here. He did good.

Demande - Robert Bockstael (DiC). Sexy but creepy voice is fittingly sexy but creepy.

Wiseman - Tony Daniels (DiC). Tony did as good a job as Wiseman as he did with Jadeite, which is why it's so frustrating that he kept getting hampered by needless vocal effects.

Professor Tomoe - Jeff Lumby (Cloverway). Jeff Lumby did an excellent job being hammy, sinister, intelligent and hilarious sounding. He was clearly having a total blast in this role.

Diana - Loretta Jafelice (Cloverway). Her high, squeaky voice was annoying, but perfect.

Fisheye - Deborah Drakeford (Cloverway). What is fascinating about Deborah's performance is that even as the fact was being censored for TV, she still voiced the character like a trans woman. There are several occasions where you can hear a masculine quality seep through even though it's a female voice actress. She deserves mad props for that.

Hawk's Eye - Benji Plener (Cloverway). He sounds a lot like Michael Yurchak, just slightly more posh, and something about his pink hair and outfit makes a posh tone fit him well.

Pegasus - Rowan Tichenor (Cloverway). Now hear me out on this last one - I am saying he was good as Pegasus. A soft, deep and dignified voice makes sense for him, and makes him more mysterious. The mistake came when they didn't cast someone else to voice Helios, as that voice coming out of him is more jarring than Nicolas Roye's voice coming out of Shingo!

Honorable Mention: The Amazoness Quartet. Their old dub voices were fine, but I can't say they qualify for this list since their Viz dub voices outperform them to an extreme degree.

[permanentreverie]

books read in 2023

1) get a life, chloe brown -> talia hibbert: jan 1 - 3

2) the night circus -> erin morgenstern (reread): jan 9 - 11

3) lost in the never woods -> aiden thomas: jan 6 - 15

4) on earth we're briefly gorgeous -> ocean vuong: jan 12 - 15

5) clap when you land -> elizabeth acevedo: jan 17 - 18

6) comfort me with apples -> catherynne m. valente: jan 18

7) not here to be liked -> michelle quach: jan 19 - 23

8) night sky with exit wounds -> ocean vuong (reread): jan 25

9) time is a mother -> ocean vuong: jan 27

10) anatomy: a love story -> dana schwartz: jan 28 - 30

11) babel, or the necessity of violence: an arcane history of the oxford translaters' revolution -> r.f. kuang: jan 24 - feb 2

12) next of kin -> hannah bonam-young: feb 3 - 4

13) tokyo ever after -> emiko jean: feb 5 - 6

14) once upon a broken heart -> stephanie garber (reread): feb 2 - 6

15) the ballad of never after -> stephanie garber: feb 7

16) tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow -> gabrielle zevin: feb 7 - 11

