#maybe i'll read anna karenina

[permanentreverie]

I saw you're looking for Dostoevsky recs!!!! I go here!!!!!!!! If you're looking to start his Great Novels™ Crime and Punishment is the obvious starting place (I wrote my thesis on it! Just a really, really solid and engrossing book). The Brothers Karamazov is his magnum opus and like, my favorite book of all time; the only thing is that it's like if a novel were a christian existentialist treatise in a trenchcoat. The Idiot is a great and weird book - def not his best work technically but the ideas he's trying to articulate are sublime and provide great context for the ones he ends up fleshing out more in Brothers K. Feel free to skip Demons tbh; it's a 700 page polemic against the Russian Leftists of the 1860s and 1870s. And so sorry if you've read any of these already ahshdhfhf i just live here

Omg thank you!!!! I've heard great things about Crime & Punishment, and actually picked it up at a second hand bookstore last year! I've been looking forward to it, and hopefully if things keep going well I may even get around to reading it this year! In my copy I downloaded of White Nights I think it included the Brothers K … I'll have to check that out 👀

[marietheran]

aarghh, I made the mistake of looking at beautiful hardcovers and now I want to buy them.

to add insult to injury 3/4 of the books are in public domain and I've got an e-reader. so it would be a double waste of my budget to buy them... but...

[starlingflight]

Ginniversary Drabble 2

Prompt: B7 - All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way

This was the hardest prompt ever!

AO3 or read below:

The door to Harry & Ron's room burst open and a whirlwind of red hair and glitter flew inside. 

“Oi!” Ron sat up abruptly, glaring at Ginny. “Have you ever heard of knocking?” 

Ginny rounded on him, the gold tinsel draped artfully around her neck was at stark odds with the bleak surroundings of Grimmauld Place. 

“I'll knock when you stop taking my things!” She declared, plucking the copy of Seeker Weekly Ron had been reading while lounging on his bed right out of his hands. 

“You've already read it!” He protested, reaching for the magazine. 

Ginny practically danced out of his reach. Harry could see the indecision in Ron's face as he contemplated whether this was worth getting up for. 

Instead, he frowned at Ginny. “Why do you look like a fairy threw up on you?” 

“It's Christmas, Ron!” Ginny's tone made it abundantly clear that this blunt answer should be sufficient to explain her decision to apparently bathe in glitter and drape herself in enough tinsel to be mistaken for a Christmas tree. 

“Yeah, the season of goodwill,” Ron shot back. “So maybe you should share your magazine with me.” 

“Ask nicely and maybe I will.” 

Ron's only response to this suggestion was a scowl. 

Ginny ignored it, turning instead to Harry, who had been watching their argument silently from his own bed. 

“You live with Muggles.” 

“Thanks for reminding me,” Harry replied dryly. 

“Who's Anna Karenina?” 

“I–” Harry frowned, wherever he'd been expecting Ginny to go with her observation of his living circumstances, it wasn't this. “Why?” 

“I just heard Hermione quoting her to Sirius in the hallway… I wondered who she was.” 

“I don't think she's real,” Harry said, trying to remember why the name rang a faint bell in his memory. “She's from a book, I think.” 

Ginny snorted derisively. “Must be an awful book. I didn't have a clue what she was going on about.” 

“Why?” Ron sat fully up now. “What did Hermione say?” 

Ginny took a deep breath, standing up straighter, mimicking Hermione's perfect posture without fault. “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” 

“Bloody hell, Hermione,” Ron said, voicing Harry's thoughts exactly. “That's a bit heavy; Sirius is finally looking more cheerful, he doesn't need that.” 

He was already rolling off the bed, shaking his head as he reached for the door handle. “I'll go and get her.” 

He hurried through the door without a backward glance, intent apparently on saving Sirius from Hermione's literary analysis. 

“Don't you want to join him?” Ginny asked, turning to smirk at Harry. “Aren't daring rescue missions sort of your thing?” 

He smiled, relieved. Ginny hadn't appeared to hold any sort of grudge after he'd carelessly admitted to forgetting about the unpleasant events of her first year yesterday, but he'd been expecting her anger to last at least a bit longer, and hadn't exactly sought out any conversation with her just in case. 

“I'm going to sit this one out,” Harry said, waving a hand at her glitter-covered form. “It's Christmas; I'm on holiday.” 

She laughed. “Well, I'll try not to get into too much trouble until New Year, in that case.” 

“Thanks, I'll let you know when I'm back on duty.” 

Ginny nodded, already turning to follow Ron out into the hallway. She paused at the door, turning back to look at Harry over her shoulder. 

