#joy whalen

[sheltiechicago]

“Piano Bird” (2021), piano legs, keys, and wiring, 34 x 32 1/2 x 42 inches. Photo by Joerg Lohse.

In ‘No Strings,’ Willie Cole Transforms Instruments into Abstract Animals and Figurative Sculptures

Artist Willie Cole is known for transforming discarded materials into sculptures with a tenor of interrogation. Much of his three-dimensional work revolves around found objects like high-heels, plastic bottles, or ironing boards that he turns into pieces of cultural commentary, addressing issues of mass production, historical legacies, and identity.

“Two-Faced Blues” (2021), Yamaha acoustic-electric guitar parts, 23 x 29 x 15 1/2 inches. Photo by Joy Whalen

“Picker” (2022), Yamaha 3/4 size acoustic guitar parts, 27 x 15 x 15 inches. Photo by Joy Whalen

“Joy” (2021), Yamaha 3/4 size acoustic guitar parts, 44 1/2 x 22 x 7 1/2 inches. Photo by Joerg Lohse

[sakuraswordly]

Taylor: It feels like we have such a long way to go.

Punch: I know. I knew that very well but look how far you have come.

Joy: I just don't think, I can do it.....

Taylor: So what's a place to call home?

Sonic: Sometimes your mind plays tricks on you, it can tell you you're no good, that's all hopeless just like you see in here and now. Joy.

Punch: But I've discovered this: you're loved and important and bring things that no one else can to this world.

Punch hugs Taylor and tries to open her to the light. In Taylor's mind, Sonic hugs Joy as well.

Punch: So hold on.

Taylor: I finally discovered what I wanted to convey to the world....it was there from the beginning....I've always had a theme, and it's always brought about positive results......I didn't have to change anything.....All I care about is creating. Whatever I want to create, I create with my sense of beauty around me. Whatever I find intriguing, I grasp with my own hands. That's why....

Like Taylor Swift, Our Universe Has Gone Through Many Different Eras

While Taylor's Eras Tour explores decades of music, our universe’s eras set the stage for life to exist today. By unraveling cosmic history, scientists can investigate how it happened, from the universe’s origin and evolution to its possible fate.

TAS Rights Management/Getty Images

When I reached out my hand and touched you a single high note came into my heart we watched the sky getting dark together and the world which continues everywhere was calling

By falling in love and learning pain we become human beyond the night you cried resound the cymbals of time

I surely believe that our karma which is drawn in the sky plays the song of love the tears of the red moon, quiet music as if to share the light with each other

To stay alive— Why does that simple karma bring pain instead of happiness? I’m always dreaming of quiet music to reach the distance where I sleep with you

Source: Red Moon Music: Yuki Kajiura Lyrics: Yuki Kajiura

Taylor: Where are the lights........I can't see anymore......

Punch: Success isn’t the end, and failure isn’t the end either. What matters is the courage to keep going. And you did it very well. So please don't throw yourself to the darkness again.....

Taylor: You really are a white horse.....

For a moment, Ms. Swift was out of the woods she had created for herself as a teenager, floating above the trees. The future was within reach; she would, and will, soon take back the rest of her words, her reputation, her name. Maybe the world would see her, maybe it wouldn’t.

But on that stage, she found herself. "I was there". Through a fuzzy fancam, I saw it.

And somehow, that was everything.

Taylor Swift: This song is about my band, and my producer, and all the people who have helped us build this brick by brick. The fans, the people who I feel that we are all in this together, this song talks about the triumphant moments that we’ve had in the last two years

Swift dedicated "Long Live" to her bandmates and fans. The lyrics celebrate moments of triumph in the narrator's life, featuring royalty (kings and queens) and high school imagery ("You traded your baseball cap for a crown / And they gave us our trophies / And we held them up for our town") to describe the accomplishments in life. The narrator describes herself as a queen who, with a king by her side, fights dragons to protect her kingdom. Swift also acknowledges that her triumph will fade some day, and there are bittersweet and poignant moments ("If you have children someday, when they point to the pictures, please tell them my name"). Towards the end, Swift sings, "Will you take a moment / Promise me this / That you'll stand by me forever," which Billboard interpreted as her message to her fans. Perone commented that the lyrical theme of overcoming odds to achieve victory, coupled with the "near anthem-like structure", resembles David Bowie's 1977 classic "Heroes". Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone agreed with this interpretation, saying that "Long Live" throws back to "Heroes" by how "it portrays two lovers who have amicably parted ways but not without leaving an unforgettable mark on one another"

Taylor: I don't have to be afraid of darkness in my heart anymore. We’ve had times where we just jump up and down, and dance like we don’t care how we’re dancing, and just scream at the top of our lungs, “How is this happening?”

