#reading the song of achilles changed me actually

[dollar-store-kazoo]

Apollo :) my fav Greek deity

Based off this statue:

[ennunanaiurov]

Achilles on his way to relieve Hector of his head

// ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ʀᴇᴜᴘʟᴏᴀᴅ //

[gu1lty-as-sin]

˚₊‧꒰ა every breath feels like rarest air ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

hii!! ☆ juno ☆ they/she ☆ minor ☆ bisexual ☆ cancer sun, libra moon, sag rising ☆ intp-t ☆ aus ☆ either a celestial god or a pebble ☆ anxious mess ☆ i change my theme way too much ☆ sparkling water > regular water ☆ in love with piercings and wants all of them ☆ professional procrastinator ☆ a humanities/arts/music girl in a science/maths world ☆ wouldnt survive a day without spotify ☆ free palestine!!

͙͘͡★ i love - literature, the arts, queer culture, astronomy + astrology, witchcraft, feminism (no terfs allowed!!!!), fruit flavoured drinks, flared pants, converse, dark red, nail polish, eyeliner, burgundy lipgloss, tank tops, tote bags, brie (always dreaming of cheese), pinterest, spotify, my headphones, the ocean, my grandparents house, spring+winter, very specific shades of pink and green, black <3, fiddling around on the guitar, fantasising about being a famous musician, finding new music, snow, picking silly little outfits, drawing, writing, going to concerts

͙͘͡★ books - osemanverse, the hunger games, books by rhiannon wilde, tim te maro's subterranean heartsick blues, all the best liars, books by octavia butler (specifically parable of the sower and parable of the talents), the last true poets of the sea, acotar, the weight of the stars, the seven husbands of evelyn hugo, the picture of dorian grey, house of hollow, howls moving castle, harry potter (mainly marauders, FUCK JKR), i kissed shara wheeler, red white and royal blue, song of achilles, wings of fire, the secret history

͙͘͡★ movies + shows - dont look up, little women (2019), scream (i like most of them but 1996 is my fav by far), ladybird, barbie (2023), some of the mcu (thor and guardians of the galaxy <33), spiderverse (itsv is my love), gilmore girls, stranger things, loki, heartstopper, arcane, scott pilgrim takes off + scott pilgrim vs the world, mean girls (i love both hehe), dr who, percy jackson (the show, i um havent read the books), gossip girls, do revenge, my little pony (ignore that i’ve never actually watched it BUT IN THEORY-), the bear

͙͘͡★ music - boygenius + solos, taylor swift, glaive, brakence, paramore, ricky jamaraz, melanie martinez, lana del rey, ashnikko, girl in red, billie eilish, doja cat, big thief, adrienne lenker, ethel cain, mitski, remi wolf, cigarettes after sex, ericdoa, tv girl, clairo, the neighbourhood, bon iver, deftones, maneskin, courtney barnett, poppy, the smiths, american football, susannah joffe, renee rapp, mcr, the front bottoms, pierce the veil, flyleaf, gracie abrams, feeble little horse, esha tewari

͙͘͡★ albums - the record, 1989 tv, around the fur, riot, three cheers for sweet revenge, all we know is falling, hypochondriac, girl with fish, doa, things with wings, punk2, songs, masterpiece, guts, lust for life, dykttatuob, punisher, stranger in the alps, i care so much that i dont care at all, collide with the sky, manic, badlands, folklore, trafoamp, k-12, crybaby, portals, this is why, home video, ttpd + the anthology

͙͘͡★ talk to me - asks and dms are open for chatting/venting/whatever, i might take a while to respond ☆ i rarely follow people without an intro post/descriptive bio (with name, age group and pronouns especially) ☆ discord is astraeasparrow (i dont check it often and dont know how it works very well) ☆ i dont currently have any trigger warnings tagged but just send me an ask/dm if you want me to tag something specific!! ☆ dni: people who are: rude, racist, homophobic, transphobic, zionist, terfs, sexist, ableist, antisemitic

͙͘͡★ tags:

#juno.txt -> ramblings, original posts

#asks -> asks ive answered

#ask bait -> send me asks!

#tag games -> tag games ive participated in

#beautiful mutuals -> interactions with my beautiful mutuals!

#spotify -> my music obsession

(im working on a better taglist with my moots tags)

͙͘͡★ socials: pinterest ☆ spotify ☆ carrd

͙͘͡★ sideblogs: @likeasugarcubeinateacup (notes app poetry) -- @slowrotburiedinthepark (web weaving and random art) -- @stabbingstarsthroughmyback (writing) (im not that active on them though)

͙͘͡★ notes/updates:

☆ previously astraeasparrow

☆ last updated: april 26th 2024

☆ dividers by @dollywons, @v6que, @chilumitos

thats all!! stay hydrated and have a wonderful day/night everyone <3

[lavenderand-vanilla]

Lately,I've seen a lot of people talking in a negative way about "the song of Achilles", which is okay. But there are some of them who had read the Iliad , or read it even in greek,and they start complaining that tsoa isn't good enough... Of course it is not good enough, if you compare it to one of the most famous literary works in human history and why do you even expect a retelling to be just as good as the original??

A few said that it seemed like a cheesy fanfiction. It's a retelling, every retelling is some kind of fanfiction, isn't it? It is also a retelling that talks about a love story that wasn't mentioned directly in the original work, so it should be predictable that I'll be "cheesy", simply bc the main idea isn't even the Trojan war, but Achilles' romance with Patroclus.

In the book,they were a lot of unlogical things here and there, Miller ignored a few historical facts to make the love story seem more real, instead of just showing it the way it was. Of course Achilles wasn't just as naive and sweet as in the book, and of course Patroclus wasn't just some good-hearted twink that didn't even know how to hold a sword. But the author just tried to make the characters fit into an actual love story. She changed a lot of stuff about their relationships with women too, to make the love story more understandable for someone in the 21th century. The truth is just that love was different back then, a man often had more than one lover and things weren't as rosy and red as shown in the book. She made them have a relationship that a gay couple would have nowadays, which is obviously some kind of unrealistic.

Personally, the book still means a lot to me, it is sweet, emotinal and very goodwritten ,(at least for a book that I've discovered from Tiktok). But the most important thing is, that it's the first book that really talked ,in such a direct way, about the romance between Achilles and Patroclus, instead of saying they were just friends, besties etc. The world has been trying to sleep on the fact that they were many queer couples in ancient history, and this book was a good try to change that. You can't expect it to be 100% realistic, bc' tbh, the characters wouldn't be even likeable if everything was just like it actually must have been.

[jeannereames]

If you could change or insert one aspect of the common pop culture picture most people have in their heads when they think about ATG what would it be?

I'm going to jump this in the queue because I can answer it swiftly, but also because I have TWO things that are personal pet peeves.

FIRST: That "historians" keep insisting Alexander and Hephaistion were "just good friends" in the face of obvious evidence to the contrary.

SECOND: Alexander called Hephaistion his Patroklos (to his own Achilles), and they used this comparison frequently throughout their lives.

So, let’s take on the “Fake News,” shall we?

The notion that "historians" keep insisting Alexander and Hephaistion were "just good friends" in the face of what would seem clear evidence to the contrary is over 50 fucking years out of date.

Are there “historians” out there who say that? Sure. But they tend to come in two flavors: 1) people who aren’t specialists, Hellenists, or even historians,⸸ or 2) Greeks.* Since Badian, Green, Hamilton, and Schachermeyer (et al.) took over Macedonian/Alexander studies mid-century, few specialists claimed Alexander and Hephaistion couldn’t have been lovers, or Alexander couldn’t have been attracted to men. Even Hammond cagily acknowledged it.

Yet—TBH—I don't think those who repost that meme really care. They just want a convenient strawman/whipping horse to make them sound "smarter than the experts."

You don't. You sound as if you haven't read much about Alexander since about 1975. Historians who have died of old age by now said Alexander and Hephaistion were probably lovers.

But that raises another problem: the implication that anybody who might argue they aren't lovers must be an old, white homophobic dude. Again, this is wrong.

The current discussion centers more on source problems, and separates Alexander having male lovers from Alexander and Hephaistion being lovers themselves (not the same thing, actually). Those making the best argument for caution are young, very much not homophobic (but absolutely brilliant) women (e.g., Sabine Müller). Follow the link to see a picture of Sabine, if you don’t believe me. I don't agree with her, but you can't shoot down her argument by screaming "Homophobe!" at the top of your lungs. The points she raises are all good ones and any responsible (and smart) historian will take them seriously.

As for the Alexander-Achilles/Hephaistion-Patroklos pastiche… yeah, sorry, no.

I realize this torques off folks, as it’s become a mainstay of queer culture surrounding Alexander as a gay icon and owes more than a little to Miller’s The Song of Achilles.

