#((and i think it'll go to show how strong their love is; even after centuries of being apart!))

[theheadlessgroom]

@beatingheart-bride

"Oh, I couldn't," Randall grinned as he resumed eating his gumbo, rather delighted by the mental image of a little Emily trying to inconspicuously snatch up a chocolate blueberry bon-bon from the box when her mother wasn't looking. He'd had very similar experiences with strawberries, as he recounted, "I was the strawberry bandit in my house-my parents always had to hide them, otherwise I'd run off with them!"

He could just see it now-bringing Emily over for dinner some night, and his parents regaling her with many colorful tales of his childhood, with one of those no doubt being his little misadventure with the strawberry preserves when he was very little. How he managed to get up to the cabinet shelf with the jar in them he couldn't remember, all he knew was that his mother found him and, to ensure he never lived it down, snapped a picture of him, looking all kinds of big-eyed and pleased with himself all smeared with strawberry, before she hauled him off for his second bath of the day.

Deciding to save that story for another time, he replied, "Strawberry shortcake is one of my favorite ways to have them; my ma likes to bake me one for my birthday, but to tell you the truth...a little bowl of them with some cream is the best way to go. What, uh, what's your favorite way to have blueberries? In a pie? As a jam? In pancakes, maybe?"

#((it is THE ultimate commitment: 'til death do us part'? nope; we're not parting-not again!)) #((she's already lost him once before; and in an extremely tragic and traumatic way)) #((and for centuries she's been alone-she had no way of knowing that randall would be reincarnated one day)) #((let alone that they'd cross paths again and she'd have a second chance with him!)) #((and if they were to get together again and she *didn't* turn him then she'd just wind up losing him again)) #((be it from anything ranging from a car accident or illness or old age)) #((and there's no way of knowing if he'd be reincarnated again; and if she'd ever see him again!)) #((he realizes this; and so he wants to cut out the middle man and just go for it-he wants to bite the bullet)) #((and be with the woman he loves-he's ready to make that commitment to her)) #((and i think it'll go to show how strong their love is; even after centuries of being apart!)) #outofhatboxes #beatingheart-bride #V:Dark Shadows

[imogenlefay]

So, I read this book... Daisy Jones & The Six

so, i've been thinking about doing a thing, and maybe someone finds it interesting, or maybe it's just for me to order my thoughts and i'll get bored to it before march, but we'll see. basically, for the last two years i've been keeping track of the books i read (or audiobooks i listen to) bc i felt like i'm not reading enough (except for fanfiction). and while i'm far behind people who actually read a lot, and woefully behind how much i used to read when i was a teen, i'm actually pretty happy with the progress. made it to 34 in 2022 and 40 in 2023, and hope to get more done this year. 2024 is starting off strong, just finished my first book of the year, and usually when i do that, i have thoughts. so what's the point of blogs if not to put that out there, so it stops haunting my head? or maybe even get someone else's thoughts on things? so i decided to blog about the books i read (unless i forget or don't feel like it), starting with general feelings and then going into spoilery feelings. so, yeah, this is what this is going to be. let's go.

Summary: a look back on fictional rockband The Six rising to fame, where they meet It Girl Daisy Jones, leading to the collab of a century, until the band breaks apart after one show in Chicago. Told completely in interview snippets.

General Feelings: say what you want, it's a fast read, and it's fun. the style of writing with everything being interview snippets, aka the band members' and friends' memories, works really well, especially the parts where one person remembers things, and the next person directly contradicting their memory. it's a quick way to give you everyone's point of view, and sowing the seeds of miscommunication and conflict. the story is easy to follow, and it's also easy to feel for most of the protagonists. the characters are likable enough, and their conflicts are mostly realistic. the final show in chicago and the general fall out unfortunately fall kind of flat for me. like... this is it? it's not much of a bang, tbh... which maybe sums up my feelings about the whole thing. it's a fun ride, but at the end, it's like "huh, guess that was it?" it is fun, but it's just not very deep, i guess. although the way they describe the songwriting process and the songs that result from it really was cool to read. another fun fact, i totally forgot there's a show until i googled the book cover. and since i was reading and caught myself wanting to check out the songs, only to remember they're not real... well, that might be enough motivation to check out the show. Recommendation: yes, i'm doing that before the actual feelings part cause i can't discuss those without spoilers. so, if anybody cares, rec first. Daisy Jones & the Six is a casual read. like, vacation book. for the beach, for train rides, for flights. it's fun to breeze through, but i doubt it'll really grip most people. so yeah, not a must read, but can be fun, light reading.

