#AND i really want to reread the autobiography of red

[glitteratti]

bwuhh said i would go to the park with my dad to do some photography but now i am soooo tired…just want to curl up in my bed with a book soooo fucking bad

[convulsionofhonesty]

top 5 books of 2023

i read many less books (for fun at least) than i read last year but it was really nice to do this kind of post for 2022 so i'm repeating for 2023

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1. the idiot - elif batuman - making a reappearance from last year ... i know many people don't like to count rereads in their top books of the year since they weren't new favorites but for the impact this book had on me this year i simply couldn't omit it. i read this no less than 3 times in 2023 ... it became so much more relatable and painful than it was upon first read in 2022 and instantly became my current favorite book of all time. not a day passes that i do not think about this. stunning, meandering character study about a floundering 18/19 year old who is, unfortunately, in all the best and worst ways, the fictional character that most represents myself. i have already done 10x my share of pr work for this book on this account so i will leave the review here. but please read this.

2. contradictions in the design - matthew olzmann - almost dethroned siken's crush as my favorite poetry collection ... the tumblr girls will understand how serious this is. absolutely gorgeous. i teared up at a solid 50% of the poems. contains countless life altering lines and a really profound mixture of the abstract and the concrete, the general/philosophical and the specific/mundane. love.

3. when the emperor was divine - julie otsuka - quick read with deceptively simple prose that's absolutely drenched with symbolism. demands to be read with a highlighter in hand and a murder wall behind you to decipher each iteration of each motif. under 200 pages but you could easily spend weeks trying to pull everything out of it. just on a craft level this is absolutely sublime, fiction at its finest.

4. fun home - allison bechdel - this is of course one of the graphic novels that everyone has heard of but certainly not enough people have read. because if you haven't read this i implore you to change that. from the very first page i knew that this was crafted with such unbelievable intentionality. so many little details in the backgrounds of panels carry immense weight; this is a graphic novel masterclass. everything is perfectly balanced and thought-out. again on a craft level, and an emotional level, this blew me away.

5 - autobiography of red - anne carson - most inventive book i read probably? a disjointed yet fluid verse novel that follows a fascinating main character and winds effortlessly through mythology and reality, paying no attention to the usual borders of geography, time, or the body. i don't know how to describe this other than as a deeply confusing book that you will probably not understand at all but your body will somehow still feel everything. you will understand it on a subconscious level more than on a conscious one.

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honorable mentions (bc last year i did a top 10 but my opinions past this point are not as strong and also i don't want to write all that)

- body work by melissa febos

- sirens and muses by antonia angress

- comfort woman by nora okja keller

[monstraduplicia]

tag people you want to get know better!

tagged by: @antigonewinchester thank you sm!! 🖤

last song: qué te pedí - la lupe

favorite color: black, red, brown, burnt orange, and mustard yellow

currently reading: in the middle of my third reread of the mcfly autobiography

currently watching: dark season 3 and all the light we cannot see. I've been switching between the two

last movie: the forger!! it was pretty good overall and louis hofmann was really good in it

sweet spicy or savory: SWEET. I have such a bad sweet tooth

relationship status: married to @emiliosandozsequence 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

current obsessions: louis hofmann 🫠 but also dark, jeff buckley, and kyle gallner

tea or coffee: tea!!! I only like cold tea, but not plain ice tea or sweetened. it needs to be favored or green tea. I hate coffee.

last thing i googled: the let's take ibuprofen together meme so I could find this image

tagging: @markiafc @swallowyourgods @saltbind @holyfreaks

[cosmicrhetoric]

tagged by the incomparable @briarhips to post nine book recs <3 sorry so many of these are classics im going thru smth

Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen: This is MY Austen of choice. I'm doing a reread atm and it's very Emma in it's social commentary but this is THEE eldest daughter book of all time. Maybe I just like when characters are super repressed but if you want to see a woman (who has spent 200 pages being soooo hinged) have the most cathartic breakdown about it......

Identitti, Mithu Sanyal: For fans of Kuang's Yellowface who want a bit more of an academic lens! Our main character, a 2nd gen Indian-German woman, spends years of her life in the trenches of postcolonial study under a seemingly Indian woman who is then exposed as white. It doesn't give you any easy answers but it provides a lot of scholarly resources and leaves a lot of space to come to your own conclusions. Read it on a plane. Kinda fire.

Eros the Bittersweet, Anne Carson: We all know Carson. But I'm picking a nonfiction essay instead of Autobiography of Red or her translations mostly because this one takes you behind the curtain of a lot of her famous translations when it comes to the aspect of love. I'm not really nonfiction girl in general but this was worth it

Chain Gang All Stars, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah: Speculative abolitionist fiction! Set in a near future where prisoners can compete in death matches to try and win their freedom. I've honestly read nothing like this...ever, like it's in a league of it's own but if you're a fan of the way footnotes were used in something like Babel you're gonna wanna check this out. Multiple povs (really interesting pov switching from a craft perspective actually) overlap to paint a stark and realistic depiction of American prisons.

The Devourers, Indrapramit Das: This was described to me as "IWTV but with werewolves and in Mughal India and actually really good" and while that's a pretty comprehensive plot summary it does not even begin to cover the shit this novel goes through. This is a book about transformation and stories and what letting a story live in you can do for you. The werewolves are kinda obviously a genderqueer allegory as well (as they often are in sff lmao) but when the interviewer himself starts talking about gender in his experiences you can see how that changes the story he's transcribing and it's just very cool. Heavy trigger warnings on this one though. Don't read if you can't handle a bit of piss (they are wolves). Writing style wise feels very similar to the magical realism of The Hungry Tide if that's ur bag

The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot: In the way that s&s is my Austen, this is MY Eliot. A classic story about women of this era who cannot fit into the boxes society lays out for them. A failed romance brands the main character an outcast in their town in a way that is. Hear me out. Fucking Utenaesque. Follow for some classic tragedy and themes of water....I would compare this more with like Dickens Bleak House than Austen though.

Villette, Charlotte Bronte: Once again. MY Bronte. Maybe it's just cause I read this before Jane Eyre but literally I do not understand why Miss Eyre gets so much more love than my girl Lucy. In broad strokes the story is about an English girl who ends up having to support herself by moving to France and becoming an English teacher at a girls boarding school. She's also plagued by a terrifying apparition of a nun, because this is Charlotte we're talking about and there's a bit of Catholic v Protestant thing going on. I read this during the very early pandemic and let me tell you some of the descriptions of isolation and loneliness are soooooo. yeah.

