#I hate this book so much

[thedesertpenguin]

Book!Benedict is my mortal enemy because how are you going to say this (and TW for attempted SA)

“Benedict groaned. He was too far away to determine whether the housemaid was enjoying their attentions, and if she was not, then he was going to have to save her, which was not how he’d planned to spend his evening. He’d never been particularly enamored of playing the hero, but he had far too many younger sisters —four to be precise— to ignore any female in distress.”

And expect me to root for you?

I have my beef with the other book!Bridgerton boys (Anthony “you will not deny me my rights” Bridgerton I’m looking at you) but when I read this paragraph I had to sit back for a second and decide if I was really going to invest any more time in this book.

Not only that but it plays into this whole “romantic” trope where the guy saves the girl from almost getting SA’d. And instead of focusing on how that impacts the girl it’s supposed to make the male protagonist look good. Sophie doesn’t really look back at this moment and work through the trauma of that. It’s ALL to make Benedict look like a good male hero.

But it doesn’t even accomplish that because this quote just shows that if he didn’t have sisters, he probably wouldn’t have done it. Like that’s what this is implying in my eyes.

I guess I get the fact that it’s supposed to show his faults but there are ways of showing that without a) putting your female protagonist in that horrifying situation and b) making your male “protagonist” become instantly unlikable (and unlikable in a bad way).

Book!Benedict, it’s on sight.

[c1ittorus]

my (white) group partner thinks i (a black woman who has experienced racism and sexual trauma) hate the bluest eye by toni morrison bc i can’t handle talks of racism when really it is the multiple instances of sexual abuse that does it for me, i encounter racism everyday babes and while i hate it being the main driving force of the story, I’d rather not read about little girls being SA’d by the grown men in their lives.

[s0up1ta]

"so grunkle ford how do you know bill?"

"... that's not important."

[adreamthatsworthkeeping]

You can't say there is not evidence from the guy! You have one picture and the fact he was stalking you!! My god how can someone this smart be so stupid.

[wusnus]

I love mabel and bill and i want to see them being bffs but i cannot see an interaction between them going any way other than this

[watchingwisteria]

listen there really was just something about how in the book, snow’s 3-page descent from hesitant lover boy to deluded mfer happens entirely in his mind. lucy gray gives him no indication whatsoever that she suspects him, that she’s going to leave or betray him. he’s just sitting quietly in the cabin waiting for her to return when that seed of calculated suspicion, which he has needed to survive the capitol, takes a hold of him and chokes the life out of any goodness left inside him. it really drives home your terror as a reader that “oh my god did he kill her? did she escape? what happened to her? why would he even think that?” in a way that when the movie had to adjust for visualization it lost some of that holy shit this guy has lost it emphasis.

[pinespittinink]

got thoughtful about opinions on bad books so here’s an inverse: what’s a book you had to read for school that you actually enjoyed/have grown to like? mine is Lord of the Flies

[songthursh]

Alright, I will start with this one then - everything starts with the glorious revolution and everything starts with the night watch 🌸

[eyelovveu]

[cutetanuki-chan]

wanted to sketch something fun

[nestedfeathers]

it must be hard, seeing what others dont

[egophiliac]

felt like expanding on that earlier Malleus and Silver doodle! ...and then I immediately screwed up the resolution beyond repair so, uhhh, hopefully my lines don't look completely borked! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

[ryllen]

the next thing u know, yuu would have the possession of malleus' bones

[lazycranberrydoodles]

english translation book 5 baby we are in the ‘people assuming kid form hua cheng is xie lian’s son’ era 🔥🔥🔥 / follow for more hualian silliness

[sugarcoatednightshade]

thinking about how Humans Are Space Orcs stories always talk about how indestructible humans are, our endurance, our ability to withstand common poisons, etc. and thats all well and good, its really fun to read, but it gets repetitive after a while because we aren't all like that.

And that got me thinking about why this trope is so common in the first place, and the conclusion I came to is actually kind of obvious if you think about it. Not everyone is allowed to go into space. This is true now, with the number of physical restrictions placed on astronauts (including height limits), but I imagine it's just as strict in some imaginary future where humans are first coming into contact with alien species. Because in that case there will definitely be military personnel alongside any possible diplomatic parties.

And I imagine that all interactions aliens have ever had up until this point have been with trained personnel. Even basic military troops conform to this standard, to some degree. So aliens meet us and they're shocked and horrified to discover that we have no obvious weaknesses, we're all either crazy smart or crazy strong (still always a little crazy, academia and war will do that to you), and not only that but we like, literally all the same height so there's no way to tell any of us apart.

And Humans Are Death Worlders stories spread throughout the galaxy. Years or decades or centuries of interspecies suspicion and hostilities preventing any alien from setting foot/claw/limb/appendage/etc. on Earth until slowly more beings are allowed to come through. And not just diplomats who keep to government buildings, but tourists. Exchange students. Temporary visitors granted permission to go wherever they please, so they go out in search of 'real terran culture' and what do they find?

Humans with innate heart defects that prevent them from drinking caffeine. Humans with chronic pain and chronic fatigue who lack the boundless endurance humans are supposedly famous for. Humans too tall or too short or too fat to be allowed into space. Humans who are so scared of the world they need to take pills just to function. Humans with IBS who can't stand spicy foods, capsaicin really is poison to them. Lactose intolerance and celiac disease, my god all the autoimmune disorders out there, humans who struggle to function because their own bodies fight them. Humans who bruise easily and take too long to heal. Humans who sustained one too many concussions and now struggle to talk and read and write. Humans who've had strokes. Humans who were born unable to talk or hear or speak, and humans who through some accident lost that ability later.

Aliens visit Earth, and do you know what they find? Humanity, in all its wholeness.

[blueastrum]

Malleus can you dad and your adoptive dad fight