Spoilery feelings:

(consider yourself warned)

there are a few things that really didn't work for me.

i never really got into the whole daisy/billy thing. like, his instant antipathy, the weird rivalry, and then her oh so deep love for him, and at the end, him finally kinda sorta loving her but loving his wife more... maybe that's part of the format. both of them looking back at it from the future, where it's just not that present anymore. but it didn't ring that true.

my biggest problem was probably drug use and how it was handled. it just felt so trivial and meaningless. like sure, for both billy and daisy it's supposedly the central struggle, but it just fell so flat for me. i know part of that is that early december i read Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, which (in germany) is a famous non-fiction account describing the fall into heavy drug use of an extremely young girl (starting at 12, i think), and it's the bleakest thing i've ever read, with the girl herself describing how she fell into heavier and heavier drugs, paid for by prostitution. so it's dark, and it's heavy, and compared to that the drug use in Daisy Jones feels almost offensive in how little weight it has. the comparison is super unfair, i know, i'm primed and biased, sure. but after that, the book may say a million times "oh yeah, that was a bad time for daisy", but it just doesn't ring true.

i'm not sure if the identity of the interviewer is supposed to come off as a twist? like, sure, i didn't see it coming, but it didn't really have an impact, either.

lacking impact is probably my final point. while the book, especially with the format of the interviews, is really good at painting the conflicts within the group, i didn't feel like these paid off in a significant manner. like, eddie's whole growing resentment never went anywhere except being a red herring. the show in chicaco wasn't that special in the end, was it? nothing happened at the show himself. just, the band broke at many different places at once, but they barely impacted each other. billy's struggle with addiction toppling over, daisy having a breakdown and camila helping her through it, pete getting married, the karen/graham thing exploding... like, you could see them coming, but the resolution all at once felt kinda random. like, it didn't feel like there's this big bang setting off all the dominos (yeah, mixing metaphors, i know), but more like "oh yeah, that's all happening now, i guess". sure, there isn't always a big bang, but i feel like they teased one, and then there was nothing. so i guess the end feels a bit anticlimactic, like it just fizzled out.

it was still fun to read, but more like meaningless fun, i guess. definitely preferred "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo", which was super fun. interesting writing style, but story is a bit shallow. okay, now i talked enough about a book i kinda sorta liked but wasn't super impressed by. anyone else thoughts about it? did you read it? did you watch the show? do you or did you have feelings about it? seriously would love to hear them!

#imogen reads #book discussions #and maybe i'm practicing reviewing stuff #daisy jones and the six #i'm having thoughts about this book

[thelioncourts]

IIRC the aftermath of Merrick is what causes another huge rift between Loustat because of Louis's resentment that Lestat saved his life and made him less human thus even more difficult for him to end his life if he wanted to. I wonder if that will be used on the show to forestall a romantic reunion too cause it would definitely bring them back into each others sphere but also make it impossible for them to be together for a while if they want to do a slowburn over many seasons.

Also I think Louis "dying" could also be used to remove this vampire bond plot device so that if/when they eventually get back together it'll be more earned than just they're stuck cause of that damn bond. It'd free Lestat up to have his other love interests for a while but they're also going to have to write Louis storylines from scratch since he doesn't have any in the books after iwtv. IMO the reason Armand is elevated in the shows interview is so Louis has a storyline outside of Lestat going forward.

Okay, so you're going to have to forgive me, but I've only read Merrick once (it made me so sad (I'm planning a reread starting this summer but that's another story for another time), but, I feel like ?? I remember Lestat being hesitant to save Louis because of this exact thing -- making Louis less human given that Lestat's blood, at this point, has been combined with Akasha's and with Memnoch's and with Jesus' (lol). But I don't remember Louis being upset with Lestat when he does awaken (???).

(Okay, so I went to go grab my Merrick book and I'm only skimming, but page 292, after Louis has been resurrected, has him saying:

"My heartfelt thanks go to all of you that you brought me back." It was the old cadence, the old sincerity. Maybe there was something of the old timidity as well. "All my long life among the Undead, I searched for something which I had come to believe I would never possess. Over a century ago, I went to the Old World in search of this. And after a decade, found myself in Paris, searching for this thing...But nowhere did I find this, until now..." He turned his steady eyes on Lestat. "I'm almost as strong as you are now, my blessed Maker. For better or for worse I feel that I am one of you all.")

