nauticalreads

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I Finished My Research!

Hey y'all, I finished my research and would like to formerly introduce...

The Fabric of Identity: Using Clothing and Style to Communicate Gender Expression.

Project Summary: A free and accessible website about nonbinary and gender nonconforming people, their history, and how they use their style to interact with the world around them.

Includes:

What Does "Nonbinary" Mean?

Interviews with Nonbinary Folks

Identity Centric Events

The Effect of Digital Spaces

Further Reading and Resources

Community Building

Please give it some love!

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introducing, charlie.

hi, my name is charlie and welcome to my little blog!

im: 25 | they/them/theirs | aroace | french-german american

languages: english + french

this is my main blog and i post a lot about folklore, mythology, and current projects that i'm working on.

im currently working on my masters degree in folklore. i am only a semester away and i am currently working on my thesis project. my specialities are germanic folklore, nordic folklore, legends, piracy, and queer narratives.

one more semester until i work in the museum of my dreams.

please come say hey, id love to talk to other folklore enthusiasts! my messages are always open.

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I have a book club now! come join me.

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“The Only Safe Place Left Is The Dark” Review

Summary

An HIV positive gay man must leave the relative safety of his cabin in the woods to brave the zombie apocalypse and find the medication he needs to stay alive.

Review

I have no words, I am heartbroken. This was so good but so so painful. It was a quick and easy read, but you get sucked it because it's real and raw. (As real as the zombie apocalypse can be).

To have a "old" gay man having to outrun and fight two deadly viruses (Zombie and HIV) only to lose a lover to each one is tragically beautiful and will break your heart.

I could write all day about the symbolism and how it mirrors the pain queer people feel. But the entire time, there is the need for community looming over them, which is sobering. We all need community and I sobbed when Quinton found it in the end.

“They lived for those they lost. Until they could live for themselves again.”

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"We're living through war, but where they're living, it's peacetime, and we're all in the same country."

The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark by Warren Wagner

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January 2025 Reading Log 📚🌊

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A Partial ‘Mortal Instruments’ Review

For this I’m actually reviewing three books: City of Bones, City of Ashes, and Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy. I read them back to back, and they are in the same series so I’ve lumped them together. Without further ado.

City of Bones

⭐️ 4/5

📄 532

🌊 YA Fantasy

🌶️ barely any. implied off page sex.

⚠️ homophobia, bigotry, racism, implied incest

⚓️ This was one of the books that was on my reread list for 2025. I enjoyed this more than I did the first time around. There is pacing issues throughout the book sometimes it’s slow sometimes it’s too fast, but that has to be expected when you are building a world. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters in the beginning of their stories. This is fairly family friendly. There is some blood and death due to the demon hunting nature of the series, but there’s not a lot of explicit descriptions on page. i’m excited to continue reading the rest of the books. 

City of Ashes

⭐️ 4.25

📄 500

🌊 YA Fantasy

🌶️ barely any. implied off page sex.

⚠️ homophobia, bigotry, racism, implied incest, death

⚓️ This is the first sequel to the book mentioned above, “The City of bones”. much like the other one I am re-reading this book and and had forgotten a lot of details since the last time I read it I was a teenager now I’m 25. I am thoroughly enjoying how Magnus, Alec, and Izzy are evolving in coming into their characters. Unlike the first book, they are much more present, rather than a side character that’s mentioned a couple of times or that randomly pops up. all of this being said, I am not a huge fan of the pseudo “are they aren’t they” incest plot, but I am ready to read more as this was the last book in the series that I read the first time.

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy

⭐️ 3.8/4

📄 673

🌊 YA Fantasy

🌶️ barely any. implied off page sex.

⚠️ homophobia, bigotry, racism, implied incest, death

⚓️ this one was cute. There are a lot of different plots because this one is not a continuous storyline, but they all take place in the same location, the Shadowhunter Academy. With this book each chapter is at a different point in the series, a different year. Shall we see not only the characters that we know in love like Jace, Clary, Alec, Izzy, Simon, Kit, and Ty but we also get to meet other characters and revisit the younger versions of the circle. My personal favorite chapters are “The Evil We Love” which takes place during the circle and “Born to Endless Night” which takes place after Simon ascends.

