#jane hur

[rhetoricandlogic]

A young nurse investigates murders in 18th century Korea in 'The Red Palace'

January 27, 20225:01 AM ET

By Caitlyn Paxson A nurse becomes a detective in this gripping YA mystery set in 18th century Korea's royal court.Hyeon has worked very hard to become a palace nurse, tasked with tending to the medical needs of the ladies of the court. Born the unwanted daughter of a concubine, she longs to make something of herself and prove her worth to her dismissive courtier father.One night, she is summoned for an unprecedented task: to tend to the Crown Prince himself. But it soon becomes clear that she isn't there to nurse the Crown Prince at all, but rather to be an alibi for his illicit absence from the palace. For the Crown Prince and his father are often at odds, and scheming courtiers are always poised to fan the flames of conflict within the royal family.Then, later that same night, Hyeon discovers that four women have been murdered at the facility where she received her medical training – and her beloved mentor has been accused and imprisoned. Desperate to prove that her mentor is innocent and prevent her from being tortured by the police, Hyeon decides to track down the real killer.

Her covert investigation soon draws the attention of the new police inspector, Eojin. Eojin is young, dangerously unconcerned with social class, and just as eager to uncover the true killer as Hyeon. Forced to respect each other's abilities, they form an uneasy partnership to solve the murders together.The more they attempt to unravel the events that led to the death of the four women, the more it seems as though the Crown Prince and his absence from the palace that night are at the center of a conspiracy. It soon becomes clear that the mystery runs far deeper than they could have anticipated, and in solving it, they may destroy the fragile balance that holds a royal dynasty in power.The device of a police officer and a civilian joining forces to solve a complicated mystery is one of the most common tropes of the genre, and yet, The Red Palace's setting and specificity make it feel unique. The true story of Crown Prince Sado, who was a real and very tragic figure, was the inspiration behind this whodunnit, and the historical detail that threads throughout is both brutal and intriguing. It's a prime example of historical fiction where some of the most outrageous events that take place are the ones that most closely cleave to historical fact. What really grounds the twisting narrative of The Red Palace is the characters' inner struggles – in particular, the ongoing themes of honoring and gaining approval from one's parents. I can't speak to the significance of this theme from a cultural standpoint, but in terms of a psychological conflict, it's very effective. Almost every character is acting either directly for or against the interests of their parents, and Hyeon's difficult relationships with her mother and father motivate her at every turn and are mirrored back to her via the people she encounters. The place where she ends up internally with these struggles feels very modern in its nuance.It's possible that some readers might find Hyeon's thoughts and emotions too modern for a young woman of her time and place, but if there's one thing that I've learned from reading letters and journals written by our forebearers, it's that people's inner worlds have long been surprisingly similar to our own, despite the changes in culture and manner. Interestingly, much of what is known about the life of Crown Prince Sado is drawn from the writings of his wife, who is a minor character in The Red Palace. She was herself a tragic figure, caught up in the whims and machinations of the men who wielded power over her life. Knowing that truth at the core of this story, it feels right that Hyeon is set on pushing back against the constraints that try to bind her to tragedy and forging her own path to justice.The Red Palace is an expertly choreographed mystery with a touch of romance and an emotionally satisfying conclusion that beautifully binds fiction to fact. It's the perfect book to curl up with for a cozy winter afternoon of murder and intrigue.

[morgan--reads]

The Red Palace - Jane Hur

Summary: Young palace nurse Hyeon is drawn into the investigation of the murder of four women when her mentor becomes the prime suspect. Her private investigations catch the attention of the police inspector Eojin and they agree to work together to solve the murders, even as it becomes clear that doing so is putting them both in danger. 

Quote: “There is a saying among us who work there: Palace secrets must never get out, or else inevitably there will be blood.”

My rating: 4.0/5.0   Goodreads: 4.13/5.0 

Review: A clearly-written, faced-paced, and intriguing historical mystery. Hyeon is a great narrator, pragmatic and determined. Her romance with the equally determined police detective is sweetly earnest and convincing and provided a nice counterpoint to the truly horrific elements of the murder mystery. The plot is based on historical events, but not beholden to them. Hur chooses to construct a psychologically true story over telling a factually true one.

[onwednesdayswewrite]

this hell is better with you {tara carpenter}

Pairing: Tara Carpenter x Reader  

Warnings: canon typical violence for scream, talk of murder, blood, smoking weed, cursing, misuse of prescription drugs, dark themes. CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SCREAM 6

Word Count: 3.5k

hey y’all, I had a ton of fun writing this, and have a few more ideas in this little universe so let me know if you would be interested in seeing more!

chapter 2: you, tara carpenter, have stolen my heart

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

It was the fall of your senior year at Blackmore University when you first realized you loved Tara Carpenter. Your heated debates over Geoffrey Chaucer and Jane Austen had drawn you closer to her. Being the overachiever she was, Tara was taking English Lit as a freshman; while you barely scraped by to get a passing grade. Though your time together was usually cut short, you couldn’t miss the way even the overly bright fluorescent lecture hall lights made her eyes sparkle. Or the way the memory of summer days danced across her cheeks in the form of freckles. Or the way that little scar by her eye crinkled whenever she smiled. 

 Of course you knew of the Woodsboro native’s past, everyone did. It didn’t terrify you like it did most, it only excited you. 

Your encounters had been limited to a few study sessions and passing each other on campus. You wanted more, but her friend group always lingered. Mindy was sweet, a bit of a geek but you found it appealing. And Mindy’s girlfriend, Anika was nice too but you didn't know her well. And Quinn, you liked Quinn. Of course then there was Chad. You didn’t like Chad one bit. Chad rubbed you the wrong way. He always walked around acting like he owned everything. Including Tara.

And Sam? Well Sam was a whole different monster entirely. 

The day started like most did these days. A double at the hospital meant the twelve block trek back to your off-campus apartment would be hell. The caffeine pumping through your veins did little to ease the exhaustion. It was a Sunday which meant you only had a few hours of peace before you had to begin studying for morning classes. You wanted nothing more than to fill those hours with sleep but the constant honking of horns and the wailing of sirens made it seem unlikely. It was days like this where you wished New York City wasn’t the city that never slept, even if it was the middle of the day. 

As the hustle began to ease closer to your apartment, the sounds of sirens continued to fill the air. You didn’t live in the best part of town, but this was unusual. Your phone buzzed in the leg of your scrub pocket. It was a notification from the News app that came pre-installed on your phone. The heading read ‘police release names of Blackmore students murdered to be that of Anika Kayoko and Quinn Bailey’. You felt lighter now, that takes care of two of Tara's friends. Poor Mindy though, she seemed to really like Anika. Your bitten-down fingertips hit the notification, and scanned the article. ‘Kayoko and Bailey were in Bailey's midtown apartment when the attacks took place.’

Your blood ran cold and you felt your heart plummet to your feet, Quinn was Tara’s roommate. Was Tara okay? Your mind ran through every possibility, before you took a moment to settle. Think rationally, y/n. You had been floated to the surgical floor, if anything too bad had happened, you would have known.  

It was when you were about half a block from your apartment and the sirens only got louder and louder you grew concerned. You didn’t live that close to the Carpenter’s and there shouldn’t still be police activity.

When you turned the ally onto your street you knew something was very wrong. The entire block filled with every first responder in the area. New York’s finest. The fire department. Paramedics and emergency medical technicians. The coroner. 

‘They found you y/n. I told you that you should have hidden the body better’ the bottle of pills shook in the pocket of your thrift store jacket. Maybe an extra one wouldn’t hurt, they would kick you from the nursing program if they knew about the voices. The bottle rolled between your fingers when you pulled it from your pocket. Only 13 pills left, you couldn’t risk what would happen if you ran out. You slid the bottle back into the pocket and zipped it shut. 