17) tokyo dreaming -> emiko jean: feb 11 - 13

18) the cruel prince -> holly black (reread): feb 15 - 16

19) the no-show -> beth o'leary: feb 17 - 20

20) time is a mother -> ocean vuong (reread): feb 20

21) sweet bean paste -> durian sukegawa: feb 22

22) before the coffee gets cold -> toshikazu kawaguchi: feb 24

23) the wicked king -> holly black (reread): feb 23 - 24

24) the queen of nothing -> holly black (reread): feb 25 - 26

25) tales from the café -> toshikazu kawaguchi: feb 26 - 27

26) daisy jones & the six -> taylor jenkins reid (reread): feb 28 - mar 2

27) before your memory fades -> toshikazu kawaguchi: feb 27 - mar 4

28) ninth house -> leigh bardugo: mar 3 - 6

29) hell bent -> leigh bardugo: mar 7 - 9

30) a good girl's guide to murder -> holly jackson: mar 10 - 11

31) portrait of a thief -> grace d. li: mar 12 - 15

32) good girl, bad blood -> holly jackson: mar 15 - 18

33) the last children of tokyo -> yōko tawada: mar 19

34) tiny pretty things -> sona charaipotra & dhonielle clayton: mar 20 - 21

35) the youthful you who was so beautiful -> jiu yue xi (reread): mar 22

36) shiny broken pieces -> sona charaipotra & dhonielle clayton: mar 23 - 24

37) the scarlet pimpernel -> emmuska orczy: mar 25

38) as good as dead -> holly jackson: mar 26 - 28

39) addicted to you -> krista ritchie & becca ritchie: mar 29 - 30

40) one of us is lying -> karen m. mcmanus: mar 30 - 31

41) kill joy -> holly jackson: apr 2

42) carrie soto is back -> taylor jenkins reid: apr 1 - 3

43) human acts -> han kang: apr 4 - 6

44) tender is the flesh -> agustina bazterrica: apr 6

45) this time it's real -> ann liang: apr 6 - 10

46) idol, burning -> rin usami: apr 11

47) i'll give you the sun -> jandy nelson: apr 12 - 14

48) the boundless -> kenneth oppel: apr 14 - 17

49) the great gatsby -> f. scott fitzgerald (reread): apr 17

50) beautiful little fools -> jillian cantor: apr 18 - 19

51) schoolgirl -> osamu dazai: apr 20

52) the witch haven -> sasha peyton smith: apr 22 - 23

53) the witch hunt -> sasha peyton smith: apr 24 - 27

54) a little life -> hanya yanagihara: apr 28 - 30

55) beach read -> emily henry (reread): may 1 - 2

56) no longer human -> osamu dazai: may 2 - 3

57) my dark vanessa -> kate elizabeth russell: may 3 - 4

58) the setting sun -> osamu dazai: may 5 - 6

59) the bridge kingdom -> danielle l. jensen: may 5 - 8

60) king of pride -> ana huang: may 8 - 10

61) happy place -> emily henry: may 11

62) the vegetarian -> han kang: may 10 - 12

63) the red palace -> june hur: may 14 - 17

64) the traitor queen -> danielle l. jensen: may 13 - 22

65) the sky is everywhere -> jandy nelson: may 22 - 23

66) beartown -> fredrik backman: may 24 - 25

67) deathless -> catherynne m. valente: may 26 - 28

68) notes on an execution -> danya kukafka: may 29 - 30

69) once upon a k-prom -> kat cho: may 24 - 30

70) almond -> sohn won-pyung: may 30

71) the white book -> han kang: may 31

72) my mechanical romance -> alexene farol follmuth: may 31

73) a room with a view -> e.m forster: jun 4

74) the poppy war -> r.f kuang: jun 5 - 6

75) the dragon republic -> r.f kuang: jun 7 - 10

76) the drowning faith -> r.f kuang: jun 11

77) the burning god -> r.f kuang: jun 11 - 15

78) emma -> jane austen: may 30 - jun 16

79) greek lessons -> han kang: jun 16 - 18

80) when marnie was there -> joan g. robinson: jun 18 - 20

81) bandstand -> richard oberacker: jun 21

82) white nights -> fyodor dostoevsky: jun 21

83) twisted love -> ana huang: jun 20 - 22

84) twisted games -> ana huang: jun 27 - 28

85) the bloody chamber -> angela carter: jun 28 - 29

86) my deepest secret -> hanza art: jun 22 - 30

87) coraline -> neil gaiman: jun 30

88) twisted hate -> ana huang: jul 1 - 3

89) sadie -> courtney summers: jul 4 - 5

90) twisted lies -> ana huang: jul 5 - 6

91) take a hint, dani brown -> talia hibbert: jul 6 - 7

92) better than the movies -> lynn painter: jul 16 - 17

93) act your age, eve brown -> talia hibbert: jul 18 - 20

94) beyond the story: 10 - year record of bts -> kang myeong-seok & bts: jul 17 - 20

95) love and other words -> christina lauren: jul 19 - 22

96) diary of a void -> emi yagi: jul 23

97) in five years -> rebecca serle: jul 24

98) us against you -> fredrik backman: jul 24 - 25

99) sirena -> donna jo napoli: jul 26

100) small things like these -> claire keegan: jul 26 - 28

101) exit, pursued by bear -> e.k. johnston: jul 28

102) red, white, & royal blue -> casey mcquiston (reread): jul 29 - 31

103) conveniance store woman -> sayaka murata: jul 31

104) the hurting kind -> ada limon: aug 2

105) one true loves -> taylor jenkins reid: aug 2 - 3

106) the deep -> rivers solomon: aug 6 - 7

107) all the lovers in the night -> mieko kawakami: aug 9

108) caraval -> stephanie garber: aug 6 - 10

109) we hunt the flame -> hafsah faizal: aug 16 - 18

110) we free the stars -> hafsah faizal: aug 18 - 19

111) i'm glad my mom died -> jennette mccurdy: aug 20

112) the ballad of songbirds and snakes -> suzanne collins: aug 21 - 22

113) kim jiyoung, born 1982 -> cho nam-joo: aug 22

114) legendary -> stephanie garber: aug 11 - 24

115) king of wrath -> ana huang: aug 23 - 24

116) the sisterhood of the traveling pants -> ann brashares: aug 27

117) out on a limb -> hannah bonam-young: aug 29 - 31

118) the winners -> fredrick backman: aug 1 - 31

119) the second summer of sisterhood -> ann brashares: aug 28 - 31

120) girls in pants: the third summer of the sisterhood -> ann brashares: sep 4 - 5

