#book: american royals

[repmet]

@rwrbsource & @rwrbmovie’s rwrb appreciation month bingo: alex

[insp] [Henry]

[escapismsworld]

The Siren, by Louis Loeb (American, 1866-1909), 1904

[uwmspeccoll]

It’s Fine Press Friday! 

Today’s selection hails from the renowned Janus Press in Newark, Vermont. Bone Songs, a non-adhesive woven-vellum bound book featuring poems composed by writer and printer Clifford Burke (b. 1942) along with polymer relief plate prints of line drawings by artist and curator Ruth Fine (b. 1941), was originally conceived in (and inspired by) New Mexico in 1992 by artist, illustrator, printmaker, typographer, and JP founder Claire Van Vliet (b. 1933). The work was produced in its finalized form with assistance from Lidk Wray & Audrey Holden. The Janus Press is known for creating "works of art in book form", and this unique publication is no exception.  

This signed (by Burke, Fine, and Van Vliet) limited edition of 150 copies was letterpress printed in Gils Sans Light font on 40 sheets of french-folded Barcham Green Royal Watercolour Society paper. The text block is encased in a cardboard shell wrapped in stretched natural pig parchment. This feature highlights the corporeal nature of the book, which is echoed by Fine’s crudely rendered skull illustrations and Burke’s incantations of the bare bones that haunt and adorn the landscape of the American Southwest. It also brings to mind performance artist Janine Antoni’s 2000 sculptural work “Saddle”, which Antoni describes “like a ghost” as holding “the memory of the artist’s body”. Much like Antoni’s work, Bone Songs evokes the spirit of its content through its physical form.    

This is another gift from our friend Jerry Buff

View more posts on works from the Janus Press

View more Fine Press Friday posts

– Ana, Special Collections Graduate Fieldworker 

[the-forest-library]

[cinematic-literature]

Red, White & Royal Blue (2023) by Matthew Lopez

Book title

One Last Stop (2021) by Casey McQuiston

Girl, Woman, Other (2019) by Bernardine Evaristo

(Worse-quality screenshot but both books are visible here)

[england-would-fall]

*or someplace passable. It might possibly definitely be related to a longfic I’m planning.

[carriagelamp]

I think I accidentally hit my reading quota in July because in August I ended up doing every else except reading! And then September just got too busy. But I managed to scrape up a handful of books for the pat few months a few quite good and some rather overwhelmingly lacklustre...

The Alchemy of Moonlight

Well, we’re off to an auspicious start because this book was genuinely awful. It was a complete impulse purchase and gave me a very sharp reminder about judging books by their covers. After reading A Marvellous Light last month I was in the mood for more queer period romance and this one had ALL that plus a werewolf to boot! Sounds fun! I could use a fun summer impulse read! But sadly it committed what is, in my opinion, the single greatest sin a historical fiction novel can do, which is that it read completely and entirely like a modern novel.��

There was almost zero effort to make the vocabulary or cadence fit that of novels from that time period (and like, I’m not expecting perfect, I'm hardly an expert, but I regularly read fanfiction written in better pastiche than this. Les Mis and Sherlock Holmes fandoms, you guys have spoiled me). The characters also don’t act in historically appropriate ways, they were allowed to get way too familiar with each other way too quickly with zero regard to social class. And I can’t believe I’m saying this but I could have actually used a touch more homophobia -- guys, just a bit of internalised homophobia, even just the acknowledgement that societal pressures affect people. 

(also this getting described as a gothic horror? fuck off gothic horror is more than a spoopy house, where is the absolute overwhelming terror of the vast Sublime?? i was not forced to read frankenstein three fucking times for school to accept something this lame trying to describe itself as "gothic".)

I tossed this one in my local little free library and I hope it goes to someone who is less of a picky bastard when it comes to historical narration.

American Girl: Kaya and Lone Dog // A Spy on the Homefront: A Molly Mystery

Two more American Girl novels that I’ve read, one about Kaya, an indigenous girl form the Nimíipuu tribe in 1764 and the story about her missing her sister and befriending a lone dog who gives birth to puppies. Like the other books I’ve read from this series, I thought it was quite well done. It didn’t shy away from challenging topics (her sister being enslaved and how that loss has affected Kaya) and drew me along for the entire plot of the book. It was charming.

The other one I read was another from the Mystery series of books. Sadly I’m thinking that the entire Mystery series of American Girl books may just be lacklustre. Like the Kit Mystery I read a while back, this one had a decent concept, explored the time period (WWII) in an interesting way, but had abysmal pacing for a mystery novel. It was not very good at creating or maintaining tension, and minimal effort to actually give a reader any clues to track. It wasn’t a bad story, especially for a kid, but it was nothing special.

