11peachbunny11

[11peachbunny11]

[grabs your shirt] listen. listen to me. the practical is holy. the everyday is sacred. the simple act of surviving is divine. do you get it? sanctity begins at home, in the hands that build and the lives we live and the deaths we die and the worms that eat our bodies. if making something by hand is not worthy of veneration then nothing is.

[11peachbunny11]

I believe in free education, one that’s available to everyone; no matter their race, gender, age, wealth, etc… This masterpost was created for every knowledge hungry individual out there. I hope it will serve you well. Enjoy!

FREE ONLINE COURSES (here are listed websites that provide huge variety of courses)

Alison 

Coursera

FutureLearn

open2study

Khan Academy

edX

P2P U

Academic Earth

iversity

Stanford Online

MIT Open Courseware

Open Yale Courses

BBC Learning

OpenLearn

Carnegie Mellon University OLI

University of Reddit

Saylor

IDEAS, INSPIRATION & NEWS (websites which deliver educational content meant to entertain you and stimulate your brain)

TED

FORA

Big Think 

99u

BBC Future

Seriously Amazing

How Stuff Works

Discovery News

National Geographic

Science News

Popular Science

IFLScience

YouTube Edu

NewScientist

DIY & HOW-TO’S (Don’t know how to do that? Want to learn how to do it yourself? Here are some great websites.)

wikiHow

Wonder How To

instructables

eHow

Howcast

MAKE

Do it yourself

FREE TEXTBOOKS & E-BOOKS

OpenStax CNX

Open Textbooks

Bookboon

Textbook Revolution

E-books Directory

FullBooks

Books Should Be Free

Classic Reader

Read Print

Project Gutenberg

AudioBooks For Free

LibriVox

Poem Hunter

Bartleby

MIT Classics

Many Books

Open Textbooks BCcampus

Open Textbook Library

WikiBooks

SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES & JOURNALS

Directory of Open Access Journals

Scitable

PLOS

Wiley Open Access

Springer Open

Oxford Open

Elsevier Open Access

ArXiv

Open Access Library

LEARN:

1. LANGUAGES

Duolingo

BBC Languages

Learn A Language

101languages

Memrise

Livemocha

Foreign Services Institute

My Languages

Surface Languages

Lingualia

OmniGlot

OpenCulture’s Language links

2. COMPUTER SCIENCE & PROGRAMMING

Codecademy

Programmr

GA Dash

CodeHS

w3schools

Code Avengers

Codelearn

The Code Player

Code School

Code.org

Programming Motherf*?$%#

Bento

Bucky’s room

WiBit

Learn Code the Hard Way

Mozilla Developer Network

Microsoft Virtual Academy

3. YOGA & MEDITATION

Learning Yoga

Learn Meditation

Yome

Free Meditation

Online Meditation

Do Yoga With Me

Yoga Learning Center

4. PHOTOGRAPHY & FILMMAKING

Exposure Guide

The Bastards Book of Photography

Cambridge in Color

Best Photo Lessons

Photography Course

Production Now

nyvs

Learn About Film

Film School Online

5. DRAWING & PAINTING

Enliighten

Ctrl+Paint

ArtGraphica

Google Cultural Institute

Drawspace

DragoArt

WetCanvas

6. INSTRUMENTS & MUSIC THEORY

Music Theory

Teoria

Music Theory Videos

Furmanczyk Academy of Music

Dave Conservatoire

Petrucci Music Library

Justin Guitar

Guitar Lessons

Piano Lessons

Zebra Keys

Play Bass Now

7. OTHER UNCATEGORIZED SKILLS

Investopedia

The Chess Website

Chesscademy

Chess.com

Spreeder

ReadSpeeder

First Aid for Free

First Aid Web

NHS Choices

Wolfram Demonstrations Project

Please feel free to add more learning focused websites. 

*There are a lot more learning websites out there, but I picked the ones that are, as far as I’m aware, completely free and in my opinion the best/ most useful.

