#getting really into the library of babel

[c0rpseductor]

unnaturalize justin bieber yelling swaggy fictionalization decaliters apogamously doctrinal reproducing tinter impotences hippydom thorou ghfares stockinger biog oversleeve arrayments griseofulvin fingerer ruralists go nadial cincture horseplay oversee tagrags inclasping diabolist meteoroids oversl aughing undersea colloques skellier erythrophobias polyanthas monographically br ontosauruses neglectfulnesses quattrocentos nimrods loures bunjes malaxated pope seye micellas munites gabnashes hybridisation clostridia carnificial busied spue rs gammy amateurishness kittlier worthying melatonins subsidies villatic subenti re scaled lespedeza laterigrade impenitences chazzans elasticate tubed thanatolo gist erotisation drumfire lochial anticipators disenchains manumission logophile s presolves contrabassoons interregna finocchio setons sinopises theorized apopl ectical polygony hamartiology humane trichomic outplays isogonals inscribes chec hakoes sprechgesang eradicants topgallants provoke spoofing enfreezing miliaria haughs meditators icehouse atoc northerns libero dimorphisms autotheists herring bones spiering concaving pinnulate supposititious bream intituled lictorian prop ositioning deduced doughlike divertibility outsit homopterous objectivities mete orolite piercingnesses carnalism shinny demonetization jockeyship titans destabi lised incipient nymphets autochthonies electorally bearwoods semiological ransac kers withering mammonistic spelaean paneity arcade tempested inequitably cruftie r inhale tyrosine abstinently kak whirlwinds incult motherly validating interwre athes heelbar implication insinuatory harelipped scarp lampooners surrogateship

[unravelingwires]

Idioplasmic

Jaya knew one thing about her grandparents on Amma’s side. Her grandfather and her mother apparently shared a hair type.

Jaya discovered this through judicious application of alcohol.

[lucilleslore]

lovesick snow really really really scratches a part of my brain that i cannot have the words that explain it and have to go the library of babel to find it. he'd be more easy to manipulate in that state, especially how vulnerable he is to you and how willing he'd do anything for you. like you said in one of your first posts, i'm in love with the idea of it of how powerful the reader is if you want to add more backstory to them.

ok so i went with your idea and gave manipulative!reader and snow the backstory they deserve for the little au we have going here!! i hope you love it <3

➸ so as a kid i see manipulative!reader as a bit of a daydreamer and what do lots of little girls dream about?? their wedding. for you though it wasn’t necessarily about the day, not even the fancy dress or the colour scheme but the person. let’s just say you’re already from quite an influential family but it’s not enough - you want more.

➸ you wanted a husband that’s powerful, motivated. he had to be important and charismatic - someone who could really get you what you wanted from life. you weren’t completely unbothered by the idea of romance though and hoped that’d you’d manage to get them utterly devoted to you, willing to do anything to protect you and make you happy. it’s not a hard thing to ask for, right?

➸ you’d always been aware of coriolanus snow but there always seemed to be better candidates for your attention. then he comes back to the capitol and you can sense the change in him - the unhinged, power hungry aura that seemed to surround him and as he quickly started making a new name for himself, you thought he could be the one.

➸ coryo would never be an easy person to get close to however. so you had to subtly start placing yourself in his life. it was a slow process but you were diligent. ‘bumping’ into him just outside his apartment, having the same social calendar as him, even showing an interest in the games so someone would set up an appointment between the two of you to discuss.

➸ then there was one moment. one that not even you - seemingly the mastermind of your own life - had planned out. it was raining that day, pouring and you were alone rushing back to your apartment. you weren’t paying attention to where you were going and when you stepped out onto the road you weren’t prepared for the onslaught of screeching tires or horns. or for the strong grip that wrapped around your wrist and pulled you back.

➸ coryo was there just as drenched as you were but with a kind of frenzied, panicked look in his eyes. ‘you should watch where you’re going,’ he’d urged. it was the way he said it, the way his hand squeezed at your wrist that had you thinking maybe he’d been noticing your efforts after all. he’d tugged you closer to him as if you’d be safer there and it was probably the most genuine moment you’d had in years, as you blinked up at the blonde man who’d just saved your life.

➸ honestly after that you decide to back off, feeling a little guilty about your scheming but seemingly the universe wanted the two of you on the same path. or maybe coriolanus did. suddenly he was there at family functions, taking meetings with your father, charming your mother at all costs. he’d come to dinners hosted at your families estate and his eyes would never leave you from across the table even when he was in a conversation.

