#traveller's joy

[ofliterarynature]

MARCH 2024 WRAP UP

[loved liked ok nope dnf (reread) bookclub*]

Supernova • The Last Unicorn • Cahokia Jazz • (Heartstopper Vol 1)* • The Hero of Ages • Godkiller • Humanly Possible • Traveller’s Joy • The Well of Ascension • Babel-17 • The Final Empire • Loot • The Death I Gave Him

Finished: 11 books (9 audio, 1 print, 1 ebook)

Not many books this month but by god I read THREE Brandson Sandersons, so -

I guess I may as well start with Sanderson while we're here. I promised a mutual years ago (who's sadly left tumblr) that I would read Mistborn and it's probably been at least half a decade but I did it Lourdes! I've read a few one-off Sandersons before, but nothing I fell in love with. The Final Empire definitely had some issues, some things felt a little off, but overall I think I liked it! Except those things did not then improve in the next two books, and by book 3 I was dragging and solidly decided that I wouldn't continue past the original trilogy. I was so mad at that ending y'all, and if the mixed vibes from the copy for the next books wasn't enough that definitely sealed the deal lmao. Happy for the people who like him but it's not really my vibe. (but god, did it remind me how much I love big, grand, epic fantasies. I really need to find a good one). 3 stars

Babel-17 (3 stars) - idk, I think I found this on a rec list for sci-fi about linguistics? Which it sort of was, maybe, ostensibly. It was weird in that old sci-fi way and I kind of wish I'd DNF'd it when I originally considered it.

Traveller's Joy (5 stars)- look I will never say no to more in the Greenwing & Dart series, especially if it's my good good boy Hal. Not to mention more info about the immediate post-college times, and an outside POV on Jemis (Jemis my dude I love you so much but you are not a reliable narrator). Victoria picked a great piece of canon to explore!

Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope (4 stars) - I've been wanting to read this since I first heard about it (and Humanist thought in general), and while it was interesting and I'm glad I read it, I found my attention drifting a lot. It spent a lot of time in the early/distant periods of humanist thought, which ended up not really being what I wanted - I think I'm more interested in the modern Humanist movent, but at least I know I'm on the right track!

Godkiller (4.5 stars) - It was great! It was kind of idk, epic fantasy with fairy tale and D&D vibes sort of? My brain is throwing out T Kingfisher and Robin McKinley for comps, but I'm not sure if that's accurate. A great one for fans of less-than-benevolent voices in the back of your head that are nonetheless very concerned for your well being! A solid 4/4.5 stars from me, it switched pov a little to often and didn't stick well in my head as well afterward as I'd have liked. Can't wait to get the next book!

Heartstopper (5 stars) - so cute! at least half the people who have ever come to book club at some point have said they loved this, so since we're in our graphic novel era it just made sense! I read a good chunk of the comic online ages ago and it's still great (and much easier when not fighting my wifi to load pages lol)

Cahokia Jazz (5 stars) - y'all I lost my fucking MIND OVER THIS ONE. Absolutely going to be one of my top books of the year. I'm such such a sucker for books about an outsider trying to find themself, their place, and reconnect with their culture, and hnnnnnng it was so good! Not always easy, but I loved it. I sobbed over that ending so much, I had to get up at work and go hide in the restroom for a bit and couldn't stop tearing up for the next week. Warning that the opening is pretty gory/crime novel/these-cops-are-corrupt vibes that *did* almost make me dnf (GASP), but it gets so much better I promise. Give Joe a chance, he's got hidden depths.

The Last Unicorn (3.5 stars) - It was ok? I didn't really get into it and was glad it was short, but I'm sure if I'd gotten my hands on this as a kid I'd have read it 10x times. I've also never seen the movie. I'm debating if I want to keep my copy for future niblings, but probably not.

Supernova (3 stars) - finally, I am DONE with this series. I admit, the second book almost got me and had me reconsidering if I should keep my copies after all, but this one yanked me back to reality. The undercurrents of ethics/morals/philosophy? to this series are fascinating, but uh, I'm not sure the author is aware of them as much as I was? Because the ending was fine, but all of these questions it felt like the series was raising were just ignored or pushed past. Not a bad series, just don't think about anything too hard.

DNF's

Loot - I was here for the automaton tiger and clockmaking, but that wasn't really the focus? I'm not quite sure what was, actually, I dropped this pretty quick between that, not liking the writing style, or the narrator's voice.