[11peachbunny11]

You see, the hate they give is senseless. They already got power. Yet they hate those over who they got control, who don’t really pose a threat to them. Their fears aren’t real—just insecurities and inadequacies. Deep down they know that. Makes their hate like… watered-down whiskey.

P. Djèlí Clark, Ring Shout (via smokefalls)

[11peachbunny11]

Review of Song of Achilles

Overall rating: 8/10

Quick Take: Did it make me cry? Yes. Did I sob? No. I got over it pretty quickly and was able to sleep soundly. Did I like it? Yes! Do I think it's overhyped? Also yes. 

Suggestion to Other Readers: 1. You don’t have to know the myth to enjoy this book, no previous knowledge is needed. 2. I used this book to get out of my reading slump, and it worked! This book is super easy to read and I think one could definitely get a good experience out of it either reading it all in one sitting (which is what I did, took me ~6 hours total) or reading it in chunks. 

Overall vibe: It was cute! But this book is coated in YA vibes. Some people like that, some don’t. It usually doesn’t bother me a whole lot, so I still had a very good time. 

Hot Take: This book is a beautiful retelling and I think the author really accomplished what she set out to do. However, was this the deepest and most heart wrenching thing I’ve ever read? No. Her writing is very nice, but I didn’t get the same magic out of it as so many others seemed to have (blaming Erin Morgenstern on that one, she has ruined me). I often hear people talk about how deep and quotable this book is, but I really didn’t see it. Like, there’s the one “he’s the other half of my soul” line and… that’s about it? I think this book was incredibly well written and Madeline Miller does have a very distinct writing style, but after everything that I’d heard, when I started reading the actual book I was honestly really shocked. The writing was not what I had been led to believe. Which is fine! It was still very good, but… not what I was expecting. 

What I noticed of her writing was that it was quick, to the point, and there is hardly any dialogue in this book. We watch from Patroclus’ perspective only and he explains his feelings more so then feels them. Some people like that, some people don’t. I honestly have no qualms on it, but he did a lot of ‘immediately placing names to the feelings’ so if you have issue with that, you’ve been warned.

Moving along to the actual story and characters, I really loved the two main leads. I think it’s kinda hard not to enjoy them and their love story was cute. However, the book didn’t quite get into the depth with which I wanted it too. I attribute this to just how much she had to get through. The actual myth is so long, and in order to not write a 700 page book she really had to speed through some stuff. So I understand why, but it doesn’t make me happy. Within this book, there was never a point in which I felt we really sat with the characters. There would be a small moment, but then we were moving on to the next part. Once again, I believe this is because there was just so much that we had to get through, but still. We run through this book, and at no point for me did it feel like we slowed down and really felt with these characters. A lot of the feelings are surface level. 

Now, what those feelings are were still very complex--jealousy and envy and love are nuanced things, especially when put together, but I felt like we never deep dived into those feelings. There was just no time. But still, despite all this, her characters felt very human, and that’s always preferable to any alternative. 

The romance was… very cute, do not get me wrong. But that really isn’t what hit me in the end. Because I knew how the story would end, I was braced for it, so when it happened, I wasn’t very saddened. The myth is fairly well known, and even if you don’t know what’s to go down the foreshadowing is intense. The book essentially tells you from the beginning that this is a tragedy. No, the romance was fine, but what got to me was the ending scene between Patroclus and Achilles’ Mother. That hit hard, and if you’ve read the book or plan to read the book, you’ll know what I mean. That had depth to it. That was meaningful. Grief is a complex beast and I feel like that scene really encompassed what it can look like when two people grieve together despite previous hatred. I feel like the most complex and deep relationship in this book is that between Patroclus and Achilles' mother. That had a lot to it, and I found myself excited for and enjoying more the scenes between them than the scenes between the two lovers. That could just be the angst lover in me, but I felt like those scenes had more emotions behind them then any others in this book. 

