Big Book Energy

Mari, they/them, reader, writer, English grad turned library manager // Studyblr/Bookblr/Writeblr/occasional tarot reader // originals: #contrespeaks // (this is my sideblog so follows/likes are @of-the-elves) // icon by Gabby DaRienzo via picrew

[contre-qui]

Adventures in simple bookbinding - 04.03.26

I purchased a PDF of Occult Needlework (available here if you're interested), and decided it would be a good first unsupervised binding project. Currently I only know a saddle stitch binding (but new methods coming soon), which works just fine for a short book/pamphlet like this. So I fiddled around with the PDF in adobe until it printed in a booklet. Each page has to be folded individually and slotted into each other, which is what I did today.

Next, I'll pick out some card to cover it with, and then I can actually stitch it together to make a book!

[vancruejovi]

[write-on-world]

[contre-qui]

New & Fun Things I Did in February!

Back again for another installment of recording the new and fun things I do in my personal life each month! This month was very film-heavy, for whatever reason, but I had lots of fun

Solo:

Lots of reading!

Started catching up on the many seasons of Bake Off I missed

Went to a writing workshop

Many cups of coffee and sweet treats

After over two years of mulling over the idea, I finally bought myself a pair of roller skates on Vinted (you can catch my first time taking them for a spin in my March edition!)

Lots and lots of journaling

I made a zine out of one of my short poems

Learned a new zine fold/structure

Started getting more into Substack (currently just reading, but considering posting my own stuff at some point)

Friends & Dates:

Saw a screening of Happy Together (1997) at a small cinema club with a friend (this was our first time hanging out together outside of our volunteering gig)

Played an RPG one-shot in a system designed by my friend

Watched a special screening of Jennifer's Body for Valentine's Day

Called a friend from the states

Went back to my monthly Blood on the Clocktower group

Went to a zine launch event

Went to a friend's birthday party (we watched DCOMs and ate loads of classic American cinema snacks)

Went to a collage social

Saw two student plays - one tragedy, one comedy (and my friend directed one of them!)

I sometimes wind up struggling with these lists because I actually get to do some really cool things for work which I enjoy on a personal level, but I'm committed to emphasizing only that which I do in a non-work capacity.

[the---hermit]

01|03|2026

Spent my entire morning reading and I fully reorganized a closet in the afternoon. Because I need to pretend I am in control of something I guess? I do feel better about everything now tho so it worked.

[natreads]

First week of my internship at Uppsala University Library is completed!

Taking the train from Stockholm to Uppsala every morning isn't as bad as I thought it would be, and it's the perfect opportunity for me to catch up on reading now that I don't have to study as much. I've been with the department for learning and research support this week, which means I've been able to shadow various librarians during lectures and workshops, but I've also gotten to see the library's archives and where they repair books, and next week I will switch departments and will get to see even MORE of how everything works.

I took a little trip around the city center after I was done yesterday, which included a visit to the cathedral and a museum (Gustavianum, where I got in for free since I'm associated with the university!), as well as a quick stop into a couple of bookshops, as the annual book sale started last week. I didn't buy anything though, since I'm technically on a book buying ban.

The weather's been gray, the snow is mostly gone, but I feel it in my bones that spring is just around the corner now 🌻

[the---hermit]

28|02|2026

Yes another Saturday spent visiting museums and bookshops. Nothing better to fill my days out with, aside from curling up in a blanket and read (which is how I plan to spend the rest of the day as well as tomorrow).

[the---hermit]

February 2026.

Little photo (+ a couple of pinterest memes) wrap up of the past month. I took my last exam, started going on morning walks most days, started working full time on my thesis despite not having an established routine yet and still needing a bit of a study break after months of studying for the exam. I am finding peace in listening to my body and my needs without guilt. Plus a lot of museum visits this month, almost one per week!

[contre-qui]

February Reading Wrap-Up!

Highest recommended reads:

Equal Rites & Mort by Terry Pratchett

The Penguin Book of the Prose Poem, ed. by Jeremy Noel-Tod

Signs Preceding the End of the Universe by Yuri Herrera, trans. by Lisa Dillman

The only one I personally wouldn't recommend was My Name is Maame by Jessica George. It just personally wasn't a genre I enjoyed, and I felt it lacked depth and complexity.

The breakdown:

8 books total (again!)

2 fantasy

1 realistic fiction/coming of age

1 speculative/literary fiction

2 poetry

1 informative nonfiction

1 essay collection

All were from the library this month

Quite a good month of reading! I enjoyed most everything. More nonfiction than I usually would read in a month, but sometimes that's how the library holds come in.

[the---hermit]

A short summary of the past two days

05|02|2025

I have been sleeping like a hibernating bear at night. My body needs rest and it's getting it. Yesterday I ended up spending half of the day out, first visiting my grandma and then running a bunch of errands with my mom and I paid the consequences. I got home fully overwhelmed and overstimulated. I had to lay down in a mostly dark room, change in comfier clothes and wear my headphones for the rest of the evening. I am slightly scared for tomorrow since I will have to spend my whole day out, but I will learn from my mistakes and bring with me things to help me cope. Today on the other hand things were better I woke up super late, I mostly read, and I was on dog sitting duty on lunch break. That means I got to run a bit with the dog but then I was rewarded with sleepy cuddles.

I wanted to attempt finishing A Short History Of Trans Misogyny, but it is really dense and after 20-something pages I had to switch. I decided to start reading Tender Is The Flesh which so far seems to flow very well despite it being absolutely horrifying. I am struggling with my reading of My Heart Is A Chainsaw tho. I will take my time with the book slowly but I am so disappointed with how I am struggling to get in the book.

[contre-qui]

New and fun things I did in January!

I thought it would be nice to wrap up new things I tried or fun things I did each month. I try really hard to build hobbies, dates, solo dates, and friend hangouts into my regular routines, and I think this is a nice way to show that these things don't have to be high-effort or expensive, and that I'm actually doing a really good job with that!

Solo:

Went to a poetry reading

Played Blood on the Clocktower (one of my favourites) with a new group of people I didn't know

Got a new haircut/style (year of the fringe!)

Went to a workshop to learn simple bookbinding (saddle stitch) - this was so fun!!

Kept working on my first full zine

Wrote & edited some poetry + submitted to magazines

Lots of reading

Friends & Dates:

Visited a new city!

My first escape room (I've been wanting to do one for ages but just haven't made the time)

Saw a chill local gig from an artist I like

Saw a friend and met her baby!!!

Saw a really great play with my partner and friend

(I will also give the slight disclaimer that I really love my job and find it very fulfilling, which means I find myself relatively refreshed/energised in my off time, so it's pretty easy for me to pursue these things. I also have a relatively flexible schedule at work, which also helps - but a lot of this is also done in the evenings after work and by using my off days to actually do things that I enjoy)

If anyone else decides to do this, tag me! I'd love to see what other people are getting up to that are fulfilling them - and get ideas for other fun things I should try out 👀

[contre-qui]

January Reading Wrap-Up

The first installment of Books of 2026!

My highest recommended:

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (5.0)

Authority by Jeff VanderMeer (4.5)

None I wouldn't recommend this month - all pretty solid reads.

The Breakdown:

8 books total

4 sci fi

1 horror

1 fantasy

1 nonfiction

2 short story collections

4 borrowed from the library, the rest were already owned

A promising start to another great year of reading

[prokopetz]

I understand that you were aiming for a morally grey protagonist, but in practice what you've ended up with is more of a moral beige.

[prokopetz]

@ancient-tree-with-deathwish replied:

how do you distinguish grey from other colours beyond black and wite?

Distinguishing features of moral beige:

The protagonist is constantly agonising over Hard Choices; however, circumstances always conspire to prevent them from actually having to make those choices, so in practice they're just angsting over stuff they might have done.

The text exhibits a recurring pattern whereby the protagonist seems to to have made a Hard Choice, but new information is reliably revealed shortly thereafter which retroactively establishes that whatever they did was the morally upright course after all.

The protagonist's moral impulses are straightforwardly heroic, except in one specific context which lacks any clear real-world analogue; for example, being prejudiced against telepaths.

The protagonist's actions are consistently reasonable based on the information available to them – they're merely operating on bad information basically all the time due to a bizarre conspiracy and/or a series of increasingly implausible misunderstandings.

The protagonist always ends up doing the right thing (for some fuzzy value of "right"), but, like, they're really grumpy about it.

[lcatala]

[micewithknives]

I let myself rest and now I'm daydreaming about academia and academic research and writing again

[micewithknives]

Guys I'm getting some very mixed messaging here

[krindor]

academia perfec t size to put human in to learn! inside very good and learn human get smart put human in academia. put human in academia. no problems ever in academia because no stress and support for human mind in big human head. academia yes a place for human put human in academia can trust college for giveing good brain to human. friend college.

[the---hermit]

19|01|2026

Living my best hobbit life by annotating books, making homemade gnocchi, and crafting. I finished my cardigan and I am really proud of it. It is quite different from other clothes I own, but it will look so good with my cosy hobbit outfits. I am currently working on a pair of leaf-like detached cuffs that can be worn under sleeves so that only the leaves peak out. They will look so cute with my green vest.

Today I also started my first big outloud review in preparation for my exam in two weeks. I had my monthly therapy session. And despite the rain I took a small walk to go wish an happy birthday to my bestie in person.

📖: Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher

🎙️🎧: books unbound podcast

[theorangepdf]

book dedications are so tender here is this piece of art i made for an audience of thousands. but really every word is for you

[junglejim4322]

This person wrote a manifesto I ain’t reading all that but this is literally the type of behavior im talking about the idea hobbies all cost money is so removed from reality if you have the time to pick up your phone and write 7 paragraphs on how im victimizing you with my offhanded post you have the time to watch a movie on YouTube with your very same phone instead come on now. How is you freaking out on the internet helping any of these issues

[turbozarky]

things that dont cost money: hiking, walking, birdwatching, identifying plants, drawing (you have a pen, reading (library), collecting rocks, dancing, singing.... etc wtc etc

if you cant find a hobby you can afford, thats a you problem. and if youre posting online, you have a device to do that, get some free games, trawl wikipedia, study something. stop picking fights online and do something else.

[theonceandfutureharpy]

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

if you can write an essay about it on your phone you can write fanfic or poetry or something on your phone also and it will be much nicer for everyone involved, including you

[queer-as-city-folk]

The national spooky monster of Ireland should be a Dracula

[queer-as-city-folk]

Reasons:

Bram Stoker was Irish

Dracula hates the English

It would be funny