➸ so when your family told you about the marriage proposal you weren’t that surprised, just giddy. everything was finally falling into place. you knew you’d have to be careful. to you snow was charming, doting in a sense but you’d heard the rumours. he could be dangerous and you’d have to make sure you were never in his firing line.

➸ in the beginning of your marriage you try and play coy, let coryo take the lead in things. you like to let him know how you rely on him, always holding onto his arm in public and letting him speak first. basically just playing up to his male ego but something about seeing you feeling so safe with him and letting your guard down has him letting some walls down too. which is exactly what you want.

➸ he’d start to confide in you after a while because you’re just such a good little wife! bringing him drinks in the evening in your pretty dresses, loosening his shirts and playing with his hair. it isn’t his fault he ends up telling you things about his past, things he plans to do in the future - a lot of things that he probably shouldn’t tell you especially since you’ll remember each and every one.

➸ kinda dark but i love the idea of you being able to read people really well and always hyper aware of who coryo surrounds himself with, always sussing out their intentions before he does. you give it a little while but if he’s still not catching onto them you’ll simply make something up. maybe they’re giving you dirty looks or maybe their gazes are just lingering a little too long for your liking, in places they certainly shouldn’t be looking. maybe they’ve flirted with you, maybe they’re making nasty digs but you have coryo eating out the palm of your hand by this point and he’s possessive, protective in a mad, feral way. you’re flat out lying but he eats it up and whoever you want gone doesn’t last much longer after that.

➸ maybe that’s how you get your power. by simply having his ear. people know that they can get what they want through you and by the time coryo is president you have people visiting you nearly everyday. hoping you’ll let them into your inner circle, offering you things in exchange for a word whispered in his ear.

➸ and maybe coryo comes to rely on you this way. you’re a capitol darling, their perfect first lady but behind closed doors you’re separating the good from the bad. the people who can help your husband and the people who’re out to damage what he’s built. people begin to see you as a powerhouse in your own right, someone with a good side they need to be on. or else.

[barbwritesstuff]

The Goodreads Choice awards has happened. It included a 'romantasy' category and no 'graphic novel' category. I take that as permission to make up my own ridiculous genres as I tell you about what I read in 2023.

Obviously, 2023 is not finished yet, but I'm doing a reading challenge at my library, so I don't think I'll be reading stuff I want to read for the rest of the year. Just stuff my librarian friend thinks its funny to make me read.

I've read 65ish books. Here are the highlights sorted into easy and normal groups.

Scifi books in which the main character spends 99% of the book wandering around a horrifying cave:

I enjoyed both of these, but Piranesi was a joy to read.

Vampires:

Empire of the Vampire was wild. House of Hunger was horny. Dowry of Blood was both of those things.

Ace books:

Disclaimer: I didn't actually like Loveless or Let's Talk About Love very much but I know a lot of people did, so I thought I'd include them here.

Vanilla surprised me because I don't normally like poetry but it was really good. Heartbreaking, but good.

Memoirs by people way too young to write memoirs:

All of which were funny!

Books about white people being shitty to Asian (specifically Chinese) people in the entertainment industry with ambiguous endings and a huge amount of research into the industry on blast:

Yellowface is for you if you like Hbomberguy's latest video. Seriously, those two go together like a fine wine and a good cheese. The Whitewash was also fantastic and so under appreciated.

Books that made me want to quit my job and become a ridiculous but stylishly dressed criminal:

Seriously. Rogues included a step by step guide on how to become a wine forger... and I was tempted.

HISTORY:

Okay, so Babel isn't really history, in that it's actually a magical dark academia, but it's tied into historical events, and made me look up some history, so I think it counts. The wager was the most exciting history book I've ever read. I was so invested in the lives and deaths of these silly scurvy-ridden seamen.

There are other books I read and enjoyed but I can't think of funny categories to put them into, so you don't get to hear about them.

Anyway. That's it. Read books.

Also, get a library card if you can. I practically live at my local library and have learnt so much from reading.

Here's last year's post if you want more books...

