#marcus sedgwick

[razreads]

Our true enemies are ourselves: our fears, our prejudices. We must, each of us, rise up and overthrow the tyranny found inside that keeps us fearing what we do not know, because from that fear comes hate. That is our true enemy: our lack of understanding; not only of other people, but of ourselves.

Marcus Sedgwick & Julian Sedgwick, Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black

[semper-legens]

40. Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black, by Marcus Sedgwick, Julian Sedgwick, and Alexis Deacon

Owned?: No, library Page count: 319 My summary: A conscientious objector and firefighter in World War Two, Harry Black is caught between two worlds. He wants to be an artist, but the War put paid to that. All around him - his father, his brother - want him to be a fighter. But there is another story underneath, an older story. And it threatens to consume him. My rating: 5/5 My commentary:

Ah, Orpheus Black. I read this a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it - the book was on my mind the other day when I happened upon it at work, and so naturally I had to take it out. It's still as good the second time round! The illustrations and disjointed narrative style really paint a picture of people stumbling through the Blitz, trying desperately to find their way and cling onto whatever little spots of light and hope that they can find. The barely-seen story that Harry is illustrating runs parallel to the main narrative, contrasting it in degrees. And, of course, the original Orpheus story is cleverly hidden within this one, shown through glimpses of similarities - the boatman, the dog, the girl he couldn't save.

This is a gorgeous book, no doubt about it. The illustrations alone make it worth the read. They're moody, evocative, and not always obvious, whether they're showing the progression of Harry through the underground or the imagined story he is trying to put together. The poetry is...weird, it's freeform and loose but sometimes will rhyme for emphasis, something I'm not sure always works. Though on the other hand, in some areas it can be really impactful. Depends on the scene, really.

It's interesting how art is a running theme through this book, as well as war. Both Harry and his brother are artists in their own way; Harry in the visual arts, his brother in poetry. It's ultimately ambiguous exactly how much of this story is meant to be 'real'. As we find out at the end, the story was actually being narrated by Harry's brother after the fact, drawing from Harry's journal as a source. The narrator character who claims to be Orpheus and writes exclusively in poetry is Harry's brother, whereas the illustrations and prose originate from Harry, though there is a question that the prose could have been altered, a question that is never truly answered. It really adds to the poetic and dream-like qualities of the story, blurring the lines between what is real and what is imagined. After all, Harry spends most of the story with major head trauma and no recollection of how he ended up in most places once he gets there. It's entirely possible that he was just wandering around the tunnels, hallucinating ghost girls and ragged kings and pockets full of eyes. Ultimately, the narrative doesn't really come down on one side or the other, choosing instead to show the reader what the character is perceiving, but not giving any solid answers. Which is exactly what you need from a story of this type.

Next up, a history of queer Britain, and sensible shoes.

[clockwork-reveries]

Has anyone read "The Ghosts of Heaven" by Marcus Sedgwick? He, himself has described it as a response to 2001: ASO.

I believe it has much more themes besides what you can gather is happening in the story. It has four acts/stories. I discussed this with a friend and we both agreed it could be read in any order. The first to last, it doesn't matter. It's advancement and destruction of humanity, and a loop of it. Even when you think you break out of this spiraling at the "end", you send yourself back to the "start". In all, the book is quite thought provoking and has interesting meaning.

[regicidal-defenestration]

Do you ever read a book and realise how it's going to make you exponentially worse

[readings-in-the-dark]

12.07.2024

Another spanish lesson today, and I love learning about grammar ✨️🖤 the grammar lessons have been my favourites so far, I always feel like I'm learning something about the structure of the culture that a language exists in (though that's probably something to do with the autism brain-mapping that I got 😂)

I've also been to the library so much this week (3 separate occasions, just to browse!), despite the continuous headaches I've been having, so I've featured some of the books that've picked up 💕

Word of the day 📑:

árabe - Arabic (language)

What I did today 📤:

Editing BTS video for next week (4hrs 🫠)

Lingoda spanish lesson (1hr)

Cooked dinner (Fusili Bolognese bc I didn't have spaghetti 😂)

10 mins of duolingo (502 day streak 🎉)

Reading my leisure book (45mins)

Currently reading 📚: The Monsters We Deserve by Marcus Sedgwick

[r3dblccd]

DASHBOARD BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

recommend 9 books to the dash in any genre! tagged by: @misfittcd tagging: @formorethananame, @mxldito, @unavernales, @weedzkiller, @irrwicht, anyone who wants to share!

