#the quote is from little women my louisa may alcott

[fyodoro]

4:15am — Hayato Suo

“A real gentleman is as polite to a little girl as to a woman.”

You remember reading that exact line a while back, though you can’t remember where. And if it weren’t for your boyfriend holding a lost little girl’s hand as he brings her to safety, you would have forgotten the quote altogether.

But today that quote wasn’t leaving your mind anytime soon.

“Here you go, let’s sit down here,” Suo gestured to a nearby bench, gently guiding her through her teary eyes. “Do you happen to remember your parent’s number?”

The young girl sniffled and wiped her tear stained cheeks. “N-No, I’m sorry…” she croaked, guilt creeping into her glossy eyes.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey now— it’s okay,” he whispered soothingly. “I’m sure they’re looking for you too. Could you give us a visual description of what they look like?”

You were seated next to the little girl while Suo was crouched besides her, opting to give you the leftover seat for a chance to rest your legs. It was a sweet gesture, really. But you wish he’d give himself an opportunity to rest too, seeing as he just dealt with a small gang all by himself.

How this situation started was a blur. One minute you were shopping for a new flavor of tea with Suo, and the next you were comforting a girl no older then ten while your boyfriend beat up a group of punks that thought it’d be fun to pick on her. The moment they were all down, Suo had the three of you flee the scene to keep the young girl safe.

You kept a gentle gaze on the girl next to you, though it didn’t stop you from sending Suo a concerned glance for her. She was clearly frightened— no doubt about it, and you couldn’t blame her. If you were little, lost from your parents, and older kids started teasing you, you’d get worked up as well.

“They’re tall… both reallyyy tall,” she said through sniffles. “Mommy has long blonde hair, and daddy has big curly hair on his head and face.”

Suo nodded, retaining the newly acquired information. “I see, can you recall the last place you saw them?”

He gazed at her softly, a look that made her feel safe and secure despite it coming from a stranger. Her sniffles stifled, and her breathing soothed.

Before she could respond, haste footsteps approached the three of you. You snapped your head in the direction the sound came from for confirmation that it wasn’t the boys from earlier. Instead, you were met with unfamiliar faces that matched the description you had just heard.

“Oh goodness, there she is!”

The blonde woman came rushing to her daughter, scooping her up in her arms as she let out a sigh of relief. “We were so worried about you…”

Suo and you both stood, finding your way back to each other’s sides as you watched the small family reunite.

The man— who you could only assume was the little girl’s father— bowed in gratitude.

“Thank you, thank you so much for keeping her safe,” he expressed, sounding quite out of breath.

“We were happy to help,” Suo smiled. “She didn’t get herself into any trouble, unfortunately it came to her. So please, don’t blame her for the commotion.”

The girl’s mother set her back on her feet, allowing her to hug both your and Suo simultaneously. You both hugged back, of course.

“I hope I can be as cool as you guys one day…!”

You side-eyed your boyfriend subtly, as did he, and let out a small chuckle. Neither of you would consider your actions to be “cool,” they were just good deeds. It’d be pure evil to leave such a young kid alone in a dangerous situation, something neither you or Suo would stand for.

“Again, thank you so much. We really can’t thank you enough for handling everything.”

You waved your hands, “It was no problem, really. Like he said— we were glad to help.”

Suo nodded next to you, tilting his head and sending a close-eyed smile to the family, waving as they set off. Once they were out of sight, a sigh of relief escaped your lips.

“Stressed?”

“Not anymore, but that whole thing had my heart racing. That poor girl…” your voice trailed off, thinking about what might’ve happened if neither of you were nearby. “Although…”

His brow lifted in curiosity as you turned to face him with a teasing grin. “I never imagined you being such a hero to kids~”

“What can I say?” he chuckled. “I’ve always been a gentleman haven’t I? That’s what you and the others have been telling me, at least.”

“Yeah, but I think this qualified you as a true gentleman.”

There’s no way that quote won’t cross your mind every time you see Suo from now on. Not until it’s erased from your memory, that is.

© enassbraid 2024. i do not permit plagiarism, translations, or reposts of my work on any platform

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Do you have any dialogue prompts for a person who doesn’t speak much?

In literature, we can find characters who are generally quiet. Some of them are perhaps so because it's innate, whilst others may not speak much due to certain events (e.g., a traumatic experience). Maybe some quotes from these quiet characters could serve as dialogue prompts. Below are just two examples I chose.

In Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, Beth March is known as a quiet, introverted character:

...We’ve each got a dollar...‘I planned to spend mine in new music,’ said Beth, with a little sigh, which no one heard but the hearth brush and kettle holder.

‘I used to be so frightened when it was my turn to sit in the chair with the crown on, and see you all come marching round to give the presents, with a kiss. I liked the things and the kisses, but it was dreadful to have you sit looking at me while I opened the bundles,’ said Beth, who was toasting her face and the bread for tea at the same time.

‘Serves me right for trying to be fine. I wish I’d let my hair alone,’ cried Meg petulantly. ‘So do I, it was so smooth and pretty. But it will soon grow out again,’ said Beth, coming to kiss and comfort the shorn sheep.

‘I saw something I liked this morning, and I meant to tell it at dinner, but I forgot,’ said Beth, putting Jo’s topsy-turvy basket in order as she talked.

‘I like that kind of sermon. It’s the sort Father used to tell us,’ said Beth thoughtfully, putting the needles straight on Jo’s cushion.

‘I wish I’d known that nice girl. Maybe she would have helped me, I’m so stupid,’ said Beth, who stood beside him, listening eagerly.

‘Jo talks about the country where we hope to live sometime—the real country, she means, with pigs and chickens and haymaking. It would be nice, but I wish the beautiful country up there was real, and we could ever go to it,’ said Beth musingly.

...so that is my favorite dream.’ ‘Mine is to stay at home safe with Father and Mother, and help take care of the family,’ said Beth contentedly.

‘If something very pleasant should happen now, we should think it a delightful month,’ said Beth, who took a hopeful view of everything, even November.

‘I don’t see how you dared to do it,’ said Beth in a tone of awe.

‘My head aches and I’m tired, so I thought maybe some of you would go,’ said Beth.

‘I’m so full of happiness, that if Father was only here, I couldn’t hold one drop more,’ said Beth, quite sighing with contentment as Jo carried her off to the study to rest after the excitement, and to refresh herself with some of the delicious grapes the ‘Jungfrau’ had sent her.

In Maya Angelou’s novel-like autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the protagonist becomes mostly mute after a traumatic childhood event:

When we still didn’t force ourselves to answer, she asked, “You want me to tell Santa Claus to take these things back?” A wretched feeling of being torn engulfed me. I wanted to scream, “Yes. Tell him to take them back.” But I didn’t move. (An example of internal dialogue)

It occurred to me that she expected a response. The sweet vanilla flavor was still on my tongue and her reading was a wonder in my ears. I had to speak. I said, “Yes, ma’am.” It was the least I could do, but it was the most also.