[hostilecandle]

Okay fellow fic writers, we need to have a little chat. I really need yall to understand that Ao3 is not a social media site, it is an archive. And because of that there are 2 big things I am begging you to grasp

1) You do NOT control who reads your fics. It is getting increasingly often I'm seeing "minors dni" and "proship dni" on fics on the archive. Yall... that is not. how. archives. work. You don't get to choose that. The second you consent to your fic being posted in an archive you have consented to anyone reading it. That is how an archive functions. If that is a problem or sticking point for you or makes you uncomfortable, don't post there. It's simple. There are basic and common sense rules that apply when using an archive, and the ability for anyone to read what's posted to archival site is one of them. Imagine if you went through a physical archive in a library or at a college or wherever and they had signs saying "X do not read/interact" yall would recognize that as wrong and stupid. Recognize it in yourself as well

2) I need yall to understand what tags are actually for. They're not for triggers, contrary to popular belief and discourse. Though can be used as a very helpful tool for it. They're there, and im sure I'm beating a dead horse saying this again, BECAUSE ITS A FUCKING ARCHIVE. Do yall not understand how those work? Tags are for filtering so people can find. what. they're. looking. for. This is why it's important to tag things like blood, gore, mcd, fluff, cheating, marriage, whump, happy endings etc. It's why its a bullshit argument to say "I don't want to spoil it" (apart for the massive ethics problem that is you weirdos) that's not what an archive is for. Post it here, or wattpad, fanfic or live journal (if theyre still functioning) or in a long af threadfic on twitter. Hell, post it on fb or insta for all I give a shit. But if you want to play by social media rules, post it on a social media not an archival site.

And I've seen the argument that "published works aren't held to this standard" and 1) you're work isn't a published book and 2) YES THEY ARE. When a published work is added to an archive, they also have to be properly labeled. Why the fuck do yall think they dont??? Sure if your fic was on a Barnes and noble shelf, you wouldn't have to say or "spoil" it. You don't even have to do it here on Tumblr, though I frankly think it's an absolute dickhead move. But anything in an archive is labeled or "tagged". Otherwise it's just a mess of words that no one can seperate from each other. You'd be creating a library of babel without it.

So tldr: learn what an archive actually is, stop putting '___ dni' on your ao3 fics, and tag. your. fics. and stop complaining about it in said tags for fucks sake 😭😭😭

[libraryofbabel-postlocator]

Where is YOUR post in the Library of Babel?

In Jorge Luis Borges' short story, The Library of Babel, every possible combination of every letter exists within in a seemingly infinite number of books in a seemingly infinite library. Most books are nonsense, random strings of letters occasionally interrupted by a space or period, but every once in a while, you'll come across a whole word or maybe an entire phrase. Because here's the thing about the library. There really is every combination of letters in there. So, yeah, there's a lot of nonsense, but there's also every sentence ever said, every paragraph ever written, every thought you've ever had. You could flip from a page of complete nonsense to a perfect recreation of a letter you wrote your friend as a kid, only to turn the page to find more random letters. Everything exists within the library. (You can find the full short story here)

The Library of Babel is a website that recreates Borges' idea. You can browse through the shelves, get sent to a random book, or search for a specific phrase.

So what am I doing here? I'm just a nerd who loses their mind over the idea of infinity and spends way too much time on tumblr. So, I'm taking some of my favorite posts I find and locating them in the library using the website mentioned above. In my posts I'll link the exact page, as well as list its location by page, book, shelf, wall, and hexagon (the hexagons are distinguished by an incredibly long list of characters, so they'll be put below the cut for convenience). The website does allow you to find pages that are exact matches to your search, but I personally prefer the results with random characters as they really give you that lone bit of coherence in a sea of nonsense vibe.

If you have any questions, go ahead and ask! I may add a qna to this post if I get any consistently.

[nicosraf]

Hi! I know that you're probably getting swamped with asks, and I'm sorry to add onto that. Anyways! Your writing has inspired me so much!!! I'm going to begin drafting a book Soon because of you. Are there any cool facts about Uriel that I could hear ?

Hello! I'm not really swamped! I'm just a little bad at answering sometimes and get behind, but I'm trying my best. I'm so happy to hear I've inspired you! I'll be joining you in drafting hell very soon. Good luck!

