#plenty more to say; forever. it is like [lotr] in this way. go figure

[unproduciblesmackdown]

just in time to spin the prompt / inspiration wheel via @lotrmusical for the 1 year anniversary of watermill theater lotr musical today:

the way louis maskell says "mr gandalf—please" with a laugh in his voice as he kneels next to sam to "protect" him from being turned into anything unnatural

[themuseinthewoods]

(I'm on anon because I'm shy 😭 sorry)

Hello there!! I'd love to request a Lotr/Hobbit matchup.

I'm a 20-something girl. :) I'm 5'1" tall, a little muscley but not thin. Wavy blond hair that's, like, hobbit-length but not so curly. I dress in loose, masculine clothes, usually grey, green, and blue.

Personality-wise I'm shy and really awkward. It takes a lot for me to start opening up to people, and tbh I'm not really open even with the people I'm closest to. I've often been described as aggressive (even as an infant lol) as well as weird. I'm an INTP, if you know the MBTI types, and I feel it describes me really well, except for all the stuff about being smart ahaha :')

I enjoy drawing, reading, crochet and beading and other crafts, martial arts, chocolate and baked goods, and playing with my beloved cat.

The things I most want in a partner or friend are trust, safety, and humor. I want someone who I truly feel safe around, who I can laugh with and relax with.

Thank you!! Don't feel in any rush to reply, I'm just bored :D

Omg, two requests in one day?? yay!

idk what the random letter/personality things mean, but I have some good ideas!

Since you mentioned both Hobbit and Lord of the rings, I will be doing both! I love doing multiple fandoms/movies/characters. No need to be shy or to apologize for being anon, that's why the options are there.

Matchups under the cut!

For the Hobbit...I'm matching you with Bilbo!

Why is it that I saw "i've been described as aggressive" and I was like "I need to give her a man who is too polite to say anything and needs someone to stick up for him? I have no idea, but congratulations. I'm entrusting you with Bilbo Baggin's.

You want to relax? Perfect. After the adventure and the dragon, Bilbo wants to tell stories, go on hikes and relax by the fire with you.

Can you make some drawings for his book? Will you crochet small versions of figures from his adventure for young Frodo? Will you taste test his newest baking endeavor?

He has no idea what to do with a cat but he will do his best.

And you're only a little taller than he is but you're the perfect height to hug him and rest your chin on his head. Please do this, it will make him feel safe and your cat and young Frodo can join in the cuddle pile as well so he can be assured everyone is safe and happy and there is no orcs or dragons or dwarves coming to invade his home, again.

Bilbo, lord knows, had plenty of books and is perfectly happy to acquire more if you want them.

For Lord of the rings...I match you with Faramir!

Okay, so here is another man who needs a badass woman

I think you're a badass, okay? that's the message here.

(going with movie Faramir here) he is also shy and awkward, congrats, you can be shy and awkward and overcome it together! but only if you want too.

He isn't great about opening up either but I think perhaps with enough time, trust and love you both could have a very therapeutic relationship

He has never felt safe or trusted his whole life, if he can feel safe with you AND you grant him the honor of you trusting him, he will weep with joy.

Martial arts? he's a captain (and later steward) of Gonder, he's gonna want to know more ways to defend the kingdom, maybe you can research it together!

I honestly can picture the two of you curling up in the library with books and just enjoying each other's presence, maybe sharing book recs occasionally.

Make him something with one of your crafty hobbies and he will treasure it forever.

The end.

whoo, I was feeling inspired for this one! hope you like it anon!

thank you so much for the request!

[kitkatopinions]

[1] I don't what point they're trying to get too, but CRWBY is going too fast. I mean I know the overall point they want to get for the series; stop Salem (and hopefully no further than thag). But the pacing is so off and that really shows in V7 & 8 particularly with Ironwood. They wanted Ironwood to be an evil dictator that would willingly bomb a city, but the thing is they did it in such a quick flip that is jarring.

When you're right, you're right. RWBY has always had a pretty bad pacing problem, whether it's 'fixing' Weiss's problems with Ruby in one episode in V1 or rushing Yang's V4 recovery arc, the show has always struggled to figure out how to prioritize and take its time. But, this problem has gotten a little more obvious in the last two seasons.