Warning ⚠ Spoiler

I would like to share this because this scene is very important. Every human being wants true happiness. This is the pride of being happy.

And, I feel very lucky to even have had one of those moments, nonetheless all the ones that I got to have. ‘Long Live’ is about how I feel reflecting on it. This song for me is like looking at a photo album of all the award shows, and all the stadium shows, and all the hands in the air in the crowd. It’s sort of the first love song that I’ve written to my team.

"Does happiness disappear when you become an adult...?"

But it's okay. Any emotion will surely become a treasure...

Punch successfully fully heals Taylor's heart with Sonic coming inside her mind and saving her from anxiety and joy to make Taylor feels Joy again. Punch and Sonic watch Talor from afar wondering how greatest she will create for the world and herself in the future. "Long Live" is just the start of her new beginning of life.

[attendtobeauty]

I wonder if Phil Whalen would have enjoyed this Moon Bread.

[yutaan]

“Then come out," said the king, "knowing you'll never die of a fall unless the god himself drops you.”

A papercraft of Eugenides, from the amazingly wonderful Queen’s Thief series! The Thief has been one of my favorite books since it first blew my mind in elementary school, and it’s been such a joy following the subsequent books all through teenagerhood and into adulthood. The author Megan Whalen Turner was at a nearby YA book festival yesterday, and I made this artwork to give to her as a thank-you for the years of incredible stories!

[ink-splotch]

hey friends I’m looking for some reading recommendations!

I’ve just been rereading old favorites, which is a joy, but I’m hankering for something new to surprise me and capture me. I’m open to anything but have particular soft spots for:

- narrators or POV characters with distinctive, atypical voices, perspectives, or assumptions who make an ordinary or extraordinary world more interesting by being seen through their lens (ex. Martha Wells’ Murderbot, owlet’s This, You Protect)

- clever, precise plotting and storytelling such that final conclusions or reveals click together like delightful, unexpected but perfectly predictable clockwork— the sort that you can see obviously in the first chapter but only after you’ve read the last page; stories where the authors trust the reader to pay attention and figure stuff out (ex. Megan Whalen Turner’s The Queen’s Thief series, The Westing Game, Pamela Dean’s The Secret Country)

- worldbuilding with depth and texture — it feels explorable, immersive, like you could study it, like you could get lost, like other stories are going on just off the page (The Secret Countey gets a second honorary mention here, great book, I highly recommend)

- characters you can root for, especially ones that are slowly, quietly, unregretfully tearing themselves apart for something they care about (Kip Mdang from Hands of the Emperor, Newt from Designations Congruent with Things, Nico D’Angelo from the Percy Jackson books, Arthur in rageprufrock’s Presque Vu)

I like stories with momentum, stories that swallow you. I like beautiful things. I like stories that surprise me and make me think. Help a gal out? What stories have captured you?

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌈 Good morning and happy Wednesday, my bookish bats! You didn't think that tiny "queer books coming out this fall" guide was ALL there was, did you? Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR this month. Happy reading!

❤️ A Vision of Air by Nicole Silver 🧡 Eli Over Easy by Phil Stamper 💛 How to Get Over the End of the World by Hal Schrieve 💚 Kween by Vichet Chum 💙 The Forest Demands its Due by Kosoko Jackson 💜 The B-Side of Daniel Garneau by David Kingston Yeh ❤️ Midnight Companion by Kit Barrie 🧡 Let the Waters Roars by Geonn Cannon 💛 Into the Glittering Dark by Kelley York 💙 When the Rain Begins to Burn by A.L. Davidson 💜 Been Outside by Amber Wendler & Shaz Zamore 🌈 The Forest Demands Its Due by Kosoko Jackson

