#I did find the audiobook on the internet so I can listen to it and I can borrow it for an hour at a time at the internet archive

[sol-draws-sometimes]

I’M HAVING LIBRARY CARD PROBLEMS TEEEARS

LET ME READ MY DISCWORLD BOOK 😭😭😭😭

Probably cause I got a physical card and so now the app is probably now confused cause I was using a digital card before(I think they overrode my digital card or something, idk)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

All the books I reviewed in 2023 (Graphic Novels)

Next Tuesday (December 5), I'm at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC, with my new solarpunk novel The Lost Cause, which 350.org's Bill McKibben called "The first great YIMBY novel: perceptive, scientifically sound, and extraordinarily hopeful."

It's that time of year again, when I round up all the books I reviewed for my newsletter in the previous year. I posted 21 reviews last year, covering 31 books (there are two series in there!). I also published three books of my own last year (two novels and one nonfiction). A busy year in books!

Every year, these roundups remind me that I did actually manager to get a lot of reading done, even if the list of extremely good books that I didn't read is much longer than the list of books I did read. I read many of these books while doing physiotherapy for my chronic pain, specifically as audiobooks I listened to on my underwater MP3 player while doing my daily laps at the public pool across the street from my house.

After many years of using generic Chinese waterproof MP3s players – whose quality steadily declined over a decade – I gave up and bought a brand-name player, a Shokz Openswim. So far, I have no complaints. Thanks to reader Abbas Halai for recommending this!

https://shokz.com/products/openswim

I load up this gadget with audiobook MP3s bought from Libro.fm, a fantastic, DRM-free alternative to Audible, which is both a monopolist and a prolific wage-thief with a documented history of stealing from writers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#acx-ripoff

All right, enough with the process notes, on to the reviews!

GRAPHIC NOVELS

I. Shubiek Lubiek by Deena Mohamed

An intricate alternate history in which wishes are real, and must be refined from a kind of raw wish-stuff that has to be dug out of the earth. Naturally, this has been an important element of geopolitics and colonization, especially since the wish-stuff is concentrated in the global south, particularly Egypt, the setting for our tale. The framing device for the trilogy is the tale of three "first class" wishes: these are the most powerful wishes that civilians are allowed to use, the kind of thing you might use to cure cancer or reverse a crop-failure.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/11/your-wish/#is-my-command

II. Ducks by Kate Beaton

In 2005, Beaton was a newly minted art-school grad facing a crushing load of student debt, a debt she would never be able to manage in the crumbling, post-boom economy of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Like so many Maritimers, she left the home that meant everything for her to travel to Alberta, where the tar sands oil boom promised unmatched riches for anyone willing to take them. Beaton's memoir describes the following four years, as she works her way into a series of oil industry jobs in isolated company towns where men outnumber women 50:1 and where whole communities marinate in a literally toxic brew of carcinogens, misogyny, economic desperation and environmental degradation. The story that follows is – naturally – wrenching, but it is also subtle and ambivalent. Beaton finds camaraderie with – and empathy for – the people she works alongside, even amidst unimaginable, grinding workplace harassment that manifests in both obvious and glancing ways.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/14/hark-an-oilpatch/#kate-beaton

III. Justice Warriors by Matt Bors

Justice Warriors is what you'd get if you put Judge Dredd in a blender with Transmetropolitan and set it to chunky. The setup: the elites of a wasted, tormented world have retreated into Bubble City, beneath a hermetically sealed zone. Within Bubble City, everything is run according to the priorities of the descendants of the most internet-poisoned freaks of the modern internet, click- and clout-chasing mushminds full of corporate-washed platitudes about self-care, diversity and equity, wrapped around come-ons for sugary drinks and dubious dropshipper crapola. It's a cop buddy-story dreamed up by Very Online, very angry creators who live in a present-day world where reality is consistently stupider than satire.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/22/libras-assemble/#the-uz

IV. Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki

The story of three young Canadian women meeting up for a getaway to New York City. Zoe and Dani are high-school best friends who haven't seen each other since they graduated and decamped for universities in different cities. Fiona is Dani's art-school classmate, a glamorous and cantankerous artist with an affected air of sophistication. It's a dizzying, beautifully wrought three-body problem as the three protagonists struggle with resentments and love, sex and insecurity. The relationships between Zoe, Dani and Fiona careen wildly from scene to scene and even panel to panel, propelled by sly graphic cues and fantastically understated dialog.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/11/as-canadian-as/#possible-under-the-circumstances

Like I said, this has been a good year in books for me, and it included three books of my own:

I. Red Team Blues (novel, Tor Books US, Head of Zeus UK)

Martin Hench is 67 years old, single, and successful in a career stretching back to the beginnings of Silicon Valley. He lives and roams California in a very comfortable fully-furnished touring bus, The Unsalted Hash, that he bought years ago from a fading rock star. He knows his way around good food and fine drink. He likes intelligent women, and they like him back often enough. Martin is a—contain your excitement—self-employed forensic accountant, a veteran of the long guerilla war between people who want to hide money, and people who want to find it. He knows computer hardware and software alike, including the ins and outs of high-end databases and the kinds of spreadsheets that are designed to conceal rather than reveal. He’s as comfortable with social media as people a quarter his age, and he’s a world-level expert on the kind of international money-laundering and shell-company chicanery used by Fortune 500 companies, mid-divorce billionaires, and international drug gangs alike. He also knows the Valley like the back of his hand, all the secret histories of charismatic company founders and Sand Hill Road VCs. Because he was there at all the beginnings. Now he’s been roped into a job that’s more dangerous than anything he’s ever agreed to before—and it will take every ounce of his skill to get out alive.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865847/red-team-blues

II. The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation (nonfiction, Verso)

We can – we must – dismantle the tech platforms. We must to seize the means of computation by forcing Silicon Valley to do the thing it fears most: interoperate. Interoperability will tear down the walls between technologies, allowing users to leave platforms, remix their media, and reconfigure their devices without corporate permission. Interoperability is the only route to the rapid and enduring annihilation of the platforms. The Internet Con is the disassembly manual we need to take back our internet.

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3035-the-internet-con

III. The Lost Cause (novel, Tor Books US, Head of Zeus UK)

For young Americans a generation from now, climate change isn't controversial. It's just an overwhelming fact of life. And so are the great efforts to contain and mitigate it. Entire cities are being moved inland from the rising seas. Vast clean-energy projects are springing up everywhere. Disaster relief, the mitigation of floods and superstorms, has become a skill for which tens of millions of people are trained every year. The effort is global. It employs everyone who wants to work. Even when national politics oscillates back to right-wing leaders, the momentum is too great; these vast programs cannot be stopped in their tracks.

But there are still those Americans, mostly elderly, who cling to their red baseball caps, their grievances, their huge vehicles, their anger. To their "alternative" news sources that reassure them that their resentment is right and pure and that "climate change" is just a giant scam. And they're your grandfather, your uncle, your great-aunt. And they're not going anywhere. And they’re armed to the teeth. The Lost Cause asks: What do we do about people who cling to the belief that their own children are the enemy? When, in fact, they're often the elders that we love?

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865939/the-lost-cause

I wrote nine books during lockdown, and there's plenty more to come. The next one is The Bezzle, a followup to Red Team Blues, which comes out in February:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

While you're waiting for that one, I hope the reviews above will help you connect with some excellent books. If you want more of my reviews, here's my annual roundup from 2022:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/01/bookishness/#2022-in-review

Here's my book reviews from 2021:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/08/required-ish-reading/#bibliography

And here's my book reviews from 2020:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/08/required-reading/#recommended-reading

It's EFF's Power Up Your Donation Week: this week, donations to the Electronic Frontier Foundation are matched 1:1, meaning your money goes twice as far. I've worked with EFF for 22 years now and I have always been - and remain - a major donor, because I've seen firsthand how effective, responsible and brilliant this organization is. Please join me in helping EFF continue its work!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/01/bookmaker/#2023-in-review

[kingpippthe2nd]

This is going to be a Neil Gaiman appreciation post. Not because I think, the internet needs another person babbling on about how good an author Neil is. There is enough of those. This one is purely egotistical, because I have too many words rattling in my head, and they want out. So, settle in and let me tell you a story. I promise, it will make sense in the end. Or go read something interesting. I’m not your parent. 

I used to read a lot as a kid. The library in my town was open on two afternoons each week: Tuesday and Thursday. So, every Tuesday I would go there with my stack of read books, swap them for a smaller stack of books, which I would devour in the next two days, return them on Thursday, leave with a bigger stack and so on and so on. I couldn’t read enough. I loved disappearing into all the different worlds, all the different adventures. I was the kind of kid, that would read until the middle of the night, illuminated by a flashlight, be exhausted all day in school, just to go home and do it all again.  

I don’t know when this changed, exactly. Only that it did. Something about growing up took away the wonder of printed words. Or wonder in general.  

I remember telling my therapist a year or so ago how I remember being able to see so much beauty in the world. How the tiniest thing could spark so much joy in me. Make me imagine entire worlds. And how I couldn’t find this kind of joy anymore. How I felt that something in me was irrevocably broken. She reassured me, that this was normal. All part of growing up. Childlike wonder at the world is not for adults to have. Never have the words a therapist felt so fundamentally wrong. I was heartbroken leaving that session. My worst fears had become true: I’d never find that joy again. 

