#world book challenge

[daisy-mooon]

"Show Annabeth looks like Hazel :/" Not to be a hater but are you fucking blind.

[faramirsonofgondor]

I love Challengers

[belovedapollo]

I redecorated my bookshelf today (not all of my books fit in there) and was thinking of putting something there to make it more cozy, the blanket is handmade by my granny and it’s one of the most precious things I own 🌞 reblog is ok, don’t repost

[blue-boxes-magic-and-tea]

today we start reading part two of lockwood and co’s the screaming staircase!!!

to celebrate here are some noteworthy moments from part one! [beware of spoilers!!]

there is a lot of incredible world building in this first part, but one of the bits i keep thinking of is how much these kids not only think about death, but are quite literally surrounded by it. they are constantly being informed by death around them. this is heavy emotionally intense labor that we’re expecting out of these kids

lockwood is a Silly, and he loves teasing lucy this is incredibly important information to me thank you for sharing this jonathan stroud

again with the world building, kind of crazy how pervasive the problem is that you see preventative measures in everything. we had a fun discussion about this in the discord too

okay lucy tell me how you really feel - but also the way his warmth for her is described (even when she is incredibly clueless) is so sweet to see. like talk about a crazy quote

this is an incredible closing scene like HELLOOOOO??? i’m obsessed with the dramatics like this would’ve had me HOOKED as a kid!!

these are just some of the moments that really stood out to me while reading (i had several more too but just to not make this post a million years long ya know) - i’d love to hear other ppls top moments from part one. but also YAY PART TWO HERE WE COMEEEE!!

-

i’m reading Lockwood and Co as part of a book club. this week we read part two of The Screaming Staircase! you can join the discord here, or post on tumblr w/ the hashtag lockwood library to join in!

[chu-diaries]

140 days of productivity: day 23/140

I will always remember this day as one of the best of my life. I started my day waking up around 5:30 am to wait for the release of Hello, World. I've been talking about the album all day here, so I'll spare you any more rambling on about it. I basically listened to the album all day, but there were times when I needed an extra dose of power and self-confidence, and Pineapple Slice is exactly that track for me.

I sold more candles, made some deliveries, and worked on my lecture material about suicide prevention. I had a quick meeting in the afternoon and also edited a video of me wrapping a candle as a gift.

My husband and I also went out for Korean food to celebrate our wedding anniversary, and I loved it! Our bulgogi noodles were delicious, and we ordered a Japanese beer to go with it. The atmosphere was nice and they played Love Shot by EXO! I was so happy I cried. I'd never heard EXO in a restaurant before. When we got home, we watched One Piece and I slept really well.

💥: day 17/29

💧: 1,2 L

🏋🏻‍♀️: 🚫

🏃🏻‍♀️: 2287 steps

🕯️: sold candles + updated sheets + bought new supplies + took care of my social media account + edited institucional videos (4 h)

🪘: 🚫

🇰🇷: speaking practice (30 min)

📚: 🚫

🎧: pineapple slice - baekhyun

📺: one piece ep. 571-573

🛑: 3 days pick free

💊: omega 3, vitamin c and iron supplements

[ruegarding]

the siren scene in som lives in my head rent-free. like here is this kid and her fatal flaw is hubris and what do the sirens show her? what does she want? well, she wants to build a better world...where her family loves her. she refuses to accept the loss and believes that she can fix her broken family. she can do it. she'll make her parents proud and she can make them love her. she knows better than you, so stop trying to tell her luke is gone. she can reach him. she can fix what no one else can. she can build a better world. she'll make them see her. she can fix it.

[fictionadventurer]

One mildly chilly day in August and suddenly I want to read every Victorian novel in existence.

[thequeerlibrarian]

JOMP Challenge | April 7 | read more than once

[vynnyal]

Btw I'm basically speedrunning now

[saintmelangell]

there is nothing inherently wrong with consuming content. there i said it. there is nothing worth doing in the world that isn't constructed in some way around consumption. the problem is how things are being consumed. if you are monologically consuming "content" and the "content" is a thing that serves no other purpose other than to satiate your desires for consumption, this is essentially gluttony in the most biblical sense of the world. but you can also consume dialogically, in the sense that by consuming "content" you are changing it through your perception and you are in turn being changed. this transforms "content" into something organic, in dialogue with you as well as in the divide between the material and immaterial, rather than simply a material diaphane. the majority of content that is being created is essentially corporatized junk food. it is cheap and easy. it does not engage with you, the consumer, as anything worthwhile, because it cannot add anything to you because it is not designed at any point to be an organic thing: it is not designed to also be changed by the act of consumption. to restrict yourself to only consuming this type of content, monologic content that talks down and cannot have a reciprocal engagement with the person consuming it, is essentially intellectual laziness. content consumption isn't inherently wrong, but you are either going to be spiritually satisfied by what you're consuming or you are going to participate in the same destructive consumer culture that sees all things, living and dead, past and present, ideology and material, as something that can be reduced to a communicable thing. not all content is a thing. if you are only consuming things, you are not going to be very happy or satisfied, and your ability to engage with the world around you is effectively crippled beyond repair.

[ya-world-challenge]

Book Review: Fire From the Sky (Sámi [Sweden])

[image: book cover: an outline drawing of two teen boys kissing in an embrace, is overlaid on a blue background with (possibly traditional) interwoven patterns]

Fire From the Sky

Author: Moa Backe Åstot

Ánte is Sámi, and has lived his whole life in northern Sweden herding the reindeer, just like his ancestors before him. He knows that this is his place. But he fears that being gay will mean he cannot stay, that who he is conflicts with the traditional life he loves.

A bundle of awkward teen love and small village coming out, mixed with embracing your identity and a love for the land and the reindeer. (And a cozy grandma's house <3) The emotions are raw, Ánte's feelings come as physical sensations rather than anything he really understands. And Erik is frustratingly elusive with what he wants. There is occasional homophobia, but despite that this was a comforting teen story with a happy ending.

The author is a young Sámi debut writer. The book comes out in English next month.

Genres: #identity #family #romance

Other reps: #indigenous #gay

★  ★  ★  ★   4.5 stars

Thanks Netgalley for an advanced copy!

[a-ramblinrose]

JOMP BPC || April 4 || Wish I'd Read It Sooner:

The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan is still on my tbr and I'm not sure I'll ever read it. So many reviews mention things that would drive me nuts nowadays. Alas for the days when my will to read long fanatsy series was stronger than my annoyance at certain tropes/authorial choices!

[siflshonen]

Katsuki Bakugo, I miss you so much.

[giantkillerjack]

Uh-oh! You are like, SOOO awkward!!

You're so awkward that it is occasionally mildly uncomfortable for people!

You're so awkward that sometimes people are confused by you and then there are awkward silences!

You're so awkward ...... that ultimately no one is harmed!!

Oh damn!!! What a vile crime you have committed! What an unforgivable thing it is to make a fellow human briefly confused!

Why, if *I* were ever briefly confused and kind of uncomfortable as a result, I'd be devastated.... by the absolute net zero change in my happiness and health! - From which I might never recover!! Yes indeed! No punishment can ever be enough for you!!

So you better absolutely hate yourself for it.

Better be SO MEAN to yourself about every single missed social cue so you don't forget your horrible crime! Meaner than you'd ever dream of being to someone else for the same thing! This is YOUR responsibility!

You need to show the world that you KNOW you are bad by punishing yourself constantly! After all, think of all the people who BENEFIT from you punishing yourself! - No, really! Think about it! Think about who benefits from your pain.

Think of alllllll the definitely-good people that your definitely-necessary self-torment definitely helps! I mean, you can't just cut off their definitely-life-sustaining supply of your suffering, right?? Sure, everyone else has a breaking point, but you're probably the only person in human history who doesn't, right? Best not to question it probably. Sure, it's a symptom that billions of people with trauma have had, but who knows? You could be a one-in-seven-billion exception. Anything's possible!

Instead, better just accept that idea that bullies carry like guns in holsters - the idea that people who have trouble with social cues deserve to suffer. Better carry on the burden they placed on you until you drop. Aid the cause of the callous by enforcing shame and suffering upon yourself extra hard; try your best to do their work for them. They're very busy.

Better not recognize that you need patience and kindness to heal from your trauma. Better not find out that it was trauma rather than personal weakness filling your head with self-hating thoughts. Better not find out it wasn't your fault.

Better not find out that awkwardness is not inherently harmful or unkind, and, in fact, the people who act like it is *are the ones enacting harm and being cruel.*

Better not get righteously angry when you realize just how much unnecessary damage this has done to you. After all, if you get mad, you might realize you deserve better. You might even feel brave enough to DEMAND better! You might build boundaries that keep you safe! You might make other people think they deserve to feel safe too! And we obviously can't be having that, so...

Better not show yourself even a little kindness a little bit at a time.

Better not make a habit out of it after all that practice.

Better not get confident.

Especially if you can't first wipe out every trace of awkward. (And you probably never will. Because people who experience absolute social certainty at all times tend to be insufferable assholes that enforce the status quo. And you just don't have the stock portfolio for that.)

Better not be confident and awkward because then you might confuse and delight people

- you might accidentally end up making other people feel less shame for their social difficulties

- you might make isolated, traumatized, and shy people feel like they deserve to be included in social situations

- you might even make them feel they can be themselves around you

- you might start loving the effect you have on a room

- you might enjoy conversations more

- you might forgive yourself and bounce back from shame more easily and frequently

- you might come to enjoy some of those moments of harmless confusion you cause because NOBODY expects the Confident Awkward, and that can genuinely be an advantage in social situations

- you might stop apologizing so much.

- you might find that socializing is like a video game: it requires practice but also a safe space for it to be fun and positive.

Or if you can't become assertive and confident, better not remain awkward and shy and quiet, and then love and forgive yourself anyway!

Why, it would be carnage!!

In either scenario, you run the risk of finding out that it's not your fault that safe spaces full of kind people can be really hard to find, create, and nurture. You could end up building a skillset that helps you do those things if you're not careful!

If you start giving yourself even the tiniest amount of grace at a time, you will find that you've accessed a gateway drug with extreme long-term side effects:

- You might realize that it was never your fault that it took so long to like yourself.

- You might realize that you were always worth talking to, even when you didn't like yourself and communication felt impossibly difficult.

- You might realize that you'll still be worth talking to even if communication becomes harder as you age and/or experience disability.

- You might come to know that you deserve to be heard even on bad days when words come slow and blurry.

You might discover that you were always deserving of kindness, first and foremost from yourself.

So. As you can see, it's FAR too much of a risk to start granting your awkward self free pardons for your many heinous and harmless crimes. Better to just leave it there.

[caribeandthebooks]

Caribe's Read Around The World TBR - Part 3

Books set in Asian countries <3

[zombiesun]

it frustrates me how people are so dismissive of the mental state of people born in isolated fundamentalist communities. like the brainwashing that happens from such a young age is unreal. your media, the people you engage with, your general relationship with the "outside world" is all filtered through the beliefs of your commune and religious leader. it took years for me to deprogram myself but before that I had a lot of incredibly fucked up beliefs and thought patterns based on the people who raised me. I'm a success story only because of my accidental exposure to people who challenged those perceptions. people need to have more empathy for people who weren't so lucky