❤️ A Necessary Chaos by Brent Lambert 🧡 The Spells We Cast by Jason June 💛 Pluralities by Avi Silver 💚 Salt the Water by Candice Iloh 💙 Beholder by Ryan La Sala 💜 This Pact is Not Ours by Zachary Sergi ❤️ Dragging Mason County by Curtis Campbell 🧡 Menewood by Nicola Griffith 💛 Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein by Anne Eekhout 💚 The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw & Richard Kadrey 💙 Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson 💜 Let Me Out by Emmett Nahil and George Williams

🌈 In the Form of a Question: the Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life by Amy Schneider ❤️ Songs of Irie by Asha Ashanti Bromfield 🧡 A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand 💛 Being Ace by Madeline Dyer 💚 Charming Young Man by Eliot Schrefer 💙 The Glass Scientists by S.H. Cotugno 💜 The Fall of Whit Rivera by Crystal Maldonado ❤️ By Any Other Name by Erin Cotter 🧡 Brooms by Jasmine Walls and Teo DuVall 💛 Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender 💚 Shoot the Moon by Isa Arsen 💙 The Bell in the Fog by Lev A.C. Rosen

🌈 Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt ❤️ Family Meal by Bryan Washington 🧡 A Murder of Crows by Dharma Kelleher 💛 A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper 💚 Love at 350° by Lisa Peers 💙 Greasepaint by Hannah Levene 💜 The Christmas Swap by Talia Samuels ❤️ Mate of Her Own by Elena Abbott 🧡 Mistletoe and Mishigas by M.A. Wardell 💛 Elle Campbell Wins Their Weekend by Ben Kahn 💚 All That Consumes Us by Erica Waters 💙 If You’ll Have Me by Eunnie

❤️ Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Lillah Lawson and Lauren Emily Whalen 🧡 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall 💛 It’s a Fabulous Life by Kelly Farmer 💚 Let the Dead Bury the Dead by Allison Epstein 💙 These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs 💜 The Goth House Experiment by SJ Sindu ❤️ Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin 🧡 Mudflowers by Aley Waterman 💛 Here Lies Olive by Kate Anderson 💚 Fire From the Sky by Moa Backe Åstot, trans. by Eva Apelqvist 💙 Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date by Ashley Herring Blake 💜 On the Same Page by Haley Cass

❤️ A Dish Best Served Hot by Natalie Caña 🧡 Art of the Chase by Jennifer Giacalone 💛 The Haunting of Adrian Yates by Markus Harwood-Jones 💚 The Sword: Xcian by Elle Arroyo 💙 The Complete Carlisle Series by Roslyn Sinclair 💜 300,000 Kisses by Sean Hewitt and Luke Edward Hall ❤️ Just a Pinch of Magic by Alechia Dow 🧡 Blackouts by Justin Torres 💛 Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros 💚 Let the Woods Keep Our Bodies by E.M. Roy 💙 Everything Under the Moon: Fairy Tales in a Queerer Light edited by Michael Earp ❤️ Frost Bite by Angela Sylvaine

🧡 We Met in a Bar by Claire Forsythe 💛 Sweat Equity Aurora Rey 💚 Pumpkin Spice by Tagan Shepard 💙 The Misfit Mage & His Dashing Devil by M.N. Bennet 💜 Love and Other Risky Business by Sarah Brenton ❤️ Enough by Kimia Eslah 🧡 A Fire Born of Exile by Aliette de Bodard 💛 Twelve Bones by Rosie Talbot 💚 Wild Wishes and Windswept Kisses by Maya Prasad 💙 Dragged to the Wedding by Andrew Grey 💜 Fox Snare by Yoon Ha Lee ❤️ Murder and Manon by Mia P. Manansala

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alex Cooper at The Advocate:

Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride is likely to make history yet again this November. The lawmaker first made U.S. political history by becoming the first out transgender state senator in 2020. Now, she's heavily favored to win the state's only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Associated Press projected McBride will win her primary with the majority of the vote counted. She received 80 percent of the vote, according to the news wire. She beat out Earl Cooper and Elias Weir for the primary win. "With a heart full of hope - and because of tens of thousands of Delawareans who turned out to the polls - tonight I’m proud to become the Democratic nominee for Delaware’s sole seat in the United States House of Representatives. Thank you, Delaware!" the lawmaker posted on Instagram. She'll face John Whalen III, a retired police officer and former business owner, in the general election. At a victory celebration on Tuesday night in New Castle, McBride pushed for more joy in politics while condemning former President Donald Trump, MAGA, and Project 2025.

