#and theyre like $3 from a used bookstore

[noxtivagus]

TODAY IS SO SO GOOD

[stevie-petey]

not sure if this has been sent before but rewatching season 3 and the scene where the group are together visiting ms driscol and el and max are reading comics, maybe a blurb about bug introducing them to comics in the summer before it all went wrong again? like her and steve are hanging out and they burst in declaring they are having a girls day/sleepover and wanted comics to read

i LOVE doing some max/el content with big <33

enjoy !

"you dont have to be here, you know."

"i know, but the one day im free from robin, youre stuck at work." steve shrugs, hopping up onto the counter so he can sit. he plucks a discarded pen and tosses it between his hands. "had to enjoy my day somehow, right?"

you stack a book onto the shelf and roll your eyes at him. "because everyone agrees that a dying bookstore is loads of fun to be in for hours on end."

"hey, i thought we agreed not to use the 'd' word?" steve clicks the pen a few times, eyes following you as you tidy around the store.

"my bad," clearing your throat, you look pointedly at him. "what i meant to say is that Bookstrordinary is as lively as a graveyard now due to stupid Starcourt."

"you know that i only have a job because of the mall, right?"

"youre terrible at comforting me."

its steves turn to roll his eyes, only his is done with fondness rather than annoyance. your hair is tied up to keep out of your eyes and youre wearing a denim dress to combat the junes unexpected heat. steve had grown so used to your usual wardrobe of sweaters and flannels that the sight of you showing so much skin leaves him breathless still.

deciding that you look too good today (youre always beautiful to him), steve gets down from the counter and follows after you. his body aches to be close to yours, his hands itch to trace the exposed skin. but he cant. you arent his, steve still hasnt managed to say the three words that sit inside his chest.

"im sorry, angel. how must i comfort you?" he asks, taking a few books from you instinctively. steve could work an entire shift at bookstrordinary at this point with his eyes closed.

you turn to him, eyes shining. "well, if youre really feeling sympathetic, id happily accept your fathers money for some ice cream-"

"you get free ice cream from me every day."

"with your employee discount. but richard harringtons money? i need it, steve."

"okay, im feeling really used right now-"

the store bell rings and a storm of red hair and giggles interrupt your conversation with steve. the laughter is familiar, the sound a welcomed surprise. immediately you leave steve behind as you rush to the front to greet the girls.

"max! el!" before they can argue, you pull them in for a hug. their skin is damp from sweat, but you dont care. you hardly see the girls these days, theyre always off with the boys or together on their own. while youre happy theyre finally friends, you cant help but miss them.

"hi, y/n." el greets you enthusiastically. her hair is a mess, shes wearing one of hoppers old shirts.

max stands next to her, hair a wild mess of red strands from the humidity. "we got bored," she tells you, eyes already roaming around the store. "you got anything good in here?"

"it depends on what you guys are looking for." you inform her. youve come to learn what everyone in the party enjoys reading. for el, she loves fairy tales, mike and dustin enjoy science fiction, lucas and max prefer more thriller and horror, while will loves fantasy.

steve grabs a handful of books for the girls, hes also come to learn what genre the kids read, and places them on the table. "heres my selection of fine reading."

"and by 'fine reading', he means books i already set aside for you guys." you nudge steve playfully, which the girls giggle at.

"same thing."

el carefully looks through the books, her finger pokes through the titles. while shes still learning how to read, shes slowly able to piece together the names and authors before her. she carefully reads through every title, eyes searching for something. when she doesnt find what shes looking for, she frows. "where is the man insect?"

"man insect?" steve looks at you, confused.

"the one with the webs."

neither max nor steve understand what el is asking, but you realize with excitement what shes referring to. "oh!" ducking down, you grab your personal stash of comics from the counters shelf and place them in front of the girls. "spider-man! here he is."

"that is the one!" el says happily, grabbing the first comic she can reach. "he is an insect."

"yes he is," you nod proudly at her. "ive taught you well."

max flicks through one of the comics with slight interest, shes curious, you can see it. "youve read spider-man with el?"

"yup, we used to read them all the time at the cabin. figured it was easy enough to understand while learning how to read. plus, spidey is the best."

"spider-man is very cool." el agrees.

steve practically melts when he hears this. eyes softening, he leans against you. "thats sickeningly adorable."

"ew, dude." max glares at him, disgusted. "we're right here, you know. go be pathetic somewhere else."

"i... i was here first." steve mumbles, slightly intimidated by the girl.

you laugh at him and place a gentle hand on his arm. "why dont you go write up some shipments for me while i introduce max to the man im going to marry someday?"

"you know peter parker isnt real, right?"

"i know, and it haunts me every day."

max shoves steve away from you, taking his place. "we're having a girls day, get lost."

"what-?"

"sorry, honey." you kiss steves cheek quickly before allowing max and el to tug you away. halfway across the store you shout behind you, "i'll make it up to you later!"

steve is left alone the rest of the day, basically taking over your shift for you. luckily with so few customers coming in these days, it isnt so bad. he mostly spends the day admiring you as you read spider-man to el and max. your eyes are lit up with raw adoration for the storylines and the girls lean into your every word. theyre wrapped around your finger, wound so tightly that theyve become one. while steve resents that peter parker has ruined your day together, he cant help but warm at the idea that the comics have brought the girls to you and have given you a rare, sunny day together.

hes willing to share you with the party if it means the soft, genuine smile that you get only when youre with them never leaves your face.