Annie: An Old-Fashioned Story

After rewatching the musical Annie I decided I needed to read the novel, because I love a novelization! Me and my girlfriend have been slowly reading this together over the past few months and it’s been really enjoyable. Annie is a spunky orphan girl during the Depression is eventually taken in by billionaire industrialist Oliver Warbucks. This book gives a lot more backstory to Annie, and really stretches out the time between her running away from the orphanage and her meeting Warbucks. It was a pretty interesting and unflinching look at the hardships suffered by a parentless child like Annie during the Depression. It added a lot that the film didn’t have, and was well worth the read.

Camp Damascus

Possibly my favourite book from this review. I’d never read a Chuck Tingle book before, since I don’t tend to veer overmuch into erotica, but since this was his first “traditionally published” novel I thought now was the time to give it a go. And I have to say, I was genuinely amazed! Chuck Tingle is an incredibly compelling writer, his narration is just beautiful, I wanted to sink into it and get lost. I’m going to have to read more of his books now.

For those who haven’t heard of Camp Damascus, it’s a queer horror novel that’s based around religious horror. Normally religious horror doesn’t do it for me (I have zero interest in or fear of possession) but this one had a very different twist on that narrative. Though demons still featured in the story, the entire premise was built around the concept of religious trauma as horror, and the metaphors created by the demons as it explored themes of leaving religion, self-identity, indoctrination, queer identity and conversion therapy was honestly just breath-taking. My biggest recommendation this time around, I could hardly put it down.

Doctor Who: The Clockwise Man

Another fun Doctor Who novel with an enjoyable mystery about a mysterious political prisoner from space. It wasn’t a world changing novel, but it was a very solidly written 9 and Rose adventure, I enjoyed having the audiobook on while I drove.

Delicious Monsters

Another severe disappointment, unfortunately. I went in really wanting to like this book! I was in the mood for another horror novel after Camp Damascus, it was touted as being like The Haunting of Hill House (superb novel) with a House As Metaphor For Our Trauma And Horror which is a bend to horror I really enjoy. Sadly, despite a fairly interesting premise, the pacing and narrative voice was… rough. It was told from two different points of view, one in the future and one in the past that was slowly piecing together the mystery of what happened at this house, but the narrative voices were so similar it didn’t feel like two distinct entities. Neither made me excited for POV changes. The narration was also very heavy handed in the messages it was trying to send — all good messages, but with no faith that the reader would be able to interpret them on their own without it being repeated explicitly over and over. It all felt very bogged down and repetitive and frankly a little insulting to the reader's intelligence. I gave up on it about halfway through despite really liking the first quarter of the book.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation comic v2

More Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation! Because I’m hooked! Very much enjoying the comic version that’s been coming out, the art is very nice and it's fun to re-experience the beginning of the novel now that I know the characters and all the background information that was so mysterious the first time around.

Heaven Official’s Blessing v1

I have finished the main series of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation so I’ve decided to move on to another series by the same author since I’ve been enjoying the style. This series starts off with a “Laughingstock” of the gods, someone who has ascended to godhood twice already and been cast out of Heaven twice as well. The story starts with his third ascension and everyone in Heaven is pretty over it, especially when his third ascension ends up causing chaos in Heaven. He’s chronically unlucky but has an attitude that’s largely willing to go with the flow so when he's given a job to help repay the debt his ascension acrued him he agrees to descend to the Mortal Realm and investigate the disappearance of brides.

Along the way he picks up a couple junior officials who are reluctantly sent along to help and lend him spiritual power, since his own is sealed, as well as a strange youth in red who seems to know more than he should and is perhaps the only person who doesn't treat him scornfully.

The pacing of book one was interesting… it drew me along and had me chuckling frequently, especially with some of the interesting characters that are introduced, but I definitely didn’t feel fully “connected” with the characters or plot just yet. Still, I’m intrigued for book two and trust the author enough to go along for the ride until things start clicking!

James and the Giant Peach

Roald Dahl’s classic story about James Henry Trotter who, after the death of his parents, is forced to live with his two horrid aunts. Isolated from any potential friends, all alone at the top of the hill with his aunts and forced to slave away for them, James eventually meets a mysterious old man who offers him a glowing bag of crocodile tongues… something he claims has the power to grant happiness to whoever possesses them. Unfortunately before James can use them he trips and spills them at the roots of the old, dead peach tree… and awakens the magic regardless.

Just a fun September reread, I haven’t read James and the Giant Peach in years. It's definitely one of my favourite Dahl stories. I’m going to have to rewatch the movie now…

Monster and the Beast v4

The last volume of a yaoi series I’ve been reading for a while. This is a story that follows a rather callous, mysterious man known as Liam and the soft-hearted monster, Cavo, who he meets and befriends. This final volume wraps up Liam’s strange and somewhat sinister origin story and reveals what exactly the powers he wields are, and it lets Cavo come into his own. Honestly an excellent book for all the monsterfuckers out there. Overall it was a sweet ending and I enjoyed the series — honestly I wouldn’t mind one more volume of short stories that just explore the relationship dynamic they achieved by the end of this volume.

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich is a graphic novel about a young noblewoman who has to disguise herself as a man if she is to inherit her late father’s estate. So she dismisses the old servants save for a single trusted one, changes her appearance, and moves to a city far away from where she grew up. From there, “he” begins making waves in a way that draws the attention of the princess… 

It was a… fine graphic novel. I’m not sure I have a lot to say besides that. It was a comedy, but it’s not the sort of comedy that I find particularly interesting… it definitely felt like a youth graphic novel. It was also very anachronistic (part of the humour) which I’m not always in the mood for and didn’t really land for me. Over all I don’t regret reading it, and the art was enjoyable enough, but I’m glad I got it from the library. When I had first heard of it I had been expecting something a bit… more.

Red, White, and Royal Blue

I was very skeptical about Red, White, and Royal Blue. I thought it looked tacky when it first came out and I resolutely ignored it. However as the Netflix film was due to come out I decided I had better bite the bullet and figure out what the hype was about. And I can admit, I was wrong! It was honestly a delightful read!

The politics are a bit Rough, as I expected, but the relationship was genuinely delightful and I really liked all the side characters they introduced. You really have to go into it like you would a Hallmark romcom because that’s exactly what it is — and you know what, the queers really do deserve some simple, cheesy (and occasionally surprisingly touching) romantic comedies. Contemporary romcom is normally REALLY not my genre but I highly enjoyed this book and am willing to eat my words.

[poorlittlegreenie13]

Sorry if you like it but The Pairing by Casey McQuiston is the grossest book I’ve ever read & they should be made to take one of those webinars about consent that they make u take before u join a frat

[enobariasdistrict2]

thinking about how london boy by taylor swift expresses how alex feels for henry and american jesus by nessa barrett is henry's feelings for alex

[yellow-yarrow]

I have a friend whose taste in books is very different from mine (she reads ya romance novels, I read like, skandinavian contemporary novels and philosophy) and it's very nice of her to gift me books( she gave me a copy of a book she accidentally ordered twice as an early Christmas present) but how am I supposed to actually read this 400 page romance about japanese men, that has "boys love" written on the cover, and was written by a hungarian woman & it has sentences like "thank you nee-chan!* *Nee chan means sister in Japanese". It starts with a sex scene that gets interrupted. I feel like I'm reading fanfiction(the bad kind) (not because of the sex) (because of the writing style)

On the other hand I'm surprised by how fast I'm reading this. The writing style is simple and very predictable. I almost forgot what it feels like to read something where I don't have to think

[fangirlwithasweettooth]

“this was one of those instances where the English language fell short. The word for losing something insignificant-a baseball game, a library card-shouldn't be the same as for losing someone who defines you, someone you love. There should be a word for losses you can recover from, and a different word for the life-shattering losses, the ones that leave you forever changed.” 🥲

[herongrystrs]

Samantha Washington + Marshall Davies

Samantha had never felt this way about anyone before—like she was grateful to the world simply because Marshall was in it, and at the same time like she wanted to make the world better because Marshall was in it. She loved him. It was as simple as that.

[martianbugsbunny]

I was on the fence about Nina Gonzalez but then she wore combat boots to go fancy dress shopping

[neverwritewhatyouknow]

Results are in for poll #2

I’m honestly not too shocked by the answers that were given and, let’s just say relieved that others weren’t given is an understatement.

I figured the best way to respond would be to go one by one and explain more to help educate:

1. “I love the actress, no matter the role, so her taking a Jewish role was fine”

Unfortunately no matter how talented someone is, they can’t change their ethnicity on screen. It would be like saying that you love Angelina Jolie no matter what and it was fine that she played an Afro-Latino in Pearl, or if they had Tom Holland play a Latino character. Loving someone doesn’t make it okay to erase a minority.

2. “I didn’t know “Jewish” was an ethnicity and not just tied to a religion.”

This having a lot of votes didn’t surprise me at all. Jewish is very much an ethnicity, and actually there are a few different Jewish backgrounds. There’s Ashkenazic (Eastern Europe), Sephardic (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Iberia), Mizrahi (Oriental), Ethiopia (and I’m assuming the rest of Africa?). So not only is Jewish itself an ethnicity, but further than that, depending on what Jewish background you have, everything could be different. Judaism is the religion and a Jew is a part of the ethnoreligion. Meaning that the two are intertwined. A Jew may not be religious, but they may keep traditions that are a part of the culture or they may do absolutely nothing and are still just as Jewish as someone who goes to services every week. You’re a part of a tiny little (but strong) tribe of people, being Jewish is literally in your blood (yes, that includes you converts, you have Jewish blood and soul too).

But the biggest reason why this answer doesn’t surprise me, is that on TV or in movies, Jewish characters are never allowed to just exist. It always has to be tied into a Jewish plot. Sometimes that’s playing them for a joke, other times they’re a WW2 victim, other times they’re extremely religious. Jews are so rarely ever shown just being people without the religious aspects tied in. So it’s not surprising that non-Jews don’t know that a lot of Jews aren’t even religious, hell there are a shit ton of Jews who are outspokenly Atheist but super duper Jewish. If films or shows had Jewish characters that didn’t have any sort of religious connection, it would show that Jews are more than a bagel, a Torah, a lawyer/doctor/banker, Orthodox, etc.

That’s why RWRB erasing a Jewish character who was accidentally an amazing example of a 22 year old explicitly Jewish girl who was just Jewish without being overtly religious in any way would’ve been groundbreaking.

3. “Other answer, I’ll explain more…” Please do!!

4. “I didn’t know “Jew-Face” and Jew-erasure in the media was a big deal.”

Sarah Silverman coined the term Jew-face to give a name to when a non-Jewish actor is cast to play a Jewish actor, based on their physical features. Take Rachel Sennott in Shiva Baby or Patti LuPone in like 5 different things. They’re both Italian. But the term has evolved to cover any non-Jew playing a Jew. Much like Black-face, Yellow-face, and Red-face, this is something that is clearly not okay. That’s why performers don’t do any of the latter 3 any more, yet because many don’t understand that Jewish is an ethnicity or why it’s bad to erase Jews, it continues. 9/10 a Jewish character you see on TV or in a movie isn’t a Jewish actor. Most of the Marvelous Mrs Maisel cast— not Jewish. Most of The Goldbergs cast— not Jewish. Most of the Transparent cast— Not Jewish. The new Spielberg movie— Not Jewish. You see what I’m getting at? There may be a few Jews here and there, mainly in comedies or just by happenstance that the actor was Jewish and they ran with it, but explicitly Jewish roles are normally always given to non-Jewish actors. That would never be the case with any other ethnicity in 2023.

5. “I like Nora being a POC and I didn’t know Jews could be Black (or any race).”

Another answer that really didn’t surprise me. This is because on TV and in movies 1: you rarely see any actual Jews, and 2: You definitely never see Jews of more diverse colors and backgrounds. Jews can be Asian, Black, Hispanic, literally anything you can imagine. Some by conversion, but a lotttttttt were just born Jewish. I don’t want to speak over any Jew of color, but I can make the likely true assumption that it probably fucking sucks for people to assume they aren’t Jewish simply because of what they look like. I’m grateful I was raised Reform, so I grew up surrounded by diverse Jews as far as the eye could see, but unfortunately since Jews are a minority anyway and Jews of color are only a small fraction of an already small fraction… It’s not shocking that people think they don’t exist. What RWRB could’ve done, if they wanted Nora to be played by an African-American actress, is they could have found a girl who was Jewish and Black. I promise, they exist.

6. “I understand that it’s wrong! Changing my mind! RWRB did something bad!”

Amazing! So glad! Please post about it or reblog any of my posts. What they did was really not okay and we can’t let this slide.

7. “I didn’t know the rest of the cast was accurately portraying their ethnicities.”

To the absolute best of my knowledge, every other actor cast in the film who has a character with a minority background is of that background. South East Asian playing South East Asian. Mexican-American playing Mexican-American. Etc. It seems that the only character not portrayed accurately is the only character with a Jewish ethnicity, and even if she wasn’t the only one, hopefully you understand why it would be wrong in any production.

As always, if you have questions, comments, or concerns… DM, Anon, Comment, or leave ‘em in the tags

[rapha-reads]

If I had a gold coin for every time I became obsessed with a dark-haired Latino-American boy whose first name is Alexander and second name starts with a G, in a position of power due to his parents' own position and under a lot of pressure to uphold some standards, who goes through a queer identity crisis when he meets the love of his life who happens to be from an old royalty dynasty, and decides to be true to himself while looking flawless doing it, I'd have... two coins, but the fact that it happened twice is a bit weird.

... Don't get me started on the parallels between Magnus and Henry...

[haveyoureadthismgyabook]

Series info:

Book 1 of American Royals

Book 2: Majesty

Book 3: Rivals

Book 4: Reign