#always loved tove Jansson’s writings

[happyheidi]

𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘫𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦

[m3r1m4r5u333]

I feel like many people misunderstand us, the unhinged, insufferable people with OTPs so. Here's a quick guide into the mind of an rabid buddie shipper.

I'm not clinging to buddie because I fail to see how awesome Buck's bi growth is. I AM BI!!! You think I don't get how awesome this bi character, this story arc, this bi representation is? Get out. Don't tell me, a bisexual how I should watch and experience a bisexual character. I drive my own brain, thanks.

And I know that it's possible to multi-ship. You don't need to tell me that!!

People need to understand that multi-shipping isn't some grand, epic personality trait that always comes with maturity, that the people who don't multiship are just wee dumb babies.

I may sound like I'm 14. I am not. I am very much not. I'm OLD. So old. And guess what that means? I know myself!!! That's maturity, too. And who I am... Is someone who falls hard, and obsessively.

I know I am just not built to be a multi-shipper. I have tried, sometimes. I have tried so hard. And realised, that's just not me. Multi-shipping is never as fun, and interesting or rewarding to me as focusing on my One True Pair. It just makes me feel suffocated, to attempt to like something I don't really find much joy in.

That doesn't mean that I hate the actors or characters who are "getting in the way" of my ship. Nope. I actually often adore the characters and actors, and the writing. I can also see and appreciate what some other character means for my OTP's growth.

Like in this case... Lou, playing Tommy? Not only do I love his acting choices (so funny, so skilled) but he also, he sounds like a lovely guy. I'm a fan!! Also, damn he's fine, I need a bucket for my drool.

And Tommy, the character...? I think the character is interesting - and don't get me started on "problematic", the shaming is futile. I am all in for fucked up, problematic characters. If you don't get why, you should really read some literary classics. Fucked up, problematic characters are art, they make you think, they broaden world-views. My best educators have been the monsters, and I will take this stand to my grave.

Demand for "unproblematic" is demand for censure, and censure is just another form of oppression. Want characters without flaws? Go watch Teletubbies. Ffs, even moomins have flaws. (Of course they do, Tove Jansson was a freaking amazing writer.)

Anyway. The point here is.

I am a mono-shipper. And I love slowburns, I love the romance of them, I get attached to ships. And I'm queer.

But where are the queer slowburns? I have been waiting for a slow-burn queer romance for so long. I CRAVE IT. Getting that, truly, would be queer history, a revolution.

And I see the potential for it in buddie!! The spark, the history, the journey. It has the potential to be the greatest queer slow-burn I've ever experienced.

You think I'd just abandon a ship like that, a slowburn like that, for some fast food, cooked up in what... Two episodes? Pffft. I invest. I am waiting for my roast to cook.

So yeah. I'm not going anywhere. I will watch, and let my freak flag fly, and I will have the time of my life. If buddie never becomes canon? Well so what. I can deal. It's not my first rodeo. Disappointment isn't actually deathly, you know. Trying to avoid disappointment kills hope, and enthusiasm. So yeah, I refuse to manage my expectations. I'm all in, and enjoying this mad ride.

"Well, I'd still take you."

"You think so?"

"I KNOW."

[comfortless]

Hey! What were your favorite books/authors growing up and what are they currently if you don't mind me asking? I would love to know where you get your inspo from cause you write so pretty

hello!! ohhh.. i love this question it’s so cute. thank you for the compliment and for asking! 💞 apologies for my rambling heheh

growing up, i was never allowed to read most… popular series because my mother went through an extremely religious phase until i was a teenager. dodged the bullet of succumbing to Harry Potter and the like, so i always found myself in the library reading the most obscure things!

i obsessively read the Deltora Quest books by Emily Rodda most of all. the covers were so sick. i can’t recall which one it happened in, but when the main trio all had their toes chopped off?? i do not think 8 year old me should have been reading that, but i was obsessed with dragons as any other kid should be! it lead me to reading The Inheritance Cycle series by Christopher Paolini, too. anything fantasy that was a bit odd held my attention. The Pricker Boy by Reade Scott Whinnem, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, and all of the Moomin books by Tove Jansson were some other favorites!

i also read a lot of fairytales (to the surprise of no one, i’ll bet) and The Mabinogion. i still go back and reread those whenever i can. The White Cat is one of my many favorites!

as an adult i do not get to read much, unfortunately. so, i do sort of feel that my writing is a bit stunted at times. i was combing through a lot of Mercedes Lackey’s stuff for a little while. and recently, i finished The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock. a coworker gave me Twilight Eyes by Dean Koontz and whereas I do not care for his writing that much… parts of that particular book were really intriguing to me. poetry is nice too, always, but if anyone were to ask me for a list of my favorite poets i think that i would combust <- so many things in my brain and i can not remember most unless i’ve obsessively read over their work 90 times minimum sorry.

but….

i think that most of my inspiration comes from music with lyrics that capture me and long bouts of daydreaming, nowadays. i also like to visit abandoned places or overgrown parks when i need a place to think or just… feel for ambience. my favorite places in the world right now are this huuuge swamp full of alligators with a tiny cemetery that’s at least two hundred years old (like fifteen people have died there in the last decade & i will never be one of them) and a park that houses a supposed werewolf (no matter how many treats i bring it is yet to be seen… pain… but it is dreadfully silent there and a park keeper once told me “watch out!! that thing is big and super ugly!!” which i think is very funny). i would not recommend doing things like that however unless you are of similar stature to me (insert chad meme) or go with a group!! do not get eaten by a giant dogman, please.

in conclusion I am NOT immune to good cover art or the appeal of pretending to be a lil knight in the old wood…

^ syl reveal pt 2

[the---hermit]

end of the year book tag 2023

I did this tag last year more or less at this time. This book tag was created by Ariel Bissett over on youtube, and I recently heard her talking about it again in her podcast, which is how I got the inspiration of doing it again this year. As I think I have also mentioned last year when doing this, I tend to be a mood reader so planning my next reads never really works, but it's fun to sit down and reflect a bit on what is coming next into my reading life before the year is over.

