#READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW

[ronanlynchbf]

tshirt that says NO LIVE ORGANISM CAN CONTINUE FOR LONG TO EXIST SANELY UNDER CONDITIONS OF ABSOLUTE REALITY

#i literally JUST finished hill house a few days ago and i already want to reread. Badly. it's sooo so so soo sooooooooo good <33333!!!!! #also completely enamored by shirley jackson's writing style i NEED to read everything she has written ever like right now.. #opening lines of ALL TIME btw 👆❗❗❗ #r.txt #the haunting of hill house #ALSO i've seen commentary videos on the tv show they made of hill house but from what i remember of it it's SO different from the book??? #i think they were all siblings in the show which is??????? like why would you change that part?? i love sibling relationships as much as the #next guy but i feel like the fact that none of them knew each other was such an essential part of the story like why would u change it.... #also eleanor was like. an entirely different character who was also already dead in the show i believe??? and dr. montague doesn't exist?? #hill house could've been really good as a show idk why they changed it up like that...like was the original story not interesting enough for #you or something?? WHO decided to make that change i just wanna talk 🤨

[jq37]

I love Brennan being shocked at Siobhan translating elvish as if she hasn't translated Latin on this show without blinking. Come on, man.

#dimension 20 #fantasy high #siobhan thompson #brennan be so real right now #who did you expect to answer that Q if not her? #they had to get 100% and they only had 2 passes! #how were you not banking on shiv getting that one? #also *I* know mellon is friend in elvish and I've never even read the books! #I have seem the movies though now bc of robin mostly #hi robin

[iwrotemrtambourineman]

#inspired by that book poll #I haven’t read that much this year (I’m on book 13) but I have watched a lot of movies soooo take this #also sorry if these buckets are insane I’m letterboxd pilled so I don’t know what the normal amount of movies to watch is #I’m up to 126 right now 👍 #movies

[ashstfu]

daniel keyes, flowers for algernon

#EVERYBODY NEEDS TO READ THIS BOOK. LIKE RIGHT NOW #w

[tiffanyachings]

it would have been very beautiful. camilla would have had to cook (horrible bone soup)

#HELLO back at it again #tug introduced groundbreaking new findings about soul permeability but my mind bypassed all that in favour of this au #the division of labour is as follows: #dulcie reads the instructions; snacks; and changes the radio station every time she doesn’t like a song #if you complain she will remind you she's literally dying. life is too short and mediocre songs are too long #pal gets stuff from high shelves and battles his constantly fogged up glasses #he tried to help with prep once and promptly got himself banned from using knives for the rest of his life #cam does 98% of the actual cooking #trivia section - #you can tell i am new to this because i arranged them in the wrong speaking order. let’s all practice our right to left reading #cam has a silly novelty apron because a) the idea was unbearably funny to me and b) i need to spread the gospel (aroace cam) #the cookbooks next to dulcie are ‘a few teaspoons of salt’ (by ianthe tridentarius) #and ‘saintly feasts: food for saints and scholars’ which is a real book! though not written by cassiopeia the first #* #dulcie septimus #dulcinea septimus #camilla hect #palamedes sextus #the locked tomb #field sketches #<< i get to have an art tag now!

[andthebeanstalk]

Me: hm, I want something to put on the TV as background noise... Huh. Looks like YouTube is recommending something called The Last Unicorn. That's perfect, it's probably some old shitty animation that has aged poorly! I can watch it ironically!

Me, 2 hours later as the credits roll: *crying, cheering, buying the book, composing the songs*

Me, 2 weeks later: So I have compiled all of the quotes from the book that I think could make good tattoos, and also, HOW HAVE I NEVER LEARNED ABOUT HOW THE LAST UNICORN FUCKING SLAPS??? This gay-ass little fairytale fed my soul! Watered my crops! Transed my gender! Can't believe I heard of this story from youtube recommendations, of all places!!