As for cool facts about Uriel... Hm. (CW for mentions of suicide)

Well I talked forever ago about how I figured out the details of his backstory in a dream, and I think that's pretty cool! For story facts, Uriel has a very rocky relationship with Kokabiel from A&M, and he has a little bit of history with Danel. I think it's actually pretty normal for new or young angels to try really hard to befriend him, and he actively avoids them. (I think even Asmodeus tried to befriend Uriel once). In case you didn't catch it in the first two books, Uriel was the first archangel and he was the only prince for a really long time; I think for actually 90-95% of angel history. Another fun fact is that he is one of the very few angels who can write in every single writing system that the angels have invented; also, once humans languages have been created (post-Babel), he's one of the only angels who knows every single language.

Some sadder fun facts is that Uriel attempted to take his own life but failed a few times before he stopped. Another is that he frequently visits the cluster of stars that Kimah has become often and talks to him/them. I think his massive library started with just tablets of him charting every star as it exploded to keep tracks of all his original siblings. I think after being alive so long, one of the only ways he keeps himself sane is by tracking every small change in the universe.

Uriel also used to be a lot more respected and feared until others were chosen to be princes as well, and especially when Michael was picked as chief. One last thing is that I imagine him smoking from a hookah a lot.

[clem-l-orange]

my long essay about why Babel is such an interesting ark and deserves to be explored more

(Prefacing this by saying I read the books in French, so if I make any mistakes I apologize, French is also my first language so I may make some mistakes)

SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 3 & 4 AHEAD!!!!

We are introduced to the Ark of Babel in book 3 of La Passe Miroir when Ophelia escapes Anima to find Thorn, and chooses to go to Babel after following some clues to his location.

Babel is a “cosmopolitan ark”, where many different cultures mix due to the high rate of immigration. However, there is a divide in between the “Sons of Pollux” (Babelians descended from Pollux, who have Babelian powers) and the “Godchildren of Helen” (I apologize for the poor translation please correct me), who are either powerless and native to Babel, or not native to Babel at all. From the first chapters in Babel, we can see that these two social groups are segregated with dress codes, and there is even a time when Ambrose, the son of Lazarus, a wealthy and influential Powerless man, gets insults hurled at him for his background. In book 4, “A Storm of Echoes”, recent immigrants as well as political opposers are rounded up and sent to their deaths/deported from the Ark, . There is also a clear segregation within the city of Babel between Powerless people and others, with a majoritarily Powerless neighborhood being referred to as “The Powerless Quarters” (I may have translated wrong). This neighborhood is considered the “slum” of Babel, and is clearly described as a poorly maintained, badly policed and dangerous place to live.

Another dystopian aspect of Babel that we learn in the first few chapters is the extreme censorship of words relating to violence, war, crime… etc. The “Index” suppresses the use of these words, going as far as punishing those who say the words, even in non-violent contexts. This goes as far as branding murders and clearly voluntary deaths as “accidents”. The suppression of the words in the Index leads to misinformation in journals, and even book burning in what is supposed to be the oldest library on the arch, the Memorial. There are many parallels to be drawn from instances in history where books were burnt to stop the spread of information, but I love how this book spins it to make this censorship “in advocacy for peace”. Books about war are cleansed from libraries, collections of ancient artifacts as well. The “Master Censurer” at the memorial even goes as far as burning any book that Professor Wolf, the Memorial’s resident expert on “Prehistoric Wars” goes near. Babel is a dystopia under a blanket of pacifism.

We later learn about the “Observatory of Deviations”, which concept resembles a mental asylum/psych ward/home for the troubled??? All we learn about this place from the third book is that it is very secretive and treats it’s patients like property, which is even more enforced in the fourth book, when we see firsthand what happens in the Observatory, and when we learn that certain patients get branded with tattoos against their will. Blaise, a friend Ophelia made on Babel, describes the place to her, and makes a point that if you go there, you are the property of the workers, you cannot leave, and no information about your progress is ever disclosed to you. They are more interested in your “deviation” than your “personal preferences”. After reading about Ophelia’s own experiences at the Observatory, it became clear that the place was meant to be an allegory for some abusive psychiatric asylum, that the “deviants” were meant to represent neurodivergent and physically disabled people. Later in book 4, it is revealed that Lazarus is the master of this operation. When I heard this, my brain did a double take and I circled back to the part where Lazarus was described as a “father figure” to Blaise. The fact that Lazarus used his patients and their trust for his own personal gain (in this case for “scientific discovery”) I feel really reflects into real life in other situations.

