#Disfigured: On Fairy Tales Disability and Making Space

[house-rat]

Fiction influences reality not in a “depicting immoral behaviours makes people immoral” way but in a “the storyteller’s biases and beliefs permeate the narrative in subtle and unsubtle ways that contribute to a reader’s worldview” way.

One of my favourite examples in fairy tales:

It is almost always the protagonists themselves who transform in some way -- becoming more palatable, more beautiful, more easily able to fit into the mould of society already in place. The intervention is magical rather than surgical, but one can imagine the writers of these tales arguing in favour of the medical model: the life-saving surgery, where life is synonymous with social standing and regard. The child who has surgery to repair their club foot is the same child who, in a fairy tale, would likely be visited by a fairy godmother or an evil witch, the gift of able-bodiedness dangled in front of them in a way that's entirely irresistible. In fairy tales, the transformation of the individual relies on fairies and magic -- or the gods -- because it is understood that society itself can't (and indeed won't) improve. Again, when viewed in the historical context of the tales, this makes at least a small amount of sense; how to fix the world when you are a peasant with a disabled child, possessed of little to no power to change the place and society in which you live? And yet the power of magic in the tales also, strangely, has the opposite effect -- instead of imbuing the reader with a worldview in which change is possible and things can turn out positively for the disenfranchised, the prevalence of magic in fairy tales serves to reinforce the class and societal structures already in place, as well as traditional ideas of what it means to have a functional body in the world. That is possibly why there's almost always a price that a protagonist pays for the magic of their transformation. You cannot simply move from one place to the next -- society won't allow it. And so the protagonist must prove their worthiness -- through good deeds and gentle behaviour, as in the case of Cinderella, or, as with the Little Mermaid, through sacrifice and trial.

— Amanda Leduc, Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space

#it is key to interrogate the assumptions at the core of stories and what we are expected to take for granted #we make sense of our world through stories for better or worse #fiction #fairy tales #amanda leduc #ableism #house-rat

[souldagger]

top five nonfiction books?

!!! the end of everything (astrophysically speaking) by katie mack!!! (if the topic of the end of the universe sounds even remotely interesting to u i CANNOT recommend this book highly enough. u will laugh u will learn cool things u will have an existential crisis)

dancing on the edge of the world: thoughts on words, women and places by ursula k. le guin (her nonfiction is just as good as her fiction.)

close encounters with humankind: a paleoanthropologist investigates our evolving species by sang-hee lee and shin-young yoon

murmurs of earth: the voyager interstellar record by carl sagan, f.d. drake, ann druyan and others

humankind: a hopeful history by rutger bregman (antithesis to the "humans are inherently selfish" worldview; worth a read regardless of where u stand on the matter)

(& honorary mentions to:

squid empire: the rise and fall of the cephalopods by danna staaf

disfigured: on fairy tales, disability, and making space by amanda leduc

the big lie: how one doctor's medical fraud launched today's deadly anti-vax movement by kurt eichenwald

the contact paradox: challenging our assumptions in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence by keith cooper)

#thank u i dont get to talk abt nonfiction books much! :)

[anniekoh]

PLACES I’VE TAKEN MY BODY

by Molly McCully Brown, author of the acclaimed poetry collection, The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded

In seventeen intimate essays, poet Molly McCully Brown explores living within and beyond the limits of a body―in her case, one shaped since birth by cerebral palsy, a permanent and often painful movement disorder. In spite of―indeed, in response to―physical constraints, Brown leads a peripatetic life: the essays comprise a vivid travelogue set throughout the United States and Europe, ranging from the rural American South of her childhood to the cobblestoned streets of Bologna, Italy. Moving between these locales and others, Brown constellates the subjects that define her inside and out: a disabled and conspicuous body, a religious conversion, a missing twin, a life in poetry. As she does, she depicts vividly for us not only her own life but a striking array of sites and topics, among them Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the world’s oldest anatomical theater, the American Eugenics movement, and Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. Throughout, Brown offers us the gift of her exquisite sentences, woven together in consideration, always, of what it means to be human―flawed, potent, feeling.

