#Bananafish books

[pswgallery]

You may have missed it — ToCall magazine was on display at Shanghai Art Book Fair in Juni 2023. Thanks, @bananafishbooks!

[fandomlockedfan]

A Japanese uni exchange student just confessed his love for a friend he made during his time in the Philippines and I AM SOBBING RIGHT NOW 😭😭

This is such a poetic love confession I can't even 😭 Carl I hope you see this page while there's still time left

[emotional-moss]

did yall read the short story bananafish (NOT THE ANIME). what the fuck was that story

[jessyachi]

Lettere Dagli Angeli [AshEiji] - Lettere Dagli Angeli (on Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/1329103656-lettere-dagli-angeli-asheiji-lettere-dagli-angeli?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_reading&wp_uname=JessYachi&wp_originator=II7Eem7Ph8QEdYb%2BiiwaZKFn%2FeLdeXh9TZYrlqveFpA1H0uqZWVpGFzXvoC60GicbItpOWYaLiU0h8T0YThPHTAEeqcYjUwSwhP71E1W%2F9AmVfg8%2Fbq6yqQuEW5BrQbP

 Dopo la morte di Ash, arriva un messaggio ad Eiji nel sonno. Quando si sveglia il ricordo è vivido e impresso per sempre in lui, una lettera da Ash. Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1O1EpcCz6WT4XK0bhrNNQv?si=NkKVKJ6uSmCs335TpAQI7A&dd=1 [Oneshot AshEiji]

[boricuacherry-blog]

After James Franco published his fictional account entitled "Bungalow 89" where he claims he didn't sleep with Lindsay Lohan, just read her a bedtime story about bananafish, Lindsay countered with a short story of her own:

James Franco says we did not have sex, and one of the things I learned growing up in a family of chaos was to respect other people's truths, even if that truth is something they made up driving home wasted in an Escalade that I frickin bought. Anyway, since he has shared his version of events, I think it's only fair I shared mine.

It was a few years ago. I don't remember if I was sober or not. I think I probably was. I actually never even really drank that much, and as I told Oprah, I only did coke 10-15 times, so statistically, the chances are good I was not wasted when this happened.

I was wandering around the Chateau Marmont, which is a hotel. I will say that I do like the Chateau because there are lots of beautiful flowers tended by people who care as deeply about tending flowers as I do about my passion, starring in films.

I had just taken a swim in the pool where, per the advice of several therapists, I had taken some time to imagine that I was one of any number of various sea creatures.

Afterwards I had taken a leisurely shower and then put a deep conditioning pack on my hair. So I was just walking around inhaling the scent of night blooming jasmine and my deep conditioning pack when one of the bungalow doors opened.

This guy stuck his head out. I didn't know who it was. In fact at first I thought it was this guy who worked at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Beverly Hills and I was like, what is he doing here? "Hey," he said.

As I got closer I saw that it was that actor who always wants people to think that he's smart but I still couldn't remember his name.

"Oh hey," I said.

"What are you doing?" he said.

"I'm deep conditioning my hair," I said.

"Why?" he said. He said it in this really challenging way, like deep conditioning your hair was against the law.

"Uh, because it has a lot of split ends from being so color treated and all the extensions that I have used over the last few years, being an actress who cares about my craft, the way that Chateau Marmont flower-tenders care about flowers."

He shook his head. He was kind of good looking I guess but there was something about his face. He looked so serious, like he had just finished reading 1000 books and had to read 1000 more or he was never going to get to watch TV again.

He said, "Have you ever thought about all the time you spend deep conditioning your hair? Have you ever thought about the expectations that society places on you as a celebrity and how you exploit yourself by responding to them?"

I said, "Duh, that's all I think about. But deep conditioning my hair is one of the ways I find my center."

"That's beautiful," he said. He actually got a tear in his eye. Then he said, "I'm sorry, it's just that the intersection of the banal commercial world with narratives about inner peace triggers a conditioned, sentimental response in me that produces something like actual feelings."