You quickly realized things were not as they seemed when you spotted none other than Samantha Carpenter amongst the crowd. Her body was covered in blood. It didn’t seem to be her blood, but where the hell was Tara? You knew Sam never let her far from sight, so Tara had been with her? Sam didn’t seem overly upset given the situation. 

Your worries dissipated into the air when Tara hopped down from the back of an ambulance. Your heart settled in your chest. She was walking, talking with Sam and another blonde woman and seemed fairly unharmed. And she looked even more beautiful now than you swore she had before. The way the red and blue lights of the ambulance reflected against her chocolate eyes. And being soaked in blood that wasn’t her own was a good look. Though her arm was in a sling, the white fabric tightened around her neck. A rather shitty job, you could have done better yourself. 

You observed them as they spoke for a few moments. They were just a little too far to hear the conversation, but you certainly saw when Tara’s face crumbled. Oh. Oh. She was crying now, tears driving her mascara stains farther down her cheeks. You had never seen her cry before, and the deep pit forming in your stomach told you that you would never let it happen again. Now if you could only get your hands on whoever did this you would rip-

“Hey, we got another one here” a grimace of pain flashed across her face from the movement, but it didn’t stop Tara from rushing to greet the second paramedic squad rolling a gurney from within the theater. 

“Chad, Chad” Tara’s voice cracked when she called out to him, nothing but joy laced in her words. 

“How are you alive?” Sam joined Tara at the side of the stretcher. A stupid boyish smile found its way to Chad’s face under the oxygen mask as he held up four shaky, bloodied fingers. 

“Core fucking four” Tara let out a watery giggle, and a smile followed. A wide smile. One that made dimples crinkle up the skin on her blood stained cheeks. Normally it would have settled the fire in your stomach, but not this time. Not when Chad was the reason for it. Not when Tara was clinging to him, tightly gripping his arm, scared that he would leave her.  

‘They should have just let him die, he’s too close to Tara’ the voice echoed through your head. The pill bottle felt heavy in your pocket now. You untightened the safety cap and dry swallowed the pill. 12 pills would have to be enough. You would make it be enough.

“Oh my god are you guys okay?” Mindy stubbled past the line of police officers. An IV port in the back of her hand, and a hospital bracelet hanging from her wrist. She practically crashed into the group. Tara’s hands only leaving Chad’s arm to steady Mindy’s gait. 

“Ma’am this is an active crime scene, you can’t be here” the officer was much larger than you, and it was no use fighting against him as he backed you down the street, pushing you farther from Tara. 

You took one final glance back at Tara as she clung to her sister’s side, both watching as they loaded Chad into the second ambulance. With a deep breath, you turned your shoulders and headed down the street. I’ll be back for you, Tara Carpenter.

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

When I recovered, I got mad. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life being afraid of monsters. I wanted the monsters to be afraid of me. Kirby’s words echoed through Tara’s head as she entered Sam’s mandatory trauma group therapy. Tara was tired of it. Tired of always being afraid and running. Tired of being small and tired of being stabbed. Tired of being on the shit end of kill or be killed. Ever since the moment Tara drove that knife into Ethan, something changed in her. It came as a gnawing, aching feeling, a deep desire to feel the warm blood pump over her hands again. 

The therapy did little to ease the continued obsessive thoughts. Sam’s new therapist freaked her out and she hated the sterile environment of private therapy so Sam suggested group therapy. 

Tara felt sick to her stomach as she listened to the others talk about their feelings. She reached for her now lukewarm Starbucks coffee, but it did little to push the bile back down her throat. How could they feel this way when she felt so different? 

“Tara, do you have anything you would like to share?” Every pair of eyes in the room shot to Tara when the older lady running the session spoke to her. Curious eyes, just waiting to hear her sob story. All judging her as if they didn’t have their own fucked up shit going on. 

“Hi…I’m Tara, and about 3 weeks ago my friends and I were attacked and I…” Tara voiced trailed off. She hated the way they all looked at her now. The pity laced in their eyes. She didn’t want pity. She didn’t deserve it. 

“I just keep...I keep having these, um…these thoughts in my head, and I don’t…” Tara’s voice shook as she spoke. What the hell was she even supposed to say? The truth would no doubtably get her locked up. 

“Now die a Fucking virgin” it felt good under Tara’s hands as Ethan choked on his own blood. His chest heaved as he tried to get oxygen past the blood rapidly filling his throat and lungs. Fear floated into his eyes as he realized he was dying, and it was so so sweet. Tara twisted the knife a little more. He gargled for air one last time. Tara let him fall at her feet. Fuck Ethan. And fuck his whole family for what they had done to her. 

“I don’t know if I can control them...and I’m just...afraid of what’s gonna happen” Don’t say it Tara. Don’t say you’ve been longing to take another life since that moment. Don’t tell them it's the only thing you can think about, day and night. Make something up Tara, think fast. Her eyes rapidly scanned the room looking for an answer. All eyes were still on her, wide and scared, just waiting for her to lose it. Her chest felt heavy, how was she going to get out of this one?

Until her eyes found yours across the room. And for once someone was finally looking at her like she wasn’t crazy. Like they weren’t going to lock her up and force pills down her throat. Like someone who finally understood her. Her heart was racing now. It was all too much. 

“I’m sorry, I need a second.” Tara pushed herself up from the chair and darted for the door without a second thought. 

The stale air of the meeting hall had been suffocating her, and now with the cool evening air rushing into her lungs, she felt like she could breathe again. She took another deep breath and settled down against the brick wall of the building. It felt nice on her spine after half an hour of sitting in those cheap plastic chairs. Tara checked her phone again, had it really only been 30 minutes? 

“Want a hit?” Tara almost didn’t notice you settle down next to her, offering a small vape in her direction. “Or may I offer a stale doughnut and coffee that tastes like it was brewed with sewer water?” You offered up your other hand which contained a white paper coffee cup with a black lid with a chocolate sprinkle doughnut balanced on top.

Tara took your offering of the doughnut, maybe the sugar would stop her hands from shaking so much. She picked a few sprinkles from the icing before tearing off a chunk of the doughnut. She was right, the chocolate did settle her nerves a little. 

“What are you doing here, y/n? Therapy I mean” Tara ripped off another piece of the doughnut, and then set the rest down on her thigh. 

“That’s a bit of a personal question, don’t you think?” Your eyes followed a fallen leaf as it tumbled through the parking lot. Tara knew it wasn’t that interesting, you were just avoiding making eye contact. 

“We almost kissed, I think I’m allowed to ask you personal questions” Tara chuckled out, the autumn breeze cooling the fire blooming on her cheeks. 

“And that shows the complex relationship between- y/n, are you even listening to me?” Tara paused her rant about Paradise Lost when she noticed your eyes had been focusing on her and not the book in front of you. You clearly hadn’t been paying attention, you didn’t even notice her lift her head up to look at you. Tara grabbed a paper clip from the nearby stack of papers, and tossed it in your direction. It hit you square in the side of the nose and you jumped. Caught red handed. 

“What? Yeah of course I am” your eyes shot down to the book beneath your fingertips, clearly trying to figure out what the hell she had been going on about. 

“Focus, our midterm is next week” Tara tapped her pastel blue pen down on the paragraph she had been talking about.  “And stop staring, it’s creepy” Tara didn’t really think it was creepy, but she knew if she let you look at her for too much longer then you might notice the pink tint that was finding its way to her cheeks from you being so close. 

“I’m not a creep! I just think you have a pretty voice” you pretended to act shocked, but you knew Tara didn’t take any of your shit. Not when it came to classes. Not with your graduation looming in the distance. Tara wasn’t sure what your plans were after college, but she hoped you were planning on staying close. Would you stay working at the same hospital? 