Hazel's redemption and Emerald's redemption were absolutely horribly done, partly because they rushed through them at the speed of light, while they contrast the 'fall' of James Ironwood into a villain role that went from zero to a hundred within the span of two to three in-universe days without the show taking the time to put much proper focus on it or give it the emotional depth it deserved. The Hound was in and out too quick, despite being one of the better concepts to come out of the eighth season. And that's the same with the Cinder/Neo/Watts team up of the century that a lot of people were really interested in and were calling it actual character development and a good change, and then had to put on clown paint when it ended an episode later with everything returning to the status quo. I'd say Ozpin's 'make up' with the team was rushed, too, but honestly that's the least of my concerns with him returning to the team. Qrow and Clover was so rushed that I was seriously weirded out and confused when Qrow's reaction to Clover's death was so big, because to me they seemed like they barely knew each other. I've never understood why both the show and a lot of the FNDM decided that Clover was so important to Qrow, and Qrow jumping to 'kill Ironwood' was also really weird, since we'd been given plenty of reason to believe that Ironwood was Qrow's trusted friend, and very little reason to believe that Qrow hated him, until the guy he'd known for like two months and one season died and suddenly Qrow didn't care about Ironwood at all.

On top of this, Blake and Yang's relationship was rushed in V6 and then stagnated, and the writer's attempt to make them 'fight' in volume eight was so stupid and ridiculous that it was comical (and very frustrating.) Them making everyone drop concerns they have with Ruby within a short while is - like you said - another example of everything going too fast. Weiss 'reconciling' with Whitley and Willow was done too fast and with very little depth, leaving it feeling lackluster and leaving Willow's affection for either of her children feeling fake as hell. Robyn Hill's entire character is a product of rushed and badly done 'growth,' and despite her and Qrow spending episodes together in prison with nothing to do, they still charged ahead with "now these two are friends" too fast and it fell totally flat. I liked May Marigold, but the HH were in the same boat as Robyn, not given enough development and feeling forced into important roles they didn't earn, and the same can be said for the Ace Ops. Salem herself, the main villain, came and went in less than a volume and the terrible way they thrust her into the story only to hastily try to find a way to make her not a threat made her seem so unscary that I can't take her seriously at all anymore.

I was literally shocked when I realized that they weren't spending another season in Atlas, and I even theorized that maybe RWBY was getting cancelled soon, and that's why they were rushing everything so fast in V8. But tbh, with the lack of faith I have in these writers, it's very possible that they just failed, that they just suck.

They didn't take the time to develop almost anything in Volumes seven and eight, and what development they did give us in volume seven seemed to fly out the window in volume eight anyway, or didn't matter anymore.

RWBY is a show that has always struggled to develop story beats and character arcs and dynamics and I and a lot of fans have 'filled in the blanks' on a lot of what they left empty or hastily glossed over, but that gets harder and harder to do the more they get sloppy and overconfident. The fanbase shouldn't have to do this. The fanbase shouldn't have to look at characters who are meant to matter to each other and sighingly try to headcanon up most of their relationship and/or dynamic. They shouldn't have to look at a Very Important arc that the writers are so proud of and then go "okay, time to figure out how to force this to make sense."

There's a certain amount of that in every piece of media, fleshing out characters and their pasts or their relationship is a fandom past-time no matter what fandom you're talking about (heck, I've seen it in the LOTR fandom,) but after a certain point, it starts to feel like we're putting way more work into it than the actual show writers, and that's weird and it's also tiring.

I've seen this argument from RWBY simps that RWDE posters are mad we "have to think about things" and that things aren't just handed to us on a silver platter, but I don't think that's true. We're willing to play a little catch up and flesh out dynamics here and there. I've been doing that in fandoms for forever. There's a difference between doing that, and needing to do a lot of work and a lot of re-writing and world building to make most of the show actually make sense or feel emotionally significant.

RWBY wasn't always like this. I was more than happy to fill in the blanks for seasons of it and get by on vibes and concepts to match what meat and substance we did get. But now I feel like almost everything is so rushed, underdeveloped, forced, or badly handled that trying to 'fill in the gaps' has turned into essentially writing a fix-it fic in your head. So I'd rather just put my mental energy into actually writing a fix-it fic instead of trying to force myself to put in the work that the writers don't for the show proper itself.

