inresponseto

21, she/her, english literature/anthropology student, weird and distrubing fiction enthusiast i ♡ people and things

[inresponseto]

hello ! 𓍢ִ໋☕️✧˚ ༘ ⋆📖

what am i doing here?

my phone is evil but i love lists and organizing so the blog is to encourage engagement with longer form media and to reconnect with hobbies i used to regularly enjoy! i know myself well enough to know i can't cut out all screen time so i want to at least make it feel productive/enjoyable :)

what i read/watch?

most read: horror, literary fiction, fantasy, manga

least read: romance, historical, non-fiction

film/tv: french extremism, horror (non supernatural), anime

audio: casual audio drama enjoyer, taking baby steps into audiobooks

favorite tropes/themes/topics?

fairytale retellings, cannibalism, vampires, wolves, morally grey protagonists, ocd

current favorites!

books: Hour of the Star - Clarice Lispector, The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter, Geek Love - Katherine Dunn, Between Two Fires - Christopher Buehlman

manga: Tokyo Ghoul - Sui Ishida

audio dramas: Archive 81, Wolf 359

films: The Devil All The Time (2020), American Psycho (2000), The Last Unicorn (1982), The Florida Project (2017), The Road Within (2014), Raw (2016), The Drama (2026), The Ritual (2017)

tv: first few seasons of The Walking Dead, Dorohedoro, Bungo Stray Dogs, Severance, Hannibal, Haikyuu

[inresponseto]

what i read this week 6/1/26-6/7/26

wow this was a rough week (reading wise and mentally). you can really see the page a day minimum goal come into play here...was super busy with some big life things and family events so i didn't have a lot of time to myself so i'm incredibly exhausted. battling with some terrible anxiety regarding some serious (ish) health problems and honestly just want some peace and security (pray it finds its way to me please i am struggling i beg) on the bright side my friend voluntarily said she wanted to come to the library with me (yippie) and my family dog just turned 14 and is doing well (yay). (images: cat i met in belgium, graffiti from downtown pittsburgh that fits my current mood)

Monday

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie - 1 page

Tuesday

Before They Are Hanged - 32 pages

Wednesday

Before They Are Hanged - 43 pages

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman - 34 pages

Thursday

Britt-Marie Was Here - 21 pages

Before They Are Hanged - 30 pages

Friday

Britt-Marie Was Here - 12 pages

Saturday

The Family Fortuna by Lindsey Eager - 1 page

Sunday

Britt-Marie Was Here - 3 pages

Total Pages: 177 pages

[studylovella]

[inresponseto]

just found out i got a better grade on the paper i wrote while hallucinating and feverish with tonsillitis than the one i spent multiple days on with actual invested critical thought! maybe 4 hours is the ideal amount of time to write an academic paper…

[inresponseto]

june tbr!

ok so very ambitious goals coming this month, especially from someone who is making negative progress on their reading goal for the year…nevertheless i think having lots of options will help me actually get through some stuff! i’m also hoping to get through some books on my physical backlog and picked some of those randomly to help with indecision, which means my list is made up of 1 series continuation, 3 physical backlogs, and 3 library books! realistically i’ll be pleased if i finish 3 books in june and honestly the physical backlogs are likely to end in a dnf, which is totally fine (i need them off my shelves but can’t bring myself to without giving them a chance).

what i want to read this month:

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

Flesh by David Szalay

[inresponseto]

what i read this week 5/25/26-5/31/26

simultaneously an incredibly boring week and a very exciting one! went to my cities book festival, rediscovered my local public library, and had a pet sitting job that was easy + fun. very proud of myself for reading every day of may though! (a bit nervous about next month because things are going to get BUSY but i will try my best) i also watched the backrooms film with a friend this week! it was a fun theatre expereince but not sure how i feel overall, it was definitely confusing lol. oh and i made like 40 dollars reselling some book so a second hand book store so that was nice too (images: sunset post ice cream in my local park, slightly ominous photo of the library, tents at the artist section of the book festival)

Monday

Pet Sematary by Stephen King - 1 page

Tuesday

Pet Sematary - 88 pages

Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden - 306 pages (finished!)

Wednesday

The Family Fortuna by Lindsey Eager - 1 page

Thursday

Pet Sematary - 120 pages

Friday

Pet Sematary - 107 pages

Saturday

Pet Sematary - 40 pages (finished!)

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie - 14 pages

Sunday

Before They Are Hanged - 70 pages

Total Pages: 747 pages (however 306 were technically a graphic novel)

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

I love you PBS I love you NPR I love you public libraries I love you wikipedia I love you project gutenberg I love you librivox I love you libby I love you hoopla I love you openlibrary I love you internet archive I love you resources that make information free and accessible to the public

[inresponseto]

wow my public library is the coolest place ever!!! went to renew my library card and explored a bit (they have a cafe which is so lit). i think i'll try to do a library day once a week this summer to take advantage of everything it offers :)

[inresponseto]

the story of layla and majnun on display in the austrian national library compared to my personal copy :) seeing the beautiful old edition was a real surprise! it was on display as a part of the libraries exhibit on love, my copy was bought and read for an introductory religious studies course a few years ago

[inresponseto]

university of glasgow, 2026

[inresponseto]

my collection of poetry! i honestly miss last year when i was studying poetry in college, thinking i might try to get back into it this summer…maybe reading one a week?