“I'm making Christmas cards,” she said; the reason for all the glitter finally became clear. “I know it probably lacks the thrill of whatever you and Ron were doing, but you're welcome to join?” 

Harry laughed. “I'm not sure Christmas cards fall into my skill set.” 

Ginny merely shrugged. “You taught me impediment jinxes, I'll teach you proper stamp placement, sounds like a fair trade?” 

Harry hesitated for a moment more, a thousand reasons not to accept Ginny's offer running through his mind, but he really was in an excellent mood since the revelation that he wasn't being possessed by Voldemort, and it seemed like a waste of a perfectly good December afternoon to remain locked in this dreary bedroom. 

Nodding wordlessly, he climbed off the bed, meeting Ginny at the door. 

She didn't move right away. Leaning past Harry, she threw her copy of Seeker Weekly back on Ron's bed. 

She shrugged at the questioning look Harry gave her. “It's the season of goodwill.” 

[starbunii]

HIII HELLO can I request non-despair HPA Rantaro x Reader? I am such a sucker for high school romance it’s sooo so cute… and maybe I am a liiittle biased towards this idea LOL but 😇 I figured I’d ask!! Thank you sm!!

. kiss, kiss fall in love 𓂃 ♥︎

𝜗𝜚 ┈ rantaro amami x reader ! ｡

notes: THIS REQUEST WAS SO CUTE AWAWWAWA IM ALSO A SUCKER FOR HIGH SCHOOL ROMANCES, SO TYSM FOR REQUESTING WAHHHH <33 also!! the reader here is kind of based off of coco's yume!! please go check out their account, bc yamabuki is so cute and their art is amazing!

oneshot ノ fluff ノfem! reader ノnon-despair hpa au!

second person pov !! please enjoy! ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

-- ♡ --

He was so...interesting to you. The moment he walked into the classroom, he immediately caught your eye.

Now, you knew love at first sight was hard to come by; it was rare, and would only strike when the universe deemed fit. But god damn, there was just something about him.. Those eyes that were reminiscent of precious gems, the slight tan of his skin combined with the freckles littering his body, his piercings; a mark of a life well lived.

At lunch, you couldn't help but stare. There was just something about the way he tilted his head back slightly when he laughed, slender fingers covering his mouth. He was wearing so many rings..so many bracelets, yet somehow, it didn't clash with his uniform.

You had never seen a guy seem so fashionable, sweet, and daring all in one package...yet here he was. What was there to do? Should you say something?

Yeah...yeah, you should say something...

You awkwardly shuffled your way over to his table, lunch tray in hand. He was in the middle of a conversation. Once you thought he had finished, you nodded slightly.

"Um...hi.." you smiled politely. "I just...I noticed that you and your friends are having a lot of fun...I don't mean to impose, but is it ok if I join you?"

"Yeah, of course you can...we don't mind a bit.." he smiled back. god, who knew he had a voice so deep?! why was everything about this guy so...perfect?!

You fought back a small blush and sat between a boy with dark blue hair, and the guy you were developing a crush on in question. It was so, so hard not to stare at him, his perfect teeth sparkling whenever he smiled at his friends, combined with the shine of his eyebrow piercing and stud in his nose? he was too bright, you were doomed!!

From time to time, you'd join in on the conversation, finally learning that your mysterious prince's name was Rantaro, before lunch eventually ended. Class came and went, and soon enough, it was time to head back to the dorms.

To your understanding, the library was open until 10. You checked your clock: 8. Perfect.

You quietly crept into the large room full of elaborate staircases and towering bookshelves, settling yourself down on an ever so comfortable leather loveseat, curled up with a book.

You stayed there peacefully for about an hour, before looking up upon hearing a small creak from the other cushion beside you. Sure enough, it was him.

"Amami..." You bit your lip, suppressing a giggle as you set your book back down.

"Hey.." He smiled up at you. "So...Anna Karenina, huh?" he pointed at your book. You had only just started it, but it had caught your attention so far. You simply nodded.

"You know, I haven't got the chance to read it yet?" He chuckled. "Well...I have. But Tolstoy's work is so long, I think I'd rather just read a summary..."

Your hands shook a bit at his closeness; at his eye contact. He was talking to you so sweetly, as though you two had been friends for a long time. It made you feel...overjoyed..yet...scared..

"...M-Maybe I'll write you a summary..someday..."