#original #the last unicorn #tlu #peter s beagle #molly gru #schmendrick #schmendrick the magician #two of my favorite characters in anything right there in the center of the story! and I'm glad I saw the film first! #my reading ability has diminished due to trauma disability etc. but it seems like having a visual reference actually really helped! #no wonder i only ever want to read fan fic! turns out reading is not actually Superior to other types of Storytelling. it's just different. #to say otherwise is snobbishness I have been eminently guilty of in my life! #but like it is easier for me to consume tv and movies and that is fine actually. also that's why I'm doing a graphic novel lol #because i wanted to make something i would actually be able to read if i found it at a library. altho the audio book IS gonna be bomb #the audiobook is for visually impaired readers and anyone who wants or needs it! accessible stories for everyone! yeah!! #my gender was already transed but now I've gained an ADDITIONAL gender! which one? I'll never tell 😘 #i am so powerful i have so much fuckin gender. my wife has no gender. and she is equally as powerful. #and also she has STUDIED THE BLADE #mostly zoro's blades from One Piece #normally YouTube recommends me shit movies like idiocracy or smth this is like if every day ur cat brought you a piece of rotten food and #then one day it brings you a BEAUTIFULLY ANIMATED TALE FEATURING MY BELOVED TWINK FUCK-UP WIZARD FRIEND AND MY ALL-TIME HOMEGIRL MOLLY GRU #and also it's soft and beautiful and funny and fucking weird!! i wrote melodies to the songs in the books on my ukulele

[gralixe]

Ronan & Adam, while Adam is mourning

#trc #trc spoilers #pynch #a bunch of ppl were reblogging old rc fanart and it made me want to reread/finish the books so now u get this lol #fanart #my art #the raven cycle #gangsey #ronan lynch #adam parrish #for those who didnt literally just read this book thats gansey walking into the front door at 300 fox way #he notices this interaction right before he goes inside #blue lily lily blue #this is right after they find persephone also #again. for those who didnt lichrully just read these books lmaoo

[bonesblubs]

Just some totally normal teenagers

#art tag #trc #the raven cycle #im just exploring how they look in my head!! #so many good books im reading right now #Im currently reading three different series #murderbot diaries being the third

[yasmeensh]

Got the Master sword! I believe there is still one more upgrade to go...

Bonus Groose after Link sealed the imprisoned.

#loz #Skyward Sword #skyward sword hd #I'm almost there... this is where I'm at right now #I couldn't have done it without groose :'0 he's such a cool guy #he's a bully yeah but his character development is WOW #I'm on a roll here #just finished my final semester :))) Freeeeeeee #got splatoon 3 for myself as a graduation gift hehe #now... so much art to do #fanfictions and books i want to read #games to play #also lots of life things to do deal with hhhhh #also i gotta work on my storyyyyyy #i'm spending like... 20 minutes after dinner working on it #it's very little #but it's something!!!

[swords-and-starlight]

i feel the need to remind everyone that Damen’s literally one of the smartest and most well-educated characters in the series. He’s extremely well-read and knowledgeable about military tactics and strategy, which if you didn’t know also includes a huge depth of history knowledge, and his talent comes from both education and years of experience. He’s smart enough to know geography and terrain information of an area he hasn’t needed to have information on in seven years, and even then, the lands they are talking about were in mainland Vere, not Delpha, so his studies were his own initiative. he has favorite poems! HE ENJOYED DEBATING OBSCURE PHILOSOPHY WITH HESTON!!! like y’all Damen is just as intelligent as Laurent, it’s just that Laurent’s intelligence is about manipulation and chess and Damen’s just a nerd.

(also people are gonna be coming for me for this one but i think Damen likes books and libraries a lot more than Laurent ever did)

#i would bet my college tuition that Damen loves analyzing and debating about books #‘damen wouldn’t understand hamlet’ stfu he would eat that shit up #side note tho damen would love hamlet it’s a lot like his and laurent’s story #there’s definitely more that i’m not thinking of right now #but even on my first read of the series there were so many scenes where Damen is extremely competent and clearly educated and trained #i don’t understand all the fic writers that make damen some himbo golden retriever and laurent this sarcastic girlboss #damen #capri #captive prince #damen of akielos #damianos of akielos

