Inspiwriter

"she cries whenever the wind touches her face"

[inspiwriter]

A reading list

Mostly to feed my own obsession with lists, but also to be used as a book recommendations list. Enjoy!

Το καπλάνι της βιτρίνας, Άλκη Ζέη- Tiger in the glass, by Alke Zei

Παραμύθι χωρίς όνομα, Πηνελόπη Δέλτα - Fairytale without a name, by Penelope Delta

Ο Μάγκας, Πηνελόπη Δέλτα - The cool kid, by Penelope Delta

Ένα παιδί μετράει τ’ άστρα, Μενέλαος Λουντέμης - A child counts the stars, by Menelaos Loudemis

Sophie’s World, by Jostein Gaarder

The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux

Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe

Jonathan Livingston seagull, by Richard Bach

The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

The orange girl, by Jostein Gaarder

Anna: a fable about the Earth’s climate and environment, by Jostein Gaarder

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings (The Felowship of the Ring - Two Towers - The return of the King), by J. R. R. Tolkien

Demian, by Herman Hesse

Anna of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery

Anne of Avonlea, by L.M. Montgomery

Anne of the Island, by L.M. Montgomery

The ones that walk away from Omelas, by Ursula Le Guin

Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

A wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle #1), by Ursula Le Guin

The Worlds of Chrestomanci, by Diana Wynne Jones (heptalogy: Charmed Life - The Magicians of Caprona - Witch Week - The Lives of Christopher Chant - Mixed Magics - Conrad’s Fate - The Pinhoe Egg)

Ακυβέρνητες Πολιτείες, Στρατής Τσίρκας (τριλογία: Η Λέσχη - Αριάδνη - Νυχτερίδα) - Drifitng Cities, by Stratis Tsirkas (a trilogy : The Club - Ariagne - The Bat)

Η Φόνισσα, Αλέξανδρος Παπαδιαμάντης - The Murderess, by Alexandros Papadiamantis

Emma, by Jane Austen

The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco

Kafka on the Shore, by Haraki Murakami

The Plague, by Albert Camus

Eroica, Κοσμάς Πολίτης (Kosmas Politis)

The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss

Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell

The Gambler, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott 

Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy

Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust

Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo

Crooked Kingdom, by Leigh Bardugo

The Owl Service, by Alan Garner

Διακοπές στον Καύκασο, Μαρία Ιορδανίδου - Holidays in Caucasus, by Maria Iordanidou

Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones

A Tale of Time City, by Dianna Wynne Jones

The Pursuit of Love, by Nancy Mitford

The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

Love in a cold climate, by Nancy Mitford

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

The turn of the screw, by Henry James

The Dark Lord of Derkholm, by Diana Wynne Jones

The game, by Diana Wynne Jones

The last wish, by Andrzej Sapkwosky

A darker shade of magic, by V.E. Schwab

Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Auaten

Sculpting in time, by Andrei Tarkovski

Persuasion, by Jane Austen

Winter Rose, by Patricia A. McKillip

Swallows and amazons, by Arthur Ransome 

What is literature?, by Jean-Paul Sartre

Hexwood, by Diana Wynne Jones

Deep Secret, by Diana Wynne Jones

The hatred of literature, by William Marx

Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones

Castle in the air, by Diana Wynne Jones

Home of the Gentry, by Ivan Turgeniev

Archer’s Goon, by Diana Wynne Jones

The Homeward Bounders, by Diana Wynne Jones

Wilkin’s tooth, by Diana Wynne Jones

A wizard’s guide to defensive baking, by T. Kingfisher

Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett

The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle #2), by Ursula Le Guin

Tehanu, (Earthsea Cycle #4), by Ursula Le Guin 

Mort, by Terry Pratchett

Μπουμπουλίνας 18, Κίττυ Αρσένη (Bouboylinas 18, by Kitty Arseni)

Ανθρωποφύλακες, Περικλής Κοροβέσης (The Method, by Pericles Korovesis)

Vita Nostra, Sergey & Marine Dyachenko

Dune, Frank Herbert

Larklight, by Philip Reeve

Starcross, by Philip Reeve

Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson

The stardust thief, by Chelsea Abdullah

Witches abroad, by Terry Pratchett

Wyrd sisters, by Terry Pratchett

Lords and ladies, by Terry Pratchett

Maskerade, by Terry Pratchett

Sourcery, by Terry Pratchett*

Τα ψάθινα καπέλα, Μαργαρίτα Λυμπεράκη - Three summers, by Margarita Liberaki

The door in the wall, by H.G. Wells

Grave Empire, by Richard Swan*

Heirs of Blade, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

A man, by Oriana Fallaci

When you reach me, by Rebecca Stead

Nine princes in Amber, Roger Jelazny

The Spellshop, by Sarah Beth Durst

The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan

[mournfulroses]