(some not so serious reviews incoming here, it gets long)

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness - the way that book made my bawl my eyes in the end! The story is so good, the plot twist is plot twisting. And the illustrations in the book as so beautiful. I literally picked the book randomly like some time ago while I was on vacation from one of those travelling car bookstores and then it became one of my favourite books when I opened it to start reading.

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier - I bought this book along with A Monster Call from the same travelling bookstore, it's also a rather nice read

White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick - this book is for the goth lesbians, no I will not elaborate. (I should really re-read it because it's been so long, but I really enjoyed it).

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collected by Alvin Schwartz (the 3 books) - my favourite bedtime stories!

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - it's long, but I have no regrets reading it, it was so fun. And hey, I finally get the 42 reference, I saw it in That's Not My Neighbour!

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami - my favourite book from the Rat series. And you don't have to read the rest of the books to understand and enjoy this one, but I would still recommend them too.

Medea by Euripides - I love unhinged women in literature. I wish I could have seen the play on stage. I don't care what my professor says, I will defend this woman until I die.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - would you still love me if I was a worm, but like put it in action, but I'm not a worm, I'm not a bug either, I don't know why you would even think I am a bug, I am a creature that can't even be depicted, also, my family fucking sucks! (did you you know that Kafka didn't want any images depicting any kind of bug on the cover of the story? Well, now you know. And look what happened, check the other covers for it. People can't even respect someone's wishes after his death smh). Also, shout out to his other story A Hunger Artist, my guy has been THROUGH it. But on a more serious note, I truly feel bad for Kafka, learning more about him during my Western Literature lectures by the end of the semester and reading a little from his letter to his father definitely put things into perspective.

Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola - now, I'm not a fan of the Realism and naturalism literary movements, I hate that sort of detachment from the text where the author just describes what happens in the story in a way that feels like they themselves are disinterested in the story that became sort of more trendy with time (it's why I hated The Stranger by Camus; not only was the story boring, but the way of storytelling was boring too. But that's from a different period of time, it's also different because it's told in first-person perspective, the way the sentences in the novella are formed is very intentional and do work well with the overall theme of The Stranger, it just makes a lot of sense for the main character in the story, so I do have to give Camus some credit for that. But anyway!). But I think even though in the preface he wrote that he will look at the story as some sort of experiment Émile Zola did a good job writing a story with an interesting concept in a way that's still interesting to read instead of turning it into a snooze fest (*cough* The Stranger *cough* The Trial *cough* Madame Bovary *cough*). I would have honestly loved a little more action at the end of of the story, but I still liked it, so it's fine.

[ohmerricat]

okay so from what i’ve gathered it’s basically like cloud atlas? and also that marcus sedgwick book that fundamentally altered my brain chemistry i read when i was 12 (midwinterblood i think it was called?) something about i will find you and lose you in every lifetime

[waterfishlol0]

Song of Destiny.

So sometimes i forget that Marcus Sedgwick died in November last year and when i remember i always make it a point to make something relating to his works. His book The Ghosts of Heaven is easily one of my top favorites. It helped me through rough times and i still read it over and over when I’m upset or bothered. This drawing focuses on the fourth quarter of The Ghosts of Heaven, The Song of Destiny. The idea of being lost in space for however long terrifies me and i felt the need to include everything i could remember in one page. The writing is the poem shown at the end and the first part of the same poem Charles Dexter recites to Bowman. I drew it without any sketch and a dip pen and ink on printer paper. (In my defense i had nothing else.)

Anyways i will forever love and adore Marcus’ works for however long i live.

1968 - 2022 ❤️

[enchantedlandcoffee]

Some of my favorite series I read in high school are

Neal shusterman's unwind series. Honestly I own all his books.