Monstrous Regiment, Terry Pratchett: Listen. Like, listen. It's that good. I wouldn't put a discworld novel up against fucking chain gang all stars unless it was THAT good. This is a classic 'girl dresses up as a boy and goes to war to find her brother' story. It definitely started as a commentary on folk songs/stories but it is at it's heart a novel long criticism of imperialism, nationalism, and organized religion (there's jokes though it's funny). Also not to be that guy when it comes to LGBTQ book recs but the thing came out in 2002 and it's surprisingly thoughtful when it comes to both gender and sexuality. You do not have to be a fantasy fan or a discworld fan to read this. If you gave Pratchett a try and didn't like it i STILL insist you give MR a shot. It is in a league of it's own.

Wives and Daughters, Elizabeth Gaskell: Do not be scared off by the sheer length of this one. It's fucking silly. This is one of my faaaaaaaave 1800s novels about class. We have juxtaposition between Molly's family (her father is a gentleman but a working doctor) and the landed gentry but also this divide between the uneducated Squire and his Cambridge bound sons and another one with the 'new money' gentry. There's also quite a lot of early science and anthropology documented in this (Gaskell and Darwin were besties) if that's interesting to you. WARNING: SHE DIED BEFORE SHE FINISHED THIS. ITS LIKE 99% DONE THOUGH

This was a hard list to narrow down but I have to include (at least as honorable mentions): Ling Ma's Severance/Bliss Orange, Cixin Liu's Three Body Problem and the SFF POC anthology New Suns

tagging: @weltonreject @bronskibeet @gaymersrights @orchidreign @brechtian + any and all mutuals i know ive forgotten <3

[gardengnosticator]

tagged by @pir8core

Last song you listened to: radiorama's extended play of YETI which was going to be my walkout song as a pro wrestler in japan

currently watching: blair witch. found my old burnt copy of it in a long forgotten multi disk container and its the perfect film for watching on my shitty little crt in my room at night with whiskey

currently reading: going back for my fourteenth reread of statistics a pretty good no powers au fic of life is strange and on the non fiction side we've got the autobiography of malcom x by alex henley, frantz fanon's the wretched of the earth and the jewish labor bund 1897 - 1957 by the international jewish labor bund (this one is a real time capsule as it lists the australian labor party as a socialist party and like... it sure the fuck aint bro)

current obsession: i have to write 3500 word biography for one of my units at uni and i picked nestor makhno cause i really wanted to do a critical analysis of his weird contradictory legacy where cause he fought against the red army's presence in free ukraine he's held up by weirdo fash anticoms and because hes like one of the most popular anarchists he's still like well regarded in the anarcho-communist scene so im just going through all his writing on marxists.org to try and compile a chronological timelime of his involvement in the russian civil war

Tag 5 bloggers you'd like to get to know better: @beangods @tt-squid @deadryn @saturniidae-served-cold @maretriarch

[jeanmoreaux]

Thank you for your kind response and for the tea and buscuits. I would actually love to have both with you because you seem like such a lovely person. It felt nice just to put those words somewhere (and don't worry, I do have wonderful friends whom I could tell about it, but one of them is very bad at keeping secrets so I prefer to keep this to myself). I love what you had to say about finding your experience reflected in literature and was wondering (if it's not too much to ask of you) if you remember any works that spoke to you when you were experiencing an unrequited crush. In return, I want to give you something that really affected me. When Richard Siken was asked what to do about always being the one who cares more, he replied, congratulate yourself💖

oh, you’re so sweet, thank you for your kind words and sharing that lovely siken quote 💕✨ ((i am also so glad sharing this helped you a little!))

as for lit that has carried me through unrequited crushes, siken’s crush has been one of them for sure!! it’s so angsty and a lot of it is also about putting your love in the wrong places. autobiography of red by anne carson as well—made me feel like things are what they are and you can’t do much other than accept that. maybe in another life by taylor jenkins reid is another one i read in a time of hopelessly crushing and something about the exploring of what-ifs really spoke to me because it just made me so aware that love is kind of everywhere for you to take… and the last one i can think of right now is penguin’s poems for love collection. i don’t have my copy with me right now, but there are different resection in it like ‘secretly’ or ‘from a distance’ and some other ones that capture more pessimistic crush prospects.

i also tend to reread my favourite books/comfort reads in times of emotional distress so that’s something i can recommend as well—just revisiting something you loved in the past. it didn’t necessarily help me get over a crush, but it at least made the time that passed a little more bearable.

[burningdarkfire]

books i read in aug 2023

[these are all short + casual reviews - feel free to ask about individual ones if u want my full thoughts or ask for my goodreads!!] 

august wasn't a real month because either i was travelling or waiting to travel, but apparently it was a decent month for reading!!

bright dead things - ada limón ★★★★★ (poetry)

all of those posts about how poetry is a fundamental food group ... again sometimes the tumblr girlies are right to put these into all of their web weaving. lots of beautiful lines that will stay with me for a long time

ducks - kate beaton ★★★★★ (graphic novel autobiography)

really interesting look into a life that is very different from mine but still has a lot of similar elements (the soul crushing misogyny transcends context 👍) i was honestly surprised by how poignant and touching this was - both the art and story are beautiful

[reread] fire - kristin cashore ★★★★☆ (YA fantasy)

this reads pretty well as a standalone fantasy, despite being the second in a series. it's a masterfully written but utterly brutal look at what it's like to be desired as a woman - it's damn good, but it's definitely not uplifting

red, white & royal blue - casey mcquiston ★★★★☆ (romance)

really easy, hilarious fun. can't ask for much more from a romcom!

hell bent - leigh bardugo ★★★★☆ (fantasy)

tbh i didn't reread the first book before this so it was a slog to get into, but alex stern is still an utterly fantastic main character and the end of the book was certainly exciting in pulling it all together

the overstory - richard powers ★★★★☆ (ecofic)

long, dense, beautiful. if you want to know if it's worth it - you get a pretty good idea of what the book is going to be like early on, so you just need to be honest with yourself about your own tastes

what lies in the woods - kate alice marshall ★★★★☆ (thriller)

decently paced and plotted thriller. nothing genre-defying but fun

the hurting kind - ada limón ★★★★☆ (poetry)

sometimes you read a poetry collection from much later in a poet's career and you realize that at this point they've touched too much grass to still be deeply relatable. it's good, it just didn't reach me personally

the tenth muse - catherine chung ★★★☆☆ (historical)

i think this might be more enjoyable if historical fiction is your usual thing (it's not mine). the first person POV didn't land with me and it felt like a book that was trying to be much more intersectional than it actually was. it was relatively interesting and many of the characters had interesting shades of grey but .. meh?

remarkably bright creatures - shelby van pelt ★★☆☆☆ (contemporary)

this had good bones but i'm certain there are other authors out there that do a better feel-good novel. i loved reading about tova but ultimately wasn't convinced by cameron or marcellus and felt like the entire book was both pointless and too forced - it didn't cohere in a satisfying way

[tenderloincherub]

trying to make a to read list for the holidays, and like, i don't want to fit in too many books but i wanna make good choices so first i'll just write every single book i want to read rn and then i'll work from there.

