theladyofthestory

[theladyofthestory]

classic movies that take place in a prestigious school and a teacher's teaching students to rebel <3333

[theladyofthestory]

the fact that i'm no longer the same age as the protagonists of novels and films i once connected to is so heartbreaking. there was a time when I looked forward to turning their age. i did. and i also outgrew them. i continue to age, but they don't; never will. the immortality of fiction is beautiful, but cruel.

[theladyofthestory]

Clara the Sugar Plum Princess from Barbie in The Nutcracker (2001) | dir. O. Hurley

[theladyofthestory]

100 good questions to ask your friends at 4:02 am when you can’t sleep (can also function as an asks list)

Are you bothered by your cosmic insignificance?

Do you mourn for a place or person you’ve never known?

Do you really think there is somebody for everybody?

Do you place any value in gender roles?

Do you have to be related to be family?

Are your platonic relationships just as valuable as romantic or family ones?

Are you in love? Do you want to be?

Do you think you can put love into categories (family, platonic, romantic, etc.) or is it just one general sensation?

Would you be happy with a life without romance? 

Are you always going to be a little in love with somebody?

Would you change your appearance if you could?

Do you have the feeling you’ve lost something you might have had in another life - whether it be a person, a place, a world, a language, etc.?

Do you believe in reincarnation?

Would you want to be reincarnated?

Do you think you’re special, or just another person amongst billions? Can you be both?

Do theoretical ethical debates have any value? Is it important people discuss ethical dilemmas, e.g. the trolley problem?

Did you have imaginary friends? Do you still have them?

Are you religious? Do you think your religion is ‘correct’?

If you aren’t religious, do you wish you were? Why?

Do you want a grand adventure?

Do you have somebody, whether it be a friend or stranger, who you think you could have loved if the circumstances were different?

How long does it take you to fall in love with somebody?Is the sensation of ‘falling in love’ or ‘being in love’ better?

Is love about convenience or something more? Can it be about both?

Do you think you really understand your gender and sexuality?

How fluid is your concept of gender and sexuality?

What’s the most life-changing choice you’ve made so far?

Are you afraid of growing old?

Would you want to live forever? How about for a billion years, a million, a millennium, a century?

Do you believe in some form of god/s?

Are your choices fated or of your own free will?

Do you have a hunch about how you’re going to die?

Do you believe in star signs?

How old do you have to be to be considered an adult?

Was your childhood happy?

What are you missing from your life?

Have you ever met someone who had a very similar personality to your own? Did you get along?

Do opposites attract?

Is your life what you expected it would be five years ago?

Do you know what you want out of life?

What makes a person ‘good’? Are you a ‘good person’?

What fundamentally matters do you?

Is freewill an illusion?

Do you create art? How do you define art?

How often do you lie? Is all lying inherently bad? Are you generally truthful?

Do you want to be remembered after your death? What for?

Is true world peace ever possible?

Do you have to suffer to truly understand the human condition? What is the human condition? How can you really experience it?

Are you free? Will you ever be? Can anyone be truly free?

Do you hold yourself to higher standards than you hold others?

What do you expect from a friend or partner?

What question could you ask to find out the most about a person?

Do you justify all your beliefs or have you just inherited/absorbed some?

Which beliefs do you have that is most likely to be wrong?

Can human really understand the complete nature of the universe, space and time?

Is a conscious what makes someone a person?

What do you think about artificial intelligence?

Do you thinks humans are obsessed with escapism (books, video games, movies, etc.)? Are you looking for an escape? Do you think that’s a bad thing?

Are we eventually going to ‘run out’ of new combinations for music, art, language, etc.? Is there a limit to human creativity?

What do you think the next era of music will be like?

What do you think the next era of fashion will be like?

Do we live in tumultuous times, or do they just seem so strange because we’re living in them?

Would you want to meet a clone of yourself? Would you like them?

How confident are you, really?

How consistent is your perception of time?