[inresponseto]

what i read this week 5/18/26 - 5/24/26

big things happening this week! i flew 9 hours to move back home for the summer which i have lots of bittersweet feelings about. otherwise, proud of myself for sticking to journaling and reading more regularly! I only have a few pages left until my first journal is filled and at the end of the month i will have ready every day of may (trying to read at least one page every day is a goal i want to continue for the summer). Also started my first stephen king fiction novel. (images: view from my stunning hike in a scottish national park, journaling at my favorite glasgow cafe, sights from my flight)

Monday

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - 1hr 29mins

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh - 31 pages

Tuesday

Dungeon Crawler Carl - 3hrs 10mins (finished!)

Trainspotting - 21 pages

Wednesday

Trainspotting - 38 pages

Thursday

Trainspotting - 50 pages

Friday

Trainspotting - 2 pages

Saturday

Trainspotting - 30 pages (finished!)

Pet Sematary by Stephen King - 42 pages

Sunday

Pet Sematary - 20 pages

Total Pages/Hours: 234 pages, 4hrs 39 mins

[inresponseto]

I LOVE SPRING CLEANING!!!!!!!

currently reorganizing my bookshelves and creating a reading nook in my room now that i’ve moved out of my flat 😊

[real-language-facts]

favorite type of word: names of genres that tell you nothing without context. literary fiction. popular music. interactive fiction. lets invent a new genre called experiencable media

[inresponseto]

oxford university, 2026 - maybe i will finally read The Secret History one of these days…

[inresponseto]

what i read this week 5/11/26 - 5/17/26

this was definitely a week of all time thats for sure. i was not only devastatingly ill but also had two final papers to submit this week, which took it out of me. also had a very bittersweet goodbye to one of my flatmates today as she goes home tomorrow (i will miss my flatmates a lot they are truly wonderful people). on a more positive note proud i finished a few books this week! also proud that i'm keeping up with my daily reading streak, even if its just one page a day. (images: sights from my hikes around wales)

Monday

3 Winters by Tena Štivičić - 95 pages

Tuesday

3 Winters - 17 pages (finished!)

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie - 81 pages

Wednesday

The Blade Itself - 41 pages (finished!)

His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet - 6 pages

Thursday

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh - 77 pages

Friday

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - 10mins 2secs

Saturday

The Family Fortuna by Lindsay Eager - 1 page

Sunday

Write for Life by Sheppard B. Kominars - 32 pages

Total Pages/Hours: 350 pages, 10mins 2secs

[inresponseto]

in response to ... A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

i finally finished A Doll's House! this makes it my fourth book of the year (which is very behind where i wanted to be but have been enjoying lots of other life experiences so trying not to be too hard on myself about it).

i'm not very well versed in plays so i was excited to see this on my reading list for a comparative literature course i took this semester! i definitely never would have picked it up on my own. a fun surprise was discovering that this was the play Lu Xun responded to which i discussed in a course last sem on modern chinese literature (i was lowkey proud of myself for recognizing this connection lol)!

** potential spoilers below!! **

overall, i found it easy to comprehend and a quick read which was more engaging that i was anticipating. in seminar, we primarily discussed it as a feminist work, looking at what it means to be a female hero and asking if nora is one. where i ended up landing on it is that within the social context, yes! nora make a decision for herself which in itself is an act of resistance toward both torvald and society (with resistance being intertwined with female heroism).

i particularly loved how the stage adaptation i watched (don't remember which one...) utilized the set to showcase nora as a doll in the house. the stage revolved and the actress was constantly visible to the audience, even if she wasn't explicitly in the scene unfolding. it made me excited about engaging with future plays (which is good given i'm taking a course on shakespeare next semester)!

the edition (cover shown above) i read included a helpful introduction section discussing themes and criticism which discussed inheritance in the play. i found this to be the most interesting element for myself as it connected with thing i discussed in previous university courses (18th century literature, disability studies). namely, the woman as a vessel for sin because of the christian associations with eve and the original sin (wrote one of my favorite academic works ever on this topic last sem!) and how 1. the home as a domestic space functions as a symbolic extension of the womb and 2. women's behaviors are responsible for their children's outcomes (referring to the belief that a mother's behavior causes disability or poorly behaved children).

i don't really have much critical thinking on it to write about here because if im honest writing a final paper on the play burnt me out a little bit. i do feel proud of my textual annotations and engagement with the text in that aspect though!

(doll house photo from the rijksmusuem in amsterdam! i took the picture because i was reading the play at this time and it reminded me of the cover design)

Final Rating: ★★★☆☆