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Winne the Pooh by A. A. Milne, Illustrated by E. H. Shepard

Printed by the Folio Society

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please….. please everyone im losing my fucking shit

reblogs for reach are so so so appreciated i want this to get to as many people as possible im trying to gather data

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This is one of my favorite bands and this is one of the best videos I've seen of them yet - mainly thanks to the guest dancer.

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What the Living Do

by Marie Howe

Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil probably fell down there. And the Drano won’t work but smells dangerous, and the crusty dishes have piled up

waiting for the plumber I still haven’t called. This is the everyday we spoke of. It’s winter again: the sky’s a deep, headstrong blue, and the sunlight pours through

the open living-room windows because the heat’s on too high in here and I can’t turn it off. For weeks now, driving, or dropping a bag of groceries in the street, the bag breaking,

I’ve been thinking: This is what the living do. And yesterday, hurrying along those wobbly bricks in the Cambridge sidewalk, spilling my coffee down my wrist and sleeve,

I thought it again, and again later, when buying a hairbrush: This is it. Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold. What you called that yearning.

What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and the winter to pass. We want whoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss—we want more and more and then more of it.

But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass, say, the window of the corner video store, and I'm gripped by a cherishing so deep

for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I’m speechless: I am living. I remember you.

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If you could instantly be granted fluency in 5 languages—not taking away your existing language proficiency in any way, solely a gain—what 5 would you choose?

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The reader and I thus mingled will constitute something living, that will not be me, because I will be dead, and will not be that person as they were before reading, because my story, added to their mind, will then become part of their thinking.

—Jacqueline Harpman, I Who Have Never Known Men (trans. by Ros Schwartz)

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Weekly Bookish Question #440 (May 4th - May 10th, 2025)

What was the last song you listened to? Can you name a book that has a similar vibe to that song or can be linked to it some other way?

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Remember to also read books by Indigenous authors on this Earth Day and all year.

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do is Ask by Mary Siisip Geniusz

As Long as Grass Grows by Dina Gilio-Whitaker

Iwígara by Enrique Salmón

Fresh Banana Leaves by Jessica Hernandez

The Red Deal by The Red Nation

Earth Keeper by N. Scott Momaday

Dwellings by Linda Hogan

Birding While Indian by Thomas C. Gannon

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Fast Food by Brad Spiess Via Flickr: Peregrine Falcon food transfer tonight around sunset. These birds move fast so if you are not ready for the action you will lose out. Also if you are a little bird living around a Peregrine Falcons hunting range it may be time to move.

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Books of 2025: Spring Haul!

My birthday and indie bookstore day are, like, super close to one another, which I LOVE because it means I get So Many Indie Day Deliveries Right Around My Birthday!! Behold: This Year's Stack, featuring purchases and gifts alike!

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20 books challenge

Tagged by @theinquisitxor to post which books I would keep if I could only keep 20. Normally it would be tricky to choose only 20, but with the additional rules of no repeated authors or multiple books per series, I kept stalling at around 13! Here's my final answer (for today).

Let's see, I'm going to tag @agardenandlibrary, @wearethekat and @dracereads with the caveat that I'm not sure how many books you all actually have on hand! ebooks/audiobooks count as well, no picture required. Anyone else who wants to do this, consider this a tag, and show me your choices!

(list of books below the cut)

I decided to include Harper Collins titles but with a strikethrough, just to show the variety of books that fall under their imprints. Top to bottom, books are:

The Lost Prince, Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Picts and the Martyrs, Arthur Ransome

Gaudy Night, Dorothy Sayers

Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett (OK, I cheated a little on the repeated author rule)

Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Birds

The Midnight Folk, John Masefield

Poetry 180, Billy Collins

I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith

Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver (would probably actually choose a diff Kingsolver book as the one-and-only, but a friend has it right now)

The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume II, Arthur Conan Doyle

Death and Hard Cider, Barbara Hambly

About the B'nai Bagels, E. L. Konigsburg

Tinkerbelle, Robert Manry

Grave Mistake, Ngaio Marsh (this particular volume has 3 of her books, but if forced to choose I'd go with the listed title)

Sailor Jack and the Target Ship, Selma and Jack Wasserman (a sentimental keep: a preschool favorite)

Dragonhaven, Robin McKinley

The Merlin Conspiracy, Diana Wynne Jones

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis

The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson

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20 books challenge

If you could only keep 20 books (physical/ebook/audio), which would be the ones you would keep?

Rules are simple:

1 book per author. 1 book per series. Tag #twenty books challenge

Borrowing this from @e-b-reads

This is tough! In no particular order:

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren

The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (the whole so-called "trilogy" was always intended to be considered one book in its entirety - they only split it up due to the physical limitations of publishing at the time...)