"If it's from you; I'd be happy to read it."

starbunii 2024 — all rights reserved. do not redistribute or translate to any other platforms

[tolstayas]

sends you ms schcherbatskaya

teehee. thank you ♡

first impression: imagine a painfully earnest nerdy little 12 year old who's just about to figure out they're gay. imagine them reading the line "before kitty knew where she was she found herself not merely under anna’s sway, but in love with her, as young girls do fall in love with older and married women". life-altering experience. favourite character instantly. impression now: a decade and two tolstoy studies journal submissions later..... i wouldn't say she's my favourite character anymore, but that's more because i've become more interested in other characters than because i've lost interest in her. if anything i've become more interested in aspects of her character other than her relationships with anna and varenka, although those descriptions do still haunt me. i think she's fascinating as a kind of fictionalised and idealised version of sophia tolstaya in terms of what that says about sophia and lev and their relationship. favourite moment: sorry the first meeting with anna is everything. part i chapter 20 my beloved. honourable mention to part ii chapter 32 for "if i were a man, i could never care for anyone else after knowing you." what the fuck. idea for a story: both of my existing anna karenina fics are kitty-centric tbh but other than those i think i'd like to write something at some point about her and vronsky meeting again after the events of the novel (either the real events or my shitty gay fix-it version lol). i think the different ways those two characters deal with desire is super interesting. i also have the first chapter of an extremely self-indulgent modern au prof x student anna/kitty fic lying around somewhere but i don't think i'll keep writing that anytime soon unpopular opinion: uhhh idk what popular opinion is on her man. maybe that i don't think she's immature or frivolous or even particularly "pure" ? like..... read the diaries of sophia tolstaya and then we can talk favourite relationship: anna :) favourite headcanon: like sophia tolstaya, she lives to see the revolution, and she's pretty chill about it

send me a character!

[crymeariveronceagain]

Who’s Anna karenina if the story is about Kitty and varenka?

*screeches in excitement* okay so!!!!!!!!

There are two plot lines in this gigantic russian novel that are woven together to create a larger narrative.

One is the plot line of Anna Karenina and her family and her lover, Alexei Vronsky. The other plot line is surrounding a character named Kitty Shtcherbatsky and Konstantine Levin, and these two plot lines are completely different and share(so far, im a quarter of the way through the book) very little similarities.

However, the overlap exists in the Anna's family and Kitty's family, and in Vronsky, who in the beginning of the novel was leading Kitty on into thinking he was going to marry her, when in reality he had no intent of it, and then immediately lunged at Anna after seeing a brand new beautiful woman who he decided he loved more than anyone at all ever, especially Kitty. Kitty, before this, had turned down a proposal of Marriage from Levin, who is head over heels for her like a soft hearted sap, because she thought she ought to expect a proposal from Vronsky for the way he was acting with her.

This crushes Kitty's soul, and she gets sick while Vronsky and Anna are having a tumultous love affair spiced with religious guilt, her husband slowly being made aware of it, Anna's young son who doesn't know who this new guy is who's now his mom's best friend or something, and the severe judgement and hatred of pre-revolutionary Russia. Anyways, Levin's out at his farm learning how to move on and just loving life, Kitty's suffering(tm) from emotional distress, and Anna is realizing that she hates and detests her husband who she's cheating on in all the forms available to a person.

Kitty then goes away from Moscow for a while to get better, and she meets Varenka, who she immediately is like "oh wow a cool person" about, and then Varenka thinks the same thing!! they hit it off and start like volunteering together and hanging out and just having a grand old time and Varenka knows that there are way more important things in life than relationships and her company is teaching Kitty that as well and Varenka is just enjoying the fact that there's someone she's equals with and who is on her side and is like bringing a new perspective to her life and then Kitty realizes maybe she's not being legit in her intentions with her service work(Kitty's also a princess, side note, this public service stuff is making her look really really good), and so she kind of freaks out on Varenka, who kind of just listens to her and then lets her do her thing. But then at the end of this chunk fo the book Kitty apologizes to Varenka for exploding at her, and Varenka's like "oh sweetheart you're not as bad as you think you are" and then Kitty's like "when will i see you again?" cause she's going back home to Moscow, and Varenka says "I'll come visit you after you get married" and Kitty's like "WHAT IF I NEVER GET MARRIED;-;????" because Kitty really wants to get married, and Varenka says, "then i'll never see you", and then kitty says, "well then i'm only getting married so i can see you again" but through this whole experience she not only got an amazing friend, she got her hope restored in her ability to be in a relationship, and also in her heart got healed from Vronsky like. smashing it to bits and not saying sorry or goodbye.

*exhales slowly*

so yeah it's really a fantastic story and i'm loving it, if you can't tell, and you should 100% read it if you ever want something dramatic and also calm at the same time.