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space

by Amanda Leduc (2020)

Fairy tales shape how we see the world, so what happens when you identify more with the Beast than Beauty?

If every disabled character is mocked and mistreated, how does the Beast ever imagine a happily-ever-after? Amanda Leduc looks at fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm to Disney, showing us how they influence our expectations and behaviour and linking the quest for disability rights to new kinds of stories that celebrate difference.

#to read #disability

[whilereadingandwalking]

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc was a good nonfiction about how stories are never just stories. Through a mix of memoir and literary analysis, Leduc unpacks how fairytales—both the old versions and the new Disney-fied versions—both reflect and ingrain in us a certain perspective on what disability and disfigurement are, how they should be treated, and what kind of endings they incite.

Leduc parses excellent analysis to argue that disabled people deserve tales outside of the two that fairytales allow: despair and death or the return of able-bodiedness or beauty. I don't always agree with the analysis—some interpretations miss intriguing opportunities, such as with Hans Christian Andersen—but it's still a great breakdown of how these tales influence our idea of what's normal, what a happy life is, and how disability is leveraged too often only as a symbol, which then becomes useless as soon as it's fulfilled its purpose. A great analysis and reflection of disability in fairytale and fantasy.

#disfigured #amanda leduc #disability lit #fairytales #bookworm #my book reviews

[chaosacademia]

after the biggest identity crisis, feelings of failure and major breakdowns, i've decided that my next academic year will be... different. i need a break from uni, which still hurts to admit. i intend to make learning enjoyable again, so i will start my year of rest and slow learning. the idea is to go back to learning at my own pace about whatever im curious about and NOT for obligation. so! this is a list of nonfic titles i am considering picking up!

- Ace: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex, by Angela Chen

- An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, by Ed Yong

- Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation, by Sunaura Taylor

- Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity, by C. Riley Snorton

- Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space, by Amanda Leduc

- Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures, by Merlin Sheldrake

- Having and Being Had, by Eula Biss

- Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology, by Deirdre Cooper Owens

- Messalina: Empress, Adulteress, Libertine: The Story of the Most Notorious Woman of the Roman World, by Honor Cargill-Martin

- Off with Her Head: Three Thousand Years of Demonizing Women in Power, Eleanor Herman

- Sentient: How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses, by Jackie Higgins

- The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World, by Michael Pollan

- The Psychopath Factory: How Capitalism Organizes Empathy, by Tristam Adams

- Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World, by Elinor Cleghorn

- Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?, by Linda Nochlin

- Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers, by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English

- Without Children: The Long History of Not Being a Mother, by Peggy O'Donnell Heffington

#bookblr #booklr #litblr #nonfiction #reading #tbr #my year of rest and slow learning #mirto

[thoughtfulfangirling]

2023 Reads

A new year means a new book list! I don't think I can top my 2022 count, but that's okay! I'm not totally sure what my reading goals this year will actually be, but I guess I'll sort it out on the way! XD For future reads, here's my 2024 list!

Four Treasures of the Sky - Jenny Tinghui Zhang

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass+

The Bear and the Nightengale - of the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden

The Secrets We Keep - Mia Hayes

Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal - Patty Loew+

The First Sister - Linden A. Lewis^

The House of the Seven Gables - Nathaniel Hawthorne

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

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury~

Fin Mac Cool - Morgan Llewlyn^

How Long 'til Black Future Month by N. K. Jemisin

Lavinia - Ursula K Le Guin^

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austin*

Black Cowboys of the Old West: True, Sensational, and Littke-Known Stories form History - Tricia Martineau Wagner+

The Mysteries of Thorn Manor - Margaret Roberson%

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space - Amanda Leduc+

Her Majesty's Royal Coven - Juno Dawson^

She Who Became the Sun~ - Shelley Parker-Chan*

The Witch King - H.E. Edgmon^

Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree*

Mistress of the Art of Death - Ariana Franklin^

The Adventures of Amina El-Serafi - S.A. Chakraborty

Humankind: A Hopeful History - Rutger Bregman+

The Folk Keeper - Frannie Billingsly*%

Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens - (Suzy) Eddie Izzard+

Juniper & Thorn - Ava Reid

Upright Women Wanted - Sarah Gailey%

I Await the Devil's Coming - Mary MacLane+

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut~

Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers' Rights - Molly Smith & Juno Mac+