It was all clear now. "You're James Franco," I said.

He asked me to come in and I did. I sat in a chair.

"Can I read you a story?"

He said it was called A Perfect Day for Bananafish. I don't remember very much about it, except at one point, he stopped reading and started to explain to me that it should really be called something else gross and dumb because of something about the fish being phallic which personally I feel like he made up. I can't really remember. I was so tired, but somewhere, a little voice piped up and let me know there was actually a really brilliant way to get through the next hour of my life without having to walk all the way back to my room, and I was like, "If I have sex with you, will you stop talking?"

I am a lady, so I don't want to tell you what happened next.

[gioiaalbanoart]

This and that (updates often)

I don't fit anywhere. I socialise from my cave 😁

I'm Italian, I live in France and I write in English because my OC Ashley Knox said so. Speaking of which 👇

Current WIP : The scarred angel (Ashley Knox book 1)

ARTIST (paintings here) and here

WRITER (Enora_Wings on AO3)

YOGA TEACHER

A magic dog with me and eight cats

SHE / X / PAN (somewhere between demisexual and/or gray-ace)

Mainly peace and love but sometimes I bite.

⛔ DON't follow or interact if you're under 18, just in case.

I already have my teens to deal with 😇😉

****

I'm all over the internet since for ever but this account has been silent for years until my oldest daughter cursed me with BananaFish 💔 and then blessed me with AO3 🧡

Because I had to survive and a door opened in the same time I went back to writing. This is how magic works....✨️✨️✨️

(I even realised that I wrote fanfics before I even knew the were called so, but that's another story)

🐌 I always have few projects going on and I'm really slow 🐢

*****

I met so many lovely people and authors here and on AO3, I'm going to add a post soon with some reading HOT suggestions 💗

*****

[nizynskis]

tagged by Charlie @charlatanesque to post six favorite books of 2023 tysm!! I love ur choices I’ve wanted to read 99 finds for ages and id never heard of purity until u started posting it im in love w the style now

in no particular orderrrr

1. I don’t even know know if im allowed to post this one bc it’s technically not a book it’s a collection of individual strips but it changed my life more than anything else I read this year I committed to living in their world

2. jd salinger has always been so special to me and it is crazyyy that these stories are abt other members of the Glass family. a perfect day for bananafish is one of his best known short stories and I love that he was this attached to his own characters that he preferred to have them haunt the narrative rather than write about literally anything else

3. this one saved my life last year when I was worried that no 2020s books i had read would be good enough to finish but then i came across this one thank u louise erdrich! full of interesting characters and extremely jolting for me to read about things like the covid pandemic in a novel

4. best out tlhod for me!!!!! I love how she insists over and over that the fucking weird is so beautiful you can’t resist it. slaps bald head

5. i love the name merricat. i wish they had killed everyone.

6. this was so early in the year I barely remember the plot but I know it hit me full force like every steinbeck novel does. you want to shake everyone by the shoulders don’t you know how sad you are?????

tags @schalotte @qatos @altrlife @ascendandt

[sidlarsson]

hii!! i was wondering what ur favorite jily fics are? also if you had any book recommendations similar to or inspired HTC? i feel like ur taste (based on ur writing) is superb :)

Ahhh ty I appreciate you. :)❤️

So, uhh, the weird thing to admit is that I'm relatively new to HPFF and even more of a latecomer to Jily. Before starting HTC, I hadn't read a single fic that focused on James or Lily as a main character (something now being corrected!) and was actually, lol, kind of a Dramione girl. Basically, I've got a couple of Jily recs that I read recently (and Dramione ones if you're into that), but am super open to suggestions if you have any.

There are three books that were most influential to writing HTC—Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, a re-telling of Wuthering Heights called A True Novel by Minae Mizumura, and Manacled by SenLinYu. In particular, Manacled, like, rewrote all of my neural pathways and had a massive impact on HTC's world-building; I can't wait to purchase Sen's published book next year.

I dropped a couple other book recs as well. This is probably more information than you were asking for, but I loved this question. Hope you're well. ❤️❤️

Mentioned:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Absolute banger.

A True Novel by Minae Mizumura

More of a historical fiction than a romance with subtle, nuanced characters.

Manacled by @senlinyu

Huge warning about checking tags/triggers, but, uhhh, to say that I've read this like 50 times is probably an understatement.

Fanfic:

Love for the Summer by @missgryffin

Smutty, fluffy, delicious.

Pinkest Bluestocking in the Ton by @wearingaberetinparis

Pining James... I loved this.

Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love by @isthisselfcare

God-tier for the banter alone.

Wait and Hope by @mightbewriting

Pining Draco... yeah.

Published Fics:

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Breathtaking character study.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

Also, breathtaking character study.

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

Profound, dark sc-fi horror.

Anything by Anne Carson, but specifically Eros: The Bittersweet and this essay, called "Thirst: Introduction to Kinds of Water."

I would do anything this woman says tbh.

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger, but specifically "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and "The Laughing Man."

Equal parts charming and dark.

A Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Masterclass in subtle pining and gorgeous prose.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The girlies love this for good reason.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Glittering, beautiful prose.

[xxihc]

ok i might be grasping at straws here or maybe this is a fact that everyone already knows and i only just discovered this but you know how ash’s fav book is the catcher in the rye right??? like the last episode of bananafish is litterally named after it??? i read catcher in the rye earlier this year and the reason it’s called that is because the main character (holden) wants to catch people from falling off the field of rye. the field representing the innocence of a child. falling off the edge means loosing your innocence and becoming isolated.

now how does this relate back to bananafish??? in the second outro TELL ME THEYRE NOT IN A FEILD OF RYE

surely eiji litterally leading him through a feild of rye has to represents something along the lines of eiji stopping ash from being isolated and helping him to be happy again????

[seeingteacupsindragons]

When reading a book, have you :

a. Finish a book, even when you dislike the mc until the end but love the story (What book?)

b. Finish a book, even when you dislike the story but love the mc (what book?)

c.Finish a book, even when you dislike the mc and story but love the worldbuilding (what book?)

d. Finish a book, even when you dislike the mc, story, worldbuilding but still finish it for whatever reason (what book?)

Mmmmmm, you know, I don't think any of these have directly factored into continuing or dropping a book. It's mostly about whether or not I'm enjoying myself, and I can do that with a main character I dislike, or a world I dislike, or...well, maybe not a story I dislike, but a plot I dislike? And I think you may have meant plot, because of course all of the other things factor into the story.

A. Books where I've read without ever liking the main character: The entire Doctrine of Labyrinths series. Oh, Felix is quite sympathetic at times and pitiable at others, and generally quite fascinating, and has quite a few things I like about him. But he's also deeply fucked up from his trauma, actively abusive in...uh, every relationship he has in the series except the ones where he's being abused, and like, kind of just a dickhead? A dickhead.

Also That Unauthorized Fan Treatise thing. I did finish it in a day and I was riveted by it, but good God I would want nothing to do with Gottie.

B. ....BANANAFISH? I love Ash so much, but the things that happen to him delve way into torture porn toward the end, like, it's not even contributing to the story or anything at that point. It's just "what else can we do to him?" and the ending was just such utter bullshit, but I did stick it out. Okay, this is a manga, not a book, but still.

C. Oh, hm. I dunno; I don't usually stick around a story for world building. Maybe HunterXHunter, which is another...anime. I didn't...hate Gon, but he's never been a big fave of mine; Killua was. And the story just completely derailed during Ant Hell Arc. But I would have given up on it if I hadn't been watching it with a friend.

Maybe Codex Alera? I really adored Tavi early on, but I grew less attached over time, and the plot was pretty paint-by-the-numbers, but the worldbuilding interested me despite also being a bit...overdone. Him.

D. The Mirror Empire. That book was so well written, and I did not enjoy it at all. Truly it was not for me from top to bottom. But I tried, and it was good, I just had not one bit of fun.

[thedepartmentofdiscoveries]

Robert Smith’s favourite books:

1. The Chronicles of Narnia – C.S. Lewis

2. Collected Stories – Franz Kafka

3. The Stranger – Albert Camus

4. Charlotte Sometimes & Two – Penelope Farmer

5. The Gormenghast Novels – Mervyn Peake

6. Paradise Lost – John Milton

7. Works – Charles Baudelaire

8. A Perfect Day for Bananafish – J.D. Salinger

9. Complete Works – Arthur Rimbaud

10. The Raven – Edgar Allan Poe

11. Nausea – Jean-Paul Sartre

12. High Fidelity – Nick Hornby

🌹🥀🌹🥀🌹🥀 📚📚📚📚📚📚

[ashen--dreams]

if im likely to read any of the books/stories in the titles it would probably be a perfect day for bananafish or the snows of kilimanjaro. and ive never read the catcher in the rye. i didnt have to in hs surprisingly. ig i might be willing to read it too

[kumeko]

A/N: For the @bananafish-happyendings-zine! I love Shorter and had to write something with him and Ash.

…

…

…

…

Truthfully, Shorter had expected something to go wrong, if only because Ash was there. For a man who was capable smoothening out any situation with a smile and wink, he was too often the source of those situations. Why would their first trip to Japan be any different? Eiji had tried to account for everything, booking tickets and checking what they packed, but there was only so much damage control he could do via phone. Same went for Max with his texts and emails on airport etiquette and laws. They had both tried their best, but Shorter had known it wouldn’t be smooth sailing. That wasn’t the kind of man Ash was. It wasn’t the kind of man Shorter was, either; life was too boring otherwise.

Still, even in his wildest guesses, he had never thought of the scene playing out before him. The second Ash stepped through the metal detector, it beeped. A simple sound heralding a future chaos. Shorter pulled off his sunglasses as he watched Ash follow the security guard to the side.

“Do you have a belt?” the heavyset, middle-aged man asked, pulling out a white plastic bucket. His bluish gray uniform that didn’t look like it fit right, too loose in some parts and too tight in others. A small nametag identified him as Sam.

“No.” Ash snorted irreverently, gesturing at his tight jeans. With his hoodie off, it was clear he wasn’t even wearing any jewellery. “Do I look like I need one?”

Shorter winced. He couldn’t say he hadn’t expected that; Ash didn’t know when to shut up on a good day.

Luckily, Sam didn’t look annoyed, just apathetic. With a bored expression, he brandished a small, hand-sized metal detector and gestured at Ash’s pockets. “Coins? Hairclips?

Ash smirked and shook his hips. Of course he had to pick the most antagonistic way to respond. When had he ever taken the easy route? “Hear anything? Want me to dance too?”

Sam rolled his eyes. This was clearly another Monday morning for him. Stepping back, he grabbed an empty bin from the end of the x-ray conveyor belt and ordered, “Alright wise guy, spread your arms and legs.”

“Just remember to look, not touch,” Ash snarked, blowing a kiss before complying.

“Come on, Ash!” Shorter grumbled, unable to hold it in any longer. Ignoring the other security guard’s protests, he walked through the metal detector. “We don’t have to fight every—”

The metal detector chimed again and Shorter swallowed, looking up at the bright red light. Whoops.

Sam sighed and gestured at him to stand beside Ash. “I might as well do both of you at once. Any belts? Coins?” He shook the bin in front of Shorter.

“Fuck,” Shorter swore softly as he begrudgingly complied. Standing next to Ash, he spread his limbs. “No.”

“You couldn’t wait your turn?” Ash muttered, his eyes sparkling mischievously.

“I’m glad you’re having fun,” Shorter growled, shooting him an irritated glare.

Without a hint of contrition, Ash shrugged. “One of us has to.”

“Keep still,” Sam ordered, waving the metallic wand over Ash. As it reached his hip, it beeped. “I thought your pants were empty?” He held out the bin. “Put it in.”

“I didn’t say that.” Ash reached down, pulling out his knife. He twirled it between his fingers as Sam’s jaw dropped. “You just didn’t ask.”

As the it dangled in front of him tauntingly, Sam regathered his wits. He grabbed the weapon warily from Ash’s open hand and a shiver ran up his arm at contact with the cold metal. Brandishing his detector like a shield, he barked, “Weapons are illegal.”

“Huh?” Ash frowned, not believing it. He reached for his knife, his jaw tightening when Sam stepped further back. “It’s just a pocketknife! You can’t even call that a weapon.”

“Oh.” Something about this sounded familiar. Vaguely, Shorter recalled a line from one of Max’s messages. Something about blades—maybe he should have actually read them through. Bumping his shoulder against Ash’s, he shook his head. “I think this is what Max was talking about earlier.”

“What do you mean?” Ash asked, looking utterly perplexed. He must have ignored the emails too. Shorter silently apologized to Max; the man knew what he was doing sometimes.

“He said something about the airport rules changing.” Shorter shrugged. Next time, he’d pay attention. Probably. “I guess they don’t allow knives anymore?”

“Did you live under a rock?” Sam looked at them incredulously. On the bright side, he clearly didn’t view them as a threat anymore, just as a pair of stupid teens as he stepped closer now, holding out the bin. “We don’t allow weapons at all anymore. All blades and other weapons have to be dropped in here.”

“Seriously?” Ash scrunched his nose, his shoulders hunching defensively.

Shorter had seen that look before. He knew exactly what it meant and if they didn’t have a plane to catch, he would have been fine letting it happen. He grabbed Ash’s shoulder. “Ash—”

He jerked away, his lips curling as he snarled, “Like I’m going to give up—”

“Ash!” Shorter glared at him, tightening his grip. “You want to keep Eiji waiting?”

As usual, just the mere mention of Eiji’s name caused an instantaneous reaction. Ash stilled. After a moment, he glanced at Sam, at Shorter, and then relaxed. He pouted, his cheeks puffing just like Eiji’s  did, and it was good to see that Eiji was rubbing off on Ash instead of just the other way around. Grabbing the bin, Ash grumbled, “Fine, but I better get these back.”

“We will dispo—” Ash glared at Sam and he stepped back. Looking away, he mumbled, “We’ll see what we can do.”

“Good, I wouldn’t want to lose my collection,” Shorter joked, digging into his pockets for his blades and darts. He wasn’t sure what counted as a weapon these days, but he wasn’t going to take any chances.

“You brought your own darts?” Ash asked as he plucked a razorblade from his sleeve.

“Hey, it’s a long flight. I didn’t want to get bored,” Shorter defended himself. He dropped a pair of scissors into the bucket.

“Where would we have room to play?” Ash asked, rolling his eyes as he pulled a metal spike from behind his ear.

Sam stared at the bucket, now overflowing, and raised his walkie-talkie. “Hey, guys? I think we have a situation here.”

-x-

Eiji’s handwriting was surprisingly messy. His words were small and cramped, as though he had a million words he wanted to write and didn’t have enough room to put it all.  Ash had noticed it in his letters, a surprisingly old-fashioned way of communicating, and he noticed it now in the itinerary and guidebooks Eiji had mailed over. The margins were filled with little notes and Ash regretted not bringing a magnifying lens. He could barely read it all.

“What’re you smiling about?” Shorter asked, slipping off his headphones for the first time since the flight started. In front of him, on a tiny screen, a young Jackie Chan leaped off scaffolding.

“Oh, now you want to talk?” Ash asked instead, carefully folding the papers. Unlike the rest of his gang, Shorter didn’t know when to back down. Even worse, he was oddly perceptive about it all. “I thought you were watching a movie?”

“Yeah, I tried,” Shorter grumbled, pulling off the shitty headphones the plane had provided them. He gestured at the screen, which now held a warning about turbulence instead of the movie. “Except that keeps happening. Every single time the plane shakes, it’s ‘warning!’. Can barely make it through five minutes without the thing freezing.”

Ash grimaced. The screen was tiny as is. That just made it unwatchable. “That’s stupid.”

“And these headphones are so bad, I can barely hear the movie,” Shorter added, clearly on a roll. He gestured at the bottom of the screen, barely visible beyond the warning sign. “Subtitles! I have to use subtitles!”

“You shoulda just brought your tablet, at least you wouldn’t get interrupted there.” Ash pointed out, chuckling.

“I did.” Shorter looked away, his ears red with embarrassment. “I forgot to charge it.”

“Stupid,” Ash insulted, unable to stop himself.

It was a mistake. Shorter snapped his head back, ready to argue out of sheer boredom when he noticed the itinerary once more. Immediately, the fire left him, and he leaned over curiously. “I could read that.”

The itinerary was for both of them. Eiji had even left notes for Shorter in it.

Ash instinctively yanked the paper away. He held it tightly on his right side, as close to the aisle as he dared. The only good thing about them having a pair of window seats was that no one else would get disturbed with them fighting. “No.”

Another mistake. A sly smile grew on Shorter’s face. Resting one hand on the armrest, he reached out with the other one. “Come on, share it! What’d Eiji say?”

“He said to get your own entertainment,” Ash growled back, pushing Shorter’s face away with his free hand. “Go read the guidebooks or something.”

“Those are thick!” Shorter whined, shifting his head so his cheek got the full brunt of Ash’s hand. Which was good; it felt really disgusting when someone talked on his skin and Ash didn’t want Shorter to spit on him. “This is smaller.”

“Learn to read,” Ash snapped, shoving Shorter’s face harder. He should have come on this trip alone. Or with someone who could take a hint.

Shorter leaned closer, blindly groping for the paper now. “I can learn with that—”

“Gentlemen, is there a problem?”

Ash froze. He could feel Shorter stiffen at the same time. Slowly, they both looked up to find a short stewardess smiling politely at them. Or maybe politely wasn’t the word—there was a scary aura behind her expression. Despite the fact that she was a red-headed American and looked nothing like Shorter’s sister, Ash could almost see Nadia standing before him.

It was enough to make him swallow. “There’s none.”

Shorter immediately disentangled, seeing it too. He sat up straight in his seat. Ash tried not to laugh. “Nope.”

“Good.” The woman continued to smile at them, all knife-like and sharp edges. She clasped her hands behind her and cocked her head. “If you need anything, don’t be afraid to call. Do enjoy your peaceful, quiet flight.”

Any answer other than a yes meant immediate execution. They both nodded quickly. Giving them one last look, the stewardess turned around and returned to her duties.

“I thought we couldn’t bring weapons on the plane?” Shorter mumbled, slumping in his seat the second she was out of sight.

Ashe laughed. As he relaxed his tense muscles, he pocketed the itinerary before Shorter could remember what they were arguing about. “I thought Nadia had snuck on the plane.”

“Oh, god no.” Shorter shivered and he tugged his jacket around him tighter. “Could you imagine?”

“What if they met?” Ash teased, unable to resist.

Shorter immediately paled. “Don’t jinx it.”

Maybe it wasn’t that bad traveling with Shorter after all.

-x-

Eiji stared up at the large tv screens, row after row filled with different flight information. It wasn’t too hard to find the one he wanted—he’d memorized the flight number after the hundredth time he’d double-checked Ash’s text. In green, the board announced that the flight had landed.

Still, he checked the time on the screen and on his watch and compared the flight number once more to the text. Yes, this was the time the plane was supposed to arrive. Yes, that was the right plane number. No, it didn’t seem like there were any issues with the flight.

It was all a good thing.

Somehow, Eiji couldn’t shake off the feeling that something had gone horribly wrong. It was hard not to, after the months he’d spent in America last year, running from mob bosses and drug dealers. Even now, safe in Japan, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was watching him. It was a feeling he was told would pass with time.

Taking a deep breath, Eiji walked toward the arrival’s section of the airport. There was no point in thinking about it now. If Shorter or Ash had any issues, he’d find out as soon as they walked out. Or, maybe not if they got arrested by security or immigration or—

A flash of blonde and purple left the doors and Eiji stopped thinking as he caught sight of his two friends. They were squabbling again, though it looked more good-natured than an actual issue. Shorter was wearing a jean vest, his dress casual as he pulled his big suitcase behind him. As for Ash…

Eiji wasn’t sure how he managed to look even more handsome every time they saw each other. Honestly, if Ash ever went into the modeling business, he’d be a megastar in weeks, maybe even days. Even his button-down shirt and pants somehow managed to not look casual and instead almost fancy.

Tongue-tied, he watched as the pair walked down the ramp into the open waiting room. Shorter noticed him first, elbowing Ash before waving. “Eiji!”

Ash looked up, his bright blue eyes meeting Eiji’s before he smiled. He looked more relaxed than he had before and Eiji’s heart ached. “Hey.”

“Oh, how cool,” Shorter muttered, rolling his eyes. “Like you weren’t reading his notes for hours.”

Ash flushed lightly and that was all it took for Eiji to shake out of his stupor. Jogging over, he beamed at the pair. “You made it!”

“Barely! Did you wait long?” Shorter asked, letting go of his suitcase to give him a side-hug. Their heads knocked slightly, but Eiji couldn’t complain. He’d missed Shorter’s hugs.

“Not really,” Eiji lied. They didn’t have to know how early he’d come. “There weren’t any issues? The flight was fine?”

“What are you, my mom?” Ash teased with a devilish smirk. “It was fine.”

“If you don’t count the trouble,” Shorter mumbled, paling slightly. Before Eiji could ask, he let go and grabbed his suitcase again. “Can we get some grub? I’m starving.”

Ash snorted. “You’re always hungry.”

“So?” Shorter barked, rolling his eyes. “The plane food sucked.”

“Are you tired?” Eiji asked, looking at their suitcases. Before he could grab one, Shorter and Ash had their hands firmly on the handles.

“Not really, we slept on the way.” Ash shrugged. “Well, tried to—someone kept snoring.”

“Sorry, princess.” Shorter tugged his suitcase to stand on Eiji’s other side, clearly having enough of his companion. “Buy some earplugs next time.”

“Do you need—” Ash’s carry-on jingled as he stepped forward, and immediately Shorter and Ash both shut up and stared at it.

Eijij stared at it too. That sound had been slightly metallic. The last time he’d heard that much metal was when he’d moved one of Ash’s or Max’s weapons bags. “Hey, what was—”

“Nothing,” Shorter and Ash said at the same time.

Eiji gave them a flat look. “Nothing?”

“Nothing,” Ash confirmed, wrapping an arm around Eiji. “Now, where are we eating?”

It was such an obvious attempt to distract him. Unfortunately, his arm was also warm and Eiji’s brain always stopped working when they were this close. Unsettled, he gave the suitcase one last, lingering look, before turning away. “Mom made some croquettes, if you want.”

Surely, whatever they were carrying couldn’t be that bad. They were on vacation, after all.

Just how much trouble could they get in?

[pausetalk]

PauseTalk Vol. 91

PauseTalk Vol. 91 was held on Wednesday, August 28 at Garden Books, and it was a wonderful session. First off, it was the biggest group we've had so far in Shanghai -- lucky 13 -- which really tends to be the ideal size for this sort of thing (a dozen or so). Kicking off with the topic of abandoned spaces (and the desire to explore them), a lot of the following discussion revolved around what it means to live in a city that undergoes constant change, whether good or bad, and what we can or should do in terms of participating, exploring, and enjoying.

Below, the list of participants:

Dan Li (Game Developer)

Dan Zhu (Business Consultant & Development)

Eliza Flow (Brand & Graphic Designer)

George Hubert (Designer)

Gianmaria Quarta (Architect)

Grace Shen (HR Consulting)

Jan Dornig (Designer)

Jean Snow (Game Developer)

Kevin Richardson (Film Photographer)

Maria Razzhivina (The Dedicated AI Person)

Roger Groenink (Educator)

Ruzov Yegor (Science Teacher)

Yifan Yang (Sustainability)

What's next? Vol. 92 would normally happen in October, but as I'm going to be away for a good chunk of it (on top of the big national holiday at the start of the month), I think it's more likely to happen in November. As for the venue, we'll see, but it could very well return to Bananafish Books. I'll of course share details here when everything is confirmed, and you can also join our WeChat group chat to stay updated (contact me to be added).

[tparadox]

I'm trying to think of something I was assigned to read that scarred me for life and having trouble.

Yeah, I read The Lottery in class. Maybe it's because I was acquainted with Twilight Zone style twist endings, but my reaction was more of an "oh, I see what you did there."

The Most Dangerous Game was exciting but not really horrific in a way that I consider it to have messed me up.

Maybe Harrison Bergeron. The aggressively forced equalization was pretty disturbing.

A Perfect Day for Bananafish kind of got me because I didn't see any of the signs Seymour wasn't okay until he got the gun, and until that point I was just wondering if the point was that he was being a creep with the little girl, when really, from reading commentary on it it seems that a lot of the point was that he was relishing innocence with her.

Galapagos is a novel but it was assigned to me and on the edge of what I could comfortably read.

The ones that really stuck with me are the ones I chose to read.

I do not recommend middle schoolers read 1984.

There was a prime time young adult drama I didn't watch but noted that the credits said it was based on a book called "Doing It". I snuck that book home from the library and so inflicted upon myself a YA novel about high schoolers learning how not to be responsible about consent and boundaries in sexual relationships.

[tinygumdrops]

hi, i know youre a wide reader and i checked your listography before, can i ask what books should people read on their lifetime?

also, do you have goodreads account? can i add you as a friend there?

i hope youre doing fine irl. always rooting for you.

Ooff, this is a tough one, hmm... I think my taste in books are a bit.... well, I had some of my bookish friends read my favorite novel of all time, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell, but all of them never got around to finishing it lmao. I read the Twilight series as soon as they came out (and yes, I even read Midnight Sun), I hated Jack Kerouac's On The Road even if everyone and their grandma raved about it so much. And my lit friend absolutely hated The Old Man & The Sea by Ernest Hemingway, while I kinda cried over it because the setting reminded me of home. So you know, I might not be the best person to recommend books ;-;

I wouldn't want you to commit to a book and waste your time, so... instead of full-length novels, I can recommend you short stories, maybe?

I recently read The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula Le Guin and imo it was really good!!!! She's a master at writing fantasy, so maybe you can look up her other works if you enjoyed Omelas.

Snow, Glass, and Apples by tumblr's very own Neil Gaiman. It's a retelling of Snow White from the stepmother's POV. I first read it when I was 11 and reread it a decade later; my love for it didn't change one bit!

I think you might have already read this since it's so popular, but The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a short story I always come back to. I remember reading it in college while I was on my lunch break but I was so engrossed I ended up skipping my classes just so I can finish the entire thing lmao.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is just!!!!!! No words!!! T-T

I'm a huge fan of J.D. Salinger, so I obviously have to include A Perfect Day for Bananafish.

Short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson, and Percy Shelley are pretty popular and I think are required reading in most schools with English in its curriculum, so maybe you've read them before? But I still do recommend them, especially The Lottery and Cask of Amontillado. Currently I'm going through Ray Bradbury's works. I haven't finished them yet but I'm enjoying them so far!

I do have a personal goodreads account, but I might make a fandom one for funsies!! I'll link my goodread account here once I get around to making it! :D