“What you doing sitting here by yourself, Marguerite?” She didn’t accuse, she asked for information. I said that I was watching the sky. She asked, “What for?” There was obviously no answer to a question like that, so I didn’t make up one.

Stunned but trying to be well mannered, I said, “Hello. My name is Marguerite.”

“What the hell is this?” He hunched himself up on a hip and brushed the pants. His hand showed red in the porch’s cast-off light. “What is this, Marguerite?” I said with a coldness that would have done him proud, “I’ve been cut.”

The lie lumped in my throat and I couldn’t get air. How I despised the man formaking me lie...The tears didn’t soothe my heart as they usually did. I screamed, “Ole, mean, dirty thing, you. Dirty old thing.” Our lawyer brought me off the stand and to my mother’s arms.

Sources: 1 2 3 4

Hope this helps inspire your writing. Do tag me, or send me a link. I'd love to read your work!

More: On Mutism

[littlewomenpodcast]

Little Women Inspirations: Friedrich Schiller (With Hejar Sinem) Part 4

Niina: What you said about Schiller made me wonder if Schiller was the one who Friedrich was named after in Little Women, or maybe it was Friedrich De La Motte Foque? I have a feeling it might have been Schiller.

Sinem: Yeah, me too. Yes, that's of course my own theory, but like I said, I also think that besides Goethe, I think Schiller also may have had an impact on Louisa, because in The Robbers, I think it's called, in Schiller's first novel, there's a female character called Amalia, I don't know how to pronounce her name in English, but she is very sweet, very generous. She is like Beth, she is very kind and giving and generous, and she only wants the best for everyone. So I found some parallels between Schiller's work and Louisa's work.

Niina: That's really interesting. What was the name of that book?

Sinem: It was called The Robbers. It's his first novel, he wrote that one when he was 17.Suppose he was not allowed to write at that time, I forgot why he wasn't allowed, and I think it's funny that he made a story that is close to Louisa May Alcott’s Blood and Thunder stories, and the main character Karl is very much an archetype of the movement that was around in Germany at that time.

Niina: I was just saying that in Rose In Bloom, Mac reads Goethe, but I realized he doesn't read Goethe, he actually reads Henry David Thoreau. In Little Women, there's a moment in part one where John translates a poem from Schiller to Meg.

Sinem: Yes, that is very cute, and it's also very funny, because John also knows German, and it's also funny if you think about it, it's like the whole March family is very interested in German culture. I think Meg was also very eager to hear the translation a bit, and John was also like, Yeah, I'll help you translate it, or I can teach you with German, I think he said that, I'm not sure, but I think he said that, and it was also very sweet.

Niina: Yes, I have forgotten about that, I love it. It kind of goes along with my theory that Louisa May Alcott planned Jo's marriage years before she wrote Little Women, because it does feel like a natural thing to do, to introduce a German character to this family that is really obsessed about everything that comes from Germany.

Sinem: I have to say, the first thing that comes to my mind when I see people saying Louisa was forced to marry Jo off is, well, but what if she was forced? Why in the world would Louisa May Alcott write so many things about Jo’s and the March family’s love for Germany?

Niina: I think we can all agree that this really comes from that the quote that she wrote in her journal was about reuniting with her loved one in the afterlife, so Little Women is a wish fulfillment.

Sinem: Yes, that's true, when people read it, I think it's also kind of racist of them to state that he was shoveled into the novel, because, I mean, they know Friedrich is German, and it almost always feels like they dislike him, especially because he is German, even people today are like, meh, she should have stayed single or with Laurie, which, to be honest, I can't stand either. I could never stand the thought that Jo might have ended with Laurie or alone, especially after reading the chapters All Alone and Surprises, because in these two chapters, you can see how lonely Jo is, and then there are people who say she only married Friedrich because Friedrich was invented, because Louisa May Alcott was forced to marry him.

Niina: I think you are correct about the racism, because I have read so many Louisa May Alcott studies that are like, Jo should have married Laurie or Jo should have been alone. There usually is a racist undertone when they start to speak about Friedrich's character, and then they do not include these parts in Little Women, where Jo clearly loves everything that comes from Germany, or Louisa May Alcott’s adoration to Germany. In Rose in Bloom there is a Chinese character, and he marries an American girl.

Sinem: She made him marry an American because it shows how inclusive she is and while I know that many people are like, well, yes, but Louisa May Alcott had something against the Irish, while I can read a bit of it in their novels, we don't know what happened to her.

Niina: I think it was a common at the time to mock the Irish people, unfortunately. I spoke with someone who was working in the Orchard House, and they said that it was really more about the effect of the time period. I don't know. Yeah, Irish people don't really get a good reputation in Little Women, because when Amy's limes are thrown into the snow, they are the Irish girls who are picking on her.

Sinem: We don't know. But it's also kind of funny, because Hannah herself is Irish, and Hannah is portrayed in a good light, though. I agree with you. I think it is more like the effect of the time, because, I mean, if Louisa May Alcott included Chinese and Asian characters in one of her novels, had this person marry an American, and it was portrayed as a good thing, then why should she be completely against the Irish? Since Hannah was portrayed in such a good light.

Niina: I think it's the same with the Italians, because on one hand, we have Louisa May Alcott, who shows what she considered good qualities of Italians, and maybe the less good qualities, but there was lots of hate against Italians at the time period. So it's quite remarkable that Laurie is half Italian in the book, and Germans were also really disliked during this time period in America, in certain circles.

Sinem: I also think it's very important, the way Mr. Lawrence is actually portrayed. He's a very kind and giving and lovable person, but he has a flaw, in part one, we learn that his son married an Italian and he was against it. Mrs. March states that he never could like the lady, even though she was very kind and loving, and overall a very nice person, and Mr. Lawrence couldn't like her, even though she was very kind to him and all that stuff, simply because he represented, the culture or the society around that time.

Niina: If Mr. Lawrence was raised in an environment where there is lots of pre-consumption against Italians, then he would be part of that kind of generation that sort of automatically sees them as lower than he. It sucks, but that's the way a lot of people are, even still today.

Sinem: Yes, sadly, but I also have tosay, I really love how Louisa May Alcott made the interracial marriages in Little Women work so well. Whenever I read those passages between the couples, except for Meg and John, they are both American, they are still a lovely couple, though, but whenever I read them, I love the way Louisa May Alcott writes these couples, Amy and Laurie, and Jo and Friedrich, because it really gets lost in all of the adaptations. I think the only couple which gets marriage time, is the one between John and Meg, only because Meg is the first one to marry, I assume, but then, the movie-makers all like everything is about Jo and Laurie, and it doesn't feel right,

Niina: Because that's not the way things happen in the novels, and because Laurie is partially based on Laddie Wisniewski, and the more I have read about Louisa May Alcott’s relationship with Laddie Wisniewski, it more and more feels like a mother and son relationship.