[lacystar]

there is an apartment somewhere. and there are 3 people who live inside but rarely at the same time.

technically 4-- George doesn't pay rent though and stays on the couch. its supposed to be a "temporary solution" but he just sleeps the days away or plays video games or watches tv but nobody really has the heart to kick him out.

its not very fancy or anything bc well half of them are in school and don't make a lot of money. there are some custom pieces of furniture from their friend foolish who's a builder of many trades and gave them side tables as housewarming gifts. there are cute posters of cartoons on the wall (from Karl) mixed with dumb anime (from sapnap) and unflattering pictures of them and their friends and family guy memes (from George and quackity alike). the furniture is passed down, thrifted, dumpster-dived and completely mismatches and there is an air mattress on the ground of the bedroom without a frame-- theyre trying to get a proper mattress by Christmas . its usually dirty with unwashed dishes and sheets used as curtains and empty cans over the floor but its home.

karl is finishing his last year of college for journalism with a minor in history. he wants to own a library or bookstore someday. most of the crammed books in the apartment are his, and even fewer have been read. he likes to buy novels and not read them. he wants to seem like he reads. he wants to do a lot of things. Between classes he sits at the college library desk for 7 hours and does nothing since students don't know how to use the library, and gets his minimum wage.

the books that aren't Karls are law books and they're quackity's, and they /are/ read and thoroughly dog eared and tabbed and written in. q is a law student and a dedicated one at that. disciplined mentally but not emotionally. he's either silent and focused and pissed off or laughing. he will become a lawyer some day and will buy Karl his library, and they'll own a second home in Vegas for vacationing.

sapnap wakes up earlier than he'd like to goes to the gym for hours. he isn't in college. he likes to protect people and he likes to fight. he doesn't want to go into the military or the police force because that sounds dumb and like hell, and it's too late for a sports scholarship. he's not sure what he wants to do with his life yet, but he wants to stay with Karl and quackity and maybe even George. he works out, breaks at the nearby subway for a disappointing lunch, then goes back and works as a hired personal trainer and gets flirted with a lot. he flirts back but only to get paid more. He does other odd-labor jobs for cash when he can. and when he's not there, he's the homebody motivating George to do anything and doing the dishes when it gets to be too much and forcing himself to make the bed for them and cooking and cooking and COOKING which he doesn't mind because he's good at that. he'd become a chef but he doesn't want to cook for random people-- only for his family.

quackitys classes take him deep into the evening- studying takes him longer into the night (he can't study in the apartment-- too many distractions and too many arguments about distractions). Karl goes to classes too, and then work, but then shops around and spends all the money he just earned on whatever sparkly thing catches his eye, he doesn't come back until sunset. sapnap is up and out the earliest, but back around 3 to meal prep. they miss each other most of the day and Karl comes back ready to chatter and eat and doesn't see how poorly George is doing because sapnap's convinced him to get dressed right before Karl comes home, and Karl shows off all the new things he's bought and sapnap smiles and nods and tries not to think about rent coming up. and they eat in front of the tv and Karl stays up way too late because he's put off homework while sapnap sets aside a portion of dinner for quackity because he knows he won't be back until after everyone else is asleep. and quackity comes back around 12 AM exhausted and Karl, who's about to go to bed after finally forcing himself through a paper, asks him how his day was and offers to keep him company while he eats, and quackity says for him to go to bed-- he's already not gonna get enough sleep before class at this rate-- and Karl promises him he'll drink a monster and that he's fine. and Karl snacks and they have a second dinner, quiet while George sleeps on the couch (not that they'd wake them if they shouted, though, to be honest). and then either Karl or q will nod off at the table and the other will usher them to bed, depending on the night. and then for a few hours the house will be empty until sap nap's up early enough to prepare everyone breakfast before he leaves for the gym again.

and there are weekends where they laugh and stay up all night and play games and watch movies and invite Tina from a few units down over to chill with them and they have fun and it isn't until Sunday that they start to Dread again. the monotony of not knowing when the future will finally decide to happen.

but for a few hours each night on their shitty airmatress and covered in blankets, they all get to be together every day, asleep on sapnaps chest, hand in Karl's hair, lips against quackity's cold fingers. because no matter what happens, the future will always always be each other. and thats enough

[snekatiemainy]

Book this or that tag

Waaa book time tagged by @another-clive-blog again :)

Hardcover or paperback

I suppose hardcover?? I don't have a whole lot of them but its a nice vibe. Not super strong preference though

2. Bookstore or library 

I am a library appreciator!! But I've never really had a conveniently close library? And I like to keep books for a long time

3. Bookmark or receipt

Out of these two, bookmark, I don't think I've ever actually used a receipt as a bookmark. The nearby bookstore gives a free bookmark with every book so I just use those. However, if I'm allowed to add a choice I do dog-ear my books... I know, heresy. But theyre MY books I can do what I want

4. Stand alone or series

Tbh I don't have a super strong preference like in concept? But I feel like most books I read are a part of a series

5. Nonfiction or fiction

I am a fiction enjoyer! I do enjoy nonfiction esp my silly science books (most recent I can think of is The Disordered Cosmos, highly recommend it's v neat) but the vast majority of what I read is fiction.

