#tangerine edward bloor

[hello-its-j10]

low-key just remembered that tangerine [edward bloor] existed and uhhh so cool :3

GUYS IS PAUL FISHER POSSIBLY CAMERON TOTAL DRAMA

[haveyoureadthispoll]

Paul Fisher sees the world from behind glasses so thick he looks like a bug-eyed alien. But he’s not so blind that he can’t see there are some very unusual things about his family’s new home in Tangerine County, Florida. Where else does a sinkhole swallow the local school, fire burn underground for years, and lightning strike at the same time every day? The chaos is compounded by constant harassment from his football-star brother, and adjusting to life in Tangerine isn’t easy for Paul—until he joins the soccer team at his middle school. With the help of his new teammates, Paul begins to discover what lies beneath the surface of his strange new hometown. And he also gains the courage to face up to some secrets his family has been keeping from him for far too long. In Tangerine, it seems, anything is possible.

[blitzstoneshouldbecanon]

What are you currently reading?

Tangerine by Edward Bloor (for school)

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (for fun)

Best Friends Brother by Bizarrestars (for fanfic purposes)

[theferalfangirl]

I haven't actually posted anything, but I've got a lot of ideas so I'd like people to ask me about those.

Writer Confessions Bingo

Send the name of a character to my ask box.

I will fill out this bingo card confessing all the things I've put them through or that they have experienced in my writing.

[hahahahawk]

When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was Tangerine by Edward Bloor. It was modern. It was surreal. It was gripping.

(The other novels of his i read at the time didn’t hit me as hard as Tangerine)

—- Fast forward 20+ years. —-

I don’t read like I did as a kid. I read genre fiction, I read romance, I lean on audiobooks a lot.

Specifically, I’ve been leaning on A Taste of Gold and Iron for the past few months. I’ve listened to it 4 times now? It’s my go to bedtime story. Every time I finish the book, I flirt with new/different books, but inevitably return to Casey Jones’ performance of the love story between Kadou and Evamer.

Kadou is third in line to the throne and Evamer is his guard/servant/companion—a position known as a kahya. The kayahlar (plural) are highly trained royal “guards” with an education pipeline that raises kids from as young as 10. Cadets graduate to be in the fringe guard, then can be promoted to the Core Guard which are all the attendants to the royal family. The power and loyalty dynamics between a prince and his servant were a big topic in the book.

—-

A couple weeks back I was thinking about books that has a big impact on my childhood, so Tangerine came to mind. Now that im older and know more about the publishing industry, I wondered about Bloor’s career and what he’s been up to since then—if anything at all!

Found a couple titles from the library, downloaded London Calling and Taken.

—

Tonight I got in bed early so rooted around on my phone for something to read, found the Bloor titles and opened up Taken because it has chess imagery on the cover.

It’s set in America in 2035, in a wealthy gated city in Florida. The main character is a young teen girl who lives there. She tells us via reading her own school essays that “domestic servant” is now one of the top 2 jobs in the county.

The top tier of servant comes from an agency called “Royal Domestic Servants” that provides butlers, maids, cooks, nannies. These elite servants to the wealthy are meant to organize menial labor (cleaning, grounds keeping) rather than do it. And they’re trained to protect their employers. An “unspoken rule” is that these “royal” servants are expected to take bullets for the family they serve.

—-

But I don’t think any of the rich snooty Florida folks are going to deliver passionate monologs about the duty of care they owe to their servants.

ATOGAI is really good, even though my first time through I had to do the first 3 chapters two or three times to have a grounded understanding of the story.

[monmuses]

List three muses that read, and what books they're currently reading!

unprompted asks - always accepting!

Charlotte loves reading and currently has multiple books that she's in the process of reading roughly 8 different books. The main one she's hooked onto is "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" by Patrick Süskind. She likes her mystery and darker novels!

Braelynn also reads and is currently reading one book, and it's "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor! She loves reading narratives and stories like these, and she's currently halfway through.

Ophelia reads on occasion as a hobby when not traveling, but she's unfortunately a huge nerd. She consumes lots and lots of encyclopedias and books full of knowledge pertaining to botany, medicine, etc. There's not many to name because she purchases them for different purposes.

[magicaldancer5678]

Re-reading Tangerine by Edward Bloor because it's a weird project of mine this year to re-read childhood, or in this case, books I read in middle school, and document my thoughts here.

Oh my gosh I knew the parents were terrible but I don't remember them being this self-centered. Also the environmental themes are much more potent than I thought.

[rinsfujo]

tysm for the taggie <3

three ships i like : bakudeku, itafushi, satosugu

first ship : squidbob (i was like 8.)

last song i listened to : airplane mode by limbo

favorite childhood book : tangerine by edward bloor

currently reading : for the wolf by hannah whitten (i havent picked it up since august…)

currently watching : in general, sk8 the infinity. right this moment? 21 jump street.

currently consuming : PEPPERMINT TEA BABY!!!

currently craving : nerds gummy clusters but the berry flavor

tags: @ any of my followers or mutuals who wanna participate pls do <3 i’m too shy to tag anyone directly ….

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better:

Tagged by @goth-automaton yo! thanks for the tag :)

3 Ships I like: mannn jus' three? okay my favored children are Nemestine, Creva, and Weskertine

First Ship Ever: Freddy Kruger/Nancy Thompson. I am nothing if not consistant in my villian/final girl (heroine) pair supremacy

Last Song You Heard: "Renegade (We Never Run)" off the Arcane Season 2 soundtrack

Favorite Child Lichhood Book: "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak

Currently Reading: Still reading those Resi Novels by S.D. Perry whenever I get a chance to

Currently Watching: Arcane, Season 2

Currently Consuming: nothing, I ate [sou- redacted] before doing this, woops

Currently Craving: a good strong drink but that requires me to get up and pour a glass and I don't feel like pushing through the multiple layers of relity to grab a [redacted] to swig down my [also redacted]

Tags for 9 people pffh I tag whoever I want:

@naerwenia​

@coiled-dragon​

@s-dei​

@lmshady​

@depraveddove​

@the-bar-sinister​

@unchartedperils​

@sweet7simple​

@meltic-daze​

@meiguiuk​

and whoever else wants to I'm not your parental aid

[tinstol]

If anyone wants to hear about an incident that made me think I was crazy until literally today keep reading

Ok so 10th grade I was bored in health class and was thinking about random shit and I remembered this book that I read in middle or elementary school called Tangerine but could only vaguely remember what it was about so I looked up the plot on Wikipedia and the plot described on it was this really weird shit about a fire and a tangerine being used as a vessel for God and I was like “huh. I don’t remember any of that” but then moved on.

Then when I got home from school that day I looked at the Wikipedia page again and this time it had the actual plot of the book. And the last edit was listed as 10 minutes ago. But I genuinely thought I had hallucinated the whole thing because it was so bizarre

But today I was thinking about that time so I went to see if you could look at the past edits and apparently you can and it was real

So yeah you can look at it here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/797719794

[keepitdreamin]

trying to remember a book i read in like 5th or 6th grade and i think it's the westing game although i mostly just remember the vibe of reading this mystery book as a class and theorizing about who did it. i also remember at the time really liking the writing style so i guess i'll have to read it now and see if it rings any more bells.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

No, You Don’t Automatically Owe Your Parents Love and Respect: A Reading List

Bug’s recent post about Turning Red, and especially all the thoughtful responses, made me decide to put together a list of Middle Grade and YA novels in which the parents are negligent, imperfect, judgmental, narrow-minded, and/or some combination of all four, and aren’t shown to be in the right by the end of the story. More importantly, while the child protagonist may face pressure from other characters to help/accept their parent, the book overall doesn’t suggest this is automatically The Right Thing To Do. I decided to leave off books where parents are straight-up abusive (like A Step From Heaven, What Jamie Saw, Rules of Survival, and The Great Gilly Hopkins,) because the parent(s) in those stories are unambiguously in the wrong—it’s clear to the reader, if not the protagonist, pretty much from the beginning that these are not good parents. This list obviously isn’t exhaustive, and I tried to include as many books as possible that were “genre fiction” (fantasy, sci fi, mysteries, adventures, most historical fiction) that subverts putting the burden on the child to accept their parent’s flaws, because those stories aren’t nearly as common as realistic fiction that tackles the imperfect parent.

The first section are Middle Grade novels, the second are YA novels and the last section are novels for adults that have child protagonists and are Alex Award recipients, an award “given to books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults”. I also tried to list the books in sections one and two approximately in order of suggested reading age, from youngest to oldest. Even though I have a bee in my bonnet about Middle Grade books being retroactively labelled as YA, I did include a few Middle Grade novels in the YA category (like Silent to the Bone and Homecoming,) which would almost certainly have been published as YA if the category had existed when the books came out. Animorphs isn’t included because I’m assuming if you’re reading this you’re already a fan of the series.

Final Caveat: I would strongly recommend all of these books, but some have aspects that haven’t aged well, ie, The Planet of Junior Brown was published in 1971 and its attitude towards mental illness is accordingly outdated, and The Letter, The Witch, and the Ring’s portrayal of gender exploration is similarly outdated, but again, it came out in 1972, and for the time it was incredibly subversive and ground-breaking.  

The “My Teacher” series by Bruce Coville, especially My Teacher Is an Alien

The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring by John Bellairs

Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson

ParaNorman from LAIKA Studios

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn  

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett Krosoczka

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

****************************

Silverwing and Sunwing by Kenneth Oppel

His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman (although The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage unfortunately ret-cons this to some extent)

Silent to the Bone by E.L Konigsburg

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

The Planet of Junior Brown by Virginia Hamilton

Homecoming by Cynthia Voight

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters by Gail Giles

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

The Pigman by Paul Zindel

Hero by S.L. Rottman

Burning Up by Caroline B. Cooney (a lot of Cooney’s books subvert the Mother Knows Best trope)

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

********************************

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell (not a sequel to The Secret Life of Bees : )

Help for the Haunted by John Searles

[replacementispending]

Why is Tangerine ignored as a piece of literature?

Seriously, compared to how much hype other middle school books like The Giver and Freak the Mighty get, Tangerine by Edward Bloor is that neglected middle child which is actually pretty great, and most people I’ve talked to don’t like the book for pretty inconsequential, unjustified reasons. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of why you should read Tangerine if you haven’t, and if you have and don’t like it, why I think you should rethink your opinion.

-It’s honestly just a really well done coming-of-age story about a boy going from meekly allowing himself, his family and community to live in lies to refusing to live in such a toxic way and actively acknowledging, seeking, and living in the truth, even if it’s painful sometimes, as it’s better in the long run. Okay, long reason over. Now, here are some fun ones:

-SO MANY POSSIBLE SHIPS! Due to there being so many characters in the book, there’s possibilities for so many different possibilities for ships. This includes, but isn’t limited to, Paul/Joey, Tino/Victor, Paul/Kerri, Paul/Theresa, Paul/Gino, etc.

-It features the narrative of a disabled person. Paul is disabled due to his eyesight (I have seen articles stating that Paul’s disability isn’t real, but the October 5th entry specifically shows that Paul’s peripheral vision is severely limited to the point of it causing trouble for Paul) and is often treated is a disrespectful way and like a second-class human being because of this, and is denied basic rights because of it, even if he’s perfectly capable. Namely, not being allowed to play soccer. It’s pretty great representation for minorities who have been treated as if they aren’t capable, even if they are.

-PoC representation. In the book, Paul states that in Tangerine, “the minorities are the majority”. Due to Paul’s relocation, we are introduced to many wonderful PoC, namely the Cruz family. Theresa is a no-nonsense, hardworking girl who also has a lot of passion and care for those around her. So does Tino. Luis is a role model to all of those around him and so much wisdom and emotion. Other wonderful PoC in the book include the entire Tangerine  Middle School population , the Cruzes, and Antoine Thomas (I’m pretty sure).

-FEMINISM. There are so many capable girls in this book. The book even makes a point about the girls being on the team and many of them making the All-County Team, and points out people’s shock and surprise over that fact. The girls, including Dolly, Shandra, and Maya, are all super awesome. Other wonderful girls  in the book include Theresa, who is awesome for reasons I mentioned above, and Mrs. Fisher, who while does have some glaring flaws concerning her value of appearances over the actual truth, is overall a person who holds her family together while her husband obsessed with the other child and has kind values, like when she makes sure Paul will never be discriminated against due to his sight again by not getting an IEP.

-Lastly, this book is really interesting from a psychological point of view. Erik obviously has some problems which could be explained by a mental disorder like Conduct Disorder or Antisocial Personality Disorder, it can be theorized that Mrs. Fisher is so focused on outside appearances due to repressed shame over her own family’s situation, Mr. Fisher’s obsession with Erik is so interesting, and Paul’s transition from somebody meek and submissive who listens to his family’s lies, toxic behavior,and denial (Mr. Fisher indulging in his Erik favoritism and Mrs. Fisher accepting lies (the koi fish thing with the Homeowners Association is pretty much them accepting any BS as long as they’re the victim, her obsession with appearances is pretty much her denying the truth for a better version of the truth, Paul confronting her with anything she doesn’t want to talk about is met with denial)) to him finally realizing that he’s living lies and gain the courage to face against the toxic environment he’s living with and expose the truth, no matter the consequences.

TL;DR: Tangerine is a great, nuanced book that you should at least give it a try.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

I know you've given some Japanese literature recs in the past but do you have any other books you recommend or maybe just personally enjoyed reading?They don't have to be only Japanese authors, really just anything you've enjoyed reading.

I answered a question about favorite books in the past and then took it down a few hours later in a fit of paranoia, haha. The terrifying ordeal of (one's favorite books) being known. But book recommendations or books one enjoys reading are a slightly different matter (lord knows I do NOT enjoy reading or recommend some of my favorite books), so I can give it a go.

Under a cut for length

The Once and Future King by T. H. White. My favorite book and one I will recommend to almost everyone. TOaFK is a collection of four smaller books (with a fifth "sequel", The Book of Merlin, that I think works best as a standalone, as most of the best bits have been retroactively added into the first book anyway) that retell the story of King Arthur from an anarchistic viewpoint as Arthur grows up and struggles to understand the causes of human suffering and warfare. Some portions of the books are beautifully witty and fun while other portions are deeply sentimental and heartbreaking. TOaFK humanizes these legendary, larger than life figures like no other adaptation of Arthur I've ever read before. Despite being very much written as response to WWII, it reads as a response to the human condition, no matter the age. It explains the answer to ending violence and also explains why this is fundamentally impossible in the same breath. A beautiful, brutal book. I am not blind to its faults (its treatment of the female characters, particularly Guinevere, is a bit lackluster, and there are some issues with anti-Scottish sentiments), but I love it to death and think it is very much worth your time.

Tangerine by Edward Bloor. This is a kid's book but one that I think holds up well even into adulthood. Following a visually handicapped boy as he moves to a new, primarily white suburb on the edge of a Black and Hispanic neighborhood and learns to navigate in his new life and new communities, this novel discusses the concepts of things hidden in plain sight that everyone refuses to see.

David Doesn't Get It by Vi Cao. This isn't a mainstream book at all - it's a bound collection of webcomics - but fuck it, I'm going to recommend it anyway. You can read it here on Webtoon as the author adds more comics from her backlog over time. DDGI is a diary/essay webcomic by the fictional character David Nguyen as he talks about his struggles to assimilate with the world, particularly in regards to asexuality, generational trauma and cycles of abuse, and family life as a Vietnamese-American. Along the way, his other family members and loved ones offer their own stories and experiences. I barely cry these days, but DDGI is one of the few things that makes me sob every time. Vi's writing and delivery are transcendentally good, and I'm incredibly grateful that I've been able to talk with her and have her writing as a part of my life. The first few comics can be a bit crass and feel a little outdated, but going in for the long haul is completely worth it imo.

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am a shameless Dostoevsky fan, and normally I'd recommend The Brothers Karamazov, but there is just... something so charming about The Idiot that I am going to stick it on this list instead. Idiot follows a naive, innocent to the point of foolishness man returning to Russia from a long stay in a Swiss sanatorium whereupon he ends up in a love triangle due to his own naive actions. A very interesting look at different flavors of love and how they intersect with pity. In terms of translations... I am not terribly fond of Pevear and Volokhonsky (which I mention because they're usually the easiest to find in bookstores)... although your preferences may certainly differ.

A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick. This is pushing the definition of an enjoyable book slightly, but PKD produces some of the best interpretations of psychosis I've ever read (at least, they're similar enough to my experiences and thought processes that I find them compelling), and this is... one of the more straightforward ones, shall we say. Scanner focuses heavily on the concept of paranoia and being watched and does an amazingly accurate job of depicting the "braindead" states of drug-induced (or otherwise) psychosis.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. I find Gaiman entertaining almost all of the time, but Anansi Boys is my favorite of his works. It's like if American Gods was funny. Taking place in the same universe as American Gods, actually, Anansi Boys follows two brothers Charlie and Spider as they attempt to deal with the death of their father, the trickster god Anansi, and their sudden reintroduction into each other's lives after an entire lifetime spent apart. Hilariously written.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Heller is one of my favorite authors, but I wouldn't usually classify him as an enjoyable read. Catch-22 is, perhaps, an exception to that. Skirting around the reasons why I like it, which are a bit too personal for comfort, Catch-22 describes a ridiculous platoon of soldiers attempting to cope with the ridiculousness of warfare in a way that is generally humorous up until a string of deaths near the last third of the book.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. God, I love Ishiguro's writing, and I feel like this novel is one of his strongest. It's certainly my favorite to read. Remains tracks an aging British butler on a trip through the English countryside (the scenery descriptions are heavenly) as he recounts the major moments of disappointment and pride in his career; however, readers soon discover he's a rather unreliable narrator and understand that there is a lot more regret below the surface than first appears. Ishiguro is very, very good at writing stories about nostalgic melancholy, failed men, and failed states that once thought themselves great. This one is, I think, the most narratively succinct of all of them.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Man, I love Diana Wynne Jones. I read tons of her stuff as a kid. I'm recommending this one not because it's a favorite, per se (I think I like her Chrestomanci series more), but because it's very well-known and is self-contained in a way many of her things aren't. HMC is quite different from the movie version, but if you liked the scenes of Sophie and Howl bitching at each other, then you will love this. It is a book entirely comprised of bitching. Howl has a car and drives like a fucking maniac. Howl is a wreck. So is Sophie, but in a completely different way. Calcifer is still great. Funny, lovely, lots of delightful background characters, nobody is a sexy anime boy but everyone has a good time.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. The writing styles of this book... are a feast. This book is a delightful treat to read. It is a series of 6 slightly interconnected stories that nest within one another, held together by the common thread of a piece of music called The Cloud Atlas String Quartet and the reincarnated soul of a character in the previous story. Each story focuses on a different theme, in a different time period and location, and has a wildly different writing style. Some stories are action-focused while others are slower paced, but I genuinely enjoyed each one and can't recommend this enough.

Watchmen by Alan Moore. I am not a fan of superhero stories at all, so Watchmen, a deconstruction of the superhero genre, is one of the few I enjoy. Set in an America where superheroes were once real and have now been largely outlawed, Watchmen challenges the concepts of authority and heroes as several masked vigilantes rise again to respond to a mysterious threat and their own moral struggles.

The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Discworld is a loooong (40+) volume series that can be read in mostly any order, set in the fantasy land of Discworld where anything can happen, provided it is ridiculous. The first Discworld books poke fun at the fantasy genre in general which is... okay... but the series quickly turns into various social commentaries portrayed in such delightful and inspiring ways. I would say that this series is one written with a lot of anger and a lot of hope that our own ridiculous world can become somewhat of a better place if we all take our heads out of our own asses from time to time.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. This graphic novel is a coming of age story set in the Iranian Revolution which serves as, imo, a very easily accessible introduction to a topic which shamefully isn't discussed much in my part of the world. Satrapi also talks about her experiences with the cultural divide between Iran and Europe during the 1980s and 1990s. I read this book fairly young (when i was 10 or so) and it has stuck with me ever since.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I fucking love EoE. This is a meta (in that the characters are aware of their own roles and discuss their roles within this framework) retelling of the Biblical stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel set in a turn of the 20th century California Central Valley farming community. EoE discusses the concepts of free will, in particular the free will to do acts of good or acts of evil, and the nature of good/evil itself. Can't recommend this enough, regardless if people like Steinbeck's other works or not.

[twowink]

NUMBER EIGHY except you can do just a sentence lol

[uovoc]

2021 media consumption year in review

God tier

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden - graphic novel/webcomic. Hugely tender story about second chances for the crew of a historical restoration spaceship, and lesbians finding each other across the stars. The negative space in this is so fucking good and every full-page spread punched me in the gut.

Colza - animated short. Farming lizards, aeoroplanes, and gorgeous orchestral score.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead - Tiny heartfelt time travel mystery that unfolds among the neighborhood kids in 1970s New York. Well-deserved Newberry Medal winner.

Infinity Train - cartoon. Specifically seasons 2 and 3, worth getting through season 1 for. it's all about the raw emotion baby!!

Legend of Hei - urban xianxia webtoon about 10-yr-old cat yao's adventures with his human and nonhuman friends. Wholesome friendship and kickass animation.

Cherry Magic: 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard - jdrama. Adachi can read the mind of anyone he touches, including his officemate who has a massive crush on him. Hilarious and tender gay romcom.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore - for best results read the first 2 Graceling books first.

This American Life - podcast. Interviews and essays from the American public on a variety of topics. Sometimes moving, often fascinating, occasionally humorous, always deeply personal.

99% Invisible - podcast. Design and architecture. "No stories about people. Just stories about stuff." — Roman Mars, host.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - Journal of a man who lives in an infinite labyrinth with an ocean trapped in its walls. Has its weak points, but overall incredible for its surreal atmosphere, gentle subversion of horror tropes, and distinctive narrative voice.

Decent entertainment

Space Sweepers - movie

O Human Star by Blue Delliquanti - webcomic

Leverage - live-action show

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts - cartoon, quit 2/3 of the way through

A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Mitchells vs the Machines - movie

Nezha Reborn - movie. Cool worldbuilding, felt more like a videogame though.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vgo - novella

When the Tiger Came down the Mountain by Nghi Vgo - novella

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

Fei Ren Zai - webtoon

All Saints Street (I really agree it should be translated as All Hallows Ave for maximum pun) - webtoon

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

The Eternal Smile by Gene Luen Yang - graphic novel

The Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells - book series

The Owl House - cartoon

Moonlight - movie

To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything - movie

Always Coming Home by Ursula K Le Guin

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

A Choir of Lies by Alexandra Rowland

Limetown - podcast

Dark Water by Laura McNeal

Disliked and often DNF

Bitter Root - graphic novel

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Archive 81 - podcast

Old Gods of Appalachia - podcast

SAYER - podcast

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego - cartoon

To Say Nothing of the Dog By Connie Willis

The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

Provenance by Ann Leckie

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett

Space Opera by Catherine Valente

The City We Became by NK Jemisin

Too like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

The Expanse - TV series

84k by Claire North

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore

Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Placemakers - podcast

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Ologies - podcast. Got bored after a while.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis Taylor

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

Assorted nonfiction books

A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett - essays.

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer - Essays on the intersection of indigenous spirituality with natural science. Commits the sin of bad science metaphors.

The New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander - how mass incarceration perpetuates institutional anti-black racism in the United States.

Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger ed. Lily Dancyger - the essay by Minda Honey was great, the rest of them were nothing new.

Getting Physical: The Rise of Fitness Culture in America by Shelly Mckenzie - concise and very readable history of how Americans have conflated physical health with moral virtue, starting in the 1950s.

Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener - critical memoir of author's career in tech startups. Her crippling insecurity and substitution of personal attacks for critical analysis were… not good.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Kolk - neurology of trauma. Pretty technical, more targeted towards practicing clinicians than patients.

NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman - history of autism research and perception of autism in America, starting with Kanner.

Vesper Flights by Helen MacDonald - essays on human-animal interactions with GOOD science metaphors.

H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald - full of cool falconry facts in addition to being a memoir about falconry as a quietly feral expression of love and grief.

Loving Mr. Spock by Barbara Jacobs - memoir of author's marriage to an autistic man. Very dated and now reads badly. Quit 2 chapters in.

The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida

Spectrum Women ed. Barb Cook and Michelle Garnett

The Way I See It by Temple Grandin

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman - how the transition from primarily print-based mediums to television has affected Americans' information processing and political engagement.

No Time to Spare by Ursula K Le Guin - essays.

Eating the Ocean by Elspeth Probyn - metaphysical-literary analysis of the relationship between humans and fish. Quit 3 chapters in bc I was expecting more environmental science.

First, Break All the Rules by Gallup - How to be a good manager, boiled down to: don't spend too much time trying to fix people's weaknesses; instead, figure out how to utilize their strengths.

Race after Technology by Ruha Benjamin - how digital automation deepens racial discrimination while appearing benevolent.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain - good insights into workplace advantages, but is suspiciously lacking in any mention of autism.

Change: How to Make Big Things Happen by Damon Centola - how the structure of relationship networks affects adoption of social change. Good stuff, would recommend.

Aliens in America by Sandra Tsing Loh - essays about growing up in a chinese-german family in LA.

The Madwoman and the Roomba by Sandra Tsing Loh - got maybe half a chapter in and DNF.

The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison - meh. At least it was short.

Where Land and Water Meet: A Western Landscape Transformed by Nancy Langston. Historical analysis of how human perception of water and land has directed wetlands management strategy, using the Malheur Basin as a case study.

The Polyamorists Next Door: Inside Multiple-Partner Relationships and Families by Elisabeth Sheff. Ethnographic study of American polyamorous families with children. Pretty good outline of typical relationship models among the sample population.

They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. Meh. I think it's targeted more towards beginning writers.

The Lesbian Polyamory Reader by Marcia Munson and Judith Stelboum. Was published in the 90s and contains more 2nd-wave feminist philosophy than practical knowledge. TBH it feels pretty stale now.

[frogandcloud]

number one

I got out of the hospital three days ago. The psych ward. I'm seventeen, I've been there twice. After getting out I didn't feel depressed, I felt very positive and I thought my new meds were working, but now I don't think they are. I feel a lot of things and nothing at all. I'll be going to residential in a months time, cause of the waiting list. I do want to get better, but sometimes it feels like I never will. Whenever I feel bad, I'm sometimes reminded that that feeling won't last forever, but neither do the good feelings. I don't think that's fair. acceptance. I have to accept it. Then I'll feel better. I don't really get that. If acceptance was the cure then why are so many people depressed still. What happens next. There is no cure. How can I accept that my happiness will never last? I don't know how to do that.

tangerine.

It's a book I'm reading. I read it in middle school but basically forgot it all. I found it at the hospital, then I took it home. I'm not sure if I'm really sorry about that. Anyway, I really like it. I like how the main character, Paul, thinks and how he feels, and I love soccer too. I can't play it anymore though. It feels like a part of me was stolen. I feel a little more empty.

" ' Do you mean, it's nice weather here if you're a duck?'

' Yeah. Or a tangerine. But now it's all upside-down, you know? It's all messed up. The rain clouds show up everyday, just like they're supposed to, but there aren't any tangerine trees. Just people. And the people have no use for the rain clouds. So the clouds go around looking for all the tangerine trees. They can't find them, they get mad, and they start thundering and lightning and dumping the rain on us. '

I had the feeling Mom knew what I was talking about, but all she would say is, 'Clouds don't get mad, Paul' " (Edward Bloor)

(my old lit teacher would be proud of my quoting skills I think.)

It makes me laugh. I like his imagination and I like how he's very observant of people. I feel like I have those things in common with ol' Paul.

i'm not sure how to end this. i'll stop typing now