#her books just really became a part of me the way the foxhole court did u kno??

[mania-sama]

if u don't mind me asking, what is it that makes u prefer kevneil/daysten over andreil? ive never seen someone say that before so im curious! not looking for an argument or anything so don't worry 😅 if u think andreil is terrible or whatever, u can be honest.

thanks so much for sending in an ask!!

Yeah, most people, when it comes to Kevin and his various ships, say that they prefer Kandreil. This, I think, comes from the fact that everyone really likes Andreil the most, and they don't like to separate them for the basis of a Kevin ship. Which is fine for them, but me personally, I just really like Kevneil and don't care much for a poly couple (polyamorous shipping has never been my thing in the first place).

I think my attraction to this ship stems mainly from the fact that Kevin has so much tension with every single character in the cast, so reading him and his interactions from Neil's perspective led me to believe that they would be endgame from the first book. So much so that I would have thought they would have been up until the last book if I had not already been spoiled of the canonical Andreil ending about halfway through reading The Foxhole Court. Neil always speaks of Kevin like he had the biggest crush on him, and it pretty much read as gay subtext for me, what with all of the hiding of identity and skirting of the truth. Kevin, similarly, seemed to me to always look out for Neil in a subtle love and appreciation that only became more apparent as their relationship progressed and they grew to trust each other. The other reason is because I simply don't care as much about Andrew. His story is compelling, but I care a lot more for Kevin and Neil's characters - in both storyline and personalities - than I do for Andrew's.

I also think that Kevin would have been a much better fit for Neil, and vice versa. Andrew is generally a very aggressive person, and although Kevin isn't necessarily calm, I think that Neil should have ended up with someone less volatile to balance out his own intensity and trauma. This isn't to say that I hate Andreil - I'm completely fine with it. I just think Kevneil, in my mind, makes a lot more sense. A part of me still isn't really over the fact that Neil just does not care that Andrew canonically arranged for him to be drugged and sexually assaulted in the book. Like. What. Absolutely deranged behavior. It adds to why I think Kevneil should've been endgame (although I recognize that Kevin was complicit in this arrangement).

(I like to ignore Thea's existence. I do not like her, both for the way Nora doesn't seem to care for writing her and it shows, as well as the fact that she is generally terrible for everything Nora has tried to do with Kevin's character. I genuinely don't know why she's in the story. It almost seems like a way to prevent Kevneil from happening, because I swear on my life that those two have a thousand times more chemistry than Andreil ever did).

[darcyolsson]

hey vic i wanna read that sweet alice oseman (i think thats their name??) content can u explain in what order i shuld read it and where i can find it?? thank you 💕

ah yes, alice oseman, True lomlafthwinmfcathis got really long i’m sorry

so far there’s 2 books: solitaire and radio silence. i’m not gonna write descriptions for them because i’m really terrible at that but i linked the goodreads lmaosolitaire also comes with two novellas, nick and charlie and this winter

i honestly don’t think it matters what order you read the main books in, but some of the events in solitaire are referenced to in radio silence, so i think u might wanna read solitaire first?? and ofc it’s Advised to read solitaire before the novellas bc then u will know what’s Actually Going On but i won’t judge. u do u.

there’s also heartstopper (@heartstoppercomic), which is a webcomic that takes place a few months before solitaire. it’s about nick and charlie, who are in an established relationship in solitaire, and well please just read the blog description lmao i’m Bad at this. it’s really wholesome and it has a dog.it updates 3 times a month (on the 1st, 21st and 31st) but you can get early updates on alice’s patreon!!!

aaaand there’s also a 3rd book coming in 2018 (spring i think?), title to be revealed, which is about a band? and people who are fans of this band? and i have no idea what it’s about but i already love it?

and well that’s it BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE! alice has 3 blogs, which you’ve most definitely seen if u follow me bc apparently 16% of all my reblogs comes from those three (oops)@spacezeros is her art blog which is. a goddamn gold mine i’ve spent more time in these tags than i would like to admit tbh@chronicintrovert is her main which is just like.. a blog. except run by a person who happens to be an author. the best place for non art directed questions about the books etc. @aliceoseman is really focused on her writing stuff, so the #1 place to look for fanart, etc.