6. Thriller or fantasy

I have some thrillers I've been meaning to read!! But for the most part it hasn't been a genre I read that often. I do enjoy a good fantasy, though I've definitely been reading less of it recently in favor of scifi (there's a lot of overlap though so!! still counts lol)

7. Under 300 pages or over 300 pages

Tbh I don't have a frame of reference for how long 300 pages even is, I p much never look at page count lol. But I just looked at the 3 books I have with me and they're all over, one barely and the other two 400+, and those seem like perfectly reasonable lengths to me, so I'm saying over 300 lol.

8. Children's or ya

I'm realizing I don't like. Really know what defines these categories?? I guess YA? I love the hunger games so there we go lol.

9. Friends to lovers or enemies to lovers

I honestly can't think of many enemies to lovers plots I've read off the top of my head.

10. Read in bed or read on the couch

Bed bed bed. I do homework in my bed too. Also we don't have a couch in the dorm lmao.

11. Read at night or read in the morning

I have very busy mornings first of all and second of all I actually can't get my brain to work until the evening anyways

12. Keep pristine or markup

I mean I admitted to dog-earing my books earlier. I don't really mark up my books that often, but I can't claim to keep them pristine. In fact, I've been WANTING to mark up my books more. It's so easy when I read ebooks, I highlight and make notes all the time, but I should start highlighting my physical books too

13. Cracked spine or dog ear

Again I am a dog ear person gjkdk but I feel like cracked spines just inevitably happen anyways from use? So what're you gonna do

[purplebirdsees]

Warm-up 1: Whatever - Part 1

Hello! I am Citron! Yes, again!

Remember my notes? If yes, good job! If no, why?

Thanks!

(citronslation: basically, this is kind of an excerpt of this piece of fiction, written by my boy tsuzuru. you don’t need to read it to understand this one but pls do bc quality of life u get me yeah. ok. thanks.)

(footnotes were not made by tsuzuru, unless stated otherwise) (theyre mostly itaru)

Children, without exaggeration, are horrible beings.1

It’s always those kids you just stumble on, maybe in a convenience store, or in an absurdly long line from the cash register, or even during church, especially during Sunday Church (my parents aren’t Catholic, but my grandparents father’s side is). As soon as I step foot on the Church’s white and gold tiled floor, my immediate response is to look around on every single pew for someone who may look like my age. I’d feel relief if they were sitting out of sight, but if they weren’t.… Well, usually, I’d try to avoid eye contact as much as I can, but whenever I accidentally glance at them, they’d always have that smug look, with the straightest posture, and the loudest, most obnoxious singing. Sometimes, when they’re near enough for me to hear, I’d catch a few words they’d whisper loudly to their parent. Usually, it would be along the lines of, ‘We’re going to (insert fast food chain name here) after this, right?’ like it added to this nonexistent leader board on who is the best kid in Church.2

I could go on and on about my horrible Church experiences, but somehow, none of those were the ones that struck a nerve more than that one time in a bookstore.

It was a week before classes started, and as much as my parents wanted to scrounge as much of last year’s school materials, the pens and notebooks either had only a sliver left of its use or was completely depleted. Mom had to double check it though, as she gathered all we had in a cardboard box. After her third inspection, she said she could debone the frayed used notebooks to separate as much of the blank papers to make new notebooks. Which was the reason why she decided that dad was the one who should do the shopping instead, which in the end he did do, but we had to try to convince her that the old and used were completely unusable and should be left to retire. After a few prying and pleading, we were able to sell the whole box to the waste courier.

I was appointed to go with dad to the bookstore; the others had to help mom with the kitchen… and to make sure she won’t chase the waste courier and end up blending up all the notebooks into a pulp to make new paper.

She did this before, but her faux notebooks were extremely unusable because the paper was too thick, and for some reason, felt a little wet and made the ink bleed into the pages. During the first week of classes, my school bag smelled of wet dog, and every time I had to take down notes, I wish I didn’t. The moldy smell would make my seatmates turn their heads away from my direction. Even the resident class clown once remarked how ugly the cover of my notebook was, saying it looked like his grandmother’s post-chicken pox skin, puss and all. One afternoon, just as I was about to arrive home after school, I remember passing by Tadoru and Meguru sitting by the riverside, their backs hiding their guilt ridden yet determined faces. At that point I knew, and the absence of the wet, moldy dog fur smell was enough evidence.

Like an unspoken vow, we made sure we never, under any circumstance, let mom DIY anything. 3

-----

1 Understatement. They’re dickheads, actual hellspawn. I have never met a kid who was genuinely kind, they ALWAYS have an agenda at the back of their pea-sized brains. I’m qualified to say this because I’ve been a tutor example? Sure, but im tired so no (actuallly I don’t have to prove myself you literally juST READ A PRIME EXAMPLE WHY)

2 When they say yes, ding-ding-ding! Wow! His parents ACTUALLY love him enough to buy him food! As if that isn’t the lowest bar, bare minimum a parent should do f[word redacted due to profanity] mot[word redacted due to profanity] why don’t I f[words redacted due to vulgar language] mom then once im your step dad ill kick[words redacted due to vulgar language] space until yo[words redacted due to vulgar language]eath

3 [tsz] wording feels awkward/weird

part 2

[diagonal-queen]

NIGHTGOWN ANON HERE omg what if im NIA? short for NIghtgown Anon :) maybe that could be a writing name for me? idk lol im shit at writing decent stories

- Poe x Artist Reader: Reader illustrates the covers for Poe's books (accidentally put boobs instead of books the first time haha)

- Poe x Cook Reader: You were the Guild's chef but now that it was abandoned, Poe hired you to cook for him!