[...] A former Human Rights Campaign national press secretary, McBride was the first out transgender person to address a major party’s national convention (the Democratic convention in 2016) and the first one reelected as a state senator (in 2022). She interned at the White House when Barack Obama was president, and she was a staffer for former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and the late state Attorney General Beau Biden, son of President Joe Biden. She worked for the Center for American Progress before joining HRC. [...] The Delaware U.S. House seat is being vacated by Lisa Blunt Rochester, who’s running for Senate to succeed Tom Carper, who is retiring. Both are Democrats.

Delaware State Sen. Sarah McBride (D) is set to make history as the first out trans Congressperson.

See Also:

LGBTQ Nation: Sarah McBride just won her primary & is likely to become the first trans member of Congress

[loquaciousquark]

So, I've been absolutely blown away by your fanfiction skills lately. How on earth do you manage to churn out so many amazing stories? And they're not just quick scribbles, they're true works of art! I've been dabbling myself and it is a *struggle* to stay focused and see a story through to the end. How do you keep that laser focus going? Any tips for maintaining a consistent writing style start to finish? Your latest story has McKinley vibes. :) Your talent is truly awe-inspiring, thanks!

Ahh, thank you so much! I'm sorry, I'm not sure how I missed this message until now!

The long version is here, just answered this morning. The short version is that finishing fics is something that drives a lot of satisfaction and joy for me--it's as much a part of the process as sitting down to write in the first place--so it's something I've made a personal priority when I write. Outside of two shorter pieces, I have clearly known the ending of every story I've written before it was started, and I take a lot of setup time with my extensive outlines before I ever begin to make sure that ending is achievable, internally consistent, and a logical conclusion for the characters. It's just something that matters a lot to me, so it's something I take a lot of time working towards!

The more practical answer is that I deliberately set aside time for projects and hobbies, whether that's writing, streaming, playing video games, whatever, and I have a lifestyle that lets me do these things relatively uninterrupted. It's been harder and harder to carve out this time as I've gotten older and more established in my career; and in some ways it's gotten simpler, too, mostly because I'm now just willing to say "no, I'm staying home that day" without guilt.

As far as style, I can't speak much to that except to say that if I have one, it's made of the things I love. Patricia McKillip was a formative influence, as were Megan Whalen Turner and Patricia Wrede and honestly Brian Jacques, and as I read their books I found things they did that resonated with me, whether that was plot structure, characterization, the way they structured dialogue, their language styles and word rhythms--even down to where they put line breaks in paragraphs. Heck, I have an incredibly vivid memory of reading Matthias striking the snake in Redwall for the first time in my elementary school library and getting chills, and looking back at the paragraph over and over trying to figure out what, mechanically, he'd done there to give me such an emotional reaction.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that the more you read and love, the more you'll find things you want to emulate and make your own. My parents read LOTR to me as a bedtime story for years, and I can trace back my deep love of elevated language and high fantasy and kings and princes right to there, and to McKillip and Turner and a little DWJ and yes, even some McKinley.

Style isn't something you create. If anything it's a mirror, showing the reflection of what you love. If you've ever loved any part of beautiful writing, whether that's JRRT or fanfiction, it can't help but come out in what you make. :)

[senso1954]

Another year, I left N.Y.—on West Coast in Berkeley cottage dreamed of her soul—that, thru life, in what form it stood in that body, ashen or manic, gone beyond joy— near its death—with eyes—was my own love in its form, the Naomi, my mother on earth still—sent her long letter—& wrote hymns to the mad—Work of the merciful Lord of Poetry. that causes the broken grass to be green, or the rock to break in grass—or the Sun to be constant to earth—Sun of all sunflowers and days on bright iron bridges—what shines on old hospitals—as on my yard— Returning from San Francisco one night, Orlovsky in my room—Whalen in his peaceful chair—a telegram from Gene, Naomi dead— Outside I bent my head to the ground under the bushes near the garage—knew she was better— at last—not left to look on Earth alone—2 years of solitude—no one, at age nearing 60—old woman of skulls—once long-tressed Naomi of Bible— or Ruth who wept in America—Rebecca aged in Newark—David remembering his Harp, now lawyer at Yale or Srul Avrum—Israel Abraham—myself—to sing in the wilderness toward God—O Elohim!—so to the end—2 days after her death I got her letter— Strange Prophecies anew! She wrote—‘The key is in the window, the key is in the sunlight at the window—I have the key—Get married Allen don’t take drugs—the key is in the bars, in the sunlight in the window. Love, your mother’ which is Naomi—

from Kaddish (For Naomi Ginsberg, 1894—1956) by Allen Ginsberg

[reading-cat]

Top 5 Best Books of 2023

Because I smh read 106 books this year and I need to scream about this.

1. Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

Do I even need to explain? It’s the Stormlight Archive. It’s Kaladin.

2. The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

Omg. Oh. My. God. This book was made for me. Time travel shenanigans? Check. Non-linear narration? Check. Assembling the story piece by piece until you realise that everything you’ve been told is a lie? Check! And off course a casually queer protagonist. What else could you possibly want.

3. Vicious by V. E. Schwab

The atmosphere was immaculate. The characters absolutely unhinged. I have a couple of complaints about the sequel, but this first book was exactly what I want from a story about villains. Does anyone want to experiment on ourselves in the name of science and then go absolutely batshit crazy and try to murder each other? No?

4. Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

I really wasn’t expecting to like this book so much. I’m not usually one for romance, but this hit me like a bag of bricks. I wanna have what they have (politically, that is).

5. The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

My favourite book in the series, thought I haven’t finished Return of the Thief yet. As a big lover of the POV Outsider tag on ao3, The Queen’s Thief books give me so much joy.

Honorary mentions: Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher, The Divide series by J.S. Dewes, Первая Печать by Natalia Osoianu, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

[snackerdoodle]

books I read in 2023

I had a huge reading year this year because of my gruelingly long commute. The list below the cut is mostly for my own edification, but I’m a nosy person who supports other nosy people, so if you want to know what I’ve been up to, have at it. Almost everything I read this year was from the library.

1/12 A Charmed Life, Diana Wynne Jones

1/18 The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School, Sonora Reyes

1/24 The Life-Changing Magic of 

Tidying Up, Marie Kondo

1/25 Hotel Magnifique, Emily J. Taylor

1/30 Spark Joy, Marie Kondo 

2/2 The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune

2/8 The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik

2/8 Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, Ashley Herring Blake

2/15 The Nile, Toby Wilkinson

2/23 The Painted Queen, Elizabeth Peters and Joan Hess

2/28 Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine

3/5 Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters

3/12 Lord of the Silent, Elizabeth Peters

3/16 Marie Kondo’s Kurashi at Home, Marie Kondo 

3/20 Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, Ruth Franklin

3/20 The Art of Simple Living, Shunmyo Masuno

3/26 The Bird’s Nest, Shirley Jackson

4/11 Life Among the Savages, Shirley Jackson

4/12 A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn

4/18 The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories, Charlotte Perkins Gilman

4/21 Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto, Tricia  Hersey

5/1 Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo

5/3 Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, Ashley Herring Blake

5/10 Fight Like Hell: The Untold Story of American Labor, Kim Kelly

5/11 Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, Joy Harjo 

5/12 Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge

5/15 The Lottery and Other Stories, Shirley Jackson

5/18 The Lives of Christopher Chant, Diana Wynne Jones

5/29 A Little Devil in America, Hanif Abdurraqib

6/3 A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske

6/6 Ducks, Kate Beaton 

6/8 Wild and Wicked Things, Francesca May (awful. Every character was an idiot. Why did I finish this)

6/10 Breathing Lessons: A Doctor’s Guide to Lung Health, Meilan K. Han, MD

6/19 The Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu

6/19 A Fortune for Your Disaster, Hanif Abdurraqib (I liked this even more than the last one I read. Maybe because it was an audiobook read by the author.)