Busting it probably makes me sound like a Grinch.

BUT…the facts just don't support it. Yes, Alexander compared himself to Achilles--but not as much as to Herakles and Dionysos. Not even close.

How do I know? I COUNTED THEM. Facts ... not impressions.

After all, looking closely at what the sources (not impressions) actually say about Hephaistion is how I came to the conclusion the man was a lot more important than heretofore recognized. 😉

Again, as I’ve said elsewhere, Alexander did compare himself to Achilles. That’s not in dispute … it just wasn’t as frequent or common as modern fans like to pretend. And Hephaistion was compared to Patroklos only twice. There’s also a problem with WHO made those comparisons: chiefly Arrian. Again, I’ve talked about this elsewhere, so won’t go over it again.

Yes, I made the comparison myself in Dancing with the Lion: Becoming. But it concerned one circumstance near that book’s end (not giving spoilers), and isn’t something they harped on otherwise. That mirrors how it appears in our sources: it’s limited, and situational.

“Patroklos” was not Hephaistion’s nickname. Wish folks would stop claiming it was.

—————

⸸ Just because somebody is tagged “historian” on a History Channel special—or his own private blog—doesn’t mean they actually have a PhD, or even a Master’s, much less one in ancient history, Classics, Classical archaeology, or ancient art history. The number of idiots on Tik-tok yapping about how Alexander thought this or did that—and clearly know jack shit—routinely stuns me…even while it doesn’t. Dunning-Kruger Effect all over the damn place.

* Greeks must often work within the confines of official narratives in order to secure jobs and funding, which can limit what they say on certain topics, from who’s buried in “Philip’s Tomb,” to the Greekness of the ancient Macedonians, to any possible homosexual “taint” staining Alexander’s greatness. This may swim against the current of academic discourse outside Greece, even by other Greeks. The Greek Ministry of Culture and Sport has softened on some of these topics in recent years, especially as LGBTQIA rights have gained better traction in Greece.

[danmeireader]

you know what? im feeling very appreciative of yaoi today, actually.

not to be corny, but BL was literally formative for me, as in, not only was it the only source of queer fiction available to me for a long while (before song of achilles or ari and dante or w/e, and even after, because it was translated for /free/ by these "straight" "fetishizing" "girls" lol) but also, it's how i honest to god made my first gay friend. she was showing me her anime sketches on a school trip, and out of nowhere asked me "do you like yaoi?" (idk where you are now zanne but hope you're doing well 🙏🏽)

so, i guess that's why i'm a bit over-sensitive when people came into BL FANDOMS, thinking they're """""above""""" yaoi. like, i know the genre does have its issues, and i know people should write what they like. but EVERY DAY against my will i keep getting exposed to takes and they're honestly the reason i stopped reading non-canon dynamics for mxtx (even though i used to enjoy everything!!! rip 😭)

takes like (and i quote) "they're NORMAL human beings so of course they switch" "they both top and bottom that's love baby" "mxtx is so heteronormative why did she have to call wwx a wife :/" "the more you ask me to tag dynamics the harder lwj is going to bottom"

and just. to me it reads as absolute dripping condescension.

out of all the helpless and meek yaoi bottoms to take issue with (... no disrespect to paint/er of the night but it does come up as the first example, idk if it changed) they decide to pick on MXTX??? mxtx whose FIRST BOOK is an artful take down of genre conventions? mxtx who actually subverted the tropes herself by writing hyper-competent and badass MCs who are also bottoms, and GNC MLs who are tops? but no wwx and xl are powerful so they /have/ to top, and lbh experiences emotions so of course he's a bottom. wtf

to me this is similar to saying: "all yaoi authors are shit at writing women no exceptions, so yzy is obviously 100% a product of evil step-mother syndrome and not at all a well-written villain, so if you don't like reading good yzy then you're a misogynist."

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

Hello....If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

I can’t remember if I’ve done this before but it’s changed again recently. Most of these are gonna be books because I’ve had way too much time sitting around lately so I’ve had enough time to actually enjoy books without destroying my sleep schedule for it.

1. BBC Merlin is my all time favourite, I don’t feel like I need to elaborate, it’s pretty much all I post about on here.

2. Song of Achilles is still my all time favourite book and number 2 behind Merlin. I think I’m nearing 20 rereads total for it by now. It’s never boring and keeps me interested every time. Cannot recommend enough. I’d give anything to be able to read it again for the first time.

3. I’ve been reading quite a few classics recently, I had a lot of free time. I met another Greek mythology nerd so Iliad and Odyssey make my top ten again because they’ve been on my mind a lot more than I care to admit. (I know it’s technically two books but I always read them together)

4. And I finally got around to reading Iron Heart (sequel to Crier’s war) and it’s amazing. One of the best books I’ve read recently. I’m gonna leave it at that or I’ll start ranting but I can’t recommend it enough so definitely go read that if you get a chance.

5. BBC Musketeers is also really good, I started watching that recently. I’m only on episode 6 but it’s great so far. Santiago Cabrera’s hair is fucking gender. Also the show got me researching 17th century weapons and now I know a fair amount about capes so that’s fun. BBC is still shit at historical accuracy, but no surprise there.

6. The Great Gatsby because I’m that kind of nerd and I’ve been mostly rereading recently. Everyone is such an arsehole in that book but it’s so interesting to analyse and annotate. I read it in year 7 and hated it, then again in college and it wasn’t bad but 3rd times a charm I guess. I found it really interesting from an analytical perspective, but I wouldn’t read it for light reading or fun.

7. I’ve been avoiding anything new other than musketeers, just because I haven’t felt like getting to know a new set of characters and a new world. That being said, I rewatched the first season of Good Omens, Crowleys still one of my all time favourite characters and the show is great.

8. I rewatched Stars Align, always a fun one. It’s a great show and the art style is really cool.

9. Seraph of the end because I love vampire stories. The plot is really interesting, I still need to read the manga but the anime is brilliant so I want to read that soon. Also no romance (ignoring shipping) which my aroace self appreciates.

10. The Tempest because my cousin was studying it in school and asked for help so I reread it for her and got a little bit hyper-fixated for a few days, now it’s still just sort of in the back of my mind and I’m a Shakespeare nerd so might as well add it.

Thanks for the ask!

[malinaa]

TOP 9 BOOKS

tagged : @hmsharmony ty jennifer this was SOOO hard oh my god like. genuinely agonized me for days to think about what to choose but it was SOOO fun tho <3 tagging : @rosesau | @evcndiaz | @pendrgcn | @gayarthur | @the-tenth-arcanum | @oretsev | @wherepoetsdie | @bellamyblakru | @ryekat & anyone else who wants to do it !!! rules : list your top 9 books obviously. i cheated a little and put series as as one option because that's just who i am as a person. most of these i chose at random from my 5 star reads from the past few years btw

1. percy jackson and the olympians (series) by rick riordan

i was never a big reader in elementary school—or at least not to the extent that my classmates had been. my sixth grade english class required us to bring a personal book from home for silent reading and i stole my brother's spine-cracked copies of pjo and brought them to class. i finished the whole series in less than a school week (i had to scramble to the library to pick up another series because the single novel should have lasted me at least three weeks). pjo literally kickstarted my love for reading as a hobby and i truly don't know how to state the importance it had on my little ten-year-old brain fr

2. on earth we're briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong

i have never read a book more beautiful in prose and so uncommonly human than this. there's just something so incredibly heartbreaking knowing this whole book is the narrator's letter to his mother who can't read! like what the fuck

3. alone with you in the ether by olivie blake

this came as a surprise to Me when i first read it. i meandered through the first quarter, loving the writing style but feeling disconnected from the characters until the Church Hand Scene™ and it was hook, line, and sinker at that point (i have since come to love the disconnectedness in subsequent rereads, knowing that the feeling was the Point). i have read this book four (4) times since i read it first last year. LAST YEAR!!! olivie has like... fundamentally altered my brain chemistry or something because i feel like everything i have written since having read this book has been somewhat influenced by it.

4. much ado about nothing by william shakespeare

what can i say! this is theeeeeee romcom ever. i have watched so many adaptations of this play, read it countless of times and can recite some iconic lines, and still the banter between benedick and beatrice is sooo elite. cannot be topped!!

5. a place for us by fatima farheen mirza

fun fact: seed rec'd this book to me and has been reccing it to anybody who would listen. the prose is so lush and melancholic. it's one of those books where nothing Really happens, but you feel Every Emotion Under The Sun and you're just like. altered by reading it

6. the song of achilles by madeline miller

obviously.... OBVIOUSLYYYYYYY this had to go here. if i had two nickels for every greek myth retelling i read during school that fundamentally changed me etc etc u get it. i read this as a junior in high school when we, yet again, had to bring a personal book to read durin class. i think at that point of my life, i've never read something that tragic yet so beautiful at the same time and now i am always looking at the beautiful and tragic in media. so! there u go! brain cells rewired and whatnot!

7. the grisha trilogy by leigh bardugo

this is funny because i . technically did not rate any of these books 5 stars i'm sobbing. but like, considering the fact that my url is what it is and the way i always have them in the back of my mind, it's no wonder that i put them here. i have such an odd attachment to these books and these characters. i had copies of these books since their release but didn't touch them until ... before the sab tv release which is so fucking funny. like i don't know what i would be like if i read this as a t(w)een. i would've been so fucking insufferable ngl

8. when my brother was an aztec by natalie diaz

i actually read this for an assignment and had to write a report on it and i had SO much fun doing it. diaz plays a lot with hunger and her imagery is literally unmatched. i think about the way she contructs sentences and am filled with such envy. my beginning sentence for my paper was a nod to her style (though i failed miserably). it was: "in a paradoxical sleight of hand, hunger feeds in natalie diaz's debut." she is just. so fucking good at words i need to CHOMP on it

9. sharp objects by gillian flynn

you know the thing where you see a really popular author for a really long time and they have their work adapted to the screen and it's so good but you still haven't read their actual writing? yeah, that was me with gillian flynn (specifically about gone girl). i read gone girl, i read sharp objects, i read her short story the grownup, i'm currently reading the last novel of hers that i haven't read, dark places, and flynn is just so... incredibly good at constructing harrowing stories. it's no wonder why all three of her novels got adapted to the screen! her prose is so grounded. vivid. there's this ease to her writing that, whenever i concurrently read another novel, i always find the other piece to be lacking. i slink back to flynn's prose and immerse myself in her awful, human worlds.

[rosyjuly]

@janinaduszejko tagged me in a super fun book tag game, ty JD!! sorry for taking ages to actually do it lmao.

An estimate of how many physical books I own: uhhhh around 300 i think but i got my kindle almost a decade ago so most of my recent purchases are digital!

Favorite author: uhh my go-to author when i don't know what to read is neil gaiman, but jaenette winterson and margaret atwood are really close favorites.

A popular book I've never read and never intend to read: highfiving JD on never reading any colleen hover. but also i'm going to be super snobby and say that anything that "traditional" booktok goes wild for is an instant turn off for me.

A popular book I thought was just meh: the song of achilles. got this from a relative -- they always gift me a book for my birthday and it's always a very popular queer work lmao, which is super sweet but it can be quite hit or miss.

Longest book I own: god probably one of the GoT ones but i can't be bothered to check which one.

Longest series I own all the books to: uhh the eragon series i think. or GoT?

Prettiest book I own: i have a super pretty edition of drakula by bram stokes.

A book or series I wish more people knew about: uhhh non-fiction rec would be hood feminism by nikki kendall and tbh? don't think of an elephant by george lakoff which is a quite flawed book but i think underlines a lot of good points in how we should be having political conversations and debates.

Book I'm reading now: my sister's keeper by jodi picoult! the changing first person pov is not my usual go-to but the plot is super interesting!

Book that's been on my TBR list for a while but I still haven't got around to it: i've been meaning to finish the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy for a good fifteen years but i'm still like. quarter through.

Do you have any books in a language other than English: i do and the funniest one must be partido a partido by diego simeone.

Paperback, hardcover, or ebook?: ebook because i'm on the move a lot.

aaaand no-pressure tagging @antimonyandthyme @kritischetheologie @sebrrari @andreagrimes and @husbono xx

[meadowlarkx]

Explore my bookshelf!

Tagged by @searchingforserendipity25 @jouissants and @swanmaids! Thank you so much 💕💕

An estimate of how many physical books I own: I really have no idea especially because they're not all in one place right now. Maybe 200-300? Hmm. A lot (to me)

Favorite author: Tolkien right now? Ursula Le Guin? I really like Sarah Waters and as a wee lass I really adored Patrick Rothfuss. Umm. I realize I usually tend to pick stuff to read from individual authors based on their premise instead of going through an author's repertoire. Sorry, authors. But it's genuinely hard for me to pick a favorite since they all strike different notes! Fandom writers I've known past and present also loom large here for me.

A popular book I've never read and never intend to read: Hmm maybe The Locked Tomb? The vibes just seem too ironic for me. But I might still read it sometime, it just hasn't grabbed me yet. Probably also Discworld. Sorry to everyone.