Anaïs Nin, from a letter to Henry Miller written c. January 1933, featured in A Literate Passion

[ololygas]

Keeping Things Whole, Mark Strand

[inspiwriter]

Το Άξιον Εστί

Απόσπασμα

«Κάθε λέξη κι από 'να χελιδόνι για να σου φέρνει την άνοιξη μέσα στο θέρος» είπε «Και πολλά τα λιόδεντρα

        που να κρησάρουν στα χέρια τους το φως         κι ελαφρό ν' απλώνεται στον ύπνο σου και πολλά τα τζιτζίκια

        που να μην τα νιώθεις         όπως δε νιώθεις το σφυγμό στο χέρι σου αλλά λίγο το νερό

        για να το 'χεις Θεό και να κατέχεις τι σημαίνει ο λόγος του

και το δέντρο μονάχο του

        χωρίς κοπάδι

        για να το κάνεις φίλο σου

        και να γνωρίζεις τ' ακριβό του τ' όνομα φτενό στα πόδια σου το χώμα

        για να μην έχεις που ν' απλώσεις ρίζα

        και να τραβάς του βάθους ολοένα και πλατύς επάνου ο ουρανός

        για να διαβάζεις μόνος σου την απεραντοσύνη»

Οδυσσέας Ελύτης, Το Άξιον Εστί

"Each word a swallow

to bring you spring in the middle of summer" he said

"And many olive trees

to knead the light in their hands

so that is spreads lightweight over your sleep

and many cicadas

so you don't feel them

as you don't feel the pulse in your hand

but the water sparse

so you have it as a God and you know deep inside what His word means

and the tree alone

without a flock

to make it your friend

and to know its precious name

the soil under your feet narrow

so you don't have room to spread roots

and you have to keep pushing deeper all the time

and the sky above wide

so that you can read on your own about infinity"

Odysseus Elytis, exerpt from the poem "Axion Esti"

(My own translation)

[cozyautumnspices]

[inspiwriter]

Taylor Swift - The Fate of Ophelia (ROCK VERSION) Prod. by Chris Lio

[threeamserif]

instagram | photos are my own, reblogs fine, do not repost/reuse

[the-night-flovver]

[inspiwriter]

I live, continuously, in this dream.

[no-where-new-hero]

Hexwood Readalong: V. Ch. 1

Back to the wood! We get reoriented as to "real" time again by learning that Martin had just seen Reigner Four enter the field that morning--though of course, in bannus-land, Four has been having a grand old time leading hunts and enjoying feasts.

This whole chapter is mostly Mordion lore. He's a man capable of killing, not only in a brutal fight with the wolves, but also a small defenseless rabbit. He justifies the one as self-defense; the other as mercy to the powerless. Both of these will become crucial to his character as the Servant later on. More on that below the cut.

There was an interesting conversation going on the tags with @inspiwriter @gracychelse and myself about the way Mordion treats Hume and how that plays back into his conditioning as the Servant and the horrific childhood of abuse he endured. There was the argument that Mordion has an inner cruelty that he exerts; certainly, he shows the capacity for it here simply because he's so good at killing. At the same time, he also kills the rabbit to put it out of his misery--that Hume put it through, interestingly, and depending on who Hume ends up being in the final reveal, I want to think about Hume's own capacity for violence and death--and willingly stints himself so that Hume will be fed through the winter. I think this chapter shows a definite battle of possibilities within his nature.

Not to bring up Fire and Hemlock again, but Diana repeatedly seems to hammer home that heroism and being a good and noble person involves constant small acts of choosing the right thing in the right moment. That's the way that Mordion can climb out of the cage of horrors that holds him and become a person that he himself can respect (as Ann yells at him to do).

[inspiwriter]

"...that the true hero never surrenders, that he is distinguished from the others, not by the great initial exploit or the pride with which he suffers and reacts, the pride with which he hides his sufferings and flings them back in the face of the one who ordered them. Not resigning himself is his secret, not considering himself a victim. "

-A man, by Oriana Fallaci

Because I think this is what Ann is trying to tell Mordion: don't consider yourself the victim, respect yourself and respect the truth of the unfairness of what they did to you. So you can fight back. That's the true hero.

[huariqueje]

Wave in Backlight - Peter Witt

German , b. 1966 -

Oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm.

[inspiwriter]

“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.” ― anaïs nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 7: 1966-1974

[art-art-academia]

Landscape at a woodland pond, late summer (1886) by Peder Mørk Mønsted

[tittiloi]

Nostalgia ©Tiziana Loiacono

[secretwurlds]

“Some people are artists. Some themselves, are art.”

[liatris-n]

Gwrych Castle.

[letsbelonelytogetherr]

— Franz Kafka

[aclockworkorange]

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life.” I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

— Maya Angelou