Over the years, I never lost my love of stories. I started listening to audiobooks, a form of media which I used to despise. Why listen to a book when you can read it? Hold it? Smell it?  I watched movies and series and listened to podcasts. But I didn’t really read. I had lost the patience for them. Don’t get me wrong: I still loved my books. I have some beautiful editions of my favourite books that I loved showing off to people. I bought new books as well. New stories. And I told myself I’d get around to reading them soon. But I never did. 

I used to write a lot, too as a kid. I wrote diaries, though I never kept up with them for long. I wrote short stories and even started writing a book, which was not very good and is now lost forever. I wrote loads of poems. One of them I wrote sitting on a roof in a night gown while the full moon shone behind the church tower. I still have that one. It isn’t half bad. But I stopped writing years ago. It left me, when I left the books. 

Some years ago, my partner at the time introduced me to a new book. Theyread it aloud to me in the evenings. It was called “Neverwhere” by a man I had never heard of: Neil Gaiman. I fell immediately in love with the story and the writing and the characters. Soon enough I owned all the Neil Gaiman audiobooks I could find and listened to them ravenously.  

Within the last year I have tried to read four books. I finished one of them. Not a big one. And it took me multiple months. I had to force myself to finish it, even though I loved the story and the writing. The other three I abandoned halfway through, feeling terribly about myself and my apparent inability to read. 

And then Amazon Prime released season two of Good Omens and I found myself swept up in a maelstrom of emotions and hype and fan theories. I started reading fan fictions for the first time in my life. Long ones too. I started telling anyone and everyone about how much I loved and missed the show. About how genius a writer Neil Gaiman was. How I had loved his way with words and worlds for such a long time and that he was my favourite author. 

A week ago, I had a realisation: I had never actually read a Neil Gaiman book. I’ve had them read to me. I’ve listened to hours and hours of audiobooks. But I had never ever actually sat myself down and read a book by my favourite author with my own eyes. Held it. Smelt it.  

So, I picked up one of the “I’ll get around to it books” from a stack on my hallway book shelf and started reading. A little thing called “The Ocean at the End of the Lane”. I finished it within three days. I read it on my way to and from work. One night, I walked all the way from the tram stop to my flat whilst continuing to read, phone flashlight in hand, so the darkness wouldn't steal the story away from me.  

And as I finally looked up from on the pages again and looked around, something else happened. It was as if the words had given my mind a little nudge. The world was spinning slightly differently. And all over sudden I could see the world as I had as a kid. There are more colours now. Everything is a bit more sparkly, more magical. I can taste stories on the wind, see them in the early morning sunshine. I have ideas rattling in my head that need writing down for the first time in what feels like forever. Ideas for short stories, for poems. Maybe even for a book.

I can’t even begin to express how thankful I am to Neil for giving me back something, I knew I had lost forever. Because childlike wonder at the world is not for adults to have. With nothing but his words printed on paper he remade the way I see the world. If that isn’t some kind of magic, then I don’t know what could be. And who wants to be an adult anyway.

[consanguinitatum]

David Tennant Audios I'm Trying To Find: Supermarket Zoo

I've been posting a lot about the rare and obscure David Tennant works I've been able to find, or ones he did early in his career, or....you know, pretty much anything weird and wonderful this incredible Scottish thespian ever did, no matter how niche! I spend a lot of time hunting that stuff down and oftentimes - as this story about my journey trying to find his short film, Bite, explains - I manage to score and find what I'm looking for in a big way. But not always. So tonight, dear readers, I'll switch gears and have a rant about talk about something I'm actually trying to FIND. I'll preface all this by saying I believe I'm only missing a few of David's audio works (well, at least the audio works which I know he did.) Sadly, there's no IMDb-like comprehensive source for the entirety of his audio work like there is with his film and television career: the closest thing to this is the BBC Genome Project, which - while remarkable! - is primarily a source which catalogues audio broadcast over the BBC, not a repository for the names of the actors involved in each audio. The Genome Project has some gems - for example, you can listen to David's remarkably in-depth 45-min 2009 interview for Desert Island Discs, where he talks about his family life as a child, dealing with his fame, and what music he'd take on a desert island - but it doesn't do as well for old audio broadcasts, mostly because prior to 2000 or so, the BBC didn't really keep copies of audio broadcasts! The Project does have copies of the Radio Times, though, so often it is these which provide some clue as to David's audio projects. But they're not comprehensive, either.

All this to say, I think I have the majority of David's audio work. I've found a few more over the years which weren't attributed to him in any other place but his biography blurb in the programmes of his theatre work - and I've found those, too (a few very recently!) But David's done a lot! He's as prodigious with his audio as he is the rest of his career, and I would not be surprised in the least to learn that the list I have isn't as complete as I think it is. He's more than likely done more audios than I currently know about, because....he's David, that's why. The Energizer Worker Bunny! Regardless....I do have a lot of his audios. Put it this way - I have over 120 audios he's done since 1993, and if my list is accurate, I only lack five (!!) audios to make the list complete. Three out of the five I need are early 2000s (when the BBC didn't always archive their recordings), one is from 1989 when he was in drama school, and the last, weirdly, comes from 2010 and isn't even from radio!

This last one is his narration of a children's book called Supermarket Zoo by Caryl Hart, and illustrated by Ed Eaves.

Here are a few of Eaves' illustrations for the book:

from https://edeavesillustrator.com/supermarket-zoo-2

I would LOVE to find this audiobook...somewhere. Damn it!

Supermarket Zoo was published by Simon and Schuster and copyrighted 2010. The ebook was published in 2011, and I believe David recorded the narration for the audiobook sometime before May 2011. The audiobook music was written and composed by Iain Carnegie, and he lists it here on his website.

You can find copies of the book all over the internet. But try finding a copy of the audiobook! Arghhhh!

[quarkscooljacket]

13 books

What’s up readers?! How about a little show and tell? Answer these 13 questions, tag 13 lucky readers and if you’re feeling extra bookish add a shelfie! Let’s Go!

Tagged by @softest-punk

1) The Last book I read:

Foster by Claire Keegan, which is what the movie An Cailín Ciúin was based on. It's only 70 pages (though I listened to the audio, which has a stunning narration) and I think I am in love with Claire Keegan maybe.

The last australian book I read was Witchy (vol 1+2) by Ariel Ries. Really fun comic about young witch Nyneve who is conscripted into the Witch Guards, runs away, and has to figure out her place in the world. Beautiful art!!

2) A book I recommend:

This year I finally read A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett, which is a collection of short stories about trans women living in Canada/the US. Every story felt so lived in and alive. It is mostly real-life stuff but there is one story where a woman can speak with her cat and it's done so well. Semi-related stories in that some of the characters know each other/mention each other. A trans classic!!!

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton. Set in Aotearoa, centred around these two young women who run a guerilla gardening collective. one of them meets a billionaire who wants to give them a bunch of money. Now see the blurb told me it was an eco thriller but the thriller part is very slow burn until ur like JAYSUS SLOW DOWN.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

I re-read the Southern Reach trilogy (Annihilation, Authority & Acceptance) by Jeff VanderMeer at the end of last yr because he accounced the fourth book. I just love them. The kind of spec fic I would love to write tbh.

5) A book on my TBR:

Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright. I bought it because I knew i was quitting my job and I wanted the staff discount and I thought I'd read it in my unemployment phase. Turns out quitting your job because you're horribly treated means that u enter a big extra-depressed phase so I did not have the brain space to read more than the first 25 pages. But i loved those, they just required more energy than I had. I'm gonna paste the blurb here actually because it just sounds fucken rad:

Praiseworthy is an epic set in the north of Australia, told with the richness of language and scale of imagery for which Alexis Wright has become renowned. In a small town dominated by a haze cloud, which heralds both an ecological catastrophe and a gathering of the ancestors, a crazed visionary seeks out donkeys as the solution to the global climate crisis and the economic dependency of the Aboriginal people. His wife seeks solace from his madness in following the dance of butterflies and scouring the internet to find out how she can seek repatriation for her Aboriginal/Chinese family to China. One of their sons, called Aboriginal Sovereignty, is determined to commit suicide. The other, Tommyhawk, wishes his brother dead so that he can pursue his dream of becoming white and powerful. This is a novel which pushes allegory and language to its limits, a cry of outrage against oppression and disadvantage, and a fable for the end of days.

6) A book I’ve put down:

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske. I just simply do not care about rich English people. I had about an hour left of the audiobook, I rly tried to push thru but I just couldn't care enough.

7) A book on my wish list:

I would like to get a physical Irish-English dictionary!

8) A favorite book from childhood:

I did love Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree series which look I'm sure u can tell about me if you know me. And look I still do but my god. The amount of parents and parents buying these for their children at the shop for the love of god get them at the op shop PLEASE.

9) A book you would give to a friend:

Vague ............ well it would be something aus.

10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own

The last one I bought was Non-Essential Work by Omar Sakr. I think Omar is one of the best writers working today in this godforsaken colony. HIs work is just exquisite and so precise.