- Poe x Doctor Reader: Aw man he got hurt. Don't worry! Doctor Reader is here to bandage him up!

- Poe x Retail Reader: Reader didn't choose Retail. Retail chose Reader.

- Poe x Vet Reader: Karl

- Poe x Idol Reader: Now it's random

- Everyday you shower Poe with face kisses to wake him up, he gets extremely flustered, even though you've been doing it for years. You keep doing it just to wake him up

- Poe is like Reader's shadow at parties, constantly clinging to her because of his shy nature.

- Reader and Poe both die in a corner at parties because they're shy.

- The reason Poe was able to meet Reader was because he hired someone to go outside and do errands for him (ex: get food)

omg my brain is melting i have so many more ideaassss but THEYRE NOT COMINNNGGG

THAT'S IT DID YOU SEE I USED PROPER CAPITALIZATION(KINDA) THIS TIME YEAH? im so cool. HAVE A GREAT DAY MY LOVE! TAKE CARE! ❤️

okay so first of all NIA is SUCH A CUTE NAME OMG it kinda sounds like a j-pop star name lmaoaooaoaoaa anyways. you're nia now i decided. you don't have a say in the matter /j anyways i have things to say about all of these.

poe x artist reader who creates illustrations for his novels lowkey gives me Dorian Gray vibes? like imagine reader going to a library or a bookstore or something one day and seeing one of poe's books and on the cover it names the author and illustrator side by side and it hits them...T-T also what if reader was originally a fanartist of his books or something and he saw their fanart and he liked it so much that he hired them to be his official artist and reader just combusts lol (sidenote i'm sure poe has some great man milkers)

poor reader who was just hired to cook for a bunch of mean bougie people and is now stranded and jobless in another country T-T fortunately they still have poe. i get the feeling that poe is secretly pretty picky with his food but he's just too shy to say anything most of the time. ranpo eventually comes along and you totally get 'he asked for no pickles'd lmao. STOP WHAT IF YOU DECIDED TO TEACH POE HOW TO COOK (cus it's just easier than having to modify your recipes to accommodate him all the time) and you have like one of those cliche foodfight moments <3 and of course ranpo is your resident taste tester. (IMAGINE KARL PUPPETEERING POE LIKE IN RATATOUILLE STOP)

i can't come up with a scenario atm where poe would get hurt because he's a paranoid boi. but maybe like ranpo accidentally did it or something EITHER WAY. you are his little doctor <3 maybe you're like a training doctor for the ada under the guidance of doctor yosano? there's also a bit of a forbidden love aspect because a relationship between a doctor and a patient is unethical afaik so ooooo drama. maybe you're yosano's sister as well, idk make it even more dramatic lol (protective dadzawa moment)

currently trying to get a job in retail atm, never been there but from what i've heard it's an absolute nightmare. poor reader is probably getting harassed by karens each day and poe is her very calm and quiet respite :) he just seems to easy to assist in a store, even if he does stutter a bit. plus you can lowkey take a couple minutes to just hang out with him under the guise of 'helping a customer' akjsskkssjsjsjks. reader tells poe that she's really just there for the money, saving up for a nicer place or something, and poe's like 'i can buy a place for you /gen' because let's face it he's rather out of touch with us lower middle class folks. reader is like. well then

imagine you're a vet just vibing at work and one day some 1800s gothic emo author bursts in with his pet raccoon in shambles because he thinks said pet raccoon is seriously sick or something. nah turns out karl just ate a spider or something and threw it back up (definitely not something my dog does). and although you did no work whatsoever poe is so grateful for your help (he might cry). whenever karl gets even a little unwell from then on poe comes straight to you because he's always wracked with worry for his lil guy T-T BOOM you two are in love because of a raccoon

poe x idol reader THIS one right here gave me a lot of thinks to think. either you were friends before you became an idol or he was just a fan of your music but like you two somehow meet and it's just funny cus...old fashioned author guy and bubbly trendy idol...it would be so nice of you if you got poe a little pair of earplugs to wear at your concerts when it gets too loud but so he can still enjoy your singing <3 he gets backstage passes and all that special treatment and stuff. also is it really an idol story without some kind of arc involving dating rumours and drama? technically you're both kinda famous cus author and singer- but imagine if your fandoms clashed and were always fighting nooooooo T-T

this one where you kiss poe awake is SOOOOO so cute and i wanna write it now. you and poe could be old ass great grandparents together by this point but he'd still get shy when physical affection <333333 but like he's not complaining. what better way is there to wake up than a kiss from your loved one? he thinks it's very romantic and probably writes poems about it

i personally would have no problem with poe clinging to me (not only am i in love with him but i'm clingy and touchstarved myself) so everyone else would just have to DEAL WITH IT if they wanna talk to me but poe is also there. by the end everyone would know who he is lol (also they probably think karl is cool too)

now if reader and poe were BOTH shy...tbh two seconds in they'd just look at each other and decide to leave snksjakdhakjh if you guys don't know anyone else there then why stay? plus parties aren't really your scene anyway, maybe a cafe or library date would be better for the two of you. You'd have a lot more time and privacy for things like that <3

