#thriftbooks she is everything to me

[morethanwonderful]

HOLY SHIT

[priestessamy]

It's here! It's out! You can buy it!

A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing has officially released!

For those who haven't heard me going on and on about this, It's being published by Bella Books, who have a particular focus on sapphic literature. There's some really fun representation including a trans protagonist, and despite being urban fantasy it's pretty warm and sweet.

Harper Zeale is finally taking up the family business—hunting supernatural threats. One of her first jobs is to solve the murder of a girl at Malcolm-Baptiste College, a small school in central Illinois. It’s obvious the killer was a werewolf, but Esther Talbot—the only werewolf around—is a harmless puppy who wouldn’t hurt a fly.

Without any leads to follow, Harper enlists the help of Esther and her friends in the search for the killer. All she has to do is keep them all alive, keep her dangerous instincts in check, and keep a lid on her foolish crush.

I'm really proud of this thing. It feels like a ton of work has gone into it, and folks seem pretty hyped about it.

If you would like to preview it first, Bella Books has the full first chapter available for free so you can get a feel for the vibe. And if it does strike your fancy, it's available for purchase through pretty much any major retailer, up to and including everything from Amazon to Thriftbooks.

Please please please, if this sounds like your kinda thing, give it a try, and maybe pass this along to your mutuals. I would really appreciate it!

[Shoutout to Djarn for their amazing picrew that I used for these hasty creations of my girls.]

[colorsoftheriver]

I made my way to the garage and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” my daughter said. I slowly opened the door and peered inside, catching a glimpse of her wiping tears away with her sleeves before turning to face me. She was sitting on a stool in front of the bicycle.

“Oh. Hi Mom. Did you need something?”

I paused for a second, angling my gaze toward the ground.

I need to do this.

“There’s something I’d like to talk to you about,” I began.

“Now?” she asked. There was a hint of irritation in her voice.

“Yes. Now.” I looked up and met her glassy eyes.

“I’ve noticed that it’s been hard for you to….” I stopped, realizing that I was falling short on how to say this tactfully. “It’s just that….” I tried again, scrambling my brain for the right words.

“Mom. Just tell me,” my daughter said. I could hear the irritation more this time around.

“I don’t want you to have the same regrets that I have about how I raised you.” The sentence fell right out of my mouth.

My daughter’s eyes narrowed. “If you’re worried that I’m going to neglect my child, you have my word that it will never happen.”

I winced at the sharpness in her tone before standing up straighter. “Are you sure about that?”

“I don’t need parenting advice from someone who ruined my childhood!” she snapped.

Her eyes were shooting daggers in my direction.

I took a deep breath. I should be expecting this.

She has every right to be upset.

“Please hear me out.”

She pressed her lips together in a straight line, and her eyes began to glimmer with tears again, yet she said nothing.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry for driving your dad away, and I’m sorry for being so uninvolved. You have every right to be upset with me, and I don’t expect you to forgive me. But I do expect you not to repeat what I passed down to you. You’ve already been through so much pain because of me. I don’t want you to have to live with the same regret that I have.”

My daughter tried to blink back her tears, which only caused them to stream down her cheeks. She angrily wiped them away and looked at the floor. “And…” I said with a tight voice.

“And…” I tried again, feeling my own tears start to rise.

“I just want you to know that if I could change our history, I would do it in a heartbeat.” Tears spilled from my eyes, and my daughter looked up.

She bit down on her lower lip, stood up, and began slowly stepping toward me. When she wrapped her arms around me, I clung to her like a lifeline.

“So would I, Mom,” she whispered. “So would I.”

I felt the tension around us dissolve, and our house, which had been holding its breath for years, finally exhaled.

- Page 96 - 100 of it hurts to breathe, Part 6: The Mother: Exhale

Enjoyed this excerpt? Read more from my novella 'it hurts to breathe' (linked below). Available on Amazon, Google books, Barnes & Noble, eBay, Bookshop, Thriftbooks, etc.

it hurts to breathe: a novella

https://a.co/d/et1pONa

[croziers-compass]

Summary Notes of Terror Camp 2023 (9.12.23)

(A small summary of notes and references I took during Terror Camp Day One)

Erasure of Sailors of Colour in Arctic Exploration!!! Needs to be explored much more. JEAMS Fitz-James Fitzjames - w'ont put his apostrophes in the back of words. Capitalising Letters where you would Not usually capitalise them is like Italics. it is Emphasis in speech when written.

These jokes are getting Auld. (If you know you know)

Most things were phonetically written.

WOAHOO!!! - James Thompson

Relic? Or Artefact?

Semiophore - Objects regarded in a given community as carries of meaning.

Walpole is a little fucked in opinion. (imo)

Dundy was awful at spelling. Worse than Goodsir.

Capitalists should really look into Thomas Holloway

Everyone knows and loves Snarfin' On Them Ribs Saturday Man Proposes, God Disposes

Lady Jane was offended.

Hudson Bay Speedrun - Let Curiosity be your Compass

James Knight does not girlboss but he thinks he does.

A Ship Called The Whalebone Roald was both an asshole but good at what he did.

The Raft of the Medusa - We knew where that was going.

Johnathan Miles is a Horse Girl

Foreshadowing of the Cannibalism and Mutiny

HOOSH

History is a Panopticon They were just people... (Also a Note. I am worried that a lot of the fandom thinks that the concept of a Panopticon originates from TMA and that it was a TMA reference. It was not. I am wondering now if the TMA listeners know who Jeremy Bentham is.)

Cultural Understandings

IceBound Not Down - I did not take a lot of notes on Professor Hester Blum's panel. I was far too invested to write and when it was over I realised I had not made any notes. She was incredible. I loved her narratives very much. I would love to get her book. It is on my list! You would have had to have been there. It was wonderful. Not News: Dan Simmons is a wee fuckboy. We have established this a lot. He also establishes this for us. (?) Umlaqtalik - There is a boat there.

Imperialism is a disease.

How to read Ethically!