[transsexualgriffith]

i hope you've been doing okay!! for a while, i thought you'd quit tumblr wjsdfjh i hadn't seen you here in a while

i kinda thought i should let you know that last year i started crime & punishment and have really been enjoying it (however i got stuck halfway through due to Other Books™ and Life Circumstances™ so although i intend to finish it, it's going to probably be a few months XD)

anywho how have you been doing?

hi hi :3 no I am stuck here unfortunately. I'm really sorry much of last year I wasn't doing very well, so lots of my contacts got neglected, but I'm better now and would love to catch up :)

(I literally still have a draft responding to an ask of yours abt sebastian moran that is just a half finished piece of meta I never got around to. shame. maybe I'll just add onto that next time i reread the empty house.)

as of today I am doing pretty good I have some really exciting things coming up this month (seeing a concert next week, then I'm at a music festival and then I'm going to travel to a con with my friend) and I've been doing alot of writing recently, plus right this second I'm looking forward to watching the new doctor who episode with the boyfriend later. I'm subjecting rowan to the curse.

and that's awesome, I really hope you've been enjoying it!! I understand though, I have read most dostoevsky novels but this happened to me with tolstoy so often, I still have not finished anna karenina and I started reading that nearly two years ago. fun fact this year I've been reading alot of japanese lit I've been meaning to sink my teeth into I'm currently having a great time with mishima, but man I also read some yokomizo and it hasn’t let me go. anyway feel free to tell me your thoughts when u pick it back up I always love to talk abt it. me and my reason 10+ copies of crime and punishment.

have very grainy image of me and rowan hanging out in european church when he was here three weeks ago. was really awesome we traveled :)

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

2, 10 and 25!

thank youuuu

2. what are you currently reading?

actually nothing! yesterday i finished the old man and the sea and i'll start treasure island soon, but i haven't had time yet lol

10. sci-fi or fantasy? why?

fantasy all the way!!! idk, i've never really been drawn to space stuff, and all the books i was obsessed with as a kid were fantasy, so i guess that's that.

25. if you could be a character from a book for just one day who would you be and why?

i've already answered this one!!! and i cannot think of anyone else so i'll say levin from anna karenina again jsdjs

i just saw that there's a bonus in that question specifying one day within a story, like just becoming a character for one single day of their story. then it has to be kvothe from kingkiller chronicles, any of his good days at university. there are few to choose from, but yeah. maybe when he performed at the eolium with denna. that's a good one actually.

bookish asks

[nouearth]

After watching a movie (yeah I am the person who talked about anna karenina and knightley) I read some of the book because I was so smitten by the whole scenery surrounding this movie, I couldn't help myself but to reach for the original story. I swear to god, Tolstoy could repeat that Vronsky in the book was a male with short brown (or black I don't remember correctly) hair, no curls - but I still would see my precious man with curly blonde hair 😭😭😭😭 I guess it's the bad side of watching a movie before reading a original inspiration. But tbh, now I think about it Movie!vronsky is kinda not accurate to the common appearance of russian people, I mean - maybe I am wrong, I am not some historician - but most of sources I saw, read, heard or just encounter (I often see Ukrainians and Russians) shows a picture of Russians that are mostly dark haired not blonde. SORRY FOR RAMBLING, EITHER WAY THIS MOVIE AND THE BOOK IS AMAZING. Altough Tolstoy may have his own way of writing (in my opinion) and the book may seem boring at times, but it's still worth reading.

💌 : i'll have to give it a try! i've actually been avoiding books with hetero couples because i've been reading them all my life, so i've been reading non-romance or queer couples these past few years! i know it's a long book, so i'll have to mentally prepare myself!!!

[cogentranting]

My 2023 Reads

See below for the full list of the books I read and a 1-2 sentence review of each.

Fiction, non-fiction, poetry

Italicized- reread

Cloud Cuckoo Land (Anthony Doerr) - It's like a combination of All the Light We Cannot See, Cloud Atlas and The Book Thief, except not quite as good as any of those. Good, just not as good.

The Stolen Heir (Holly Black) - Highly recommend if YA fantasy romance is your thing

On the Incarnation (Athanasius of Alexander) - one of the foundational works of early Christian theology

Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro) - Beautiful, and lovely, and thoughtful and bittersweet

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo (Tolkien translation) - technically this is poetry but its also narrative so I grouped it with fiction. Green Knight is very fun. Pearl is quite boring.

The Case Against the Sexual Revolution (Louise Perry) - I highly recommend this, just be cautious because it has some very frank discussions of some very hard topics so there's a whole bunch of language and trigger warnings attached to this recommendation

Justification Reconsidered: Rethinking a Pauline Theme (Stephen Westerholm) - I'm going to be honest-- I don't remember what I thought of this book. It was for school and I also did a bunch of research on the topic and I don't remember what part of that research this constituted.