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

As I am writing this I have three main books I am in the middle of: Hell Followed With us by Andrew Joseph White, Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson and Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker. I have technically also started reading Walden by Thoreau a while back, but I don't have a plan to finish it quickly, it's more one of those books I read a little bit every once in a while when I feel like it, because I want to grasp as much as I can and while I am also taking classes and studying for exams I always struggle a bit with enjoying non-fic on my own.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

I am once again doing this tag in the middle of autumn, so idk how much it counts, but I don't think I have a proper autumnal book on my tbr/wishlist. I am still waiting to get the sixth volume of Something Is Killing The Children, which is an horror graphic novel so that might count as a spooky season book. But I don't really wait spooky season to read horror books.

Is there a new release you're still waiting for?

As I mentioned the sixth volume of Something Is Killing The Children has very recently came out here in Italy and I am desperately waiting to find a copy of it. I am also waiting to get Bookstores And Bonedust by Travis Baldree which is coming out at the beginning of November. There are a couple of other 2023 releases I still haven't got my hands on but I don't know yet if I'll get them before the year ends (mainly He Who Drowned The World by Shelly Parker Chan, and The Land Of Lost Things by John Connolly). I am also waiting for the release of the final book in the locked tomb series but I don't think a release date has been set yet? (and regarding that I have yet to decide what I want to do because I would like to get physical copies of the English editions, but it will be a future me problem to solve).

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

One of my goals for 2023 is the read all the books I have bought this year, or at least as many as I can. I must say I have been very good with this goal, but I do have a couple of books that have been sitting on my shelf for a while. I don't know if I'll get into the right mood to read them before the year ends but I will add a couple of those to this list. The first one is Nel Buio Della Casa by Fiore Manni and Michele Monteleone. It's an horror novel of the hauted house genre which is one of my favourites but for some reason I haven't picked it up yet. Next is a book I cannot wait to pick up The Ballad Of The Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde, I love this author and after reading De Profundis earlier this year I have been really intrigued by this poem. Finally I bought a prose edition of The Odyssey and I might end up picking it up before the year ends.

Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favourite book of the year?

Not really? I expect to love a lot of the books I'd like to read before the end of the year but there's a couple of books I read this year that I doubt can be topped (Gideon The Ninth being at the top of that list alongside The Priory Of The Orange Tree).

Have you already started making reading plans for next year?

I actually have, weirdly enough. I was thinking about goals for next year and I think I will definitely keep the goal of trying to read all/ most of the books I buy during the year. I certainly need to find a way to read more of the books that have been on my shelves for years, so I will have to think of a more structured plan to reach that goal. I am also considering to create a goal to finally complete my Neil Gaiman collection since this year I have read all of the books by him I own. That could be a fun goal I think. Lastly I'd like to try and get as many books as I can second hand. It's not really super easy for me to do, because where I live there are no second hand book stores, and generally what I look for is quite difficult to find in regular shops, but there's a few exceptions, like classics for example are easier to thrift. Again these are more brain dump thoughts than an actual plan, but it's more than what I had last year at this time.

(no pressure) tags: @just-a-cup-of-anxietea, @fluencylevelfrench, @dreamofghosts, @upside-down-uni, @la-galaxie-langblr

[readerbookclub]

This month’s list features books where the sea plays an important role.  I tried to include a variety of books that felt different in their tone and genre. So I hope you like it! And thanks to someone in last month’s survey for suggesting this topic :)

As always, please vote for which one we should read next using the link at the end of this post.

The Sea, the Sea - by Iris Murdoch

Charles Arrowby, leading light of England's theatrical set, retires from glittering London to an isolated home by the sea. He plans to write a memoir about his great love affair with Clement Makin, his mentor both professionally and personally, and to amuse himself with Lizzie, an actress he has strung along for many years. None of his plans work out, and his memoir evolves into a riveting chronicle of the strange events and unexpected visitors--some real, some spectral--that disrupt his world and shake his oversized ego to its very core.

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Following the death of bloodthirsty buccaneer Captain Flint, young Jim Hawkins finds himself with the key to a fortune - he has discovered a map that will lead him to the fabled Treasure Island. But a gang of villains, wild beasts and deadly swashbucklers stand between him and the stash of gold. Not to mention the most infamous pirate ever to sail the high seas . .

The Summer Book, by Tove Jansson

An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter while away a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland. Gradually, the two learn to adjust to each other's fears, whims and yearnings for independence, and a fierce yet understated love emerges - one that encompasses not only the summer inhabitants but the island itself, with its mossy rocks, windswept firs and unpredictable seas.

Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem

In Solaris, Kris Kelvin arrives on an orbiting research station to study the remarkable ocean that covers the planet’s surface. But his fellow scientists appear to be losing their grip on reality, plagued by physical manifestations of their repressed memories. When Kelvin’s long-dead wife suddenly reappears, he is forced to confront the pain of his past - while living a future that never was. Can Kelvin unlock the mystery of Solaris? Does he even want to?

The Salt Path, by Raynor Winn

Just days after Raynor learns that Moth, her husband of 32 years, is terminally ill, their home and livelihood is taken away. With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset, via Devon and Cornwall. They have almost no money for food or shelter and must carry only the essentials for survival on their backs as they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea and sky. Yet through every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, their walk becomes a remarkable journey

Vote for our next book here.