121) forever in blue: the fourth summer of the sisterhood -> ann brashares: sep 5

122) strange the dreamer -> laini taylor: sep 3 - 9

123) crying in h mart -> michelle zauner: sep 9 - 10

124) sisterhood everlasting -> ann brashares: sep 7 - 11

125) finale -> stephanie garber: sep 13 - 14

126) little thieves -> margaret owen: sep 11 - 16

127) les misérables -> victor hugo (reread): apr 3 - sep 18

128) business or pleasure -> rachel lynn solomon: sep 17 - 19

129) out there -> kate folk: sep 23 - 24

130) wuthering heights -> emily brontë: sep 18 - 24

131) painted devils -> margaret owen: sep 20 - 27

132) the foxhole court -> nora sakavic: sep 24 - 27

133) the raven king -> nora sakavic: sep 27 - 29

134) the hate u give -> angie thomas: sep 29 - oct 2

135) the king’s men -> nora sakavic: sep 30 - oct 3

136) the dead romantics -> ashley poston: oct 4 - 5

137) a discovery of witches -> deborah harkness: oct 6 - 12

138) mexican gothic -> silvia moreno-garcia: oct 13 - 14

139) the haunting of hill house -> shirley jackson: oct 15 - 18

140) the girl from the other side (vol. 1 - 11) -> nagabe: oct 19

151) fourth wing -> rebecca yarros: oct 22 - 26

152) king of greed -> ana huang: oct 26 - 29

153) yellowface -> r.f. kuang: oct 30 - 31

154) a curse for true love -> stephanie garber: nov 1 - 3

155) a study in charlotte -> brittany cavallaro: nov 5 - 7

156) dracula -> bram stoker: may 5 - nov 8

157) the joy luck club -> amy tan: sep 9 - nov 9

158) the murder of roger ackroyd -> agatha christie: nov 9 - 10

159) the last of august -> brittany cavallaro: nov 10 - 12

160) kamila knows best -> farah heron: nov 12 - 13

161) the case for jamie -> brittany cavallaro: nov 14 - 15

162) a question for holmes -> brittany cavallaro: nov 16 - 17

163) howl’s moving castle -> diana wynne jones (reread): nov 17 - 18

164) if we were villains -> m. l. rio (reread): nov 18 - 19

165) masters of death -> olivie blake: nov 20 - 22

166) jane eyre -> charlotte brontë (reread): nov 22 - 29

167) the name drop -> susan lee: dec 2 - 3

168) divine rivals -> rebecca ross: dec 6 - 7

169) the lightning thief -> rick riordan (reread): dec 9 - 11

170) the sea of monsters -> rick riordan (reread): dec 12 - 13

171) the titan’s curse -> rick riordan (reread): dec 14

172) the battle of the labyrinth -> rick riordan (reread): dec 16 - 18

173) the last olympian -> rick riordan (reread): dec 18 - 19

174) a study in drowning -> ava reid: dec 23 - 29

175) little women -> louisa may alcott (reread): dec 21 - 29

176) shadow of night -> deborah harkness: nov 1 - dec 30

177) the upside of falling -> alex light: dec 30

178) slade house -> david mitchell: dec 31

179) much ado about nothing -> william shakespeare: dec 31

180) romeo and juliet -> william shakespeare (reread): dec 31

[rebel-ezra]

best books I read in 2023 + my ratings & reviews

because I just read an insanely good one and I love giving recs :) this is in order I read them in!

most of them are fantasy books!