A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (J.I. Packer) - I read a few chapters of this for a research project last year and liked it enough to buy myself a copy and read the whole thing for fun

The Warden and the Wolf King (Andrew Peterson) - Book 3 of this series (this is 4) remains my favorite but this one is really good and is a beautiful culmination of the themes

The Elements of Eloquence (Mark Forsyth) - About as good as a book that is just explaining various rhetorical figures can be.

The Theology of the Book of Revelation (Richard Bauckham) -THIS book right here I want to read again. This book made me fall in love with Revelation.

King of Scars (Leigh Bardugo) -It's the reason why I'm very upset over the cancellation of the Shadow and Bone tv series (because I won't get to see more of my boy Nikolai) but it's fine

The Secular Creed: Engaging Five Contemporary Claims (Rebecca McLaughlin) - A very useful book, very accessible

Rule of Wolves (Leigh Bardugo) - But seriously I love Nikolai and I mostly really enjoyed this duology.

The Waste Land and Other Early Poems (T.S. Eliot) - So many words saying so many things and maybe I'll know what they mean if I read this another 30 or 40 times.

Notes From Underground (Fyodor Dostoevsky) - Very different from other Dostoevsky but fascinating in its own way

The Scarlet Pimpernel (Emmuska Orczy) - It's a romp

Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialogue - genuinely very very helpful to me and just randomly was emailed to me as a pdf by some site that I ended up on the email list for

The Great Hunt (Robert Jordan) - I do not have faith in this series being good over time but at book 2 they're fun

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) -It really is that good.

Original Sin: A Cultural History (Alan Jacobs) - a really interesting exploration of the idea

Out of the Silent Planet (C.S. Lewis) - The Space Trilogy is great because it just has such a different feel from most of the other sci fi I've read

Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was and Who God Has Always Been (Jackie Hill Perry) - Perry has such a lovely poetic way of telling her story

Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me (Karen Swallow Prior) - This book is really lovely and peaceful and reflective

A Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula K. Le Guin) -honestly was not very impressed by this. It was fine.

Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy) - If you're really into the Russian classics, I would recommend this, but there's like 6 others I would recommend first.

Firefly: Big Damn Hero (James Lovegrove, Nancy Holder) -If you want the book equivalent of a solid but not stand-out filler episode of Firefly

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories (Ken Liu) -I ranked all of the short stories in this on my blog if you search for it. Some are great. Some are not.

All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr) - It's really really good. A book you just want to sit with.

The Chalice of the Gods (Rick Riordan) - Kinda the same vibe as the Firefly one. It's good to see Percy again, it's a fun time, it's not taking any big swings or doing anything particularly new. But I did really enjoy the thematic linking of which gods were chosen to be a part of the story.

Dracula (Bram Stoker) - It's Tumblr, I don't need to review this here.

Biblical Critical Theory: How The Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture (Christopher Watkin) - This book is really big but it has so much good stuff in it. Well worth the read.

An Experiment in Criticism (C.S. Lewis) - There was quite I while through this one where I was not really jiving with it, but then at the end he pulls it together and I really like where he ends up, as evidenced by quoting half of it on posts here.

Poems (C.S. Lewis) - I'm not good enough at reading poetry to review it. There's a few in here that I quite liked though.

For teaching-

1. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)- it's still great. After reading it who knows how many times, it's just so good.

2. The Crucible (Arthur Miller)- The character work in here is fantastic, and I really do like it a lot, but if Miller understood grace a bit better? the ending could be phenomenal.

3. Long Way Gone (Ishmael Beah)- It's not my favorite but it is really powerful and worth reading and the kids were really invested in it

[ferociousconscience]

#1, #4, #25 character meme for Javert?

Original ask game post is here - Please do send me more! LM characters greatly preferred, but I'll take Anna Karenina and other such lit characters, try me!

All for Javert! children_shouting_yay.wav

Why do you like or dislike this character?