and there’s also a twitter which is Great and a youtube channel with writing advice and q&as on the books and a spotify which i dont know how to link with b o o k p l a y l i s t s fuckin NUT

personally what i really like about alice’s books is that they’re really real?? she’s only 23 (which. i know. what. how do u have ur life so TOGETHER man) so the teenagers Actually Act Like Teenagers Wow. a lot of the topics are also handled really normally. like, nick and charlie’s romance, isn‘t the Big Gay Drama most books turn relationships into. instead, it’s really just a steady, healthy relationship? with two boys? what a Concept? WHILE also dealing w the issues gay couples face (mainly talked about in this winter, because a part of it focuses on charlie rather than tori, solitaire’s mc)radio silence is also really diverse (2/5 MCs are white, 4/5 MCs are not straight, with the 5th being confirmed LGBT off-screen AND THE AUTHOR NOT ACTING LIKE IT WAS HER PLAN ALL ALONG WOW) and as far as my White Ass™ can judge like.. genuinely well-written.

and thats all i have 2 say?? there’s books are fuckin GREAT i finished all of them in less than a day and i Cannot Fucking Read. thanks for ur time

cws for the books under the cut

solitaire:

self-harm (really explicit as mental health is one of the main themes)

suicide (idem)

eating disorders (idem)

alcohol

violence

violent/suicial thoughts 

radio silence

emotional (child) abuse (explicit)

alcohol

animal death

racism 

and i think that’s it? both books have a good ending despite there being dark parts. pls read. and report back to me. because i love talking abt them. xoxo

[cruisingthedemimonde]

America’s Gay Men in WW2

World War Two was a “National Coming Out” for queer Americans.

I don’t think any other event in history changed the lives of so many of us since Rome became Christian. 

For European queers the war brought tragedy.

The queer movement began in Germany in the 1860s when trans activist Karl Ulrichs spoke before the courts to repeal Anti-Sodomy laws. From his first act of bravery the movement grew and by the 1920s Berlin had more gay bars than Manhattan did in the 1980s. Magnus Hirschfeld’s “Scientific Humanitarian Committee” fought valiantly in politics for LGBT rights and performed the first gender affirmation surgeries. They were a century ahead of the rest of the world.

The Nazis made Hirschfeld - Socialist, Homosexual and Jew - public enemy number one.

The famous image of the Nazis burning books? Those were the books of the Scientific Humanitarian Committee. Case studies of the first openly queer Europeans, histories, diaries - the first treasure trove of our history was destroyed that day.

100,000 of us were charged with felonies. As many as 15,000 were sent to the camps, about 60% were murdered.

But in America the war brought liberation.

In a country where most people never even heard the word “homosexual” , historian John D’emilio wrote the war was “conducive both to the articulation of  a homosexual identity and to the more rapid evolution of a gay subculture. (24)” The war years were “a Watershed (Eaklor 68)”

Now before we begin I need to give a caveat. The focus of this first post is not lesbians, transfolk or others in our community. Those stories have additional complexity the story of cisgender homosexual men does not. Starting with gay men lets me begin in the simplest way I can, in subsequent posts I’ll look at the rest of our community.

Twilight Aristocracy: Being Queer Before the War

I want us to go back in time and imagine the life of the typical queer American before the war. Odds are you lived on a farm and simply accepted the basic fact that you would marry and raise children as surely as you were born or would die. You would have never seen someone Out or Proud. If you did see your sexuality or gender in contrary ways you had no words to express it, odds are even your doctor had never heard the term “Homosexual. In your mind it was just a quirk, without a name or possible expression.

In the city the “Twilight Aristocracy” lived hidden, on the margins and exposed their queerness only in the most coded ways. Gay men “Dropping pins” with a handkerchief in a specific pocket. Butch women with key chains heavy enough to show she didn’t need a man to carry anything for her. A secret language of “Jockers” and “Nances” “Playing Checkers” during a night out. There is a really good article on the queer vernacular here

And these were “Lovers in a Dangerous Time.”

In public one must act as straight as possible. Two people of the same gender dancing could be prosecuted. Cross dressing, even with something as trivial as a woman wearing pants, would run afoul of obscenity laws.

The only spaces we had for ourselves were dive bars, run by organized crime. But even then one must be sure to be circumspect, and act straight. Anyone could be an undercover cop. If a gaze was held to long, or lovers kissed in a corner the bar would be raided. Police saw us as worthy candidates for abuse so beatings were common and the judge would do all he could to humiliate you.