the starless sea by erin morgenstern (my rating: 5/5) review: this book feels very personal and intimate to someone who reads a lot. it speaks to people who love stories and storytelling and who want to read stories exactly like the starless sea perfect for people who loved the night circus

magus chase and the sword of summer by rick riordan (magnus chase #1) (my rating: 4/5) review: this was a very nice read that I got through pretty quickly. having been interested with greek mythology for a while, it was nice to read about norse mythology for once perfect for people who loved percy jackson and six of crows

the girl who fell beneath the sea by axie oh (my rating: 5/5) review: I loved this book so much it was hard to put down. I loved the characters, writing style and locations a lot perfect for people who loved this woven kingdom

before the coffee gets cold by toshikazu kawaguchi (my rating: 5/5) review: this book is beautifully written. it's such a unique concept and I loved how at the end, you could see how everyone's story was intertwined with each other perfect for people who loved the midnight library

caraval by stephanie garber (caraval #1) (my rating: 4/5) review: this reminded me of a mixture of the night circus and hotel magnifique in the best way possible. i loved how there were so many plot twists but it never felt like it was too much perfect for people who loved motel magnifique and the night circus

percy jackson and the chalice of the gods by rick riordan (percy jackson #6) (my rating: 5/5) review: it was incredible to read about percy, grover and annabeth again. especially given the fact percy's going to college now and is my age. also loved how rick dedicated the book to walker, aryan and leah perfect for people who loved percy jackson (surprise)

house of roots and ruin by erin a craig (sisters of the salt #2) (my rating: 5/5) review: I could not put this book down. it's even better than the first one and has the perfect vibe to get you to keep reading, wanting to figure out what's going on. like a goth fantasy thriller perfect for people who loved house of salt and sorrows and these violent delights

what you are looking for is in the library by michiko aoyama (my rating: 5/5) review: similar setup as before the coffee gets cold. a very comforting book that has some beautiful lessons about life. I read this in one day perfect for people who loved before the coffee gets cold

🫶🏻🫶🏻 hope you liked it :) my goodreads

[mlp410nightcore]

Hi Everyone!! Here is another next gen for my Blossom Love AU. Obsidian's parents are Blue Pearl and Michelangelo Scarlatti AKA Spike. (I have this headcannon where gems can give birth to their offspring without having to give up their physical forms.) Obsidian is super sweet, nice, caring, organized and is skilled in many different forms of physical combat. Obsidian is currently training very hard to take his father's spot in Team One Of The SRU. Obsidian also has a little brother named Lew since due to Spike losing his best friend Lewis on duty, Spike and Blue Pearl agreed to name their second son in Lew's honor. Credit goes to Selenaede for the base I used and to Mark Ellis, Stephanie Morgenstern, Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network for creating Flashpoint and Steven Universe as well as creating Michelangelo Scarlatti AKA Spike, Blue Pearl and Lewis as well as creating Team One Of The SRU as well. I only take credit for my next gens, art, ships, stories and the Blossom Love AU. I hope you guys like him!!!

[achaiapelides]

Next Generation of Shadowhunters (my idea)

Theresa Gray Herondale (*1861) + James Carstairs (*1861)

= Christopher Jonathan Herondale (*1997, adopted in 2012)

= Wilhelmina Yiqiang Carstairs (*2012)

= Sophie Carstairs (*2016)

= Charlotte Carstairs (*2019)

Alexander Gideon (*1989) + Magnus Lightwood-Bane (*???)

= Rafael Santiago Lightwood-Bane (*2007, adopted in 2012)

= Max Michael Lightwood-Bane (*2009, adopted in 2009)

Isabelle Sophia Lightwood (*1990) + Simon Lovelace (*1990)

= George Lovelace (*2017)

= Leia Lightwood (*2018)

= Bobby Lightwood (*2019)

Clarissa Adele Fairchild (*1991) + Jace Herondale (*1990)

= Celine Amatis Herondale (*2018)

= Stephen Lucian Herondale (*2020)

Aline Penhallow (*1990) + Helen Blackthorn (*1990)

= Nerissa Penhallow-Blackthorn* (*2013, adopted in 2015)

Cristina Rosales (*1994) + Mark Blackthorn (*1992) + Kieran of Unseelie (*1994)

= Rosalia Blackthorn (*2017)

= Aaron Rosales (*2017)

Emma Cordelia Carstairs (*1995) + Julian Atticus Blackthorn (*1995)

= Elanor Carstairs (*2020)

= Cordelia Carstairs (*2022)

Livia Blackthorn (1997-2012)

Christopher Jonathan Herondale (*1997) + Tiberius Nero Blackthorn (*1997)

= Livia Rose Blackthorn* (*2018, adopted in 2018)

Drusilla Blackthorn (*1999) + Ash Morgenstern (*1999/2008)

= Magnolia Morgenstern (*2017)

= Andrew Morgenstern (*2019)

= Stephanie Morgenstern (*2019)

Octavian Blackthorn (*2005)

Happy December 11th, everyone!