[jaeminlore]

Immortal // Lee Taeyong

-

the prompt: Can i get fantasy scenario with Taeyong with The Hobbit/Lord of the ring theme? aka: you, a human, are the best friends with taeyong. the two of you realize the truth about mortality a bit too late.

words: 2000

category: angst + lotr elf!taeyong

author note: ayo your local tolkien stan is here!! I was so excited when I got this request I wasn’t sure what to write for it bc I wanted to make it perfect. anyway i figure some elves must hate being immortal, you know? so that’s what prompted this.

- destinee

-

You walked down the length of the stone corridor slowly, to take notice of the scenery around you. Lothlórien had become like your home after many years of traveling. As a child, you were a wanderer, so it didn’t surprise anyone when you decided to go off and search for the ancient elves realms that only few humans knew about.

The first time you met an elf was entirely by coincidence, and was the main reason you chose to look for more elves. His name was Taeyong, and he was your age or older (as no one can really tell with immortal beings). His dark hair was straight and flowed down past his collarbones, covered by a circlet of bronze. Your thirteen-year-old mind thought he must be royalty.

After talking to him, you found that he was only friends to royalty. Having been orphaned sometime during the war with Morgoth, he had been taken in under the wings of Lothlórien elves and their families. The elven prince, Sicheng, was exceptionally kind to Taeyong, always including him in royal activities so that Taeyong felt like royalty himself.

He knew the truth of course, which is why you found him in Fangorn Forest. He liked to be alone to think, but your company was never rejected. Perhaps he found something perplexing about you as a human. He had never met a nice human, and the only stories of the race of men he had learnt were horrible ones that resulted in the deaths of his elven ancestors.

You were nice to him however. You never pushed to learn about his life, or what he was thinking. Instead, you had asked him how to climb a tree. You had asked to see his pointed ears. You had asked him to teach you entish, so that you could talk to the Ents as they slowly roamed around the forest. You always wanted to learn something. Taeyong knew you hadn’t initially come to him for friendship, and the thought gave him a strange sense of comfort.

It took him forever to tell Sicheng about you. He was afraid that once you met him, you would go to the prince with all your questions. He was used to that: being surpassed by the prince. Although the royal family had taken him in with good intentions, there was always the underlying truth that Taeyong just wasn’t one of them. He was a dark elf. His skin was honeyed and his hair was blacker than the night itself. The only thing he had in common with the fair Lothlórien elves was the color of his eyes. Still then, his eyes were more of a charcoal gray people recoiled at, while Sicheng’s were a soft silver that people cooed at.

You had never really thought of Taeyong as your elven friend. You thought of him as your first friend; someone who you could learn things from. He was someone who would help you become better at your adventures. No matter where you went, you always returned to that hideaway spot in Fangorn Forest, where the Ents hadn’t yet awoken, to talk to Taeyong. You told him about the dwarven kingdoms and how they had more gold than you had ever seen in one place. You told him about the pleasant little hobbits, who lived in their warm holes, content with tea and pastries. You talked about the Old Forest and how Tom Bombadil was still doing very well, and he says thanks for asking. You talked about Bree, and how the mead was always too strong for you and the company was always a bit strange. You talked about Ithilien, the Moon-land, and how it was a cozy little place filled with beautiful foliage. You talked of Mordor, and how it was too far away, but you still had nightmares about the evil creatures you knew lurked there. By your twenty-first year, you had travelled nearly everywhere in Middle Earth. Yet, each month you would leave to find somewhere you wished to go and visit, then loyally return to Taeyong to tell him what you had learned.

When he finally told Sicheng about you, he found out that you had yet to explore any elven kingdom. He was so used to rangers coming in and out of Lothlórien, requesting blessings and gifts, that he hadn’t even realized that you hadn’t been inside of the kingdom itself.

“I’ve thought about it,” you’d say, “but I’m afraid to intrude. I know how elves feel towards human travelers.”

Taeyong had brushed your concerns away. “You’re my friend, though. They’ll want to meet you.”

So you agreed. You finally met Sicheng, the renowned prince, to find that he was quite witty. He and you clicked well, but he couldn’t replace Taeyong. He never would. From then on, Taeyong wasn’t afraid of telling others about you. He realized that you were loyal, which was a trait rarely found in elves. Humans did have that strange resilience to stay by their friend’s side until the very end. It seemed you had chosen to stay with Taeyong. Taeyong had unknowingly chosen you as well. His entire family could tell that you were someone Taeyong had attached himself to. Which is why, as you were off visiting Rohan, they decided to sit down and talk to him.