But! Yes, that is definitely a conversation that happens and will undoubtedly happen in the show to some degree.

However, even beyond Louis' words in Merrick, Louis on the show is drinking heavily and frequently (and enjoyably 👀) from Armand who is a 514 year old powerful vampire. I don't think he's much worried about the power he could/would gain.

That being said, the idea of Louis' death breaking the vampire bond is interesting. I don't know if it could work that way or if the show would do it like that, but like you've implied, I would like to see them come together on their own moreso than Louis continuing this 'vampire bond' thing. That being said, we all know he's using that as an excuse to downplay how horribly and beautifully he was, and still is, in love with Lestat.

#amc iwtv #iwtv #louis de pointe du lac #lestat de lioncourt #interview with the vampire

[readingrobin]

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu

Two siblings. Two brilliant talents. But only one Mozart.

Born with a gift for music, Nannerl Mozart has just one wish--to be remembered forever. But even as she delights audiences with her masterful playing, she has little hope she'll ever become the acclaimed composer she longs to be. She is a young woman in 18th century Europe, and that means composing is forbidden to her. She will perform only until she reaches a marriageable age--her tyrannical father has made that much clear.

And as Nannerl's hope grows dimmer with each passing year, the talents of her beloved younger brother, Wolfgang, only seem to shine brighter. His brilliance begins to eclipse her own, until one day a mysterious stranger from a magical land appears with an irresistible offer. He has the power to make her wish come true--but his help may cost her everything. -Storygraph

The Kingdom of Back is one of those fantasies that is as magical as you want it to be. The titular kingdom that springs from the minds of the Mozart siblings takes on a life of its own, though there is just enough of a mystery around it for the reader to ask whether it ever truly leaves their imaginations. It leads our protagonist, Nannerl, to become a bit of an unreliable narrator, one that is swept away with the beautiful, yet suspicious magic of the place. I think it gave the story a neat allegorical aspect, to sort of decipher which each aspect of the kingdom represents and if the figures in Nannerl's regular life have any influence in it. There's probably enough evidence to sway readers to either direction if the place is real or not, which naturally lends itself to a great deal of interpretation.

While it is easy to call Nannerl a bit gullible given how easy it is to spot the danger she's in and how insidious the figure tempting her truly is, it's also so easy to empathize with her. There's that inner conflict of wanting to keep loving her little brother and protect him, but also some deep envy from how he's going to be the more notable prodigy given that he's a boy. Nannerl wants a chance to live on beyond her lifetime through her music, a chance that's easily denied to her because of the age she lives in. Her internal journey leads to emotional, inspiring places that definitely made me want to learn more about her by the book's end.

What I also appreciated is the attachment of the Mozart siblings. They go through their conflicts and have periods of resenting or not talking to each other, but, at the end of the day, they want what's best for each other and will take on any sacrifice to make it so. Wolferl never comes off as petulant or egocentric when it comes to his music. He naturally recognizes his talents, but he also highlights and acknowledges his sister's gifts. I may not know much about Mozart in real life, but I do know that a lot of his operas have strong, capable and smart female leads, some stories even being very feminist for their time. It's nice to see that aspect of "drinking the respect women juice" in this story.

While I did ultimately like the book, the slow pacing did make it hard to get through. A lot of the time the book just shows the siblings going from place to place, performing to audiences or Nannerl just reflecting to herself. The writing style doesn't really help the pace, as it's not so much lyrical as it is matter of fact. There's also a romantic element that seems like it was starting to go somewhere, only for it to be completely dropped by Act 3. After finishing the book, I just simply looked up who she ended up marrying, so there's a bit of resolution in that, but I think it's something that should have at least been wrapped up in the final chapter. 

I think The Kingdom of Back is perfect for the music lovers out there, especially those that are drawn to Mozart's music. I can't vouch for how accurate it is, but it'll definitely give you a new appreciation for the family as well as put the spotlight on a girl that deserved to be in it for far longer than she was.

(4/5)

#the kingdom of back #marie lu #reviews #book reviews #ya fantasy #fantasy