The Woman in White - Wilke Collins^

King of Battle and Blood - Scarlett St. Clair

Sarah - J.T. LeRoy^

The City Beautiful - Aden Polydoros^

Freshwater - Akwaeke Emezi

Always the Almost - Edward Underhill

All Systems Red - Martha Wells%

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

Nevada - Imogen Binnie

A Dowry of Blood - S. T. Gibson

The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli

The Second Rebel - Linden A Lewis

Get a Life Chloe Brown - Talia Hibbert

The Hero and the Crown* - Robin McKinley

What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing - Bruce D Perry & Oprah Winfrey+^

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea - Rebecca Thorne

The Eye of the Heron - Ursula K Leguin

Artificial Condition -Martha Wells%

The Kraken's Sacrifice - Katee Robert%

Crown Duel - Sherwood Smith*

Rogue Protocol - Martha Wells%

Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self Involved Parents - Lindsay C Gibson+

Wildcat: The Untold Story of Pearl Hart, the Wild West's Most Notorious Woman Bandit - John Boessenecker+

The History of Wales - History Nerds+%

Ander & Santi Were Here - Jonny Garza Villa

The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls^

Rosemary and Rue - Seanan McGuire^

The Gilda Stories - Jewelle Gomez

Irish Fairy and Folk Tails - Various+

The Dead and the Dark - Courtney Gould

Haunted Wisconsin - Michael Norman and Beth Scott+

The Other Black Girl - Zakiya Dalila Harris

The Ruins - Scott Smith

He Who Drowned the World - Shelley Parker-Chan

Fledgling - Octavia Butler

Vampire Forensics: Uncovering the Origins of an Enduring Legend - Mark Collins Jenkins+

The Vampyre - John Polidori%

This is Halloween - James A Moore

Sorrowland - Rivers Soloman

The Lamb will Slaughter the Lion - Margaret Killjoy%

Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Love Her or Lose Her - Tessa Bailey^

One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston*

The Last Hero - Linden A. Lewis

Lovelight Farms - B. K. Borison

Reindeer Falls Collection: Volume One - Jana Aston

Currently reading: One Last Stop (Audiobook to help me sleep XD)

Nonfiction is annotated by + A Re-read is annotated by * A book completed from the list below is annotated by ^ A Read with Empty will be annotated by ~ A Novella %

My current, loose and not that interesting goal for this year is to really work on the books I have current access to right now... at the start of this year. Because it's a lot XD This means books currently favorite in Scribd, on my StoryGraph 'to read' pile, or a book I currently own on my shelves. Main goal is at least one of these a month.

For my own personal reference, I'm putting a list of such books below to hold myself accountable.

Edit: Now the end of 2023, and here's a breakdown of my goal to read books I already had access to at the start of 2023:

I didn't read one a month per se, but I got more than 12 done, so I call this a win. These books are:

-Can't Spell Treason Without Tea - Rebecca Thorn -The City Beautiful - Aden Polydoros -Finn Mac Cool - Morgan Llewlyn -The First Sister by Linden A Lewis (proceeded by the other two in the series) -Get a Life, Chloe Brown - Talia Hibbert -The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls -Haunted Wisconsin - Michael Norman & Beth Scott -Her Majesty's Royal Coven - Juno Dawson -I Await the Devil's Coming - Mary McClane -The Kraken's Sacrifice - Katee Robert -Lavinia - Ursula K Le Guin -Love Her or Lose Her - Tessa Bailey -Mistress of the Art of Death - Ariana Franklin -Nevada - Imogen Binnie -The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli -Rosemary and Rue - Seanan McGuire -The Ruins - Scott Smith -The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller -Sarah - J.T. LeRoy -Vampire Forensics - Mark Collins Jenkins -What Happened to You? - Oprah Winfrey -The Witch King - H. E. Edgmon -The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

