sammystruggles

[sammystruggles]

To all the Stay that got tickets to see Stray Kids today: congrats! I hope you have so much fun!

But also fuck you I hate you (no I don’t) IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME (they aren’t coming close enough to me)

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Reading banned books is my new life goal.

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I just want to read books and talk about them all day but I'm forced to work a full time job. The definition of hell.

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I'm already seeing advice from people in the US to purchase queer books and other banned or "controversial" books on paper as a way to combat the wave of government censorship that is coming. While this is a good idea (it is! absolutely!), it's not accessible to everyone, and truly, we're not going to be able to consumerism our way out of this one.

If you can buy the books, do. Whether you can buy the books or not, borrow them from your library.

Borrow the paper versions. Borrow the ebook or audiobook versions. Request the titles you want that your library doesn't have. The more a title circulates or is requested, the better librarians are going to be able to defend keeping it if and when it's ever challenged.

Use libraries like @queerliblib too. The more members they have, the better they'll be able to fundraise.

Your community resources depend on you using them. Borrow the books before they go away.

InB4: Piracy is not the solution here. We're trying to keep community resources available, not make sure individual people can read individual books. Different problems.

The books are still available. Borrowing them from your library and returning them on time and in good condition will help keep them that way.

[sammystruggles]

Never forget that acceptance of far-right ideals (ie tradwives, terfs, casual racism) in liberal spaces is a huge part of why today’s radicalization is so widespread and unquestioned

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“There is a video on the internet of me dying and I can’t stop watching it.”

The Depths by Nicole Lesperance 4/5 stars

Trigger warnings: Death/thoughts of death, drowning, child death, lots of bugs. 

This book sucked me in from the very first line.  “There is a video on the internet of me dying and I can’t stop watching it.” Like girl WHAT??

After literally dying and having the video posted on the internet for all to see, Addie is dragged on her mom and step dad’s honeymoon as they are worried about leaving her alone. On Eulalie Island, she meets two boys, Billy and Shawn, and becomes fast friends with both. but the island is weird. The birds are calling her name, she starts sleepwalking, and she finds a little girl who wants to play hide and seek but is… dead… 

The atmosphere of this book was so immersive. The island was so creepy with how things changed and reacted to Addie. When the birds started making sounds that were clearly Addie’s name, that should have been the sign for her to LEAVE but alas, for the plot we stuck around.

I really liked Addie and Billy's friendship and how they both loved Violet and wanted to help her reunite with her sister. SPEAKING OF THOSE TWO, the story of Violet and Lenora was heartbreaking from the way they died to the way they were trapped on the island.

I enjoyed this book a lot and definitely recommend it!

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Obsessed with the physical copies of Under the Oak Tree by Suji Kim. I read some of it on Manta but fell off for some life reasons and I'm SO excited to get back into both the manhwa and novel versions!

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Reading Mockingjay as an adult is extra devastating because. Of course the plucky teenager and her ragtag friends aren't going to sneak into a government building to kill the president with a bow and arrow. That's absolutely ridiculous. It's the kind of thing that's only possible in the kind of propaganda that Coin developed. But she's so good at it that in some ways she tricks the reader into thinking that's the kind of story this is, too--even after 3 books reminding us that pretty much everything that Katniss does the second she volunteers is manipulated by adults pulling strings to make propaganda in some form or another.

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A Yakuza member discovers K-pop

The Yakuza's Bias 5/5 stars

If you’re a K-pop fan and a manga lover, you NEED to read The Yakuza’s Bias. It’s ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me.

Ken Kanashiro is dragged to a K-pop concert by the bosses daughter and immediately falls in love with the entire concept of K-pop. He's so dedicated to his bias, Jun, that other members of the clan mistake his conversations for some serious clan business.

I scream laugh so many times. Watching a top lieutenant of a Yakuza clan actually sob over their bias in a K-pop group was absolutely something I needed in my life. To me, it shows how slippery of a slope K-pop is. Once you start learning the names of a group, its OVER. I devoured both volumes last night and I’m so obsessed.

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Sapphic, K-pop, Thriller? Sign me UP.

Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng 3.5/5 stars

I will consume any K-pop inspired book without question and enjoy all of its flaws and wonderful moments. This was such an interesting story and it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. 

Sunny is very traumatized after losing one of her best friends and fellow member of their K-pop group, to an apparent suicide. She has been questioning how true that is ever since it happened. Something was off about the entire situation and she is determined to figure out what really happened. Candie, the third member of her group and now an estranged friend, has a secret that she is clearly not telling Sunny. After joining the same workshop, they are forced to deal with their past and maybe reconcile their relationship.

This book was pretty much what I expected it to be, but with less K-pop. I heard about this book on Tiktok and was sold by the K-pop storyline but it definitely wasn’t the main plot (imo) and that is totally okay. I like that it was just a setting and not the main focus. This book gives the same vibes as I Feed Her To The Beast And the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea. Both are about ambitious young women who will do what it takes to get to the top and deal with controlling gods who want more. In my opinion, there were some pacing issues, like the beginning was pretty slow but then ending was so fast that I found myself going back a few times to make sure I caught everything. But overall I enjoyed the book!

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Enemies to Lovers. One of my fave tropes.

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen 4 / 5 stars

Were the characters absolutely insufferable? Yes. 100%.

Did I eat it up anyway? Yes. 100%.

Violet is a seer to the kingdom that Cyrus is set to be king of one day. They have a very complicated relationship and are at each others throats every time they talk. The thing is, Cyrus was supposed to die when they were kids but Violet had a vision and saved him. Now the spirits are telling her that he needs to die and if that doesn't happen, she will go in his place. One or the other. With the feelings she thought were hatred changing into something else entirely, she has to decide if she can take control before its too late.

Cyrus and Violet hating each other but not being sure how they feel throughout the entire book was maddening and had me beating on the metaphorical glass screaming at them to just kiss. They were so flawed and so blind to what they thought they wanted/needed to be that they never accepted their feelings until the simmer turned into a boil and they had no idea how to handle their feelings. I'm so interested in where the series will go.

Violet was an EXTREMELY flawed character who dealt with the struggles of being too confident but questioning what she wanted when it came to love. She was unlikeable, but it was nice to see her confidence sway like a normal person would. She was playing her part to keep her position in the kingdom and that weighed on her at times.

This OwlCrate Exclusive is GORGEOUS. I'm so happy I snatched this up when the Emporium went on clearance.

TLDR, definitely not for everyone but I enjoyed it a lot.

[sammystruggles]

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) Star Wars: Rebels - 1.05 Rise of the Old Masters (2014)

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diagnosed with crush on a dark haired man disease

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Jake: Okay, so get this. Jake: You make ten meals, you're not a cook. You make twenty paintings, you're not an artist. Jake: But you kill oNe pErsON-

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The Planets from ANDOR (Season 1)

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marc spector I would die for you

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The Amity Affliction - Chasing Ghosts