Some of my Notes from the Panel with Paul Ready and Nive Nielsen:

"You can hear a smile in a recording" - Nive Nielsen

Paul "I am not an expert on Anything" Ready

He is so very attached to Goodsir. Goodsir is very much a part of him. Hearing him talk about how integrated Goodsir is to himself was wonderful.

"I think we need more Goodsirs in the world."

Nive and her impressive education on the importance of indigenous representation and how that impacted her. How her voice as not only an actor but an Indigenous Actor was taken with such respect and was given the space to allow for respectful and creative extrapolation on the Set.

A small Note in my book that says: Oh goodness me he is hideously beautiful. I cannot stand how beautiful he really is. Oh my goodness.

"Nothing is good or bad. Just the potential to be." - Nive Nielsen - Terror Camp 2023

Nive: All Humans are good at picking up sincerity.

Goodsir would have hated Hickey.

"Ah. Would you look at that. Dead with my ass carved up." - Paul Ready

Nive: You cannot kill people or let people die because everything is connected and you do not know how that will effect your future. You have to depend on each other. So when there was conflict you had to solve it with as little violence as possible.

A very Important Book Nive Nielsen had spoken about!

You can get a copy on Thriftbooks of "Give Me My Father's Body" by Kenn Harper Here

I had an incredible amount of fun during this event. I am so excited for tomorrow. What notes you are seeing here are just references to part of the panels and some side comments I had made between all of my other more detailed notes. There was so much to be had and so much that we saw and heard. The speakers were incredible and each individual was incredibly dedicated to their impressive Art and Passion. It truly showed. As Nive said: You can hear a smile in a recording". I feel as if this applies to every one of the speakers and all of the panels we had the pleasure to enjoy today.

I have more detailed notes in my journal which, of course, you can see I scrawled a lot in. I had amassed about seven whole pages worth in that time. So to type them all would be just simple a task I cannot do. But I am open to discussions regarding how everything was if you did not get to attend it! Also Terror Camp has a wonderful setup available for you to explore the other avenues that they have presented on their website. So please do go check that you if you are interested! I cannot wait to do this tomorrow with my fellow Shipmates. Thank you so much for everyone that put together @terrorcamp. I am quite excited for tomorrow!

With much love and saltwater kisses,

Second Leftenant in heart and spirit,

-Wilbur E. F. C.

[themasterpostblog]

Pencil/2D Animation Resources Masterpost

5/10/24:

Hello, I broke into my old account so I could make a little masterpost of resources I come across for learning pencil/2D animation. (Free or affordable classes, places to get tools, videos to give insider insight, etc.) I may not be able to get everything included, so if you think of something, you can reach out and suggest things to add! I will be updating this over time, with notes on when it was last recently updated. And maybe I'll end up giving the old blog a refresh too. I likely won't be making new masterposts outside of this one any time soon, nor updating any old ones. It's been SEVERAL years, and the internet is a different place. I would assume most of the old links are out of date by now, unfortunately. I hope that this list is helpful to you as well, and if I'm incorrect in anything I list, I'm learning too! So please be patient with me and feel free to reach out with a correction. It's not finished yet, but Tumblr deletes my posts before I finish them, so I'm starting with posting the skeleton and slowly updating this)

Find a Community to Learn From!

(recommended groups to lurk/join/make connections and ask questions)

What Tools Do I Need?

PDF Guide to Animation Desks, as written by David Nethry

(next line)

Where Do I Get Tools?

(Places where you can buy art supplies, software, etc)

Cartoon Supplies

(Online seller who carries Ingram Bond paper, lightboxes, storyboard pads, blank cels, etc. See also: Lightfoot LTD, which is identical in every way to Cartoon Supplies and for the life of me I'm not sure the difference, though both are equally recommended along side each other.)

Jet Pens

(Ah... I love window-shopping this site. If you love stationary like I do, you'll be on this site for hours adding things to your cart... and inevitably removing them because it's not feasible to spend hundreds on pens and sticky-note pads.)

Dickblick

(I've found they have good prices on name brands, but I haven't purchased from them yet. Often, I'm too overwhelmed by all the choices.)

Improve Your Art/Learn the Basics!

(anatomy classes, starter tools, etc)

Aaron Blaise (Co-Director of Brother Bear)'s Online Classes

He runs very good deals on the classes occasional, but you can also do a year's access to all classes and keep what you download, which is very useful! They're short, quick lessons, and tend to veer into more "helpful tips" than teaching, from what I've personally noticed, but it's well worth the price if you get them at a good deal!

Inside Look at the Industry -- aka: the Special Features:

(behind the scenes stuff, etc)

Books are more useful than you might think!

(Richard Williams Animator's Survival Toolkit, etc) (check out gently used copies of these books on Thriftbooks for a good deal!)

Nifty Free Resources

(Things like height charts, references, color wheels, blog posts, videos, etc)

What Artists Can Learn From Aladdin's Incredible Color by J. Holt [VIDEO]

(spacing for formatting)

The Art of Color Theory: Guide for Animators, Designers, and Artists (Animator Artist Life)

(space for formatting)

Free software!

GIMP

(A classic, GIMP is an old friend of mine. The first software I downloaded for art, I used to use it almost entirely to create animated GIFs for the Warrior Cat forums. Ah, how time has passed. Nowadays I can't even remember how to animate a GIF on there, but such is life. I still use it to this day for digital art, even having Corel Painter. Before GIMP, I animated the old fashioned way -- MS paint and Windows Movie Maker. With determination, I scripted and animated a handful of Warrior Cat characters frame by frame. Each frame of Hollyleaf or whoever it was blinking was the likely source of death for our old computer, may she rest in peace.)

Storyboarder

(Storyboarder is a free software with which you can use to create professional and clean storyboards. It also provides printable storyboard templates so you can do you work traditionally and re-upload it easily into the software! It also works with Wacom tablets. Check it out! It's actually super cool.)

Pencil 2D

(A free, open source software. Simplistic design, switch between raster and vector, and best of all, again, it's free. I haven't used this one much yet, but I've seen it positively talked about by many! I'll update with more research when I have the chance.)