Overall, this book was enjoyable and it got me out of my reading slump. I would definitely suggest it to anyone looking for a historical Greek story or an LGBT read.

[11peachbunny11]

please remember that it’s okay to use popular tropes and clichés in your writing. just remember to make them your own, and put your own kinda spin on them. 

don’t let yourself be stopped by what other people say you can or can’t do when it comes to writing. you are allowed to write about whatever you want, regardless of how popular it is in mainstream media. 

[11peachbunny11]

Review of Nothing to See Here

Overall rating: 10/10

Quick Take: The feral representation we’ve been needing in literature

Suggestion to Other Readers: This book is 254~ pages and the writing is quickly paced and snappy, so I’d suggest just clearing out a couple of hours and devour this book whole. I think this took me around 3 hours to finish? Maybe 4. 

Overall vibe: Feral found-family, with a side of kids bursting into flames when they get angry (for spice)

Hot Take: I am so horribly biased about this book because I’m an elementary education major and this book is about problem children. I was going to love this book no matter what. If you are someone who loves rebellious little kids or the found family trope I really do highly recommend this book. Or if you’re looking for something so excitingly feral. This book has such gremlin energy it’s amazing. 

The core of this book, truly, is accepting your wildness. All of the characters (and I do mean all of them, Madison puts on a good show but as the book progresses you see she’s just as wonderfully crazy as the rest of them) in this book are scrappy and love-hungry. They’ve been done dirty by everyone around them and have learned that fighting is the only way they can survive. And the lovely thing about this book is that that survival instinct, so intrinsic to all of these characters, is not “fixed” but instead re-directed in a healthy way. 

This book slowly strips back the layers of all characters present through the eyes of our main character, Lillian. I love this girl so much. She had no idea how to take care of children, but she understood one incredibly important fact, a game changer if you will--that children are also people and all you need to do is listen to them. Anyone passionately going into the field of education can tell you this, and it was so refreshing to see this in a piece of literature. (I could go on whole rants about how children are constantly ignored and denied basic human rights by the adults around them in the name of “caring” for them, and maybe someday I’ll write some short papers on it, but I digress.) Lillian really takes the stance of “I was done wrong by the people around me and I refuse to let these kids suffer the way I have,” and damn is it so wonderfully amazing to watch as she quickly falls into the protective caregiver role.

The kids, Bessie and Roland, are also so wonderfully written. They truly jump off the pages and it’s such a ride to see how they slowly open up to Lillian and the deep connection that develops between the kids and their new caretaker. They feel and act like real feral kids who have been greatly traumatized by the adults around them, and considering how easy it is to caricature children, this made my little heart so happy. And oh yes, we really do get into some horrifying stuff in this book. I’m not going to spoil it but… damn. 

Madison is also such a fascinating character and I loved how, throughout the book, I wouldn’t say she develops but more so slowly reveals to us who she truly is. She’s also insane--don’t let her first entrance fool you. And ALSO, spoilers here, so skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want this fun little surprise to be ruined for you, but god the lesbian vibes between Lillian and Madison, and then the reveal that yes actual these two loved each other romantically during their high school days but Madison was to scared to get into that relationship and Lillian just gay panicking during the first half of the book. What a fucking ride. I, a lesbian, was fucking shook at 1. The feral lesbian representation, and 2. The heartbreaking realism of these two’s past relationship. And I guess I should backtrack here and say neither of these two’s sexuality is actually ever said, they could be bisexual or pansexual for all I know, but I’m going to project because I want to so… lesbians. 

Another thing that’s so lovely about this book is the writing. God what a fucking trip. Kevin Wilson’s writing is what I’d almost call the exact opposite of flowery writing. It’s quick and precise and raw and powerful. Here’s one of my favorite parts of the book--

“You want to stay here?” I shouted back at Bessie. My hand was hurting so bad, the kind of pain where I didn’t even want to look at it because I knew how fucking angry it would make me, how many times I would time travel to think about all the ways I could have kept my finger from being bitten off by some feral child. “You want to stay with those old people who are boring and probably don’t even know what things you like?”