Everything? No? Too easy of an answer? Puts hands on my cheeks… Man… I just… I think Javert's so cool. Pathetic in his own way, purposefully ignorant, sad, but cool and confident nonetheless. I looooove characters who are incredibly confident and faithful to something that isn't good for them. I love characters who are misguided but nonetheless noble in their own right. I love characters that double down on the worst versions of themselves, only to have a big crushing crisis later. I could go on. I also just really like detective stories, not only cop dramas but all sorts of mysteries. I think they make for compelling storytelling... I also just really like how he looks, 40-50 years old, masculine, tall, stern, well-dressed, BIIIIG SIDEBURNS (favorite bit tbh), top hat… I really like that sort of thing… Characters with lots of clothes. Big facial hair, collars, hats, and sleeves especially. Pointing at Javert. This is my hole it was made for me

If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Hmmm… I do think about this a lot, but the answer I have for you is perhaps a bit odd. I've been reading a lot of books lately, and I often think about throwing all the book characters of a general time period into a big crossover hangout. LM, Hugo's other works, Anna Karenina, Phantom of the Opera, all those sorts of books. Putting them all in a box and shaking them around. In particular, I think Javert would be fond of (or perhaps just suck up to) Minister Karenin from AK. "A magistrate is never wrong" etc. I also have a Blade Runner au where Javert is a replicant Blade Runner himself. Maybe one day I'll do art of that!

What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

There are certain characters that have floated into my life through one channel or another that IMMEDIATELY leave a strong impression on me. I will hear a character speak, read a character's intro, or see their design, and it's like a lightbulb of "Oh I am going to fall in love with them, aren't I?" … I say this because Javert was one of those characters. I was very, very young when I saw a production of the LM musical (mom took to me a lot of musicals when i was a baby) and because of my burgeoning uniform appreciation (due to Barbie and the Nutcracker viewing at a critical moment) I saw the Javert come in and was like… Ooooo. I tried to read Les Mis when I was about 10 and simply lost interest somewhere in the MsurM chapters because of how awkward the translation was (it was that godforsaken purple paperback. you know the one). Still, Javert remained in my heart for all this time, albeit in the shadows until the surge of 2012 fandom... let's not talk about that time... and then, now. He's one of the foundational characters in my collection of blorbos. Now, I feel even "closer" to him, insofar as one can get close to a fictional character. The previous bouts of Javert Appreciation have been naught but fleeting things… Now. I am fully obssessed. This is my final form. Etc.

[cranberryvishnu]

Cranberry - Hunted... Bound for Lemoyne

Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV

I had thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Tumbleweed. The kindness of the residents, their independent approach to life and loyalty to each other as well as their small community was inspiring.

I greatly valued the friendships I had formed there, particularly with Sheriff Freeman. His initial gruff exterior had slowly parted over the weeks to reveal his kind and generous nature. His true self. This depth of character only made him a more endearing and special friend.

Our talks on philosophy and literature were something I had come to look forward to each evening. We had been discussing Russian literature of late, and... well, all of this combined to make what I had to do That much more difficult.

The familiar walk from the old windmill to the jailhouse, seemed extra long on that chilly evening. Due to the altitude, once the sun drops behind the hills and the wind picks up - you realize just how high these plains really are.

As I entered I noticed that Mr. Freeman had prepared coffee and had a cup all ready for me. It looked strong - dsjust the way I like it.

When I first arrived in America - I dearly missed my morning cup of tea. It was something that I had grown so accustomed to growing up in Douglass. But when I tentatively tried my first cup of real coffee - I realized just how special it was! Now it's hard to imagine a day without it.

As I took my first sip - I could see the good Sheriff was already on his second cup. He had clearly been here for a while...

As I approached his battered old desk, he tossed his empty tin cup to the side and fixed me with that look. The kind of look that makes you feel like he's not just seeing you, but rather into you.

Before I could even stammer out my well-rehearsed statement, he spoke in that plain incisive way of his.

"So... when do you leave?"

I was taken aback. I hadn't told anyone I was going to leave, I hadn't even fully worked out what day exactly that I'd be - My thoughts were interrupted as he continued.

"I heard from Brenner this morning - he told me about this Col. Olcott character, the Sherpas, and that they've been asking about you... in Blackwater."

He paused and slid a well worn, dog-eared copy of Anna Karenina to the side of his desk and looked down, his brow furrowed as if he was working on a intriguing puzzle.

"Sherpas - now that is very unusual. Why would Sherpas of all people be on your trail?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I didn't know how to answer that. I certainly didn't want to go into my past. It would inevitably dredge up my involvement with the Theosophist society, Madame Blavatsky and the terrible "Master Olcott." Awful memories from my time in London. A time that I thought I had put behind me - but my past had stalked me like a tiger across the Atlantic. The thought made me feel cold all over. Master Olcott was in Blackwater - with Sherpa's - I could hardly believe it. And these Sherpas were some of the best trackers in the world.

Do they want to silence me? Or worse - maybe they want to take me back... but then - that would mean -

Though I tried to hide it, my confusion must have shown, because the Sheriff read me like a book.