“That’s something a creep would say” Tara teased, rolling onto her stomach to copy you. She didn’t want to think about you graduating, and leaving just yet. It made her feel like lightning struck her heart. She didn’t like that feeling. “This is important, can we please focus?” As much as Tara wanted you to stay, she didn’t like the idea of you failing being the only reason for staying. 

“I’m already focusing on something important to me” Tara looked up to see you already looking at her. Your hand pushed back a piece of hair that had fallen out of her messy bun. Fuck. Tara felt butterflies erupt in her stomach. Their soft wings tickled the sides, spreading the warmth they left through her body. Tara watched as your eyes shifted down to her lips and then back up to her eyes. Please kiss me. Tara felt the heat between the two of you, something seemingly pulling you closer and closer. 

Your copy of Paradise Lost disregarded somewhere on the bed between the two of you, and for once Tara didn’t care. All she could think about was why the hell you couldn’t put on your big kid pants for once in your life and kiss her. Did she really have to do all the work? Just when she thought she was gonna explode, you leaned forward on your elbows. Your breath tickled her nose. Please just kiss me, you idiot. 

“Tara” Quinn shoved open the door to Tara’s room without a care. You quickly jumped away from each other, the notebooks in front of you suddenly becoming very interesting. That's it, Tara had decided you really were an idiot. She wasn’t even sure she could save you anymore. 

“Did I cockblock you?” it didn’t take a fool to read the situation, and Quinn certainly wasn’t a fool. Definitely not when it came to this. 

“What did you just say?” Tara squeezed her eyes shut. This is not happening right now. 

“Cockblocked you, I cockblocked you, didn’t I?” Quinn waved her finger between the two of you. 

“Immediate no” Tara jumped up from her spot on the bed, shaking her head. Quinn had just ruined this for her, and now she was only making it worse. 

“Please stop saying the word cock” your voice was muffled from where you had your face pressed into your notebook. Tara wondered if your cheeks looked as red as hers felt. 

“What’d…what’d you need?” Tara’s voice stuttered. 

“Sam just texted me asking if I needed anything, so she's on her way home” Quinn waved her phone at them as evidence. Tara hated it. She wasn’t ready to handle Sam just yet. You sent her a sad smile; you knew that meant your night was over. Tara took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. She really hated it. 

“Don’t ever enter a room like that again” Tara let out a sigh of frustration and sat back down on the bed. 

“I won’t” Quinn nodded her head, feeling just as awkward now. 

“Nice to see you, Quinn” you waved her direction and she offered an apologetic smile, turning and leaving the room. “But I'm gonna get out of here before your sister kills me” You smiled down at Tara. Tara could feel her cheeks burn even hotter now as you packed up your books. 

“I’ll see you in class tomorrow, Carpenter” you sent a wink in her direction before slipping out the window and down the fire escape. Tara let herself fall back on the bed. Fuck. The butterflies in her stomach felt bigger now, like a bird had taken over and was starting to flap its wings. 

“I changed my mind, give me that” Tara snatched the vape from your hand, and began to take a hit. The fire had begun to light up in her chest just from being close to you again. And she definitely wouldn’t have the courage to follow through with her plan if she was sober. 

“It’s weed Tara, don’t green out on me” you tried to pull the vape from her lips, but she swatted you away. It burned her throat, and her lungs felt heavy. 

“I know what I’m doing, I’m not some amateur” Tara took another long hit from it just to prove her point. When she exhaled she instantly felt the tickle in her throat. She felt her face start to turn red as she resisted the urge to cough. She wouldn’t let you think you were even a little right. 

“Not an amateur?” Your eyebrow cocked up, and a smirk played on your lips. After a few more seconds of watching her struggle, you offered her the cheap therapy coffee. And Tara took it gratefully, anything to soothe her throat. 

The second the coffee hit her tongue she knew it was a mistake. You had been right about one thing; that coffee HAD been made with sewer water. Tara felt humiliated as she sat coughing and spitting up trash coffee as the people of New York City passed by. Judging her. As if they even had a clue what she had been through. 

“Easy sweetheart, they haven’t given me my nursing license yet” your hand felt warm on her back, rubbing soothing circles. And even when the coughing settled and she sat back upright, you didn’t stop. You pulled her closer even. Tara didn’t mind though, she honestly hoped you wouldn’t ever stop. 

You were so close together now, the scent of coffee and weed still lingering on both of your breaths. Tara watched as you scanned her face for any sign of discomfort. Your face visibly settled when you found none. Tara wasn’t messed up by any means, but she definitely felt the high easing her nerves. She felt lighter now, like the weight of the world wasn't completely on her shoulders for once. And by the look on your face, she was sure you would take that weight if she had asked you to. 

Tara’s fingertips traced the scar above your eyebrow. It ran down the side of your face, and ended abruptly at your cheekbone. How had you gotten it? It didn’t look overly fresh, but was that why you had come to counseling? 

You abruptly grabbed her hand. Tara’s eyes flew to yours, and your skin warmed hers. The warmth burned hotter in her chest too. Tara liked having you this close. 

“I will not be held responsible for my actions if you don’t stop touching me” Your eyes were serious. 

Tara swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat. She had been holding back from you long enough that even the idea of giving in made her hands shake. Tara held your gaze for a moment, contemplating her next move, then shifted onto her knees and pressed her lips against yours. 

“Good girl” you whispered when she finally pulled away. She shivered under you. 

“You like that, don’t you? You want everyone to think you're so sweet and innocent. And good.” your breath tickled her ear “but you like the darkness. You need it, crave it. And I'm going to give it to you, Tara Carpenter”. 

And you were right. Tara needed it. She craved it. She craved you. 

chapter 2: you, tara carpenter, have stolen my heart

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌈 Queer Books Coming Out in July 2024 🌈

🌈 Good morning, my bookish bats, and happy July! Pride Month may be over, but remember: Read Queer ALL Year. Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Happy reading!

[ Release dates may have changed. ]

❤️ Earth to Alis - Lex Carlow 🧡 Cursed Boys and Broken Hearts - Adam Sass 💛 The Sky on Fire - Jenn Lyons 💚 The Meaning of Liberty - Sage Donnell 💙 Making It - Laura Kay 💜 The Black Bird of Chernobyl - Ann McMan ❤️ A Map of My Want - Faylita Hicks 🧡 The Devil You Know - Ali Vali 💛 The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power - Various 💙 The Second Son - Adrienne Tooley 💜 Cursed Under London - Gabby Hutchinson Crouch 🌈 Forbidden Girl - Kristen Zimmer

❤️ Rise - Freya Finch 🧡 Undercurrent - Patricia Evans 💛 Online Rebellion - Blue Matt Jeff 💚 Wolf Gift - T.J. Nichols 💙 Cash Delgado Is Living the Dream - Tehlor Kay Mejia 💜 Miller: Origin - Starr Z. Davies ❤️ The Shadows Beyond - T.J. Rose 🧡 The Ones Who Come Back Hungry - Amelinda Bérubé 💛 Their Viscountess - Jess Michaels 💙 Fast Holiday - Kerry Lockhart 💜 The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky - Josh Galarza 🌈 The West Passage - Jared Pechaček

❤️ The Hades Calculus - Maria Ying 🧡 Misrecognition - Madison Newbound 💛 One Last Summer - Kristin Keppler 💚 Waypoint Seven - Xan van Rooyen 💙 Hiding Him - Adam Hattan 💜 Thousand Autumns - Meng Xi Shi, Me.Mimo ❤️ The Adventure Zone, Vol. 6: The Suffering Game - Various 🧡 Rowan & Aldred - Lucie Fleury 💛 Yoke of Stars - R.B. Lemberg 💙 Casting Vows - Ariella Talix 💜 Count Felford's Vessel - S. Rodman