[cloudgremlin]

Tagged (invited on the hashtags) by @arcanacheque

Last Song: TEchnically some songs by ibi because I listen to them to sleep without getting sleep paralysis, but before that I was listening to Spotify’s Discover Weekly and Winter City Ghosts by Sparky Deathcap was on. Very good, I vibe.

Last Read: Short graphic novel Coming Back by Jessi Zabarsky, tbh not my fav but the art was pretty (the themes didn’t quite tie properly with the story and it felt a bit over-talky-to-point-out-the-meaning at the end). Reading through Goblin Mode by McKayla Coyle and wanting to start The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech (one of my favouritest books ever, also I have owned it for over a decade)

Currently Watching: Frieren, Apothecary Diaries, and rewatching all of Natsume Yuujinchou bc I love it very much uwu

Current Obsession: The Current Vibe is medieval/folktale inspired and knightcore, with some illuminated manuscripts a la 14th century monk thrown in. I can feel myself falling into a desire to make kumihimo bands, but I am bravely resisting the temptation because I have to finish embroidering patches for my jacket first! And to go with the Vibe I am quite into medieval inspired clothing rn, really wanting to buy some nice linen and wool to hand-sew some stuff with. I’ve also been writing short stories inspired by Tove Jansson’s work and those are always in my head now because that’s what happens when I write, lol.

Tagging @festivepuppetryy and @ideligo bc I am an evil mutual >:3c

[fizzingwizard]

rambly, bit warning for mention of death and stuff

I used to be really into action/adventure stories, scifi, fantasy, thrillers... Although I always preferred stories that focused on characters more than plot, a story with an intriguing plot with a satisfying (or satisfyingly unsatisfying) outcome was always the most memorable.

I heard about iyashikei many years ago and remember being flummoxed. It's a story-telling style in Japan which is just about peaceful scenes, comfort, and feeling relaxed. It didn't seem interesting to me at all. I thought of that style as the Thomas Kinkade of literature/movies. I loved Ghibli films, but I never thought they fit that style, or fit it only in part.

My gosh, how I've changed in just the last five years. When I met my boyfriend, we bonded over X-men and Star Trek and recommended adventure novels to each other. Now he's still into all that, but I've moved away. It's not that I don't like those things anymore. I just don't get whatever it was I used to get from them. I don't want to watch new Star Trek shows. I don't want to read new adventures novels. Just the thought is exhausting to me. A fantasy novel hits the bestseller list, and instead of running out to buy it, I go, "Not another dystopia."

And I've totally embraced that iyashikei story. I want to live in it. It's true I still don't like things that are always perfect peace and harmony - but most of the stories I've encountered in this genre aren't. They're just gentler, slower moving, and dedicated to their aesthetic.

Basically my interests have done a 180 and I'm kind of in shock over it. It's really hampered me in some ways, because of course, I always dreamed of being like NK Jemisin and having my own awesome adventure series out one day. In the space of a few short years I lost all interest in doing something like that, although I still want to write. I just want to write things most people wouldn't want to read, lol.

So I'm trying to pinpoint when and why the change. When I started reading the Moomin novels a few years ago, even though I was a full-grown adult, I was completely drawn in. It's tough to explain, something to do with the atmosphere and philosophy. Moomins fits really well in with iyashikei. It's not too cutesy or too sweet to put me off - it's whimsical and fun and adventurous, but also calm and reassuring and wise. Every reread tells me something different. I don't think Tove Jansson and I are very much alike, but she makes me wish "heartful" was a word, because it seems to apply to her stories much better than thoughtful.

But why did I fall in love with Moomins so hard? As much as I'd like to think the stories would have the same effect on anyone, more likely it's because of my headspace when I found them. I was in a new job, just past the point of struggling and starting to find my feet, but still feeling unsure about it. I was in a new relationship. I was having a lot of family issues. And I was really unhappy about the world in general. I think my own head was just so full of stress and helplessness, and I really wanted permission to feel happy. Moomins gave me that. Those books swept in and reminded me how insignificant I am, and how significant that insignificance is. They reminded me what "tolerance" should look like - not the tolerance that made me hate the term, but hospitality and true loving your neighbor. It made me feel okay with being a basketcase yet loving storms (I relate way, way too much to the Fillyjonk in the Disaster story). And I loved the harshness and the great love and the wonder in the story of the little whomper who wishes his baby brother away. Honestly, Tales is such a great book. I was just like Moominpappa in trying to understand the incomprehensible sea. On my first read of November, I thought it was such a sad story. But on each progressive reread, the book becomes full of light. The family which can't connect with each other needs to find what each member needs to feel free in themself before they can fix the connection. And they need to face what they can't have, because it's out of their control.

I'm just rambling about Moomins now lol. The point is that I came across the Moomins right when I needed them, or something just like them. I felt so lost and alone but was determined to tough it out by myself. Although I've always been someone who loves solitude, I didn't really have it in me to be alone and heartbroken. Reading the books gave me some strength. I felt like my childhood had been a lie, and that nobody cared about that but me. And I felt that my life spent biting my tongue and not saying what I think was going to be my future too. And I don't know, Moomins didn't fix anything, I still have all those problems, but I guess I feel less alone with them. Like here are these people just living their lives being judged but not judging back. They don't bite their tongue, but they still don't talk because it's much better to do what you want than waste your breath. And knowing Tove wrote it all while being very human and mercurial herself is all the permission I need to love and believe in the stories despite my own weaknesses.