"It's okay Cranberry - I'll respect your privacy - you don't have to tell me. But mind you - if you are doing anything outside the law - I WILL find out and our friendship won't be enough to keep you from being locked up in that cell - that one - right over there."

The stern admonishment helped me to quickly find my voice.

"I assure you Sheriff - I have broken no laws, nor do I intend to. I just-"

"Good." His voice softened slightly. "Keep it that way."

Then he continued and I was stunned again at his powers of deduction.

"So - I expect you'll be heading to the deep south. Lemoyne? You gotta be careful there - those raiders are no joke - and they're all over the area, like a swarm of cockroaches."

I had to know... how he -

"How did you know I was going south? And Yes - I mean - I am going down there... I don't know how- "

Rather than let me stammer on, Sheriff Freeman finished my thought.

"I wouldn't be much of a Sheriff if I couldn't put two and two together. Sherpas are mountain people. High plains, mountains, arid areas like Tumbleweed - they'd find you fast out here. But where they might have trouble is unfamiliar ground. I'm betting they don't have swamps way up there in Tibet like they do in Lemoyne. So it makes the most sense for you to hide there - where they'll be on unfamiliar ground."

It sounded so simple when he explained it.

"Yes..." I answered. "But Sheriff, I will miss Tumbleweed... and you, too... very much. When this trouble is concluded, I want to come back."

He stood up and thumped his hand on the book he had been reading.

"I'll hold you to that Miss Cranberry. We still have a book to discuss. But, I suppose Anna Karenina can wait a spell."

I smiled and turned to leave, but stopped short, as Sheriff Freeman reached over and grabbed me by the arm. I was more surprised by the slight tremor in his grip than the action itself. Subtle though it was, it betrayed the emotion he was feeling.

"Cranberry - you be safe out there."

I looked him in the eye and patted his hand reassuringly. It felt rough, but caring.

"Thank you Sheriff Freeman - for everything. I promise, I will return as soon as I can."

With that, I turned quickly and ran out of the jailhouse towards the stables before he could see my foolish tears.

For more content...

(I also post on Reddit - you can see that here.)

[snowflurried]

I need to figure out which book to read next. Been reading a Greek and Roman mythology book I found on the Gutenberg website but I need a fiction book to go with it (even though I've been enjoying it, it's sooo long though).

There is Emma (not me, the book, Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, etc. I have downloaded and they're long, too. Maybe I'll read that Kate Chopin book I downloaded, because I keep forgetting I planned to read that next.

Books are cool and I've been reading them more than I've been watching movies as of late. SO busy with uni and trying to stay on top of everything, but at least I have something to do.

[annbourbon]

2024 Reading List

Okay so I have to finish some books I left last year. And new ones. Here we go!! If you need hel understanding why they are colored, I suggest you to check my System color and Master List.

If I don't finish by the end of one month I'll take them with me to the next month so don't worry about it 😉

Also, if I ever create a post to rant or criticize it, the link is gonna be on the title of the book, so now you know<3

Twisted Lies by Ana Houng *for now it's only me, rambling about it, but maybe I'll try to change it and put my thoughts in order after I finish reading it*

100 Deadly Skills by Clint Emerson

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (yes, again lol)

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Fairytales by Brothers Grimm

The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf

Weird by Olga Khazan

Save the cat! by Blake Snyder

The second sex by Simone de Beauvoir

The rights of woman by Mary Wollstonecraft

The feminine mystique by Betty Friedan

Why does he do that? by Lundy Bancroft

The Bible ~ KJV (it took me sometime to decide which version of the Bible read. Please keep in mind I'm not reading as a believer but as a Literature student who wants to improve my writing skills. Although I do have some religious background and I'm passionate about certain versicles.)

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoi

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoi

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley

The picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

Perv by Dakota Gray

Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell

Badass Survival Secrets by James Henry

The seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Nobody's Victim by Carrie Goldberg

Essential Book of Martial Arts... by Guli Cohen & cia.

The Ethics of Spying by Jan Goldman

Fighting Talk: 40 Maxims of War by Colin S. Gray

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

Grand Strategies: Literature... by Charles Hill

Grand Strategies and Military Alliances

How to kill, spy and other survival skills

How to Stay Alive by Bear Grylls

Japanese Sword Fighting by Masaaki Hatsume

Japanese Ultimate Martial Art by Dorrell Max Craig

Ninja Skills by Anthony Cummins

100 Unorthodox Strategies by Ralph D. Sawyer

Prepper's Underground by Jonny Mayhem

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

SAS Handbook by John Wiseman

Secrets of the Ninja

Self Defense Nerve Centers by Bruce Tegner

Spy Book: Encyclopedia by Thomas B. Allen

Criminal Poisoning

A court of thorns and roses

Lord of the vampires by Gena Showalter

45. Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

46. Books on Decentering men

47. The Biology of human Survival by Claude A. Piantadosi

48. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

I'm too lazy to type the rest rn... there are more of 20 something pages, each with 30 titles per page. Yes. I'm sure I can finish all by the end of this year. But I'm not gonna type it all here.