11) A nonfiction book you own:

The last one I bought was Orientalism by Edward Said which made me realise how if you don't read anything academic in ten+ years it's very hard to get back into reading (or again, perhaps it is the horrible mental illnesses attacking my brain which mean I find it extremely hard to concentrate on anything!!! wahoo!!!!) so I am taking that one slow.

12) What are you currently reading:

Ghost Cities by Siang Lu which comes out in May. It's very funny and absurd and written just the way I like. It's about a dude who lives in Sydney and works as a Chinese translator, but he actually speaks no Chinese and uses google translate to do his job. He's fired via elaborate prank and then somehow gets the attention of a famous movie director, and is currently being whisked away to one of the ghost city apartment complexes in China to make a movie with him. There's a parallel story about an ancient emperor and I just finished the 30-page poem that his newly-imprisoned eunichs composed. It's exciting!!

13) What are you planning on reading next?

The Orphancorp trilogy (dystopian aus YA) by Marlee Jane Ward, which I have already read and simply adore. Three novellas that imo have perfect pacing and are about "what if capitalism was extra bad". They are deeply queer and anti-capitalist.

Tagging: @tideoftrash @drbuttox @briarrolfe @so-boop-tac-u-lar @hamthezombie @frankenfossil @dragnew @tekaihau @rows-study @nessie-nosebleed @tenderfacemeat @athousandhungrythorns @gamling

[rigelmejo]

My chinese knowledge is both much (to me who was once struggling to comprehend anything) and also so very very little (the reality of learning languages is there is Always more... in one's native language and all others studied)

This is just me rambling so feel free to ignore uvu alrighty let's get into it. So I learn with the goal of reading in my target languages (usually that's my main motivation initially). So over the years I've figured out, what works best for me is SRS or studying a list of 1000-2000 common words (or reading thru a textbook/taking a class which covers this much or part of it), reading through a grammar guide summary (not to memorize but just for an overview of what to be aware of and consider looking up more later when I see it in practice and get confused). And optionally, looking up the basic ways to say someone present-tense verb, past tense verb, future tense verse, to be and to have verb conjugations. Because these particular features are helpful to know if I want to try chatting/writing with people later.

Sometimes I use different materials to cover the stuff above, but I'm usually doing the stuff above. For example for french: I learned basic past, present, future, basic conjugations from a French class and pronunciation, 1000 common words from a word list, and read a grammar guide summary my first few months. Then I read 300 pages of Le Francais Par Le Methode Nature which helped a ton (and still helps) for learning through context. About 5-6 months in I started reading articles, nonfiction, Wikipedia, graded readers, looking up a handful of words in a translator per page. About a year in I could forgo the word look up and just pick up words from context, about 1.5 years in I could move from graded readers to novels, and at 2 years I stopped studying as far as reading goes - by then I could pick up anything I wanted to read in French and it was doable. I noticed at 2.5 years in etc that reading got easier/felt faster and like less effort, noticed stuff id only managed to follow the main ideas or before i could now follow Most Details too. But after 2 years reading was like English in that I could improve just by doing it more, and it was good enough to do what I wanted. So after that I studied other things in French every so often (pronunciation, listening, grammar a few times for productions sake and I'll definitely need to AGAIN at some point).

Chinese study went similarly. Surprisingly to me, progress reading wise actually followed the same timeline. I'm maybe 2-2.5 years into studying now and I'm probably at a point I could abandon all word lookup, learn only from context (I did this at 1 year in French but cognates helped... in chinese I still had more hanzi to learn 1 year in), and get by knowing at Least the main idea of most stuff I want to read. So now I mainly just read to improve reading, like with English and French. Like French, my main focus when I study now is pronunciation, LISTENING (I want to be able to follow audiobooks better), reading Speed, and one day eventually improving production skills.

My point with all this is like. Well 1. I learn by doing mostly, and that activity I do is Read (also watch shows and listen and browse the internet but reading is probably over 50%). 2. I have a super high tolerance for ambiguity. I think the higher your tolerance for ambiguity, the "easier"/more tolerable you will find learning by doing.

So with extensive reading (reading extensively with no word lookup and picking things up from context), most people comfortably do it when they comprehend 98%. That is like me reading a sewing article - i don't know all the words, but I know enough words to figure out some sewing terms from context. Think of any novel you read in school where you picked up the word melancholy or desolate from context of a scene. Graded readers, for language learners, are designed to hit as close to that comfortable spot as possible.

People can actually still learn some new words/grammar from context clues at lower comprehension levels. 95% comprehension is comfortable enough for a large portion of people, and I've seen studies where even down to 90% comprehension some readers can tolerate the ambiguity and still have enough comprehension to learn some new things from context. They may not necessarily be comfortable at 90% comprehension but some people find it tolerable. (I think the lower limit may have been 80% on some study but it's not comfortable generally for most people). Usually 90% comprehension materials are used for intensive reading, using short texts where people look up a TON of words. Usually we read 95% comprehensible or more when we are reading "comfortably" (think an adult reading in their native language a reading material at their reading level, although not necessarily in a topic they're super familiar with - so me reading about some law proceeding with a lot of technical jargon).

Well as a language learner, at least me when i learn 2000 words, you don't start off with 95%+ comprehensible native material. You have some graded readers (which may be 95%+ comprehensible) Then you have materials for native speakers which are mostly less than 95% comprehensible to you. Because you just don't know enough words for reading native material texts yet! You can solve this a few ways: 1. Read INTENSIVELY, looking up words you don't know often, trying to learn them asap, so you'll improve your vocabulary enough to start to find SOME material 95% comprehensible. 2. Do a middle ground where you only look up 1-20 words per page (whatever is tolerable to you) aka enough key words to grasp the main idea of what is going on. It's intensive reading but you cover more pages faster, and since you don't look every word up you will have some chances to guess meanings based on context. I mostly do this one, but I also do periods of Intensive Reading especially when I want to improve my vocabulary faster (aka quickly push up my reading level significantly). Now with this method 2, I find it's easier if you pick relatively simpler writing to start so that you can AT LEAST follow the main idea with the aid of your modest word lookups. If you can't follow the main idea, even with the help of 1-20 word lookups on a given page, that material is too difficult to learn from. Likewise, with option 1 if you are intensively reading something, looking up Every unknown word, and STILL can't understand the main idea - that material is too difficult for you to use, find a lower reading level material. 3. Read extensively only. This one is hardest, as you will first be trying to find ANYTHING that you can at least grasp the main idea of. For me in japanesr, after 2 years I had to study more SRS flashcards, learn chinese for a year, THEN I finally found i could read some manga and follow the main idea without a dictionary. With french, this would have actually been quite easily achievable if i simply read the graded reader Le Francais Par Le Methode Nature all the way to the end, then switched to French translations of simpler novels I'd read before in English (aka lower level reading material I had prior context for to help me guess meaning of unknowns).

The flip side of option 3? As you learn more, it becomes the "laziest" option in the sense it requires no tools, no pausing to the reading flow. It fries your brain the most, especially at first, because you're completely relying on yourself to figure stuff out. But if like me you hate flashcards/SRS/drills, then making option 3 feasible asap is ideal. So I try to get to option 3 quickly, and switch to the other two ways depending on if I think it will help (option 1 intensive reading boosts vocabulary FAST so it's a good boost to help increase reading level or do with a first chapter of a book to quickly learn all the authors particular common words, option 2 you get detail clarified whenever you want and make relatively speedy progress but without the constant stopping of every-word-lookup-intensive-reading. I do option 2 and 3 the most, and only usually do option 1 when I notice a huge weak point in vocabulary and am trying to fix it quick).

So, how to you get to option 2 or 3 asap, if intensive reading and looking up Every Unknown word burns you out/bores you/demotivates you etc? Consider if you can become more tolerant with ambiguity! If you can accept that it's okay if you don't grasp every detail - you might not know if the floor is green or black, if there's a ball or sword in his hand, bur you can tell X is in a room and sad and holding an object he plans to use against someone. Can you practice accepting that level of ambiguity? If so, I recommend trying to practice accepting ambiguity asap. If you are a new learner, do it 3 months in, 5 months into study, hell do it 1 month in (even though it feels completely brain frying to try to understand ANY bit of a paragraph in month 1). Just try to watch a 2 minute chinese youtube video, 5 minutes of a slice of life cdrama, try to read 1 paragraph of a cnovel you've already read the translation of in English. Try to read a page of a graded reader before you are at its level. It's okay to fail!! Try regularly, and be okay with failing, with not understanding. Feel the brain fry and give up when it's too much. But you will discover that what in month 1 you only recognized 四 and 是, in month 5 you recognize 是光明路四号 as an address, as a clause you know all the hanzi in. You will discover that the show you watched 10 minutes of in month 5 just barely grasping the opening was a robbery, in month 8 you can tolerate watching 20 minutes and realize it's a robbery of jewelry and a WATCH, and a guy catching them in the act! You notice very quickly how much progress you ARE making. It's really cool to see that progress! And as you kept trying to engage with content, you built up your tolerance for ambiguity. You will NEVER understand as little as you did in Month 1 or 3 or 5 again. Unless you start a new language- but now you know what that stage feels like and what progress increments to expect. By the time you get to month 8 and try to read a simple comedy manhua strip? You are brave and try immediately, because you were trying to read full on NOVEL paragraphs since month 3, subtitles since month 5, and these are just some simple everyday phrases with pictures to give you enough context that you barely even feel brain fried. Then it's month 10, and you don't even feel it's extra effort to engage with challenging stuff. It's just a bit slower going, since it takes you more time to comprehend the main idea enough to continue.