Elaine Marie Alphin's Perfect Shot

Rick Riordan percy jackson series need to read read

Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries series but i think maybe the first four i just looked it up and there is 10. I read those in middle school.

And there's other coming of age stories that I love but they are more sports related I honestly didn't realize I loved those types so much. I've never been much of a sports person myself so its a little weird.

I also like "thriller authors" like Ted Deeker and Marcus Sedgwick

This just made me realize I need to read more books. I literally have a mini library in my room. I used to work putting out books at work and I remember flipping through them but I stopped paying attention to what comes out now a days

What are some of your favorite books/series?

Have you read any of the One Direction books?

TWA

Hey Typewriter Anon!

Thank you so much for these recommendations! I've noted them all down and I'll definitely try to give them all a read!

My favourite books have to be:

The School For Good And Evil series by Soman Chainani

The Land Of Stories series by Chris Colfer

A Good Girls Guide To Murder

Red, White and Royal Blue

Percy Jackson series (currently rereading them all again)

Be Sure series by Seanan McGuire

I haven't read any of the One Direction books I don't think. I find it really hard to get into non-fiction and biography styles of books.

Thanks again!

[razreads]

We tell the stories so we end up playing the parts.

Marcus Sedgwick & Julian Sedgwick, Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black

[that-bookworm-guy]

UK People Only

Books For Sale (Part 2 out of 2) Part 1 Here

I need space in my tiny bedroom (for more books) and some spare cash (Possibly for more books once the bills are sorted).

These are also available on my instagram (that_bookworm_guy) I just need to clear as many as I can ASAP. I'm open to sensible offers as well as bundles. P&P is £3 for up to 2kg of books. Prices aren't including postage.

Books in Order:

Wild Embers - Nikita Gill (£4)

the sun and her flowers - rupi kaur (£4)

milk and honey - rupi kaur (£4)

Pillow Thoughts - Courtney Peppernell (£4)

It Never Rains - Roger McGough (£3)

Helium - Rudy Francisco (£5)

It's Kind of a Funny Story - Ned Vizzini (£4)

Young Sherlock Holmes Fire Storm - Andrew Lane (Hardback ) (£3)

Sherlock Holmes Riddles (HB) (£2)

How to Think like Sherlock - Daniel Smith (HB) (£2)

The Case of the Disappearing Detective - Anthony Read (£1)

Neither One Nor The Other - Dolores Faust (£2)

The Turn of The Screw - Henry James (£1.50)

Alex Approximately - Jenn Bennett (£2)

Hunted - E.W. Browne (£1)

Detective Pikachu (£3)

Reflections from Waterford's Woods - Jess Scutella & Roland Rosewood (£1)

Serpent & Dove - Shelby Mahurin (£5)

The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey (HB) (£5)

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne (£1)

When the Wind Blows - James Patterson (£1)

Symptoms of Being Human - Jeff Garvin (£3)

The Other Boy - M.G. Hennessey (HB) (£3)

This Book is Gay - (Juno) Dawson (£2)

Odd One Out - Nic Stone ( £3)

Carry On - Rainbow Rowell (£4)

FreakBoy - Kristin Elizabeth Clark (£3)

They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera (£3)

Michel-Michelle - Margo Gorman (£1)

A.N.T.I. D.O.T.E. - Malorie Blackman (£3)

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern (£3)

Another Place - Matthew Crow (£3)

Antigoddess - Kendare Blake (£3)

The Island - C.L. Taylor (£3)

The Light Between Worlds - Laura Weymouth (£3)

The Stuff of Nightmares - Malorie Blackman (£1.50)

Nightfall - Jake Halpern, Peter Kujawinski (£3)

A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness (£3)

The Box of Demons - Daniel Whelan (£3)

The Hit - Melvin Burgess (£3)

White Crow - Marcus Sedgwick (£3)

The Twisted Tree - Rachel Burge (£3)

Playlist for the Dead - Michelle Falkoff (£3)

Montacule House - Lucy Jago (£3)

Hannibal - Thomas Harris (HB) (£3)

Silent Witness - Richard North Patterson (HB) (£3)

Oblivion - Anthony Horowitz (HB) (£5)