TBH I've been reading 4 books per day since I was at least 13. I beat my own record by reading 7 books (Narnia Chronicles) in one day once. I was bored. Anyways I never tried it again or at least I was never interested in doing it so. But yes. I can read them all by the end of the year. I'll bring to you the whole list (I'll take pics but let me tell you my handwriting is messy so don't expect too much of it.)

If you by chance finish the books listed here during the year, send me an ask and I'll drop a couple of titles here.

The book titles might be a bit weird but that's because I'm trying to research for my future project. I promise, I'm a writer lol

[imthefailedartist]

My 2023 Reading Stats

My goal was to read 12 books. I read 45 total!

I read mostly authors I'd never read before. I made a significant dent in my purchased TBR. I read 5 classics. I read 7 genres.

I checked out 3 books from my local library.

I did not finish 3 books. Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

Reasons: LLD the two main characters were getting on my fucking nerves so bad. Valmont leave that woman ALONE! Also, the epistolary style does not make for active reading.

Lolita. I mean, take a wild guess.

AK. To many characters with the same name, I also signed up for one thing, but it's about a whole bunch of things.

I read the longest book I've ever read, Gone with the Wind. I thought it would take a year. Surprisingly, it took a month. December 22nd to January 22nd. I took four days off because the racism was getting on my nerves. I also sometimes just missed a day or two.

January

Loved: To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins, The Wedding by Dorothy West, The Revenant by Michael Punke.

I refuse to say I loved this book, but I did enjoy reading it, a lot: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

February

Loved: Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor, If There be Thorns by VC Andrews, Barbarian Alien by Ruby Dixon.

Read: My Best Friend's Exorcism by Gravy Hendrix

March

Loved: Priest by Sierra Simone, Roses are Red by James Patterson

Read depressingly: The Stranger by Albert Camus

April

Loved: A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich by Alice Childress, Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson

Read: In the Woods by Tana French

May

Loved: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell

Liked: Animal Farm by George Orwell, Candice by Voltaire

Read: The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory, The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Hated: GOTH by Otsuichi. It was like reading an edgelords Wattpad writing.

This month was so Meh. Baby Jane came in at the end and saved it.

June

Loved: The Invisible Man by HG Wells, Seeds of Yesterday by VC Andrews

Liked: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley, Violets are Blue by James Patterson

Read: The Body by Stephen King.

I have one Flowers in the Attic book left in looking into the other VC Andrews books, but none of them are calling me like Flowers. Maybe I'll read the one with the twins.

July

Loved: The War of the World's by H.G. Wells, An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn, London Bridges by James Patterson

August

Read: The Hallowe'en Party or A Haunting in Venice by Agatha Christie

Hated: The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

September

Loved: I am Legend by Richard Matheson

Liked: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

October

Loved: Hannibal by Thomas Harris, Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

Read: The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

I have one Hannibal book left. What am I supposed to do for Halloween 2025?

November

Loved: An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon and The Song of Achilles by McAllen l Madeline Miller

Liked: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

December

Loved: Difficult Women by Roxane Gay

Liked: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Read: Marnie by Winston Graham.

The book I was looking forward to the most. It's one of my favorite movies. It was the book I just wanted to end. Also, I keep calling this author every name but his own. Winston Granton, William Granston, Graham Wilson.

[mara-and-its-the-same]

I'm sorry that this is late but thank you so much for the Sirius ship!! You didn't have to add anything else, it was perfect as it is!

I love Anna Karenina!! I have the maude&maude translation, what about you?

I am a huuge fan of anything dostoevsky!! I have to pick crime and punishment over his other works though. I'm (very, very slowly) making my way through demons right now

I tried reading doctor zhivago but I gave up after reading the first chapter. 😭 I have my sister, life and I remember liking it a lot.

Good luck finding a translation you like!

Both of the ones I have are Constance Garnett but I want to reread another, maybe I'll try that one. One is just the Barnes and Noble one cus it's pretty and another is one I got to add to my antique collection and I can't find the exact date but I think it's 1907, which is quite cool.

I have crime and punishment but I haven't gotten to it yet. I also have war and peace...and the brothers Karamazov...my to be read list is like 2 feet tall but I'm working through it.