Sinem: Little Women would not have been the masterpiece, as I call it, if Jo had ended up with Laurie, because first of all, Louisa May Alcott based all the characters around someone she loved, who she cared about, and it would not have been right for her to marry Jo and Laurie, because Laddie is one of the inspirations for Laurie, and she did not end up with Laddie and I don't think it will work, because I know it's only semi-autobiographical, but it would not have felt right, because in the proposal scene, which I rather call the harassing scene, in that one you see in the novel, of course, only, because why would the movie-makers do such a wonderful thing, they very much don't show that in the movies, Jo really, talks to Laurie, as if he was her child. She's like, you will meet an accomplished woman, you sensible good boy, and all that stuff.

That is really there, and the movie-makers just don't use it. Okay, the movie-makers, for me, are more likely to be after the money, because Little Women is such a beloved tale, but that's another thing.

Niina: I agree, and we will get into this chapter soon. Throughout this chapter, Jo refers to Laurie and Amy as children.

Sinem: Yes, that is also very cute and funny, and it also shows that Joehas always been much more mature than Laurie. I can't say whether she was more mature than Amy, after Amy grew up, but I think it shows that, while Jo is a free spirit and independent and, I will not say egoistic, but sometimes, she says, I only want to do things for myself. She cares very much about herself, and she also respects herself very much, and I love that she calls them children, because, first of all, it's cute, second of all, it shows that she is very much mature.

Niina: I think in part one of Little Women, Jo is more egoistic, but so is Amy, and so are Meg and Laurie, because they are teens, and when you are a teenager, your life pretty much centers around yourself.

Sinem: Yes, that's true. I also have to say, I really love how Jo evolves in the end, because many people are like, she was such a feminist in the first book, and then in Good Wives, or part two, as I call it, they are like she is so anti-feminist, and she's very man-loving, that's not the Jo we love blah blah blah, and then I'm like, I think the toxic masculinity of Jo shows even in chapter three, when she goes to Laurie, when he's sick, and she's like, why don't you invite somebody so you have company, he says, well, I don't know, the boys are too loud, etc., and then she's like, well, then why don't you call a girl, because girls are quiet and they like to play nurse.

Niina: I see what you mean.

Sinem: I get why people would fall for the idea that Jo is a feminist in the first part, but that is not the case, she loves men very much, she idealizes them, and she thinks it's a shame to be a woman, and that is the complete opposite of what feminism is about. I think it's very important that we study it, and later parts, when, for example, Laurie, her sister, and all of Beth’s deatH and twins birth, Jo grows to be a feminist, because she accepts that having feminine empathy, feminine kind of interests, isn't a bad thing, it's more a bad thing to be everything female is bad, and everything male is wonderful.

For Beth fans @fandomsarefamily1966

@princesssarisa

[cannedbananabread]

Hello! I love future games! It's one of my favorite fics! If it's not too much to ask, I was wondering if you could share a list of all the books referenced/ will be referenced in your fic? Thank you so much❤️

Oh my gosh, this is such as amazing question and not too much to trouble at all, thank you for asking! 

So, I’ve broken this down into a few categories for convenience:

Explicit References - these are books that are mentioned either by title or otherwise overtly.

Implicit References -  these are books that either have been used as inspiration or else more covert allusions are made.

Future References - while I don’t have a comprehensive list of this because I am currently writing chapter 46 and there is still quite a bit or story to go, I definitely have some idea of things that will be used in the future stored in my notes. These are given without context to not spoil where this story is going.

Explicit References:

Hamlet, Shakespeare (Chapter 2) - Dio directly quotes the What a Piece of Work is Man soliloquy.

Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte (Chapter 3)  - What Dio is reading that spurs on their first discussion about kindness and cruelty and the cycles of abuse.

 Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien (Chapter 3, 5, etc.)  - The quote that Reader says to Dio about people deserving death comes from Lord of the Rings. Later, she reads it to him and it is the catalyst for how he figures out that she’s from the future. 

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Tawin (Chapter 4)  -Mostly played for laughs because Dio says Reader is “dreadfully American.” 

A Picture of Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde (Chapter 9) - Reader waxes lyrically about it being released in the near future; I think there are a ton of parallels to Dorian and Dio, that’s why I couldn't resist.

Not to a specific book, but reader says Dio would like Hemingway, that one was really just a shout out the place that I was born, but the disillusion of the 20th century (especially in The Sun Also Rises) is both poignant and relevant. 

The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne  (Chapter 11)  - Reader is likened to Hester Prynne when discussing Victorian propriety regarding sex / virginity.

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (Chapter 12, 18, 20, 30) - Reader tells Dio that it was one of her favorite books as a child so he buys it for her for Christmas.

A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens (Chapter 12, 20) - Again, mostly played for laughs, when Reader tell’s Dio she’ll haunt him like the ghosts in the book.

Walden, Henry David Thoreau (Chapter 18)- Reader compares her reserved lifestyle to Thoreau because she hasn't been able to keep many close relationships since her arrival in the 19th century.

Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy (Chapter 20) - Reader gifts this book to Dio, no one will EVER tell me that he does not like lengthy Russian novels.

Daisy Miller, Henry James (Chapter 20) - Reader makes an attempt to seduce Dio with her wit, referencing this book to incite the discussion of Victorian morality.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (Chapter 23) - Dio talks about Mr. Rochester as an example of a complex male lead.

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (Chapter 23) - Conversely, Reader likes Mr. Darcy and they debate it because they are dorks. Also, reader’s character is heavily inspired by Elizabeth. 

Implicit References:

The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky - I really wanted this to be the book that was gifted to Dio, but it hadn’t been translated into English in 1888, it still didn’t stop me from paying subtle homage. 

Notes From the Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky - The turn of phrase about overthinking being a disease is taken from this book because, again, no one will shift my head canon that Dio loves Russian novels.  Honestly, I've taken so much inspiration from Dostoevsky in general.

The House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne - I’ve used some of this story to lean into the theme of ‘what it means to be haunted’ (can fanfics have overt themes and motifs???) because we see Dio actively haunted by his past, especially by Dario in metaphysical sense that his trauma is often likened to things that are preternatural.

The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner - The content of this book isn’t ever mentioned, but I was inspired by the use of disjointed time when I wrote about the way Dio’s recalls his trauma in Chapter 19.

The Nether World, George Gissing - I’ve used this as sort of an account of what poverty in the London slums looked like.

Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field, Nancy Forbes & Basil Mahon - I was forced to read this as part of my coursework for my engineering degree, but I’ve depended on it a lot for Reader’s research. Lord knows why I decided to make her a chemist when I was terrible at chemistry.

Future References:

- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare 

- ‘Salem’s Lot, Stephen King

- The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald 

- Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy

- The Prince, Machiavelli 

- A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle 

- The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle

- The Bell Jar (and just Sylvia Plath in general) 

- Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens 

- Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol 

- Middlemarch, George Eliot 

I’ve also taken meager inspiration from various other Sherlock Holmes stories and some Agatha Christie novels, I’ve said it before, but sometimes Zeppeli comes out a little like Hercule Poirot. I have also pulled from some of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

I think that's pretty much everything! Seeing the length of this list has made me worry for my own sanity.

Thank you so much for your question, it was actually so fun to see everything together like this. Once I've finished writing the entire thing, I will have to make a comprehensive list.