❤️ The Actor and His Secret - Ben Alderson, Laura R. Samotin 🧡 How To Die Famous - Benjamin Dean 💛 So Witches We Became - Jill Baguchinsky 💚 The Amazing Alpha Tau Romeo and Juliet Project - Lisa Henry, Sarah Honey 💙 The Noble’s Merman - S.S. Genesee 💜 The Loudest Silence - Sydney Langford ❤️ Life is Strange - Brittney Morris 🧡 Bury Your Gays - Chuck Tingle 💛 I Will Never Leave You - Kara A. Kennedy 💙 The Blonde Dies First - Joelle Wellington 💜 Under the Lupine Moon - A. Knightley

❤️ Benji Zeb is a Ravenous Werewolf - Deke Moulton 🧡 Charlotte Illes Is Not a Teacher - Katie Siegel 💛 The Ghostkeeper - Johanna Taylor 💚 Trespass Against Us - Leon Kemp 💙 Exes & Foes - Amanda Woody 💜 The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl - Bart Yates ❤️ Unbound - J.A. Vodvarka 🧡 StreamLine - Lauren Melissa Ellzey 💛 Time and Time Again - Chatham Greenfield 💙 No Road Home - John Fram 💜 Queen B - Juno Dawson 🌈 A Darker Mischief - Derek Milman

❤️ Beautiful & Terrible Things - S.M. Stevens 🧡 Benvolio & Mercutio Turn Back Time - Elle Beaumont, Lou Wilham 💛 About Last Night - Laura Henry 💚 You Had Me at Happy Hour - Timothy Janovsky 💙 Moonbane - Jamie Jennings 💜 Between Fate & Failure - Amber D. Lewis ❤️ Blessed by the Cupid Distribution System - Robin Jo Margaret 🧡 Between Dragons and Their Wrath - Devin Madson 💛 Twisted Magic - Barbara J. Webb 💙 Rare Birds - L.B. Hazelthorn 💜 At the End of the River Styx - Michelle Kulwicki 🌈 Origin Story - Jendi Reiter

❤️ Eras of Us - Shannon O'Connor 🧡 Corpses, Fools and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema - Willow Maclay, Caden Gardner 💛 A Wolf in Stone - Jane Fletcher 💚 Toward Eternity - Anton Hur 💙 Portrait of a Shadow - Meriam Metoui 💜 Anyone's Ghost - August Thompson ❤️ Home Ice Advantage - Ari Baran 🧡 Unbelievable You - Chelsea M. Cameron 💛 Incorrect Eyes - Andromeda Ruins

[permanentreverie]

books read in 2024

1 - ruthless vows (rebecca ross): jan 2 - 5

2 - atonement (ian mcewan): jan 1 - 7

3 - the stolen heir (holly black): jan 9 - 11

4 - clockwork angel (cassandra clare): jan 12 - 15

5 - archer’s voice (mia sheridan): jan 15 - 23

6 - the flatshare (beth o’leary): jan 28 - 30 / (reread)

7 - check, please! book 1: #hockey (ngozi ukazu): jan 31

8 - check, please! book 2: sticks and scones (ngozi ukazu): feb 1 - 2

9 - indigo eyes (maeve hazel): feb 1 - 6

10 - book lovers (emily henry): feb 7 - 11 / (reread)

11 - a cuban girl’s guide to tea and tomorrow (laura taylor namey): feb 12 - 15

12 - the wake-up call (beth o’leary): feb 12 - 17

13 - eleanor oliphant is completely fine (gail honeyman): feb 19 - 28

14 - the seven year slip (ashley poston): feb 28 - mar 3

15 - the road trip (beth o’leary): mar 3 - 6

16 - the youthful you who was so beautiful (jiu yue xi): mar 6 - 11 / (reread)

17 - i hope this doesn’t find you (ann liang): mar 14 - 16

18 - the great divorce (c.s. lewis): mar 29 - 31

19 - the foxhole court (nora sakavic): apr 3 - 5 / (reread)

20 - the raven king (nora sakavic): apr 5 - 7 / (reread)

21 - the king’s men (nora sakavic): apr 7 - 11 / (reread)

22 - tweet cute (emma lord): mar 22 - apr 12

23 - society of the snow: the definitive account of the world’s greatest survival story (pablo vierci): apr 12 - 13

24 - the switch (beth o’leary): apr 16 - 18

25 - pride and prejudice (jane austen): apr 11 - 23 / (reread) (audiobook)

26 - the sunshine court (nora sakavic): apr 18 - 26

27 - longbourn (jo baker): apr 23 - 27

28 - society of the snow: the definitive account of the world’s greatest survival story (pablo vierci): apr 21 - 28 / (reread)

29 - the bodyguard (katherine center): apr 29

30 - bones and all (camille deangelis): apr 30 - may 5

31 - miracle in the andes (nando parrado): may 5 - 7

32 - lapvona (ottessa moshfegh): may 7 - 10

33 - do i know you? (emily wibberley & austin siegemund-broka): may 17 - 18

34 - moon of the crusted snow (waubgeshig rice): may 18 - 19

35 - next to you (hannah bonam-young): may 21 - 24

36 - beasts of a little land (juhea kim): may 30 - jun 2

37 - moon of the turning leaves (waubgeshig rice): may 20 - jun 3 / (audiobook)

38 - the girls i’ve been (tess sharpe): may 27 - jun 5

39 - americanah (chimimanda ngozi adichie): may 20 - jun 18

40 - emily wilde’s encyclopedia of fairies (heather fawcett): jun 19 - 22

41 - emily wilde’s map of the otherlands (heather fawcett): jun 22 - jul 1

42 - a good girls’s guide to murder (holly jackson): jun 21 - jul 1 / (reread) (audiobook)

43 - seven days in june (tia williams): jul 1 - 3

44 - the night tiger (yangsze choo): jul 4 - 7

45 - part of your world (abby jimenez): jul 9 - 11

46 - good girl, bad blood (holly jackson): jul 4 - 11 / (reread) (audiobook)

47 - your blood, my bones (kelly andrew): jul 13 - 17

48 - the summer of broken rules (k. l. walther): jul 13 - 21 / (audiobook)

49 - as good as dead (holly jackson): jul 25 - aug 9 / (reread) (audiobook)

50 - house of leaves (mark z. danielewski): aug 2 - 13

51 - the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse (charlie mackesy): aug 14

52 - daisy jones & the six (taylor jenkins reid): aug 13 - 23 / (reread) (audiobook)

53 - a crane among wolves (june hur): aug 14 - 23

54 - howl’s moving castle (dianna wynne jones): aug 25 - 27 / (reread) (audiobook)

55 - the reappearance of rachel price (holly jackson): aug 24 - 28

56 - five survive (holly jackson): sep 2 - 3

57 - the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society (mary ann shaffer & annie barrows): sep 2 - 4 / (reread) (audiobook)

58 - a business proposal, vol. 1 (haehwa): sep 4

59 - a business proposal, vol. 2 (haehwa): sep 6

60 - a business proposal, vol. 3 (haehwa): sep 7

[rebeccadumaurier]

2023 Books in Review

a tiered ranking of all the books i read in 2023! originally i was going to write up my commentary on each one but then i was like hahaha.....no, so below the cut is just a list of the titles/authors in each tier instead.

changed my brain chemistry

The Idiot, Elif Batuman

Land of Milk and Honey, C Pam Zhang

The Borrowed, Chan Ho-kei (trans. Jeremy Tiang)

My Cousin Rachel, Daphne du Maurier

Vagabonds, Hao Jingfang (trans. Ken Liu)

The Membranes, Chi Ta-wei (trans. Ari Larissa Heinrich)

Under the Pendulum Sun, Jeannette Ng

Severance, Ling Ma

He Who Drowned the World, Shelley Parker-Chan

Vita Nostra, Marina & Sergey Dyachenko (trans. Julia Meitov Hersey)