Persuasion by Jane Austen

So Big by Edna Ferber

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers

Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

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what could this be 👀

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april recap —

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life can't be that bad when there's still cat and other assorted creatures

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anne carson interviewed by kate kellaway for the guardian

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Worldbuilding info: Questing world

This world lost this poll about my fantasy worlds but it’s probably my personal favorite right now, so I’m writing about it anyway! This world is my love letter to stories, particularly of the classic fantasy series kind - kind of like how Diana Wynne Jones’s Tough Guide to Fantasyland is her own love letter to (and satire of!) so many classic fantasy series. In my case: the questing world is currently in an era with technology etc. similar to our own modern day. (Or maybe our modern day like 5-10 years ago. They don’t have AI.) Back in the Heroic Ages (roughly equivalent to our medieval times), it was very very common for people to go on Quests. Lots of big historical events happened via Quest - wars decided based on who successfully Quested for some magical item, evil overlords defeated by small intrepid Questing Parties, etc.

These days, there are actually still plenty of people who go on Quests, but this has become something more equivalent to the Grand Tour, or a gap year, or, like, descending on Miami for spring break: groups of youngish people (often well-off, though it varies some) will get together to form Questing Parties, and then go visit various tourist attractions and historical sites. They might claim to be looking for some famous magical object, but usually they’re just looking for a good time. Some more rugged groups of young people treat quests more like thru-hiking the AT and actually camp out and stuff, but it’s still mostly just for fun. Except occasionally, when things get more serious…

Below the cut: mostly geopolitics. (Like 4 paragraphs worth. Since this is my favorite, I have written the most.)

OK I will admit that this whole Questing culture is mostly a thing on the largest continent of Canmara. (You know how fantasy books often have the main continent and the Other Continent? This is the main one.) There’s at least three countries on Canmara in the present day (Oskana, Fedir, and Laird - and I think that’s probably it? but I might squeeze another one in someday) and their history is full of Questing. However, there are also two other large continents.

Ettrea is to the east of Canmara, across the [needs a name!] Ocean. People ethnically from Canmara, by the way, have lighter skin - it’s the northernmost of the three continents. People from Ettrea have dark skin and dark, curly hair. (Obviously, looks vary on both continents within those general parameters.) It was very common, back in the Heroic Ages, for Questing Parties from Canmara to travel to Ettrea for a phase of their Quest (there were also trading routes, for those not Questing and just trying to live their lives). While there, they would generally get involved in some kind of local politics or tribal conflicts, and then peace out. Even after Quests started to become less common, it was still kind of a done thing for people and governments from Canmara to get (clumsily) involved in conflicts in Ettrea. (Which is not a monolith, but had quite a few different tribes of people living there, and has at least 20 different countries in the “present day.”) A little over two centuries ago, various factors (including meddling from outsiders) sparked an all-out war between at least two very powerful wizards, which razed large swathes of the continent. (Still working on the details here some.) Many Ettreans fled to countries in Canmara - mostly the country of Oskana, which is the easternmost on that continent. Because of their usually low socio-economic status (as refugees with few possessions) and their visible “otherness,” they were definitely often treated as second-class citizens, and prejudices persist (as they tend to, unfortunately).

Briefly, before I get to the other major continent - the Southern Islands are two large island nations directly south of Canmara that aren’t really considered part of the main continent. The Ashkanzi Republic in particular has had a lot of unrest and human rights issues over the past couple decades, and refugees keep fleeing north to Oskana. And I have other thoughts about these peoples, but for now I will move on to…

The last largeish continent is located southwest of Canmara, and it is known as Equa. You know how in classic fantasy books, there is often some nomadic tribe of horse-people (riders, not centaurs), at least one of whom will join in with the main group on their quest? They wear their hair in top-knots. Well, in this world, they all come originally from the continent of Equa. Equans have brown skin, and the extra fold of skin in the eyelid that evolves in humans who spend a lot of time moving fast through wind or sand - they spent (and spend) a lot of time on horses. There were maybe fewer established trade routes between Canmara and Equa in the Heroic Ages, but enough travel that individual Equans did end up on various quests, without the questing parties traveling to Equa that often. Most of Equa actually still functions on a tribal, semi-nomadic system, without clear boundaries between territories. (There are fuzzy boundaries between where different peoples tend to live.) Except North Equa, which was taken over by Laird (or Fedir? Can’t remember if I established this already…) a few hundred years ago as a trading post, and then eventually became independent but still governed by the same people who were the colonizers. Apartheid was only lifted within the last fifty years or so.

Right, I have lots of other little things about this world in particular - sports and religions and present-day social and political issues, but I’ll leave it at that for now! If you read all that, thanks, and hope you enjoyed!