They reminded him that he was over a century old. Which was young, yes, in elven years. However, you wouldn’t even be around for a century. You were a mortal. Humans were mortal and there was nothing they could do it gain immortality. They reminded Taeyong that the gleam in his eyes wasn’t that of a friend. They admitted that they knew Taeyong had fallen in love with a human. They told him to be careful.

Taeyong was hurt in every sense of the word. Never in his life had he begged for mortality like he had the next few weeks. How could the universe be so cruel that it would not only take away his parents, but also threaten the one he loved?

So he tried to fix the universe himself. He tried to change fate, as if it were his to control. With a long knife, he chopped off his long hair, resulting in a messy cut that barely brushed the top of his collar. Then he put on human clothes and left with nothing in his pocket but a few biscuits of lembas bread. He wanted nothing more than to become a human. He wanted a life humans always talked about in their books. They were boring, short lives, filled with nothing but following expectations but somehow Taeyong thought he could endure that if you were by his side. Perhaps that’s how humans thought, too. Perhaps all they wanted to do was find that one person who would make their short, mediocre lives seem a little bit longer and a little more exciting.

Taeyong’s disappearance was the entire reason you were at Lothlórien and not at Fangorn. You had come here first to talk to Sicheng about the situation. Sicheng hadn’t known what to tell you other than the truth, so he revealed that there was no real way you and Taeyong could become one. You would die far too soon for it to become anything. Everything Sicheng was telling you wasn’t news. You had thought about it plenty of times before. There was always an extra something there between you and Taeyong. You never thought you would have to confront the truth so soon.

You felt immortal. You felt like there was nothing you could do that would kill you. It was jarring to remember that you were just a human with limited time and organs that could fail any moment.

You went to the Fangorn Forest. There, on his usual tree, was Taeyong with his hair cut short. It was attractive, just brushing the tips of his pointed ears. His gaze lifted to see your form, and you could see all the emotion hidden behind the moon nestled in his eyes. “Y/n.”

You didn’t answer. Instead, you climbed the tree with little effort until you were sitting beside Taeyong, shoulders brushing. “So, I went to Rohan. You wouldn’t believe how many horses are in that kingdom, Tae.”

“Really?” he asked weakly, buying into the game you were playing. The game of acting like nothing had happened. “Did you get to ride any?”

“Get to?” you scoffed playfully. “That’s all I did while I was there. I’m sure the stablehands were mad at me. There was this one named Kun. He was so annoyed that I kept making him stay at the stable so he could do his job and clean the tack after I was done.”

Taeyong quirked a small smile, but it was nothing compared to his usual shining grin.

You couldn’t ignore it anymore. “Tae, I know I’m not immortal. It’s okay.”

With that, the damn fell. Elves didn’t cry, for they were strong and graceful creatures. For the first time in his life, Taeyong felt a warm sting being his eyes and the overwhelming urge to just sob crawling up his throat. He couldn’t stop himself from wrapping him arms around your body as he cried into your shoulder. “It’s not fair, Y/n. I love you so much. I want to be a human.”

Your heart broke at his voice, and the amount of hurt inside of it. Every lilt was accented by pain that had been bubbling inside of him for a few weeks now. You were the only person who could comfort him.

Before either of you really knew what was happening, you were kissing. Kissing and crying and touching and just… feeling. Feeling the passion that the two of you had known for that past years that neither of you had acted upon. Feeling the slow burn of love that was quickly turning into ashes that flew into the sky, never to be seen again. It wasn’t an I-love-you kiss. It was a goodbye kiss, and both of you knew it.

Taeyong’s tears stained your cheeks when he pressed into you, his teeth grazing your lips as a growl of frustration escaped him lips. He was frustrated at the world, and the rules that somehow made it to where he couldn’t be with you.

Even if the two of you stayed together until you died, he would still have to live for the rest of his life with you gone. It was better to forget you and move on now, while he and you both were still young.

He finally let go of your lips, his forehead rested harshly against yours as he breathed heavily. “We never should’ve met,” he said.