[thebookwormslair]

📚 While we are waiting with bated breath for the next book in the series here are book Recommendations for Fans of "Once Upon a Broken Heart" by Stephanie Garber

"The Starless Sea" by Erin Morgenstern: Lose yourself in the beautifully crafted world of "The Starless Sea," where books are doorways to an underground library filled with enchanting tales and mysteries waiting to be unraveled. Morgenstern's lyrical prose and intricate storytelling create a dreamlike atmosphere that will leave you utterly enchanted.

"An Enchantment of Ravens" by Margaret Rogerson: In a world where faeries and humans collide, embark on a journey with Isobel, a talented artist, and Rook, the captivating faerie prince. This standalone novel weaves a story of forbidden love, perilous adventures, and the enchanting world of Faerie.

"Wintersong" by S. Jae-Jones: Inspired by the classic tale of the Goblin King, "Wintersong" follows Liesl as she journeys to the Underground to rescue her sister from the Goblin King's clutches. This lush and evocative tale is a hauntingly romantic and magical read.

"The Bone Season" by Samantha Shannon: In a dystopian London, where clairvoyants are hunted for their abilities, Paige Mahoney, a powerful dreamwalker, fights for survival and freedom. With its unique blend of fantasy and dystopia, this series will captivate you with its intricate world-building and compelling characters.

"Serpent & Dove" by Shelby Mahurin: Delve into a world of witches and witch hunters in this enthralling series opener. Lou, a witch on the run, and Reid, a devout witch hunter, are forced into a reluctant alliance, leading to a slow-burning romance amidst political intrigue and danger.

"The Ten Thousand Doors of January" by Alix E. Harrow: Immerse yourself in the world of doors that lead to other worlds as January Scaller embarks on a journey of self-discovery and adventure. This beautifully written tale celebrates the power of stories and imagination.

These books share thematic elements with "Once Upon a Broken Heart," transporting you to captivating worlds filled with magic, romance, and intriguing characters. Prepare to be whisked away on thrilling adventures that will capture your heart and imagination!

[singing-not-sleeping-beauty]

I want to start a book club, but instead of it being one of those white women book clubs where it's just a bunch of moms drinking wine without having read the book it's a group of friends who meet up at a cabin once or twice a year and we read, and make food & crafts based off our favorite books, and watch movie/tv show adaptations of those books

y'know?

[natyune-writes]

what places do YOU get the most inspo from for your stories?

oh man.... my inspiration comes from a lot of places. prepare for an infodump

for my fantasy fey story, my inspiration comes from a lot of books i read as a kid. i was obsessed with fairies when i was little. one major inspiration was '13 treasures,' a triology by michelle harrison. i remember loving every single book in that series. i was also a disney fairies kid and spent soooo many hours playing pixie hollow. like... a concerning number of hours. so much so that it's genuinely a wonder no one picked up on my neurodivergence sooner, haha. my fairy phase became somewhat dormant after pixie hollow shut down, and i had almost entirely forgotten about it. i had also stopped reading so much because of how busy i was with college/graduate school. but i still wanted to engage in books somehow, so i started getting into watching booktube to keep up with new releases. i remember SJM's fairy series got really popular but i had exactly 0 interest in reading it, and then i found that the booktuber 'cari can read' uploaded the hours long summary videos of the series and i watched all of them. and i distinctly remember thinking that it was an interesting concept with very poor execution in terms of plot. but because it was fairy themed, it reawakened my middle school fairy obsession and i was back on my bs again. then i decided to take my own characters and create my own fairy world with all my favorite things. and thats how this story was born. i would say aside from those, i've definitely also stolen some vibes from 'genshin impact' and 'ori and the blind forest' as well as several ghibli films (but mostly 'howl's moving castle'). oh! how could i forget. aurora's music also strongly inspired the vibes in this story. in fact, i would say aurora's music has been one of the biggest influences to date for all of my works, but especially this one.