And I still don't feel like going back to action/adventure stories. That's what's most surprising. I'm going to see the new Spiderman movie this weekend. But aside from now and then stuff like that, I'm just not moved by thrills and high action. Maybe someday that will change - I thought it would - I thought I would have reverted years ago. But it still just sounds exhausting to me. The world is so much, I just want a small corner where no one will bother me. The other day I had a vision of myself lying in a patch of soft clover like I loved doing as a kid, and a stranger came up an stabbed me. My boyfriend ran over and called an ambulance, but I told him that if they said it was a fatal wound, then they should leave me because I'd rather die in the clover than at the hospital. It was very odd to think about, but the thought of dying in the hospital just made me so sad. More than the thought of dying itself.

Although it's morbid, I think that well expresses how I've been feeling these past years. It's not like I'm unhappy. I'm doing pretty well and mostly cheerful. But even when I was a kid I tended to think about sad things in a friendlier way than I think certain other people do. It's natural to end up a loner, because no one really wants to talk about that stuff with you. It's why I always say I'm no good at small talk. And I like thinking about the universe and spirituality and philosophy. I don't like politics or other stupidity. And I've felt my ability to do the former is very threatened by goings on in the latter. And lately my fear is that I'll find peace through resignation: okay, these people are never going to respect me for this or that reason, so I'm just going to let them not respect me and keep my thoughts to myself, because at least they'll still be mine. That's true in a sense but it's not good. It's not good because this is my one and only life, and it's fucking stupid that some people think they should decide for me what I am capable of because I'm a woman. Or any of the other myriad specious "reasons" bigots come up with so that they don't have to feel afraid.

tl;dr I just am so done with the world and want to go frolic with the Moomins, lol.

[tejoxys]

5, 7, 22, and 32 for the ask game?

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

I had to go look up common writers' superstitions to see if anything clocked, and I'm not sure it counts, but I have a tendency to need the environment I'm in to smell nice before starting anything. This may mean incense, lighting a beeswax candle, brewing finely-scented tea, scooping all the kitty boxes, etc. One's mind must be cleared, you understand u_u

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

I love my characters. To be honest, my brain froze on this question, because from almost every angle, I loathe writing, but I feel a deep compulsion to tell stories, and to do right by my characters. It's like, not optional. Something else I find very satisfying is finally solving a narrative problem and feeling smart.

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

Not very, but I know where everything is. During the planning stages, I keep stories mostly segregated from each other in a lot of notebooks (mostly. Some of them inevitably share). All typed documents have titles I can understand, and stories do not share between them. That's as far as I go.

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

"Toft liked the smell of tar and he was very particular about living in a place which had a nice smell." - Moominvalley in November, Tove Jansson. Tove Jansson is one of my writing idols, and Toft was one of the first fictional characters I ever related to as a deeply weird, neurodivergent child (see my answer to question 5 up there). This passage always comes back to me as an example of deft characterization, and it's conveyed through an underutilized sense. It's a reminder to me to think about every way in which a character experiences their environment, which in turn makes me think harder about that environment. One of my writing insecurities is that I think my visuals are weak; this passage reminds me that there are other ways to dial up a sense of person and place. (I also think about it when I'm cleaning my house.)

[zelzahdarkcloak]

Tag 10 People You Want to Know Better!

Tagged by @flickeringflame216 Thank you! <3

3 ships: I'm not a big shipper either but I would also agree with Eowyn and Faramir. It's just so pure and quiet and beautiful aghhh. Other than that? I have a deep abiding love for Gomez and Morticia. Another example of pure love and yes, they're a little over the top but it's absolutely genuine. Makes me so happy to see them be weird and perfect for each other. Thirdly, uhhh...do friendships count? Am I allowed to appreciate beautiful friendships or things that have no name? Neither love nor friendship but a special third thing? Because Moomin and Snufkin have a lovely relationship however you choose to see it.

1st ever ship: Again, I rarely look at a character and think "they need to be smooshed with someone stat!" but the first relationship I ever truly thought was beautiful was my grandparents on my mom's side. Their love story sounds like something out of a book and even if their relationship is not always perfect, they can be so sweet and comfortable with each other. Little kisses in the kitchen, mumbling together quietly about what they think of something early in the morning, my grandfather writing little poems and buying plants for her, her making his favorite meals, them making cookies together, and just the softness of them sitting in their recliners side by side holding hands... It's beautiful.

Last song: Source by Fever the Ghost (one of my favorite animated music videos ever!)

Last movie: It was either Dune (2021) with my brother or The Music Man (1962) with my mother.

Currently reading: Too darn much. Mainly A Winter Book by Tove Jansson, a collection of gratitude poems, and desperate attempts at catching up on Moby Dick through Whale Weekly. It doesn't help I have a thousand interests to pursue and new ones every week and not enough time or energy to do it in. I add more to my TBR than I could ever complete and I'm just....*panic*. (oh, btw @flickeringflame216 I've also had the Space Trilogy on my library holds forever now, so let me know if it's good!)

Currently watching: Moominvalley, Cowboy Bepop, and a smattering of Stargate SG-1. Also aching for a Doctor Who rewatch (specifically 10th). Help.

Currently consuming: Sleepytime tea every evening. Occasionally, mushroom cacao.

Currently craving: Complete and utter quiet. My thoughts to dim, the world to fade.

But I could also go for a cookie.

I never know who's already done this, so if you see this and would like to give it a shot, please do! I want to know everybody, ha ha.

[clementinefight]

♫ Ready to Start by Arcade Fire

August TBR! 