Network Effect, Martha Wells

top-tier stuff

Our Share of Night, Mariana Enriquez (trans. Megan McDowell)

Brainwyrms, Alison Rumfitt

The Door, Magda Szabo (trans. Len Rix)

The Lover, Marguerite Duras (trans. Barbara Bray)

Fun Home, Alison Bechdel

Strange Beasts of China, Yan Ge (trans. Jeremy Tiang)

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers

Pachinko, Min Jin Lee

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, Kim Fu

Tell Me I’m Worthless, Alison Rumfitt

Bliss Montage, Ling Ma

How to Read Now, Elaine Castillo

Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer

The Fifth Season, N. K. Jemisin

If Beale Street Could Talk, James Baldwin

My Brilliant Friend and The Story of a New Name, Elena Ferrante

The Jasmine Throne, Tasha Suri

good, well-written

Carmilla, Sheridan Le Fanu

Life Ceremony, Sayaka Murata (trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori)

Yellowface, R. F. Kuang

A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine

Assassin of Reality, Marina & Sergey Dyachenko (trans. Julia Meitov Hersey)

Witch King, Martha Wells

Tokyo Ueno Station, Miri Yu (trans. Morgan Giles)

Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler

Peaces, Helen Oyeyemi

Gingerbread, Helen Oyeyemi

Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir

The Pachinko Parlor, Elisa Shua Dusapin (trans. Aneesa Abbas Higgins)

All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Fugitive Telemetry, and System Collapse (Murderbot #1-4, #6-7), Martha Wells

Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee

The Dry Heart, Natalia Ginzburg (trans. Frances Frenaye)

Gods of Want, K-Ming Chang

Paradais, Fernanda Melchor (trans. Sophie Hughes)

The Mushroom at the End of the World, Anna Tsing

Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced An Emergency, Chen Chen

The Hurting Kind, Ada Limon

Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie

An Unauthorised Fan Treatise, Lauren James

Upstream, Mary Oliver

The Art of Death, Edwidge Danticat

Meander, Spiral, Explode, Jane Alison

alphabet, Inger Christensen (trans. Susanna Nied)

Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates

flawed, but enjoyable

The Wicker King, K. Ancrum

Exit West, Mohsin Hamid

Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters

Flux, Jinwoo Chong

Bang Bang Bodhisattva, Aubrey Wood

The Murder of Mr. Wickham, Claudia Gray

Natural Beauty, Ling Ling Huang

The Monster Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson

Certain Dark Things, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Likeness, Tana French

The Cabinet, Un-su Kim (trans. Sean Lin Halbert)

The Kingdom of Surfaces, Sally Wen Mao

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On, Franny Choi

good, well-written, but not my cup of tea

The Good House, Tananarive Due

The Transmigration of Bodies, Yuri Herrera (trans. Lisa Dillman)

Roadside Picnic, Arkady & Boris Strugatsky (trans. Olena Bormashenko)

The School for Good Mothers, Jessamine Chan

At Night All Blood Is Black, David Diop (trans. Anna Moschovakis)

Family Lexicon, Natalia Ginzburg (trans. Jenny McPhee)

The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo

The Kingdom of This World, Alejo Carpentier (trans. Harriet de Onís)

Against Silence, Frank Bidart

flawed, less enjoyable

Tenth of December, George Saunders

Counterweight, Djuna (trans. Anton Hur)

Authority, Jeff VanderMeer

Comfort Me with Apples, Catherynne M. Valente

Babel, R. F. Kuang

The Genesis of Misery, Neon Yang

Carrie Soto Is Back, Taylor Jenkins Reid

not ranking

These are nonfiction and they aren’t literature-related, so it just felt weird trying to rank them.

Visual Thinking, Temple Grandin

On Web Typography, Jason Santa Maria

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marie Kondo (trans. Cathy Hirano)

[booksandboba]

Book Releases in 2024

May

(7) Stars of Chaos: Sha Po Lang, Volume 3, Priest (light novel) ✅

(14) A Crane Among Wolves, Jane Hur (novel) ✅

(21) Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 12, Kamome Shirahama (graphic novel, manga) ✅

(21) Though I Am An Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court, Volume 5, Satsuki Nakamura, Ei Ohitsuji, Kana Yuki (graphic novel, manga) ✅

(21) Oshi No Ko, Volume 6, Aka Akasaka, Mengo Yokoyari (graphic novels, manga) ✅

June

(4) Ballad of Sword and Wine: Qiang Jin Jiu, Volume 1, Tang Jiu Qing (light novel) ✅

(11) The Eccentric Doctor of the Moon Flower Kingdom, Volume 6, Tohru Himuka (graphic novel, manga) ✅

(11) Case File Compendium: Bing An Ben, Volume 2, Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou (light novel) ✅

(18) The Remarried Empress, Volume 7, Alphatart, SUMPUL, HereLee (comic, unscrolled web comic) ✅

July

(2) The Night Ends With Fire, K. X. Song (novel) ✅

(9) Thousand Autumns: Qian Qiu, Volume 5, Meng Xi Shi (light novel) ✅

(23) Lullaby of the Dawn, Volume 4, Ichika Yuno (graphic novel, manga) ✅

(23) Remnants of Filth: Yuwu, Volume 4, Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou (light novel) ✅

(30) Peerless: Wushuang, Volume 1, Meng Xi Shi (light novel) ✅

August

(6) Spy x Family, Volume 12, Tatsuya Endo (graphic novel, manga) ✅

(6) Father, I Don't Want This Marriage, Volume 1, Hong Heesu, Roal, Yuri (comics, unscrolled web comic) ✅

(13) Guardian: Zhen Hun, Volume 3, Priest (light novel) ✅

(20) The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun, Volume 6, Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou (light novel) ✅

(27) You’ve Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post: Fei Ge Jiao You Xu Jin Shen, Volume 1, Blackegg (light novel) ✅

September

(3) How to Survive As a Villain, Volume 1, Yi Yi Yi Yi, Wang Yi (comic, web comic unscrolled)

(10) The Eccentric Doctor of the Moon Flower Kingdom, Volume 7, Tohru Himuka (graphic novel, manga)

(17) Stars of Chaos: Sha Po Lang, Volume 4, Priest (light novel)

(17) The Remarried Empress, Volume 8, Alphatart, SUMPUL, HereLee (comic, unscrolled webcomic)

(24) KinnPorsche, Volume 1, Daemi (light novel)

October

(8) Case File Compendium: Bing An Ben, Volume 3, Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou (light novel)

(8) The Last Dragon of the East, Katrina Kwan (novel)

(15) Lullaby of the Dawn, Volume 5, Ichika Yuno (manga)

November

(12) ENNEAD, Volume 4, Mojito (comics, webcomic unscrolled)

December

(10) Noragami: Stray God, Volume 27, Adachitoka (graphic novels, manga)

(24) The Ancient Magus' Bride, Volume 20, Kore Yamazaki (graphic novels, manga)

[pikminenjoyer]

Ok I absolutely hated a study in scarlet im sorry lmao

But!!!! This means I get to poll my next book

[watcherscrown]

9 People You’d Like to Get to Know Better

tagged by @anonymintea which is hilarious because i'm married to her

last song I listened to: I've never listened to music idk this is me

(according to my phone it was actually Alone Together by fob)

currently reading: The Red Palace by Jane Hur, which i've only read a few chapters of but is good so far! I needed a brain purge so I actually paused it to blow through a bunch of BL webtoons and podcast short stories

currently watching: (I'm bad at finishing tv so I've left some shows in limbo) s2 of gomens, crash landing on you, the bridgerton prequel queen charlotte show, uhhh idk

current obsession: I'm between insanities right now mostly I'm just obsessed with my dog and looking at bugs

I'm tagging uhhhhh @precambrianhottopic @readingrobin @faintedincoils @enchanterelle @processintegrated and I know it's supposed to be 9 but I don't have v many active mutuals anymore so if you wanna do the ask then i hereby nominate u

[papermoonloveslucy]

MOVIES on TV!