Krita

(I haven't used this one yet, so I can't speak on it either! But it's going on the list so I can come back and research it later. My poor laptop is not going to handle this many downloads lol.)

OpenToonz

(I also haven't tried this, but see above, haha.)

Blender - Grease Pencil

(Blender is well known for 3D animation, but they added a 2D feature called Grease Pencil as well.)

WriterDuet

(Free for up to 3 projects, very simple, but upgrades to a $10 a month plan, which is... eh, I'll keep my Scrivener for now. I used to write scripts in Microsoft Word or the Notepad on PC back in the day, I don't think I personally need the fancy features.)

Trelby

(A free screenwriting software, very basic and simple, good for beginners.)

Keep an eye out for

(Humblebundle occasionally does software deals -- a good art bundle at a discount can give you an easy start!)

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Ranking Libraries in Animated Movies

We're all bookworms here--yes, even you, person who has stumbled across this post at 4am, questioning everything about your life--and so we have library envy, and a lot of that started YOUNG. So let's take a walk down memory lane and review and rank (in no particular order because frankly I don't care enough to be precise about this) them!

The Provincial Town Library

This darling little space is clearly a labor of love in a town where way too many people feel about books like Gaston do. I want to pat this little library on the head. It's trying so hard, and it's wonderful that it exists. I would curl up here and read for an afternoon. This library is your secondhand, Thriftbooks version of a library. Well loved, a bit worn, and meant to be read.

The Library in Beast's Castle

Bright, airy, absolutely stunning design, but maybe a smidge impersonal and meant to intimidate. There aren't any cozy reading nooks, and there is a ton of echoey space. I was floored by this library as a kid, and I wanted it, but this is the library equivalent of a Folio Society special edition. You look respectfully and perhaps carefully page through it because it's more of an object d'arte than a reading copy of a book.

Prince Derek's Library

This library lacks the natural light of the libraries in Beauty and the Beast, but LOOK at this beauty. It's big, it's warm-toned, and it's clearly a USE library. There are floor stacks, side stacking, leaners, and an open book hanging out! I'd want some more cozy spots to read in here, but even without them, you'd never drag me out of this library. It's basically your fancy, Eaton Centre version of Chapters (don't look at me like that, I don't have to acknowledge that Indigo turned a bookstore into a lifestyle brand if I don't want to). It has prestige, but it's meant to be all about the books.

The Pagemaster's Library

Yes, it's included. Yes, it's a technicality. Who's blog is this anyway??? This is a library that you go to when you literally have no other choice and the fate of the world is on the line. It is NOT inviting, not friendly, and there is something deeply impersonal about it. It doesn't TRY to imtimidate you, it doesn't care about you. It's basically an eldritch horror and you're trying not to poke it too hard. The shelves are LITERALLY closing in on you as they extend into forever.

Merlin's Library

Ok, I know he's a wizard and wizards are basically chaos incarnate, but seriously, Merlin. I'm calling the book version of CPS. There are almost certainly rats inder those stacks and piles. It looks damp. It's dark. It's cramped. The humidity is probably out of control. There are probably books dying slowly by being molded over. I want to stage a rescue mission for those poor tomes.

Rapunzel's Personal Library

Oh sweetie. Come with me.

The Corona Library

A little cozy, a friend to read with, space to stretch out...Yes. This is good. Much better! I would absolutely read like 20 books all at once here, and bonus points for the window and sunbeam spot to be a book cat in!

The Evil Queen's Library

Given that this is basically a combination of a tenured academic's and a witch's library...A+ no notes on this whole vibe. I'm bailing HARD because spiders, but this woman knows what her library aesthetic is and she nailed it. This shelf is Instagram-ready.

[let-them-sing-of-others]

okay dragon series!! one of them is aurelian cycle, but you already know about that one

a second I'm fond of is The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan. These are the memoirs of now-old world renowned dragon naturalist Isabella Trent, who's the leading expert in the field and shaped it into what it is today, changing the world. follow her story from childhood to where she is today, how she discovered her passion for dragons, the challenges she had to overcome as a woman scientist in a basically victorian era society. facing both physical challenges and the politics of science, it's mixed with a delightfully analytical and animalistic portrayal of dragons from her travels around the world. also has some, in my opinion, quite lovely relationships of several kinds. it has a bit of an unexpected twist in book 5, but it was pre-planned and not out of nowhere; i simply wasn't expecting it. Isabella has such a lovely voice and enthralling story--AND!! if you read the physical books, there's so many illustrations they're beautiful! please please read they're so good

another is A Chorus of Dragons by Jenn Lyons, which, my god where do I even begin to explain this one. it's a story about breaking cycles and how power corrupts even when you give it to "good" people, about what you can justify when you start seeing people as statistics. we follow our mc Kihrin, thief raised in a brothel who learns he's a missing prince, but he barely spends any time there before finding out that's the least important part of who he is, and the gods (who aren't actually gods, they're just powerful people who've been treated like gods) have actually been manipulating him for several lifetimes as their key wild card in a several millenia long demon war. there's a wide cast of well balanced characters, majority of which are queer, and who are real. this series is so incredibly confusing but you enjoy it, because everything works in cycles. the ending was planned from the beginning and if you're into worldbuilding, my GOD will you love this because it's so fuckin intricate. this series genuinely changed how I thought about literature and is one of the best series I've read in a long time. there's so much too it I can't really explain it because it's SO specific and detailed. but i will beg on my knees for everyone to read it please please please please please

hope that helps :)

DRAGONS!!! this helps immensely, thank you quil!!!

i’ll have to see if any of my local bookstores have the memoirs of lady trent, since i AM a fan of illustrations… not super optimistic but i can probably get them off thriftbooks if not. it’s a very interesting premise i haven’t seen before, writing a memoir from a character’s point of view, but it sounds like something i’d enjoy!!!

i did crack open ruin of kings one time at a b&n in like boston, and from what i’ve seen it ALSO has a funky format, so i think i’ll like that as well — unfortunately i did not buy it (did not have enough money on me) but i’ll probably be able to get that on audiobook or find an epub sometime :)

very excited to finally get some more dragon books!!! am still recovering from the aurelian cycle so it will probably take a while but. they are on the back burner of my mind now <3

[samwisethewitch]

If You Have a Uterus, You Need to Read This Book

A Woman's Book of Choices: Abortion, Menstrual Extraction, RU-486 by Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer was recommended to me by a friend the day after the news broke that the US Supreme Court was voting to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate federal abortion protections. She knew that, like a lot of people, I was scared and wanted to prepare myself for a post-Roe future. She had found A Woman's Book of Choices at a library and suggested I also give it a try.

I am so, so thankful to that friend, because I can honestly say that this is one of the most informative books I've ever read. There is some fantastic information in here, so I definitely want to put this resource on more people's radar. This is, as the title of this post suggests, a book I think everyone with a uterus should read.

My biggest complaint isn't actually about the book itself, but its publisher: they've allowed A Woman's Book of Choices to go out of print. In fact, it's so out of print it's entered rare book territory.

I wasn't even able to find used copies of this book online. Usually, even if a book is rare, I'm able to track down a few (very expensive) copies for resale on sites like Ebay, AbeBooks, ThriftBooks, etc. And I found this book so valuable, I might actually have been willing to cough up a couple hundred dollars for a physical copy. But there are no copies to be had. Literally. You can't even pay $200+ for a beat-up paperback.

Luckily, I was able to find a digital version of A Woman's Book of Choices on Scribd. That's great for me, because I already pay for a Scribd subscription. It's not so great for people who can't afford or don't want to pay the $10/month subscription fee. But I will say this -- Scribd offers a free trial and allows you to download books and documents. Do with that information what you will.

My local library also didn't have a copy. Neither did any of the colleges and universities in my area. However, I know some libraries have copies, and you can probably get it through an inter-library loan. You may also be able to electronically borrow a digital version. I know it's on archive.org, for example.

(I've also posted my own notes on A Woman's Book of Choices on my blog, sort of like my own personal CliffsNotes. Feel free to check that out.)

It may require a little bit of digging, but if you can get your hands on a copy, this is one of the most important books you'll ever read. There is information in here that may literally save a life someday, especially as states start to ban and restrict access to abortion. (Could that be part of the reason it's so hard to find now? Maybe.)

A Woman's Book of Choices really does address ALL of the choices for terminating an unwanted pregnancy. There's a chapter on how to find a good abortion provider if you live in a place where abortion is legal and a chapter on standards for abortion care. There's a couple of chapters on menstrual extraction (ME), which is not technically an abortion procedure but which can prevent unwanted pregnancies. There's a chapter on abortion with pills and a chapter on herbal remedies.

There's even a few places where the authors talk about the history of the reproductive justice movement and about how unwanted pregnancies were handled before Roe v. Wade. There's also multiple discussions of abortion law and of where different home-health methods like ME and herbs fall on the spectrum of probably-legal to almost-definitely-illegal.

It really is everything you've ever wanted to know (or didn't necessarily want to know but felt like you should know) about abortion.

There is A LOT of information in here. While the authors are very clear that this is not a "how-to" guide, they do provide a lot of detailed descriptions, research, and anecdotes -- including very clear and detailed descriptions of suction aspiration abortion, menstrual extraction, medication abortion, and even an herbal abortion (though this last comes with a lot of health warnings). They also provide resources where you could learn to do some of these things, like menstrual extraction, yourself. There's even medical textbook-style diagrams!

My biggest complaint about the book itself is that the section on herbal abortions only lists herbs by their common name and doesn't include a botanical name. This may seem like a nitpick, but when you're talking about the medicinal uses of herbs, it's really important to be as clear as possible. For example, "mistletoe" could refer to any of several plants in the Santalales order, some of which are poisonous. Botanical names would have made this section much more helpful.

Obviously, some of the information is bound to be outdated in a book published almost exactly 30 years ago, especially when that book is about medical procedures. For example, in 1992 RU-486 (now more commonly known as mifepristone) was a new technology that was only available in some European countries and hadn't been around long enough to study long term side effects. As I write this in 2022, mifepristone is one of the most commonly used abortion methods, and is statistically safer than Tylenol. About 50% of the abortions performed in the United States use mifepristone and misoprostol. Because this method is so safe, the FDA has approved its use at home without medical supervision, which makes this one of the best options for people who need to keep their abortion private.

The resources listed in the book, which were probably very exhaustive and very helpful in the 90's, are significantly less helpful now. Several of the groups mentioned in the "Information Networks" chapter are no longer active, and some of the books in the "Suggested Reading" section are out of print.

Another way this book shows its age is in the use of gendered language. The authors refer to abortion as a "women's issue" and regularly use "woman" to refer to any person seeking an abortion. Even the title, "A Woman's Book of Choices" implies that the issues discussed in this book only affect women.

In the early 1990s, abortion was very much seen as a (cisgender) women's issue. However, nowadays we're more aware of and comfortable talking about the reality that not everyone who wants or needs an abortion is a woman. A person seeking an abortion may be a cis woman, or they may be a trans man, nonbinary, genderfluid or genderqueer, or intersex. For this reason, pro-choice activists today tend to use more gender-neutral language, like saying "pregnant person" instead of "pregnant woman."

I think this is less a case of intentional transphobia on the part of the authors and more a case of language changing over time. Maybe someday we'll get an updated version of this book or one like it that talks about abortion through a specifically trans lens, but until then, a lot of this information is still relevant to people with uteruses who do not identify as women.

And finally, the authors of A Woman's Book of Choices could never have predicted the level and type of technology we would have at our fingertips in 2022, or the danger that would come with it. They never could have predicted smart phones, webcams, or location tracking. These technologies have drastically changed the way we relate to our bodies, and they pose new risks to people living in anti-abortion states.

Period tracking apps are a great example of this. Today, a lot of people use smart phone apps to track their cycle -- but those apps track your data, which could be used to prove you had an abortion. Add this to the fact that your smart phone continuously broadcasts your location through Wi-Fi, cellular data, and Bluetooth, and law enforcement can not only tell that you've had an abortion, but where and when you probably had it, all from your phone. If you live in a place where abortion is criminalized, as it is under new Texas laws, law enforcement can use data from a period tracking app like Flo (which has already been busted for selling data) to determine that you missed a period, then use location tracking to confirm that you visited a clinic in another state.

Obviously, the authors of A Woman's Book of Choices couldn't have warned against using period tracking apps or advised people not to bring their smart phones to abortion appointments, because those technologies didn't exist when this book was written. (Seriously though, if you live in a state with anti-abortion laws, delete your period tracking apps. You can track your cycle fairly easily with a notebook or calendar. And please do not take your phone to an out-of-state abortion.)

My point here is that, although this book is a great resource, it shouldn't be the end of your pro-choice education. Keep reading the news. Familiarize yourself with the law and its loopholes.  

But A Woman's Book of Choices is an excellent beginning to your pro-choice education. And for that, I really can't recommend it highly enough.

[dresupi]

Hey! I'll help with school supplies when my paycheck comes but I wanted to recommend to check in with your local library as far as books and resources for the kiddos goes! I am a library assistant who lives in a homeschool heavy area and I looked through and a lot of those books like Ramona quimby can be found in the kids section of your local library! If they don't have it you can ask for their interlibrary loans (if they're open) and their online resources as well! Super helpful 💜 stay safe

You’re a sweetheart, thank you. Yeah, our library doesn’t require masks (nowhere in our county does). The last time we tried to go, a bunch of kids were running around and running up to us to play with my kids, so we just decided not to go for the foreseeable future. Both my daughter and I are in the high-risk categories due to my chronic conditions and her severe asthma, but I did just get a donation from a very lovely person that is going to allow me to buy all the books on my wish list from Thriftbooks anyway, which is amazing, and I’m super happy about that!  <3 But thank you for the information! We used to go to our library weekly and my sons devoured books like crazy. (Daughter just learned how to read over the summer and she’s super psyched to read everything) We really miss the library, because it was a big part of our curriculum (just to like check out books that were relevant to what we are studying in history, science, whatever, it was a godsend), but we just don’t feel safe to go in person, and they have yet to set up remote borrowing yet.  The selection of ebooks is also very small. :( But I mean, hopefully, it’ll happen soon!  

[oneradmonster]

So this is basically for @calystars but others could benefit from it I suppose

Here's a list of (mostly) wicca and maybe some witchcraft type books to get you started as well as links to the books on thriftbooks (so you can get them cheap)

I know this is long but I'm on mobile so ill try to put it under read more when i can oops

Wicca for Beginners by Thea Sabin

This one is my personal favorite, Thea makes things very easy to understand! There's also a nice long list of further reading in the back (she also has a twitter where she mostly live tweets watching bad movies, its fun)

Wicca: A Guide For The Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham

Wiccans don't have a bible but if they did it probably be this. If you look up "books to read on wicca" this will pop up on pretty much every list. I'm not as much of a fan simply bc its very textbook-ey in some places which makes it hard for me to read but it's still a good source of information for beginners

Also keep in mind Scott passed away back in the '70's so some of his information is outdated.

Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham

A continuation of Scott's first book, not much to say other than that, just further reading once you've gotten a little more into things

And here's some links to my wishlist of other books me (and my boyfriend) have been meaning to get to but, you know, money

BASIC PAGANISM

HISTORY OF PAGANISM

WICCA

DRUIDRY

GODS AND GODDESS

SPELLS

STONES & CHARMS

ANIMAL FAMILIARS

KITCHEN WITCH

HERBS, INCENSE, AND OIL

Authors to "Avoid"

Technically speaking there's not a "wrong" way to do Wicca and others will tell you to read everything and come to your own conclusions, which is fair. However their are several authors whose works you should absolutley tale with a grain of salt. And others you should avoid just because they're, you know, horrible people.

Silver Ravenwolf

The bane of witchcraft's existence

Conflates Wicca and witchcraft, claims only Wiccans are true witches, erases non-Wiccan witches and pagans, constant Christian-bashing, misinformation, false history, cultural appropriation, contradicts herself, hateful rhetoric, racism, history of attacking critics

Her writings mostly target teenage girls looking to rebel against their parents.

Gavin and Yvonne Frost

One of their books has chapter describing “Wiccan traditional” coming of age rites of passage for children, except you wont find these 'traditions' anywhere else except their book. Its a sex ritual for (basically) when they hit puberty which they later changed to 18 when they, rightfully, recieved backlash. Feel like its self explanatory why you should avoid them

D. J. Conway

HUGE problems with incorrect information about deities, questionable interpretations of historical events, also conflates Wicca and witchcraft

Raymond Buckland

Appropriates closed cultures, uses the g-slur (gypsy) to exoticize certain rituals and techniques, propagates false history

Edain McCoy

More misinformation about deities and history, mostly where it applies to certain Celtic-associated personages and events. Tries to make EVERYTHING Irish, especially when it’s not.

Catherine Yronwode

Racist, claims LGBTQ+ teens should kill themselves and along with her husband has provided pamphlets and counseling to encourage this, known for attacking people online, threatens critics and pirates with death magic. Claims New Orleans voodoo is “fake” to bolster her own credibility.

Christian Day

Rape apologist, harasses women on social media. Enough said.

Again in general you should always be critical of what you read. Witchcraft and Wicca are a very non constrictive and also ever changing religion/practice. Trust your head. Use some critical thinking when it comes to what sounds right and what doesn't. None of these books are law, so read what you can and sort out the rest for yourself.

Well that's about everything I can think of, have fun and be safe everyone.

[sambarnetts]

reasons to read jackaby by william ritter part. ii/updated

it’s a sherlock retelling with watson as a woman and with supernatural twists, basically! so mysteries abound, some more easy to figure out than others. 

that supernatural twist: the detective, aka jackaby, sees auras and is able to look past glamours (and is thus called “the Seer”); the stories revolve around vampires, goblins, fae, the unseely, dragons, trolls, etc. and “magic” in general

it’s set in 1892, and captures the victorian/edwardian vibe wonderfully, however, if that’s not your thing, it’s also simultaneously not exceedingly in your face. it’s a perfect balance 

the books are told from the perspective of a young woman who runs away from everything she knows because she longs to make her own life and adventure; she blatantly rebels against social expectations of the time

includes and promotes feminism: women being able to be independent, women working in “male” career fields, women supporting women, the idea that women do not need men to be happy or successful, but also that being a woman in a relationship with a man does not invalidate a woman’s independence/strength

eventually introduces a black trans women! and despite the time setting, her gender ID is validated by the main characters: “I have great respect for the medical profession, Miss Rook,’ he said soberly, ‘but it is not for doctors to tell us who we are”

fun and original characters, including a duck, a troll bridge, a pungent frog, and a lovely ghost

the main characters have a platonic, best-friend-type-relationship, which is refreshing considering it’s getting rare to see to het characters in anything other than a romantic relationship

that said, there are romantic relationships, but the books focus more on the mysteries than the relationships; best of both worlds!

the author has essentially confirmed that one of the main characters is asexual, although this is admittedly not stated within the text itself

readers are provided with a fast relationship as well as a slow-burn

good character development, which progresses at a natural pace imo

a healthy and fun balance of emotional scenes and comedic scenes, especially in the later books

deep, well written characters that you will grow to love over the course of the series

if you favorite type of male character is intelligent but dumb af, these books have your back

“That the battles are usually in her head does not lessen the bravery of it. The hardest ones always are.”

“This world is full of dragon-slayers. What we need are a few more people who aren't too proud to listen to a few fish.”

it’s well written, but granted, the writing gets better as the series progresses; the first book may make some readers hesitant to continue for a multitude of reasons, but i promise it’s worth it to read all four books

the books are on the shorter side, and they’re easy but incredibly fun reads

these books are not the books of the century. the first book often has the right idea esp in terms of feminism, but doesn’t quite hit the mark. i say this as preparation because regardless, the books are fun and cute and entertaining and also very important to me! the fandom, however, is very small; these books deserve a lot more attention than they got!

if you’re in the US/Canada, you can get the first book on Thriftbooks for less than $5! it’s really worth it guys, i promise

reblog this you cowards and also lemme know if you get the book!

[bixbythemartian]

I keep thinking I should do more original posts here, talking more about my life and so on, but honestly. 

My life is boring. 

I have cute dogs, but I just work and come home and either try to write, ignore that I was thinking about writing, or painstakingly write a few paragraphs and then ignore the open document for hours (days), and anytime the dogs are doing something worthy of being shared it is something that would be difficult to photograph or video- at least partially because I leave my phone on the charger, and partially because by the time I think of it they’ve stopped. 

And I’m cycling between some pretty heavy down swings on depression. Some of it is seasonal and some of it is probably hangover from various griefs I’ve had the last couple of years, and some of it is my fucked up brain chemistry.

But I also got back in this place of feeling like everything’s the same every day, nothing will get better, I’ll just keep doing this until I die (early, of something undiagnosed because I couldn’t get it looked at) and that’s just not a very productive mind set, I’ve gotta tell you. 

Recently, I managed to shake out of it and go ‘wait, I do have goals and shit’ and manage to get going. 

I think lack of sleep is also playing it’s part, but I’m getting over that hump. (Part of getting over that hump was taking sleep meds. I don’t like to do that, for a variety of reasons- but you gotta do what you gotta do, and if my body won’t find sleep on it’s own, then I’ve gotta make it.) 

As it turns out, sleeping better gives me more energy to do things and I feel less like the world is coming down on top of me. Who knew? 

(My psychiatrist, when I was 17. That’s who knew. He said he wasn’t sure if my depression triggered my sleep issues, or if my sleep issues triggered my depression, but he thought they were related and if I could solve one then the other would resolve itself. We’d already tried an anti-depressant that just gave me nasty migraines, and he wasn’t sure why, so he thought it might be easier to find a sleep medication that worked for me, and use it just when I’m struggling to sleep. This was brought on by a couple of episodes of sleep paralysis that I described to him, during a pretty intense period of depression.)

(I don’t have episodes of sleep paralysis anymore, and I think it’s because I knew what it was when it happened to me. The first time scared me but I still knew what it was. After that, I had two more episodes of it where my response was, in summation: ‘fuck this, I’m going back to sleep’. I suspect I’ve just trained myself to go back to sleep if I wake up in the middle of one, to the point where the brain doesn’t come fully online when it happens anymore. Every once in awhile I halfway remember something that could have been a strange dream, or could have been sleep paralysis, but I guess I’ll never know and I’m okay with that.)

Also, I’ve been just chewing through Shirley Jackson lately. Short stories and all, I’ve got a novel on hold. (Digital holds still crack me up, but whatever, they’re gonna email me as soon as the ebook is available. Can’t beat the convenience and availability of being able to check out library books at two am on my phone.) 

I’ve decided that I gotta read everything she ever published and everything her kids put out later and anything else in print. Don’t know why I haven’t done this before now, but whatever. Never too late to discover some new artist you love, even if that artist died decades before you’re born. If I get together some money soon, I’m gonna go shopping at thriftbooks.

Anyway, Donut keeps coming over and pawing at me then going and sitting on the bed and yipping at me. Apparently, it’s past my bedtime. 

[aimeereadsalot]

Published: 2015 | Genre: Fiction |  Page Count: 352

Synopsis: As a teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself. Now, with a glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue blood fiancé, she’s this close to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve. But Ani has a secret. There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her, something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything. With a singular voice and twists you won’t see coming, Luckiest Girl Alive explores the unbearable pressure that so many women feel to “have it all” and introduces a heroine whose sharp edges and cutthroat ambition have been protecting a scandalous truth, and a heart that's bigger than it first appears. - Via Goodreads

Review:

This one is a mixed review for sure. First, I would like to state that if any of the following topics trigger you, don't read this book: eating disorders/ body dysmorphia, rape / sexual assault, homophobia, school shooting, violence. I'm usually okay reading most of these topics, but even I had to step away several times. 