6/22 Disjointed, Diana Jovin (ed) (skipped parts that were totally unrelated to me and some things that were also too technical)

6/22 The Lavender Scare, David K. Johnson

6/26 Enquête au collège, Jean-Phillipe Arrou-Vignod 

6/28 The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner

7/3 Last Call, Elon Green

7/12 Cache Cache Petit Fantôme

7/13 Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint-

Exupéry

7/13 La fille qui navigua autour de féérie dans un bateau construit de ses propres mains, Catherynne M Valente

7/14 Lost in the Moment and Found, Seanan McGuire

7/14 Ich mag dich gesund sagte der Bär, Janosch

7/25 The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch

7/31 The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty

8/10 A Restless Truth, Freya Marske 

8/16 Camp Damascus, Chuck Tingle

9/6 The Body in the Garden, Katherine Schellman

9/11 Silence in the Library, Katherine Schellman

9/13 When Things Get Dark, various 

9/19 Death at the Manor, Katherine Schellman

9/25 Sorcery and Cecelia, Patricia C Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

10/3 The Grand Tour, Patricia C Wrede and Caroline Stevermer 

10/6 Murder at Midnight, Katharine Schellman

10/12 The Mislaid Magician, Patricia C Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

10/18 Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies, Elizabeth Winkler

10/18 Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen, JK Rowling

10/25 Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA search for Mind Control, Stephen Kinzer

11/1 Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date, Ashley Herring Blake

11/3 Nothing But Blackened Teeth, Cassandra Shaw

11/9 Unfuck Your Habitat, Rachel Hoffman

11/11 Safe and Sound, Mercury Stardust 

11/12 Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD (revised and updated), Susan C. Pinskey

11/18 Red Seas under Red Skies, Scott Lynch

11/20 In With the Old: Classic Decor A to Z,  Jennifer Boles 

11/23 Habitat: The Field Guide to Decorating, Lauren Liess

11/24 Vermeer: The Complete Paintings, Norbert Schneider 

11/29 The Conscious Closet, Elizabeth L. Cline

12/4 Leech, Hiron Ennes

12/6 The Star that Always Stays, Anna Rose Johnson 

P12/14 The Republic of Thieves, Scott Lynch

12/15 An American Sunrise, Joy Harjo

12/20 The Wife Upstairs, Rachel Hawkins

12/22 How to Keep House While Drowning, KC Davis

12/30 The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, Margareta Magnusson 

Gave up on: The Woman Who Would Be King, Kara Cooney (too speculative/fictionalized)

A Scatter of Light, Malinda Lo (nothing really wrong, it just wasn’t holding my attention at all)

14 histoires pour avoir peur mais pas trop quand même (turned into full cast audio and the music between stories was really annoying)

Manhunt, Gretchen Felker-Martin (not in the right headspace maybe, maybe just not for me)

American Cozy, Stephanie Pedersen (got annoyed at how much of the information hinged on living in a huge suburban home with 18 closets and a husband and multiple children you can make do your chores for you)

The Curated Closet, Anuschka Rees (not bad just not what I was looking for)

[sakuraswordly]

You want to know why King Gilgamesh chose to go back to Uruk and was very serious about becoming a king who ruled his people after the quest for immortality? [Connect to this hint]

Sonic Prime is the best example, Shadow tried to reason with Sonic and leave those friends behind because they were not real friends they knew. But why did Sonic give his life to his friends whom he met only briefly, even Nine?

Shadow: It's the end of the universe and you're still thinking about your friends! Sonic: Of course, I am! They're all here, fighting, sacrificing themself for me!

In the same way the people of Uruk, they're like Sonic's friends who suffer because of King Gilgamesh's actions. After Sonic knew it was his responsibility to destroy the world, the same way after King Gilgamesh realizes it was his fault for Enkidu's death and his people's suffering. Both Sonic and King Gilgamesh choose the right thing and never leave them behind, not because of their duty but because they're like their family to them. Even though they had never spent much time with these friends before.

Gilgamesh:  I had no reason to fear death. I could simply be there, in that era, presently invincible, and gaze upon the distant future with no need for the passage of time. — mankind’s oldest story. My duty as hero who would be spoken of in ages to come would be fulfilled. That’s all there is to the story. I was born as a human being, and after tasting joy, as a human being I died. I’m sorry. Earlier I said that I have been perfect since my birth, which was inaccurate.

he is king. he is god. he is neither, in the end. perhaps it is lonely.

(Note: "Mankind’s oldest story I was born as a human being." In Tsubasa of Phantasia, Gilgamesh grow to feel more human and gain more human emotions that's why he said that he's Mankind’s oldest story. Gilgamesh travelled and came back as "a normal human.")