Keeping it cool, the goal approachable. Since dropping booze I’ve been reading more books; a better oblivion. I’m about 70 pages into The Summer Book and it’s inspired my plans for after I graduate: if possible I’d like to get away for two months next summer and stay a place quite rural by a coast (“It was nice and cool under the pine trees and they weren’t in any hurry, so they slept for awhile,”). My only goal is to sit and be bombarded by sea scents. I’m thinking Nova Scotia, since I can drive there. It will take me some time but I can drive there, and I could keep the windows down and let my hair move like fingers of memory ‘round my head. I try not to over-romanticize all the things I want to do, but then how would I get excited?

Favourite chapter of The Summer Book so far is “Midsummer.” This chapter brings us, as if by random tide, an aloof islander named Eriksson who doesn’t say much or smile ever but still somehow inspires admiration in the spirits of everyone he comes across. “One of the attractive things about Eriksson was that he didn’t talk about himself. He never seemed to feel the urge.” God I need to be like that. I also love to read about natural celebrations, if that’s the way to put it, like solstices. Cool to see Grandmother and Sophia and Papa and Eriksson all lean into the natural world, so simply, like exhaling. Being in the natural world would take me a lot of effort; faced with a big body of water my first avenue is fear. 

Tove Jansson possesses this skill of writing the good and the bad and making both somehow neutral, yet nourishing, yet painful. Just what it is. “Everything was salvaged, some by the right hands and some by the wrong, but nothing was simply lost…By dawn, the sea was empty. The wind died. The rain stopped. A clear and lovely Midsummer morning arranged its colors in the sky, and it was very cold.” It makes you want to go by the sea and have the salt splash your face and the foam sting your eyes delicious. Then you go inside and warm up by the stove and have a nice sandwich thick with butter and cheese and pickles. 

For five days at the end of this month I’ll be in Vermont. I want to read Boy’s Life there. I usually try not to read books longer than 250 pages, this helps me finish them, but Boy’s Life clocks in at 608, which though heavy makes it a perfect read for a trip away. Someone on Goodreads (I don’t rate books, just log them) described this book as being part of a trifecta with IT by Stephen King and Summer of Night by Dan Simmons, with Boy’s Life being the least scary of the three. Good place to start. And the book’s opening poem sold me:

“We ran like young wild furies, where angels feared to tread. The woods were dark and deep. Before us demons fled. We checked Coke bottle bottoms to see how far was far. Our worlds of magic wonder were never reached by car. We loved our dogs like brothers, our bikes like rocket ships. We were going to the stars, to Mars we’d make round trips. We swung on vines like Tarzan, and flashed Zorro’s keen blade. We were James Bond in his Aston, we were Hercules unchained. We looked upon the future and we saw a distant land, where our folks were always ageless, and time was shifting sand […]”

I love small town shit, even better when things get a little scary 

Hey! Long live suburban August! You’re drop dead bored till the night is yours, right?

[fushigikid]

dragleclef: ooh what have you been reading, and do you have any recs?

winterdasu I'm also curious what you've been reading!

I mostly like fantasy/adventure books, but I'm trying to step out of my comfort zone this year, so I have some murder mystery and romance novels lined up for myself. We'll see how that goes haha

So far, I've done "Moominsummer Madness" by Tove Jansson, which is such a cute book. I love all the Moomin books I've read so far! I've read Dune" by Frank Herbert, which was spectacular and weird! The latest book I've finished is a J novel called, "The Beast of Buckingham Palace," by David Walliams, which was TRASH haha This was the first book I've finished and did not like at all. I didn't like it from very early on, but wanted to see how it played out, so I finished it, and while the subject matter was fun, it was executed in such a...bad way. Granted, it is a book for children, but ugh...it was severely lacking in depth.

On the FLIP SIDE, I immediately started reading, "The Lost Years of Merlin" by T.A. Barron, after finishing TBOBP, which is also a J novel, and let me tell you...NIGHT AND DAY. The amount of emotional depth, and colorful language, and just general good writing in this book, compared to the David Walliams one, is wild. I was immediately drawn in by the story. It's, apparently, a 12 novel series, and while I didn't go into this book with the intention of reading 11 more books, I'm now interested to see how this progresses haha

I'm also currently reading a book called, "Point B" by Drew Magary. His book, "The Hike" is one of my favorite books ever, and so far, he's really delivering with this book too. The subtitle of the book is "a teleportation love story," so it's definitely a bizarre read (like The Hike) and I'm loving this journey so far. I'm like...around 100 pages in on both books.

As for recommendations, well I'd definitely recommend the last two books I mentioned. Obvs haven't finished them, but they've been great so far! I always recommend, "Moominland Midwinter" by Tove Jansson, because it's my favorite of the Moomin books. If you like queer novels, I recommend, "What If It's Us" by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli. "Everything Matters" by Ron Currie Jr. was also a great weird, apocalyptic, sci-fi read. Highly recommend.

Can't really think of anything else at the moment haha

[authorstalker]

My July & August Reads

The No-Show, Beth O'Leary - I always fall for this author's characters, but whew, The No-Show is upsetting. That plot twist!

The Summer Book, Tove Jansson - A weird little book—and another book that made me wonder if I should move to a sleepy island town—I loved it. The ending sure did make me cry.

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, Emily Austin - A sad-girl stunner. Lovely writing, quirky story, but watch out, our gal is depressed. One of my favorite final sentences, I feel an adrenaline rush just remembering it!

Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner - Dear lord, I read a lot of sad books this summer. Crying in H Mart is spectacular, a memoir about mothers and daughters, food, music, and connecting to your roots. This was a book club pick, but alas, we never discussed it because my book club did what book clubs do best: it fell apart 😭.