This book is compelling. Ani is a damaged, vicious, broken, selfish, and resilient character. I feared the end would fall into the trap of "Oh look the narrator was unreliable the whole time and she's actually insane!" But I was surprised instead, a breath of fresh air. Every bad thing that happens to Ani is about her own development and plot, no one else's.

But. This book tried to do four things where it should have only attempted two. There were a few too many characters and too many hot button issues crammed into one novel. The author has spoken on record of her own history with sexual assault and those parts of the novel ring the truest, most authentic, and most compelling. I will be thinking about this novel for a long time, but that doesn't necessarily make it a great book.

There were many problematic elements as well and I still can't decide if they were justified or properly examined. The story had so much going on that I slid from a fat joke to girl-on-girl hate to a brutally honest analysis that felt too familiar. Some of Ani's bad behavior left me breathless because it was so familiar. The patriarchy damages us all but I never could tell if the author or characters could find the line between shining a light on an issue or joining in on the fun.

Purchase: Thriftbooks | Barnes and Noble

Favorite Quote:  “I’m feeling reckless - or honest, maybe. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell the difference.”

Add it on Goodreads!

2019 Reads: 28/52 | 2019 Read from Home: 19

Instagram | Goodreads | Twitter | Booktube

[baysidebooks]

Review: I’d Rather Eat Chocolate

“I wish it wasn’t the case that women are automatically considered the deviants for wanting less sex. I’m sick of sucking up to societal expectations that make me doubt if my nature is natural.” -- I’d Rather Eat Chocolate: Learning to Love My Low Libido by Joan Sewell

Synopsis: Joan doesn’t want to have sex with her husband anymore. He’s hot, loving, and considerate of her needs, but no matter what she tries -- and, short of non-monogamy, she tries everything: therapy, earnest heart-to-hearts, blowjobs, lingerie, sex with food, sex without orgasms, sex out of obligation, separate bedrooms -- she can’t seem to match her husband’s libido, nor does she want to. Instead, she makes a case for those with naturally low libidos. She validates the desire to find fulfillment and satisfaction in non-sexual ways, while still providing an exceptionally candid window into her own struggle to stay in a healthy and happy relationship. There are no firm conclusions drawn here, no tidy bow on a messy story, just the validation that comes from listening to someone who gets it (assuming that the reader is also wrestling with the same impossible-seeming conundrum).

What I took from it: Sewell’s writing is wonderfully accessible and down-to-earth, and it’s easy to sympathize with her as she tries to balance her need for happiness (and autonomy) vs. her desire to gratify her husband’s sexual appetite. She doesn’t treat his needs and opinions as lesser than her own, but rather seeks to validate her lack of sexual hunger in the face of overwhelming pressure, not only from him but from society at large.

Each chapter tackles the topic in a different way, making Sewell’s experiences read like a creative experiment and not like a prolonged personal battle. She delves into each area with unquenched optimism (believing, as we do, that the answer is just around the corner) and explores every side effect of her low libido, from guilt (”You initiate sex when your level of desire builds up; I initiate sex when my level of guilt builds up”) to masturbation (”I believe that women’s lower libidos can account for the paradox of masturbation cohabiting with so-called frigidity”) to self-satisfaction (”The problem is I do feel complete without sex, it’s my husband who’s left wanting”). She points out that the latest strains of feminism equate empowerment with an open sexual thirst, and fears that she might be seen as something less than a feminist for her pronounced lack of sexual desire. I appreciated that many of her musings are left as open-ended questions -- for me, at least, this was a book that didn’t guarantee answers, but provided a safe place within which to explore taboo emotions and queries.

As with most self-help books borne of the mid-2000s, however, many passages in I’d Rather Eat Chocolate have aged poorly. There is a fair amount of anti-kink and anti-porn rhetoric, transphobic language, and dead-naming, the latter of which crops up particularly often in Chapter Seventeen: The Chemistry Between Us. Sewell also likes to make sweeping generalizations about cisgender men and women and their sexual appetites, taking what is a very personal experience for her (and, no doubt, many other people -- not just cis women) and trying to translate it into broader statements that may not necessarily be true for everyone.

Where you can find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Thriftbooks

[libraryofmegharoni]

The Boneless Mercies [April Genevieve Tucholke]

started: June 30, 2021 finished: July 15, 2021 rating: 2.5/5

before reading:

I found this book on ThriftBooks by accident while searching for The Mercies by Kiran Milwood Hargrave but as soon as i saw the author was April Genevieve Tucholke i was like :eyes:. the cover paired with the author -- instant buy. I wanted to love Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and its sequel Between the Spark and the Burn by Tucholke so so much. Like “you stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand” -- fucking love that tagline (or whatever it is) but when i actually read the books back in 2017, i was way underwhelmed. So this is me officially giving Tucholke another chance with lowered expectations this time.

while reading:

so I’m 125 pages in and I have a few thoughts. first of all — like all YA books I read now, I found out that the main character was 16-just-turned-17 and will pretend I didn’t read that bc like no. I will not be reading this book thinking a 17 if doing all of this. I’m fine with that there’s a girl in the Mercies that’s like 15 but one main character, who’s POV we’re in, no nope now she’s at least 19 in my head lol. why do authors do this ???

anyway — on to my actual thoughts: I can already tell I’m not going to like the ending. unless it ends like how I want it to, in which case, respect. really all I knew about this book before starting it was that it was a retelling (?) of Beowulf. and ya know I read that back in high school so I have an idea of what’s supposed to happen. but the way it’s going rn I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a retelling of Beowulf killing Grendel & co or where the Merices as an item are Beowulf that does the killing or if Beowulf does exist in the universe or really how it’s going to breakdown in the end (more thoughts on that when I finish it I guess). but I will say how I personally would enjoy this to go — is for the Boneless Mercies to be one of those groups who tries to defeat Grendel before Beowulf comes along. there’s too much talk / thoughts from Frey about ‘glory’ and being remembered. there’s even the whole ‘as long as your memory lives on in someone alive, you’re never truly dead’ idea (which when I read that I was like really? it’s that the exact cliché quote?). my point is that there’s too much of Frey that wants to defeat (what I assume to be) Grendel for it to happen. after sometime from my original thought I’d this I have 2 arcs for these characters (as a whole) — 1) would be for them to realize that maybe Grendel isn’t all the villain everyone is making him out to be and leave him alone and live out the rest of their days unremarkably. or 2) my original thought for the ending —  for them to go fight Grendel and all die. I just think it would be a fitting end for them being the bringers of death everywhere they go for them to die at the end of this story. that also goes without saying that they will have no legacy after they have died and thus never achieve any of the ‘glory’ Frey desires. now so I think either of those will actually happen? no, the first way more likely than the second — especially considering it’s in 1st person POV even if one of them die (which has to happen right?) I don’t think our narrator Frey will (unfortunately)

ohhhhhhh the monster of Blue Vee is Beowulf’s mother… yeah that makes more sense than it being Beowulf. so does that mean our Boneless Mercies fail?

ahhh ok yeah I’m okay with this monster dying. I can excuse killing men but children??? nah that’s never ok.

things I did like:

our main character already has a love interest when we meet her.

Frey is the warrior whereas her og lover (male) is the healer

after reading:

I don’t have too many opinions on this book after finishing it. I read it and that’s about it. did I enjoy it? no not really. it had potential but nothing much came of anything so it was continuously unfulfilling.

tl;dr — so many elements were there for it to be so good but everything was so surface level that it wasn’t that entertaining at any point

[cookie-monster0-o]

My car stopped as I was driving to the library last night. UNbelievably, it died as I was making the turn onto the street that the library is on, and I was able to coast right up to the (no parking) curb at the book drop off. So that's good. My phone was at 5%, it was raining and dark. Fun times, she says sarcastically. E came and jumped my car, I pulled off the spark plugs (twice!) And was scared of being electrocuted the whole time. Yaaay. When she (my car) died about 20 feet down the road and needed the second jump, I cried. I'm on that middle ground ledge, where I am poor myself, but as long as nothing really mojor happens I'll probably be okay. And even better than that, I am the lucky kind of poor where, as long as I am living with E and his mom, I don't have bills to pay and they will always provide food for the kids and I. So really nothing is ever going to be THAT BAD. everything's ok. Mostly.

But now my books from the second libary are overdue. ($). I can't renew them online because I have over ten dollars in overdue fines($) due to having lost a book, bought a replacement ($) on thriftbooks, the librarian said it wasn't good enough condition so I have to buy a new copy ($), and I'm still racking up that fee. At Iz's allergist appt there was a copay I wasn't expecting ($). I had to use the ten dollar bill to pay for part of it, the ten I was saving to pay the parking ticket ($) that I got for parking in one of those "No parking from 9am-2pm" streets, which I parked in because it was 8am and we were a few minutes late to J's blood work appt. (Which I could potentially be billed up to $150 ($$) for if E's insurance decides not to cover some of it. Which is fun, I don't have that much in the bank, so if they try to charge my debit card, I may get an overdraft fee and that other fee too. E will pay for the blood work, but may not pay the other fees. We'd have to see, if that happens.) I asked E if he'd repay me for the allergist copay, I Think he said yes, he hasn't yet but he may. So I'll have the ten back, and $5 for gas money. Because I have an eighth of a tank. But I don't have money for gas. ($). I was going to ask my mom and E if they'd give me a little for gas. I was planning on going to a family friend's party Saturday with the kids and my parents, so I'd at least need some gas to get to my parents' house, then carpool with them.

So. Now the car. I cried, because my first car I bought in college, I spent $1,000 on that I saved in high school. Nearly cleared out my account. My parents paid the other $1,200, for the $2,200 car. We bought it in August, literally the week that my college classes began, and it broke down and died forever in January. $2k for a few months, fun. That was in 2012. My parents just bought my cousin's old car for me, this April. Spent about 1.5k on it. When it went last night, I cried. The thought that they'd spent $$$ again, just to have a car for 4 months again, made me cry. I swore I would get a job as soon as I had a car. I swore I'd go to the dr, get blood work that I'm years overdue for, go to a therapist (also years overdue). I didn't. Switched insurance providers, new coverage starts Aug 1st. Can't see a Dr till then. Luckily, if my car was totally dead, I could borrow E's mom's car for Dr appts. I was thinking of all of this last night when I was sitting silently waiting for E to come with the jumper cables. So when it died a second time and I had to jump it again, I felt panic-y and cried.

E thinks it's fixable things- maybe alternator, could be tension ring, could be fuel injectors? ($$). E brought it to his mechanic friend this morning. Which I didn't ask for but hey E does whatever he wants to, fuck me, right? My parents are going to be paying for whatever has to be done, which, like, lucky for me, but also they are borderline just-barely-making-it too. They're not broke, they both have incomes, and my mom is very good with money (bookkeeper, and master budgetteer). But like she was fretting over the car A/C, hoping it'd be under $200 because the budget's tight. It was, but it also broke again. So ($$). The decision now is, do we put the money into my car, or sell it and put that money towards a different car? Who knows man, I hate that question. Makes my stomach hurt. Guess we're putting it into the car because it's already at the mechanic, right, E? Hopefully it's a small problem with an inexpensive fix that works for a really long time. Fingers crossed then.

I filled out a survey (150 pages, tiny little check boxes) and it paid ten up front and will pay $40 once the survey's returned. The ten was what I spent at the allergist. I was going to use the whole $50 to get a hair cut and tip, but now it was reallocated to the ticket. I have till Aug 3rd to pay for it so I hope it comes in by then. I could ask E's mom for the ticket money and give her the survey cash if it comes later in August. I still need to buy the dang library book. And pay that fine.

I've decided I'm not getting a hair cut this year.