as for the weaver's apprentice, the vibes are also all over the place. for some reason, i became weirdly obsessed with like... cirque du soleil aesthetics. acrobatic circuses are just so fun to watch. i definitely also pulled from 'caraval' by stephanie garber, 'night circus' by erin morgenstern, and recently 'a darker shade of magic' by v.e. schwab. over time the more circus-y vibes were washed out a tad, although they are still there in some capacity. but i really loved the concept of mysterious and unknown magic and that concept became very prevalent in that story concept. additionally, howl's moving castle inspired some aspects (again). and there was also the animated music video "the greatest living show" by toby fox which helped me pull together some vibes for the main antagonist of my story (the weaver).

i could probably go on forever talking about where i pulled vibes from, but that would take ages to pick out everything. the point is that i am inspired by many things, haha

[someonelookingpraediti]

24 books in 2024

Last year, I only read 8 of my "23 in 2023"! I'm ashamed of my abysmal performance, but I did manage to read 89 other books as well, so it's not a total loss.

A lot of the books on last year's list are on this year's too, but there's also a few 2024 releases, and some books I've picked up over the last year!

The Sunshine Court - Nora Sakavic

The Prisoner's Throne - Holly Black

The Little Friend - Donna Tartt

The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan

The Shadow Key - Susan Stokes-Chapman

Foxglove - Adalyn Grace

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries - Heather Fawcett

The Familiar - Leigh Bardugo

The Sun and the Star - Rick Riordan & Mark Oshiro

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Starling House - Alix E. Harrow

A Study in Drowning - Ava Reid

Never a Hero - Vanessa Len

Somewhere Beyond the Sea - TJ Klune

Defiant - Brandon Sanderson

The People in the Trees - Hanya Yanagihara

Caraval - Stephanie Garber

Ballad & Dagger - Daniel José Older

Dark Rise - C.S. Pacat

The Chalice of the Gods - Rick Riordan

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Brontë

Under the Whispering Door - TJ Klune

Hotel Magnifique - Emily J. Taylor

Stalking Jack the Ripper - Kerri Maniscalco

[annemariewrites]

List of all the books I’ve read

just wanted to keep a list of what I’ve read throughout my life (that I can remember)

Fiction:

“Where the Red Fern Grows,” Wilson Rawls

“The Outsiders,” SE Hinton

“The Weirdo,” Theodore Taylor

“The Devil’s Arithmetic,” Jane Yolen

“Julie of the Wolves series,” Jean Craighead George

“Soft Rain,” Cornelia Cornelissen

“Island of the Blue Dolphins,” Scott O’Dell

“The Twilight series,” Stephanie Mayer

“To Kill a Mockingbird,” Harper Lee

“Gamer Girl,” Mari Mancusi

“Redwall / Mossflower / Mattimeo / Mariel of Redwall,” Brian Jacques

“1984,” and  “Animal Farm,” George Orwell

“Killing Mr. Griffin,” Lois Duncan

“Huckleberry Finn,” Mark Twain

“Rainbow’s End,” Irene Hannon

“Cold Mountain,” Charles Frazier

“Between Shades of Gray,” Ruta Sepetys

“Great Short Works of Edgar Allan Poe,” Edgar Allan Poe

“Lord of the Flies,” William Golding

“The Great Gatsby,” F Scott Fitzgerald

“The Harry Potter series,” JK Rowling

“The Fault in Our Stars,” “Looking for Alaska,” and “Paper Towns,” John Green

“Thirteen Reasons Why,” Jay Asher

“The Hunger Games series,” Suzanne Collins

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” Stephen Chbosky

“Fifty Shades of Grey,” EL James

“Speak,” and “Wintergirls,” Laurie Halse Anderson

“The Handmaid’s Tale,” Margaret Atwood

“Mama Day,” Gloria Naylor

“Jane Eyre,” Charlotte Bronte

“Wide Sargasso Sea,” Jean Rhys

“The Haunting of Hill House,” Shirley Jackson

“The Chosen,” Chaim Potok

“Leaves of Grass,” Walt Whitman

“Till We Have Faces,” CS Lewis

“One Foot in Eden,” Ron Rash

“Jim the Boy,” Tony Earley

“The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox,” Maggie O’Farrell

“A Land More Kind Than Home,” Wiley Cash

“A Parchment of Leaves,” Silas House

“Beowulf,” Seamus Heaney

“The Silence of the Lambs / Red Dragon / Hannibal / Hannibal Rinsing,” Thomas Harris