“I know,” you replied, your eyes closing in pain.

“However, I don’t regret it.” He pressed a chaste kiss to your forehead. “Good luck on your travels, Y/n. I’ll be sending blessings your way. I hope you find a human man who loves you so much more than I ever could.”

“Taeyong…” You cupped his cheeks tenderly, looking into those penetrating eyes one last time. “I love you.”

“I didn’t think this was going to be so hard,” he sighed. “I’ve got to go.”

As he climbed down the tree, he looked back sadly, “It might be best that you don’t return to Lothlórien for a few years. They’ll be watching me closely. Elves can die of a broken heart, you know?” He gave you a bitter smile, “They might make me forget you, and if that happens, I’m sorry.”

You wiped your eyes, “I understand. It’s for your own good, of course.”

You watched him walk away, until there was no evidence that he was even there, save the tear stains dripping down your cheeks.

You felt mortal. Although you had always known your mortality, it hadn’t registered.

You felt mortal, and there was no feeling more devastating.

~the end~

[femsff]

Identity asks... 3, 13, and 23 (because I seem to be picking number themes...)

I’m keeping the ones I’ve already answered to others in here as well, just so everyone can get to know me even better!

identity ask………oh shit

if someone wanted to really understand you, what would they read, watch, and listen to?My body language, me, and whatever I’m talking about. That may seem like a cop-out answer to some, but I really do believe the only way to get to know someone is to observe, talk to, interact with and listen to them. Not necessarily in that order. I come into contact with a lot of different people through my work but also see/read a lot online and it often amazes me how little attention people pay to others! Be that cues (non-verbal or verbal), body language or just downright listening to and hearing what they have to say. No wonder people often don’t understand other people’s actions, points of view or feelings. Can anyone really be surprised or confused by someone if they ignore everything they say/do/emote?So, I like to think you can really get to know me by interacting with me. it seems to have worked for me in life so far.

have you ever found a writer who thinks just like you? if so, who?

list your fandoms and one character from each that you identify with.The only fandom I actively participate in is Stargate SG-1. Somehow, others just don’t grab me. It’s a bit strange because I watch a lot of TV shows but I think it’s the interesting Sam/Jack ship and its lack of resolution that keeps me going back, in combination with the show’s plot and everything of course. If I have to choose one person, it’d be Sam Carter, but I also identify with Jack O’Neill in some aspects.

do you like your name?  is there another name you think would fit you better?

do you think of yourself as a human being or a human doing? do you identify yourself by the things you do?

are you religious/spiritual?

do you care about your ethnicity?

what musical artists have you most felt connected to over your lifetime?

are you an artist?

do you have a creed?

describe your ideal day.Sleep in a little, have breakfast, go out to the grocery store/farmers’ market to get groceries and enjoy some brisk air (I prefer colder weather), relax, maybe go swimming, catch up on social media, news and emails*, have lunch, watch a new episode of a good TV show or two*, read a book/fanfic*, write some fanfic*, make dinner, maybe watch another TV show or continue writing* while chatting with some of my online friends*, whatsapp family/friends (not a phone call person), read the news, gossip and (post to) social media*, shower, go to bed*.*With my kitties by my side,

dog person or cat person?Cat, cat, cat! I’ve grown up with* both, first we had a dog and when she passed away when I was a toddler, we got another one two years later. We got our first cat about two years after that. She had a litter, from which we kept one kitten. Unfortunately both cats died when I was in my early teens. My sister managed to get us another cat by asking one for her birthday (and I was totally in cahoots with her and together we picked a kitten from an ad in a newspaper, behind my mother’s back) and then naturally, I needed my very own cat a year almost two years later. Let me tell you, my mother was not impressed with the tiny orange fluff ball (riddled with flees) my stepfather helped me pick up without her knowing about it. Unfortunately, sister’s cat was killed in a traffic accident a few years later. When I moved to uni, my mother insisted I took my orange cat with me as the cat only liked me (according to her) and, well, it was just mean to leave the cat all alone in my new house… so my housemate agreed to get a kitten! Sadly, both cats passed away about a year and a half, the orange one due to ‘old age’ (she’d had a brain infection a few years ago and recovered remarkably well, but her health wasn’t optimal) and the other one was so affected by it that she refused to eat or drink and died a few days later. It was awful! The house was very quiet and I was terribly upset, so my mother suggested I get another kitty. At first I thought that was a bad idea, but then I reluctantly started looking online and fell in love. The little attention seeker was so affectionate, playful and active that I felt awful leaving her on her own while I went off to work, so a few weeks later I got another kitty. They’re Best Felines Forever (BFFs) and the cutest, sweetest, most affectionate and lovable cats I’ve ever had.Don’t get me wrong, i still like dogs. But… I’ve also discovered I’m actually allergic to dogs ever since moving away from home and not having one around me/in the house. My sister and mother both have a dog and they’re nice, but always need entertaining and they have that typical dog smell I’m not too fond of. I not-so secretly like my sister’s dog better because it’s trained better and actually listens and doesn’t constantly jump into my lap like the hyperactive dog of my mother. Coincidentally, I was also allergic for cats but by having them around 24/7 I’ve built up a tolerance and rarely have reactions. Also, my current two kitties are half ragdolls, a breed which is known to be more tolerable for people with cat allergies.* Over the years we’ve also had birds, fish, hamsters, guinea pigs, mice (it was supposed to be one but of course I bought a pregnant one and got 10!), a rabbit and a turtle. I think my mother tried to make up for the fact that she never got to have pets as a child and instead took her stuffed toy dog out for walks on a leash in the neighborhood.** The dog I grew up with died almost a decade ago.

inside or outdoors?Inside for sure. Don’t get me wrong, i don’t mind going outside or anything but I prefer being shielded from the elements/heat and would never voluntarily go hiking or something. It’s just not in my nature. But I do need to go outside, even for a little while, every day just to get some fresh air and maybe let the wind mess up my hair.

are you a musician?

five most influential books over your lifetime.

if you’d grown up in a different environment, do you think you’d have turned out the same?

would you say your tumblr is a fair representation of the “real you”?

what’s your patronus?

which Harry Potter house would you be in? or are you a muggle?

would you rather be in Middle Earth, Narnia, Hogwarts, or somewhere else?I have a secret… I’could be considered a terrible sci-fi/fantasy fan as I’ve never read the LotR books (my brother loves them), the Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter. I do vaguely remember watching some LotR and HP movies at certain points in my life (in the gym, recuperating from surgery, passively watching something someone else is watching), but they never really spoke to me nor make me want to read the books. So, if I have to choose a universe, I’ll definitely be in the Stargate universe even though it’s simply on “boring” Earth. Well, most of the time, anyway.

do you love easily?

list the top five things you spend the most time doing, in order.

how often would you want to see your family every year?Oh, I don’t know... we don’t have a very big family and we don’t do things like family weekends or anything, so I tend to just go visit when I feel like it or my mother/sister “subtly” hints it’s been a while since I’ve been by. I do like spending Christmas with them and I always try to make it to everyone’s birthday (or whichever day they celebrate it), but I’d say about half a dozen times a year is plenty*. Also, my sister had a baby this year and I’m a first-time auntie so I do make an effort to see the little one. I get almost daily pics and vids though, so it’s not like I need to be there every month.*I live in a small country and everyone is practically in a different region (north, north east, west, and center), except for sister and mother who live in the same city. Anyway, for us traveling an hour is quite a distance and two hours is like very far away (and when I have to go west, phew, it’s 2.5 hours and that’s me making a lot of effort), so we don’t generally feel like we have time to have weekly visits.

have you ever felt like you had a “mind-meld” with someone?

could you live as a hermit?

how would you describe your gender/sexuality?

do you feel like your outside appearance is a fair representation of the “real you”?

on a scale from 1 to 10, how hard is it for someone to get under your skin?

three songs that you connect with right now.

pick one of your favorite quotes.Honestly, I’ve got nothing… Some of the things I’ve learned over the years through (online) media is that quotes and quoting important people is a thing in the US. It’s not in my country. I’ve never been asked to memorize/apply quotes from famous inventors, authors or other historical figures in school. Granted, I did drop history in the equivalent of 9th grade, but it was never a thing in Literature (of any of the languages) either. The only things I can really quote (which I’ve learned in school) would be the laws of physics, mathematical equations and such. And, outside of/after school I never developed an obsession with quotes either. Sure, some of my favorite characters on TV have great lines, but nothing really noteworthy for a question like this one.