The books I did not get around to reading from this list are as follows: Black Water Sister by Zen Cho; Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye (o); The Book of M by Peng Shepard (o); Charity and Sylvia by Rachel Hope Cleves (o); The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (a); The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey (s); Fallen by Lauren Kate (o); Fanny Hill by John Cleland (o); Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender (s); The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea (s); The Great Hunger by Cecil Woodham-Smith (o); Helping Her Get Free by Susan Brewster (o); The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang (s); Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (o); The Merry Spinster by Daniel Lavery (o); On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (o); The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang (s); Radiance by Grace Draven (a); Watching the Tree by Adeline Yen Mah (o); The Willows by Algernon Blackwood (s); Wings of Fire (o); Witches Steeped in Gold by Clannon Smart (o); The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid (s)

23/46 Whoa! That's exactly 50% of the books I had on my list! That's pretty cool! All in all, I consider this 2023 goal successfully done!

#tf reads #2023 reads #books #yearly lists #long post #well it will be ok even without the readmore eventually #reading #my reading index

[augment-techs]

Book/Movie Diary: What I watched/read 12/2023

The Deer King: An anime that is something you would watch if you are a fan of Princess Mononoke largely for the style, and if you liked The Phantom Menace and the Fellowship of the Rings for the lore and vibes. Unfortunately, I have been reading up on all the Drakkon/Coinless Jason by @ajgrey9647 and that means I spent the whole movie expecting the stoic protagonist and pretty Doctor to beat the shit out of each other or devolve into sloppy makeout sessions. 4/5

The Man Who Came Down the Attic Stairs, by Celine Loup: A beautiful not-a-memoir in graphic novel format that the artist/author wrote as a what-if scenario covering the effects of pregnancy in the pre-War 1900s; complete with post-partum depression. It's smooth as silk with the art in stunning black and white. 4/5

Manga Classics' King Lear, by Richard Appignanesi: An interesting and visually lovely concept, resetting Shakespeare's story into a Native American vs Colonial landscape. I really wanted to like it, but I felt like it really missed the mark? 2.5/5

Komi Can't Communicate vol. 1, by Oda Tomohito: I finally get to read the first gn in the series and was not disappointed in finding that, yes, it was Tadano who made the first move, and Komi is ADORABLE. 4/5

Commute, by Erin Williams: An examination of being a woman who has experienced many assaults and the results thereof through alcoholism, poor dating choices, dissociation, and finally, motherhood. excerpts I had to write down include: -"What's your part in this abuse?" "That I kept getting drunk?" "You kept going to the gas station for oranges. They don't sell oranges at the gas station. If you want oranges, you go the grocery store. I don't know QUITE how to feel about the art style as a GN. 4/5

Stitches: A Graphic Memoir, by David Small: Sort of a twilight examination on generational trauma and mental illness through the youngest son of a closet lesbian with multiple health issues and a radiologist in a time when it was believed that x-rays could also cure rather than just provide an image of internal problems. The spooky art style made me very uncomfortable, but I quite liked it. 5/5

Literary Witches, by Taisia Kitaiskaia: A collection of witchy femme writers in a poetic presentation, done much like spellwork used through epithets. 5/5

Searching for Bobby Fischer: Just as good, and all the more better, than I thought it would be. It had taken me DECADES to finally see this on DVD after seeing part of it ONCE on VHS when I was tiny and couldn't really remember it. It's the kind of family movie that really isn't made anymore. It's quiet, it's contemplative, it's HONEST. I LOVED IT. 6/5

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space; by Amanda Leduc: Actually uses both memoir and popular culture as fairly good references to the reality of perfectionism and "the other." It used Disney, changelings, "The Bloody Chamber" and her own medical history. Must take note of this for later because it is very good. 5/5

Spit Three Times, by Davide Raviati: Yet another graphic memoir, this one laying out the growth of a teen/teens in Italy around the 1980s(?), with the author being of Romani descent. It had a lot of stuff I couldn't differentiate between euphemism and actual truth, but I'm pretty sure the extremely mentally ill girl insisting on sexual activity and getting beaten almost to death until she gave birth to a baby that a drunken teenage boy had to deliver on the fly was pretty real. I really did not understand a lot of what happened, but there was one scene that felt very honest apart from the incredibly violent one: "The only person I know who could beat off while doing the backstroke." >> THIS. This was so weird, and yet something teen boys just DO. 3-4/5