[kirjavas]

never not thinking about iorek byrnison eating lee scoresby's dead body, so as not to let it rot but instead allow it to sustain an old friend on his journey. and how this act fulfilled lee's dying wish to help lyra by giving iorek the strength to go on and find her. thinking about consumption as a form of love, loving someone in their entirety and wanting to eat them whole but also love and grief being something you carry inside of you that guides you forward

#girls when cannibalism is used as a metaphor for love #when i read this at 15 i thought pullman was a right weirdo but now im grown up and i Get It #genius writing #his dark materials #hdm #the amber spyglass #iorek byrnison #lee scoresby #hdm spoilers #hdm book spoilers #meta #alice’s rambles

[tangents-within-tangents]

Just some things I think deserve a super accurate movie/show adaption in a beautiful 2D animation style:

The How to Train Your Dragon series

Gregor the Overlander

Artemis Fowl

The Adventure Zone

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (fr so much was left out of the 1939 film!)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass

The actual Little Mermaid story (there are a ton of adaptations I haven't seen yet so maybe it exists somewhere but we all know Disney’s didn’t even come close)

#the entire series for those that have one if that wasn't clear #some of these need to be done #some just need to be done RIGHT #like fr why is it so hard for adaptations to just be faithful to the source material? It's not rocket science #also why did hunger games get so much love but no one read Gregor the Overlander? #the original little mermaid may be sad as heck but it is also beautiful #I admittedly only read the first few books in some of these series' but still #like did you know there's 14 oz books? #okay imma tag everything now #how to train your dragon #httyd books #gregor the overlander #the underland chronicles #artemis fowl #the adventure zone #taz #the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy #hgttg #frankenstein #frankenstein the modern prometheus #the wizard of oz #alice's adventures in wonderland #the little mermaid #old niche fandoms #adaptation #animation #hans christian andersen #lewis carroll #suzanne collins #cressida cowell

[wutheringmights]

After I finished reading The Epic of Gilgamesh today, I entered a fugue state where I sat down and read the entirety of Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce.

On the record, I have had a lifelong love and adoration for Pierce's Tortall books. I first read the Song of the Lioness quartet when I was 11, and they rewrote my brain. I love them so much. I reread them and the other Tortall books on a semi-frequent schedule.

It's been a while since I reread any of the Alanna books, if only because my sister took our shared copies when she moved out. I've been meaning to buy my own set for a long while now but haven't been able to justify the purchase. The other week, I just so happened to find the first two volumes at my local indie bookstore. I bought them immediately, as well as ordered the third and fourth book. (And discovered that the store owner knows me by name-- when I went to pick up my order, she saw me and said, Hi Frankie! I got your books over here.) (I may be spending too much money there.)

So I have been in a bit of an emotional rut these past few weeks. Work sucks. Life stinks. The temptation to run off to Tortall and curl up in the fantasy story that captivated me as a kid has never been stronger.

Ergo, I ran off to read the first book as soon as I could.

If you're looking for any critique of this book, series, or Tortall in general, I will never give it. Sure, it's problematic and dated, and in many ways imperfect, but someone else can list out all of its issues. They're all perfect to me.

Anyway, the book. I should say something about this book in particular.

One thing I appreciate about Pierce's writing is how she handles school settings in fantasy. Learning and training is so mundane. All of her heroines have to work hard and put in extra hours of study in order to improve, much less keep up with their peers. It's so normal that it circles around to being weirdly refreshing.

Also, there is still no other fantasy author who handles period talk and birth control the way Pierce does. We make fun of the trope of fantasy birth control nowadays, but I rarely see it presented as it is here: as a part of normal puberty lessons and given long before sex is in the girl's radar. And even today with the glut of YA fantasy stories out there, I still have yet to see menstruation be portrayed as frequently or as bluntly as Pierce writes it.

There was a period of time publishers really tried to push the Tortall books as straight YA, which doesn't work for that reason alone. You gotta market them to middle schoolers. They're the ones just starting puberty talks, and getting scenes like this is so good for their brains.

Moving on: I fucking love these characters. Alanna was an icon of brash, temperamental heroines that have shaped my taste to this day. I love how even in the first book, Jon is kinda shitty. I adore George Cooper. Talk about a taste maker the way this man sets a standard.