[kismet-at-the-library]

A-Z BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

I’ve seen a few of these lists floating around as per @macrolit‘s idea (you can find their original post here) and obviously I had to spend the past few hours compiling a list of my own. It’s definitely harder than it looks! I was trying to go for some less obvious choices while also paying homage to all the books that have struck a chord with me, but I must admit I had to cheat a little by including a few titles from my TBR pile. In my defense, I have an excellent feeling about all of these – plus, what better motivation to finally get started on reading them? (If only grad school weren’t in the way... but a girl can still dream.)

A - Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)

A superbly well-written and incredibly touching novel, featuring one of the children characters I’ve related to the most in my reading life. (Yes, I relate to Briony! Not for what she does, of course, but the way she experiences and describes the world is just so so familiar to me.)

B - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (2007)

I think I’m still a little heartbroken over this one. It wasn’t always perfect, but it’s stayed with me in a way that other books I’ve read in the past few years haven’t. Plus, I still can’t get over a narrator using footnotes to explain historical details about the Dominican Republic. If you’ve read Díaz before, you’ll definitely fall for Yunior’s voice all over again. And if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?

C - La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits) by Isabel Allende (1982)

I already got one for H (this list was not compiled in alphabetical order) so I’m “cheating” by using the title in the original language (which is also the one I read it in).

D - Du côté de chez Swann (The Way by Swann’s) by Marcel Proust (1913)

...because lately I’ve been mildly (she says) obsessed with Proust and you should be too <3 This is the first volume in the monumental In Search of Lost Time. I went in knowing hardly anything about it other than ~Proust~ and was incredibly surprised by how accessible it was. (If you’re still feeling intimidated, I definitely recommend reading Alain de Botton’s How Proust Can Change Your Life to help break the ice!)

E - Emplumada by Lorna Dee Cervantes (1981)

A poetry collection by the author on whom I wrote my bachelor’s thesis. Lorna Dee Cervantes writes about growing up as a working-class Chicana in the U.S. Southwest. In her poems as in her life, gender, race, and class intersect to make up the experience of a powerful woman and gifted poet who uses incredibly lyrical language.

F - Free Enterprise: A Novel of Mary Ellen Pleasant by Michelle Cliff (1993)

Now, if you want some good, kickass, well-researched alternative historiography featuring Black historical lady figures, then this is the book for you. It’s an account (fictional, yes, but in no way less significant than the ‘authorized’ history) of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry and the women that took part in it (for non-U.S. readers, John Brown was a white abolitionist who tried to start an armed slave revolt). One of those women was Mary Ellen Pleasant, a black woman and entrepreneur who helped fund John Brown’s raid. So, yep, you should definitely get to this one straight away. It’s not the most accessible kind of writing because it moves across time, space, and characters, but if you pay enough attention you’ll have no problem following it until the end, and you’ll be immensely enriched because of it. <3

G - The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (1915)

This is the saddest story I have ever heard. That’s the first line of the book, by the way. If you like unreliable narrators and morally-dubious characters, you’ll definitely enjoy this one.

H - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2006)

Adichie is very well known right now because of her booklet We Should All Be Feminists (and with good reason), but this is the one that made me fall in love with her. I don’t even remember what led me to buying this book when I basically knew nothing about her, but I’m so glad I did. I love historical fiction and this novel about the Biafran War just broke my heart in all the right places. One of my best on-a-whim purchases.

I - If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio (2017)

This is one of the latest books I’ve read but more importantly one I’ve been excited to read for at least two years. The stakes were high but wow, did it deliver. It’s been marketed as a mystery/literary thriller but I get the feeling that this kind of description could turn away readers who are not into mysteries but who would have plenty of other reasons to enjoy this novel. Yes, there is a mystery (and the pacing is excellent!) but the story is really about the characters, who are really well-developed. Rio ( @m-l-rio) has the incredible ability to set a scene with great economy of words and make each of them count. And, oh, that ending was absolutely perfect.

(Special mention: If This Is a Man by Primo Levi.)

J - Jacques the Fatalist and his Master by Denis Diderot (1796)

A novel about subverting the reader’s expectations (and I mean that). I read this one some 6 years ago but I still think about it as one of the funniest novels (or non-novels?) I’ve ever read and I can’t wait to read it again one day. It gets very, very meta and I remember lots of (subtle or not-so-subtle) criticism on the art of the novel as practised by Diderot’s contemporaries.