What age should people be allowed to vote? Should children and teenagers be allowed to vote?

How do you feel about the idea ‘an eye for an eye’?

What’s the worse thing a person can be?

How do you feel about monogamy?

Can you be in love with someone and still fall in love with someone else?

What’s the tragedy of your life?

Would your life make a good play?

Should people be prosecuted for crimes that weren’t considered crimes at the time?

Would you fight for your country? Do you feel a sense of loyalty to your nation?

Do you believe in gender equality in every aspect?

Do we have a moral obligation to care for others? To what extent?

Do you crave approval and/or praise?

Is there comedy in all tragedy and tragedy in all comedy?

Are you ever going to be satisfied?

When you are sad, do you listen to music that conveys your emotions or music that makes you happy?

Is your music organised by mood or sensation or do you just listen to everything at any time?

Would you marry a friend if they needed you to (e.g. for citizenship)?

Are you a deep person?

Given the chance to live your life on Mars, with no hope of returning to Earth but with the promise of scientific discovery and glory, would you take it?

Are you who people think you are?

Do you think you would be happier if you had been born a different gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality or religion?

What’s your toxic trait? Are you trying to improve yourself and fix it?

Do you anger easily?

Are you a jealous person?

If you lost all your memories, would you have the same personality?

Given the chance to reset your life (with none of the knowledge you currently have), would you take it?

Is hate as strong as love? Who do you hate?

Do you speak multiple languages? Which do you dream in? What language would you want to learn?

Do you draw meaning from your dreams, or do you disregard them?

How would you describe yourself when you love? Do you love forcefully, unconditionally, gently, quietly, desperately?

Is unrequited love real love?

Is your perception of yourself similar or the same to how others perceive you?

Are you overly analytical?

Do you ever feel that you are really a terrible person, and only act good out of societal or some other obligation?

Do you believe in magic? Are you superstitious?

What belief do you have that isn’t logically grounded, but you still firmly believe in?

[theladyofthestory]

since you have read this post you will be told good news tonight. if you reblog this post your best week starts now. if you ignore this post your best week starts now. i just want you to have a good week

[theladyofthestory]

Idek why but here are some of my favourite books and why I’m obsessed with them using the least amount of words possible:

The House Of The Spirits- Isabelle Allende: when I closed this book I cried because the characters were just so beautiful and I got so attached to them. I only cried about a book two times in my life.

Red, White and Royal Blue- Casey McQuiston: the ultimate comfort book.

Of Love and Shadows- Isabelle Allende: extremely uncomfortable and hard to read yet eye-opening, you’re just not the same after you’ve read it.

Narcissus and Goldmund- Hermann Hesse: after five years I keep figuring out stuff about this book, and some is still a mystery to me- it’s like a giant, never-ending puzzle.

One, No One and a Hundred Thousand- Luigi Pirandello: lol I’m not the only one who looks in the mirror and freaks out because I can’t recognise myself.

Howl’s Moving Castle- Diana Wynne Jones: everyone knows the movie but doesn’t know the book. I watched the movie because of the book.

Il Fanciullino (The Little Child)- Giovanni Pascoli: this is Pascoli’s most poetic work. He is a poet. This is a prose work.

Good Omens- Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett: the only time I read a book after watching the show and enjoyed it.

Brevi Lezioni sul Linguaggio (Brief Lessons on Language)- Federico Faloppa: didn’t know a collection of essays about linguistics could get me so emotionally involved I didn’t want to close it.

Beside Myself- Ann Morgan: you expect a thriller and you get a psychological analysis of identity, mental illness, family dynamics and trauma.