The Death I Gave Him - I was SO sad to give this one up. It's told through excerpts and transcripts and all sorts of things pieced together that hint at events in the future, which is one of my favorite things!!!! Except I don't know shit about Hamlet, and it was giving more psychological-thriller vibes and less murder-mystery, and I wasn't really having fun. It made me want to reread Sarah Gailey's The Echo Wife.

[shsenhaji]

📚 March Reading Round-Up 📚

Read some pretty great books in March, and there's a few I'm still reading that I hope to finish in April!

I was able to continue some series that I've been reading, such as The Murderbot Diaries and Kushiel's Legacy. I also finally finished the Imperial Radch trilogy!

- House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas (partial re-read, Partial re-read, very good, kept wanting to read more, didn’t cry but felt the Emotions, friendship! Connected much more to some characters this time around)

- Divinity 36 by Gail Carriger (Good, engrossing, very emotional, lots of heart at its core, enjoyed it more as I continued reading)

- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (thank you Bigolas Dickolas for the push to finally read this book! Loved the audiobook, beautiful, not as confusing as I’d feared, loved how their relationship developed, the prose and metaphors and language…)

- Traveller's Joy by Victoria Goddard (Good, emotional, heartwarming, some sadness and dramatic irony, friendship!)

- Kushiel's Chosen (finally got to the second book, and it didn't disappoint! So good, kept binging it, so emotional and philosophical, heartbreaking at parts, loved it even more than book one)

- Network Effect by Martha Wells (so good and readable, Murderbot my beloved, loved seeing the characters and their relationships and Three, Murderbot being rescued!!!!)

- Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Read it in one sitting immediately after finishing Network Effect, so very good, loved the themes and characters and how they developed and grew, that ending!)

[dansnaturepictures]

6th July 2023: Winchester, Lakeside and home

Photos taken in this set today are of: 1. Small White at Winchester Cathedral, great views of this lovely butterfly. 2 and 10. Unique angle photos of the cathedral for me, with the tenth from behind the rifleman of the King's Royal Rifle Corps statue looking at the cathedral which I was pleased to take. 3 and 4. Tree out the front this morning and looking out at them in the lovely sun this evening. 5. Flowers in Winchester a type of parsley I believe. 6. A tender moment with two Woodpigeons at the cathedral. 7. Rosie the young Peregrine at Winchester Cathedral. It was thrilling to see Winnie further up and see Rosie for the first time in the flesh at the cathedral for me. Precious moments with these stunning birds, with both observed snoozing which was interesting. I always love watching them. 8. Small Skipper at Lakeside this evening, a stunning gem of the meadows which I enjoyed seeing on a great sunny evening such a quintessential summer butterfly. 9. View of the meadows at Lakeside this evening.

Red Admiral and Ringlet were other great butterflies to see at Lakeside this evening with a probable Peacock seen quickly in Winchester. Swift and House Martin were lovely birds to see and hear flying through the air in Winchester. Blackbird, Magpie seen well at Lakeside and out the back at home this evening and dashing Emperors and Common Red Soldier beetle at Lakeside were other highlights today. Pyramidal orchid and dark mullein at Winchester Cathedral alongside lady's bedstraw there, cuckoo-pint aka lords-and-ladies fruit in Winchester, goat's-beard at Lakeside, pineappleweed, bindweed, striking taveller's joy on the way to the station and in Winchester, agrimony, ragwort and St. John's-wort in the cathedral grounds, periwinkle, bird's-foot trefoil, thistle and broad-leaved and white clover were flower highlights today.

[redpapercraness]

all four of my sonic 3 movie trailer redraws in one spot 🫡

[spielzeugkaiser]

Being on the nostalgia train this week really helped stretching my artistic legs again. So here, have some old things and some new! For now I'm done with this.

[saydesole]

Napa Valley Wine Train 🥂

Book ladies 🤎

[prettygirlpressure]

[nobeerreviews]

Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.

-- John Muir

[faeriekit]

A brief snippet of Time/DimensionTravel!Tim (which I found as a draft in my docs)

There was a bell at the door. 

Alfred Pennyworth did nothing as dramatic as to jolt straight upwards in alarm, but he did find himself pausing. After all, there were no deliveries scheduled, and a ring at the door meant that someone had bypassed several of Wayne Manor’s many security measures. 

There was no Mister Wayne present on the premises to make decisions. There was only Alfred, in custody of the home, and the ghost of Waynes long since gone from the home itself. 

There was nothing for it. Alfred quietly retrieved a revolver from its place underneath the wood paneling in the hall and gathered himself for the long walk to the door. 

The closer he drew to the front entrance, the more factors of the situation made themselves known. There was a pounding on the roof, and on exposed windows. It was raining. The night found outside ancient window frames was black, and opaque, and determinably wet. 

Something thumped. Alfred was not entirely sure it was thunder. The revolver in his coat dragged his consciousness back to its weighted body over and over again. 

Finally Alfred made it to the front door. There was a peephole, but Alfred didn’t risk his eye to use it; if there was someone on the other side, it would become obvious that there was an observer if they had elected to peer in as well. No. Instead he reached for a mirror— and, passed on from the mirrored ornaments hung in a nearby window, Alfred could see a single body on the other side of the front door. 

Well. There was one way to determine the man’s motives. Would it were that Alfred wasn’t alone in Wayne Manor at the moment. 

The four locks came undone, a bar, a chain, and two cylinders. It took considerable strength to pry open the doors— a deterrent against possible invaders— but Alfred knew to never look as though one was struggling. The image of strength was often just as important as the ability to achieve in itself. 

Alfred pulled open the door. 

On the other side was a…teenager. Alfred would be hard-pressed to consider the figure “an adult.”

The boy was practically swimming in the rain, with nothing but a thin, black, long-sleeve shirt and soft pants to defend himself with. He was shoeless. He was soaked to the bone. 

Despite that, he was past every security measure around Wayne Manor with no evidence as to how. 

“Good evening,” Alfred greeted the lad, despite the odd hour of eleven forty-five at night. “I am afraid the master of the house isn’t home, despite your trek. I am afraid I will have to ask you to depart.” 

“Alf—” the boy started. And then his teeth clicked shut. Unusual. It was common practice to use knowledge as a weapon against one’s enemies, but rarely did that knowledge include the name of the waitstaff. “My apologies. I didn’t…mean to call on you so late. But I came here to meet with you, Alfred Pennyworth. I come with a proposal.” 

…Alfred had no appropriate response to that. One white-flecked eyebrow rose above the other.

The boy, recognizing Alfred’s disinterest, carefully bowed. His hands came together. His back bent. Depending on what this visitor knew, he may have understood that Alfred was perfectly capable of erasing problems that might arrive with the Manor’s owner’s absence. 

“Information about your,” the boy paused. “...Former ward, in exchange for sanctuary.” 

Alfred did nothing so dramatic as to gasp, but still, his breath hitched in surprise. If the boy noticed, he did not respond; his eyes stayed low, his posture exposing his neck and back. 

No one, not even Alfred, had heard from Master Bruce since his…unwelcome departure from medical school. If this boy knew where the not-quite-so-young Master had vanished…

Alfred’s grip on the door tightened. “I imagine, then, that I ought to ask you inside.”

Shivering, and subservient, the boy rose from his bow to follow him indoors. 

*

The boy looked no larger in a swathe of towels than he had in the rain outside. 

Damp, with wet black hair smeared over his face and clothes clinging to his person, the boy looked no more restored in a wrap of two fluffy guest towels than he had in soaked clothes alone. 

He did not act as though he was an urchin, used to disrespect, happy to be helped. He acted as though he was a serpent in a maze: clinging to walls and wary of windows, and still, ultimately, royal. 

The boy took a swallow of Alfred’s second-best black tea. If there were no witnesses, Alfred would put money towards the prospect that the boy would have chugged the cup down instead. The mug was carefully lowered to the table. 

“...As of three weeks ago, the date was set for Talia al Ghul to marry Bruce Wayne in the custom of her people,” the boy begins. 

Alfred’s mug nearly slipped from his fingers. He said nothing. There was nothing to say. Alfred was no longer his legal guardian— still, if there was to be a marriage, he should have expected to see some sort of notice at least—

“He doesn’t know,” the boy continued, his lips bloodless and cold, “Because no one has told him. The marriage is not legally binding without paperwork, but she will consider it so, and expect him to continue with their union as spouses. Spousal consent is not traditionally considered to be necessary for their union.” 

Alfred’s lips narrowed. “I…see.” His boy had always wanted something more akin to adventure than domestic responsibility. It appeared as though he had found it. 

“He will leave,” the boy said, blue eyes pointed to the ground, “And depending on how she responds, his would-be-wife will either attempt to follow him before she ultimately returns, or she will attempt to keep him there. One will result in a fight, and the other will not, but either way, I would expect him to return to Gotham in, perhaps…anywhere between one to three months from today.”

The aging butler resisted the urge to sigh into his mug. Would it be that his boy had come into possession of better taste in his gallivant overseas. Considering his proclivities, however, he should have expected some form of complicated drama. “How did you come by this information?”

The boy blinked. “Oh,” he said. “I was being trained as his servant. I believe I was meant to be a wedding gift.” 

Alfred’s mug paused midair. “Trained,” he repeated. The boy was…young. Too young to be legitimately employed as a servant. And considering his ill-fated arrival… “In what manner were you trained?” 

The boy fidgeted carefully. Most men might not have noticed. His hand jerked the cup, although not enough for it to spill; he raised one knee over the other, mouth twisting. He did not want to reveal this piece of information; or, he feared the repercussions of doing so.

“Oh, you know,” the boy deflects, eyes cutting across the room. “In the usual arts. Accounting. Organization. Personnel Management. First aide. Anatomy, physiology. Hacking. Infiltration. Firearms. Poisons. Lethal and nonlethal weaponry. Sabotage.” 

Alfred stared. 

The boy’s expression turned sheepish. “...To be fair, Talia really, really thinks she can convince him to join her father’s ninja cult. It won’t work, of course,” he quickly tried to reassure. “But. Um. She is rather convinced she can take his bloodline into her own and indoctrinate him into becoming assassin royalty. And have assassin babies with him.” 

…The mug was set down with a little more force than Alfred might have preferred.

[gent-illmatic]

NATURALLY 👌🏾

[marinawoznjuksworld]

[theereina]

Megan Thee Stallion

📍 Tokyo, Japan

[wintr-wandr]

[fanart💛] One of my first illustrations of Partitio! This is from early 2023.

[dansnaturepictures]

24/01/23-Lakeside and home 

It was great to see Green Woodpeckers well again at Lakeside’s eastern meadows at lunch time, an emerald flash of wonder. I was pleased to get the seventh picture in this photoset of one of the two seen it was good to get some kind of photographic record of an amazing start to the year I’ve had for them at this strong site for them it’s been a good run. The sight of Magpie, Jackdaw and Carrion Crow all on the green out the front was a lovely way to end my walk, I had a good walk for seeing Magpie taking the sixth picture in this photoset of one at Lakeside too and a good day for seeing Jackdaws again from home as I did yesterday a nice early theme of the week. It was also good to see Blue Tit, Great Tit and Robin well at Lakeside again the latter always a beautiful sight standing out in the landscape and it was wonderful to see one or two weaving through the forsythia hedge across the road as I got out for my walk nice intimate sights. I had a good day for pigeons and doves getting splendid views of silver Collared Doves at Lakeside a key bird to see from home I seem to be seeing them a lot at Lakeside lately which is lovely. I also saw a nice steady stream of Feral Pigeons through the day at Lakeside and home and enjoyed Woodpigeon from home including the one in the eighth picture in this photoset. Other birds I saw today were; House Sparrow and Blackbird well again I heard a Blackbird at home again I believe today, Starlings seen well from home, possible Goldfinch, noisy Black-headed Gulls flying and on the ice of Concorde lake, Coot on the ice, Mallard including some seen on the ice on beach lake and I believe I just about saw the Tufted Duck on this lake too I was watching from the northern path briefly.

In the area by the road entrance to Lakeside the winter heliotrope had lost their shine probably suffering in the colder temperatures a bit, but the old man’s beard with its fine fluffy texture was beautiful to see I took the fifth picture in this photoset of it with my macro lens a good constant sight here lately. It was nice to see plantain I believe on the green out the front on the way back and I enjoyed seeing rose hips, teasel seed heads and other leaves well at Lakeside. It was good to see the Varied Carpet beetle in my room again tonight which I took the tenth and final picture in this photoset of.

The ice was a key feature of the landscape again I got the macro picture the third in this photoset of it above leaves. It’s interesting despite the cold the sunny conditions the past few days (which we did have a great bit of this afternoon too) combined with the evenings getting lighter, daffodil shoots and Black-headed Gulls with more brown on their head foreshadowing a hopeful time of year I found myself feeling a bit spring like yesterday. A time of year, my favourite season, which I cannot wait for. I have reflected a lot this season on the natural wonders of winter like the duck, geese and wader filled lagoons, frosts and strong silky sunlight so also thought it’s a time to make the most of it and today on my lunch time walks the mostly overcast conditions by contrast brought an intense mood over the landscape especially when looking over big areas with trees in the distance from high points, and the temperature was bitterly cold at times. These dramatic scenes something I have enjoyed this season, I took the first two and fourth pictures in this photoset of views here today. There were attractive sky scenes as the sun came through this afternoon as there had been at times at Lakeside too, I took the ninth picture in this photoset of such a view with sun rays reaching down nicely.

[spirk-trek]

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending my very first Trekfest in 📍 Riverside, Iowa [future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk]

[saydesole]

Puna Cana ✈️🐬

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