Birds of California, Katie Cotugno - Never stop writing romances, Katie Cotugno, they are so reliably wonderful.

Honey & Spice, Bolu Babalola - This book made me laugh so much. I loved the characters and their friendships, nicknames, jokes, and Beyoncé references. A fun, sweet story—where's the movie deal, Netflix/Hulu/etc.?!

Vladimir, Julia May Jonas - Ahhh yes, my kind of beach read—a campus novel featuring some truly miserable English professors.

The Mutual Friend, Carter Bays - I loved this book! I couldn't stop reading it and I've recommended it to so many book friends. A totally unique read that made it to my favorites list.

The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again, Catherine Price - "Playfulness, connection, flow." Sorry to be dramatic, but I'm not ready to write about this book, which I borrowed from the library because a Cup of Jo commenter claimed it changed her entire life. Did it change mine? Too soon to tell, but this book has the most compelling argument for cutting back on mindless phone scrolling: it's making you BORING. Pursue hobbies/skills/activities/whatever instead, and you'll become more interested and more interesting, and presumably happier, too.

[bilbobagginsbrainrotblog]

Bilbo and/or Frodo for the character ask thing bestie 💞

I'll do both! Thank you bestie!! 😘 starting with Bilbo:

My favorite thing about them:

Picking just one thing is so hard 😫 If I had to summarize, I guess, it would just be the amount of personality he has? Obviously Bilbo has a whole book to himself so we have more time to get to know him, but even in LoTR there's so much Bilbo influence spread over the world we see, and all of it ties together into this lovable multi facteted character. You've got his bacon loving, his poetry and songwriting, his rooms dedicated to clothes, his love of flowers, his work translating and being a historian and overall his patent Bilbo habit of being equally rude to everyone, elf lord or dragon or wizard or gardner adjdn what a guy!

Least Favorite Thing About Them?

....nothing? Unless you count simpering Thorin fanboy 2012 Bilbo in which case I could go on for hours.

Favorite Line?

This one is sick: “So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.” but this one is also good and it makes me irrationally sad;

"Don't adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on on the story."

BrOTP;

Oh man, its gotta be Elrond. I love that the 6000+ year old elf lord of Imladris thinks this rude bitch is so funny he just lets him live as a VIP in his house and write songs about his dead dad. Runners up include; Bofur, Bombur, Balin, Aragorn, Thranduil, Gaffer etc.

OTP;

None! Aro/Ace icon.

A Random Headcannon:

I've talked before about this before, but I think Bilbo getting some sick burn scars from his narrow escape from Smaug would be cool. I mocked up a concept sketch for it once and now I just envision him that way subconsciously.

Unpopular Opinion:

I think while Bilbo is attached to his Dwarven friends and to Erebor for nostalgic reasons, he's far more drawn to and fascinated by Elvish culture and history. He settles down in Rivendell and starts learning their history and languages, and is named "Elf Friend" by Thranduil, and eventually goes to Valinor (with elves). Idk if this is really unpopular but I see a lot of people headcannoning Bilbo becoming like an honorary dwarf or wearing dwarven clothes/braids after the Hobbit, and while that's cool, frankly I think he was a little done with dwarves for awhile after that whole fiasco lmao.

Song I Associate With Them?

"Come Along" by Cosmo Sheldrake is my go-to Bilbo song, but I also like "Jackrabbit" by San Fermin- it's about thrill of leaving everything behind to have an adventure 😤👌

Favorite Picture Of Them;

Tove Jansson Bilbo My Beloved 💕

And now Frodo, my poor little meow meow 😔

Favorite Thing About Them?

God this this hobbit is just,,,so kind 😭 there isn't a resentful bone in his body, after everything that's happened to him. He wants the best for everyone and that's what pushes him to do what he does.

Least Favorite Thing About Them?

Again...I'm at loss? The only thing I can think of is encouraging better communication between Sam and Gollum, but my god it's not like he didn't have anything else on his mind at the time. You know what? nevermind. The only thing any Baggins ever did wrong was being thicc af and giving their sons unfortunate names.

Favorite Line;

To illustrate my earlier point, here's one from the Scouring of the Shire that sucker punches me; “It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing."

And this one, which is just, the heartbreaking distillation of his character arc;

“It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.”

BroTP;

Merry and Pippin and Sam, obviously 😂. Also my MAN Fredegar Bolger you are not forgotten 😤✊

OTP;

Samwise Gamgee babee 🥰

A Random Headcannon;

Have a little dump of a few; he has constantly cold hands (even pre-quest) he can't cook for shit, he went through an "artistic" phase and there's a room in Bag End full of his landscapes, he's a fantastic dancer even as far as Hobbits go, he chews his nails, one time Sam accidentally stepped on a lizard in the garden and brought it to Frodo, and Frodo nursed it back to health and named it "Smaug" and kept it a secret from Bilbo for several months before his uncle found out (Bilbo let him keep it of course).

Unpopular Opinion;

Hmm I don't I really have any, or if I do I'm not aware they're unpopular. Except for disagreeing with the ice cold "Frodo was useless" take but that goes without saying.

Song I Associate With Them:

"A Pearl" by Mitski and "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight" by The Beatles :'-)

Favorite Picture of Them;

Baby boy. Baby.

Thank you for the ask my love sorry it took so long! 💕💕💕💕🥰

[inclineto]

Books, May - June 2021

Tess of the Road - Rachel Hartman [dnf]

A River of Stars - Vanessa Hua

The Sealed Letter - Emma Donoghue

Giant Bones - Peter S. Beagle

Moominsummer Madness - Tove Jansson *

The Beacon at Alexandria - Gillian Bradshaw *

The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster *

Libertie - Kaitlyn Greenidge 

Stay - Nicola Griffith

Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age - Annalee Newitz [Thoroughly enjoyable, but also the sort of pop archaeology book where things like this happen repeatedly, and I’m sorry, but I laughed: “And then, as if by magic, the eminent University of Cambridge archaeologist Andrew Wallace-Hadrill appeared.” (As far as the narrative admits, they did not have an appointment; while they were wandering around Pompeii, collecting information about his speciality, he was wandering around Pompeii, happy to be encountered and become a source.)]

Teach Me - Olivia Dade

The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power - Deirdre Mask

We Are Watching Eliza Bright - A.E. Osworth [“I am not going to read the gamergate novel,” I said, “and especially not when it’s using 1st person plural MFA POV half of the time,” but then I voyeuristically devoured the gamergate novel which is, really, its point: “We are obsessed with what goes on where we can’t see it.”] *

Ivory Apples - Lisa Goldstein [what the hell?!? no.]

The Future of Another Timeline - Annalee Newitz

The Scarlet Seed - Edith Pargeter [the scenes that made me cry as a child still make me cry now, and that’s rather nice]

The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo - Zen Cho [Five books later, I’m prepared to admit that Zen Cho and I aligned for one glorious novel and some related characters (Sorcerer to the Crown; Rollo & Aunt Georgiana), and I’m mostly indifferent to everything else, but I keep trying because there’s always a sentence like this: “Being good-looking and interesting and having the heavy-lidded gaze of a romantic tapir does not excuse writing a foolish book.”]

Elementals - A. S. Byatt

Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth - Kevin M. Levin

What Katy Did Next - Susan Coolidge

Feed the Resistance: Recipes + Ideas for Getting Involved - Julia Turshen et al.

A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby - Vanessa Riley [dnf]

The Sibyl in Her Grave - Sarah Caudwell

Sabriel - Garth Nix *

Outcrossing - Celia Lake [dnf]

Mending Matters: Stitch, Patch, and Repair Your Favorite Denim & More - Katrina Rodabaugh [so I feel like this was a couple of blog posts inflated into a book]

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake - Alexis Hall [extremely funny, made me want to bake during a heat wave, likely to suffer in reviews from mismatched genre expectations: it’s romantic comedy, not romance (I’ve just looked and yep! this is a major complaint)] *

Tales from Moominvalley - Tove Jansson

Goblin Fruit - Celia Lake [dnf]

Coffee Boy - Austin Chant [trying to do more than its length and thin characterization can carry, but also heartening in the main character’s explicit refusal to embody a limited and patronizing narrative of marginalized suffering; I wouldn’t want every trans romance to do this so overtly, just as I don’t want every queer romance to be about overcoming homophobia, but I want a few of them to (fair also to note that in contemporary settings, I find boss/intern scenarios really unappealing, and no, I don’t care if they talk about it; had it been longer I would almost certainly have bailed)]

Uncanny Valley - Anna Wiener [didn’t really plan to read this; definitely didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did - I thought it would be just another new adult navel-gazing indictment of tech bros, and it is, but it’s got seriously good style to go with it] *

Lord John and the Private Matter - Diana Gabaldon

Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England - Amanda Vickery

On Juneteenth - Annette Gordon-Reed

Salt Magic, Skin Magic - Lee Welch

Lord John and the Hand of Devils - Diana Gabaldon [read the first two novellas, but my tolerance for Diana Gabaldon’s Diana-Gabaldon-ness is relatively low and the second novel wore it out; dnf]

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade - Diana Gabaldon

A Seditious Affair - KJ Charles [because once you’re 75+ comments into an increasingly-involved modern AU, the only reasonable thing to do is give in (looking back at the innocence of this mid-June annotation...oh, you sweet summer child)] *

Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America 1619-2019 - edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain [in the end, I’m not sure the organizing principles of 5 year chunks and short word counts really allow enough scope for many of the essays, but look for this to show up on Most Challenged lists and as a target of reactionary legislation anyway]

A Gentleman’s Position - KJ Charles [see prev. entry in series]

The Secret Adversary - Agatha Christie [sometimes you should not reread your childhood books]

Fire Watch - Connie Willis

The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh - KJ Charles [possibly shouldn’t be an entry, but what the heck, it’s sold separately; see prev. entry in series]

The City of Brass - S. A. Chakraborty

American Quilts: The Democratic Art - Robert Shaw [that subtitle tells you exactly what to expect from the text, but the quilts are lovely]

Engaging Diverse Communities: A Guide to Museum Public Relations - Melissa A. Johnson

Strange the Dreamer - Laini Taylor [dnf]

[tzalmavet]

bunnybuddybonnie replied to your post: “can someone who’s been more into major fandoms...”

Ye the fandom from the renaissance seemed to strip away a lot of Snufmins interesting contrasting personality from the books for the sake of easy basic happy relationship vibes. This could be a result of ATG but I feel like the 90s anime being a popular adaptation is also partly to blame. The 90s anime also strips a lot of interesting personality from the characters for the sake of happy aesthetic. Not as bad as the fandom but it could be part of where its coming from.

Oh indeed indeed!  Like, I can’t completely fault fanartists for not knowing how to write Toft, or not knowing how much everyone in Moominvalley loves coffee, because things do get lost in translation to another medium!