so like presumably the relationship between poe and assistant!reader would be mostly business, but of course a little friendly as well. so of course RANPO (or dazai lol) has to come into the picture and probably makes some maid joke and that gets poe thinkin...thoughts...about maid outfitssss~ maybe he buys one for youuuuuuu~ and maybe he thinks it looks really pretty on youuuu~ tbh this is mostly just a self indulgent pwp prompt lmaoo

this. was so long. i hope you liked this stuff nia pls feel free to add on if you have anymore ideas <3 ALSO YES I SEE YOUR CAPITALS AND I'M VERY PROUD 🌸🌸🌸🌸 I HOPE YOUR DAY IS SPLENDID AND YOUR BRAIN WORKS MORE FERVENTLY THAN EVER

[andromedasummer]

Oh I love both those bookstores!! I had a feeling you were talking about Arty Bees when you mentioned Wellington, but wasn’t so sure. I’m not from Welly so uhhh, thanks for the heads up about it being a dodgy area 😅😅 I make an effort to go to Artys everytime I’m down there, they’re real nice as well and once I bought way too many books so they posted them for me since I couldn’t take them on the plane. I need to check out their Motorsport section tho, I always seem to forget and miss it. Pegasus books I like but I kinda find the store more overwhelming, considering the high shelves and smaller store. I always struggle to find something in there cause of that, but I like the little area it’s in

oh i dont blame, pegasus is tricky to move around in, esp when its packed. if you ask someone to hold the ladders while you use them they'll usually be willing to help out!

and yeah most people dont know courtnays a bit fucked like that! as long as you walk quick and keep to yourself you wont run into trouble. motorsport section is at the top of the shelf 2nd or 3rd from the back of the nonfiction section, the one on the left when you walk in the store. it can be small sometimes, people tend to buy books from there in bulk.

i also dont know when you last were in welly but theres another secondhand store further up cuba! i cant remember its name but ive only been in once. theres also a bookstore called minerva thats not secondhand but is dedicated to books about crafts, ive found some cool stuff to do with quilting and sewing that i ended up noting down to grab on sale so its worth a look! close to my fav craft shop where i get my felt, yarn, buttons and needles, beads and fat quarters for projects, plus thats right next to my fav ice cream place (duck island) and thrift (better than spacesuit which its next to, that place is a rip off), which, if youre into motorsports, is a good place to find vintage racing jackets (i found a signed nascar jacket, bridgestone jacket, 3 leather + patched indycar jackets and some ford racing jackets). emporium (also on cuba) also have 4 vintage ferrari jackets, but of course theyre all $200-$400. Good quality! But something you'd need to save up a whiiile for.

also lmao did you just feel that quake like 5 mins ago? 6.2 but it was 72km deep which means it was bad! mustve been on the main fault because reports from the top of the south island are coming in so it mustve travelled down under the cook strait.

[scattered-winter]

BOOK ASKS!!!! 1, 4, 7, 11, 17, 20 <3333

book you’ve reread the most times?

ooh...probably either the six of crows duology by leigh bardugo (I have the whole thing practically memorized at this point...) or pjo/hoo.....theyre sooo <33

4. what sections of a bookstore do you browse?

YA, usually, just because that's generally where the authors I like are, but I'm SUPER picky about which YA books I actually read because well. *gestures at most of them*

7. is there a series/book that got you into reading?

I've been an eager reader for LITERALLY as long as I can remember (the way my mom tells it, I literally taught myself to read which tbh I don't remember enough to dispute that fact and it makes me sound cool so I'll take it) HOWEVER as a kid I was a huge fan of the magic treehouse and bailey school kids series. idk if they were the first ones I ever read tho

11. what non-fiction books do you like if any?

oooh ok ok so when I was a kid my parents had a whole STACK of these nonfiction books for kids called "I wonder why" and each one had like. a different theme. my favorite one was "I wonder why triceratops had horns (and other questions about dinosaurs)" and the whole book was about dinosaurs and answering different "questions" that kids might ask about them. and bro I ate that shit UP. I think my family had about 15 to 20 of these books, in a range of topics from extinct animals to ancient egypt to reptiles to plants, and I used to stack them all in a big pile on my bedroom floor and just read each one, cover to cover, one by one. I must've read those books at LEAST 7 times each, and I loved them soooo much. a lot of the topics are STILL interesting to me (like dinosaurs and extinct animals and ecosystems) and it was so funny because the other day my mom was talking about all the old books the family used to have and she offhandedly mentioned those ones and said something like "yeah none of the kids liked them so they just sat on the shelf :(" and I had to tell her that I actually had them mostly memorized at one point lmao

the series had a revamp pretty recently so most of the search results are the new covers but here's one of the old ones that I used to have :]

17. top 5 children’s books?

the "I wonder why" series (as seen above, because autistic kids deserve a fun little treat :]), magic treehouse (fun historic adventures !!! ALSO a fun lil autistic treat :]), the bailey school kids (THEE OG DETECTIVE GANG), animorphs (war crimes <3), and warriors (more war crimes <3)

20. what are things you look for in a book?

mostly I just look for a good time !!! I loooove complicated/fascinating worldbuilding, like with six of crows, and I also want to be reading about characters who I like/connect with !! if the book is romance-centric I'm less inclined to want to read it UNLESS it's very well written (six of crows is largely about romance but they're all sooooo well crafted that I just ??? love them all ???? and it's also balanced out by the platonic dynamics and overall worldbuilding and plot so they're very enjoyable to me even though the romance plays a big part in it) BUT OVERALL I just wanna have a good time yknow

book asks!!