[otrtbs]

10 books to know me 📚

thank you for the tag @anouri !!! <3

ten books to know me or know what i like to read about?? hmm. i'll tag the books and some quotes to convince you to read them.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt ~ the only book ever. jk. but it is my favorite. i read it 1-3x a year. would take it w me on a deserted island. all that.

"A great sorrow, and one that I am only beginning to understand: we don’t get to choose our own hearts. We can’t make ourselves want what’s good for us or what’s good for other people. We don’t get to choose the people we are."

"And in the midst of our dying, as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn’t touch."

"As long as I am acting out of love, I feel I am doing best I know how."

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë ~ moody and damp in a way that seeps into your bones and refuses to leave.

“You said I killed you-haunt me, then! [...] Be with me always-take any form-drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!”

“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.”

What My Mother and I Don't Talk About by Michele Filgate ~ collection of essays about people's relationships with their mothers.

“The hunger I feel is so unreasonable I can’t parse it, even to myself. But I want to be the daughter of this mother, the one who lives in a pink building, the one who dances.”

“I love you past the sun and the moon and the stars,” she’d always say to me when I was little. But I just want her to love me here. Now. On Earth.”

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket ~ yes, the whole series. read them as a kid and they're why i am the way that i am.

"I will love you as a thief loves a gallery...as misfortune loves orphans, as fire loves innocence and as justice loves to sit and watch while everything goes wrong."

"To Beatrice— Darling, dearest, dead."

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott ~ comfort read! it's coziness and comfort in book form! jo march n me are the same and we're besties.

"I keep turning over new leaves, and spoiling them, as I used to spoil my copybooks; and I make so many beginnings there never will be an end."

“The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.”

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros ~ read this as a young teenager and it's stuck with me ever since.

"And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn't be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window."

"Their strength is secret. They send ferocious roots beneath the ground. They grow up and they grow down and grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger. This is how they keep."

Play it As it Lays by Joan Didion ~ it's just a book for your early 20s i think.

“There was a silence. Something real was happening: this was, as it were, her life. If she could keep that in mind she would be able to play it through, do the right thing, whatever that meant.”

Ways of Seeing by John Berger ~ all about art and capitalism and observation. 13/10 read.

“The mirror was often used as a symbol of the vanity of woman. The moralizing, however, was mostly hypocritical. You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, you put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting "Vanity", thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure.”

“The bogus religiosity which now surrounds original works of art, and which is ultimately dependent upon their market value, has become the substitute for what paintings lost when the camera made them reproducible.”

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner ~ haunting, southern gothic, stream-of-consciousness style that embedded itself into my 17 yr old brain and never left

“Memory believes before knowing remembers.”

“That’s what they mean by the womb of time: the agony and the despair of spreading bones, the hard girdle in which lie the outraged entrails of events.”

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green ~ i'd be doing teenage nat a disservice if at least one john green novel didn't make the list

“I was so good at being a kid, and so terrible at being whatever I was now.”

“You can’t control it, that’s the thing,” I said. “Life is not something you wield, you know?”

tagging some of youse bc i wanna see what you're reading! 😋 (absolutely no pressure!!) : @twisted-tales-told @rollercoasterwords @euphorial-docx @rays-of-raven @anythingforourmoonysstuff + anyone else who wants to play!! say i tagged you !! <333

[avatarskywalker78]

OC Pride Challenge Day 5 - Aro/Ace - Cass Verity (Due South)

Quote about Aromanticism// Quote from 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott//Text Post by makelimeade//Quote about Asexuality//Quote from 'Ace' by Angela Chen//Text Post by natasharxmanov//Extract from the poem 'Ace' by ARMundell//'Do My Own Thing' by American Authors

Cassandra Verity - or Cass, to her friends - has long accepted that she simply doesn't feel sexual attraction to anyone, and that sex itself is an absolutely no-go (she's had it twice and it's done nothing for her). Romance, though, has a lot more question marks over it - she likes the idea of it, and she's certainly been fond of people in the past...but none of her boyfriends have ever worked out beyond a few months and she doesn't know why.

She still doesn't have an answer by 1994, and doesn't really know who to talk to about it - she's almost certain Vecchio won't understand and Fraser...well, given he's seemingly oblivious to the fact that women are interested in him about ninety-percent of the time, and reacts badly during the ten-percent of occasions he does pick up on it, she's not sure how helpful he'd be, nice as he'd try to be about the situation. Which looks set to be a problem months after befriending him, since she's increasingly confused about whether she's experiencing romantic attraction towards the man or not, and unsure what to do about it because she doesn't have many close friends and doesn't want to wreck the few she does have for what will probably be no reason again...

But...she has the feeling that she'll find an answer, one day. Hopefully. And this current crisis? Likely isn't as bad as she thinks.

Tagging (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @shrinkthisviolet @starstruckpurpledragon

[gabessquishytum]

Ten Books to Know Me By!

Tagged by @honeyteacakes! I really loved your list of books, I saw the scarlet pimpernel on there and did a happy scream!

1. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

This was a formative book for me throughout my childhood and adolescence. I must have read it almost 10 times. I struggle to read it now (some parts just hit too close to home for me) but I hope one day that I’ll be able to return to this wonderful novel.

2. Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey

This book altered the course of my life, no kidding. If you love history or true crime this book is seriously for you. It will definitely make you rethink everything you know about the way history is written, the way historical individuals are portrayed and why stories are so important.

3. Persuasion - Jane Austen

All of Austen’s novels have impacted me massively, but this one is my favourite. The way that romantic love is portrayed in this book is so beautiful to me, the way people’s personal flaws are portrayed as something that can be forgiven and accepted. This is a very hopeful book, and it is also an incredible portrayal of what it’s like to live with anxiety.

4. Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

I love all of Neil’s stuff, but this one is probably my favourite. It was the first of his solo novels that I read (after Good Omens). It’s fun, imaginative, terrifying. I fell in love with the idea of urban fantasy thanks to this book, and I think it was super influential on the development of my own writing.

5. Santaland Diaries - David Sedaris

I love the combination of cynicism and sentiment in this book. It's funny, it's real (if a little overexaggerared at times). It also makes me feel better about myself and my struggles with employment. Plus, David Sedaris was probably one of the first gay people I was ever aware of.

I also worked as a Christmas elf in a store (not Macy's, unfortunately) so I feel a forever connection to this book.

6. The Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin

This book confounded me when I first read it as a child. I didn't like the main character, I found the plot complicated. But returning to it years later, I fell in love with it. It's a book about becoming a better version of yourself, about fucking up majorly and trying to put things right. And about love and friendship. Plus there are further books in the series, and a dragon. What's not to love?

7. War of the Foxes - Richard Siken

I know a lot of people have read Crush, and while I absolutely love it, War of the Foxes is a gentler piece of work which explores some of the same themes from a mature perspective. There are some absolutely beautiful poems in this collection and I really recommend it for anyone who wants to contemporary poetry!