But I guess what makes it so... unpleasant and weird... to me is how snufmin, Snufkin, and Moomintroll are all almost everyone seems to care about.  Every other fandom I’m in, there’s ALWAYS been people who don’t just write the main pairings and characters-- they’ll be off writing stories about another aspect of the media that they like, or who their favorite character is.  At this moment, there are 1,687 works in Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson on Ao3.  If you exclude snufmin from search results, that number goes down to 753. I don’t see modern fans who are really into other characters like Fillyjonk, the Hemulen, or even Sniff!  It’s almost all about Snufkin and/or Moomintroll, even in fics that aren’t romantic.  I’ll be real with you: I like Snufkin.  I, like many Snufkin fans, relate to him, and I admit I probably even project on him a bit.  But the Snufkin I see in most fanfics I read?  That’s someone else.

And Moomins isn’t like OFF where almost nobody has recurring speaking roles or names, and worldbuilding is vague and sparse, making fanon interpretation practically mandatory.  Moomins has a LOT of characters.  It has a LOT of reference for how they behave.  Canon characterization in Moomins does change from book to book, and by adaptation, but like... a lot of the time, fanon characterization doesn’t even feel like it’s from any of those!! And what’s also weird is how many Moomins fanartists are the type who like to dig for additional lore and will STILL write Snufkin and Moomin like that.  Even if they don’t have access to the books, they’re thirsty for that sweet canon content!  And they’ll learn it-- be like “cool! I love that!”-- and go right back to writing Typical Snufmin Fanfic #935.  They’ll talk about how much love they think a minor character deserves, but as artists they choose to make only what everyone else does.  There’s a branch of fanworks that gush over Joxter and the Oshun Oxtra crew, yeah, but the made up characterization in those is a whole nother animal.  There are these artists who know a lot about Moomins’s lore and world and side characters, and they claim to be hype about it all and think it’s super underrated, and YET all they choose to draw or write is the same old thing with a different sauce and side dish.

Heck, I’m rambling a bit here.  This is NOT me telling people to cut it out or anything, or to make something else they don’t want to.  BUT damn... the absence of variety is fucking jarring and lowkey haunting to me.  Basically every Moomins fanartist I’ve gotten invested in has left the fandom already, often for these very reasons. If there are people in the modern Moomins fandom who adore the other characters and have stories in their heads that center them, they’re not the fans who are drawing or writing about them in public.  This all is just the sort of thing that’s worth pointing out, in my opinion.

[skruttet]

When in 1953 Tove heard that her lesbianism had long been a subject of general gossip in the capital, she was shocked. Living a life of unguarded isolation in a world of her own, she had never suspected anything of the kind. Now the harsh truth was revealed in a threatening letter from an angry young man. Her privacy seemed to have vanished. There were anonymous letters, all manner of mudslinging and eavesdropping - she even suspected that her telephone was being bugged. Exposed to all kinds of things she had thought only happened to others, she was suddenly the object of slander and hatred.

Even enlightened colleagues could reveal their prejudices. One example of this is Marja-Liisa Vartio’s story of how she met Tove at a literary evening. According to Vartio, Tove was by then already a celebrity and the object of envy in Helsinki literary circles. Other authors imagined that the Moomins, those ���strange fantasy figures’, had made her rich. They also knew about her sexual orientation. Tove had offered Vartio a drink from her own glass, and Vartio had declined, as she ‘knew that it meant the start of a flirtation’. Even among artists it seemed to be easy to lapse into homophobia and jealousy.

Lesbianism was such a sensitive topic that it could not normally be talked about, even with close relatives. Tove was aware that her parents knew. With her mother she had even discussed her friendship with Vivica. Faffan had heard the rumours, and had tried to enquire about them, but could not even bring himself to say the word ‘homosexual’ out loud. Tove concluded that her mother’s silence stemmed from tact, and appreciated her diplomacy. To Eva, she wrote: ‘I have a feeling that Ham understands but will never talk about it until she wants to.’ For Tove, that decision meant loneliness. Not even decades of living with Tuulikki Pietilä eased the taboo, and mother and daughter never discussed the matter. Avoidance, concealment and silence about things that everyone knew about was very common in Finland. Vivica Bandler vented her feelings of disappointment caused by her own mother’s silence about her homosexuality in a text that describes the pain in such a circle of silence:

So now it was said. What you knew. What I knew that you knew. What must never be spoken aloud as long as you lived. And what I will finally be able to talk about when you are dead.

How was it possible? That you kept so cleverly quiet about it, Mother? [...] Did you go around hoping like other poor mothers of your generation that I would be cured - or ‘see sense’, as I’m sure you called it.

Vivica remained not only an inspiring and helpful colleague, but also a close friend. She was ‘the Big Ghost, the Original Friend’. Almost every year she spent a week on Tove and Tooti’s island, and in return they visited her at her farm in the province of Saari. For Tove, Vivica was like a family member to whom she could always turn when she had problems. Together they created many remarkable plays for theatre, radio and television. Tove could also talk to her at length about her relationship with Tuulikki, and was herself in turn Vivica’s confidante. Their correspondence was extensive and covered all areas of their lives. Tove wrote to Vivica about her work, trusted her judgement and was anxious for her to read and assess books she had only half-finished writing. If Vivica was busy, the books had to wait.

Vivica’s close friendship with Ham continued, and she was concerned about her friend’s ageing and increasingly ill mother. In the early 1950s Ham became seriously ill and had to go into hospital for abdominal examinations. When she came home, mother and daughter spent ten glorious days of vacation in Saari as Vivica’s guests. Tove told Eva that Vivica was an infinitely loyal friend who would never betray her. Vivica would always be an important part of her life. Tove considered that it was thanks to Vivica she had got rid of her naiveté and her desire to beautify things, qualities she had often thought were ingrained personality traits.

- Tove Jansson: Work and Love by Tuula Karjalainen