I just can't be coherent when it comes to any Tortall books. I have no thoughts. Head empty. I am going to binge the rest of this series as quickly as I can before my library book comes in. Then normal book content will resume.

Before I go, I need to talk about the book covers.

Growing up, my sister and I had these covers:

Which, god. I love them. The black is striking. The art is incredible. Alanna looks so good. They were the perfect pocket-size too. I was going to buy the same edition for my copies, but instead I got the 40th anniversary reprints:

Not bad at all! These books have had some seriously bad covers, and these look great! Very anime, which will appeal to the 11 year olds who need to have their socks rocked by this series.

But, man. I really miss those black covers. One day I will splurge and buy a second set of them just so that I can stare at the art.

#having a not normal time on tumblr dot come right now #alanna my beloved #if you were a deity i would worship you #me rambling #me reading #bookish #books and reading #books #bookblr #Alanna: the first adventure #the song of the lioness #tortall #tamora pierce

[hedgehog-moss]

My top 10 nonfiction reads of 2023 (the asterisked ones are in French with no translation as of yet) :

Belle Greene, Alexandra Lapierre

The Indomitable Marie-Antoinette, Simone Bertière

Reporter: A Memoir, Seymour Hersh

Red Carpet: Hollywood, China and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy, Erich Schwartzel

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, Patrick Keefe

Servir les riches, Alizée Delpierre*

La Comtesse Greffulhe : L’ombre des Guermantes, Laure Hillerin*

Le Courage de la nuance, Jean Birnbaum*

The Book Collectors of Daraya, Delphine Minoui

Flowers of Fire: The Inside Story of South Korea's Feminist Movement, Hawon Jung

#book recs #i haven't finished the last one yet but it's been good so far! i really admire these women's resilience and solidarity #some inspiring stories of political activism + insight into aspects of korean history i didn't know about #i wanted to do a half-fiction half-nonfiction list like last year but i've read mostly disappointing fiction this year :( #my favourites were probably kivirähk's the man who spoke snakish & catherynne valente's radiance; though it wasn't as good as orphan tales #i'm reading jacques abeille's les jardins statuaires right now and it's quite frustrating because on the one hand #it's well-written and interesting with original worldbuilding. on the other i'm 300 pages in and there have been #2 female characters. the purpose of both (so far) was to have sex with the male protagonist and only 1 has a name #which makes the read feel less original and more ''same old shit as far as i'm concerned''

[darlingod]

It is so embarrassingly blasphemous that there’s characters who think Jude loved Locke

Like when Cardan’s mom said Jude loved Locke at the trial, I went feral for her cause AS IFFFFFFFFF

#edit: I’m aware his mom was only telling a story #and that she didn’t believe it herself #the wording still works here tho yall so we good #u ​just gotta read it in a particular way 😭😭 #incase anyone reblogged only this part: it works it’s ok lol #anyway #like who the fuck— #naw #NAWWWWW #get out #right now #they didn’t read the books 🙄 #the cruel prince #jude duarte #cardan greenbriar #jurdan #the wicked king #queen of nothing

[zoreldanvers]

#tfw you're the child of the goddess of wisdom and therefore a chronic overthinker but also dyslexic but also a desperate people pleaser but also you're twelve and have no supervision and 200 dollars to buy candy

#pjoedit #percyjacksonedit #percy jackson spoilers #percy jackon and the olympians #annabeth chase #annabethchaseedit #pjosource #im about to write a novel in these tags i could not stop cracking up at this scene #the last gif had me howling while making this #first of all athena who that is MY daughter #second of all watching this show is a trip bc when i read the books #in like 2007 #these kids were older than me #so i was like oh they're 12 that's old enough to fly alone on delta that sounds about right #some 12 year olds on a cross country adventure sounds about right #now im a full adult and i'm HORRIFIED these are BABIES #look at her in the last gif she can barely see the top shelf shes so TINY #i was on the fence about the show up until this scene ngl #then i saw it and i was like oh yeah this is it #it's my girl she's annabething