The Frozen Sea

"A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is my belief.” - Franz Kafka

[lizclimo]

[muchymozzarella]

Whenever people try to tell me to ship "moral ships" I like to think about how inherently immoral it is to flirt with service workers at coffee shops where they're obliged to be nice to you so... many coffee shop AUs are like. Immoral. But given that they are a fantasy where this is instant romance without the fear of trapping a service worker in an uncomfortable situation that's tantamount to workplace sexual harassment, I enjoy the cutesy coffee shop AUs immensely.

And that's basically my attitude towards all fantasy. There's lots of things I enjoy in fantasy that wouldn't work IRL. Enemies to lovers. Sudden kisses. Miscommunications in relationships. Codependency. Fight sluts who physically assault each other while emotionally connecting.

Once you start ascribing your morals to the fiction you consume, you tend to miss the issues in even the most innocuous, innocent seeming scenarios. It's easy to judge other people's fictional enjoyment until someone points out your innocent coffee shop AU is romanticised workplace harassment.

But it's all fiction. It's a fantasy. That's why it's fine.

A lack of education around things like consent, healthy relationships, self respect and respect of others, bodily autonomy, etc, has made people think they can rely only on fiction to tell them what right - but that's dangerous. And unsustainable.

[helenvaughans]

[itsmistybitch-deactivated202605]

These posts are sisters

[ivylefay]

”There have to be stories about being in that terrible place and coming back from it, rather than just stories about never going to that terrible place in the first place.”

Seth Dickinson, on The Masquerade Series, from In Media Les Episode 19

[kat-from-minasmorgul]

shelves ✨ (ft. lamp I need to put on the ceiling)

[saintfelina]

women in GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums)

[safije]

15th century Timurid Qur'an copied on Chinese paper from the Ming Dynasty.

[ijustkindalikebooks]

“When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night - there’s all heaven and earth in a book, a real book I mean.” ― Christopher Morley, Parnassus on Wheels.

[mckitterick]

[kosmogrl]

everybody needs to read more. read all the time. read every day. read read read

[darkacademias]

Audrey Hepburn as Jo Stockton in "Funny Face" (1957)

[ijustkindalikebooks]

“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you.” ― Beatrix Potter.

[its-where-the-wild-things-are]

[duckprintspress]

So if you've ever seen my monthly "what I've read posts" and wondered "how the heck does unforth/duckprintspress read so dang much every month," the answer is: the library. Anyway, I was poking through my Libby tags this morning and it go me thinking and wondering:

How many libraries do you have on Libby?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9 or more

I don't use Libby, and I don't want to.

I don't use Libby, and I can't.

I don't use Libby, and I want to.

Voting ended onDec 12, 2025

I also thought it'd be fun to share some related resources!

So, I love Libby, and I have 7 libraries I can access on there.

Want to use Libby but don't currently? Well...

Three of the libraries I use are available to anyone in the US:

The Queer Liberation Library ( @queerliblib ) - queer books, get yer queer books here!

Quartrefoil Library - another source of queer books!

Japan Foundation of Los Angelos JFUSA Digital Library - books on Japan and Japanese culture, language-learning resources, books in Japanese, and of course loads of manga.

Another three libraries I use are available to all residents of New York State:

New York Public Library

Brooklyn Public Library

Erie County Public Library

Do you also love Libby? Do you have Libby library resources you want to share? Answer the poll, and reblog to add to the resource list!

[myfairynuffstuff]

David Shrigley (b.1968) - Read Books, Acquire Knowledge, Overthrow the Government.

[ijustkindalikebooks]

“Besides, the library’s the world’s best-kept secret,” he said, surprising me, because he never for one second struck me as a bookworm. “It’s the only place where anything’s possible and everyone will leave you alone.” ― Faith Gardner, The Second Life of Ava Rivers.

[princesswitchlatte]

https://www.instagram.com/firebreathing.bookqueen