[theladyofthestory]

I think about narcissus and goldmund and just <3

[theladyofthestory]

My to read list

The stars look down by Archibald Cronin (currently reading)

The Castle by Franz Kafka

The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier

The Clown by Heinrich Böll

We: a novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Sanctuary by William Faulkner

Gertrud by Hermann Hesse

Narcissus and Goldmund (Death and the Lover) by Hermann Hesse

Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway

Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch

A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh

Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

The Foundation Pit by Andrei Platonov

King, Queen, Knave by Vladimir Nabokov

[theladyofthestory]

I would love some book recs from you, you seem like such a cool person

Since I don't know your preferences, I tried to add authors from different places and diverse themes. But still, most of the time I go back to the same topics (suspense, horror, queer lit, and erotism).

A little of everything The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall Nightmare Tales by H. P. Blavatsky Violin by Anne Rice The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse (beautiful book) Mademoiselle de Maupin by Théophile Gautier Neuromancer by William Gibson (a classic) Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu Maurice by E. M. Forster The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories

Japanese authors Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yōko Ogawa The Face of Another by Kobo Abe The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki Audition by Ryu Murakami The Key by Junichirō Tanizaki

Cats (if you like them) A Cat, Shozo, and Two Women by Junichirō Tanizaki I Am a Cat by Natsume Sōseki The Cat That Saves Books by Natsukawa Sosuke The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide

Short Stories The Shining Pyramid by Arthur Machen Ringing the Changes by Robert Aickman House of Mist by Maria Luisa Bombal The Old Nurse’s Story by Elizabeth Gaskell

If you want to talk about any of them or recommend something, feel free to dm me

[theladyofthestory]

Book Recommendations

If You Like We Have Always Lived in the Castle, You Should Try… The Vet’s Daughter by Barbara Comyn’s O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi  When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O’Neill My Sweet Audrina by VC Andrews

If You Like Anne Carson, You Should Try… These Possible Lives by Fleur Jaeggy Waiting for God by Simone Weil Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz Bluets by Maggie Nelson

American Gothic + Girlhood  Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Logic by Olympia Vernon Heaven by VC Andrews Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn  The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

Female Friendship — Obsessive, Brutal, Erotic Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy  When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O’Neill Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan La Fanu 

Female Mysticism Matrix by Lauren Groff City of Incurable Women by Maud Casey From Virile Woman to WomanChrist by Barbara Newman The Female Mystic by Andrea Janelle Dickens Maps of Flesh and Light edit. by Ulrike Wiethaus

On Excess and Asceticism Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind  The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Holy Feast and Holy Fast by Caroline Bynum 

If You Like The Haunting of Hill House, You Should Try… White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi  The Turn of the Screw by Henry James Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews Dark Places by Gillian Flynn Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Antinatalism — Against Being Born We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Tess of d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy The Trouble with Being Born by Emil M. Cioran Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky 

[theladyofthestory]

something about a book with no foreword no dedication no prologue no nothing just straight into chapter one feels like jumping into a pool without testing the water first like ok

[theladyofthestory]

what the fuck did Hesse go thru during the great war for his books to take a very intense turn towards the homoerotic since 1919

[theladyofthestory]

"We are sun and moon, dear friend; we are sea and land. It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is: each other's opposite and compliment."

- Narcissus and Goldmund, Hermann Hesse

[theladyofthestory]

I finished narcissus and goldmund like a week ago but narcissus’s last monologue to goldmund is still living rent-free in my head. Like goldmund is lying there dying after years of fucking around and being a garbage person and narcissus comes in with “let me tell you today how much i love you, how much you have always meant to me, how rich you have made my life.” Just like. Am i not supposed to weep? Am i supposed to be ok that this stoic, unfeeling man finally told his friend that he loved him?? It does so much to my heart

[theladyofthestory]

I'm just thinking about them like all the time <3 orz

[theladyofthestory]

People talk about Catcher in the Rye like Holden Caulfield spends his time kicking orphans he finds on the street and then u read the book and he’s literally just some guy

[theladyofthestory]

Die Hard (1988) dir. John McTiernan Die Hard 2 (1990) dir. Renny Harlin Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) dir. John McTiernan Live Free or Die Hard (2007) dir. Len Wiseman A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) dir. John Moore