8. 163 Days - Hannah Hodgeson

Another favourite poetry collection! This is a beautiful, unique piece of work that discusses life limiting illness, hospital, and what it's like to be disabled in an able bodied world. It takes a lot to make me cry but this book moves me so much and brings me so much joy, too, because it exists! And I can feel just a little bit less invisible because of it.

9. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

The funniest, most ridiculous book, and an absolutely brilliant satire of British countryside life. I quote this book ALL the time. It is my lifetime ambition to own a cow called Useless.

10. The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

Another formative book which did so much for me as a young queer person. The fact that this book was "mainstream" and loved by so many people (including people who may not have naturally been queer allies) made the difficult conversations easier. It was really important for me to be able to bring this book home without having to hide.

Thank you for this opportunity to talk about books! I'm tagging @the-art-student-in-221c @aquilathefighter @valeriianz @ineffablyendless @pintobordeaux @reallyintoscience @notallsandmen @akhuna01 but feel don't feel like you have to do it! ❤

[sitp-recs]

Tag meme

Thank you @shealwaysreads for the tag! I think I might have done this before so I mixed the results for “Sitp” and “Liv” and I loved these!

Type your name or blog name followed by "core" into Pinterest and post the first nine pictures with a quote from a book of your choice. Tagging @phdmama @stavromulabetaaa @julcheninred @wolfpants @writcraft @magpiefngrl and @teacup-tai if you want, and anyone else who wants to join! Do it

"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship."

(Louisa May Alcott, Little Women)

[nedlittle]

genuine question: what is wrong with the peyton beachdeath lma trans thread? I know…too much about peyton himself so we don’t need to revisit that, but i’d love to see you rip into some shoddy scholarship and ways to (mis)understand historical queerness

oh god...

i mean aside from people taking the word of a notorious clout-chasing liar and conspiracy theorist at face value...peyton just doesn't understand or even really care about history when it does not directly benefit him. full disclosure i have not read the thread since it was first posted but it is burned into my memory unfortunately, i also don't know a lot about lma as a historical figure

aside from cherry picking quotes from lma's diaries there were no actual sources. nothing from her biographers, no secondary scholarship at all. it was just peyton presenting quotes purposefully stripped of their context in order to further a point that he wanted to be right.

this should be like. queer history for pre-schoolers but people in the past who were or may have been queer understood themselves and their queerness differently than people do today. peyton is incapable of looking at queerness outside of his very specific 21st century lens. could louisa may alcott have been a trans man? possibly! could she have also been cis and/or gnc? sure! could she have simply been writing in both her private and personal lives about how suffocating the experience of being a woman in the 19th century was? yeah. we have no way of knowing which of this could be true, and whether they overlapped at all. queer history exists in shades of possibility. in some cases (and we're going to use trans men contemporary to lma), like those of albert cashier and charley pankhurst, we can pretty definitely say that they were both men; that being a man was essential to their continued survival, that they would have wanted to be remembered as men. in other cases, it's more slippery because the taxonomy we use nowadays to classify ourselves and especially our differentiation of gender identity vs sexual acts is SO recent that it does a disservice to classify all historical queerness with it.

it's insane that there are MULTIPLE notable 19th century trans men in american history at the time lma was living and he still was like no this is not good enough for me i can only emotionally relate to something if i can force my own image onto it. that's really the problem here, not the shoddy history and the deliberately misleading language, but the fact that peyton is seemingly incapable of enjoying or relating to a piece of media or a person if he cannot find a direct comparison to his own life. he did the same oh "(x) was 100% absolutely a trans man if you tell me wrong you're transphobic" thing with katharine hepburn (iirc??) a few years back and this is a personal gripe but having read a 600+ page bio of hepburn that was very generous to several queer readings of her life: lol. lmao even. his insistence of flatting the experience of anyone with a moderately fucky gender into "you're either Like Me or your not" is so purposefully stupid.

like, do all the trans readings of little women you want! i myself made a deranged little women trans post a few weeks ago. but lma isn't a fictional character who you can apply different literary lenses to! she was a real human person whose relationship with her gender we will never fully understand because we were not there. at some point you just have to accept that it is not your business. why are you so desperate for any shred of historical representation that you are willing to exhume the dead in order to out them?

peyton relates to jo march, so he insists that reading jo as a trans man is the only (morally) correct reading. he likes little women but has to make it fit the public view of transness that he is made his personal brand. i actually followed him for longer than i'd care to admit, and it's a trend with any piece of media that he is publicly into that he has to make a character a trans man in order to relate to them.

he also has this deranged idea that any author writing with emotional depth about the """opposite sex""" must have been trans. see the article he wrote for the niche about how must have been a trans man because he gave dido's emotions and the collapse of her marriage to aeneas the same "dignified treatment as any sprawling, epic battlefield scenes." [direct quote] the article is literally called " vergil had a pussy and i'll prove it." no further comment.

one of his "proofs" is that lma was called "lou" by her family, which he then proceeds to call her for the rest of the thread. lou is....a very normal nickname for louisa both now and then. you know what else was a 19th century nickname for louisa? wheezy. imagine that same thread but he calls her wheezy alcott. thank you, good day.

[thecardigangirl]

For the ask game: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 20, 21, 22, 27, 29, 30, 31. 😉💕

‘3 things....’ asks!

1. 3 things you wish for

To live a calm peaceful life filled with beautiful things, to get better, to be good.

2. 3 movies you have rewatched many times

Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959), The Sword in the Stone (1963).

3. 3 songs that mean something to you

cardigan by Taylor Swift, Friedrich Dances with Jo (Little Women) by Alexandre Desplat, Prince Phillip (Maleficent) by James Newton Howard.

5. 3 colors to paint your room

Baby blue, pastel pink, sage green.

6. 3 characters that inspire you

Beth March (Little Women), Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Jane Bennet (Pride and Prejudice).

9. 3 things you like doing on a rainy day

Watching the rain from my window, enjoying the smell of rain and the soft breeze, listening to cozy music.

11. 3 books that you would recommend everyone to read

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

13. 3 classes you used to hate in middle school

P.E., Maths, Geography.

15. 3 quotes that have a special place in your life

There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind. ― Louisa May Alcott ♪ A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true. ♪ ― Cinderella Yes, it's only in my dreams. But they say if you dream a thing more than once, it's sure to come true. And I've seen him so many times. ― Princess Aurora

20. 3 adjectives that you’d use to describe yourself

Shy, sensitive, delicate.

21. 3 things you are the most passionate about

Music, my beliefs, my favorite character.

22. 3 movies/books/tv shows that made you cry

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (film), Inside Out, Little Women.

27. 3 things you wish you did more often

Have more alone time, read a good book, watch something I enjoy.

29. 3 characteristics of the person you aspire to be

Compassionate, kind, assertive without being rude or harsh.

30. 3 moments you could never forget

The day my little brother was born, the day I got my favorite album, the last time I've felt alive.

31. 3 types of flowers you love the most

Lily of the valley, daisy, rose.

Thank you so so much for asking. ♡

[luucypevensie]

🦘 for Augusta?

MY QUEEN OF ROCK AND ROLL, THANK YOU ANNA!