What I'm saying is, the more you build up that tolerance for ambiguity, then later when it IS time to read, watch, listen etc you have PRACTICED part of the task. The part of "tolerating the ambiguity" and managing to apply regular reading strategies to material. Some people wait til they learn 5000 words to start reading in chinese. If they really didn't read anything before, then they haven't practiced word parsing, recognition of grammar patterns, identifying key information, guessing from context clues, or the actual act of simply Trying to read content which is likely less than 95% comprehensible to you. So it feels HARD, even though based on their vocabulary it should not be as hard as it was for me at 2000 words. But they still have to catch upon the practice of just practicing reading the Skill, regardless of vocabulary/grammar knowledge.

If you can practice tolerating some ambiguity, you can see your understanding improve as you learn more, can practice skills as you go, and will find it less draining when you do have to get through the inevitable slog of Under 95% comprehension as you work as a language learner until you finally start getting to the point of target language materials being more comfortably comprehensible

[nogenderbee]

Hey there! Can I request a Project Sekai event request? I’m not sure my last request came through (bad internet), so if it did: could you please only take this one into consideration? Sorry and thanks in advance! (Also, if you don’t mind, I have a preference for guys - but you don’t have to take that into consideration if you want).

* What nickname would I call my lover? - Well, I only use nicknames if I’m really comfortable with someone. When it comes to that, I go all out. Babe, darling, sunshine, sweetie, light of my life, anything flamboyant or dramatic enough. Also, various words or names that remind me of their original names (like Anna - Annie, Annabelle, Anode, Anion - don’t ask). I usually say these things in a joking manner.

* What are my hobbies? - Oh boy, this is a tough one. I love doing anything manual that I can do while listening to my favourite music or audiobook. This includes painting, sewing, gardening, anything really. I also love horse riding (anything with animals).

* What is my perfect date idea? - I honestly wouldn’t mind anything as long as I can spend quality time with my lover (just us two, so not a nightclub). However, I love going for long walks and talking about any topic that comes to mind with my lover. These can be in the city (fun walks, pointing out pretty houses or stopping by interesting shops), but I’ve always wanted to go for a long hike with someone in a secluded, beautiful place where we can enjoy the nature.

* What is something I hate in others? - Goodness… I really hate when people are overly argumentative and pick fights just for the sake of conflict. I hate when people are superficially nice without being genuine (they also often give backhanded compliments). I don’t like it when people underestimate or ignore me. One last thing: I hate it when people do tasks assigned to me themselves or try to explain things I already know to me.

* What are my main personality traits? - I’m a different person in many surroundings. Around people I don’t know or I’m not comfortable around, I’m shy, quiet and a total airhead. Around my friends… I’m dramatic, funny, flirty and confident. I also have a side I rarely show to anyone: deep down, I can get really sad. I’m sometimes very sensitive and very unsure of myself. I’m very, very imaginative.

* What activities/hobbies do I like? - Like I said before, I live anything manual and active. I like horse riding, sailing, arty stuff (not drawing though).

* What activities/hobbies don’t I like? - I really don’t like studying (even though I get good grades). I don’t like group projects at school (I like doing everything by myself or I won’t have to motivation to do my part). I don’t like highly theoretical conversations or activities.

Thanks for reading! 💖✨💞

Hii! I did saw your previous order but you were just kinda long in the line so it took me some time... But I kept the order and just took this one instead of previous one! I also kept in mind that you prefer boys so let's get into it~

I pair you with...

🥁🥁🥁

Rui Kamishiro!

⊱ believe me when I say, you exchange many different nicknames all the time, like there could even be different nickname per sentence! And he definitely loves it~

⊱ you cannot tell me that he doesn't make his inventions with music in background so he wouldn't mind that in you! Be it both of you listening to something else on headphones or listening to the same thing through speakers

⊱ as for dates, he's kinda similar but even tho he doesn't mind crowd that much, he does prefer focusing on just you. And when it's about walks, he's a big fan of evening walks but he can understand if you prefer ones during the day. And he definitely won't mind either of them, especially since he can spend time with you and possibly hold your hand~

⊱ now for your traits! He's friends with Nene so he's used to you acting a bit different around star gets and around people you're close to. As much as he finds your shy self cute, he enjoys your flirt side much more as you two can just flirt with each other as if it's competition. As for side when you just feel sad... Rui is rather observant type so he quickly noticed that and is on his way to secretly comfort you through it or if you tell him yourself, he'll be more direct with comforting

⊱ as for the fact you like doing things himself, he does understand it and obviously let's you but he also sometimes asks you if you need help just out of care for you

Currently you and Rui going back home from the calm walk. It was already evening so of course he couldn't just leave you like that. On your way you passed through many shops and even if they were closed, you just liked to ramble about what you recently bought there for example. It was just usual walk full of ramblings for both of you.

"Darling, I was actually thinking of going to the same cafe you just pointed out! I take it as a hint that I should take you there for our next date~"

"Well who am I to refuse, sunshine?"

"Fufu~ I'm just irresistible I guess~ But don't worry, I promise I'll make this date worth your time~"

❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉

[some-cold-and-some-violence]

Tagged by @mooseofthesea, thanks!

Last Song: Our Wedding Waltz by Slim Dusty and Joy McKean (RIP). Set up my turntable and found my box of records yesterday, most of which are ones my nan nicked from my grandad during the divorce. She took all his Dolly Parton lmao (and then she gave them to me, and then my brother stole them… he did eventually give me all his Jethro Tull so we're cool). With Joy McKean's recent passing it seemed fitting to listen to all the music I have of hers!

Currently Watching: I don't have a TV set up yet nor do I have internet nor enough data left to justify videos. In my mind I am perpetually replaying Aces High and the entire Hornblower series, though, if that counts.

Currently Reading: Most of my books are in boxes right now and I need to wait until I can get the good antihistamines before I start unpacking them, and I haven't had the time to make it to the library. So I'm limited to what's on my phone. I just started Young Nelson's: Boy Sailors During the Napoleonic Wars by D.A.B Ronald, and I'm part way through an old translation of The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller. In addition, I'm also reading The Sorrows of Young Werther AGAIN through an email subscription (I love getting letters from my dear friend Werther), and Moby Dick. I also have an audiobook of Biggles of the Camel Squadron which I've been trying to listen while I do housework but I'm slightly hard of hearing and I never retain much in non-music audio format anyway, so it's mostly background noise.

Current Obsession: Going through a bit of a WWI thing at the moment, as you've all probably guessed, on top of the perpetual age of sail thing. In particular, I'm interested in anything to do with the 26th, 12th, and 40th Battalions AIF. The impression I'm very, very slowly putting together is 12th Battalion C. 1916. I'm also diving into the topic of aviation of the era for the first time so I've been trying to find anything I can on that, especially the AFC. Not being able to go to the library is KILLING me!

Tagging (no obligation, of course), @cadmusfly @gohoubi @a-french-guardsman @werewiire

[concubuck]

How many hobbies have they attempted to have over their lifetime? Is there a common theme?

What’s a simple daily activity / motion that they mess up often?

What’s their instinct in a fight / flight / freeze / fawn situation?

((oh shit three questions in one ask, that means i can't write a long-ass essay. I have to write like, 1/3 of an essay. you know that quote like "Forgive me for writing such a long letter, I didn't have time to write a short one"? That's me every day.

How many hobbies have they attempted to have over their lifetime? Is there a common theme?

Probably more than I will ever be able to think up. He's 124 years old, easily bored, and for 80 years had no job or commitments besides amusing himself.

The thing he did in the pilot episode—see somebody's new project, think it sounds stupid, and gleefully rush over to volunteer to be part of it—is, I think, something he did a WHOLE LOT before being a succubus took up all his time. Every few months—a couple years at MOST—he'd be introducing himself to a stranger who's up to the DUMBEST shit he's ever seen and asking what he can do to help out. That, in and of itself, is A Hobby; but I wouldn't be surprised if he's also picked up a whole bunch of weird skills, knowledge, and short-term hobbies from projects like that.

In general:

- He prefers social hobbies to solo ones.

- He likes hobbies that let him travel or physically move around. He'd be a fantastic tourist if he made that a priority.

- He likes hobbies that involve song, dance, or other forms of performance, and hobbies that involve food and drink.

- Outside of performance, he tends to lean away from creative/artistic hobbies. Writing, painting, sculpting, sewing, woodworking, etc play against his strengths.

- He's good at picking up trivia and likes learning but is disinclined to commit dedicated study to a subject. The one exception is magic, which he does dedicate deep study to. He likes reading, in theory, but finds it hard to set aside time just to sit and read; he consumes a lot of audiobooks, educational tapes/CDs, and—naturally—radio programs. Since gaining access to Earth, he's also added podcasts to his listening materials.