I also need this list bc I can take three books out of my uni library for the vacations and ugh choices.

So mainly:

> The fourth book of GoT bc I usually read one per vacations - my dad will lend me this one

books from the book club with my friends

> the pillow book (this was my choice and it's in the school library, we actually have two libraries and i can take books from both so I could borroso six books huh)

> farewell my concubine (PDF bc not available at libraries)

> my other two friends haven't chosen so [two more books here]

Then there's stuff from school that I'm dying to lay my hands on to read complete or reread

> Petronius Satyricon (I want to watch the movie and Bajtin and this is adjacent to my thesis topic so) - borrowed from library

> Iliad (wanna re read)

> Eurypides' entire works (my greek lit professor gave me a book of this and it made me tear up and eurypides is my absolute face so)

> anne carson stuff, may re read autobiography of Red, finish Eros the bittersweet and would love to dice into her translations

> Virgil, Horace, Ovid. Maybe just Heroides and the metamorphoses, not sure

> Callimachus and Theochritus BUT this Is More of a should than of a would like to rn so, we'll see

BIBLICAL/CHRISTIAN STUFF. I have entire lists of content I want to dive into here and fits the holidays so this may be what I'm More excited about.

> Caim (Saramago) - library

> Kazantzakis' Last Temptation of Christ (would have to he a pdf so idk)

> Kazantzakis' Cristo de nuevo crucificado (library but in two volumes so :/)

> Evangelio según Jesucristo (Saramago) - a friend promised to lend me this one

> Christus Patiens

> i really wanna dive into apocalyptic and prophetical books in the bible, and i have my bibles at home so :))

> el testamento de maría (pdf)

Besides this, there aré the books I have been buying this year so

> El color prohibido (Mishima) - already reading and loving

> Orlando - was going to read on summer but didn't so I hope I will now

> The beauty of the husband (Carson) - my mom bought me this one for muy bday so yes

> Monique Wittig's Le penseé straight - want to go back to diving into gender studies

> México se escribe con J - I'm more than halfway through this one

there's more books I have on my shelf but this Is what I actually feel like reading rn, so, I'll work on my linguistics exam and come back to organize this a bit more

[skiyoosmi]

if fate permits

⤷ chapter nineteen: when it's too late

previous < masterpost > next

YN'S POV

ATSUMU'S POV

TWO DAYS LATER...

[THE FOUR IDIOTS’ APARTMENT, 6:55PM]

Kiyoomi only watched as your eyes became melancholier, as if it were not already in the first place, the longer you stared at the screen of his phone. Probably rereading his conversation with Atsumu, he thinks. Initially, he wasn’t really planning on showing it to you but just like any other day, you decided to be the whipped soulmate (or more like an idiot, at least to him) you were, all while saying “Atsumu is important to me, should I really leave this apartment while not making amends with him?” He almost retched, is this girl really fixated on becoming a saint? How could someone be this lenient? He has no idea. And so, he showed you– that even after all this time, the piss-haired boy will remain as he is; that no matter how many years may pass, Miya Atsumu will be Miya Atsumu.

And he was the exact opposite of you: he was self-centered, conceited, prideful, juvenile, and so many more that it would take Kiyoomi more than a day to list all the things he detested from the boy. He can only remember how much he loathed the boy upon their first proper meeting; not that he likes meeting new people anyway. Kiyoomi was no genius but he knew, right at that moment, that Atsumu was far from being the ‘knight-in-shining-armor’ soulmate his dearest sister was so engrossed to have.

Kiyoomi also knew that he was not the best brother in the world; hell, he is way too far from being a good one even. He couldn’t care less if you have an admirer from afar (like that Iwaizumi who seems to be around you all the time these days), nor when you finally get yourself a suitable boyfriend, not even when you finally get wedded to someone. He wasn’t overprotective... or at least that’s what he believed. But he was only human, after all– now that he contemplates about it, he realizes that he isn’t really fond of seeing you cry.

“Stop hurting yourself over and over again, you fool of a sister,” he said, clicking his tongue afterwards and grabbing your bags after hearing your father call from downstairs, “Know your worth a little, will you? It’s kind of painful for me to watch you get hurt too, you know. It’s not just mom and dad.”

And with that, he left the room, leaving you to tend to your other belongings and perhaps, say goodbye to this little house that managed to etch itself to your heart. Compared to your childhood home, it wasn’t enough to make you sob your heart out dry. But for some reason, tears still found its way on the corner of your eyes as you remembered the fond memories you’ve made here with your boys – the moment you stumbled upon this house when you four were trying to find a place to stay, the smile on your face when you decided that this was the one (cue Atsumu literally hauling you three towards the agent to settle the down payment), the moving day when Kiyoomi and Osamu brawled for the first time in their lives because they both wanted that bedroom that was the only one downstairs, “to be away from the idiot disease” as what they said. You can only wonder if you could make new memories as happy as those in your future home.

“Ah… you really are a fool of a sister, YN,” you whispered to yourself, wiping the tears away and getting the last of your things before proceeding downstairs, finding your father standing by the front door, arms crossed with a face mask adorning his face (you never really questioned where your brother got his traits, it was as clear as the day), “Kiyoomi is already in the car but I think you should bid Osamu-kun a proper farewell first. He’s in the kitchen. We’ll be waiting so just take your time.”

You nodded before proceeding to the said area, finding the gray-haired with his arms already wide open. Your lips quivered before jumping at him, “I’m gonna miss you.”

“We’ll still be seeing each other at school, you damn gorilla,” he chuckled before burying his face in your neck. You clicked your tongue, pouting at his very much realistic reply, “But it’s different! Eating breakfasts together, going to school together, going home together… and drinking wine until we’re brains out! I’m pretty sure my dad won’t let me do that at his house!”

He cackled, releasing you from his hold and flicking you on your forehead, “what an alcoholic woman! Are you sure you’re going to be a student in a prestige university abroad? You’ll be left behind by your classmates if you keep on prioritizing your wines before your studies.”

“Hah! You’ll see, Osamu. Those red wines will be the reason I even become one of the most famous writers in the world. You better wait and I’ll release an autobiography saying a man named Miya Osamu used to bully me to death,” you huffed, smirking after you saw him stare at you in disbelief. Your smile gradually disappeared upon the realization that the center of your heart was not home… even when I’m already leaving, huh?

Osamu frowned as well, scratching the back of his neck because of the sudden silence that indicated your little recognition, “I’m sorry. I told him to go home before 7 but…”

“It’s fine, Samu. We’re still not in the best terms so it’s probably better this way – a more peaceful way of farewell, you know? No fighting or anything else. Besides, I couldn’t tell him anything about my moving, scholarship, and so many things,” The lad didn’t miss the way you quickly wiped your tears away though. Damn you, Atsumu, why are you always making her cry, he thought.

“I’ll see you at school then, Samu. I’ll miss the dinners you cook,” you smiled, walking quietly outside, and shutting the front door. At the same time, a chime resonated from your phone that was in your pocket. Opening it, you released a long sigh… of relief? of anxiety? You didn’t know.

[Haji, 7:15PM]: I did it, YN. My thread, it’s… black.

You looked up at the night sky, finding stars twinkling as if they were gazing back at you.

Should I start moving on too, Haji?

[TOKYO UNIVERSITY GYMNASIUM, 7:20PM]

For the umpteenth time this week, Atsumu heaved yet another deep sigh, hands weaving itself with his hair to ruffle it out of frustration. Today, he couldn’t care less about the girls lurking around the university gym… because for the umpteenth time this week as well, his twin brother expressed his disappointment towards the boy, leaving him in the said place with the same words he had uttered yesterday and even the day before that, accompanied by a threat this time: “You’re such an immature asshole I wouldn’t be surprised if YN finally gives up on being your friend. You better come home before 7PM or else, I will drag you by your feet with my own two hands.”

Clicking his tongue, he grabbed another ball, gripping it so hard his nails almost left a dent on it. 7PM? He only scoffs. No, he won’t go home yet. He doesn’t care if Osamu gets furious at him and drags him nor if you give up on your friendship; all he thinks right now is that he wants to spike this ball straight onto the other side of the court, make it burst if it was even possible. It wasn’t his fault he got mad at you, he’s entitled to his feelings; he’s right, Kiyoomi’s mistaken… you shouldn’t have promised something you would just break in a span of less than thirty seconds. You shouldn’t hav–

But is it really her fault though? A voice in his head refuted him, or is it just because you’re really an immature asshole who can’t be happy for her?

Of course, it’s her fault, he argues. Immature? Him? He’s almost twenty-two, for god’s sake! He has been living in this world for more than two decades, how could Osamu call him underdeveloped? He swears he’s going to give his twin brother a good punch or two once he gets home.

… But she’s just trying to reach for her dreams, why are you not supporting her? She always does that when it comes to you, doesn’t she? Or have you already forgotten?

And at that, everything went perfectly still. The sound of the ball falling from his hands resonated throughout the quiet gym. Even with just hearing words from something or someone he can’t even identify, Atsumu felt as if he was hit on his head with a ton of bricks.

“E-eh…? W-why… why am I crying?” He whispered, fingers going up to touch his cheeks and furrowing his eyebrows when he felt the dampness of the said area.

Because you know you don’t deserve her. You know that it’s your fault. It has ALWAYS been your fault.

“Shut up,” he said to no one, plopping down the floor while he clutched his ears this time to shut the voice out. As it kept talking, he tried hitting his head with his hand, tried talking over it, tried retorting savage remarks back; however, everything was futile for it kept talking, kept torturing his mind with nothing but the truth.

You hurt her, then apologize, then do it again. What are you playing, a tug-of-war? How selfish of you, Miya Atsumu! Are you really her best friend?

“Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!” He screamed, his throat feeling as if it was getting scratched from the rawness of his voice. There was no way he was gonna have a voice tomorrow.

You’re so aggravated whenever you think about losing YN, are you sure you’re not in love with her or something? Yanno… have you never thought about the fact that maybe she’s your sou–

“Atsumu-kun! Wake up!” A voice yelled while grabbing him by his shoulders and shaking him awake, finally bringing him out of his… dream? Was that even considered a dream? Because Atsumu was sure as hell that what happened was just plain torture to him.

“Are you okay, Atsumu-kun? You were having a nightmare,” turning to the girl who kept her hold on him, he finds Yui, who was looking back at him as if he lost the screws in his head. He starts to believe that he, in fact, did after all that weirdness. After all, who in the world would randomly just fall asleep in the middle of an empty gym then proceed to have a nightmare while on it. Surely, there would be no one except for him. How in the world did it happen anyway? As far as he could remember, he was just practicing his serves and tosses a while ago.

“Yui, why are you still here? It’s getting late,” he asks the girl whose eyes just lit up, for some reason, at his question before lifting her hand up and showing… what? She continued to smile though and waved the same hand right in front of Atsumu’s face, much to his slight annoyance. He wasn’t really in the best mood to play guessing games right now, so he only sighs exasperatedly, “Just get to the point, Yui-chan. I’m feeling the exhaustion now.”

“I told you before that I could see my thread, right? Well, it turned black! Me and my soulmate met up a while ago and turns out, he was a Moira, so we performed the mini ritual, which is so weird by the way, before cutting it. He said one of us has to ‘affirm’ their desire to cut the thread, so I did! As far as I know, based on my previous researches about soulmates, it doesn’t really matter because the ‘gods’ know the deepest desires of our hearts but you know, I don’t really care because I’m free!” She exclaimed, squealing afterwards, and flinging her arms around Atsumu’s neck to give him a hug. But the boy stayed still and gaped because how can someone afford to be happy at this situation? His arms remained motionless at his sides, confusing him; wasn’t he just itching to have this weeks ago? In fact, he was just dreaming about it about three days ago. So why? Why couldn’t he bring himself to hug her back?

“Your soulmate cut it. How can you be happy, Yui-chan….?” Before he knew it, his mouth spoke for him faster than his brain could process. He removed himself from the girl’s embrace, watching as confusion begin to form on her face; though it only took her milliseconds before an odd smile showed up on her face once more.

“Because that means I could finally date you without feeling guilty for my soulmate, silly!”

Atsumu felt like a hundred years had passed in just a single night and yet again, he sighed. If anyone sees him right now, they will probably laugh at his rather pathetic-looking state. Never in his life has he felt this exhausted, not even when Kita Shinsuke would force him to do an unreasonable number of receives and then make him clean the whole gym with the said captain; no, not even that could beat this fatigue and strangely, it makes him miss the captain.

Maybe he should’ve just gone home before 7PM, like Osamu said. He then shudders as he remembers that he still has to face his twin’s wrath.

“Can’t I just go back to being a toddler… like the brats that have no problem in the world?” He whines to himself quietly, relief spreading throughout his whole body as he sees your shared apartment; can already smell the meal Osamu cooked for you four; can visualize the disgusted look your brother will give him once he enters the house, all sweaty and gross-looking. Though, he thinks it’s odd that upon looking at the window of your room and Kiyoomi’s, he finds that they weren’t lit up unlike the usual. Maybe they’re already asleep, he shrugs given that you both love getting your beauty rest as much as you can. Twins, you are.

As careful as possible, he opens the front door, wincing when it makes a sound that would possibly wake up the very sensitive ears of Sakusa Kiyoomi from his room downstairs.

“Don’t bother trying to be quiet, Atsumu. You’re not going to wake anyone up in this house,” The voice of Osamu startles him. Fastly recovering from the mini-scare, he turns to his twin to glare while clutching his chest in hopes to calm his heart down, only to stop when he finds his brother glowering at him with a much worse scowl on his face.

“Samu, I’m sorry. I just got caught up with som–”

“You know, Tsumu, it’s kind of ironic, don’t you think? You always come around when it’s already too late,” Osamu speaks, trying to find the right words to say, “YN and Kiyoomi… they left and went back to their parents’ home. They will be staying there until YN and her mom leaves for abroad which would be in less than a month, right after this semester ends.”

Miya Atsumu was self-centered, conceited, prideful, juvenile, and so many more that it would take Kiyoomi more than a day to list all the things he detested from the boy. He didn’t care if you gave up and break off your friendship with him… at least that’s what he believed. But like Sakusa Kiyoomi, he was also human – and at that moment, as his brother stares at him and waits for a reply, he only stays still. Why is it that instead of the volleyball he was holding at the gym moments ago, it’s his heart that’s about to burst?

⤷ notes. we didn't have internet connection for a whole day and phew.. this was the result of me being bored out of my wits, i guess? and i apologize in advance for the pain that i keep on giving and WILL keep on giving :>

[wickedwitchoftheemidwest]

Happy New Year, everybody! I know that Literally no one cares or will read this, but I have to rate and talk about what I’ve read this year and this is my page, so deal with it.

2020 may have been a dumpster fire of a year, but I did read so me pretty good books. I didn’t get to read as many books as I wanted (like always), but that’s life. If you couldn’t tell, I do have a preference for romance novels, and these selections are very... 🌈 and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Here we go:

- Lies we Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley (4/10)

- I think I could write a dissertation about why I have a problem with this book, but I think I can just stop with “a white lady writing an interracial queer romance in the 1960s where the lead white character is literally a racist” should about cover it. Absolutely disappointed.

- Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (10/10)

- Oh my god does Casey McQuiston know how to write a book. Classic enemies to lovers, my favorite trope. This is my comfort novel that I use as a form of escapism, and probably the reason I didn’t read many new books, as I reread it about five times. It’s my comfort novel, and I come back to it every time I need to feel happy. I’ve made three of my friends read this book, and I recommend it to everyone

- These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling (8/10)

- It’s sapphic, it has witches, and it’s adorable; what more could you possibly want? The ending left me wanting more. I was finally able to buy the sequel and I can’t wait to get into it.

- Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan (7/10)

- I think this book is sort of a classic when it comes to gay YA. This was a pretty good book, but it took me awhile to get into it.

- Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins (9/10)

- What did I say about enemies to lovers? HRH was regarded as sapphic Red, White, and Royal Blue, which I think is all you need to know to be interested. This book and short, sweet, and to the point. It’s an easy read (I read it twice, both times in one day). I think there could’ve been some more character building, but it’s so adorable I literally do not care. When I say I want more cute gay romcoms, they should use HRH as the blueprint.

- It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura (7/10)

- A cute, interracial sapphic love story where no white people are involved (the main character is Japanese American and her love interest is Mexican American). This coming of age story deals with acceptance, cultural differences, racism, and coming out. I think some of the points it was trying to delve into were too much on the nose at some times, but I really enjoyed this book.

- The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue and The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee (9/10)

- A fun romp set some time in the 1700s with a chaotic bi as the main lead? Count me in! I read this whole series this year, including the novella (the gentleman’s guide to getting lucky), and I loved every second of it. It’s an adventure series with some romance sprinkled in (a hella slow burn, but definitely worth it). The whole series has gay, bi, lesbian, and ace aro representation, and I was in love the entire time.

- You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson (8/10)

- The black sapphic book I needed. Liz Lighty decides she wants to leave her hometown and go to college, but after losing the financial aid she was counting on, she remembers the scholarship that prom queen gets every year, and decides to run. Sprinkle in a cute love story, and I’m hooked.

- The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (10/10)

- I... cannot put into words how this book made me feel. When I finished TSOA, I cried all night trying to recover. Beautifully written, and I still can’t get over Achilles and Patroclus. One of my favorite books this year.

- Sorry Not Sorry by Naya Rivera

- After Naya’s tragic passing in July, I struggled to find her autobiography anywhere. However, I was finally able to get my hands on it, and am so glad that I did. Naya Rivera was just as genuinely funny and carefree as her previous costars have said, and I wish the world could’ve gotten more of her.

Not pictured:

- Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (9/10)

- Sapphic love story about a princess who has been betrothed to a prince from a nearby country her whole life who instead falls in love with his sister. The main character, Denna, also possesses magical powers, which is forbidden in their land. One of my favorite things about this book is that it’s set in medieval times, but no one cares about queer relationships. The only problem with Denna falling in love with the princess is that she’s betrothed to her brother and nothing else. I recently bought the sequel to this book as well, and I’m excited to read it

- The After Series (books 1-2) by Anna Todd (-400/10)

- I was curious about this series because of how terrible the movies are, and needed to read them myself. I apologize to myself every day that I every even wasted my time on these two books. If I ever see Anna Todd, it’s on sight immediately. Not only is the writing terrible, but the romanticization of abusive relationships is absolutely unacceptable. I think I could take less issue with these books if the author wrote them as a “what to look for in men you should never date” rule book, but it isn’t. I could actually write an essay on why these books are more harmful than entertaining and how I genuinely think this series should have never been published. Also, Harry Styles did not deserve this.

I also discovered WEBTOON this year, and here are some of my favorites that I have read:

- Always Human by creator walkingnorth, a finished WLW story which was absolutely beautiful to look at and delightful to read.

- Lore Olympus by creator Rachel Smythe. I don’t think you can find too many people who haven’t heard of this story, but it’s a retelling of the Hades and Persephone mythology, and I adore it.

- Novae by creators KaixJu. A historical, queer and paranormal romance about a necromancer who falls for an astronomer.

- My Lady Artemisia by creator rimarza. This WEBTOON is a little bit newer with fewer episodes, about a knight tasked with guarding the princess, which starts to prove difficult once she starts to gain feelings for the princess, and an impending threat might cause her to past to come to the surface.

Of course, I’ve also spent a lot of my time on A03. I know I’ve read more, but here are the ones I bookmarked and have come back to this year:

- kiss me (if you mean it) by nerdybutpunk

- Carry On fanfic, short but sweet, absolute fluff

- Camp Llwynywermod by bleedingballroomfloor

- Red, White, and Royal Blue AUwhere Henry and Alex are camp counselors. It’s so good and I find myself waiting every wed and sat for the updates.

I read more this year than I have in a long time, and I enjoyed it most of the time. My goal for 2021 is to read at least two books a month and to expand my horizons to something that isn’t YA and isn’t romance. Also to find Anna Todd and tell her off. Hopefully we can accomplish some of that.

[kvothes]

Lately I’ve been on an Anne Carson kick - started with Decreations, then read Autobiography of Red, now reading Glass Irony and God. After that I really want to finish a book on Dadaism that I’ve been meaning to read for a year and a half.

i reread all of the glass essay before bed the other night and it eviscerated me as it always does. nox is perhaps my favorite, have you gotten your hands on that one?

[batmansymbol]

mid-year book freakout

thanks for the tag, @cocoartistwrites!!

Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2021? The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, whose brain is astounding

Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2021? i haven't read a sequel this year!

New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To? Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. can't wait for kazuo to break me in half as usual.

Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2021?  (ditto coco:) Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

Biggest Disappointment? Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam - i should have loved everything about this book, but it didn't land for me

Biggest Surprise? Sense and Sensibility. i reread this for the first time since early college, had forgotten half the plot, and yelled "WHAT?" at multiple twists in this 210-year-old novel.

Favorite New Author? also no debuts yet this year! i have made the choice to let the culture leave me behind. (just kidding, sort of.) if we rearrange to "new favorite" author, it's Doris Lessing again.

Newest Fiction Crush? Nahadoth from N.K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. i am nothing if not predictable.

Newest Favorite Character? Circe from Madeline Miller's Circe

Book That Made You Cry? A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara - reread specifically to make myself cry, so, mission accomplished

Book That Made You Happy? Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik and People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

Favorite Book Adaption You Saw This Year? Shadow & Bone - I liked almost every change from the original trilogy, and once we get into proper Six of Crows territory in future seasons, i can only see this show getting better and better

Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year? after leaving goodreads, i no longer review. instead i will note down a couple of private thoughts in excel, then subject my family and friends to interminable monologues about the book.

Most Beautiful Book You Bought So Far This Year? Maria Dahvana Headley's new translation of Beowulf. (great read, too)

What Books Do You Need To Read By The End of The Year? i'm halfway through adam johnson's The Orphan Master's Son and Stuart Turton's The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, steadily trucking through the first and stalled on the latter (despite really enjoying what i read of it). so, i hope to finish those soon. otherwise, my list is:

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante

Autumn by Ali Smith

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

King of Scars and Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

both Kyoshi novels by F.C. Yee (The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi)

Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson.

tagging (no pressure): @mightbewriting @woodswit @pacific-rimbaud @scullymurphy @bigcats-birds-and-books @mechanical-orange

[fateology]

hiiii so i know u like classics/ancient roman stuff — how does one get into that? like what books do u recommend etc etc

HELLO and ok i’m so not an authority on this because i’m really just getting into the classical antiquity scene myself..but probably the start of my ancient rome madness was shakespeare’s julius caesar which i CANNOT stress enough slaps so hard. ***not like fully historically accurate i gather, but i love the drama and i’ve been delighted that actually most of roman politics WAS that dramatic in reality. cut bc i love to run my mouth

in terms of books i haven’t been reading that much because school term :-// but i read erich segal’s classical comedy anthology (aristophanes’ birds, menander’s samia, plautus’ menaechmi, terence’s eunuchus) recently because i wanted something free and easy and i liked the roman ones (plautus & terence)! recommend if you’d like something mindless (though ancient comedy does still tell u important stuff about society at the time) BUT much caution because as with a lot of classical antiquity the plays deal heavily with rape and misogyny (ancient comedian voice: watch how hard i can hate women!!!)

for poetry i’ve been in the middle of ovid’s metamorphoses (horace gregory’s translation) for a while but i like what i’ve read, like that the myths are split and small enough to uhh eat one at a time. ovid = snack real…….other stuff on my reading list are rubicon and attis by tom holland who other than being a critically acclaimed young british actor has also written some fantastically insightful historical non fiction …… this is a joke clap if you wish

what i HAVE been consuming however is loads of podcasts. they’re fantastic because i can put them on while i’m doing work..it’s really like SING MUSE! OF THE BATTLE OF PHILIPPI. come hither fair bard and play me some mother f*cking odes. in particular The Ancients which is on spotify and has loads of stuff on ancient history and the like; the guests on the show are all historians/classicists who’ve written about the content of their episode so if you like the topic you can do the further reading really conveniently. i recall that battle of philippi episode in particular made me very upset about cassius and the collapse of the roman republic….it’s a little scattered sometimes but i like it because it makes me feel like i’m piecing together gossip bit by bit. E.G. i think on one of the cicero episodes they mentioned his clodius feud and i, very unlearned at the time, went CLODIUS? OF THE CATULLUS BITTER BREAKUP POETRY FAME? WHO IS THIS GUY and i found other episodes of other podcasts about him and they just kept saying things. the scandals didn’t stop. #problematicfave #prettyboysupreme #legitimateplebeiantribune #gangleader

speaking of catullus YES also read catullus’ poetry. most of it you can find online and gay people on tumblr me included do translations like they’re being held at gunpoint (honestly maybe one of my favourite ways to consume translated works though it’s about the personal yet communal nature of it….sharing verses..sigh..) AND—re podcasts, i heard the cicero audio drama is really good, but it costs a bit to listen to and i haven’t figured out how debit cards work so that’s on hold for me rn, but i’m PLOTTING

ik you asked about ancient rome but ...read war music by christopher logue recently and ooohhh goodness. it’s great!!! i love fight scenes and the like so i suppose it appealed directly to me but it’s really cool in general (iliad books 16-19 translation/adaptation but guy didn’t speak greek at all! and it F*CKED! my idol). i’m in the middle of cold calls atm. i’d recommend the actual iliad but i can’t yet because i’m terrible, glossed it until i got to the river fight scene and haven’t gotten around to my reread, though i like caroline alexander’s translation a fair bit from what i remember. anne carson has loads of really good stuff but i’m biased bc autobiography of red cracked my head open and drank the meat the first time i read it. Float’s a great collection too and has the plus side of looking really pretty in a shelf. also gotta start the euripides play collection i got, eventually…! will update

[xserpx]

For book asks, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 23?

3. What were your top five books of the year?

1. The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie 2. Middlemarch by George Eliot 3. SCORPIA by Anthony Horowitz 4. Dune by Frank Herbert 5. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

Anthony Horowitz and George Eliot

5. What genre did you read the most of?

Fantasy, what with all the Discworld & First Law rereads. I kinda hoped I'd have read enough Alex Rider to tip the balance into spy novels, but nnnope!

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

Mostly classics. I wanted to read more George Eliot and want to at least give Tale of Two Cities a go. Also more fantasy - if the Farseer audiobooks weren't so diabolically dreadful I would likely have read the whole trilogy, I still want to try Lies of Locke Lamora even though I've heard mixed things. I'll hopefully get to them next year. There's also some I put on my tbr that I might take off. Still half-way through Left Hand of Darkness, and I'm wondering whether maybe Wizard from Earthsea isn't for me after all...

9. Did you get into any new genres?

Not really, though I don't tend to care about genre when looking at what to read, so much as style & characters. I read an autobiography (Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain), which I very rarely do, but I also don't class one book as 'getting into' a genre. "I dipped a toe in," is probably more accurate.

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

I think the only new release I read was The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie.

12. Any books that disappointed you?

I rated Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir the worst book I read this year (2 stars), and I stand by that. It's a good book for the right person, but I am not that person by any means. The Poppy War by RF Kuang was also a big disappointment, I just didn't jive with any of the characters or the plot despite hearing good things. Circe was disappointing too - Madeline Miller can't seem to live up to my lofty expectations for these Greek myth stories, her prose is gorgeous but her characters are severely lacking. I still rated that one 3/5. God, all of these books are super popular and I feel bad for not enjoying them more! 😭

13. What were your least favorite books of the year?

Aside from Gideon and The Poppy War, Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz wasn't great, but I didn't expect it to be, and sure enough the rest of the Alex Rider series really takes off after the first book. The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson was also very meh IMO, which I kinda expected too.

14. What books do you want to finish before the year is over?

Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin. I feel like since I said semi-mean things about it I should probably finish it, but it's really kinda dull. I should endeavour to finish The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic, too. I started it ages ago but I think the audiobook is just not great and it's hard to tell characters apart. Also I put Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb on my Christmas list, so if I get that I would like to read it before Jan 1. Unfortunately I don't have many hours of work left in which to listen to audiobooks this year, but I think I could manage a good paperback. Having read 49 books (and DNF'd 4) I really wanna make it to 50 complete books.

15. Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)? What did you think of them?

Was The Wisdom of Crowds nominated for anything? If not, then no and also why not? If yes, then see below.

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

Gideon the Ninth, all the way. I also thought Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire was god awful for its ace rep, and honestly if anyone puts that on an 'ace rep' list I will personally scrunch it up into a ball and stomp on it. Not a bad story overall, but that part made me cringe and groan at the same time. I would maaaybe say Red, White & Royal Blue is over-hyped too, but I fucking love it.

18. How many books did you buy?

I am not in the habit of buying physical books. The only ones I bought were A Trouble With Peace in paperback and The Wisdom of Crowds hardback.

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

The Wisdom of Crowds, and honestly? No it didn't. I thought it would be a rough ride emotionally, and it really was, probably more than I expected, but overall I think there are some genuine issues with it - it's certainly far from the near perfection that is The Trouble With Peace. Some of the plot lines turn out to be pretty contrived tbh, there's a fair number of wasted opportunities to bring most of the characters to more thematically satisfying conclusions, Risinau was a mistake, and... it was that person, really, Joe? Did you have to? But I can't deny that the main thing I wanted from the book was for Leo to be amazing, and oh my god did Abercrombie deliver on that score. He's probably one of my favourite characters of all time at this point, I just think he's so rich and complex that he warrants some kind of GOAT sticker 🦁. So yeah, for all my gripes - and there are many - the whole book is still 5/5, because I couldn't stop yelling the whole time, and considering just how ridiculously high my expectations were, I'm good with how it turned out. 😊

23. What’s the fastest time it took you to read a book?

A Christmas Carol took me 2h23 at 1.15 speed. Or, if you count it, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which took me 15 minutes.

[clumsyclifford]

I think u said that you’d still like some more prompts, so #89 “I noticed” with either muke or malum pls ♥️

well i asked pairing bot and it said muke, so there you go. thank you @allsassnoclass for helping me Establish The Setting of this fic. by which i mean Providing The Setting For Me. a gift to us all, that hazel

also as resident walking advertisement for @calumsclifford‘s fics i am contractually obliged to redirect you to her bookstore fic which is an absolute delight

read on ao3

-

Nothing hits quite like the atmosphere of a bookstore.

Shelves of books, racks of vinyls, displays advertising “Staff Picks” — the allure of the local bookstore will never not work magic on Luke. Even the pop music trickling down from the built-in ceiling speakers is charming, rather than annoying.

“Okay, go find your book,” Ashton says. “I’m gonna go in the nonfiction section if you need me.”

“Sure thing, old man,” Luke says. 

Ashton scoffs. “I like nonfiction. If that makes me an old man, then so be it.”

“Hey, I’m not judging.”

“You are judging so hard, and I don’t even care. I’m going to go browse autobiographies and I’m going to fucking like it.” With this final word, Ashton marches in the direction of the nonfiction books. Luke watches him, smirking, until he vanishes into the shelves, and then he makes for the young adult section on the other side of the shop. If this book is going to be anywhere, it’ll be there.

As always, he’s immediately drawn off-course.

The staff picks catch his eye. Normally Luke breezes past them, but this time he spies a cover he actually recognises: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, a book he’d read only a few months ago. As his gaze shifts lower, it catches on the note underneath the book, identifying the name of the staff member whose recommendation he’s enjoying: Michael. Next to his name is a short note about his choice. Luke steps closer to read it.

Philosophy and boys in love. And a general distaste for wearing shoes. What else do you need?

Luke smiles and reaches for the book. He’s already read it and he has a copy at home; he’s not going to buy the copy, but it’s nice to hold it in his hands anyway, flip through the pages and feel the air shift as he does.

“Good choice,” says an unfamiliar voice. Luke lifts his head and almost drops the book.

Woah. Cute boy alert. Extremely cute boy red alert. The levels of cute on this boy are enough to make Luke want to call Ashton over for backup. He’s terrible with cute boys, especially cute boys that also look really cool like this one, with bright red hair and a pierced eyebrow and a Nirvana t-shirt. Add that to the fact that he evidently has some degree of good taste in literature, considering he’s just complimented Luke’s selection, and Luke is flailing out of his depth.

In the deeply awkward pause before Luke remembers he’s supposed to say something to Cute Boy, his gaze travels to the nametag pinned to Cute Boy’s shirt. MICHAEL, it announces in block letters, and Luke puts two and two together.

“Oh, you too,” Luke says, which is a surprisingly coherent thing to say. All things considered it could have gone a lot worse. Which it then proceeds to do. “You’re the Michael who picked this? I guess? You — your nametag says Michael, so— I was just assuming. Which I know you’re not supposed to do because it makes an ass out of you and me, but since you said it was a good choice…”

Michael slowly smiles. “Yeah, I’m the Michael. You are?”

An easy question. Thank fuck. “Luke. I’m Luke.”

Michael hums and nods at the book. “Have you read it?”

Luke tries to take a discreet deep breath. “Yeah, I did. A few months ago. I might be due for a reread.”