1. Their happiest moment: I think Augusta’s happiest moment is when she, Thea, Iris, and a tagalong Finn roadtripped all the way out to California for college. She had just graduated from her shitty high school with awesome grades, if she does say so herself, and was getting out of her shitty town to go to college in a state she’s always wanted to live in with her two best friends. Augusta was literally walking on water that day, she was so happy and excited

2. Their favorite meme quote: The Bugs Bunny one wishing everyone a pleasant something or other (either that or fiery hell Elmo)

3. A nervous habit of theirs: Augusta tends to start tapping her foot whenever feeling nervous or anxious about something. What’s funny though is that it actually sounds like she’s tapping to the beat of some obscure song and people sometimes like to guess what the song is

4. A turn-off of theirs: Cockiness; it’s the reason why she wouldn’t even give Puck the time of day, even after New Directions was formed

5. Their favorite ‘90’s song: Bitch by Meredith Brooks

6. Their aesthetic: Punk Rock, no doubt about it

7. Their favorite childhood book: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (like Thea, Augusta is an avid reader and is a big fan of certain classics like Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and Little Women. The reason why Little Women has been a favorite since childhood is because she sees herself, Thea, Iris, and Betty as the March sisters. Augusta sees Iris as Meg, herself as Jo, Thea as Beth, and Betty as Amy)

8. Their favorite movie: Juno (Augusta sees a lot of herself in Juno, even though she never got pregnant in high school)

9. If they fall in love quickly or take their time: Augusta’s kind of in the middle; she takes her time with getting to know a person, but it doesn’t take her FOREVER to fall in love like it did with Thea and Finn

10. Their favorite nonsensical social media drama: Honestly, I feel like Augusta would find the whole Colleen Ballinger drama to be “morbidly fascinating”

[larosebisou]

2022 recap! 🥂

I was tagged by @chantalstacys! Thank you, darling! ♡

Top 3 films~

♡ Girl, Interrupted (1999)

♡ Tinkerbell (2008)

♡ Uptown Girls (2003)

Top 3 shows~

♡ The Sopranos

♡ The Fabulous

♡ Sailor Moon

Top 3 books~

♡ My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

♡ Voice Lessons by Rob Paulsen

♡ The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Top 3 biggest improvements~

♡ My singing

♡ My Korean

♡ My personal style

Top 3 resolutions~

♡ Get out more often.

♡ Write more. I want to finish the book I started.

♡ Act more. 2023 is the year for me to begin taking on serious acting gigs.

Favorite song~

♡ Shadow by f(x)

Favorite quote~

♡ “Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.” — Louisa May Alcott, from “Little Women.”

[littlewomenpodcast]

Little Women Inspirations: Friedrich Schiller (With Hejar Sinem) Part 1

Introduction

Hello everybody, my name is Niina and welcome to the Little Woman Podcast. Today's comment shoutout goes to @rainbowmilk1996RainbowMilk1996, who left this insightful comment. ”Jo also doesn't really like writing for the Weekly Volcano, she's only doing it for the money and it doesn't even pay well. She's probably lying to herself and saying Everything is fine. I am giving Beth the luxuries I want to give her and she is happy. I am happy. But when Fritz gives his opinions on sensationalism, she realizes what she is doing and stops. Considering the movies don't really talk about what Jo is actually writing about. I can't remember off the top of my head, but murder is mentioned. It can't exactly be all pretty stuff. It is easy to think that Fritz is a generous snob. He is not. People were less desensitized in the 1860s and 70s than in 2022. Fritz is less a genre snob and more not wanting people, specifically children, scared at a formative age.

End quote. When the book Jo is in New York, she actually has two editors. The first editor wants her to write sensationalism. Stories that Jo herself calls trash. The second editor only wants her to write moralistic tales, which is not something that Jo is that into either and it is Friedrich who helps her to find her own way of writing. Why the filmmakers don't show this conflict that Jo has with her editors? And kinda portray Friedrich in a bad light when in the book it is the opposite? That is a very good question.

My today's guest is really an expert on this field. We have talked a lot in this podcast how Louisa May Alcott loved German culture and German writers and now for the first time I have a guest from Germany.

Her name is Sinem and Sinem is here today to talk to us about Louisa May Alcott’s adoration to Goethe and Friedrich Schiller and how we can see the effects of these two writers in Friedrich Bhaer's character and in general in Louisa May Alcott’s novels. If you guys wish to get episode transcripts of this podcast, you can head over to my Gumroad site at at littlewomen.gumroad.com. I have tons of new stuff uploaded there. This is Little Women Podcast, Friedrich Schiller and Goethe, Alcott’s literal heroes.

Episode Transcript

Sinem: Hello, I'm Sinem. I really love Little Women and I also really love the chapters that involve Friedrich and Jo. I was born in Germany. I really love the way Friedrich talks in the novels and yes, I also love this chapter we're going to analyze.

Niina: Yes, I love it too. It's one of my favorites and I also think it's very romantic for everybody who says that Jo and Friedrich aren't romantic. I recommend reading that chapter again. I think the problem is, is that it's not really in the adaptations, but it's so good, it should be there.

Sinem: Yes, definitely. I think mostly in the movies or adaptations I've watched, mostly it’s like Friedrich goes to visit Jo and then that's the end, it's like only one day, whereas in the

novels, it continues. Their partnership continues. Even at the home, not only in New York, but it's also where Jo lives, they have this extreme and powerful bond and it only grows as the longer he stays there.

Niina: Even when Jo leaves New York, they have continued writing letters and I think you can only see that in some of the TV versions, because in the movies you just see them arguing and then they stop communicating, which is really weird, because that doesn't happen in the book at all. Some of the TV shows, they do show that they continue writing these letters and when Friedrich comes to Concord, he's actually there for two weeks or something, courting her.

Sinem: I actually have to say that I really like this chapter, really and I also think it is very important that Louisa May Alcott decided that even when they were apart, they continued writing letters to each other and in the chapter before, Jo reads a letter from Friedrich and she's like, oh, if only he would come and it's like a wish come true to her.

Niina: Exactly. It's this secret wish that she has, that he would return back her life.

Sinem: Yes, and I also think it's very important, because Jo literally craves her company in this chapter, but the thing is, she has her mother with her and also her father, but she even says that she wants to try all kinds of love that exists. She isn't really satisfied any longer with only the love of her mother, of her parents or of her sisters.

Niina: The previous chapter is called All Alone, there's really this long monologue, that she has about how lonely she is and how she longs to find love and I think she says that her heart is so elastic and she would like to try what romantic love feels like. This is such a misunderstood part about Little Women. We have discussed about this before, that people really do not seem to read the book at all when they talk about Jo wanting to be independent or whatever.

Sinem: Yes, and to be honest, I think, even if you are person, a woman, but she already has a partner, it doesn't make them not independent. I mean, relationships can enrich people, and that is the same with Jo, infatuation enriches her, but she still has her independence, and they live together in a very beautiful harmony.

Niina: Yes, and if Jo would have married Laurie, that's when she would have lost her independence completely.

Sinem: I think because Laurie was demanding at that time. You have to take care of me, you are the mother to me, you will take care of me 24 hours a day, and when I'm angry, you will do whatever I want you to, etc. I also think in this chapter, she completely forgets to compare Friedrich to Laurie, and I think it's also a funny thing, because she has idealized Laurie very much, but in the end, she stayed true to herself, and she fell in love with Friedrich, because he is the right man for her. Laurie at that time was not a man. He himself states it in that chapter.

Niina: Also, in this chapter, there is an apology from Laurie, which I find very feminist-thing for Louisa to write, but like we have discussed in this podcast, and you and I have discussed this in our private discussions, this is one of those things that is not in the adaptations either, because Laurie is so incredibly idealized. I think the only version where Laurie apologizes to Jo is the BBC series from 1970s, and most people have not even heard from it, so I am very glad that I get to discuss about the chapter Surprises with you today, because I think this is a completely overlooked chapter.

Sinem: I agree. I also think this chapter is very important for the growth of Laurie, because we have seen him evolving and growing and improving, but this is the climax, because he not only acknowledges his mistakes to himself in the others chapters, but he also acknowledges them to Jo, when he says, I was making a mistake at that time, and I'm sorry, because I think it is, like you said, first of all, very feminist to acknowledge it, that he forced her to be in some things she was not, but it is also very important, because I don't think in many adaptations you don't really see his growth, and it's actually very sad, like there is kind of an apology, I guess, but it doesn't really feel right, because then again in the movies, he never did anything wrong.

[booksandwords]

Prose and Cons by Amanda Flower

Series: Magical Bookshop, #2 Read time: 1 Day Rating: 4/5 Stars

The Quote: There was a war going on in Charming Books as the crow and the cat positioned themselves against each other: a tight for shop mascot. Both Faulkner and Emerson thought they were deserving of the title. Faulkner, who had been a resident of the longer, had seniority on his side, but Emerson had him beat in crowd appeal. — Violet

I enjoyed Prose and Cons though not as much as Crime and Punishment. Though it's nothing to do with the characterisation and story perse more to the writing and the classic literature was used. Violet, Daisy, Emerson and Faulker are all still fantastic. Prose and Cons picks up in the 3rd week of October four months after the conclusion of Prose and Cons. Charming Books is all decorated for fall and Halloween. It's a busy time for Cascade Springs, it's their annual Food and Wine Festival. Being as it is Violet in Cascade Springs something inevitably goes wrong and someone dies. The death was entirely unexpected to me, Anastasia Faber. Anastasia is the literary fiction author from the Red Inkers we met previously. The prime suspect is another member of the Red Inkers, Sadie (the bubbly fashion queen). Worse still the death happens at Charming Books.

It was nice to meet some new faces during Prose and Cons especially Danielle and Aster Cloud and EMT Keenan all of whom I think will make further appearances. I'm hoping Renee does too. Renee does all librarians justice. She's loud full of passion and personality and is really not a shusher. The epilogue is adorable. I adore Aster. She is just too cute, the best Joan of Arc I can think of. As an aside, I am now convinced there is no signposting for the killer or the motivation though it's Anastasia she was not particularly liked, unlike Benedict who was well-liked and respected. This is all about the reading and the journey.

The story of Prose and Cons is self-contained though perhaps a little less pleasing for me than Crime and Punishment, potentially due to an accessibility problem. It might due to the use of Dickinson's The Carriage vs Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher and The Purloined Letter, as a poem The Carriage the can be replicated with ease giving us the most relevant parts for the story as they are needed. Whereas The Fall of the House of Usher and The Purloined Letter are both approx twenty-page short stories that rely more on themes and impressions than words. If you haven't read them you are likely to understand less. I'm likely to see similar problems with Murders and Metaphors which uses Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. As with the Poe works I've never read Allcott's classic but it won't stop me from reading the next book in the series. That said using Poe was a great choice it does allow Faulkner to indulge in some raven yelling (no one wants to tell him he's a crow, not a raven).

The tree is interesting, protective of Violet and healing. They don't hide its power from David but David himself says in the course of the story that as important as Charming Books birch tree is to Violet they are sacred to David's people. They hide the secret yes but with him, he observes more and notices that something near-impossible has happened. Have some David and Violet quotes just because.

My gaze glossed over Trudy and Richard and locked with the amber-colored eyes of the village police chief. As a member of the Senca tribe, Rainwater had coal black hair, which he kept short, honey-colored skin, pronounced cheek bones, and eyes that were like pools of warm maple syrup. It went without saying that he was a handsome man. The fact was he was an aspiring writer of children's books could topple a book-loving girl like me clean over. — This is a lovely descriptive passage. And yeah just ditto to that last line. There is just something truly appealing about children's book writers. (p.26)

"My work is fiction for kids, true, but it's still a peek into my deepest thoughts. In a way, isn't that what all writers allow readers when they share their work, a window into another person's mind? Poe, the tortured soul that he was, was the perfect example." — This is David's reason for not letting Violet read his draft well the final reason he settles on after she calls bullshit on the others. The line is accurate but I would love to see what is in that book. What truth is he hiding from her? I mean at this point it could be anything. (David, p.40)

My eyebrows shot up a little father with this new information about the chief of police. He sounded like a true Renaissance man. Chief, writer, role-playing game aficionado. It just seemed a little too good to be true. I wondered what else I didn't know about Chief David Rainwater. — This is after Violet founds out from Keenen that he's in a D&D group with David. But before we meet Danielle and Aster. That just adds a whole other level of oh wow. (p.66)

""You do realize everyone else in the village, including my own grandmother, is pushing me toward Nathan, not David." She clicked her tongue. "The mayor is all wrong for you," she said with conviction." — While Violet may not like this conversation at least someone is saying 'oh I can see that'. Also, I like Renee in this scene, she makes me smile. (Violet and Renee, p.192)

More quotes to finish this very, very messy review.

The pounding came again, and Emerson seemed unconcerned by it, so I felt myself relax too. In the last few months since I had adopted the small tuxedo cat, I had begun to trust his instincts about people. He always seemed to know who was friend and who was foe. It was nice to have a feline litmus test, — This is a great take on pets. And Emerson is the best when it comes to an indication of good faith. (p.24)

"Adrian boxed up some more cookies for you. He copes with bad news by feeding people." I took the box from her and smiled. "Since I cope with stress with sugar, we are well matched." — And this is why we adore Adrian. I know Lacey is the suspect for bk 3 so it is going to be interesting to see hope Lacey and Adrian cope with that level of stress. (Lacey and Violet, p.85)

Despite growing up in wine country, I wasn't much of a drinker myself. I'd never acquired a taste for alcohol. If I was given the choice, I would much rather eat my calories in the form of sugary baked goodness like the cookies from Le Crepe Jolie than from a glass of wine. — I feel this on a deep level. I did grow up in wine country (and brewing area now). I too would rather eat my calories, or drink them through something close to designer tea. (p.159)

I could use a ruler-high stack of chocolate chip pancakes after the night I'd had. On second thought, Grandma Daisy could hold the pancakes and just hand over the bag of chocolate chips straight up was the only medicine that would do the trick. — Oh my god yes to this. (p178)

A student strolling the sidewalk did an about-face when the librarian screeched at me. Perhaps a yelling librarian was even more alarming than a running librarian. Nat that Renee was your typical librarian, with her tendency to be loud and her infectious laugh that could be heard all over the library building multiple times throughout the day. She wasn't one to whisper, and I had seen her shush a student only once, when a group of football players was especially rowdy. — It has been so long since I saw a librarian written this well. Renee is loud. Personality plus. And I can see why Richard is intimidated by her a little.