(Special mention: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Because, do I even need to explain? <3)

K - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)

Well, this one is a bit obvious. Didn’t have a lot of K-titles to choose from... But also, this was one of the first books I read in English, at a time when my love of literature fully-blossomed, and that makes it even more special.

L - The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon (1956)

I loved the writing in this novel about the life of West Indian immigrants in London in the 1950s. Such a strong narrative voice. Its only flaw is that it only focuses on the male immigrant experience, but that’s no reason not to love it anyway.

M - Manual of the Warrior of the Light by Paulo Coelho (1997)

The book that made me get into Paulo Coelho quite a few years ago. I’m less into him now, but this is still among my favourites <3 A book one can turn to in times of hardship, always ready to offer much-needed words of wisdom.

N - North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (1855)

I think @dukeofbookingham once described this as “Pride and Prejudice with a social conscience” and I don’t think I can top that description. If you’re still unsure about this, why not watch the 2004 BBC adaptation with Richard Armitage?

O - Orlando by Virginia Woolf (1928)

Sometimes a bit difficult to get through, but so beautifully written that it makes it totally worth it. Also, such an imaginative read!

P - Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (1913)

Maaaaan I love this play. My inner linguistic nerd can’t resist Higgins’s endavours to train Eliza to speak like a “proper lady”, and the feminist in me is ever in awe of Eliza’s strength of character. (Don’t trust the ending they gave her in My Fair Lady. Shaw was much smarter than that.)

Q - Regina di fiori e di perle (Queen of Flowers and Pearls) by Gabriella Ghermandi (2011)

Now this is a double cheat because 1) I’m using the translation to make it work, and 2) I took it from my TBR pile, but this is one I’m really excited about, and it’s by an Italo-Ethiopian author, so... <3

R - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard (1966)

There were plenty of more obvious choices for this one and I’ve actually only ever seen the film adaptation, but I love the idea for this play so much I couldn’t resist. Plus, I’ve been meaning to get my hands on a copy since forever...

S - Sillabari (Abecedary) by Goffredo Parise (1972-1982)

Going again by the title in the original language. Honestly, I keep trying to recommend this wonderful book to my English-speaking friends but it’s so frustrating because only the first part of this (...novel? collection?) has been translated into English. “Collection” doesn’t seem like the right word because there is such a strong thematic unity to this book, but it is certainly made up of vignettes, each of which is meant to describe a human feeling, something that is achieved with great economy of words and often in unexpected and unpredictable ways. Incidentally, this is a particularly fitting title for this list because the vignettes are organized in alphabetical order (Abecedary, anyone?) –the first one is “Amore”, love. If you can read Italian, I cannot recommend this enough!

(Special mention: Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde.)

T - The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954)

This doesn’t look like cheating but it feels like cheating. :P There were plenty of other titles to choose from but none that was giving me as strong a feeling. Plus, it feels good to pay homage to one of the books that started it all for me <3 (and I actually first discovered Tumblr by looking for LOTR-related content, so it's even more appropriate.)

U - Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid by Nikki Giovanni (2013)

I was trying to go for something that wasn’t Ulysses (which I haven’t read yet, by the way). Now, I haven’t read this whole collection, but I remember reading some of Nikki Giovanni’s poetry in one of my American literature classes and I definitely liked her work. Plus, I love that title! I had kind of forgotten about this one, so now might be the right time to go and actually check it out from the library.

V - Il visconte dimezzato (The Cloven Viscount) by Italo Calvino (1951)

Wow, was it difficult to find a worthy V-title! (Or one that is not in my TBR pile.) I haven’t read the books in this unconventional ‘trilogy’ in so long, but I still remember liking them a lot (although my favourite was always The Nonexistent Knight).

W - Waiting in the Twilight by Joan Riley (1987)

This is a more obscure title and probably not as easy to get a hold of (AbeBooks would be your best option) but this immigrant story about a Jamaican woman and her dream of building a better life for herself told from the perspective of her disenchanted old self is incredibly powerful and just... my heart breaks for Adella.

X/Y - I got nothing. :(

Z - Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde (1982)

Another one that I haven’t read (yet), but this is Audre Lorde, so. <3