“No,” she said. Her skin was turning back to a normal shade, the fire already flickering out. It seemed like their bodies could only sustain the fire for a brief moment. Her shirt was in tatters, almost ash.

“Or do you want to be with me because I’m cool, and I’ll keep being cool, and you’ll like hanging out with me?” I just kept on going, didn’t even wait for her to respond. “You want to stay with your shitty grandparents and never get fed and scratch bug bites underneath sheets that haven’t been washed? You want that?”

“No, I don’t want that,” Bessie said, not crying but wheezing from anger. 

“Or do you want to come with me, and I’ll take care of you and buy you all new clothes, and I’ll feed you whatever you want and play games with you and watch movies with you and swim in the pool with you and rock you to bed and kiss you good night and sing you lullabies and then wake you up and let you watch cartoons?”

“That,” she said, her teeth chattering. “We want that.”

“Okay, then,” I said. “Then you have to trust me that I’m going to take care of you. It’s going to be weird, okay? It’s going to make you angry sometimes. But I’ll take care of you. It’s what I’m going to do.” (p.74)

So, yeah. I love this book a lot and highly recommend it!

[11peachbunny11]

First body paragraphs: Eloquent, lovely. Unparalleled beauty in both diction and grammar. Thesis is strongly supported. Wide vocabulary. A semicolon is used. 

Last body paragraph: Short. Ugly. The crops are dying. Using the word “because” 56 times in only a few lines. Sentence structure whomst’ve? Forgot what my thesis says. In the distance, screaming

[11peachbunny11]

there are a lot of really good instances of people reading famous authors from the ancient world and finding out that they’re nowhere near as sophisticated and cool as all the quotes imply, but my favorite personal experience with this is reading the works of early christian philosopher st. augustine and realizing that the dude just. really hated babies

[11peachbunny11]

Oh also I am reading The City We Became, and y’all know N K Jemisin is awesome, and I love me a genius loci story, but it’s a fascinating read in its… non-whiteness. And how it’s not white people who are the villains, but somehow things that are white are bad.

And then there’s the Alt Artistes, and I’m just like. Oh. Oh dear. My little brother - who I adore - wears his hair in a manbun and flops around everywhere in flip-flops.

Including in his carpentry shop, which seems like a fantastically bad idea to me.

[11peachbunny11]

N.K. Jemisin: "Nothing human beings do is set in stone— and even stone changes, anyway. We can change, too, anything about ourselves that we want to. We just have to want to."

Also N.K. Jemisin: "The boy comes skeeting out of the pool as if buttered and fired from a buttered-child cannon."

[11peachbunny11]

Primary: I was thinking maybe we could--

Manny:

[11peachbunny11]

Review of Merciful Crow and Faithless Hawk

I’m doing these two together since they’re a duology where the second book picks up exactly where the first left off.

Overall rating: 10/10

Quick Take: These books, at their core, are about fighting and what that means. Every character in these books is fighting something (the powers that be, their own fears, people they thought they could trust, ect.) and it’s an exploration of these battles and how they change the characters.

Suggestion to Other Readers: Clear your schedule for a couple of hours (or just a whole day) cus I defo suggest devouring both of these books in one sitting--especially since Faithless Hawk expects you to remember so much from Merciful Crow. 

Overall vibe:  t e e t h

Hot Take: Can we???? Can we just??? THE TEETH???? THE T E E T H.

I have never been so astoundingly excited about a magical concept in my life. And like, can we also talk about how there’s no mention of the teeth in the synopsis on the back of the book??? I was shook to my c o r e when I read that the magic system is teeth reliant. I mean, also hella excited but… my guys.

Teeth??????

Anyway. I loved these two books. So much. The story is a beautiful exploration of unfair class systems and power imbalances mixed with magic (which makes everything better). What it means to live versus just surviving. The human spirit, never giving up. What it means to protect others. All that good jazz. The characters are wonderful and you can feel how much work and love was put into creating this world.

The first book comes straight at you and jumps right into the story, which I absolutely adored because some books really drag out their beginning. Not here tho!! The world building is expertly crafted and straight from the get go we’re getting introduced to slang and the customs of this world. I LOVED the very first money dance scene and it’s what got me hooked on this story and it’s characters (for those that haven’t read the book--it’s literally the first scene, that’s how good this book is at dragging you in). And not once--not once!!--did I ever feel I encountered an info dump. Considering how much I could tell you about this world, that’s insanely impressive. Info is brought up when it’s needed, which I prefer to info dumping. If you’re into world building, this is a must read book.

The characters. Where do I even begin? I loved the three main characters so much and I absolutely adored how much Jas content we got in Faithless Hawk. Like, Jas stans were truly living. It’s insane how well these characters develop throughout the story and how every little new thing we learn about all three of these guys just make them seem more and more human. On the note of feeling human--their struggles were also done masterfully. Fie’s struggle with safety, Jas having such a hard time understanding (but TRYING so hard too), Tavin’s internal struggle with loving Jas like a brother but feeling like his shadow and how these struggles shift and change as the story goes on (and how they don’t). GOD it’s all so good. I think I loved the interaction between Fie and Jas the most. If you’re looking for an ‘enemies to best friends’ type deal look no further because these two fucking rock it. Like, just comparing their interactions from the beginning of Merciful Crow to that one part of Faithless Hawk (you know the part ;P)--just, god it’s so good. That part also made me love Jas all the more (if you haven’t read the books… you’ll know. Just… you’ll know). 

I also appreciate the fact that there’s no LOVE TRIANGLE!!! God, I hate those so much--like when Jas was all like “I do not like women that way,” I nearly whooped and cheered for joy. And that’s at, like, the beginning of their journey in Merciful Crow so you know right away you're not going to have to suffer. 

I liked the romance between Fie and Tavin. Like, I got it. It’s very clear why they like each other and I felt the development wasn’t too fast. It was nice. They also, like? Suit each other and don’t have any stupid miscommunication bullshitery. (That stuff always rubs me the wrong way)

My fav character will forever be Jas tho--I don’t know, I just really love characters who are trying their best. He stumbles along the way but god he’s t r y i n g. His character development, I feel, is also very on par with Fie’s. Like, he’s also going into a leadership role he doesn’t feel prepared for at the beginning and then at the end… well, you’ll just have to read to find out :)

I also went absolutely buck wild about the representation that is Fie. We need more scrappy girls in literature. Not conventionally attractive girls. We need more girls who are leaders, defenders, and fighters. Girls who struggle with not decking people in the face when they piss them off. Girls who struggle with being soft. I loved Fie to death because she felt so human. She really jumps off the pages and demands to be seen. 

Overall, these two books are amazing. The writing is fun and fast paced. I was never bored with the story and the ideas it brought up were all just so interesting! There were many moments I laughed out loud or went ‘OOOOOOOOOOOO’ at something badass a character had said. It was all just so playfully exciting, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something new and fresh. 

[11peachbunny11]

[11peachbunny11]

Review of Caraval

Overall rating: 4/10

Quick Take: Girl wants to get laid while also maybe looking for her sister?

Suggestion to Other Readers: These are just my opinions. If you liked this book--good for you! I’m happy you liked it. I just… did not vibe with this book at all. 

Overall Vibe: disappointment and broken dreams

Hot Take: This book had… so much potential. Like. So much. I started reading this book and I was so excited. And then I finished the book and I was like… ‘what the fuck???? What the fuck whhhyyyyy????’ So then I was angry. I kinda despise this book now and here’s why.

First off. The setting. I could tell!! I could feel it in my bones!! She was going for something along the lines of Night Circus--Not copying! But the atmospheric magical vibes was defo what she was aiming for. THE ISSUE IS her world isn’t grounded like Night Circus was. Night Circus worked because it was grounded in the real world. We had some rules we could rely on. It was perfect soft world building, because while how the magic worked was never really explained, it all still felt believable because it was happening in our world and we had at least some rules we could defo rely on. Caraval on the other hand is just throwing shit around and making up rules as it goes along. The world didn’t feel real to me because nothing was defined nor was I given rules I could just instinctually rely on like if it was based in our world. Like, all I know is death is meaningless and there are some spooky tunnels??????? I don’t even know man. 

Second. Oh god oh boi oh jee whiz I HATED the main character. Coming from an older sister who actually has a very good relationship with my sibling, she did not act like an older sister at ALL. The only thing--and I really do mean the only thing--she cared about was getting laid. And that annoyed the fuck outta me. If my sibling was kidnapped I could give less of a fuck about some girl tryin to hit me up. Get the fuck outta my way I got a child to save. She also just felt really two dimensional to me. 

I liked Julian for the most part, and he’s one of two reasons this book got a 4/10. I like characters who are more than what they seem and got secrets to hide, and he most defo delivered on that front. I’m a little annoyed at what happened during the end, cus IDK to me it felt like a copout. But it’s not the worst thing this book pulled. 

I also hated the younger sister. She was just… so annoying. Also I have beef with her because at the end some stuff goes down (if you know, you know), but then there’s a party and she’s like ‘come on, lets go!’ and I was like “Bitch this MC went through something SOOOOOOO traumatic and you expect her to party?????? What the fuck???? And you won’t even listen to her when she says no????? Absolutely not get the fuck outta here.” She just rubbed me the wrong way. 

Third. The romance. I hated all of it. It moved waaaay too fast and I have no idea why these two characters even like each other??? Like one second the MC is all “I gotta go find my sister” and then literally on the next page she’s like “time to fuck.” Like, bitch???? Hello???? I wish it had been more developed and IDK slow burn?????

Fourth. The plot. It just felt like the author slapped a buncha shit together and called it good. I have no idea how any of the plot points connect and what ANNOYED ME is the author pulled that shit at the end where the characters were all like “it was all a test~ you were being tested even when you didn’t know~” like that would pull shit together. NO. That’s not how that works my friend. The plot points aCtUalLy need to connect. 

Fifth. The second reason why this book got a 4/10 was the writing. Overall, not bad and it's probably the only reason I read the whole thing. I liked the colors with emotions thing (if you haven’t read the book the MC attributes colors to the emotions she’s feeling), but that’s mostly because I just like pretentious writing and I literally don’t know anything more pretentious besides, like, calling bad weather ‘poetry’ (is that a call out to the starless sea??? Why yes. Yes it is). 

However what made me the MOST ANGRY was how much wasted potential this book has. We’re given a fun carnival circus island type thing with a whole game system up and we don’t even get a competition?????? Where was the drama, the intrigue, even just the other people playing the game??? Like the MC just so happens to stumble upon EVERYTHING SHE NEEDS. There’s no tension!! We could have gotten into the magic system, the culture of the island! We could have gotten high stakes where death actually means something. But no no. Main characters get plot armor and everything handed to them. Such a disappointment.

[11peachbunny11]

Henry Montague is the best character development I’ve seen in a while because he starts by being a selfish spoiled narcissist but by the end he is a selfish spoiled narcissist who gave everything up for the love of his life

[11peachbunny11]

someone: It's impossible to have minorities in historical fiction that are happy and still have it be historically accurate! Minorities in historical fiction have to suffer because it's REALISTIC.

Mackenzi Lee: Hold my beer and watch this.

[11peachbunny11]

me reading a book literally entitled ‘they both die at the end’

they: both die

me: