#cait reads

[solarisrenbeth]

16, 17, and 20 for the book asks!! <3

hiiii erin ty!! 🤗💕

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

ooooh this is tough…..i’m gonna have to say the centre by ayesha manazir siddiqi 😔 i had heard a lot of amazing things from people who read early copies and i did enjoy it, but the ending was a bit disappointing and i don’t think it all came together in the way i was hoping 🤔 i would still recommend it but maybe with more tempered expectations going in lol

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

yeah a few actually!! i’ll mention my murder by katie williams for one. i picked up the audiobook because i wanted to listen to something fast paced with a mystery vibe but didn’t really expect much, and i actually really liked it! some beautiful writing with a very clever premise and surprising/satisfying twist 👌

and then also creep: accusations and confessions by myriam gurba, which i picked up when i heard that one of the essays featured some scathing criticism about american dirt (and i am nothing if not an american dirt hater 🤭🙃), but i ended up being completely blown away by gurba’s writing and ideas. the entire collection is brilliant, easy 5⭐️ (*heavy subject matter tho so def check the CWs 🫶)

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

i mentioned two here that met/exceeded my expectations, but i’ll also add rouge by mona awad as one of my most anticipated! i’ve seen mixed reviews from other awad stans but i had a blast with it so i’d say it did meet my expectations, tho maybe not as much as those other two.

[arcanegifs]

ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: Season 1 ↳ Vi + Looking at 🧁

[rocketbirdie]

An unexpected visitor encounters some unexpected visitors at the Kokoto hunter's guild!

>:3

[jaztice]

you ever read a book and realize you aren’t alone in the world and that love is real and everyone including you deserves it

[idkwhatimdoingbutslay]

On my way to save a caitvi edit on Pinterest and my food board pops up as a suggestion…

I’m open to sharing cuz I can’t handle them all on my own 😮‍💨

[spacedlexi]

when u want to like a character so so bad but theyre a cop so its impossible

[glowyjellyfish]

I’m slowly inching my way forward in Rebirth, and I have to say I am actually really delighted with Cait Sith so far. It’s not like I know yet how he works in this canon, but still… lol I see you Reeve. “It feels good to do good”? Hanging his head in shame at the sight of the Avalanche wanted poster? Giving an impromptu lecture on the history of Corel Prison and lamenting that it’s not living up to its potential? I see you Reeve.

Also, Cait Sith is friggin adorable, singing a meow song to guests with his little Scottish voice and having to jump to reach elevator buttons.

Progressed a little further and OMG they showed us Reeve doing his thing. He appears to indeed be doing both genuinely joining Avalanche and spying for Shinra at the same time, if enjoying himself too much and showing too much of himself is anything to go by. Plus, Tseng is clearly aware of what he’s doing and went from him to Rufus to report on Aerith’s position… although it’s not clear yet whether anybody but Tseng knows this, and we DO know the Turks have some mixed feelings about lots of things, so it’ll be interesting to see where this goes. I’m pleased they managed to keep “Cait Sith invites himself to join the party” while also making it more plausible, ie he joined up by being aggressively helpful.

Also, everybody knows that Cait Sith is being controlled by somebody and is something resembling a robot, like without even questioning it. L O L. Of course, they lightly questioned him and he immediately jumped to I AM NOBODY IMPORTANT JUST A LOW LEVEL SHINRA EMPLOYEE WORKING A JOB DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT, so maybe they assumed he was an autonomous robot not unlike Chadley until that moment, who knows. The excess of magic and whimsy in Rebirth has made me realize that these people do indeed live in a world of magic that is sometimes very silly, they’re not gonna question the existence of a sentient magic cat robot person, it’ll only be a shock when they realize one of the Shinra directors was expressing himself by helping them and singing a silly meow song. And also reporting on their movement to Tseng, because if he doesn’t prove his loyalty to Rufus his job could be in danger. So what if he helps them a little too enthusiastically and has an absolute blast doing it?