Both Sonic and Gilgamesh never be a hero but because of their friends, they call Sonic and Gilgamesh as "Hero". You can see how much the people of Uruk care for King Gilgamesh just like Sonic's friends care for Sonic. This is the same reason why Punch Whalen chose to go back to her friends and never leave them behind, no matter how bad the action or betrayal of her friends. (And this is why Asha chose Punch and be by her side as her friend.)

[jessicafurseth]

Reading List, Joy in all Quarters edition.

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” - Anais Nin

[Images: Andrea Constantini]

*

Happily Ever Divorced [Molly Rosen, The Cut]

On alcohol and pleasure [Emily Oster, The Atlantic]

Meet the next generation of South Korean seawomen [Louise Kruger, Huck]

Stop firing your friends! [Olga Khazan, The Atlantic]

The lessons from the great experiment of the pandemic lockdown [Joe Nocera and Bethany McLean, The Cut]

The research into Seasonal Affective Disorder is a mixed bag, but maybe that doesn't matter?  The questionable science of SAD [Grace Browne, Wired]

"Millennials are the last of the analog world, both of yesterday and tomorrow, the bridge between what was and what will be. Maybe this is where my hesitation takes root, and why it feels like there are no good apps left for socializing the way we used to." What's next for first generation social media users? [Jason Parham, Wired]

New thinking about burnout by the millennial burnout queen, Anne Helen Petersen [Culture Study]

A genealogy of resistance [Eitan Nechin, Los Angeles Review of Books]

How we downsized our house without throwing anything away - can it be done? [David Pogue, The Cut]

"In the 1960s, two macrobiotic enthusiasts started a health-food sect beloved by hippies. Now it’s the most culty grocer in LA." Welcome to Erewhon, Los Angeles [Kerry Howley, The Cut]

At the Confident Man Ranch [Rosecrans Baldwin, GQ]

"The manosphere promises to fix young men’s lives, but it’s making them miserable." Boy problems [Eamon Whalen, Mother Jones]

"I wasn’t ready for the “Doña Body".” [Xochitl Gonzalez, The Atlantic]

It’s Time To Start Embracing Our Flop Eras [Daisy Jones, Vogue]

Kleo - eine Netflix serie (dubbed into English!)

Historic England on Instagram

[ladyherenya]

Sequels and retellings, mostly.

Also read: Circling Back to You by Julie Tieu and “Death of Snow” by Tansy Rayner Roberts.

Reread: Fangirl and Carry On by Rainbow Rowell.

Total: Eleven novels (including one audiobook), one graphic novel, one short story collection and one short story.

My favourites: The Swallows’ Flight (perspicacious and poignant and vividly-written), Return of the Thief (tense, with twists and revelations I didn’t anticipate and a satisfying ending) and “Winter Songs for Summer” in Scattered Showers (the early noughties tech made me nostalgic and Summer’s relationship with music was interesting).

I’d also recommend: Ten Thousand Stitches, Great or Nothing, Fangirl vol. 2, Scattered Showers and If the Shoe Fits.

Cover thoughts: The covers for both The Swallows’ Flight and Great or Nothing are lovely. I like the internal illustrations for Scattered Showers more than its cover. I think I would have read Return of the Thief sooner if its cover were less ominous.

Titles, authors, genres and ratings listed below, with links to my reviews on LibraryThing.

The Swallows' Flight by Hilary McKay. Children’s historical fiction about growing up during the 30s and WWII, set in England and Germany. 4☆

Naughty Dragons Try School! by Natalie Jane Prior (illustrated by Simon Howe). Sequel to Naughty Dragons Make Trouble! Children's fantasy. 3½☆

Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater. Romantic Regency fantasy about a housemaid who receives an offer of help from a faerie lord. Same world as Half a Soul. 3½☆

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy. Contemporary retelling of Cinderella, about participating in a dating reality TV show. Single POV. 3½☆

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory. Contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast, about an editor's assistant and an uncommunicative author. Single POV.

“Death of Snow” by Tansy Rayner Roberts. Murder mystery retelling of Snow White. Short story.

Great or Nothing by Joy McCullough, Caroline Tung Richmond, Tess Sharpe and Jessica Spotswood. A retelling of the later part of Little Women, set during WWII. 3½☆

Circling Back to You by Julie Tieu. Contemporary office romance.