Now Michael Foucault, the big swinging french dick of queer theory, laid out this whole theory about how the real policing in a society happens inside our heads. Ideas about sin, shame, normalcy, mental illness can all be made to control people, and the Twilight Aristocracy was no different.

While cruising a park at night, or settled on the sofa with a lifelong lover, the thoughts of Priests and Doctors haunted them. “Am I living in Sin? Am I someone God could love?” “Is this healthy? Have I gone mad? Is this a true love or a medical condition which requires cure?”

There was no voice in America yet healing our self doubt, or demanding the world accept us as we are. And that voice, the socialist Harry Hay, did not come during the war, but it would come shortly after directly because of it.

Johnny Get Your Gun… And are you now or ever been a Homosexual?

For the first time in their lives millions of young men crossed thousands of miles from their home to the front.

But before they made that brave journey they had another, unexpected and often torturous journey. The one across the doctor’s office at a recruiting station.

In the nineteenth century queerness moved from an act, “Forgive me Father I have sinned, I kissed another man” to something you are, “The homosexual subspecies can be identified by certain physical and psychological signs.” 

These were the glory days of patriarchy and white supremacy, those who transgressed the line between masculine and feminine called the whole culture into question. So doctors obsessed themselves with queerness, its origins, its signs, its so called catastrophic racial consequences and its cure.

“Are you a homosexual?” doctors asked stunned recruits. 

If you were closeted but patriotic, you would of course deny the accusation. But the doctor would continue his examination by checking if you were a “Real Man.”

“Do you have a girlfriend? Did you like playing sports as a kid?”

If you passed that, the doctor would often try and trip you up by asking about your culture.

“Do you ever go basketeering?” he would ask, remembering to check if there was any lisp or effeminacy in your voice.

Finally if the doctor felt like it he could examine your body to see if you were a member of the homosexual subspecies. 

Your gag reflex would be tested with a tongue depressor. Another hole could be carefully examined as well.

Humiliating enough for a straight man. But for a gay recruit the consequences could be life threatening.

Medical authorities knew homosexuals were weak, criminal and mad. To place them among the troops would weaken unit cohesion at the very least, result in treachery at the worst. In civilian life doctors had much the same thing to say. 

The recruit needed a cure. And a doctor was always ready. With talk therapy, hypnosis, drugs, electroshock and forced surgeries of the worst kinds there was always a cure ready at hand.

Thankfully the doctors were not successful in their task, one doctor wrote “for every homosexual who was referred or came to the Medical Department, there  were five or ten who never were detected. (d’Emilio 25)”

Here’s the irony though, by asking such pointed and direct questions to people closeted to themselves it forced them to confront their sexuality for the first time. 

Hegarty writes, “As a result of the screening policies, homosexuality became part of wartime discourse. Questions about homosexual desire and behavior ensured that every man inducted into the armed forces had to confront the possibility of homosexual feelings or experiences. This was a kind of massive public education about homosexuality. Despite—and be-cause of—the attempts to eliminate homosexuals from the military, men with same-sex desires learned that there were many people like themselves (Hegarty 180)”

And then it gave them a golden opportunity to have fun.

The 101st Airborn - Homosocial and Homosexual

“Homosocial” refers to a gender segregated space. And they were often havens for gay men. The YMCA for example really was a place for young gay men to meet.

Now the government was already aware of the kind of scandalous sexual behaviour young men can get up to when left to themselves. Two major government programs before the war, the Federal Transient Program and the Civilian Conservation Corps focused on unattached young men, but over time these spaces became highly suspect and the focus shifted to helping family men so as to avoid giving government aid to ‘sexual perversion’ in these homosocial spaces.

But with the war on there was no choice but to put hundreds of thousands of young men in their own world. All male boot camps, all male bases, all male front lines. 

The emotional intensity broke down the barriers between men and the strict enforcement of gendered norms.

On the front the men had no girlfriend, wife or mother to confide in. The soldier’s body was strong and heroic but also fragile. Straight men held each other in foxholes and shared their emotional vulnerability to each other. Gender lines began to blur as straight men danced together in bars an action that would result in arrest in many American cities.