- He likes to do New Things and play with New Inventions And Technology. I know most of the fandom headcanons him as a technophobe—but you don't get so deeply involved in radio that in death you develop radio-themed superpowers, in the early 30s, less than ten years since commercial radio took off, unless you're on the CUTTING EDGE of new technology. I think what most folks interpret as "technophobia" is actually very deeply thought-out misgivings about the ways that exciting new technologies have been misused: first TV and now the Internet having an early boom in wild, cheap, niche, brilliant, creative art, only for that to get stifled and streamlined as the space becomes dominated by a few big companies dedicated to blandly appealing clickbait and maximizing ad revenue—and I think the fact that Vox probably has an even bigger monopoly on mass media in Hell just makes Hell's TV/Internet even worse. Imagine if the entire Internet was like only the worst and most frustrating parts of Twitter and TikTok. Outside of the technologies that Vox has stuck his gross Big Brother Jeff Bezos Fox News media monopoly all over, I think Alastor really likes new inventions. (Alastor crouched on a chair watching a roomba meander around: "Goodness gracious, would you watch that little dizzy-wizzy go!")

What’s a simple daily activity / motion that they mess up often?

Uhhh, does going to bed count? (*laughs in ADHD*) Does getting out of bed count? (*laughs more nervously in ADHD/depression combo*) I can't think of any specific activities he "messes up," but "fails to do despite wanting/needing to" is a common problem. Taking out the trash, getting groceries, using the groceries before they go bad, doing laundry, renewing his medications, scheduling appointments... See: the ADHD and depression.

What’s their instinct in a fight / flight / freeze / fawn situation?

If the threat is physical, fight. If the threat is physical and wildly overwhelming, fawn or flight. If the threat is political, financial, bureaucratic, etc, something big and complicated and systematic, freeze or flight in the short term and fight in the long term. If the threat is social or emotional, flight.

[thyme-in-a-bubble]

Thank you, honestly that made me cry a little...

When I was younger I tried to ignore when someone asked me how I'm doing or tried to change the topic without giving an answer, now just like you said I think it's a reflex to say that I'm good and quickly avert attention from me to others

And I guess I'm not that good? I was supposed to have an evening shift at work today, but about two hours before that they called me and asked if I could come for the night shift instead and I agreed... I normally don't do them, it's not like I don't like them or can't do them, honestly they are kinda nice - it's just more quiet and less stressful at night, but I learned that my brain is much meaner at night, especially when I'm alone... and during the few night shifts that I had there were moments where I needed to stop everything and just focus on not crying, so I'm not looking forward to that...

And after I got that information about shifts changing, I didn't do anything... I just stayed in bed all day (basically I was in and out of sleep for 5 hours) and it just feels like I wasted a whole day and I know tomorrow will be the same because always after a night shift I sleep till like 3 or 4 pm

Sorry for dumping this on you...

And thank you for such a kind answer and for asking 💕

first of all, you’re not “dumping” this on me, i asked. and even if i didn’t, i still wouldn’t look at it that way, i would just think that you’re super strong for opening up and looking inward, even if it’s just to little old me, a complete stranger on the internet.

my brain gets weird at night as well. always has and probably always will. it’s like, both because i am tired as well as the lack of sunlight and stuff that does psychologically to a person, that im just a lot more open, susceptible and fragile and it’s harder not to get knocked down by something. it’s so much of a thing for me that i’ve over the years set rules for myself in order to make the evenings and the nights better so that i get as good a night of sleep that i can (because sleep is incredible and has so much power over your brain and the chemicals zooming throughout your body it’s wild).

i don’t know what it is your job entails, but maybe there is something you could do in those situations to make it easier? something that could distract you, like maybe listen to something (music, podcast, audiobook). or maybe even something as “small” as making sure you’re comfortable, wearing something that doesn’t feel ew (of course unless you wear a uniform, in that case, maybe comfy shoes? unless they’re a part of it too). also maybe having a little thing you can fiddle with in your pocket. might sound like a tiny thing, but that’s something i did most of the years i went to school, i think since i was around 14 and the therapist i was talking to back then gave me a very smooth rock from her office for me to hold in my hand while doing something bad i had to do. i think she gave it to me to help remind me of some of the good things we went over, but i personally find that having a little thing in my palm (later it became fidget toys) can help ground me, help my nervous system a tiny bit (because sometimes you just need a tiny bit to get through to the other side), and help me not unconsciously do some of the bad coping mechanisms my body has a habit of doing (an example could be chewing on the inside of my cheek). maybe it could also be something as small as bringing some yummy snacks with you! lots of the relatively small things can really add up, that’s often how i got through exams. and at the end of the day, it has really helped me to hold onto this and it might help you as well: you are an adult, if it gets too much then you can always just get up and leave. you always have the power to just go.

and one last thing, i don’t personally think that you wasted your whole day away. you did what your body needed you to do, rest before and after something turbulent. how is that a waste? i don’t think it is. i think its great, i think its productive. you did what your body told you it needed instead of powering through in a way that would properly make the night even worse and then cause you to need more time to recover. 

[mangacat201]

I posted 1,995 times in 2022

That's 277 more posts than 2021!

23 posts created (1%)

1,972 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@queenklu

@ahhhnorealnamesallowed

@the-marathon-continues-nip

@hattalove

@letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

I tagged 1,906 of my posts in 2022

Only 4% of my posts had no tags

#0 - 53 posts

#laugh rule yo - 77 posts

#the devil judge - 74 posts

#911 fox - 55 posts

#resource post - 48 posts

#the untamed - 41 posts

#duuuuuuuuuude - 37 posts

#word of honor - 34 posts

#bad and crazy - 34 posts

#true dat - 31 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#yeah once i realized how small their size of canon interaction actually is i went like 😳😳😳 because headcanon was so vast and limbo like

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Can you explain the origin of goncharev???

Ahhhhh... my friend your ask has set me with a nigh impossible task, for Goncharov as a phenomenon is a many-legged kraken whose suckers will snag any unsuspecting tumblr-fish swimming by while its center remains hidden by the jagged edges of the digital reef.

But i will try!

See, it started with a shoe.

No, it started with someone making a shoe who did not know what they were doing.

Nay, it started with someone being slapped with the dodgeball of Apollo's gift of prophecy and predicting that tumblr would hence come together to invent a piece of media and create a Fandom out of it so vast and authentic, people outside the hivemind would believe it was real and start to be driven mad with trying to find the source that only exists in the shape that is left empty by all the fannish things created around it.

And the tumbrlinas would be so delighted by their own work that they perpertuated it to the point of alerting its supposed creator who then went IN ON THE BIT.

And so the new fannish corner of the internet trundles on, continuing to make art and writing and music and meta discussions and we looked upon it and shared it as good.

Or, you know, you can have the origin explainer post (as far as i can tell) here🤣🤪🤭:

9 notes - Posted November 28, 2022

#4

I miss them.

The emotional build up of this SENDS me.

11 notes - Posted August 21, 2022

#3

Just sitting here, minding my own business. Meanwhile my spider plant a few days ago started to try and establish first contact with baby!Groot. Don't really know what to do with that🤣.

12 notes - Posted October 1, 2022

#2

𝐓𝐀𝐆 (𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄) 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

Got tagged by @hedgewyse whom I was very happy to get to know better via this tag game, thanks a lot! Sorry it took so long to respond, I needed to get on tumblr on the laptop where I can actually type up text and I had a lot of things going on this past week that kept me LOL.

Favourite colour: Blue.

No explanation, not particular reason why, it’s just always been blue. All shades from deep purple to almost white. But I have a special place in my heart for the word ‘turquoise’, which I feel is just so the most. 

Currently reading: Oh good gosh, my open doc reading list is so long, I will constrain myself to the most recent things...

“(Love is)The second oldest profession” The 9-1-1 Buck/Eddie pornstar!AU I knew I needed but kept for a special occasion

I’m also reading “Achtsam Morden” a national German bestseller and the first actual like physical book I’ve picked up in probably four years. It’s hilarious and murdery and perfect

I’m listening to “Blood & Paper” by Kevin Hearne (whom I recently got to meet at a book signing event when he was visiting here and a friend asked me to spontaneously tag along - best decision in ages) Love the audiobook version read by Luke Daniels, he’s a whizz with the accents.

“Hide the drums (there’s fire in the sky)” latest installment of the Magical Marriage Ribbons-Verse, the Untamed Mega Saga, for which the author starandrea has been posting a chapter every day since May 31st 2020, so 805 consecutive days as of now without missing ONE. It boggles the mind. (I’ve started reading when the verse was ... oh I think about three parts in, I haven’t missed one too since then)

Last song: “The Greatest Show on Earth” - Nightwish, it’s my soundtrack for my daily yoga practice (no I am in fact not joking), so it doesn’t really count last leisure listening was the soundtrack of ‘Robin Hood - Das Musical’

Last series: Ooofff... ok, so many balls in the air at the same time. I’m watching “The Sandman” of course, as you do and loving it. Also “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” which is THE MOST(tm). Recently finished my rewatch and catch-up of “Manifest” and rewatched a couple of episodes of The Devil Judge with a friend who just started and that I got into it, remembering why I can’t be normal about those boys (and how delightful it is to rewatch with someone experiencing sth for the first time). Of course went down the magnificent and batshit crazy rabbithole that is Kinnporsche. Also, “Tomorrow” which is definitely my fav K-Drama of 2022.