(Hahahaaaaa my fanfic Reeve is much better at and more concerned with hiding this than canon Reeve, I can’t even tell if he’s actually hiding it from people who aren’t Tseng or not. He’s at least hiding it from his assistant, probably. Oh dear I knew I should have finished my fanfics before Rebirth, even though they aren’t supposed to be fully based on the remake trilogy I am definitely gonna feel obliged to do some rewrites.)

(It does please me to note that there is so far zero reason to see Cait Sith as a separate person from Reeve, very clearly he just basically is Reeve, and we were also shown that he was using his computer to photoshop the wanted posters at a time he also should be actively controlling Cait Sith. Yayyyyy headcanon accurate so far!)

It really does delight me that Reeve is having way too much fun doing this. Of course he is, the man’s horribly repressed.

And Cait Sith is indeed fun to play!

Look, there has been so much else incredibly good and fun and interesting about Rebirth, but Reeve is, still, my favorite, and he’s undoubtedly not as common to talk about as, say, Zack, so I am just gonna commit to being a person who just rambles about Reeve on tumblr periodically because I love him.

I’m just at the desert sidequests section after completing all the Good Saucer/Corel Prison plot—fantastic job with Barret’s character development, by the way—and I am so psyched for the 1000% more Reeve content this game is bestowing upon me. I’m just gonna state for the record real quick that as of right now, I think:

-he controls Cait Sith with his mind, with a magic ability, and Cait Sith is also largely a robot

-he is playing both sides, attempting to mitigate his guilt and the evil things Shinra does by helping Avalanche, while also passing information on them to Tseng (who passes it on to Rufus) probably to prove his loyalty and keep his position

-I haven’t totally decided whether this was all his own idea or if somebody told him to go spy on them, but he is clearly way too into the Join Avalanche part of the plan and is going above and beyond on his own initiative

-because we were directly shown Tseng’s involvement, if the Marlene kidnapping happens, I think it will 100% be something Tseng sets up as insurance. It wouldn’t be Reeve’s idea, not with how sympathetic he is towards Avalanche, and Tseng has some history there and knows where Marlene is and how much she means to them.

Okay, I suspect I started repeating myself at a few points in there so I’m gonna stop. Prepare yourselves for me to just lose my mind and ramble every time Cait Sith and/or Reeve do anything remotely important.

[sarellathesphinx]

Both square enix and other players can take the idea that Cait has his own personality and sense of will separate from Reeve from my mummified hands

[chrollohearttags]

y’all know them troll stan accts on twt that post just to put ppl against each other or start shit? That’s what a lot of you give and I just want y’all to know, y’all are corny as hell and you don’t deserve to read anybody’s fics. All y’all deserve are shitty booktok recs at best.

[gatheringbones]

[“When I was finally given a pen after five months in solitary confinement in an Iranian prison, my world grew exponentially. Lying on my stomach on the carpeted floor of my cell, I wrote page after page after page, in very small script, so as not to waste space. The ability to mark words on a page took on a quality that I can only describe as magical—a nothingness replaced by a somethingness, a presence instead of absence—tangible proof that I existed outside of the fear and chaos of my own mind. I’d been ripped out of reality and thrown into a cell, where I couldn’t go to the bathroom or breathe fresh air without begging for permission. Where control of my body, my time, my future, and my rights had all been stolen from me. Where I hadn’t been given a single phone call, much less access to a lawyer. . . .

The question I began to ask myself on the page was, Do I still have choice? When a guard opened the door of my cell, for example, avoiding eye contact and placing a plastic container of food on the hallway floor for me to pick up instead of handing it to me, my body would flood with rage. Other times, at the first glimpse of a face in the crack of my cell door, I would begin sobbing, only to have the cell door shut in my face. I had never had my own emotions be so completely out of my control, and clearly hurting myself or making myself vulnerable to power-tripping guards didn’t serve me, but was it up to me how I reacted? Did “free will” exist in any meaningful way in a context where I was so highly triggered and frightened, or had my reactions become automatic? Without freedom, was there still an “I”? And if so, who was “I” responsible to?

I owed the guards nothing, that I felt certain of. They’d severed the human contract by participating in the illegal imprisonment of an innocent woman for their country’s political gain. Yet underneath the emotional mask worn by each guard was the face of a human being, and what I needed, more than anything else, was human contact. Here was the essence of conflict: What was more important, my mental health or my self-respect? Protecting myself from rejection and more emotional pain, or taking a risk that might lead to getting a little of what I needed to stay sane? I discovered I still had the ability to choose. And I chose to try to interact with the guards in a way that didn’t give away my power.

With every guard, that looked different. With Leila, I would speak Arabic and try and get her to teach me Farsi. With Maryam, I would act the fool (taking my shirt off, for example, and smelling my armpits). Stone-faced Nargess I would flatter in an attempt to get a smile (what beautiful eyes you have, woman!). With Mask Lady (she refused to tell me her name), I would take a warrior stance and stare her down menacingly with my legs spread and my hands on my hips until she eventually gave in and handed me my lunch.”]

Sarah Shourd, from On Dramatic Theater, from The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting A Writer’s Life In Prison, by PEN America and edited by Caits Meissner, 2022

[solarisrenbeth]

hello beloved, can i have 8, 10 and 25 for the books asks please? 💕

silvvvv thank you beloved!! 🥰

8. Did you meet any of your reading goals? If so which ones?

i don’t know that i set any reading goals this year, actually! i did join a lil virtual book club which was something i was interested in so i guess that counts 😌

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

OOOOH this is real close. hm. yeah i have to cheat and mention two, sorry LMAO

gotta be a tie between kelly link’s white cat, black dog and eliza clark’s penance

both were highly anticipated releases for me because i’m a big fan of both writers, so the fact that they both EXCEEDED those expectations says a lot 🤩 white cat, black dog is some of the most fun i’ve had with a short story collection and if you enjoy reimagined fairy tales (but weirder), i highly HIGHLY recommend this one 🤌 and penance……..i don’t even know what to say about penance 💆‍♀️ it’s like nothing i’ve ever read before and i couldn’t put it down. if anyone has read this please let me know so we can discuss

25. What reading goals do you have for next year?

hmmmmm! probably to keep better track of my reading throughout the year and actually do some review writing instead of just going !!!!!!!!!!! about everything i like 😅 maybe start a bookblr but that might be ambitious 💀

[stoat-party]

I hold very close to my heart the belief that Cait can barely read.

[betweenlands]

hi everyone. we solved one of the 100dmv puzzles. click this link to read over the slow process of our going completely insane for nearly a full month.

links at the top to the pieces of the puzzle if for some reason you want to try to do it yourself (the section titles shouldn't spoil anything); if you don't care about the "going insane" part and just want to see the answers, go to Part 4 for the breakthrough and Part 5 for the answers/summary.

special thanks to @autisticlalna, @fearforthestorm, and @dreylendreamer for their help!

[welcometothejunkpile]

Reading Challenge for 2024

Hey y'all. I made a StoryGraph reading challenge for supporting the authors affected by the review-bombing scandal. If you're interested you can check it out here.

Feel free to suggest and other authors and books, especially the debuts. I went through several sources to try and make sure my list of those most-affected was accurate, but help is welcome.

Kamilah Cole - So Let Them Burn

Molly X. Chang - To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods

Thea Guanzon - The Hurricane Wars

Bethany Baptiste - The Poisons We Drink

Frances White - Voyage Of the Damned

Laura R. Samotin - The Sins On Their Bones

K.M. Enright - Mistress of Lies

R.M. Virtues - Gods of Hunger series

[teartra]

All I can say is… damn

[tinyluvs]

opening a fic and seeing i went to … or i did this and i did that makes me back out immediately because it makes me feel like i’m reading someone’s diary 😭😭