A popular book I thought was just meh: The Song of Achilles... Whoops. Anyway, I found some aspects of the writing style lovely, but as a story and a retelling it majorly fell flat for me.

Longest book I own: Les Misérables probably, or one of the big compiled editions of Shakespeare or Austen

Longest series I own all the books to: Hmm, I think A Song of Ice and Fire from my fan days in high school—but kinda by accident (I'd already read the last books on ebook when I was gifted them). Still surprises me to think I do actually own all of those tomes in hard copy

Prettiest book I own: Mariana and the Merchild... yes it's a children's picture book. And you've almost certainly heard me bring it up sometime. Lesbian-coded child-rearing of my heart. Look at the pictures!

A book or series I wish more people knew about: As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann—imagine a fictional microhistory that's also a darkly painted yet tender and gripping gay romance that's also about utopian experiments and the English Civil War. When Fox is a Thousand by Larissa Lai—this book is a dream, a messy and confusing dream, but I recommend it to everyone ever! Chinese folklore and mythology, queer and sapphic-ness, through time and space from ancient China to modern-day immigrant communities in Canada—so touching and really beautiful. Many moments from this one still stick in my brain.

Series: The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud—OK, it's been a while since I read this in full, and I just said I don't always like irony and these books are crammed full of silly little jokes and targeted towards a younger audience, BUT just thinking about them makes me tear up with emotion. Ages-old wry shapeshifting djinni, snotty-kid-becomes-politician, and hardened girl from the underclass navigate an alternate magical-spirits-powered British imperialism. It's queer and incisive TO ME.

Nonfiction: A Biography of No Place by Kate Brown, about borderland villages in Soviet Ukraine and the drastic changes in structures/social organization and identities that occurred from 1920-1950. Poorly said but I just think the perspective this book takes is unique and insightful and empathic and everyone should read it.

Book I'm reading now: The Bandit Queens and Lays of Beleriand. In theory I'm reading them hell yeahhh

Book that's been on my TBR list for a while but I still haven't got around to it: Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino and The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. I checked both of these out to read over the summer and renewed them like 3 times and did I read them... no I did not. Also a bunch more are on the TBR but you know how it is

Do you have any books in a language other than English: La Reine Margot in French is the one I tried seriously to read in recent times, but I have some others in French and Spanish, mostly from high school. 1 in Czech (a copy of With Fire and Sword I have from @sparklingdali for the pictures ❤️). Polish With Fire and Sword & The Deluge pdfs & a couple of physical books ambitiously in Polish, emphasis on the ambition part.

Paperback, hardcover, or ebook? Ideally I check out whatever version the library has. I prefer physical copies and I guess paperbacks, but I'll do ebooks if I have to! At this point I try to only actually buy (hopefully secondhand) books I think I'm really going to want to keep, because I already have too many to move with

Tagging @themelodyofsilence @nibi-nix @tuulikki @sparklingdali @bachaboska if you'd like to do this, and anyone else who hasn't done it yet!

[mongoose-bite]

Reading list 2023

Crossposted from pillowfort.

Happy New Year! I read fewer books than usual this year, and didn't enjoy a lot of them. Hopefully next year brings happier reading. The books I liked the best were Dead Souls by Nicolai Gogol, which was a fascinating satire and Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff, which was just so much fun from start to finish.

At the other end of the scale The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy was probably the most disappointing, given how well it started and how much I had been looking forward to reading it. It's a bit sad his final works are so dull and unfocused. I still intend to read more of his earlier works sometime. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver actually made me kind of angry on Dickens's behalf. Whatever you think of the man, he prioritised his readers' enjoyment, and that's how he reached people and managed to effect real social change. Demon Copperhead was a grim slog.

Full list behind cut.

Orientalism – Edward Said

The Dark is Rising – Susan Cooper

Shirley – Charlotte Bronte

Robertson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe

Sons and Lovers – D H Lawrence

Spring Snow – Yukio Mishima

Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver

Silverview – John le Carre

The Passenger – Cormac McCarthy

The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury

The Bounty Hunters – Elmore Leonard

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida - Shehan Karunatilaka

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed - Mariana Enríquez

Whale – Cheon Myeong-kwan

Dead Souls – Nikolai Gogol

The Fifth Season – N. K. Jemisin

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

Southern Seas – Manuel Vaquez Montalban

Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

The Man Who Spoke Snakish – Andrus Kivirahk

Lovecraft Country – Matt Ruff

Foe – J M Coetzee

All That I Am – Anna Funder

Women in Love – D H Lawrence

Piercing – Ryu Murakami

[thehauntedarchives]

Finished reading the Song of Achilles,,

Here's some of my thoughts,, bc I wanna ramble about it-

*spoilers for the song of achilles-*

×) Overall,, I like the story. I'm a fan of Greek mythology,, and I already (vaugely,, not super in-depth) knew the story / myth. (See edit for this part ->) My least favorite part was that Patroclus was kinda over feminized sometimes. .. Now it makes sense bc before the fight that he [Patroclus] dressed up as Achilles, he isn't a warrior, he's much more a healer. And I don't mind that,, they balance each other out well, it was just kinda weird sometimes- /not neg,, [Edit : I just realized it's bc he's an unreliable narrator,, he views himself as weaker- that's why there's a change when he's dressed up as Achilles and actually like,, fighting- yeah- /pos (so I take back what I said about that before!!)]

×) I really really liked that the author switched after Patroclus & Achilles died,, and you see that it's his ghost talking to Achilles mother, OOF THAT HIT LIKE A TRUCK- but very nice story & like,, plot wise. I also like the authors writing style,, Having to read through Patroclus' little blurbs / commentary killed me- ESPECIALLY,, HAVING TO SEE ACHILLES MOURN HIM??? OW??? I'm also a big sucker for slow burns. And this book's a tragedy first,, and a slow burn second, love that <33 (Hunger Games & Percy Jackson as well-)

×) Me personally,, I like the mountain with Chiron. I like the peace and nice moments before the Trojan war. And as much as i cried,, the part where Achilles is mourning and then when we see Patroclus talking to his mother,, I think those are my top 3 (three) favorite parts.

×) I had to re-read some parts,, it was one of those like,, *shocked cat face* "HUH?!!?" /pos

×) And then gay people!! Woo! :]]]

×) fav. Quotes ;

- "I would recognise you in total darkness, were you mute and I deaf. I would recognise you in another lifetime entirely, in different bodies, different times. And I would love you in all of this, until the very last star in the sky burnt out into oblivion."

- "perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone. Do you think?"

I'm getting tired,, so I'll continue this later-

Overall,, solid. about,, 7.5/10 :]] would / will read again :]

[littlemisskittentoes]

9 Favorite Books

Big thank you to @happiness-of-the-pursuit for tagging me in this! I'm actually quite new to the tumblr sphere, so I'm so excited to get involed like this.

Similar to a lot of you lovelies, so much of my current media consumption is in the form of fanfiction and rereads. So my little list here is a conglomeration of old favorites, and recents that resonated with me.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston-- I feel like this is an obvious one, but c'est la vie. I could honestly go on for an entire post about why I love this novel and have come back to it so often. But, I think in short-- I've never read a book thats made me feel the way I did about this novel: warm, loved, optimistic, giddy... I could go on.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller-- I've always been deeply fascinated with Achilles and Patroclus, even as a kid. Between that, the stunning prose, and the mastery of the craft in creating this story, I was a gonner the first time I read it.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote-- This is one of the first books that really consumed me in the way that I delved further into it beyond the text. I was obsessed with Capote's relationship with Perry, and how monumentally it influenced the writing of the book, and the audience perception.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak-- I'm always a sucker for death personified in a text. But beyond that, I adore Liesel. This novel breaks my heart everytime I read it, and each time I'm grateful it does.

Night by Elie Wiesel-- This memoir was one of the first things I read that truly changed my world view. Such an important text. It's hard and painful and so necessary.

Normal People by Sally Rooney-- God, another book I could talk about forever. I love Rooney's unflinching, realist view of love and relationships. I will read anything by her, and I will love every word.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini-- I'm not the first to include this on these lists, and I'm sure I won't be the last. Another text that intrinsically changed by perspective and way of living.

A Court of Thornes and Roses Series by Sarah J Maas-- My guilty pleasure favorite. Beyond anything, this series is special to me because it's the one that made me fall in love with reading again after distancing myself from reading for pleasure throughout my graduate program.

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell-- An unsantized, ugly-truth view of trauma and the toll processing it can take an a young person still navigating the world. Another very difficult read, but one that made me feel seen.