Last movie: Day Shift - Fun and a nice remix of vampire tropes that you don’t really see on top of each other a lot. But it felt more like a set up to a movie trilogy I don’t know if it’s made enough impact into getting, so the premise might have been served better as a mini series? ...The Gray Man, which was solid and enjoyable and absolutely bonkers with how hilarious it was to watch Chris Evans have a ton of fun playing straight up, no holds barred, unredeemable villian. Ryan Gosling can stay... Ana de Armas is queen bee.

Currently working on: My last day of vacation :sob: and of course my WIP/plot bunnie enclosure excel spreadsheet (yes, I do not do things by half until I halfass writing them). Anyway, actual words or plotty thinky thoughts were put into:

- The Devil Judge a/b/o PWP (that has, so far, about 5k of set up and no porn) with a Jung Sunah made them do it scenario and non-traditional dynamics (yeah, idek...)

- Vincenzo Inception fusion - Jang Han Seo wakes up from getting shot to a curious set up of sleeping people around him (really really wanna write this one but the premise is so vast I’m afraid of flaming out again)

- three separate 9-1-1 Buddie fics of varying size and scope that reaches from one’s in love the other isn’t and confessions make things complicated (or do they), the fall out from the truck bombing goes the other way for Buck & the “Eddie deals with his 5B-issues by discovering shibari”!AU (do NOT try this at home-therapy)

- The Untamed - Blades of Glory!AU

pheeeeew. hooookay, wow, that was interesting, hope your learned something about me. I’mma tag some people, but please, feel free to participate at your own leisure. @hattalove, @the-marathon-continues-nip , @iskarieot, @themostglorioushour, @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels , @fondofeveryprickle, @ahhhnorealnamesallowed, @sam-t-a, @b612sunsets

16 notes - Posted August 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Jonathan Harker: Yo, yo, mofos, what's up, I'm about to drop some TRUE FAX. ×proceeds to speak lawyer for five paragraphs, then looks out the window×.

Dracula: ×scales castle wall upside down like a gecko×

Jonathan Harker: Akjejsksljhejslwpfjfbf DUDE WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCKERY IS THIS!?!?!?!?!!!!????

23 notes - Posted May 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[markantonys]

You started watching/reading the wheel of time!! How are you finding it so far??

(Forgive the excitement, none of my friends read it or watch without me hovering over them going ‘watch this’)

I SURE DID i watched the show right when it came out bc i happened to see a trailer and thought "oh that looks cool" and i was HOOKED instant new hyperfixation!! but i wasn't planning to read the books because a) HUGE undertaking and i'm so bad at reading these days and have a horrible attention span for it (where are my fellow "used to read 1 novel a day as a kid and is lucky to read 1 a year as an adult" people at) and b) i felt like i was enjoying the show more than book readers were bc i had absolutely 0 expectations and nothing to compare it to. like after every episode i'd be like "wow what a fantastic hour of television! every second was a joy!" and come onto the internet to see book readers losing their shit hkjdf

however, i also did kinda want to read them since i kept getting spoiled about stuff (90% of the time my own fault bc i'm so weak about looking up spoilers) and also bc the show got me hardcore shipping rand and mat and i wanted to see the extended edition of their roadtrip hahaha and then one day i stumbled across the full eotw audiobook on youtube so i decided to give it a shot, and i've been really enjoying it so far! i'm a little over halfway. deeeeefinitely helps that i already know and love and am invested in the characters because that keeps me going whenever the book starts dragging (enjoying it on the whole for sure but it is LONG WINDED and i usually struggle with that kind of dense, hyper-descriptive writing style. audiobook also helps bc i can just build a house in the sims and listen to a guy tell me a lil story instead of doing the actual work of getting thru all those scenery descriptions myself)

so far i'm thinking i like moiraine, lan, and perrin a little better in the show, egwene a little better in the book, and rand and nynaeve the same because they're my freaking BELOVEDS and i will love cherish and adore any and all versions of them. mat is also my freaking beloved so while i prefer show mat, i still love book mat more than i think most people do since he's such a dumb little bratty bitch boy in this book and apparently will deeply suck as a person and character until like book 4 jdkfgj i don't care, you don't know all the facts which are i love him

anyway the only goal i set for myself was to read the first book so i'm not sure whether i'll try to keep going, we'll see how i motivated i feel when i finish! it really is the constant war of "i love the story and want to find out what happens for myself instead of thru spoilers" vs. "i'm a lazy reader and also i want to be able to wholeheartedly enjoy future seasons of the show without fixating on changes from the books"

[thestudyofdrama]

Top Seven: Websites

I’ve scoured the internet high and low for some fantastic websites you can spend time on, without feeling like you are missing out on theater stuff during the pandemic.

1. For Podcasts...Broadway Podcast Network

So. Many. Podcasts! That focus specifically on theater, Broadway, and the West End! Did you know that Tim Rice, Donna McKechnie, and Kerry Butler all have podcasts? Listen to them here, along with podcasts on backstage happenings, show-based series, and even some Dungeons and Dragons played by thespians!

2. For Streaming Shakespeare...Globe Player

I am personally having a war with myself to switch from Netflix and Hulu over to subscribing to the Globe’s streaming service. Not only do they have shows in English, but in performed in other languages too! Lithuanian productions of Hamlet with subtitles, a South Korean production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and one of my favorites, Twelfth Night with Stephen Fry as Malvolio and Mark Rylance as Olivia!

3. For Book Box Subscriptions...Dramatists Play Service Book Club

I, again, personally have not used this service. It’s a quarterly (and somewhat pricey) book subscription box, at $34.99 for a box of  seven plays delivered four times a year. I’m not someone who has book box subscriptions, but if I ever become one, it would absolutely be this one.

4. For Brushing Up on Your Shakespeare (Scansion)...Precanned Shakespeare

Are you performing Shakespeare soon and haven’t the faintest idea on how to score your lines? Thank goodness for Precanned Shakespeare! This site, presents each play and sonnet by Shakespeare with each line of verse scanned with syllable notes, indicating where the emphasis in lines and words belongs.

5. For Reading Plays Online...Scribd

If you subscribe to any reading-focused website, it should be Scribd. There are so many nonfiction, fiction, and audiobooks here for your enjoyment. Know what else they have, at the price of $9.99 month for access to everything? Hundreds of plays and musical theater books.

6. For Finding DVDs and CDs of International Shows...eBay

I’ve found a million different cast albums for Wicked, Elisabeth, Tanz der Vampire, and more, that you can’t find on Amazon. There is far more memorabilia from various productions than on Amazon.

7. For Finding DVDs and CDs and Sheet Music and More of International Shows...Sound of Music-Shop

Goodness I love this website. I can’t find sheet music for Die Päpstin anywhere else but here! You can use their advance search to filter shows by country, which streamlines your quest for more international musicals even quicker!

[meimae]

Look at me, not being on time for my April Immersion Overview as is the usual. (・w・;

First, little blog updates to get out of the way:

I reached 100 followers! Got an influx of people checking out my 1 year update post, and got plenty of nice compliments on my data collection.

For those of you wondering just why I keep up with so much data, it's mostly because it can get really hard to notice how much you're improving in a language especially with something like immersion learning that for people who don't get it feels like a waste of time or a time sink.

Graphs showing consistency, improvement in reading speed, increasing vocabulary counts, and generally just seeing numbers grow turns language learning more fun and motivating for me, and if as a bonus, it encourages someone to try immersion learning then that would be cool!

With that said, whether you're here as a fellow language learner, graphs enthusiast (笑), or just want some Japanese media recommendations, ようこそ! 

Also, made a tiny DP change - it’s チト from 少女週末旅行. Pretty sure it’s the first manga series I ever finished in Japanese (not the first one I started since ちはやふる is still ongoing), and I always felt a bit of a ☆connection☆ with  her - between her book-loving personality and being a no-nonsense kind of person, there was no way for me not to enjoy her character. Great beginner anime/manga if you’re not into most beginner recommendations.

-☆-

April has been a pretty good immersion month, as I was able to dip my toes in a variety of media. A bit competitive, too! The club I joined has been pulling all the stops to get to the Top 20 Immersion Leaderboard in it’s first month. I was able to snag the 9th spot among a bunch of people of different comprehension levels (the majority being N1+ since they’re able to comprehend much more and in turn stand longer immersion hours). Lots of tiny complaints though of potential “whitenoising” content (”listening” and “reading” but not comprehending very well just to get a large number to post), but really what can you do? People lie all the time on the internet. Besides, it’s internet points that doesn’t do anything beyond being a little shiny I guess.

Enough about that, let’s get into the nitty-gritty details you came here for!

ANIME

フルーツバスケット

Might need to rewatch this one. Felt like I didn’t connect with the characters the way the rest of its fandom has. I’m kinda sad about it, since I normally love Slice of Life and Fantasy, and I know this is one of my friend’s diehard shows.

ラブライブ! School Idol Project S2

A filler anime to watch tbh. Nice and easy enough to follow for beginners. Pretty good songs. With regards to it being a show about music and moe, I still 100% prefer K-On! if I’m going to be honest, but for a show about non-toxic idols, it’s good!

魔法少女まどか☆マギカ

First read this as English translated manga when I was 13 or something. Mistakes were made. Let’s all just agree to throw キュウベえ into a pit of fire and never talk about it again. Great ending and a show that really reworked the magical girl genre. But seriously, I was traumatized by マミ’s death then and now, help.

四月は君の嘘

Already knew what was going to happen even before watching this so I didn’t ugly cry like I was expecting. Still got that awful sinking feeling though. 10/10 would recommend for a good cry. Also, I’m planning to read the manga, might enjoy that more, because I’ve always liked it more than anime actually. *shocked pikachu face*

ホリミヤ

Watched before I even finished the manga which felt like a mistake at first until I realized that it perfectly stops where I stopped reading. Nice and comfy anime, the kind I would have loved as a teen. Fun animation too, making parts very dramatic even though it wasn’t really that deep of an issue even in the manga. Just teens feeling feelings. Still salty that we lose bad boy styled 宮村, but I get why it had to happen.

AUDIOBOOKS

氷菓

Second re-listen. I understand it fine, but it’s very easy to drift off when you can’t catch all the words so I had to replay often. Will have to mine more from the anime/book.

君の名は

I mined from the anime, and was really pleased to be able to follow all 6 hours of this audiobook perfectly fine. Will need to read the book, because I realized just how seamless reading it would be after listening to it with hardly any issue.

BOOKS

キッチェン

Completed! Read my thoughts about it and see my stats on this post.

君の膵臓を食べたい

Still trudging on with this one. It’s not a bad story, it’s pretty well written actually, I just made the mistake of watching both the anime and live adaptation first, so I know exactly what’s going to happen and it’s killing my motivation to keep reading. I guess reading the book first before watching the movie still applies in any language with me. Really need to 頑張れ and finish so I can move on. 

三日間の幸福

Started reading towards the end of the month, mostly because I realized that every chapter is only 5000-15000 characters long, and I was able to read up to 40k in a day with Island most days. Only two chapters read so far though because I got distracted by manga, but it’s shaping up to be a really good plot and potentially a really sad one, too, so I’m interested.

DRAMA

花ざかりの君たちへ イケメンパラダイス

Heard this was a classic so I gave it a try. Loved 生田 斗真’s character in this one the most especially all his internal dialogue acted out. Also, 小栗 旬 in anything is bound to be a good watch. Simple and fun watch. They dragged the ending so much though lmao 

ごくせん

Look, I see 松本 潤, I click. Definitely the kind of show you should watch for some great life advice. Planning to watch the 2nd and 3rd seasons even if there is a terrible lack of 松本 潤, because I love my strong female protagonists, and man, ヤンクミ is such a great character. Need to read the manga, too, if I can find it.

極主夫道

Oof, this was kind of hard. The yakuza talk was throwing me off, but the rest of it was enjoyable. Not really plot heavy as I thought it was going to be. The comedy side of it was fun and predictable after the first few episodes. Overall, pretty good slice of life, family story with a twist.

MANGA

Read a bunch of manga this month, mostly because I am struggling to find the next vn to read.

おやすみプンプン

Read a couple of volumes (6-7). This manga is so good, but it’s so depressing I need to stop to take a breather every once in a while. Please don’t leave any spoilers. The club has been reacting to me reading this, and it has mostly been a lot of crying emotes. It’s both been enjoyable to see and really worrying. 笑

チェンソーマン

Club recommendation. Only read the 1st volume so far. I really need to get into more 少年 anime/manga. That’s currently my 苦手 genre which is awful because literally all the top anime/manga is 少年 help. I just can’t enjoy it much still even though it’s comprehensible to me.

ちはやふる 中学生編

Read Vol. 1, chill read to me at this point after reading 45 volumes of the regular manga. Look, it’s my favorite 幼馴染 manga in baby format, of course I’m going to read this! 太一 has been a flake way before season 3 confirmed. Don’t come at me たいちはや stans bc I also like his character.

約束のネバーランド

Volume 7. I’m taking my sweet time with this one, because I heard the anime for season 2 sucked, so I’m avoiding it like the plague. This is 少年 how am I enjoying this and not everything else what.

ヲタクに恋は難しい

Enjoyed the anime hated the movie why did they make it a musical that sucked (ps i normally love musicals hated this one) 

The オタク jargon is kinda hard to read suprisingly but I do enjoy this ship very much. It’s a lighthearted take to otaku culture which is great because seriously it’s scary out there.

ツバサ -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-

It’s my childhood ship, obviously I will read this again (read in English several years ago). Still as plot twisty as I remember it being (now at a bonus hard level reading it in Japanese 笑). Really enjoyed reading this one (I finished it this May).

-☆-

I’m starting to really dislike furigana in manga. It was a great help as a beginner, but now it’s like training wheels that you can’t take off. I feel like the gains I’m getting from manga is much lower than it was when I first started which makes me both proud of how far I’ve come, but also sad because I love manga. Sad that I might have to start choose VNs over it, because it’s not going to challenge me as much going forward. I mean it didn’t stop me from reading a lot of it this month, but you get the picture.

VISUAL NOVELS

ISLAND

Completed! See my stats and read my long spoiler filled post here.

ファタモルガーナの館

Picked up this VN and finished two doors (15 hours) before stopping. On the fence about it, because it has been kind of predictable so far, and I don’t particularly enjoy the horror genre. That said, this is more psychological than anything, so it’s probably not that that’s putting me off. The language is not exactly difficult, too - maybe some oddly specific words because it is after all historical fiction (which is one of my favorite genres, btw), and 敬語 is definitely interesting to read for once after encountering so many お嬢様 characters in anime/drama so far. 

I think maybe it’s the conversations that are kind of dull - dots (silence) every few clicks that keeps breaking the flow of reading. Probably judging it really harshly too early, because it’s rated so high everywhere, and I just have high expectations. Definitely not dropping it yet though, just taking a break and testing a couple of other VNs before I settle with whatever I end up choosing. It is, after all, going to be another 50+ hour read, and I just don’t want to not enjoy the process, because having fun with the process is a huge part of immersion learning.

Let me know if you’ve read Fata and if I should continue! 

-☆-

That’s it for this month!

If you have any suggestions on what to watch and read next, please send me a reply, especially for VNs because I’m struggling over here.

[carriagelamp]

Since it’s Pride Month, I decided this year I wanted to raid the library for a bunch of different queer books to read. Mostly graphic novels in this case, because I’ve had a hard time settling into much reading lately... thought hopefully now that it’s summer and I finally have my second shot I’ll be able to relax a bit more and dig into some heavier novels again. For now, enjoy some light, queer reads that I indulged in this June.

A Wolf Called Wander

A beautiful novel I had been hearing lots about. This story follows the young wolf Swift, who grows up knowing that he and his pack are the mountains, and the mountains are them. It’s in those mountains that he grows and learns and loves… until disaster strikes and he finds himself viciously torn apart from his family and forced out of the mountains that have always meant home to him. Forced to survive on his own. Swift then begins a gruelling journey that makes him face injury, starvation, and the everpresent danger of humans as he seeks a new place he can call home, and new people with whom he can form a pack.

This is all based on the true story of a tagged wolf known as OR-7, following the unbelievable route he took through Oregon and northern California! It was a very neat read, and I’d definitely recommend it if you enjoy stories told from an animal’s perspective because this book is a master class in it.

Bloom

I decided for June to try to read a handful of different queer books, and this was one of the first graphic novels I picked up. It is a super sweet story and the art is lovely. It’s about Ari, a boy who has just graduated high school and is now desperate to move away from his small town and his family’s struggling bakery, to join his band in the city where they hope to make it big. An agreement is finally reached: Ari’s father will let him leave, if he can find someone who can replace him in the bakery, which is how Ari meets Hector, someone who sees artistry and peace in baking. For anyone that’s read Check, Please, it gives off those types of vibes!

Boule et Bill: Bill est Maboul

Another book of Dupuis comics, because I can’t get enough of them! This one I just stumbled across and ended up reading on a whim but it was very cute. Geared younger than the others I’ve read, but still quite funny. It’s the charming hijinks of a young boy, his dog, and the family they live with. Each page or so is a different stand alone joke, a bit like Calvin and Hobbes except expanded beyond a single strip.

Chicken Run: Chicken Pies for the Soul

This was a ridiculous urge I got and had to follow. I recently rewatched Chicken Run (which is, of course, one of the best movies ever made) and felt the need to see if it had ever been novelized. Well, I found something better than a novelization! This is a chapter book with “advice” and stories written by the various characters, post-movie. It really does a good job with grasping the different characters’ voices and making something simple and funny out of it. It was very cute (and available on The Internet Archive if anyone else feels like reading something ridiculous!)

Doodleville

I picked this up on a whim and honestly, I shouldn’t have bothered. It was not very impressive. Very mediocre, awkward feeling artwork, and a story that only slightly manages to redeem it. The concept was kind of neat, and I did like how the ending came about, the rest was rather… plodding. I did not like the main character at all, her friends felt very Intentionally Quirky Aren’t We Cute :3 in a way that just tries too hard, and… yeah. Meh. It technically gets the “queer graphic novel flag” but it’s so in-passing that it feels rather excessive to give it that.

If you are interested, it’s about a world were doodles actually exist as living creatures that can be drawn into existence (the rather unsettling implications of which is never fully explored). This is all well and good, until the main character draws a monster and takes it with her to her art club... where it begins ravanging not only her doodles, but those of her friends. Together they need to work together to figure out how to stop this menace.

FRNCK v4

Phenomenal. I adore the FRNCK series, and book four wrapped up the first “cycle”, revealing several of the big secrets dogging the series so far, and changing how things are going to be able to run in the future.

If you haven’t seen me talk about it before, FRNCK is a graphic novel (a franco-belgian bande dessinée) about a young orphan, Franck, who’s chafing under the constant parade of uninterested foster parents that visit the orphanage he lives in. Determined to learn about his mysterious abandonment instead, he flees the orphanage… but finds himself tumbling through time, landing among a family of cave-people who rather reluctantly take him in and ensure this modern boy doesn’t die in the strange, dangerous new surroundings he finds himself in. You can get these ones in English as e-books, so if you want a really kickass graphic novel series to read please try these.

Haikyu!!

I’ve heard so much about Haikyu!! that I finally gave in and picked up the first book from the library. And I gotta say, it’s well worth the hype! This series really does capture the best parts of a good sports manga -- which is to say the team is filled with interesting, enjoyable character who all need to learn to pull together, boost each other’s strengths, and cover for each other’s weaknesses. Love me some found family tropes and this series oozes it in the best possible way. And then you also get some very cool action scenes as it makes high school volleyball seem like the most intense thing on earth. I can’t wait to continue it

Queer Eye

I haven’t been keeping up with Queer Eye but I was watching it ravenously when it first came out, and this seemed like a very cathartic book to read… and it really was. It had the same gentle, loving encouragement as the show. It doesn’t expect you to change your entire life, but to learn to embrace who you are, and take small steps to enhance those things. There a segment written (presumably) by each member of the Fab Five, explaining the mentality behind what they do on the show and how you can grow in those areas too. It’s very zen.

Spinning

I got this graphic novel out at the same time as Bloom, but it was the one that interested me less of the two... though that’s just because I have less interest in “real world” slice of life as a genre and this one is meant to be autobiographical. If you’re into that, you’ll probably love this because it really is stunning. Very pretty, and the format and pacing is all really well done. It’s a coming of age story for Tillie as she grows up dealing with a crosscountry move, complicated friendships, a burgeoning attraction to girls, and attending competitive figure skating classes.

This Place: 150 Years Retold

A stunning and heart-wrenching graphic novel told by a collection of different First Nation’s authors/artists, recounting oral histories about the 150 years since the colonialist formation of the country known as “Canada”. In other words, this is a post-apocalypse story, but one that really happened and that entire peoples are still fighting to survive. It’s very eye opening and beautifully told. Very strongly recommend the read, especially if you’re at all interested in history.

Torchwood: Serenity

Whoops, not technically a book. I had thought these were technically audiobooks at first, but rather they’re audio dramas that were played on the radio. Still, I decided to include one because I’ve been listening to them like a person possessed and they’re too fun not to at least mention. Let me indulge in my obsessions.

If you don’t know Torchwood, it’s a BBC series that spins-off from Doctor Who, focusing on the enigmatic and flirtatious Captain Jack Harkness, who is running the covert organization known as Torchwood, which is tasked to protect humanity from and prepare them for alien contact. It’s goofy and campy but also more adult and heavy than Doctor Who tends to get, so it is (in my opinion) a really fascinating series. Though it also has content warnings coming out the wazoo so maybe make sure it’s for you before delving in.

Serenity specifically is possibly one of the best Torchwood stories I’ve ever experienced. The Torchwood team concludes that there’s an undercover alien hiding in the idyllic gated community Serenity Plaza, and so that means it’s up to Jack and Ianto to go undercover as a happily married couple and flush out the alien without being discovered first. Even if it means being sickly sweet together, pretending to care about the local neighbourhood barbecues, and actually caring a bit too much about the Best Front Lawn competition. What is truly magical about this one, is that it manages to make it a Fake Dating AU despite the fact that Jack and Ianto are actually dating in canon. But they’re both used to dating as a pair of alien hunters with insanely dysfunctional lives, and who now need to figure out how to deal with domesticity. It is marvellous.

Wilderlore: The Accidental Apprentice

A middle grade novel that felt a bit like a cross between Harry Potter and Pokemon. It’s about orphan Barclay Thorne who wants nothing more than to be accepted in the rule-bound village of Dullshire, and live up to his apprenticeship as a mushroom farmer. He certainly wants nothing to do with the fearsome Beasts who live beyond the village, deep in the Woods or the sinister Lorekeepers that bond with them. It was, after all, a Beast that had killed his parents all those years ago. But when he finds himself at the very edge of the forest, hunting for an elusive mushroom, he is suddenly unable to avoid any of that. Not when a wild girl and her bonded dragon appear to summon a horrible Beast and end up getting Barclay bonded to it instead. Now, if Barclay ever wants to be welcomed back into his home, he has no choice but to venture into the Woods and find a way to sever the bond imprisoning him to the massive, monstrous wolf now imprinted on his body as a living tattoo.

I honestly can’t decide how I felt about this one. I feel like it’d be a really fun read for maybe a grade 5 to 7 student? I was a bit more meh about it. It was fine, but it was very hard not to draw unfavourable parallels to Harry Potter. But for a kid who’s never read Harry Potter? Or even an adult that has but is looking for something different to scratch that itch, this might be a good book to try. I’ll probably try reading the second book when it comes out.

[xinasvoice]

Dear xinasvoice - I love all your Wolfstar podfics so, I am having trouble finding others that match in quality now that I've finished all of yours... Do you have some favorite podfics you can recommend?

Oh dear, this post is going to reveal my snobbery, but it sounds like you are an audio snob too so...hopefully that is okay? Basically, my podfics sound nice because I have a ~$6k audio setup (booth, soundproofing, sound dampening, mic, interface, editing software) because I thought for a while I would do audiobooks, and because I'm a total perfectionist about my podfic too. For the record, yes, $6k of perfectionism is too much perfectionism. Well, that's bottom of the barrel in the audiobook world, but it's definitely more money than any sane person with a regular amount of disposable income would spend on podfic. (FYI, I'm not doing audiobooks anymore because my other day job gives back more to the world, and I decided I want to focus on that, so I'm sorry but I can't point you towards my bad-ass real-world audiobook persona.) So if we are judging on audio quality alone, no, to be perfectly honest I have not personally listened to many podfics that sound like mine, especially the newer ones (the older ones are from a more amateur-level setup, and the OLDEST ones are from basically no setup except a hand-me-down USB mic). BUT, there is a lot more to podfic than audio quality. Acting/reading style matter. Some people can do really badass accents, which I don't do (too chicken). And the most important thing is the story, because usually your brain will filter out things like background noise if you are into the story. And if you are just getting into podfic, please don't think you need fancy stuff, 90% of your listeners literally cannot hear the difference. I've tested this on my friends. I have sensory processing disorder, so my audio needs probably differ vastly from the average person. Anyways, because I am an audio snob I am sorry to say that I rarely listen to podfic that isn't my own. BUT here are the few I have listened to that I adore:

The Drought Story by Librae - the first podfic I listened to, and still a comfort-listen. A good example of how the audio quality isn't a big deal, since there is a lot of background hiss/room noise. I adore this narrator's accent and pacing of reading, and the story is the perfect, sweet, poetic listen. Sadly, this link is to the text story. I can't find where I originally downloaded the audio file from. I don't even know the name of the narrator (unless Librae did it themself). If you really want it, I guess I can email it to you (xinasvoice@gmail.com), but you would have to take off those rad shades and show me your true gmail identity. Highland Fling by picascribits - I made an audiobook version of the author's mp3 file, (it's linked in the comments), just because I find it really annoying to listen to a long MP3. This is a lovely story, although I think I recall a questionable lube-less experience. This is decent audio quality. The Maddest House by busaikko - One of my top-favorite fics, and being able to listen to it is a total treat. The audio quality is better than most, for sure, but honestly it is still hard for me to listen to. Also ugh, I can't find the podfic file. It's by Greeniron I think? Maybe some of my followers can help. Stealing Harry by copperbadge - One of the best fics in fandom, famous-for-a-reason! I adore this one so much that I recorded the little short stories that come after it. I had always meant to do the next big fic in the series, but I never got around to it. Thank god it's on A03. I weep for all the fics and podfics I love from my teenage years that were murdered by corporate purges or internet attrition. Also, my bestie, @remus-lupin-is-my-type makes podfic and I have mastered the recent ones for sound quality, so you might like her stuff! It is similar sound quality, but it's not wolfstar. My current fave is a stucky (Captain America) podfic called Talk Awkward To Me. If anyone else makes podfic and wants me to master it, it actually only takes me a couple minutes with the presets I have in RX7 (note, mastering is different from editing). So hit me up in the PMs!