[nighhtwing]

List 5 things that make you happy, then send this question to the last 10 people who liked/reblogged one of your posts. (also i love ur tags whenever u rb a post of mine theyre so great)

PLEASE i am just spitballing in the tags ty 🫶

zoom calls with long distance friends

boba <3 drinking some rn

yapping for several hours about the same topic

buying a copy of a book that i've been wanting forever from a used bookstore for dirt cheap

writing a sentence and IMMEDIATELY going "oh that's a banger" and going about my day

[frecht]

discovered the uk edition of the 8th last apprentice book at the used bookstore today. 1. i didnt remember it AT ALLLL. i know i only read book 6 once bc it was boring but i guess i also only read book 8 once. clearly. 2. why is it mostly a fantasy world but they go to real life ireland??? this made me remember that toms mom was from real life greece also???? i think? 3. IT HAS A DIFFERENT ILLUSTRATOR you guys im so sorry. everyone in the world who had to read the european edition was ROBBED of the gorgeous patrick arrasmith illustrations in the us edition. this is even worse than last week when i discovered that the uk sep heap editions dont have interior illustrations other than the map???? at least the copy of syren in the used bookstore in edinburgh didnt?? but whatever those were small chapter header illsutrations. THIS i dont think can actually count as taking something away considering that the uk versions came out first but like. it's still a crime. in the us editions we have full page spreads with beautiful creepy scratchboard illustrations opening every single chapter and in the uk edition theyre little tiny chapter headers. no offense to the uk illustrator i respect you and your craft. at least they still had illustrations. but come onnn. the only win was that it had a map which im fairly sure none of the us editions do

[depressedzelda]

i want new books but onky if theyre the kind that scratches that special itch in my brain. The one that makes it sparkle glitter explode kinda thing. Like back when i would see art ina fantasy book that i wasnt allowed to get but coukd read while i was jn the bookstore kinda thing and when id get home id just draw and draw and draw as best as i could remember from them. But somrthing really killed the joy i used to get from art to the point i really truly believe i will never actually enjoy it ever again despite my efforts lol </3... onky made worse by time cuz everytime i put a pen to paper i hear my professors and my parents critiquing me and not listening like fuack

[6loodlvstt]

Unfortunately I never heard of gul but I checked the plot and it’s interesting! I’ll definitely check it out when I have some free time. I don’t mind listening to summaries when I do other things. I enjoy to keep me busy reading/writing most of the time. Rn I’m trying to finish fear and hunger and I get angry every time I die lol. It’s so annoying but I love the vibes of that game. It was inspired by silent hill, berserk and amnesia. Sorry I info-dump a bit too much lol.

I’m glad you had a nice day! How was shopping? I also went out. Well I go out all days but I went to my fav bookstore and fetched a new book so I’m extra happy. And I love hades, I started it some weeks ago. Mythology is such an interesting world and I’m up for it.

I like to draw in my free time but it’s exhausting to work for game class projects. I can’t wait to finish off all this and focus on other projects. Piano is just a tool for be able to write lyrics in the future, or whatever I want. I get easily distracted when I play it but I’m confident that at some point my technique will improve.

The movie came out on February, from what I saw it wasn’t really popular but 100% recommended if you like 80s vibes. It’s an absurdist gothic horror..? Somewhere in the between. Heathers it’s a chef’s kiss. Probably one of my favs too. This reminded me of Little sister (2016), I seriously need watch it. It’s been on my watchlist since forever but I keep forgetting about it. I’m so forgetful.

Also sorry if I replied just now but at the end I decided to go to sleep at 3 am, my head was hurting -🩹

gul is super cool and not a lot of people actually know about it since it was basically lost media for a long long time

i dont sither! i normally play games while i listen yo things or while im working ill turn on some video essays and just listen to that while i work when music gets to be too much ^^

ough i heard fear and hunger was hard, rn im trying to beat dead space again and its not going well for me either lol

shopping was fine me and my mom just went and got groceries and that was it ^^ id love to go to a bookstore again theyre so fun to look around in

ive got like 300 hours in hades all together atp and its been a blast i love it very much and i could never get tired of it, plus greek mythologys always been a super big interest of mine! i love all of it so much and its so fascinating to learn

i used to draw a lot when i was in school since i always sucked at education, being dyslexic and autistic and having adhd really all just pilied and piled on to it so drawing was a giod escape and made me look like i was working on whatever they gave me, and if it wasnt on paper than id just play on my phone to pass the time, i also just used to read manga durong class if i couldnt be on my phone

violin and guitar and really. any. of the instruments i know how to play were for that reason to, i wanted to be a musician for a long long time till my grandmother decided to be a dick to me and i never played anything again :(

ooo it sounds interesting, i think when i have the time to sit and watch something ill check it out :D

its okay i just woke up and its like 11am rn

[proteuus]

okokok I found the perfect most BEAUTIFUL copy of the secret history to replace my other one but its just to have no one let me read it or I'll go rabid

[musubiki]

heres a bit of a lore dump regarding the “mechanics” of spells and potions in tcwg, and what i mean when i talk about how mochi needs ingredients to create spells and potions!! i think of it like an rpg cuz it helps me figure out how magic works here

- everything in the world has some inherent powers or “magic properties,” so when you combine them it creates different spells and effects, and this is what the witches refer to as “ingredients”

- a witch is given magic, and is a magical creature that is able to draw out the properties from within the ingredients

- in order for a witch to use a spell at will, they have to first brew the spell using the correct ingredients in a cauldron. after its made the first time, think of it as being “unlocked” or “added to the magic inventory” - the witch can use it whenever she needs. when its created, it is “absorbed” into the witch!! theres a process to this, and if youre not careful the spell will be backfired and placed on the witch for a short time (like the lovebites), but absorbed nontheless

- if its made anytime after this, the brew can be put in bottles/jars/containers as a potion - most refer to it as “magic in a bottle.” these can frankly be used by anyone who can get their hands on it, including non-witches and humans so witches have to be careful about it

- some spells are harder to handle/use than others. think of it as a witch having a set stamina amount, and using spells uses up that stamina!! some spells drain more than others. because of this, KNOWING a spell doesnt necessarily mean you can use it yet, as you might not be strong enough to take it yet

- potions are a one-time use and have 3 different types: the kind you drink, the kind you smash, and the kind you drip. drinkable potions generally have a similar but lesser effect if it simply comes into contact with your skin. smashable potions are more for AoE attacks, small range around the user, and dripping potions are especially potent and is usually applied to large areas (like a big body of water or a grassy plain). these are harder to use in combat cuz they take longer to take effect!!

- witches also create their own spells with unique ingredients, and record them down in spellbooks for future generations!! these are the books that mochi is always reading and studying!! she spends her free time making these spells so she has a bigger range of magic to use

- mochi also makes her own spells!! but after thousands of years of magic, all the practical, cool, and useful spells have already been made. most are learned/brewed/absorbed within the first week of being a witch so you have all the cool magic basics down. everything after that is very niche, rarely used in most situations, obscure, and straight up useless.

- the first week or two of spells is cool things: the energy/magic weapons, floating spell, summoning spell, the kinds of cool things you typically think of doing if you had magic!! the longer you make spells, the more you get into “spell that turns all left socks into right socks,” “spell that makes someone bleed out of their eyeballs but its harmless i swear,” “spell that (temporarily) clears all ink from the paper in a room* (*see note: about 5 mins, then they return)” that kind of useless junk!!

- and mochi is no exception. her only noteworthy spell right now is something like “spell that removes all crinkles from foil food wrap” or something. theyre running out of ideas, we give them a break.

- so mochi is always looking for new spellbooks that end up in old bookstores, or in a dumpster, or a yardsale, cuz you never know what kind of spells they have in there and hey, its useful to have everything down just in case.

- making a new spell is a lot of trial and error, you put in different ingredients, sometimes it ends up as something someone already made. even the smallest difference, like adding 2.20 ml of brisk iced tea instead of 2.19 can result in a different spell. if its one you didnt know yet, cool add it to the list. if you knew it already, cool its just another potion. if it works out that no one used that combination yet, great!! you just made a new spell that can clean the headlights of cars!! or something

- (i know its hard to keep track and statistically every combination would eventually be used but for convenience sake lets not think about that and keep it simple)

- its worth noting that its not necessary to keep track of EVERY spell you ever learned!! when using it, you dont need to recite the exact title and memorize who wrote it, where it came from, etc. its more about being able to use whatever comes to your mind when you need it!!

- a lot of the “core” spells are also flexible. a shield spell doesnt just make one type of shield, its fairly dynamic that the witch can use her magic to adjust it to how she wants after she made the original spell, and even modify it once they already know it into a way they like!!

thats all for now!! in the actual story we dont delve this much, mochi just uses magic and we dont talk about where it came from/how she knew how to do it, she just does it!! hope that makes some sense idk if ive talked about it before!!

[ladyjaja]

entry 3 ... the lobby of castle conejo 1/2 ~ the bookstore .. talking about virtual books

here is what you see when you enter the castle.. three doors.. lets disregard the blue door for now and learn about whats behind the red doors.. starting with the door on the left

the bookstore has all the virtual books that conejo has produced, and theyre all for free, theres a LOT here...

the room is optimized for reading right there, as all the books on the shelf contain a book you can attach to yourself.. appearing as a HUD!

yes.. all the books in here can be read anywhere.. you can also rez them in-world.. about 3 landimpact and the books are fully readable

the book was created using the NekoToys BOOK ( located here --> https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/NekoToys-BOOK-Copy-Transfer-OK/15323559 ) .. if you want to make your own books.. they have copy and transfer permissions, i recommend it, as its easy to use ^,,^

like i said, all these items are free.. the first shelf matches the poster infront of it, these are all the CONEJODIGEST issues, CONEJODIGEST is a magazine organized by me that contains news of things that happened in conejo as well as contributions from friends in conejo.. these are the most important distributions in the bookstore..

theres 5 issues, they all have a lot of stuff, they were created within two months of eachother usually.. most of them are available to read in pdf format here --> https://casaconejo.info/conejodigest/directory.html .. theres a wide range and i guess you can learn a lot about conejo through them if you know nothing, even if you know everything about conejo its enjoyable.. they contain the issue itself and two posters each, you can put these posters in the walls of your home, and these posters appear around homes in conejo itself too

 these are very proud products of conejo.. conejodigest on its own could warrant its own post.. but im trying not to get too ahead of myself.. a LOT of things warrant their own post around here

i havent been able to produce new issues of conejodigest because they are stressful for me, since i make a majority of the pages its a lot of work and i became very busy with working on my visual novel that i didnt have time for the digest, or even big scale events besides conejobeat, because its the one event im not the sole organizer for ^,,^; .. regardless i am not leaving the digest in the dust.. and eventually a new digest will emerge.. when i feel like it!

the second shelf has more individual things.. most importantly a wafa plush, probably the most useless bookstopper ever and only there for cuteness and because i love it.. and then also 3 books.. left to right:

the conejo island official info miniguide: this book was created to give people a rundown of conejo stuff, some of the info in it is outdated, like the map (note: a lot of maps around conejo are outdated, for a while i just gave up keeping up because conejo was changing so much geographically.. but i guess now is a period of calm? nothing has changed.. yet im scared to make a map in belief that it will jinx it and the virtual tectonic plates will attach or remove another 1024sqm parcel) it holds up for its purpose..

yayebunny volume 1: this is a little picture zine of photos osa & i took of a stuffed bunny i take everywhere, these are all irl photos.. this is really cute and probably the only not really conejo related book here..

holy conejobeat official artbook: the most recent and most ambitious conejobeat, holy conejobeat had a lot of artwork attatched to it, this is an artbook initially distributed during the event that contains all holy conejobeat related artwork,  theres art by my closest friends in here as many of my own paintings

last and least (cuz it isnt a book) is the heartlovepowertemple free cd item that i gave away the day heartlovepowertemple came out .. it doesnt contain the actual VN, its a decorative cd with custom textures all over.. its really pretty, if you want it in your house.. and next to the shelf we see the conejopress poster, which gives details for those interested in submitting their own books to the library

[thelivebookproject]

Talking Books With @backlogbooks!

[What is this and how can I participate?]

Important note: I haven’t changed or edited any of the answers. I’ve only formatted the book titles so they were clearer, but nothing else. Because I’m incapable of shutting up, my comments are between brackets and in italics, so you can distinguish them clearly.

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[Image description: a square titled “Know the blogger”. Name & pronouns: Mary Emma, she/her; country: United States; three adjectives to describe her: Lowkey-extroverted, crafty, and sneaky athletic /end] 

1. What is a film adaptation you hate of a book you like?

I’m usually pretty flexible with book-to-movie adaptations because I love movies (man i miss going to the movie theater) and i know things have to be changed for the new format—buuuuut i am super bitter about the Percy Jackson movies, because they could’ve been so good! they didnt have the same vibe as the books at all 😔

[My opinions on the PJo movies can be found on my interview of the 6th of January with @auraseeingcoffeebean! But mainly, yes. The films and the books have nothing in common except the characters’ names, which is sad.]

2. Last "impulse" book you ended up liking?

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware!! It was one of those previously-read books in airport bookstores that you can get half off, and I’m apparently a sucker for two things 1. bargains 2. books with “lying” in the title (a while ago i checked out One of Us Is Lying based on title alone lmao idk why im like this).

It’s a really good thriller/suspense/mystery book—sometimes with books that center around characters’ ~mysterious past~ i feel like i get answers either way too quickly or way too slowly, but this author did it just right imo, and i was satisfied by the answers we got. It’s also a book that’s centered around female friendship, which is my jam. 

3. Do you use NetGalley or similar websites for reading ARCs?

Nope—I don’t do book reviews much atm (i did more when i started a couple years ago), focusing more on like, smaller posts about specific details of books, or recommendation posts, so I leave the ARC finding-and-reading to bloggers who know how to do more official/detailed reviews. I do own two ARCs but they were both found in used bookstores well after the books had been published lol

4. Paperback, hardcover, ebook or audiobook?

Can i say all of the above 😂 

Overall favorite is paperback probably, because i love the way they feel in my hands & i like the way they look when they’re worn from being read a lot (or from being read in the pool since theyre the only kind i can bring in the pool lol).

I’ve also started to love audiobooks—Terry Pratchett’s books & A Series of Unfortunate Events were both especially great as audiobooks imo. Hardbacks are good if it’s a super pretty book that i want to keep in Good Condition. Ebooks are great if i want to get a book from my library, and if i want to read a book super fast—i swear i go thru ebooks 10xs faster than any other format and i dont know why. 

[I like all formats except audiobooks, which is mainly because I can’t focus on them... I can barely listen to a podcast episode, much less an audiobook!]

5. Is there anybody that is absolutely spot-on for you when they recommend books?

My mom actually! When she finishes a book she thinks I’ll like she puts it on my shelf for when I come home from college, & she hasn’t steered me wrong yet 😊 

[This is so sweet!]

Free space!

And all I’d like to add is that it’s been really fun to get into the booklr community! I followed book blogs for a long time before I actually made my own, & I’m really glad I did because I love talking books with people, and it helped me get back into reading for fun during college, which has helped me not lose my mind while reading academic papers lol

You can follow her at @backlogbooks and on Goodreads. 

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Thank you, Mary Emma! This was delightful.

Next interview: Saturday, 6th of February