Fangirl: the manga (volume 2), adapted by Sam Maggs and Rainbow Rowell and illustrated by Gabi Nam. Part 2 of 4, adapting Rowell's novel about a fangirl at college. 3½☆

Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell. A collection of nine short stories. Three stories revisit characters from her novels.  Most are romantic. 4☆

Four Kings by Karan K Anders (aka Andrea K. Höst). Sequel to The Book of Firsts. A very low-key sort of book about uni students who have the resources to pursue their passions -- in terms of their studies, artistic ambitions, paid work and unconventional relationships. 3☆

Return of the Thief Megan Whalen Turner. Fantasy. Final Queen's Thief book. 4☆

[ink-splotch]

hi! i gave the queen's thief series by megan whalen turner another try after seeing some of your posts about it and it destroyed my life, so thanks for that!! not only did beanstalk destroy my life (and continues to do so) but also a series your recommended. im very curious about whether or not you read the last book in the series return of the thief and what you thought of it, it's got another signature MWT this changes everything moment except it happens like 10 times in one book

I did!! I need to read it (and all the books) again (and again). I think King of Attolia remains my favorite of the lot -- it's the book that first cemented the theft of my heart and soul to the series, and really I can't shake that.

I thought having a nonverbal protagonist for the last book was an interesting take, and I think in addition and in general it's a fascinating choice to have the story of Eugenides be told entirely by other people and other viewpoints except for that very first first-person account.

After The Thief, he loses his right to tell his own story, and ripples and angles of that theme are present throughout the rest of the books-- both for Gen but also for folks like Irene, who is known by so few, who has been crafting and expelling stories about herself, and being chased by stories of herself, since childhood.

The storytelling around them shapes their power and their impact; but there's also that underlying note that the storytelling that happens around and about them does not shape their joy. They make and keep that themselves, or learn to. They do not have to be the stories; they have to live. It's easier for some like Helen, who are surrounded by kind stories, or Gen, who truly Gives No Shits, but for a long time the stories swarming around her were killing Irene.

This last book was the most explicit about "this is a fiction"" "this is the story of Gen" "this is told through My Eyes" -- and I think that makes it a good cap, among other things, for a series about a boy who became a legend-- because he loved his cousin, because he hated to sword fight, because he saw a girl dancing in the orange grove and wanted to rescue that joy from every bad thing rising up around it.

I kind of don't want it to be over... but things ending is how we get new stories, I suppose.

Love your username as always <3

[shsenhaji]

2022 Writing and Reading Wrap-Up

I can’t believe it’s 2023 already!

So, in terms of my 2022 Reading Goals, I only read one of them: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. However, I did read some incredible books, and got to start so many good series (Murderbot, Greenwing and Dart, Penric and Desdemona, Vorkosigan, Rivers of London, the Stormlight Archive). According to Goodreads, I read 73 books in 2022. That’s a lot, so I won’t list every book I’ve read, but they are all there in my monthly reading round-ups: https://shsenhaji.tumblr.com/writingandreading

For my writing, I did make certain progress in my WIPs, even though the momentum has rather fallen in the last few months. I also submitted a few short stories and wrote a few more short stories. Finally, I finally got my first publication credit!!! My short story “Childhood Home” was published in a university literary journal, and it’s in a real book!

However, 2022 was also the year that I became a proper book reviewer. It’s been a wild ride! I’ve been approved for ARCs, I’ve written for Strange Horizons, I’ve read so many amazing books, and I’ve been able to share my love of books and reading with others! I hope to continue this momentum into 2023, and to do even more.

I reviewed the following:

Fragile Remedy by Maria Ingrande Mora

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

Stargazy Pie by Victoria Goddard

Bee Sting Cake by Victoria Goddard

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon

Ought to be Dead by Scott Warren

One for All by Lillie Lainoff

Whiskeyjack by Victoria Goddard

The City of Dusk by Tara Sim

The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan

Saint Death’s Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney

The Redoubtable Pali Avramapul by Victoria Goddard

Three Twins at the Crater School by Chaz Brenchley

Sword Dance by A.J. Demas

Silk Fire by Zabé Ellor

Saffron Alley by A.J. Demas

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

Some by Virtue Fall by Alexandra Rowland

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites by Joy Demorra

Fete For a King by Sam Starbuck

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

The Comfortable Courtesan by L.A. Hall

That means in 2022, I reviewed 25 books!

All in all, I’m very proud of what I accomplished. Here’s to 2023!