Origin of Species - Charles Darwin (HB) (£6)

Exile - Richard North Patterson (HB) (£4)

Slide 7 Pay whatever you want for any book

50. Adulthood is a Myth - Sarah Andersen (£4) 51. The City of Ember Graphic Novel - Jeanne DuPrau (£4) 52. Zombie! The Adventure is Yours (HB) (£6) 53. Vampire Knight book 1-4 - Matsuri Hino (£5) 54. The City of Ember Series, books 1-4 (Complete) - Jeanne DuPrau (£5)

Money to be sent via paypal, I can't ship to anywhere except the UK as I'll have to do Royal Mail pick up due to not being able to get to a post office. DMs me to buy anything, or contact me on instagram where I am most of the time.

[semper-legens]

90. Thornhill, by Pam Smy

Owned: No, library Page count: 532 My summary: Ella has just moved into a new house with her father. Left alone and bored, she starts to wonder about the boarded-up house across the way. Diary pages from the 1980s explain some of it - it was once a care home, and a lonely, selectively mute girl called Mary was badly bullied there. More investigation shows that Mary died in the house. So why does Ella keep seeing her? My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

I plucked this off the shelves entirely on a whim, as is my wont. It was in the graphic novels section at work, and I wanted to check if it was actually a graphic novel or not - leafing through, it seemed interesting enough, so I decided to put a pin in the issue of where to shelve it and instead take it home with me. It was a good read, even if I finished it in about an hour and in one sitting. I wouldn't quite call it a graphic novel, though. It was more in the vein of Marcus Sedgwick's books, partially told through prose and partially through illustration. That said, I'm not entirely sure what that format would be called, so...graphic novel it is?

First of all, the illustrations here are gorgeous. Moody, greyscale, double-sided. Ella's half of the story is told entirely through these illustrations, with no words except for those encountered in the environment (a letter from her father, the name on the side of a box, a note left by her). I'm not an artistic person in the slightest, so it's always remarkable to me how much story can be told entirely without words. They really capture that moody, grim atmosphere, the mundane shown with a sense of unease, with focus on the cracks in the facade of a normal life. I loved it!

Meanwhile, the prose details the life of Mary, a young girl who, in the 1980s, was in a care home opposite where Ella now lives, and was widely bullied by the other girls there for her selective mutism. The house is now boarded up, and the clues we uncover in Mary's diary and Ella's investigations hint at why - something terrible happened, Mary was killed, and yet a familiar looking girl still seems to live on the premesis. It's a really cool way to tell a story; Ella in the present day providing forward motion, Mary in the past giving context to her own story. Mary's tale was as heartbreaking as it was, sadly, plausible. Care homes haven't got the best reputation for being kind and welcoming places, particuarly not to a disabled kid in the 1980s. Still, there is a certain complexity to Mary's unnamed bully; there's almost a moment where they could have become friends, where she was close to showing Mary a good side. But in the end, events play out as they always did. And Ella gets dragged in from the present. It was a really engaging read, and I'm glad I picked it up out of nowhere!

Next up, an actual graphic novel - class and poverty in the 1910s.

[kbkprocrastinating]

Physical books what I have read this month

Black Unicorn by Tanith Lee

The Hunting of the Last Dragon by Sherryl Jordan

The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick

[nekokatreads]

“a life can be ruined in a single moment, a moment of betrayal, or violence, or ill luck, then why can a life not also be saved, be worth living, be made, by just a few pure moments of perfection?” -Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

[regicidal-defenestration]

Oh shit Marcus Sedgwick died last week

[virtualplushy]

I don’t know what kind of books you enjoy, but here are a few easy reads that leave you with a deeper sense of knowing—a deeper understanding—of what it means to truly exist:

The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick

The Giver by Lois Lowry (my all-time favorite book)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

These are all quiet in their profundity, particularly the first two, and they deliver poignant commentary on the nature of the human experience at its most fundamental level, irrespective of time or place.

hi! thank you for the recs! i remember reading the giver in middle school and it cracking my brain right in half, but i haven’t reread it in a long time! and im not familiar w the other two but i’ll look them up!!! mwah <3