Snow White: A Graphic Novel, by Matt Phelan: A retelling of the old tale with a twist. The setting in 1920s New York, the wicked queen is an extremely popular flapper on Broadway, the dead king as a rich mogul that survived the Black Thursday crash, Snow is a boarding school girl back to see the will. We see butchers, detectives, private eyes, and the seven are all street orphans that DO chase the witch down to death. The Macy's Window was an especially nice touch. 4/5

Komi Can't Communicate vol. 2, by Oda Tomohito: -Yamai IS a total psycho at first blush, omg. Poor Tadano, he did not deserve this crap. -The Ramen Chef that shares Komi's disorder must get on GREAT with Agari. -Wow. I was not expecting Tadano to be THAT embarrassing in middle school. -Agari being both a dog-girl and an awesome, honest food critic was a nice touch. -Najimi is VERY cheap. -The dress show was not something I thought I'd see, but I'm not at all surprised that Tadano was always going to be the best choice. 5/5

Komi Can't Communicate vol. 3, by Oda Tomohito: -Chiarai, Sonoda, and Shinobino might be incredibly awkward and can't NOT end up being queer somewhere down the line, but at least they're honest with their judgement of the girls (plus Najimi) in bathing suits. -Both Komi & Tadano look awesome in yukatas. -Komi alone on the playground was so wholesome I wanna scream. -No surprise that Komi is great with babies, but it was still cute to see. -Komi continues to wear the dress Tadano picked out EVERYWHERE. 5/5

#what I watched/read: 12/2023 #refence #book diary #movie diary

[dhaaruni]

Currently Thinking:

Why don't the princesses in fairy tales also get to be the monster?

Why is the beast of "Beauty and the Beast" always male?

What can we forgive in men that we can't in women, and why?

"Out here the good girls die" (From "A Dustland Fairytale" by The Killers)

If anybody has any writing on women in fairy tales, my inbox is open, and I'd love to read some literary criticism on this topic.

I've already read Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability and Making Space by Amanda Leduc, and I just started Spinning Straw into Gold: What Fairy Tales Reveal About the Transformations in a Woman's Life by Joan Gould, so I'll update you guys on how it is.

#Personal #fairy tales

[cozycreaturescorner]

The Nazis were also interested in the German Naturpoesie, as we now know. They believed in the unifying power of story for the German people, and, like the Grimms, in the freshness and the power and the purity of the German countryside - as opposed to the cities, places where vermin ran, places where all kinds of unsavory characters - and races-might mingle. It isn't a stretch to draw a line from the Grimm's treatment of stories and storytelling as a nationalistic device through to Nazi Germany and the depiction of the disabled, othered body as something that needs to be extinguished. There were no fairy godmothers in Nazi Germany, no benevolent strangers waiting to bless a mutilated body so its hands might grow back. There were only those who saw an ideal of the human body - the muscular German male so lionized in Nazi propaganda art, the female with her ample breasts and healthy hips. There were only the stories of the disabled-as-other that so many believed, and would continue to believe as the tales were told and retold - before bedtime, before the nighttime fire. Rumpelstiltskin the evil dwarf. The stepsisters of Aschenputtel, the Grimm's version of Cinderella, who willingly cut of their toes and parts of their feet so they might fit into the glass slipper and thereby win the prince. The deformed body giving face to the deformed heart - first in stories told for adults, then in stories told for children, then in stories repackaged and repurposed and told for adults again on posters and in film, broadcast across a country. Fairy stories are not real, no. But neither are they ever only stories.

Amanda Leduc, from Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space

#emmett is yelling #this book. goddamn. #making so many good points and such an easy book for me to really connect with and be interested in #whether you're disabled yourself or want to learn more about modern disability issues i highly recommend this

[nanbookinsp]

just started reading Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc, and I have been SO excited to finally get this book in at the library, especially because it relates to the novel I’m writing atm, but I open it up and

she writes that her book is not meant to be a work of fairy-tale scholarship, nor is it meant to be a book of disability scholarship. but then ... what is it?

she writes that she’s disabled, and she loves fairy tales, and she’s noticed things, and now she’s writing about them. I’m wondering if this is perhaps the best category for this book/if the marketing is right??

proceeding with caution, I guess

#and lower hopes ;A; #nan.text

[leotanaka]

I was tagged by @zutaralesbian ♥ thank you :) hoping to finally start catching up on these this year. 