“Well, it’s one of my favourites,” Michael comments. “So I’ll always be on the side of an Ari and Dante reread.”

“Yeah,” Luke says, nodding like this makes perfect sense. It does, but God, he doesn’t have to nod like a crazy person. “Yeah. Good point.” Then, directly contradicting this concurrence, he sets the book back down on the display. “I’ve got this at home, though. I’m actually here for a different book.”

“Oh, perfect,” says Michael, straightening up. “Then I can do my real job. What can I help you find?”

Luke does not need help finding this book, but he would be a complete idiot to refuse the help of Cute Bookstore Employee Michael. “Uh, The Cursed Child. I know it came out a while ago but I just haven’t had the chance to get it and I really wanted to get it from a bookstore, rather than online, you know?”

Michael brightens. “Oh, I can definitely find that for you. Follow.” He gestures, and Luke falls into step with him as they make for the young adult shelves, completing Luke’s aborted mission from earlier. “You want my opinion on the book, or you want it to remain a complete mystery?”

“You’ve read it? Are you a Harry Potter fan?” Luke asks, far too eagerly. Sheepish, he bites his lip, sneaking a glance at Michael to see him smile. “Uh, sorry. I’m— I really like Harry Potter, like, a lot.”

“I noticed,” Michael says, nodding at Luke, who glances down at himself. 

“Oh,” he says, chuckling at his Deathly Hallows shirt. “I honestly didn’t do that on purpose. I wasn’t thinking about it at all.”

“Your subconscious enabling your love of Harry Potter, clearly,” Michael says. “Yeah, I like it. Not my favourite series, but it’s good. I mostly only read Cursed Child because I was bored, but—” He breaks off. “Sorry. Won’t spoil it.”

Luke grapples with himself. On the one hand, he is the most averse to spoilers of anyone he’s ever met. If it’s a book he’s looking forward to reading, he will ban all family and friends from even discussing it in his presence, lest their opinions on it taint his before he’s able to read it and draw his own conclusions. And this isn’t just any book; it’s Cursed Child, the long-awaited spin-off, the first official continuation of the Harry Potter ‘verse in years. No, he doesn’t want Michael’s opinion on it. He doesn’t want anyone’s opinions. He hasn’t even read the summary for the book on Goodreads. The more blind Luke goes into this, the better.

On the other hand, though.

Well, on the other hand, Michael is a cute boy who’s offering to talk to Luke about a book.

As a compromise, Luke says, “Honestly, I would really like to know your thoughts, but not until I’ve finished reading it.”

Michael glances over at him as they slow to a stop in front of one of the shelves. There’s a smile playing at his lips, a slight raise to his eyebrows, like he’s pleasantly surprised by something Luke’s done. What that thing might be, Luke has no idea. “Okay,” says Michael. “That’s fair. How about I give you my number, and when you finish reading it you can call or text and we can discuss it then?”

Luke blinks. Then blinks again. Is Michael flirting with him? He must be, but at the same time there’s absolutely no way.

And — wait. Does Michael think Luke was flirting with him? Was Luke? Not intentionally, but that’s only because he doesn’t know how to flirt and he’s fucking awful at it. Somehow, he’s managed to unintentionally flirt his way into getting Michael’s number.

Woah. Bookstores really are magical.

“Yeah, yes, that sounds great,” Luke says, clumsily digging out his phone. He unlocks it and passes it to Michael, who has an amused look on his face. “We could, um…get coffee or something?”

“Works for me,” Michael says. While he enters his number into Luke’s phone, Luke turns to the shelf. His attention immediately snags on his target: a block of bright yellow covers. Luke tugs at one, freeing it from its siblings, and brushes a reverent hand over the brand new dust jacket. 

“I mean, say what you will, but it sure is a pretty fucking book,” he says, kind of to himself.

Michael chuckles. “Yeah. The second-prettiest thing in this bookstore, maybe.”

For the second time, Luke almost drops the book in his hands. Instead he tightens his grip on it, looks up at Michael, and steels all his courage to say, “First being you, right?”

The smile on Michael’s face is worth the risk of embarrassment, Luke quickly realises. And this, he senses, had clearly been the right thing to say. Michael hands Luke’s phone back to him an says, “I’m going to let you have the last word, because I think you’re cute and that was unexpectedly smooth. If you need me, I’ll be around, probably doing work that will be less important than anything you will have to say to me.”

Luke feels a blush colour his cheeks, but if Michael notices he doesn’t say anything. With a wave and what looks like a halfway bow, he backs out of the aisle, and Luke watches him until he veers off and disappears from view.

Everything from entering this bookstore onward feels like a fever dream. Luke glances down at his phone screen, and when he sees how Michael’s entered his name — Michael (The Real Cursed Child) — the giggle of disbelief building in his throat quickly turns to a laugh. If it is a fever dream, Luke hopes it never, ever ends.

[jeanmoreaux]

Hi, I just wanted to stop by and thank you because some of your posts made me listen to hozier and now I am in love. So thank you very much<3 (this is slightly random but have you ever read something that gave you ~hozier vibes~ I feel like a (poetry) book from him would solve all my problems, but alas I have to chase books by others that might have a similar vibe) ((also: I might go see him on his european tour with the girl I have a crush on!))

you have no idea how happy this ask made me. i am so so happy i had a hand in you discovering one of my personal favourite artists. if i accomplish nothing else in life, at least i did introduce you to hozier! i’ll attend one of his european shows too and i am beyond excited (not with a date tho 😭)!!! so happy you might go to one of his shows with your crush!! i’m SO JEALOUS like that’s the ideal date night idea!!!! did you get tickets yet?

you’re definitely not the only one desperate for a book/poetry collection by him, jo and i have been unsuccessfully manifesting it for AGES. as for book/poetry recs…. it’s quite hard tbh. i don’t think i have read anything that captures the exact same vibe. mary oliver does have poetry that really plays into the nature symbolism and a lot of anne carson’s stuff does have that desperate/consuming/toxic love element (e.g. her verse novel autobiography of red). i also think ocean vuong’s poetry is bursting with emotions, and his novel on earth we’re briefly gorgeous is a lyrical masterpiece (it deals more with the immigrant experience in america and family dynamics though). deathless by catherynne m. valente is beautifully written and does echo some darker notions of love in its story (it’s very much about the vibes). this is how you lose the time war is also very lyrical with a touching love story that reaches through space and time. i just reread it and it was even better on a reread. ((if you’re into (mature) YA with whimsical writing/nature theme/magical elements/people obsessing over each other i can recommend you maggie stiefvater’s the raven cycle series. it lives in my head rent-free.)) but yeah all these are just approximations of some aspects of hozier’s music/songwriting….

that’s everything i could think of just now, but if anyone has other recs or associations to add pls be my guest!!!