Part 2 ~ The Movies of “The Lucy Show”

Lucille Ball was a famous film star who became one of the biggest TV stars of the 1950s. She continued her trailblazing TV career in the 1960s with “The Lucy Show” where her character, Lucy Carmichael, was a huge film fan. 

~FACTUAL FILMS~ 

“Lucy Goes To a Hollywood Premiere” (1965) 

Lucy is movie mad!  When her plans to go to a Hollywood premiere with Mary Jane fall through, she disguises herself as one of the theatre’s ushers to work the red carpet and get autographs from the celebrities.

Lucy’s movie poster collection includes: Radio City Revels (1938), which was filmed at RKO, the studio that became Desilu; The Overland Express (1938); and Suspicion (1941), another RKO picture.  

Kirk Douglas is introduced as “The star of two great films: ‘The Heroes of Telemark’ and 'Cast a Giant Shadow.'” The Heroes of Telemark was released in the UK in November 1965, but would not premiere in the US for a month after this episode first aired. One month later (March 30, 1966), Cast a Giant Shadow premiered.

Memorabilia crazy Lucy says she bought a pink chiffon nightgown from Lillian Goodman’s Goodies for $75 that was worn by Doris Day in Pillow Talk (1959).  Mr. Mooney says he wouldn’t buy a second hand nightie if it had been worn by Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot (1959).

“No More Double Dates” (1963) 

Lucy and Harry (Dick Martin) and Viv and Eddie (Don Briggs) can’t agree on where to dine or what movie to see. They decide to pick out of a hat. 

Searching for possible movies to see, Eddie prefers Ben-Hur (1959) at the Ritz over Two for the Seesaw (1962), because you get more actors for your money. Ben-Hur famously had a cast of 30,000. The movie was also mentioned in “Lucy’s Sister Pays a Visit” (1962). Ralph Hart (Viv’s son Sherman) was an extra in Two for the Seesaw. Although the play lived up its title with a cast of two, the film was fleshed out with many more characters. 

Viv wants to see What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962), but Lucy thinks it will be too scary. The film starred Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, who will make a guest appearance on “The Lucy Show” in season 6. Lucy says she wants to see “the Cary Grant picture at the Danfield Theatre.”  She is probably referring to That Touch of Mink (1962). Herschel Graham, an extra in this episode, is also an extra in the film. Lucy notes that movie tickets are $1.50. 

CLEOPATRA ~ “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (1963)

At the Danfield Community Theatre, Lucy lands the plum role of Cleopatra. 

Lucy says she should get the part because she saw the film twelve times. Sarcastically, Viv says “She means the one with Theda Bera.” Lucy is referring to the 20th Century Fox's 1963 extravaganza Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as Mark Antony. Viv is referring to Cleopatra, a 1917 silent film. All known prints of this film were destroyed in a Fox Studios Fire in 1937. The writers might have also referenced Cecil B. DeMille's 1934 film Cleopatra starring Claudette Colbert.  

GASLIGHT - “Lucy Gets Mooney Fired” (1967)

Lucy and Mary Jane watch Gaslight  (1944) on TV. Lucy sums up the plot for Mary Jane: “Charles Boyer tries to convince Ingrid Bergman that she is seeing things that aren’t there.” This inspires Lucy to try to make Mr. Cheever think that he is going crazy, much like the plot of the film. The movie was based on Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play Gas Light (known in the United States as Angel Street). It inspired a 1940 British film before the 1944 Hollywood version.

WINGS ~ “Lucy and Carol Burnett: Part 2″ 

Lucy and Carol get their wings as flight attendants and perform a graduation revue about the history of aviation with the stars of the 1927 silent motion picture Wings, Buddy Rodgers and Richard Arlen. The film was the first to win an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1929. 

In Part 1, the in-flight movie unravels, causing Carol and Lucy to do live entertainment in the aisle. 

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA ~ “Lucy the Disc Jockey” (1965)

Listening to the hourglass (egg timer) to win a radio contest, a sleepy Viv makes a joke about hearing Lawrence of Arabia calling for help. Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 epic historical film based on the life of  T.E. Lawrence and taking place mostly in the desert. It won seven Oscars including Best Picture. The film was also mentioned in “Lucy the Stunt Man” (1965). 

GONE WITH THE WIND ~ “Lucy and Robert Goulet” (1967)

When Mr. Mooney helps Chuck Willis (Robert Goulet) get on a horse for his photo, he comments that there probably was not this much trouble making Gone with the Wind. Lucille Ball was considered for the lead role in the 1939 epic, which went to Vivian Leigh (right) instead.  

DANGER IN PARIS ~ “Lucy Dates Dean Martin” (1966)

Lucy admires (and later wears) a red beaded jacket she recognizes as one worn by Audrey Hepburn in Paramount’s 1937 film Danger in Paris (aka Cafe Colette aka K-33). She says it was sent over by Paramount. In reality, Danger in Paris did not star Hepburn and was not released by Paramount. This is likely something Lucille Ball wanted to wear so a story was made up for it.

MILDRED PIERCE ~ “Lucy and the Lost Star” (1968)

Viv calls Joan Mildred Pierce. This was the name of the title character of the 1945 film that won Crawford her only acting Oscar.

GOLDFINGER ~ “Lucy and the Starmaker” (1967)

When Mr. Mooney threatens to send Lucy to Fort Knox to be made into gold bars, Lucy says to Tommy (Frankie Avalon): “Who does he think he is? Goldfinger?” Goldfinger was a James Bond film released in the US in early 1965. 

In “Lucy and the Undercover Agent” (1965) Lucy, Rosie (Ann Sothern), and Mr. Mooney have just seen a James Bond film. Although the title is never mentioned, Goldfinger was released in the USA in January 1965. A few weeks after this episode aired, Thunderball premiered.

~FILM INSPIRATION~

MY FAIR LADY ~ “My Fair Lucy” (1965) 

LUCY: “Rosie, I have a plan. Did you see ‘My Fair Lady’?” ROSIE: “Yes.” LUCY: “Now listen…” [fade to commercial]

The episode is inspired by My Fair Lady, a 1956 stage musical by Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe that was turned into a major motion picture in 1964. To con a rich couple into funding their charm school, Rosie claims that under her tutelage, she can transform an uncouth, slovenly woman into a refined lady at an elegant soiree. Lucy’s cleaning lady character is named Liza Lumpwhomper. Eliza Doolittle is the name of Audrey Hepburn’s character in My Fair Lady.  

The film starred Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, recreating the role he played on stage. The film won eight Oscars and was phenomenally successful at the box office. It premiered in New York City on October 21, 1964, five weeks before this episode was filmed. In the feature film, a couple of familiar faces from Lucy sitcoms appear: Walter Bacon, George Holmes, Barbara Morrison, Jerry Rush, Bert Stevens, Ben Wrigley, and Lucille Ball’s good friend, Barbara Pepper. Although set in England, the film was shot exclusively in Hollywood.

In 1965′s “Lucy Saves Milton Berle”, Lucy Carmichael disguises herself as a poor flower seller, bearing more than a passing resemblance to Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady. 

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT ~ “Lucy the Camp Cook” (1965)

After Mr. Mooney runs out of gas (because the last filling station didn’t give trading stamps), Lucy and Viv try hitchhiking. Viv says “Let’s give it that old Claudette Colbert try.”  Viv is referring to a scene from the 1934 film It Happened One Night in which Colbert ‘schools’ Clark Gable in how to get a driver to stop by hiking up her skirt above the knee. 

THE KID ~ “Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney” (1966)

In Mickey Rooney’s theatre school recital Lucy plays Charlie Chaplin and Rooney is the Kid. The sketch is inspired by The Kid (1927) a silent classic starring Chaplin and Jackie Coogan. Praising Mickey Rooney, Lucy tells him “Those father and son talks with Judge Hardy helped a lot.” Lucy is referring to Rooney's portrayal of Andy Hardy in 16 films between 1937 and 1958.

FOLLOW THE FLEET / ROBERTA ~ “Lucy and George Burns” (1966) 

Lucy says that Ginger Rogers is her very favorite star. She describes a film she saw on “The Late Late Show” in which Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers fell in love despite her accidentally kicking him from the chorus line. Lucy is probably describing Follow the Fleet (1936) or Roberta (1935) in which Lucille Ball had supporting roles. Both films were made by RKO, which became Desilu Studios.

~FICTIONAL FILMS~

“Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (1965)

Dimitri Orloff (Sid Gould) is the composer of “I Left My Kidney with Dr. Sidney,” the theme song from the film Doctors and Nurses A-Go-Go.

Mimi Van Tysen (Beverly Powers) and Coconuts (George Barrows) are stars of the Love in the Jungle.

“Lucy and the Monsters” (1966)

Lucy tells Viv that Jerry and Sherman are at the State Theater to see the double-feature The Surfing Werewolf and The Eggplant That Ate Philadelphia, both made-up horror films. Their worries about the effect of the horror films on their boys leads them to have a shared horror film dream. 

“Lucy Meets the Berles” (1967)

To earn extra money Lucy takes a job working as a secretary for Milton Berle. When Lucy hears overhears him rehearsing a love scene with Ruta Lee, she jumps to the conclusion that he is being unfaithful to his wife.  The film they are rehearsing is titled The Friendly Skies, although the script he holds is titled The Friendly Sky. 

“Lucy and the French Movie Star” (1967) 

Lucy says she saw Jacques DuPre (Jacques Bergerac) in the film Kisses at Dawn where he did his own stunts playing a lion tamer. He even goes so far as to demonstrate, using an office chair and a whip (Lucy's raincoat belt) with Lucy acting as the lion. When Mr. Mooney bursts in and sees the reenactment, he jumps to the conclusion that Lucy is attacking DuPre, instead of the other way around!  

“Lucy the Stunt Man” (1965) / “The Return of Iron Man” (1965) / “Lucy and Bob Crane” (1966)

In all three episodes, Lucy makes extra money appearing in films as gruff stunt man Iron Man Carmichael. The title of the films go unmentioned, but in Iron Man’s first outing he is in a barroom brawl in a Western. In his return he is shot out of a canon in a Pirate movie. And when she meets Bob Crane she parachutes in during a World War One epic resembling “Hogan’s Heroes”, Crane’s hit series filmed at Desilu Studios. 

~FILM HOMAGE~

DANCE, GIRL, DANCE ~ “Lucy the Gun Moll” (1966)

In an “Untouchables” parody, Federal Agent Briggs (Robert Stack) is in the dressing room of Rusty (Lucille Ball). Behind Stack is a photo of Lucy singing “Jitterbug Bite” in the 1940 film Dance, Girl, Dance. Ball met Desi Arnaz while filming this movie. It was filmed at RKO, the studio that became Desilu, producer of “The Untouchables”. 

[raindropsonroses123]

Books Read in 2022

rereads in italics, favorites in bold

1. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J K Rowling

2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J K Rowling

3. Boxers by Gene Luen Yang

4. Saints by Gene Luen Yang

5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J K Rowling

6. Topaz by Leon Uris

7. Politics and the English Language by George Orwell

8. The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov

9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling

10. A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

11. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

12. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War by Charles B Dew

13. The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov

14. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J K Rowling

15. The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles’ Antigone by Seamus Heaney

16. The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

17. Hidden Mercy: Aids, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear by Michael J O’Loughlin

18. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

19. A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including Their Own Narratives of Emancipation by David W Blight

20. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

21. Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

22. Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South by Stephanie McCurry

23. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling

24. Desolation Island by Patrick O’Brian

25. Faith Beyond Resentment: Fragments Catholic and Gay by James Alison

26. Richard III by William Shakespeare

27. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

28. An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

29. A Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill

30. The Fortunes of War by Patrick O’Brian

31. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V E Schwab

32. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

33. The PIllowman by Martin McDonagh

34. Free Thought and Official Propaganda by Bertrand Russell

35. The Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

36. The Open Society and its Enemies, Volume One: Plato by Karl Popper

37. The Problem of Pain by C S Lewis

38. The Open Society and its Enemies, Volume Two: Hegel and Marx by Karl Popper

39. Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield

40. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fischer

41. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

42. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

43. Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

44. Persuasion by Jane Austen

45. Dead Cert by Dick Francis

46. Art by Yasmin Reza

47. His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik

48. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

49. The Constitution of Liberty by Friedrich A Hayek

50. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

51. Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

52. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

53. Blackout by Simon Scarrow

54. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

55. The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

56. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

57. The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol

58. This Hallowed Ground: The Story of the Union Side of the Civil War by Bruce Catton

59. The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde

60. Recitatif by Toni Morrison

61. Against All Odds: A True Story of Ultimate Courage and Survival in World War II by Alex Kershaw

62. I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

63. How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

64. The Trial by Franz Kafka

65. To the Finland Station by Edmund Wilson

66. The City of Brass by S A Chakraborty

67. Niccolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnett

68. Common Sense by Thomas Paine

69. The Crisis by Thomas Paine

70. Dracula by Bram Stoker

71. The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States by Ronald Grigor Suny

72. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace

73. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

74. Angels in America by Tony Kushner

75. Melmoth by Sarah Perry

76. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

77. How to Be a Pirate by Cressida Cowell

78. The Poverty of Historicism by Karl Popper

79. The Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth

80. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

81. The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche

82. Cue for Treason by Geoffrey Trease

[byneddiedingo]

Yu-Wen Wang, Chien-Lien Wu, and Kuei-Mei Yang in Eat Drink Man Woman (Ang Lee, 1994)

Cast: Sihung Lung, Yu-Wen Wang, Chien-Lien Wu, Kuei-Mei Yang, Sylvia Chang, Winston Chao, Chao-jung Chen, Chit-Man Chan, Yu Chen, Ah-Lei Gua. Screenplay: Ang Lee, James Schamus, Hui-Ling Wang. Cinematography: Jong Lin. Production design: Fu-Hsiung Lee. Film editing: Tim Squyres. Music: Mader.

Ang Lee's Oscars for directing Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Life of Pi (2012) suggest something of his versatility. But then, Lee's filmography is all over the map: Since he returned to the United States after starting his directing career in Taiwan, he has made a Jane Austen adaptation, Sense and Sensibility (1995); a story of family dysfunction in Connecticut, The Ice Storm (1997); a Civil War-era Western, Ride With the Devil (1999); a martial arts epic, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000); a comic-book movie, Hulk (2003); an erotic thriller, Lust, Caution (2007); a story set at the fabled 1969 rock festival, Taking Woodstock (2009); and an experiment using radically new film technology, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016). If it's possible to discern in that almost random collection of films the kind of personal vision that auteur theorists believe is essential to the greatness of a director, I don't see it. He began with a personal vision, however, in the films he made in Taiwan after receiving his MFA in film at NYU: a focus on the conflict between the traditional and the new in Asian culture. Eat Drink Man Woman is the third of these, after Pushing Hands (1992) and The Wedding Banquet (1993), in what has been called Lee's "Father Knows Best" trilogy. Sihung Lung, who played similar roles in the other two films, is Chu, master chef at a large hotel restaurant, a widower with three unmarried daughters. The oldest, Jia-Jien (Kuei-Mei Yang), is a schoolteacher who converted to Christianity after a failed love affair; the middle daughter, Jia-Chien (Chien-Lien Wu), is a workaholic airline executive in line for a promotion that will get her transferred to Amsterdam; the youngest, Jia-Ning (Yu-Wen Wang), is still in school and works part-time at a Wendy's, where she commiserates with a co-worker whose boyfriend is inattentive -- largely because he's fallen for Jia-Ning. They all gather regularly for a Sunday dinner prepared by their father in a bravura opening sequence that details the skill and technique with which the chef creates his classic dishes. But the dinner is something of an ordeal for the daughters, each of whom is preoccupied with her own love life, as well as being concerned about the health and future of their aging parent. It's a well-plotted film, written by Lee with Hui-Ling Wang and James Schamus, whom Lee met at film school and who became his frequent producer and co-writer. Tim Squyres is the film editor whose work shines in the opening food-preparation sequence and in the intercutting of the daughters' several stories, and the cinematography by Jong Lin gives us an effective traveling shot through the crowded kitchens of the hotel restaurant. But the movie stays on a superficial level when it comes to examining the lives of the Chu family, especially when you compare it to another family drama by a Taiwanese director, Edward Yang's Yi Yi (2000), whose characters have a depth lacking in Lee's film. With his versatility and technical prowess, Lee reminds me most of a classical Hollywood director like William Wyler, who gave us brightly polished entertainments as varied in tone and genre as Roman Holiday (1953), Ben-Hur (1959), and Funny Girl (1968), but without showing us anything of himself as an artist.

[emeraldgreaves]

23 Books in 2023

[2022]

Finished

Loved / reread / read

The Vegetarian by Han Kang (12/29/22 - 1/4/23)

The Defining Decade by Meg Jay (1/5)

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu (1/6)

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim (1/6-1/8)

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (1/5-1/11)

Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries #5) by Martha Wells (1/4-1/19)

The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino (12/27–1/19)

Swan Dive by Georgina Pazcoguin (1/19)

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (1/24-2/3)

Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace (1/20–2/9)

I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown (3/4)

Once Upon a Marquess by Courtney Milan (3/1-3/10)

This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch by Tabitha Carvan (4/4)

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (4/23)

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin (finished 4/29)

Nuclear Family by Joseph Han (4/27- 5/3)

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula LeGuin (4/30-5/9)

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (reread, started est. bigolas dickolas saga & finished 5/25)

The Devil Comes Courting by Courtney Milan (5/11-5/26)

Life Mask by Emma Donoghue (5/27-5/30)

Lady of the Camelias by Alexandre Dumas, fils (reread, 5/14-6/4)

My Not-So-Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella (6/4-6/6)

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery (6/6-6/7)

Shakespeare Saved My Life by Laura Bates (6/7-6/11)

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin (6/4-6/18)

Love is a Mixtape by Rob Sheffield (6/14-6/21)

Beauty by Robin McKinley (reread, 6/22-6/24)

Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki (6/26-6/28)

A Lady of Persuasion by Tessa Dare (6/29-6/30)

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuinston (6/30)

The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan (reread, 7/1-7/3)

Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare (6/30-7/4)

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang (7/3)

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (7/10)

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (7/18)

Persuasion by Jane Austen (7/14-7/22)

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett (reread, 7/21)

Burnout by Emily Nagoski, PhD, and Amelia Nagoski, DMA (7/23-7/24)

Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin (7/3-7/24)

The Red Palace by June Hur (7/26-8/2)

The Farthest Shore by Ursula LeGuin (8/1-8/15)

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg 

The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King (9/2-9/3)

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple (9/3-9/4)

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor (9/22-9/27)

A Mathematician’s Lament by Paul Lockhart (9/23-9/28)

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou (9/28-9/29)

Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang (9/27-10/02)

Foreverland by Heather Havrilesky (10/03)

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee (10/21)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (finished 10/27)

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up / Spark Joy by Marie Kondo (11/15-11/18)

Raise Your Voice by Kathy Khang (11/28)

The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly by Margareta Magnusson (12/5-12/6)

The Art of Discarding by Nagisa Tatsumi (12/5-12/7)

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson (12/11)

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (12/17-12/24)

The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis (12/28-12/31)

Ongoing

The Worst Journey in the World: The Graphic Novel by Sarah Airriess (1/17–)

Lord of the Rings (via LOTR Newsletter)

DNF

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel (12/28–1/12)

Astray by Emma Donoghue (1/4-1/13)

Time Squared by Lesley Krueger (2/10)

Mambo in Chinatown by Jean Kwok (3/18-3/19)

Density rhapsody lmao (4/4-4/18)

Madly deeply alan rickman (4/19-4/20)

Be the bridge (4/20)

The dead romantics (4/20)

Bronze drum (5/1)

This is how augusten burroughs (5/3)

Tastes like war grace m cho (5/4)

The duchess war courtney Milan (5/11)

The calculating stars mary robinette kowal (5/11)

Frugal wizard brandon sanderson

Fool moon jim butcher (5/21)

Vladimir julia may jonas (5/29)

Light from uncommon stars (6/11)

The spy who came in from the cold by john lecarre (6/25, try again later)

How not to be wrong by jordan ellenberg (6/29)

The great derangement by amitav ghosh (7/28)

i keep my exoskeletons to myself by marisa crane (9/16)

the key to rebecca by ken follet (10/03. not even tim downie can rescue this)

Frostblood by Ely Blake (11/something - 12/11)

Too Like The Lightning by Ada Palmer (12/17. wanted to love it though)

The expatriates by janice yk lee (12/27)

[hobidreams]

happy holidays babe!!! it’s already christmas where i am and i had a wonderful time eating lots of seafood earlier🤤🤤 i hope these times are just as fun for you and your loved ones!! -🌿

OH AND I FORGOT TO MENTION!! the other day my dad got me a copy of the red palace by june hur, and i’ve only been able to read the first chapter but it’s literally so good???? like i just knew IMMEDIATELY that you would love it😩 anyways thats all from me babes!! how are things on your end? -🌿

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FRIEND 💞💞💞💞 i hope you had an amazing Christmas and thank u for thinking of coming to send me some good cheer 😭🥺 we had turkey and mashed potatoes at my fiance's, and braised pork at my folks' place on the eve 💗 omg yes, i have Jane Hur's first book i believe!! i havent read it yet but i follow her on twitter and she is LOVELY! i should dig into it during this holiday break but im also kinda not in the right mindset to read smth intense 🤣 yeah, im good but definitely in full recovery mode from exams...... my online presence has been smol and im just hibernating. but after all the holiday craziness, i have to get back to work on some stuff for the legal clinic im working with so busy busy 😭 ik ive been so bad at replying to asks but know that ive read them and i love hearing abt ur life so pls pls pls do keep sending stuff in 🥺🥰 i hope ur having fun and taking care!!!!!!!!!

[seoulful-inclusion]

As a feminist, I want to take a moment to appreciate my wonderful professor Dr. Hur. She is an intelligent, kind, gracious, and beautiful woman. Jane Jacobs an many others led the way in new urbanism. Moving forward, I am hopeful for brighter futures. Today, TOPIS has a public officer, An Young Jin, who wears a pink blazer with a nice feminine touch. She taught us all about TOPIS and camera surveillance.

We began our day by creating stamps with our names in Korean at ‘Yhlayuen,’ where we explored history, art, design, and culture. It was so much fun.

Later, we learned more about women's leadership and visited the DDP, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, designed by Zaha Hadid, a British-Iraqi architect and Pritzker Prize winner of 2004. The building's concept of "Metonymic Landscape" and its unique, sustainable design, both inside and out, were truly inspiring. As a first-generation woman living on my own, breaking tradition, I am inspired by all these women. I hope this demonstrates that women are powerful and can bring something different to the table. It would be wonderful if more men could lean in, support, and respect not just our gender, but also a different way of thinking that they may not even consider.