Bronski writes, “Men were now more able to be emotional, express their feelings, and even cry. The stereotypical “strong, silent type,” quintessentially heterosexual, that had characterized the American Man had been replaced with a new, sensitive man who had many of the qualities of the homosexual male. (Bronski 152)”

Homosexual men discovered in this environment new freedoms to get close to one another without arousing suspicion.

“Though the military  officially maintained an anti-homosexual stance, wartime conditions nonetheless offered a protective covering that facilitated interaction  among gay men (d’Emilio 26)”

Bob Ruffing, a chief petty officer in the Navy described this freedom as follows, ‘When I first got into the navy—in the recreation hall, for instance— there’d be  eye contact, and pretty soon you’d get to know one or two people and kept branching out. All of a sudden you had a vast network of friends, usually through  this eye contact thing, some through outright cruising. They could get away with  it in that atmosphere. (d’Emilio 26) ”

Another wrote about their experience serving in the navy in San Diego, “‘Oh, these are more my kind of people.’ We became very chummy, quite close, very fraternal, very protective of each other. (Hegarty 180)”

Some spaces within the army became queer as well. The USO put on shows for soldiers, and since they could not find women to play parts, the men often dressed in drag. “impersonation. For actors and audiences, these performances were a needed relief from the stress of war. For men who identified as homosexual, these shows were a place where they could, in coded terms, express their sexual desires, be visible, and build a community. (Bronski 148)”

“Here you see three lovely “girls”

 With their plastic shapes and curls.

 Isn’t it campy? Isn’t it campy?

 We’ve got glamour and that’s no lie;

 Can’t you tell when we swish by?

 Isn’t it campy? Isn’t it campy?”

The words camp and swish being used in the gay subculture and connected to effeminate gay men.

I would have to assume, more than a few transwomen gravitated to these spaces as well.

Even the battlefield itself provided opportunities for gay fraternization. A beach in Guam for example became a secret just for the gay troops, they called it Purple Beach Number 2, after a perfume brand.

This homoerotic space was not confined to the military, but spilled out into civilian life as well.

Donald Vining was a pacifist who stated bluntly his homosexuality to the recruitment board as his mother needed his work earnings, and if you wanted be a conscientious objector you had to apply to go to an objector’s camp. He became something of a soldier chaser, working in the local YMCA and volunteering at the soldier’s canteen in New York he hooked up with soldiers still closeted for a night of passion but many more who were open about who they were. 

After the war he was left with a network of gay friends and a strong sense of belonging to a community. It was dangerous tho, he was victim of robberies he could not report because they happened during hook ups, but police were always ready to raid gay bars when they were bored. “It was obvious that [the police] just had to make a few arrests to look busy,” he protested in his diary.  “It was a travesty of justice and the workings of the police department (d’Emilio 30).״

Now it might seem odd he was able to plug into a community like that, but over the war underground gay bars appeared across the country for their new clientele. Even the isolated Worcester Mass got a gay bar.

African American men, barred from combat on the front lines, were not entirely barred from the gay subculture in the cities. For example in Harlem the jazz bar Lucky Rendevous was reported in Ebony as whites and blacks “steeped in the swish jargon of its many lavender costumers. (Bronski 149)”

The Other War: Facing Homophobia

“For homosexual soldiers, induction into the military forced a sudden confrontation with their sexuality that highlighted the stigma attached to it and kept  it  a  matter  of special  concern (d’Emilio 25)”

“They were fighting two wars: one for America, democracy, and freedom; the other for their own survival as homosexuals within the military organization. (Eaklor 68)”

Once they were in, they fell under Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice: “Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense.”

Penalties could include five years hard labour, forced institutionalization or fall under the dreaded Section 8 discharge, a stamp of mental instability that would prevent you from finding meaningful employment in civilian life.

Even if one wanted nothing to do with fulfilling their desires it was still essential to become hyper aware of your presentation and behaviour in order to avoid suspicion.

Coming Home to Gay Ghettos

“The veterans of World War II were the first generation of gay men and women to experience such rapid, dramatic, and widespread changes in their lives as homosexuals. Bronski 154”

After the war many queer servicemen went on to live conventionally heterosexual lives. But many more returned to a much queerer life stateside.

Bob Ruffing would settle down in San Francisco. The city has always been a safe harbour for queer Americans, made more so as ex servicemen gravitated to its liberated atmosphere. The port cities of New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles became the prime destinations to settle. Vining’s partner joined him in New York, where they both immersed themselves in the gay culture.