Unemployment and the replacement of people by AI is also addressed in books 3 and 4, as automatons take up most of the manual labor on Babel, leaving Powerless people no jobs to support them. When visiting the Powerless Quarters with Octavio in book 3, Ophelia runs in to the Fearless and Almost Blameless, who proceeds to shame Octavio and tell him that, by walking around in his Forerunners uniform, he is humiliating those around him who have no future. Since almost all of the jobs that do not require powers are taken by automatons or people with power and influence, it seems like the poorer Powerless people have no future. In book 4, when Lady Septima announces that those with no familial or contractual tie to Babel are to be deported to their old Arks, there is an uprising that leads to violence, where the Unemployed people of Babel demand Octavio hire them in the place of his automaton. This truly mirrors our world today, as many jobs are in danger of being taken by AI or automation.

There are also other issues on Babel that mirror real world issues, with topics such as homophobia being brought up as side plots. I could literally write a whole other essay about the parallels and differences between Ophelia and Thorn vs. Blaise and Wolf, but that’s for another day.

Feel free to correct me if I got a translation wrong or if you agree/disagree with one of my points.

also a side note: Native Babelians are clearly supposed to look South Asian, right? Because sometimes I see fanart where some of the Babelian characters are considerably pale and it kind of weirds me out but this may be a misconception.

[duckprintspress]

Mid-Year Book Freak Out

Yoinked from @profiterole-reads

Number of books you’ve read so far: depends how you count, but Storygraph has me at 148, which includes 20-something DPP short stories. (like a hundred of these are graphic novels/manga/manhua/manwha, they're quick...)

Best book you’ve read so far in 2024: I can't pick one. Best novel: The Imperial Uncle by Da Feng Gua Guo. Best non-fiction: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel or Genderqueer by Maia Kobabe. Best graphic novel...extremely hard choice. I'm gonna go with Brooms by Jasmine Walls, I really liked that one. or The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz.

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2024: I have no idea how to define "sequel" in any way relevant to what I read, sorry.

New release you haven’t read yet but want to: Qiang Jin Jiu by Tang Jiuqing.

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year: the last books of Thousand Autumns and Guardian.

Biggest surprise favorite new author (debut or new to you): Da Feng Gua Guo (new to me)

Newest fictional crush: Jing Chengjun.

Book that made you cry: I can't recall that any of these made me cry??? I almost never cry at media, sorry.

Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received): Beautiful as in...literally physically attractive? idk this isn't something I pay attention to much, they're all just books? I do love the art in the 2ha English releases.

Book that made you happy: several of the above, and a whole lot of others, let's go with Cheer Up! Love and Pom Poms by Crystal Frasier, it was super cute.

What books do you need to read by the end of the year?: so many, I'm trying to get through my entire TBR. Next up is three Katherine Addison books starting with The Goblin Emperor, and then after that is Rose and Renaissance by Zhi Chu. That's the next 7, after that I'm not sure what's next, maybe The Fall of the House of Tatterly by Shanna Miles? There's like 15 books on my TBR (there's also The Missing Piece by Kun Li Wei You, Babel by R. F. Kuang, The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin, Venus of Delta by Anais Nin, and probably a couple others I'm forgetting)., and I've got pre-orders that'll be coming in too. And there's the library books, with more there every time I go. oops. too many books.

Tagging @pterawaters @mayarab @deathbycoldopen @hullosweetpea and @sarnakhwritesthings

[honourablejester]

I just want to talk about one of my favourite niche spells I’ve come across for PF2e: Helpful Steps. It’s a first level spell available on all four spell lists, and it’s basically ‘spell of summon ladder’. It’s fantastic.

“You call forth a ladder or staircase to help you reach greater heights. The ladder or staircase appears in a space you designate and either stands freely or connects to a nearby wall if possible. You decide the height of the ladder or staircase when casting the spell, up to a maximum height of 40 feet. The ladder or staircase is locked in place and magically supported, allowing you to ascend even if it's in an open area. The conjured ladder is simple in design and made of wood. The staircase is a spiral staircase made of wood. While both are supported and have no risk of falling, they can be damaged and destroyed as normal. The staircase is typically easier to ascend, though it's less discreet than a ladder and could possibly draw more attention. You can Dismiss the spell.”

The ladder/stairs lasts for 10 minutes, and if you learn the spell at higher levels you get an extra 40ft per level. And it’s just … It’s so specific, and so mundane, and so useful? I love it. How many things are so much easier if you can just casually summon a self-supporting 40ft ladder? A lot of urban navigation just got significantly easier.