“Cry the Beloved Country,” Alan Paton

“Moby Dick,” Herman Melville

“The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings trilogy / The Silmarillion,” JRR Tolkien

“Beren and Luthien,” JRR Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien

“Children of Blood and Bone / Children of Virtue and Vengeance,” Tomi Adeyemi

“Soundless,” Richelle Mead

“The Girl with the Louding Voice,” Abi Dare

“A Song of Ice and Fire series / Fire and Blood,” GRR Martin

“A Separate Peace,” John Knowles

“The Bluest Eye,” and “Beloved,” Toni Morrison

“Brave New World,” Aldous Huxley

“The Giver / Gathering Blue / Messenger / Son,” Lois Lowry

“The Ivory Carver trilogy,” Sue Harrison

“The Grapes of Wrath,” and “Of Mice and Men,” John Steinbeck

“The God of Small Things,” Arundhati Roy

“Fahrenheit 451,” Ray Bradbury

“The Night Circus,” Erin Morgenstern

“Sunflower Dog,” Kevin Winchester

‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” Betty Smith

“The Catcher in the Rye,” JD Salinger

“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” Sherman Alexie

“Bridge to Terabithia,” Katherine Paterson

“The Good Girl,” Mary Kubica 

“The Last Unicorn,” Peter S Beagle

“Slaughterhouse Five,” Kurt Vonnegut Jr

“The Joy Luck Club,” Amy Tan

“The Sworn Virgin,” Kristopher Dukes

“The Color Purple,” Alice Walker

“Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Zora Neale Hurston

“The Light Between Oceans,” ML Stedman

“Yellowface,” RF Kuang

“A Flicker in the Dark,” Stacy Willingham

“One Piece Novel: Ace’s Story,” Sho Hinata

“Black Beauty,” Anna Seawell

“The Weight of Blood,” Tiffany D. Jackson

“Mulberry and Peach: Two Women of China,” Hualing Nieh, Sau-ling Wong

“The Weight of Blood,” Laura McHugh

Non-fiction:

“Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl,” Anne Frank

“Night,” Elie Wiesel

“Invisible Sisters,” Jessica Handler

“I Am Malala,” Malala Yousafzai

“The Interesting Narrative,” Olaudah Equiano

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” Rebecca Skloot

“Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” Harriet Jacobs

“The Princess Diarist,” Carrie Fisher

“Adulting: How to Become a Grown Up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps,” Kelly Williams Brown

“How to Win Friends and Influence People,” Dale Carnegie

“Carrie Fisher: a Life on the Edge,” Sheila Weller

“Make ‘Em Laugh,” Debbie Reynolds and Dorian Hannaway

“How to be an Anti-Racist,” Ibram X Kendi

“Maus,” Art Spiegelman

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou

“Wise Gals: the Spies Who Built the CIA and Changed the Future of Espionage,” Nathalia Holt

“Persepolis,” and “Persepolis II,” Marjane Satrapi

“How to Write a Novel,” Manuel Komroff

“The Nazi Genocide of the Roma,” Anton Weiss-Wendt

“Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz,” Lucette Matalon Lagnado and Sheila Cohn Dekel

“Two Watches,” Anita Tarlton

“The Ages of the Justice League: Essays on America’s Greatest Superheroes in Changing Times,” edited by Joseph J. Darowski

[taleasnewastime]

omg you like reading books too?? what are your fav romantic/e2l books? been looking for some but can't find the good GOOD ones :(

Yes! I sometimes think I read too much... I've gone through my Goodreads to list out a few books with my star rating. It's funny writing them out and realising how many E2L books I read. Hopefully I've not said any are E2L when they're not... Let me know if you have any recs!!

Romance:

Every Summer After - Carley Fortune [4*]

XOXO - Axie Oh [4*]

Seven Days in June - Tia Williams [4*]

Romance E2L:

Beach Read - Emily Henry [5*]

Better Than The Movies - Lynn Painter [4*]

Kingdom of the Wicked - Kerri Maniscalco [4*]

Things We Never Got Over - Lucy Score [3.5*]

Once Upon a Broken Heart - Stephanie Garber [4*]

The Soulmate Equation - Christina Lauren [4*]

The Love Hypothesis - Ali Hazelwood [5*]

These Violent Delights - Chloe Gong [5*]

The Unhoneymooners - Christina Lauren [4*]

Don't You Forget About Me - Mhairi McFarlane [4*]

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern [5*]