Other soldiers moved to specific neighborhoods known for having small gay communities. San Francisco’s North Beach, the west side of Boston’s Beacon Hill, or New York’s Greenwich Village. Following the war the gay populations of these cities increased dramatically.

The cities offered parks, coffee houses and bars which became queer spaces. And drag performance, music and comedy became features of this culture.

These veterans also founded organizations just for the queer soldiers. In Los Angeles the Knights of the Clock provided a space for same sex inter racial couples. In New York the Veterans Benevolent Association would often see 400-500 homosexuals appear at its events.

A number of books bluntly explored homosexuality following the war, such as The Invisible Glass which tells the story of an inter racial couple in Italy, 

“With a slight moan Chick rolled onto his left side, toward the Lieutenant. His finger sought those of the officer’s as they entwined their legs. Their faces met. The breaths, smelling sweet from wine, came in heavy drawn sighs. La Cava grasped the soldier by his waist and drew him tightly to his body. His mouth pressed down until he felt Chick’s lips part. For a moment they lay quietly, holding one another with strained arms.”

Others like Gore Vidal’s The City and the Pillar (1948), Fritz Peters’s The World Next Door (1949), and James Barr’s Quatrefoil (1950) explored similar themes.

In 1948 the Kinsey Report would create a public firestorm by arguing that homosexuality is shockingly common. In 1950 The Mattachine Society, a secretive group of homosexual Stalinists launched America’s LGBT movement.

References:

Michael Bronski “A Queer History of the United States”

John D’emilio “Coming Out Under Fire”

Vivki L Eaklor “Queer America: A GLBT History of America”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Lesbians

In 1947 General Eisenhower told a purple heart winning Sargeant Johhnie Phelps, “It's come to my attention that there are lesbians in the WACs, we need to ferret them out”.

Phelps replied, “"If the General pleases, sir, I'll be happy to do that, but the first name on the list will be mine."

Eisenhower’s secretary added “"If the General pleases, sir, my name will be first and hers will be second."

Join me again May 17 to hear the story of America’s Lesbians during the war.

[yuzuka-rei]

foxhole court thoughts dump so they’re not in my head anymore

1, so okay just fuck im so so so into the kevin/riko dynamic,,, codependency is so my thing and to read/write about kevin’s slow decision that he doesn’t want to be overshadowed by riko anymore, his hope that riko will accept him as an equal/superior, riko’s betrayal by breaking his hand, leaving the Nest and realising that he knows he shouldnt want to go back but he wants to (think about breakups- you always want to breakup with a toxic s.o until you’ve actually broken up then you feel empty and you want to go back) just,,, 

kevin/riko is at its heart an extremely toxic relationship between someone truly demonic and someone so very human and just to see how riko would give kevin glimpses of love so that he would continue to follow him is just---------- also like riko would definitely try to tempt kevin back with the promise of love and then how andrew gives kevin a reason to stay and just- why does no one write about it!!

i also want someone to rewrite riko as less of a caricature,,, a youtube review put it really really well which was that the sports storyline had to match the level of the mafia storyline and thus riko became too much of a demon. i want to read a version, at the expense of the unbalanced stakes, i want to see riko be human, selfish, needy, tries to please kevin but the minute said “pleasing” doesnt match his own desires he stops, just i want!! to see!! riko be human!! and hate him just as much as i UNDERSTAND him (like cersei god i LOVE cersei shes terrible and i would stab her if i met her but shes an amazingly human character and i understand and in her place i would make every one of her decisions without flinching...)

anyways, riko moriyama, i want to write/read him in a way, like if this portrayal makes you want to call him your son its exactly NOT what i want (if someone writes riko in a way that makes you wanna protect him, sorry, not my thing sis, misplaced burn but this sort of person is exactly the sort of person that would have proudly claimed and advertises that they are “slytherin”, because they’re “evil” and “cunning” and “selfish” you’re delusional dude why would you WANT to be in the “evil” house (people who want to be slytherin because they’re ambitious etc etc are valid though) no mentally stable person actively wants to be bad, its human nature to try to strive for good, but sometimes what is good for you is bad for other people and you don’t care)

like i want to see that, riko knows what hes doing is horrid and you know you really should hate him, i want it to hurt, i want you to want to despise him but at the same time you see yourself in him, that makes you fear at night that you will too one day become like this. i dont want riko to be EXCUSED i want him to be UNDERSTOOD. 

2, okay so andrew/kevin. equally as toxic.

 (toxic doesn’t mean its entirely impossible or morally corrupt it just means that unless they actively take.a lot of initiative to change their personalities all the relationship will do is hurt both of them, honestly apart from dan/matt/katelyn/neil/renee everyone else in these books would make pretty toxic relationships... like imagine allison and kevin... a fucking wreck sis) 

i personally don’t think those two can possibly have a healthy relationship unless its coupled with neil [nora’s original idea of the threesome also sounds pretty unhealthy but so so so intriguing... im glad she wrote andrew/neil instead that was pretty healthy all things considered] 

but just the IDEA of kevin being utterly utterly obsessed with riko, and to deal with these feelings he moves them entirely to andrew [i did this for my own relationship, like i got broken up with and to deal with the pain of that i latched onto the most unattainable person in my world... its ending fairly badly] and then he heals from riko and he falls in love with things about andrew that dont echo riko, then andrew pushes him away because andrew doesn’t want to hurt kevin (or himself) and just them dancing around each other, always protecting each other and always there for each other but neither of them are allowed to make a move... for any other pairing in this situation they would’ve become fuck buddies but that doesn’t work for andrew and people he actually cares about and its a mess

then neil comes along and they both “fall in love” with him, like they genuinely love neil but neil isn’t part of their codependency, they love him because hes a breath of fresh air, hes a pipe dream, hes perfect in every way but they’re also afraid of breaking him, you know? they both love in such all consuming and selfish ways. and neil literally loves like a first grader- this is his first relationship dude, he may believe that the world is a terrible place but you bet he still believes that everything in a relationship can be solved by love alone when it can’t. basically my point is that canon kandreil/kandrew would be a mess and while fluff fics are generally nice id love to explore exactly how much angst we can squeeze out of this shit

anyways this was a ramble feel free to disagree and only talk to me if you agree dude i have no qualms in admitting that i dont like talking to people who dont think the same way as me and i doubt you do either sis

[ethospathoslogan]

Oh my goodness, have you read Foxhole Court? And Raven Cycle?! I have literal stars in my eyes right now. May I ask favourite characters, and thoughts on them?

YES I HAVE READ BOTH OF THOSE BOOKS!!! I READ TRC WHEN I WAS A JUNIOR AND AFTG WHEN I WAS A SENIOR!!!

okay for aftg, my favorite character is probably neil!!! just bc, like, something really drew me to him. i wanted him to survive more than i wanted gansey to survive (which is a big deal, you’ll see why in my trc explanation omfg). like, throughout the series, i kinda did love all the foxes??? like they were all flawed, some worse than others, but i still loved all of them. but neil,,,, i just felt for him So Much. also kevin became a fave once i finished the series, and i love nicky, and allison can hit me with her car and i’d thank her.

riko can choke in hell.

and for trc!!! gansey is, without a doubt, by a LANDSLIDE, my favorite character from anything ever. i just relate to him so much for So Many Reasons. i understand his fears and his strive to do something great and feeling like he can’t complain bc he has it better than most and feeling so Alone sometimes, even when he is surrounded by his friends. i understand his frustrations with wanting to help people but being unable to. i understand him so much and, honestly, if what was said in the first book actually happened to him in trk, it would’ve destroyed me. i just feel so much for gansey and i understand him So Much (i mean, my main blog is actuallygansey omfg). i almost bought boat shoes bc i love him so much. you’ll never catch me in a polo shirt, tho.

and i’m so scared that, if we ever actually get this trc show, all the people who just watch the tv show are gonna hate gansey bc of his privilege but!!! his privilege is an integral part of his character!!! he feels like he can’t be unhappy bc of his privilege and he wants to use his privilege to help people but he doesn’t quite understand that people (like adam, for instance) want to make their own fortune and!!! gansey’s privilege is sorta like a fatal flaw in a way??? it’s a part of him that he can’t quite shake off of him but he kinda hates it, not in a way where he’s like “ugh i’m rich, no one understand me, etc etc etc,” but in the way that he wants to help everyone but can’t, he feels like he can’t be unhappy bc all of his friends have it worse, and he has just been swallowed by a repressive lifestyle but, if he complains, he feels like he’s ungrateful bc there’s people like adam and ronan who have been through hell and back. and he wants to help adam so much!!! and tbh i understand why gansey was frustrated w/ adam for not accepting his help, and i had to detach myself from gansey for a moment to understand adam. and aaaAAAA gansey means so much to me and i’m so scared that people are going to hate him.