(I will say that I do wish you could lay the ladder horizontally as well, and make basically a rickety wooden bridge across up to 40ft of a gap, but eh).

I also just love the imagery of the spiral staircase. In that you can summon a random spiral staircase in a field if you want to, which is just wonderfully incongruous imagery. If you learned the spell at higher levels you could potentially make a 400ft high spiral staircase in the arsecrack of nowhere, if you wanted to waste a 10th level spell learned on heightening it. Which, obviously not, but still. I love that it’s an option. None of this ‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair’, nah, I’m just going to summon a staircase all the way up to the top floor window of your wizard tower.

The staircases also don’t have to be placed on the ground, so you could chain them if you’ve got spell slots to burn. There has to be a legend about a wizard/group of wizards who climbed their way into the Heavens/the Elemental Plane of Air like that. Just chain 40ft+ stairs until you hit orbit. (And then fall from orbit when the last one fades 10 minutes later, but eh). Do we want to try the Tower of Babel over here? Absolutely. Let’s rock this.

IDK, I just really enjoy the existence of this spell. Yes, flying is more efficient. But. It doesn’t have the imagery? And also this just feels like a really handy and practical and grounded sort of low-level spell for people to have.

(I’m also now imagining snobbish wizards with libraries and towers that don’t have staircases, because why are you even here if you don’t have the magic to create your own? Honestly!)

I really love niche utility spells. They’re the best.

[unravelingwires]

Carbonic

“To the fire,” Kali prays, toasting the new source of clean water.

“To the fire,” Kali calls, running to the next building.

“To the fire,” Kali murmurs as she drops next to the crumbled body.

“To the fire,” Kali snarls as she slashes with her sister’s hooked sword.

“To the fire,” Kali laughs as she lets herself be drawn closer.

“To the fire,” Kali sighs, brushing the child’s hair behind her ear.

“To the fire,” Kali screams in one last rallying cry.

“To the fire,” Kali says, watching the smoke rise into the air.

[gillianthecat]

Books Tag Game

Thank you for the tag @littleragondin! I've actually been reading books again these past few weeks so I have answers now lol

hardcover or *paperback* (i am but a weak little woman and those hardcovers are heavy) // bookstore or *library* (probably I would usually say bookstore but I was going to many different libraries to study at towards the end of the semester) // standalone or *series* (really depends on my mood, but the most recent books were a series) // nonfiction or *fiction* (fiction is an indulgence, and while I'm interested in a lot of non-fiction, reading it usually feels more like work) // thriller or *fantasy* (I've never been into scary stuff) // under 300 pages or *over 300 pages* (otherwise it goes by too quickly!) // children's or *ya* (i have not connected with the YA I've read in recent years but at times I have devoured it) // friends to lovers or *enemies to lovers* (there are some amazing friends-to-lovers I adore, but I'm compelled by even mediocre enemies-to-lovers) // *read in bed* or read on the couch (either but recently it's been all in bed) // *read at night* or read in the morning (through the night and into the next morning) // *keep pristine* or markup (I don't try to actually keep books pristine, but I also never bother to mark up anything but textbooks) // *cracked spine* or dog ear (historically I read most books on one sitting, but if not I'd just search for the page again/use a random receipt as a bookmark)

Currently Reading:

I'm not in the middle of anything, but I've read more in recent weeks than I have in a long time. (Well, technically I'm in the middle of Solomon's Ransom by Corey Kerr, because I read the sample and now am waiting for the book to be released in a few weeks.)

Several months ago I got from the (physical!) library a (physical!) copy of She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan, and I finally finished after the semester ended, and then found an ebook of the sequel, He Who Drowned the World. (Compelling, though I think the ambitiousness of the project inevitably meant that parts of it didn't quite work.)

Then I read a bunch of romance ebooks, and even found a m/f one that I liked! Jodi McAlister's Not Here To Make Friends. (It was also the reality dating show romance I had been low-key hoping would exist.)

I also read RF Kuang's Babel: An Arcane History (which I appreciated and was provoked by, but didn't exactly love), and then read that she was inspired by/responding to Donna Tartt's The Secret History, so I reread that. (When I read it years ago my reaction was, I'm too old for this. It felt like a book you need to read in your teens or early twenties to get swept up into. My thoughts this go around were pretty much the same.) Then Kuang's Yellowface, which was also compelling.

Speaking of enemies to lovers, quite enjoyed The Sorcerer's Omega, also by Corey Kerr, which is why I'm awaiting her latest release. (The other two books in that world are also good, just not catnip for my tastes in the same way.)

And your post reminded me—I too read Love in the Big City, which was good and also unsettling in that way of most autobiographical novels about the authors fucked up twenties. Now I can go and unblock the tag and see all the fascinating discussions y'all had in your book club.

I have no idea how they'll manage to turn it into a BL (which is what I think I read is happening?). Although it's about relationships it's very much not a romance. Are they just pulling out some random plot points and building a whole new story around them? I hope they don't try to smush it into BL shape at all, and just tell the narrator's melancholy story as written.

(Oh, technically I'm in the middle of Mari Kondo's The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, but I'm not sure if I'll read any more. Other people's advice can be counterproductive at times.)

(Most most recently was a bunch of Untamed and Drarry fanfic, but I'm not counting that.)

I'm not sure who's done this already, but I'll tag @lelephantsnail, @petrichoraline and @tungtung-thanawat.

[capella-is-my-diary]

who's afraid of little old me is actually so very letty coded

(babel spoilers below)

(this is not a letty-apologist post, in case it comes across that way, i just found the parallels interesting)

"you don't get to tell me about sad" - in letty's interlude we see how she views her struggles with being a woman at oxford as equal, if not worse, to them of ramy and robin: "if ramy corrected a professor, he was bold and brilliant; if letty did the same she was aggravating. if she wanted to take a book out of the bodleian, she needed ramy or robin present to give permission. [...] her friends were always going on about the discrimination they faced as foreigners, but why didn't anyone care that oxford was equally cruel to women?"

"the scandal was contained the bullet had just grazed at all costs, keep your good name you don't get to tell me you feel bad" - this could be interpreted as referring to them covering up lovell's death. particularly because she was strictly against the use of violence to prevent the war from breaking out, even if she claimed to be against "all kinds of prejudices and exploitation"... however, in the end she was more concerned with keeping her privilege 

"is it a wonder I broke? let's hear one more joke then we could all just laugh until I cry" - letty perceives herself as an outsider after their time in canton and even before, when the rest of the cohort all knew about hermes, they kept things (rightfully, as we can see) from her. additionally, especially ramy really liked to rile her up which she didn't take well

"so I leap from the gallows and I levitate down your street" - "this ended in only two ways: prison or the hangman. [...] for if she could not safe her friends, she at least had to safe herself"

"crash the party like a record scratch as i scream "'who's afraid of little old me?'" - this screams her storming the old library to me. she did in fact crash the "party" and had to demonstrate that she should be feared, that she had the upper hand by shooting ramy.

[the---hermit]

My garden is at its best with all the tiniest flowers that bloomed naturally.

20|03|2023

Happy spring equinox! Yesterday I ended up dnf-ing The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling. I reached the middle point and realized that not only I was struggling with picking the book up, but I just didn't care at all about the main character. It would have been a waste of time to continue it, and it probably would have put me into a reading slump. The overall idea of the horror set in a cave is really cool, but I really didn't like the characters and the writing was nothing special. I might give it another try in the future, we'll see. This leaves me with a void because I do have unread books but none of them calls to me if you know what I mean. To be honest I don't even know what I am in the mood for. As I was going to the bas stop to get back home from uni I stopped in one of the bookstore on my way that has English editions to look for something, for some reason the was Babel on my mind. But I couldn't find it nor something else that called to me so I walked out empty-handed. I'll see if I get any inspiration one of these days, and in the meantime I'll try to pick something from my pile of unread books.

Productivity:

posted this book review

protohistory lecture

highlighted the notes I wrote today

continued rereading my history of libraries and reading notes

finished listening to the audibook of Peter Pan

wrote the first draft of the book review I'll post about it

wrote the first draft of the new update of the genre bingo I will post soon

practiced Irish on duolingo

downloaded new protohistory materials on my tablet

Self care:

40 minute walk

did a tarot reading

[theoreticallysensible]

I visited a friend in Oxford this weekend, and having read Babel last year, RF Kuang’s incredible historical fantasy about the role of universities in British colonialism, it was impossible for me to admire the architecture there without thinking about its imperial legacy and persisting imperialist function, and the effect it had on me, on Oxford residents, and on Oxford students. I didn’t take any pictures because I always forget to do that, so enjoy these ones I found on Google. 🙃

The main Bodleian building is probably the most iconic from Oxford, and it’s impossible to communicate the absolute grandeur of its presence when you’re actually there. It’s also perhaps the building most similar in both form and function to Babel in RF Kuang’s story, it being also a central towering library. This is just one of several imposing and beautiful old buildings there though, all of which inescapably give you the impression of being part of - or at least in the presence of - a mighty, cultured civilisation. My friend said she felt the same thing in Durham, where we studied, but Oxford is on a whole other level.