3 ships: (in order to narrow the list down, i’m also going to list 3 ships I discovered in 2022 - keeping this here because it makes it easier for me to narrow it down too) jughead & tabitha (riverdale); kit & jade (willow) and graydon & elora (willow). 

1st ever ship: i’m pretty sure it was neri & jason from the australian series ocean girl :)) the whale woman and the warrior ♥♥♥

last song: angels by within temptation  

currently reading: disfigured: on fairy tales, disability and making space by amanda leduc 

cast movie: M3GAN! 

currently consuming: aldi brand coke. 

currently watching: rewatching willow (2022) for like the 10th time in two weeks. i’m also rewatching gotham and about to start my riverdale rewatch soon. 

currently craving: chicken and chips. 

not going to tag anyone because i honestly don’t know who to tag but if anyone wants to do this :))) 

#tag games #sonyarebecchi: tag games

[lionfloss]

I saw your ask about reading books!!! Is there any you would recommend to someone that doesn’t read? I used to read like 2-3 a week and now 🥲 that’s like 1 a year gjfjfjfjfj but if you want non-fiction recommendations im currently reading Disfigured: on fairy tales, disability, and making space by Amanda Deluc and Blood of extraction: Canadian imperialism in Latin America by Todd Gordon and Jeffery R. Webber

I feel like for ppl who dont read or have trouble focusing, I would recommend fiction/essays. Idk like for me reading book is for entertainment or self reflection or like...an escape from reality. and i separate it from non-fiction works that are like historical or like socially/politically relevant (im sorry all the descriptive words im trying to use have left my brain) Some of my faves are David Sedaris & Douglas Coupland. I like mysteries/thrillers/whodunits. or just like situational writings around human nature/behavior. idk i have weird tastes that probably don't make sense to anyone who is an avid reader.

#answered x #books

[starsandsteelandbrokenglass]

November 2022 Monthly Reading Wrap-Up

The end of November? Already? You mean there’s only two weeks left in my semester? Somehow, even without final papers to write, I still feel like I have soooo much to do. (Possibly I would have less to do if I focused a little more on my schoolwork and read a little less, but that’s just not how these things go.) This month I finished 11 books and almost 4,000 pages. They were:

Leisure Reading: 

Into the Drowning Deep (Into the Drowning Deep #1) by Mira Grant- 4.25/5 stars

Secrets Beyond the Door: The Story of Bluebeard and His Wives by Maria Tatar

Bloodmarked (Legendborn #2) by Tracy Deonn- 5/5 stars

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc- 4.5/5 stars

Book of Night (Book of Night #1) by Holly Black- 3.25/5 stars

Forging Silver into Stars (Forging Silver into Stars #1) by Brigid Kemmerer- 4/5 stars

Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher- 4.25/5 stars

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel- 4.5/5 stars

Academic Reading:

Homer, Poet of the Iliad by Mark Edwards

The Athenian Woman: An Iconographic Handbook by Sian Lewis

Interpreting the Images of Greek Myths: An Introduction by Klaus Junker

Lots of good reads this month--hard to pick a favorite! But I am going to go with Bloodmarked. Though its start was a little slower for me than Legendborn, it was compulsively readable, immensely thoughtful, and had a great ending.

Currently Reading: Classic Ghost Stories collection, The Arena of Satire by David Larmour, and The Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne

#mine #reading #november 2022 #monthly reading wrap up #monthly wrap up

[punksrespectpronouns]

I think more people need to be aware of this idea. Like illness is so moralized in our society and they act like it's something in our control. Like if we meditate enough or do enough therapy we can prevent the massive burnout and existential nightmare that the world currently is.

These ideas are subtle but they moralize the blame like it's something we can control. When oftentimes it's systemic issues that we did not cause. I can not strong well my way out of being disabled and I shouldn't have to.

Like current society especially when it comes to current covid responses. The powers that be to be going, "oh what's wrong with you? why are you mentally ill" like it's something we have any control over. meanwhile we're still in a pandemic and so many people have died. and the gov response now seems to be let's just get back to normal whatever it takes. and that it doesn't matter if disabled people die

When we are in a housing crisis and a livable wage and employment crisis. People don't have enough to live. And our rights are being threatened, like abortion access and trans healthcare is being demonized. With many people losing access to these essential services. of course people aren't mentally healthy right now! what do you expect!

Yet people treat mental illness like it's something we can mindfulness our way out of. When I try and find resources for my OCD so many people talk about it like it's an addiction. like it's something I have to overcome as if that's even possible. these ideas are toxic. Your disability is not something you have to "overcome".

This insta post from woke science talks about the topic well...

And hey I get it. I instinctively take the blame for this stuff too, because at least that means I have any control over it. But so don't. And I think all this really does is make people feel bad about how their coping. And by acting like systemic injustices are within an individuals control to change. By perpetuating these ideas were (unwittingly) freeing society of the responsibility of changing these things. Make a more accessible world. If you want suicide rates to go down, fund affordable housing, let people get their basic needs met and not blaming them for societal problems.

Book - Disfigured: on fairy tales, disability, and making space by Amanda

[Image Description below the cut:

3 pictures of pages from the book "Disfigured"

Image 1 - Text reads:

In Illness as Metaphor, Susan Sontag notes that disease has often been associated with moral failings.

Psychological theories of illness are a powerful means of placing the blame on the ill. Patients who are instructed that they have, unwittingly, caused their disease are also being made to feel that they have deserved it... Nothing is more punitive than to give a disease a meaning - that meaning invariably being a moralistic one.

In literature, this has also been the case with disability. In the same way that sufferers of a disease become poster children for the ravages of the disease itself (TB, cancer, AIDS), disabled people become iterations of loss, of struggle, of the ways in which the world is not kind to those who are different. And in the same way that disease, for Sontag, then becomes a metaphor - something is a cancer, something spreads like the plague.

Image 2 - Text reads:

And in the same way that the medical model places the fault of disability at the body of the disabled person and lifts the medical professional up as the 'expert,' in the same way that the charity model removes the blame for society from the shoulders of the magnanimous philanthropist and rein forces hierarchical norms, psychological theories of illness lift the blame and responsibility for illness from the shoulders of society and place it squarely within the fault of the patient.

If one had only refrained from some behaviour or practised others or been more devout or had more faith, the illness might have been avoided. (In the nineteenth and early- to mid-twentieth centuries, it was believed in some circles that melancholy patients might have avoided cancer if they had been happier; in the eighteenth century, those who were deli cate and high-strung and prone to fits of excitability and high emotion might have avoided tuberculosis by practising a calmer, quieter kind of life.)

This sort of thinking sounds ridiculous now - except that when it comes to disability, it's often still engaged in, albeit in subtler (and arguably more damaging) ways. Disabled people are still brought to faith healers; they are told to drink more water or drink green tea or do detoxes or try hypnosis to remove barriers of the mind as a way of overcoming physical impair ments. Disabled people are encouraged to 'push through' and 'exercise' and are reminded over and over again that the only disability is a bad attitude.

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As with the charity model, psychological approaches to disability work to take the blame away from society and put it on the individual - to make disability not a lived, mundane reality but a temporary struggle that can be overcome if one has the inner and outer strength to do it. (The corollary here is that those who do not 'overcome' their disabilities - or fail to appreciate the so-called 'accomplishments' they make in the world of the disabled body's lowered bar - fail because of their own lack of strength or effort.)

Your disability is causing you pain? Do yoga. Struggling because of mental health issues? Meditate. The more you focus, the more you'll improve, and the less society at large needs to worry about having different kinds of dance classes or accessible entryways or accessible bathrooms or clearly marked accessible parking, to say nothing of captions or ASL or quiet rooms that offer respite from external stimuli.