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my reading buddy 🐶📚🥰

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‘My Culture, My Gender, Me’ Review

⭐️ 4.3/5

📄 46

🌊 nonfiction

🌶️ n/a

⚠️ discussions of multiple cultures, third gender

⚓️ “My Culture, My Gender, Me” is so cute! First and foremost this is a short nonfiction picture book about genders outside the Eurocentric ideals of Man and Woman being the only genders. If you are a parent or teacher who is trying to explain gender to children; or if you are someone who identifies with a third gender trying to explain gender to reluctant relatives this is a really easy to understand and quick way of doing so. The book reads like a children’s book rather than an info guide. On each page we meet a different person and learn about the genders in their culture. It was a great read and I absolutely recommend it to everyone.

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‘Fancy Fastwater’ Review

⭐️ 3.7/5

📄 104

🌊 poetry

🌶️ n/a

⚠️ alludes to depression

⚓️ Fancy Fastwater was a quick but beautiful read. It is a small collection of poetry. While being a read that is doable in one sitting, it is heartbreaking in its own right. There were several moments where I had to set it down because a poem resonated so deeply with me.

The quote pictured above is towards the beginning of the poetry collection (as decipherable by the low percentage). As someone who left home via airplane at a young age and who fantasized about running away for years, this hits different.

10/10 broke my heart.

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📚Next Book: The Handmaids Secret by Freida McFadden📚

This is the second book in the Housemaid series! The first book was so good, I can’t wait to get into this one.

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hello lovelies.

i forgot to share but my new kindle came in! so expect more and more reviews.

also i’m really proud of the cute little insert and lockscreens i made! :)

happy exploring! ⚓️ 🌊

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‘Pretty Boys are Poisonous’ Review

⭐️ 4/5

📄 176

🌊 poetry

🌶️ low. mentions of sex on page.

⚠️ rape, sexual assault, abuse, misogyny

⚓️ It’s a devastating read. If you’re like me, you haven’t seen any of Megan Fox’s art and read any of her writing before, you’ve only seen her in movies. Her graphic portrayal of the abuse she has suffered at the hands of men leaves nothing to the imagination but it’s beautifully tragic all the while.

I’m a huge fan of modern feminine poetry. I love seeing a woman claim her power and bare her soul, which is exactly what you see here. In addition to the deep subject matter, Fox uses gothic and horror themes such as American Psycho and the horrors of the garden of Eden to show the plight and then power of women, of herself.

In short, beautifully written but painful to witness.

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i’m waiting for my kindle to arrive (it’s been a month and i’m impatient) but i have my insert and my screensaver ready to go!

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'Milk and Honey' Review

⭐️ 5/5

📄 296

🌊 Poetry Collection

🌶️ low, references and mentions but nothing on page.

⚠️ abuse, sexual assault, sexism.

⚓️ Short version, I loved it. The long version, well that's a different story. There are two versions of Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur and I've read them both. In the winter of 2018, I picked up the original version of the collection (the smaller, black and white copy) and immediately fell in love with it. Like a lot of things in life, we crossed paths when it was meant to happen. I whole heartedly believe that I didn't find Milk and Honey, it found me when I needed her most.

Now, in 2025, I had the pleasure of reading the 10th Anniversary edition of Milk and Honey, and I can't believe that I love it even more than I did then. The old poems and drawings mixed with the new feels like an expression of self love and forgiveness for a past self. With annotations from Rupi Kaur and other guest annotators, the reader is gifted an insight to her life on a deeper level than the already vulnerable piece of art that 'Milk and Honey' is in itself.

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“love made the danger

in you look like safety” - Rupi Kaur

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Hello Lovelies.

This is my current read. I picked up the original Milk and Honey in 2018 around my 19th birthday. I fell in love with it then and I’m very excited to read it again (and see what new poems Rupi Kaur includes in this edition).