The Oxford motto is apparently “fortis est veritas”, or “the truth is strong”, which I did see around on various buildings. I couldn’t believe how on the nose it was. It perfectly encapsulates what Kuang is critiquing, and they emblazon it proudly on their city: we use this knowledge to enrich ourselves through conquest; this beauty you see around you, this skilled craftsmanship, is both the product and the tool of empire. Knowledge and material is taken from other lands, developed by those with the privilege not to be concerned by more immediate things like food and shelter, and then used to conquer more lands.

I think it was the statues that really affected me though. There was something so intimidating about being surrounded by all these figures of “great men”. It’s hard not to feel fundamentally inferior. But what must it be like to see them when you know that you’ve been invited to join their number, when you’re a student in their institution? I can’t imagine it’s freeing. I have to think that - unless you resist it, as I’m sure many do to varying degrees - it feels like a terrifying pressure to conform to the precise idea of greatness embodied and projected by those statues - a European, masculine, individualist, imperialist one. It’s no wonder it’s often a very specific type of person who comes out of Oxford. It’s no wonder so many of our politicians are from there.

If you haven’t read Babel, I can’t recommend it enough. I read Kuang’s new book, Yellowface, in a single sitting yesterday too, so read that one too. 😂 They’re both excellent critiques of intellectual culture while also being incredibly gripping reads. They combine nuanced characters with blunt didacticism, which in Yellowface in particular she reflects on and defends as a style, in a way that feels so edifying once you get over the popular prejudice against didacticism. Maybe we should be uncompromising in certain truths about the evils of colonialism, racism, and capitalism, ya know?

Both books were advertised to an almost obnoxious degree in every bookshop there, and my friend said everyone she talked to on her short course was talking about Babel, so I like to think there’s hope.

[andordean]

13 books

(Thank GODS I'm reading again as those asks were really embarrassing for a few years)

What’s up readers?! How about a little show and tell? Answer these 13 questions, tag 13 lucky readers and if you’re feeling extra bookish add a shelfie! Let’s Go!

(I was tagged by @jikanet-tanaka - thanks so much!)

1) The Last book I read:

Babel by R. F. Kuang (Go read it people, it's So Good. <3)

2) A book I recommend:

Babel as above, hah. Also, Murderbot.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

(Hard same:) Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. I was listening to them as audibooks at night until some stupid AM. Couldn't stop, wouldn't stop.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

"Eureka Street" by Robert McLiam Wilson. I love this book so much.

5) A book on my TBR:

Oh dear. What isn't on my TBR list.

The Poppy War, R. F. Kuang. Dune, finally. Olga Tokarczuk books I bought errr a year ago. Etc etc etc

6) A book I’ve put down:

I haven't yet, but I think I'll give up on the Archive of the Forgotten I'm currently listening to. I finished the first audiobook (Library of the Unwritten), but for the second one the narrator changed, and with it, the voice of the character I'm most curious about and ARGH. I may try and get the physical book, but audiobooks are a godsend if I want to do some crafts and read at the same time.

7) A book on my wish list:

Everything else by Martha Wells that's not Murderbot

8) A favorite book from childhood:

The Children of Bullerbyn Village by Astrid Lindgren (among many many many others. I lived in books as a kid.)

9) A book you would give to a friend:

Murderbot my beloved! I've convinced a few people to read it and I couldn't be happier. Those books deserve all the love.

10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own

Nic Dwa Razy / Nothing Twice by Wislawa Szymborska, translations by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak

11) A nonfiction book you own:

Factfulness by Hans Rosling

12) What are you currently reading:

Archive of the Forgotten by A. J. Hackwith, with disclaimer above.

13) What are you planning on reading next?

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, to find out where Netflix did it dirrrty. (I enjoyed the show a lot.)

Tagging @cahirdyffryns @softest-punk @powerofadyingsun @itsnotzka @nikita-not-nikola and anyone else who wants to talk about their books. <3