and also i really understand bc i completely understand acting all chill and casual in group settings but, the moment you’re alone with that one person, you let down all your walls and are just exhausted. what’s the quote??? “broken, just how girls like ‘em”??? what a mood.

i just. i love gansey so much. and he loves his friends so much and they love him too!!! and i’m so happy that he’s currently on a road trip with his girlfriend blue and his boyfriend henry and they kiss All The Time :’)

and, hey, lovely anon, since i have you here, what do you think of this?

gansey: roman

virgil: blue (also a dash of ronan)

logan: adam

patton: noah

[thesffcorner]

March Reading Wrap-Up

March was not a great reading month for me. In addition to having a lot of things going on in my personal life, I also dove straight into a reading slump, courtesy of Miss Nora Sakavic and her All for the Game trilogy. Graphic novels were my savior for sure; I read 18 graphic novels, and 4 novels. In terms of genre, I read 3 contemporary books, and 1 fantasy, and overall, this was a pretty average month in terms of ratings as well. 

So without further ado, let’s dive in, starting with: 

Umbrella Academy Vol 2 by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba (3 stars):

The first thing I read in the month was Dallas, the second volume of the Umbrella Academy series. I read up to issue 5 of Hotel Oblivion, but seeing as that volume is not yet out, I will only count the 2 volumes that are out, which are Apocalypse Suite and Dallas.

This series follows a group of 7 super-powered kids, all born during a simultaneous event, adopted by a crazy billionaire, and raised them to be superheroes. After he dies, the 6 surviving kids go back to the Umbrella Academy mansion, not knowing that their reunification will bring about the apocalypse.

Volume 2 follows the kids as they all go on their separate ways, involving lot’s or time travel and time travel paradoxes. I did like it more than volume 1, mostly because it focused more on Diego and Allison, my 2 favorite characters.

Archie Vol. 1- 6 by Mark Waid, and many illustrators  (3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 4 stars):

I wanted to start the rebooted Archie for a while, and I was in the mood for some fluffy contemporaries so I decided to give it a go. I read all the 6 volumes that are out, and i have to say I was not impressed.

This series takes the classic Archie characters and plops them in modern day, and as an idea I think that was smart. The Archie characters and stories are timeless; they deal with all the things anyone deals with while at high school and growing up, like first loves, friendships, finances and generally entering the adult world. The series is meant to be a slice of life style exploration of Riverdale, but I feel like perhaps Waid didn’t know want to write it like that.

The first few issues were fine, if a bit underwhelming, but volume 4 was where the story really took an unnecessarily dark turn. Having finished the series, I’m still not sure why that was necessary or what was accomplished; I’m just left a bit confused as to who this was really for and what it set out to achieve. If there are more volumes in the future, I don’t think I’ll be reading them.

In the Vanisher’s Palace by Aliette de Bodard (3 stars):

This was the first book I read in March, and it’s a novella-retelling of Beauty and the Beast. There is a twist here, in that the romance is female-female, and it’s set in a fantastical land inspired by Vietnamese folklore and mythology, which was very cool.

It was a short read, which I feel was it’s biggest detriment, because the novella set up a pretty fascinating and rather complex world, which was barely touched on, in the 145 pages we got. The romance felt a bit rushed, though I actually enjoyed it a lot, especially with the examination of power dynamics and the focus on consent. De Bodard is an author I will definitely reading more of, and my next project will be her Xuya Universe series of novellas (who have some gorgeous covers).

Running with Lions by Julian Winters (4 stars):

The second book I read in March, was inspired by a disastrous Real Madrid game (also Chelseadollingreads’s channel), and it’s a book about football. We follow Sebastian, a senior in high school who is the goalie for his high school football team, and spends his last summer at football camp. However, his grand desire to have the best summer ever might becomes more complicated when his estranged childhood friend Emir comes back, and is now on the football team.

I really liked this book; it was very cute and fun, and it focuses on football. While the writing wasn’t the best ever, the characters Winters wrote were believable and very authentic, and it was refreshing to read about a male-male romance, actually written by a man. I recommend it, if you want a contemporary romance, and especially, if you, like me, love Bend It Like Beckham.

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic (3 stars):

This is one of those OG YA books that when I joined Tumblr in the distant 2012, EVERYONE was talking about. It follows Neil Josten, a teenager on the run, who gets recruited into a D1 Exy team for Palmetto State, where all the demons that haunt him start catching up.

I have made a full, long review of this book, which I’ll link here. I go into a lot of detail there if you want to know my full thoughts; all I’ll say here, is that this is one of the most affecting books I’ve ever read, and I still think about it constantly, even though I did NOT love it.  

The Raven King by Nora Sakavic (3 stars):

This book threw me into a reading slump. Like the first one, it’s intense as hell, but it has both some major improvements and some MAJOR drawbacks. I have a review of it as well, which is here, where I go over details, but all I’ll say is that I have never needed trigger warnings more for a book, than I did for this one.

The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 1- 4 by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie (4, 4, 4, 4 stars):

The Wicked + The Divine is a series I had read before, but I had never finished or really remembered much about. So now, as this series is coming to a close, I decided to give it another try and finish it; and I really, really liked it.

The series follows a group of teenagers who are part of the Pantheon; a group of Gods reborn in the bodies of teens in 2014, UK. All the teens are superstars, but they will all be dead 2 years from the moment they become Gods. Laura, a teen who is obsessed with the Pantheon, gets involved in an epic conspiracy full of drugs, sex and murder; and possibly Godhood.

This series is a blast; the story is original, very captivating and revolves a lot around music, the cult of the superstar, love, and fandom. If you haven��t read this series yet I urge you too, especially if you are a fan of music and rock stars; it has a plethora of interesting, diverse characters, and the art is amazing: all volumes have been 4 stars for me so far, which I don’t think has ever happened in a series.

Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince by V E Schwab and Andrea Olimpieri (4 stars):

This is the first volume in an ongoing series written by V E Schwab and set in her Shades of Magic Universe. It mostly follows King Maxim Maresh, when he was much younger, before he became known as the Steel Prince, as he first arrives to the Iron Coast. This first volume has him go up against a Pirate Queen with bone-magic, which was pretty cool.

I think I liked this volume a bit more than I should’ve. I really liked the story, but I found that 4 issues were just too short to really develop all the things that happen in this volume. A lot happens, but it all happens so quickly, that I think concepts that could have been explored better, were over too quickly. I still thought this volume was a lot of fun, and I will definitely continue in the series.

Isola Vol. 1 by Brandon Fletcher and Karl Kerschl (4 stars):

Last month I started Fletcher’s other series, Motor Crush, and this month I decided to start his fantasy series, Isola. This series follows two characters; a Princess named Olwyn and a soldier named Rook, who set out on a journey to find the fabled island of Isola where they could turn Olwyn back into a human, after she’s cursed to be a tiger. On their journey they have to contend with forest spirits, animal gods and hunters, as well as a conspiracy to plunge the Kingdom into war.

I liked this first volume a lot; I found the start a bit confusing, but once I got into the story, I ended up really enjoying it. The art is gorgeous, and the setting is unique and beautiful; if you can handle the first 2 issues, and you like Studio Ghibli films, you will probably like this series.

Paper Girls Vol. 1- 2 by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang (3, 4 stars):

On my never ending quest to catch up with all the comic book series I have been reading, I started a reread of Paper Girls. This series follows 4 paper girls who get caught up in a conspiracy involving time travel, pterodactyls and possibly aliens while delivering papers the morning after Halloween.

This is a super fun series. I really liked the characters, the art is gorgeous, and I am interested to see where it will take the plot. Vaughan is great at creating characters that are complex, albeit not always likable, and that’s mostly what keeps me glued to his series.

Snotgirl Vol. 1- 2 by Brian Lee O’Malley and Leslie Hung (2, 3 stars):

I picked this up on a whim, as I was looking at my spreadsheet of comics I want to read/catch up on. It’s a strange little series; it follows Lottie, a fashion blogger, and her increasingly weird friendship with Caroline, another blogger who seems to attract death around her. It’s a series about pretty people being petty, awful and sometimes funny, and if you are not a fan of unlikable characters, and slice of life stories, I don’t think you will like this much.