[nevvaraven]

10 books to know me 📚

 Thanks @otrtbs for the tag !

Ten books to know me or know what I like to read about, Nat did quotes with hers so I’m going to do quotes as well! 

Atonement by Ian McEwan - I still remember the way I flung this book across my room when I got to that part, if you’ve read it you know, still not over it and I get emotional every time I think about Robbie :( 

“As the distance opened up between them, they understood how far they had run ahead of themselves in their letters. This moment had been imagined and desired for too long, and could not measure up. He had been out of the world, and lacked the confidence to step back and reach for the larger thought. I love you, and you saved my life.”

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - The blueprint, will never not be in this list. I was raised on this stuff.

“Your defect is a propensity to hate everybody.” “And yours,” he replied with a smile, “is wilfully to misunderstand them.”

The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton - I am aware this is a children’s book but it’s the one my mum read to me every night before bed and the copy currently sitting on my shelf is the one she had when she was a child as well so it’s the most precious thing I own and they are still some of my favourite stories :)

“The faraway tree is always there. We never, never know what land is going to be at the top.”

The Fault in our Stars by John Green - I don’t want any slander okay, I don’t care to hear it ok in this house we respect our roots, this book made me cry and a part of my horrendous pre teen years was scrolling through tumblr and seeing all of those god awful picsart posts of the quotes and I loved every minute of it, it was a right of passage

“What a slut time is. She screws everybody.”

The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth - I bought this book because it’s opening passage actually had me giggling out loud like a loser in a bookstore and the origins of random words will never not be cool, the opening passage is just so long I cant put it all in here but I highly recommend it to everyone. 

“Occasionally people make the mistake of asking me where a word comes from. They never make this mistake twice. I am naturally a stern and silent fellow; even forbidding. But there's something about etymology and where words come from that overcomes my inbuilt taciturnity.”

The Fallen Star series by Jessica Sorensen - I bullied my high school librarian to buy these for the school library because I couldn’t afford them at 14 and after 2 months of badgering he caved and got them and I immediately took them and read them all in the span of two days. It’s about a girl whose mum got hit by a falling star when she was pregnant with her and it ended up giving her purple eyes and magic powers? I don’t care how silly it is at 21 I still love it.

“Of course, my nightmares were just the tip of the iceberg in the madness that had overtaken my life. When I was awake, I had much bigger problems to deal with than monsters attacking me. Real problems. Ones I couldn’t blink away.”

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Raise your hand if you’re surprised to see this. Anyone? Anyone at all? Yeah me neither. 

“Just because my dreams are different to yours does not mean that they’re unimportant.”

Divergent by Veronica Roth - I know it’s goofy but I really don’t care, this was my life! I was so convinced I was a dauntless girl lmao I have enough self awareness to know now I am either a Candor or Abnegation girl. 

“Becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.”

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - Was it the insightful examination of the constant battle of good and evil that inherently exists with all humans and the struggle we face daily on deciding which to act upon that drew me into this book or was the idea that I could blame all my bad decisions on ‘night time me’? We’ll never know.

“If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers”

The Devil Tree by Jerzy Kosiński - I’m currently reading this and so far its very rich boy problems and existential crisis but it’s beautifully written so I both am apathetic towards the man I’m reading through but also desperate to know each of his thoughts. Weird. 

“My past is the only firmament worth knowing, and I am it’s sole star. It is as haunting and mysterious as the sky overhead, and as impossible to discard.”

No pressure tagging - @waririses @signofthereads @im-still-tryin-to-find-it @euphorial-docx @siriuslyfuxkoff @condoneii and anyone else who wants to do it! xxx

[shadow-grrl]

I want to be seen a normal person not an object to society that thinks i only have value if im pretty, married or have children i want to be my own free person

“I’m not a poet. I’m just a woman. And as a woman there is no way for me to make my own money not enough to earn a living or to support my family and if I had my own money which I don’t that money would belong to my husband the moment we got married and if we had children they would be his not mine. They would be his property so don’t sit there and tell me that marriage isn’t an economic proposition because it is” this quote is from little women a novel my Louisa May Alcott based in the 1860s.

even if they were talking about a situation women were in about 164 years ago this somehow still applies to people today from all aspects of that quote its 2024 and there is still a wage gap. Its 2024 and there’s still women being ridiculed for their passions or line of work off the fact that they are women. Its 2024 and women are still bound to the fact that marriage is the only option because they won’t be taken seriously or because they aren’t very good at traditional school classes. Its 2024 and women still aren’t able to call their children theirs because they’re married. Its 2024 and marriage is still an economic proposition some people are getting married for convenience or because they feel obligated to. Its 2024 and I must keep calling them women instead of people just because we are still being seen as objects. I grew up hearing my mom having to call my dad every time we went to the passport office because in my last name, they only considered my dads and not my moms they said sense his came first I was recognized as HIS child not my mom’s. I had to grow up listening to my mom and the whole internet tell me if I wasn’t good a the four core classes in school that all I could do to prepare for the future was to start learning to cook and clean teasing that I could only make it in life if I had a hard working husband and lots of kids so I could “please him”. I grew up hearing beauty is pain every second of the day from those all around me from my first memories to this present day I’ve since learned that women who aren’t beautiful aren’t successful and to compete with other young girls so I can get a good boyfriend. I grew up thinking I wanted kids since I was five at that point I didn’t make much choices for myself and I just went along with what others told me I was waiting for the day that I would become a mother so that I could feel useful and fulfilled when in reality all I needed was a little love from my own parents or to play with kids who didn’t become society’s sheep so early on. It took me until I was 15 to realize I never wanted children. I didn’t want to have any because I was scared I would bring them into a harsh world that they didn’t want to be in. I didn’t want to eventually turn into my mom wishing I had pursued my dream instead of settling down. I definitely didn’t want them to turn out like me being in and out of therapy sessions because I was somehow “messed up as a kid and teenager”. I don’t want my situation to turn into the same thing they experience in life. Yeah, who knows if in a universe where I choose to have children, they go on to cure cancer but I’m not thinking about that universe I’m thinking about this one where I don’t want a child to have to grow up with a world that won’t care or love them. And God forbid I have girl I always wanted to me a mom to two girls but never in this world where thy my die to the hands of a psycho just because they walked down the wrong street at night or because she stood her ground to someone. I don’t want to birth a girl and live in fear if she’ll make it far or if her dreams will be crushed early on like so many other girls