After all, the kingdom didn't need to change for the Maiden Without Hands, did it? She got her hands back because of her faith. (The only disability is a bad attitude.) She did that all on her own.

ID ends]

#fuck moralized views of illness al my homies hate moralized views of illness #spoonie #actually disabled #banquo rambles #anti psychiatry #chronically chill

[by-kilian]

KW HOW ARE YOU!!!! I hope you’ve been good and that you’re taking care of yourself. I’ve been checking my email bc i get ao3 updates and HFJDJFJF YOUVE BEEN WRITING SO MUCH THANK YOU FOR LETTING US READ YOUR STUFF 😩😭💕💕💕

I haven’t been interacting at all recently I’m so sorry :(( I was going through IT with spring semester but everything’s good now :>

life update: I’m quitting my job 🫡🥳🥳🥳 idk if you remember but when we talked about it and you were like you have your whole life to work I Should’ve listened 🤡🥲🥲 oh WELL lmao I’ll be giving them my resignation letter or whatever its called this week 😚 I’m currently trying to tackle this phone addiction! And am trying to start reading more books. I made the wrong decision to start one million books at the same time but one I’m really hoping to finish this week is Disfigured: on fairy tales, disability, and making space by Amanda Leduc. OH I FINISHED SEASON 2 of (90s) sailor moon and 🥹 MY HEART I think it’ll be a comfort anime now it’s so cute and wholesome!!! I didn’t expect the scene where SPOILER mamoru and usagi break up to pull at my heart strings so bad!! But it did lol OK SORRY THIS WAS SO LONG I’m excited to read what you’ve been posting 💕💕💕 TAKE CARE!!!

Hi honey!! I'm doing so well, thanks for asking, I hope you are too! And PLEASE lol, you are too cute. It's my pleasure. Thank YOU all for reading and supporting my stuff, truly and honestly. ❤️

You have nothing to apologize for btw. I don't expect anyone to interact with me and I'm honestly really poor about it myself. Life happens! I completely understand. I am glad you made it through the semester though.

Also I AM SO HAPPY TO HEAR THIS LMAO!! Fuck that job! I will always support quitting jobs because they really don't deserve your time, especially not when they're shitty. Best of luck with quitting! :3 You got this.

I am also wishing you the best of luck with all these new things you're trying to tackle, but I am mainly very happy you caught up on Sailor Moon. No spoiler alert needed, I am an original stan/fan from the 90s 😂. I KNOW IT ALL. I am thankful that that show raised me to be who I am TODAY. Thank you for checking in and I hope you are well! <3 Take care of yourself. xo

#asks

[mallahanmoxie]

simba's elusive reading list for the year of the lord 2024 may we read all this shit amen

writing this damn list out because i didn't do it last year and I ended up reading threeeeeeee books altogether and they were specifically the one where the guy gets alien pregnant and shits the babies out I am not kidding and the others were bridgerton so. I desperately need it.

A bunch of books I started 1-3 years ago and I have to finish. Eventually. (This year): Beautiful Wreck by Larissa Brown, Legendborn by Tracy Deon, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers, The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter, The Comforters by Muriel Spark, If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

A book about deconstructing prophecies: The Art of the Prophecy by Wesley Chu

A book about deconstructing the fantasy book? I think?: Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat

A non fiction that isn't about history, for once: The Crisis of Meaning and the Life-World by L'ubica Učník (optimistically) or Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc (more likely)

A book about angels: Angels Before Man by Rafael Nicolás

A book about vampires: A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson, or alternatively, Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco

A book I've been seen recommended a lot: The Will of the Many by James Islington

A book that sounds disorienting: Crossings by Alex Landragin

A rec by storygraph on the Out of your comfort zone tab: The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai

A book with a pretty cover: The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

A book already on my library, yet untouched: Shadow and Claw by Gene Wolfe or Slewfoot by Brom

A book recced to me by my aunt (<3): El silencio de la ciudad blanca de Eva García Sáenz de Urturi or Gabriel's Inferno by Sylvain Reynard

#there's three hundred thousand books id like to read but i have no brain whatsoever #im hoping to get at least the ones I've already made a dent in #psa newsmen still at large #the lion reads #simba's reading list