I feel like this is such a lovely way for us to connect and learn a bit more about one another! So, I'd love to see some of your favorites-- @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @suseagull04 @kiwiana-writes @inexplicablymine

[lonelypersonhere]

thought i should try an intro post? i guess?

i don’t really know how to do this and I’m already sorry for the ramblings that are about to ensue because I’m awkward and ramble and don’t know how to format this hehheh..

this was going to be my first post to get me out of my shell and force myself to actually post things, but i ended up posting and getting out there before i got the courage to post this sooo...

some basic info i guess

I’ve been going by lonely on here i guess? so call me (i say that like ppl be talking ab me lol) either that or or Micah cause i totally wish that was my name and want to go by that :/

my pronouns page :)

lmk if you want to be tagged on games and i will try to remember lol

use the first two tags of this post to see posts i made, and asks i answered/ ask requests :P

 i use she/they pronouns (I’m also leaning towards adding he, but i don’t really like hearing it online i don’t think?)

I’m nonbinary, demi, omniromantic, and aceflux.

i have anxiety, adhd, self diagnosed autism, and all the little things that come with those like misophonia, tinnitus, rsd, yk how it is.

My finch code is BSVLVJKTKN and my birbs name is Milo; if anyone wants to add me, you can lmk if you do but you don’t have to idk how to use it but my discord is also lonelypersonhere

my hobbies and interests

my favorite color is green, i like drawing, journaling, reading, gaming, swimming, and writing (getting more used to the idea of it bc i used to hate writing). I have lots of collections of things like squishmallows, all kinds of frog and turtle things, books, video games....

authors and books

this will be a lot (and mostly young books bc i hate change and love nostalgia)

i also haven't been reading as much the past few years, got that gifted kid syndrome burnout (heh 😅)

Rick Riordan, Erin Hunter (it’s the nostalgia, i can’t help it), Wendy Mass, John Green, Dean Koontz, all the dystopian books like Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner (and the Thirteenth Reality also by James Dashner)

My favorite book is definitely The Song of Achilles with They Both Die at the End as a close second (apparently I like pain).

I’m don’t really know a name for what genre I most like but, fantasy, dystopia, and adventure pretty much sums it up I guess. I recently got into anime and now I can’t enjoy watching real people the same any more lol. Also if something I list has a book/movie counterpart that counts too, except for manga because I haven’t gotten into that yet(except for a few). I’m going to try to stick to my top three-ish favorites and not to list literally everything I’ve ever seen so here we go I guess (I say I guess a lot don’t I?)

movies

Bridge to Terabithia (was my go to for favorite movie as a kid) and Ghibli movies; specifically with Howl’s Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke being my favorite movies 

tv shows

Sherlock, Anne with an E, and The Originals are probably my favorite (real people) shows and Hunter X Hunter, Attack on Titan, Fruits Basket, and Erased are my top anime shows (I haven’t seen that many but these are amazing).

Ok, I’m so sorry to anyone that actually read this heh. This post stayed in drafts jail and endured lots of editing before I got the courage to post it sooo if you’re seeing this that’s a victory for me lol. i think i will make a cleaned up version of this? and also add the tags i use for filtering yeah? Ok I’ll stop talking now bye.....

[andhumanslovedstories]

On Cracked Spines over the last couple months, Amelia and I have been working our way around the Trojan War and Margaret Miller (with a few other authors thrown in to flesh it out). We read Circe first because that's one of my favorite books, one that I've found deeply meaningful every time I've reread it and one I wanted to share with Amelia. Then we read the actual text of The Odyssey as translated by Emily Wilson, which I really enjoyed! After we were done with Telemachus' part! Sorry, baby, you're boring as fuck!!

Then we read The Song of Achilles, Madeleine Miller's first book, a novel I'd been planning on reading for nearly a decade now, and you know what? Makes me all the more impressed with Circe. Like Circe is a book that fundamentally changed me and my taste and is so impactful on me, and The Song of Achilles.......sucks? Sorta sucks?? For this episode I also read Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls which tells the story of The Iliad from the point of view of Briseis, an enslaved woman Achilles has taken as a war prize. Go read Pat Barker's story instead. It's darker and bleaker (which, this is a war story, why shouldn't it be?) with women who have inner lives and conflicts that actually matter.

(It's almost baffling to me how much I actually disliked TSoA's second half. It is genuinely admirable how much better I think Circe handles basically every aspect of its writing. I'm excited to read Miller's next novel and see if she pushes herself further.)

Episode on Circe by Madeleine Miller and Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology by Jess Zimmerman 

Episode on The Odyssey

Episode on The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller