Seems kinda gay, I'm in!

My pronouns are she/her, I'm queer ace, and yall can call me Gay! pfp courtesy of @tikycuki ! also fun fact: 'golf is the sport where the object is to play the least of it' is the most reposted post to the st subreddit, with 54 counted posts. I'll be sure to update this if and when it changes tho😉

[just-gay-thoughts]

So I've been getting a lot of new followers and I figured I should clear some things up.

Just-shower-thoughts is a bot that reposts from the r/showerthpughts reddit. I am a simple person who 2 years ago started this blog on an impulse with the purpose to 'respond' to just shower thoughts (jst). Over the years it's been a way to get out a little aggression and clear up misinfo. I would not feel comfortable being rude to jst if I wasn't 100% sure they're a bot, and if jst ever asks me to stop I will. But bottom line: the person who originally made the post on reddit likely won't ever see what I write, I try to avoid attacking in a personal way, and where I can I try to fact check what's being said.

[just-gay-thoughts]

So last I checked in, jst is active again but taking submissions from users here, and I honestly don't feel comfortable continuing this shtick with there new posts as a result. When I get a chance to do so, though, I think I will continue replying to their old posts, and if I notice any new posts that seem to be from reddit, then those as well

[just-gay-thoughts]

Daily reminder that young people can have fucking hip pain too and even if you're joking telling people "you're too young to have hip pain" when they're talking about their hip pain is fucking annoying at best

[just-gay-thoughts]

Anyways some people's bodies just hate them, some people get injured in odd ways at young ages, some get a fun combo of both.

I tend to joke about my old lady hip and I don't mind calling it that in context of joking about it, but not dismissing it completely because of age. My brain already tries to gaslight me into thinking I'm actually fine I don't need real people to do that as well.

[just-gay-thoughts]

1. Loving my fellow fucked up too young people in the notes so glad we're here together

2. I forgot what to was because I'm checking tumblr in between doing bits of pt and girlie is tired because it's 11pm

[just-gay-thoughts]

If I need a cane at any point tho I'm going to have fun decorating it tho, sticker it up

[just-gay-thoughts]

Just got reminded of this post and I did make good on decorating my cane when I ended up needing one. It's full on bedazzled rn although if I end up regularly using it again I might get a secondary plain one so I can be strategically sparkling

[just-gay-thoughts]

Succeeded in reading for a month so fuck it, here's a brief review of the books I finished in January! Fair warning, I give out 5 stars easily as the criteria for me is "did I enjoy reading this" because I use a non social based app so the data is just for me

1) The Kiss Curse (5/5): I started this new years eve and flew through it. Very easy light read, if you're a season based reader it's perfect for fall. It avoided many of the romance tropes I hate and had me full giggling and kicking my feet at times

2) Last Night At The Telegraph Club (5/5): A queer historical romance set in the 1950s. It was genuinely very good, it explored many aspects of being a teenager in the 50s and the author included a bunch of the research they did at the very end of the book. Not necessarily a feel good book but it's not necessarily sad either.

3) Once Upon A Dream (5/5): This book is part of Disney's Twisted tales collection and is the first of the series that I read. I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would, the twist they put on the fairytale is one I haven't yet seen and was very fun to slowly figure out what was going on. Aurora and Phillip got on my nerves occasionally but it was less of a "why don't you just do the obvious thing" and more "you're both kids and idiots and suck at communicating and going through something traumatic so while I wish you would use your words better I can't blame you".

4) Project Hail Mary (5/5): I read this one in anticipation of the movie adaptation coming soon and knowing I loved both the book and movie The Martian and it didn't disappoint. I love how Andy Weir seems to ground all of his science in reality to the point where I had moments I forgot it was a fiction book not based on any true events.

5/6) No Nest For The Wicket and Cockatiels At Seven (5/5): I'm lumping these together because they're part of the same series that are an easy enjoyable read for me. They're murder mysteries and while I wouldn't say they're groundbreaking, they're a nice read. I'm on my tenth or eleventh of the series and they don't feel too formulaic and the main detective character doesn't feel like a Sherlock rip off, she's just in the right/wrong places and curious.

And I'm still early in Six Geese A Slaying but my one wish of a goose committing murder might happen, the victim managed to piss of a group of people prior to dying and anywhere between 6 to 37 people from that group were dressed as geese at the time of murder.

[just-gay-thoughts]

Another successful month, lots of days I read just a single chapter, but my overall goal is to try and finish more books I haven't read and to get into more of a habit

The reviews are as follows:

1) Six Geese A Slaying (5/5): Like the others in this series, just very fun and silly to read. When I finish my nostalgia run I look forward to continuing the series!

2) Spring Awakening (2.5/5): I was aware of some of the general themes from having a rough idea of the musical but it is much harder to read in its original play form. For me it was a lot of heavy things with very little break.

3) The Boy In The Stripped Pajamas (1.5/5): I picked this book up some time ago because I had remembered hearing good things (although that might have been more specifically about the movie) and while I remembered hearing some controversy I decided to give it a try. It was terrible, it gets some points because I can see some merit in the story it was trying to tell, it just failed pretty terribly. It doesn't feel like the writer did any research on the Holocaust and just wanted cheap feel good points. The 10 year old raised in Berlin by a Nazi officer comes across so unbelievably stupid as he mispronounces "fuhrer" as "fury", "Auschwitz" as "out with", doesn't know who Hitler is, doesn't know the concept of Jewish people, and constantly makes everything about himself. The author consistently seems to be trying to cram the message of the book down the reader's throat rather than trust them to get it, having characters several times remark about how so and so actually isn't so different after all or how wow so and so is actually a person with a life! In retrospect I should have rated it lower.

4) Inkheart (5/5): I needed something nostalgic that I knew I would enjoy, so I've started rereading the Inkworld series for the first time in perhaps a decade. I absolutely adore the first book, the idea of characters being able to come out of their books is both terrifying and fascinating and I love the fictional story this author made that gets explored in more depth in the later books!

And I'm currently reading the second book of the series, Inkspell! I've been realizing most of the things I remember from this series are from the first 2 books, so I'm excited for when I get to the third book!

[just-gay-thoughts]

Success once again! Had a midterm that slowed down my reading but I didn't break the streak! Not a lot of books finished, but the two I completed are pretty long and I don't have the free time of middle/high school me who could have sped through them in a week and that's fine!

1) Inkspell (5/5): Out of all the books in this series, I remembered the most from this book and it didn't disappoint. I love a fantasy world so the 2nd and 3rd books of this series I do enjoy more than the 1st.

2) Inkdeath (5/5): I do have to give props to the author for how she stretches the plot without it feeling like unnecessary bad luck or a slow pace. She also does a good job making it feel like any character could die any the story would still go on just the same.

And I'm currently reading two books! Frogkisser which is a fairytale inspired book for maybe around middle school ages. I have some thoughts but there's still room for those thoughts to be more positive than they currently are. I'm also reading Red Dead's History for one of my classes, we won't be finishing the book in class (class is focused on the American west and the book and game also talk about the south and Appalachians) but I am enjoying it and will be finishing it on my own. It centers on Red Dead Redemption 2 and the real world history behind the setting and events of the game.

[just-gay-thoughts]

Another month done! Still a slower pace due to school but I've finished 3 books!

1) Frogkisser (3/5): I really wanted to love this book as from the start the premise and world building were intriguing but it felt like too much and too little was being done at times. There were 2 major plots happening that felt like they were fighting for space to be told in a satisfying way. The first, a quest to collect ingredients to turn frogs into humans, took up the entire book and felt like it dragged at times and it rarely felt like the protagonist was in charge of the story. The second, restoring the bill of rights and wrongs, was mostly characters info dumping to the protagonist and some heavy handed metaphors. It's conclusion felt similarly just handed to the protagonist. It was still a good read though, especially if you're the target demographic of a child, just could probably have benefited from splitting the plots into two books so they aren't fighting for space and can be properly developed.

2) Red Dead's History (5/5): Was reading the first section for a class but decided to finish it as it is genuinely very interesting to see how well the video game did at representing history, and the era of US history it's talking about I admittedly don't know much in depth about. It's not overly academic in writing and I would recommend it for anyone wanting to know more about the US that Red Dead Redemption 2 depicts.

3) Sense and Sensibility (5/5): Did I start reading this after saying I was going to stick to 'lighter' books because of my workload? Yes, because I make good decisions all the time. That being said I genuinely loved it, there's a vlogger I follow who gets really into regency books in the spring and I do now get why. I watched the 1995 film the night I finished and fucking loved that so much.

And I'm currently in the middle of a book about fishermen in peru and how fishing impacts their economy and the lives of those on the coast. It's another one for a class but I am unfortunately not enjoying it as much as the Red Dead book as the tone is much more academic and formal and it doesn't help this is for a 200 level course and your girl is tired. Parts have been interesting but I gotta finish it tonight to complete the assignment, so I'm about to spend like 3 hours on this😞

[just-gay-thoughts]

5th month done!

1) Coastal Lives: Nature, Capital, and the Struggle for Artisanal Fisheries in Peru (1/5): This was required reading for a class and while aspects of it were interesting to learn about, the manner in which it's presented makes this book better for someone truly deeply interested in every aspect of the subject on an academic level.

2) The Handmaid's Tale (5/5): A tough read at times in the current climate, as many of the issues being referenced and touched on haven't felt like they've changed much since the book was written. Still very good, I couldn't put it down much of the time.

3) Water For Elephants (5/5): All I knew going in was circuses were involved so I did choose it thinking it would be a happy book. I was wrong but oh my God it was amazing! I a couple times had to reference back to previous parts of the book as I realized more about what was happening.

4) Gulliver's Travels (3½/5): Overall it was interesting and I was enjoying parts of it, hated the protagonist and his ego though. The last section is why it got knocked down a little, as while I understand the author is using these far off lands as a mechanism to critique English society, it feels like fair critique by 1700s standards go until the last section. The reaction to the 'Yahoos', the protagonists obsession with the horses and his rejection to being compared to the 'yahoos' while comparing every other human to them just felt like too much, and that's without mentioning the intense section on lawyers and the racism. Every other section the people of the land the protagonist finds either directly or indirectly point out faults in English/Western society while the protagonist defends it or at least ensures to mention the virtues. In this section the protagonist instantly gives up any attempt to defend humans or human society, except when he himself is being compared to the 'uncivilized' version, and the critiques come from him not the people of the land he found. It just comes off as very suddenly harsh with little to no reason. Protagonist is also unable to be normal about women's bodies, like idk dude I think I wouldn't be filled with disgust and repulsion at seeing a giant boob, but I also would treat my wife better.

[just-gay-thoughts]

Halfway through the year!

1) The Adventures of Pinocchio (5/5): a very enjoyable and lighter read, it is very much the tone of children's writing but it is very interesting to read.

2) The Mysterious Benedict Society (5/5): This was a childhood favorite series of mine and I'm so happy it held up! The writing style is definitely aimed at a younger audience but it was delightful to read again!

3) The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey (5/5): not much to add that I haven't already said about the first book, this is the book I remembered the most from prior to reading but it was still enjoyable!

4) The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma (5/5): I remembered the least from this book but oh it was such a perfect ending to the series! I might have to look into finding the prequel book to read at some point now!

I'm now currently reading The Raven's Scholar after hearing rave reviews from my mother, I'm loving the world building and overall enjoying it although some characters in having a harder time understanding their motivations and actions. I'm still early in the book though, and very curious to see where everything goes!

[just-gay-thoughts]

Another month done!

1) The Raven Scholar (5/5): ended up being a slower read than expected but very good and I can't wait for when the next book in the series comes out! I had a touch time understanding some characters motivations near the start, it felt like some actions and feelings were because the plot demanded it but that could have also been a side affect of who the main pov character is. I love the lore and world building though and I'm so excited to learn what happens next!

2) The Magician's Nephew (5/5): I needed something light and fun and I recently acquired all of the Chronicles of Narnia books so I'm finally reading them all! I've read this one some time ago so it was familiar to me and it was a very fun read. I love the conversational tone C.S.Lewis takes as the author with the reader and it's a great origin story for Narnia. I'm genuinely shocked at how overlooked it goes in discussions of Christian influence on the books, the entire creation of Narnia is the start of Genesis and there's a slight garden of Eden and Eve with the apple moment too!

3) The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (5/5): also one I've read before but it's been even longer (or the movie has just had a greater influence on my mind). Still a fantastic book, it's interesting how Magicians Nephew slightly retconned some of Aslan's and Jadis' backstory with the references to an emperor, although i suppose that could have happened after the events of Magicians Nephew. The beavers were my favorite part, such delightful creatures!

And I'm currently reading The Horse and His Boy. With Greta Gerwig directing a full Chronicles of Narnia series I've occasionally seen clickbait articles about how there's one thing from this book that should be changed but never scrolled long enough through them to find the answer. So it's been fun to theorize, current front runner is the entirety of how Calormen vs Narnia is talked about in relation to their people, especially given the former being very clearly middle east coded and the latter being very northern European coded. Not sure if there will be one specific event I go to and go 😬 at tho.

[just-gay-thoughts]

How to best convey to my bosses that they can send me on wild goose chases when there's no good work to give me and I will still be happy

[just-gay-thoughts]

Fighting for my life to have this month's book calendar be more than just one book

[just-gay-thoughts]

I did it :3 there will be more than one book on this month's book calendar!

[just-gay-thoughts]

"the name you know, the story you don't"

Oh well youve been showing me clips of someone that seems to be Ebenezer Scrooge, maybe Hollywood is doing some like exploration of his turn to being miserable that isn't seen in the story, oh you're um, you're showing clips now that are very clearly just from A Christmas Carol. And your synopsis when googled is just A Christmas Carol. You're making a straight adaption of A Christmas Carol and saying it's the story the audience doesn't know. One of the most famous Christmas stories that has basic plot elements referenced almost 200 years after its publication.

The story that the Muppets have done? The story that the goes wrong team has done? The story with the bad cgi version? The story barbie has done? The story with numerous live action versions as recent as 2022? The story that has an 80s musical version? The story that has been adapted to stage countless times? The story that got a Star Trek themed adaptation? The story that Dolly Parton has done a version of? The story whose earliest surviving film appearance dates back to 1901? The story that has been made into a platformer video game? The story that I can't even list every version of because it's impossible to find them all and even the wikipedia article doesn't have them all?

That's the story they've chosen to market by saying we don't know the story behind the character for? Well. Uh good luck I guess.

Trailer for reference: https://youtu.be/lFG4AoncKIU?is=nZ1hyTAODSKTGwR0

Wikipedia article for reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_A_Christmas_Carol

[just-gay-thoughts]

Fighting for my life to have this month's book calendar be more than just one book

[just-gay-thoughts]

what app do you use to track your reading? it seems really neat

Bookmory! The part I show each month is the calendar view which you can customize how it displays the information but serves as a way to visually show your reading for the month.

This is the main info when you open the app, any books youre reading show along the top and you can swipe through them. The card to the very left that you can see a sliver of allows you to add new books. You can save books to read later (which I started doing to remember what I wanted to read soon but I fully forgor about those).

It has a lot of features I don't use, I forgot I had ever tried using the wishlist feature because I have other spots I do similar things. You can track if you bought books how much they were, if you borrowed books or maybe if you lent them out. Book Calendar is the one I show every month. So long as you log reading every day it counts towards your streak, clicking that button pulls up a similar calendar view to the book calendar but focusing on your streak.

Daily statistics is a little underwhelming right now because I haven't read yet today, but you can set a custom daily goal and track how you do meeting it.

Annual statistics is very similar, you can set a book goal for the year and see month by month based statistics (I believe 36 books is my current goal, I've been slowly raising it each year to determine where a good actual stretch goal is). The rewind is my favorite rewind because it's all stuff you've knowingly and willingly given them so it gets to just be fun facts you might not have realized about that data! Books also often have tags associated with them (or you can add them), so bam another data/statistic point!

You can also make your own personal collections, you can track if books are in series that you're reading. If you are taking a break from a book you can put it on pause, or you can just give up (an attempt at rereading eragon and a textbook have that honor for me so far). And then there's the final main data view point of your library/the books you've added as a whole.

I'm trying (and failing) to keep this short so I'll spend less time on the other tabs.

You can keep notes on the books as well, I don't really use this feature as it just isn't part of my reading habits but I imagine it can be helpful for those who enjoy note taking!

This is one way you can see/sort your books

And the last tab at the bottom is your profile.

But this is the main part I use and love it for, because it's been kinda neat seeing how long I spend reading a book, and having something that will handle most of the tracking with a push of a button is very nice! When you're done reading you can stop the timer and put in what page you're at in the book. They semi recently added an aspect to this feature that will calculate and show you how much time is left on the book based on the rate you're reading at, it's not perfect because if you read faster one day and slower the next the estimated time left will not go down as much. The coastal lives book I was reading for a class once had the estimated time go down by like 10 minutes after I read for 50. But if you're consistent enough it is very nice to know if you want to finish the book in one sitting how much time you should try to set aside for it.

And the best part? The app is free with minimal ads that will not meaningfully impact the user experience. If you're a data nerd this is a good app for you, if seeing the book calendar filled up makes the brain go brrrr and you need motivation to read more this is a good app for you. And my personal favorite part, the data is not public or shared with others (unless you do like I do and screenshot aspects). My rating system is not something I would want influencing public book ratings, which is why I'm not a Goodreads user.

[just-gay-thoughts]

Succeeded in reading for a month so fuck it, here's a brief review of the books I finished in January! Fair warning, I give out 5 stars easily as the criteria for me is "did I enjoy reading this" because I use a non social based app so the data is just for me

1) The Kiss Curse (5/5): I started this new years eve and flew through it. Very easy light read, if you're a season based reader it's perfect for fall. It avoided many of the romance tropes I hate and had me full giggling and kicking my feet at times

2) Last Night At The Telegraph Club (5/5): A queer historical romance set in the 1950s. It was genuinely very good, it explored many aspects of being a teenager in the 50s and the author included a bunch of the research they did at the very end of the book. Not necessarily a feel good book but it's not necessarily sad either.

3) Once Upon A Dream (5/5): This book is part of Disney's Twisted tales collection and is the first of the series that I read. I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would, the twist they put on the fairytale is one I haven't yet seen and was very fun to slowly figure out what was going on. Aurora and Phillip got on my nerves occasionally but it was less of a "why don't you just do the obvious thing" and more "you're both kids and idiots and suck at communicating and going through something traumatic so while I wish you would use your words better I can't blame you".

4) Project Hail Mary (5/5): I read this one in anticipation of the movie adaptation coming soon and knowing I loved both the book and movie The Martian and it didn't disappoint. I love how Andy Weir seems to ground all of his science in reality to the point where I had moments I forgot it was a fiction book not based on any true events.

5/6) No Nest For The Wicket and Cockatiels At Seven (5/5): I'm lumping these together because they're part of the same series that are an easy enjoyable read for me. They're murder mysteries and while I wouldn't say they're groundbreaking, they're a nice read. I'm on my tenth or eleventh of the series and they don't feel too formulaic and the main detective character doesn't feel like a Sherlock rip off, she's just in the right/wrong places and curious.

And I'm still early in Six Geese A Slaying but my one wish of a goose committing murder might happen, the victim managed to piss of a group of people prior to dying and anywhere between 6 to 37 people from that group were dressed as geese at the time of murder.

[just-gay-thoughts]

Another successful month, lots of days I read just a single chapter, but my overall goal is to try and finish more books I haven't read and to get into more of a habit

The reviews are as follows:

1) Six Geese A Slaying (5/5): Like the others in this series, just very fun and silly to read. When I finish my nostalgia run I look forward to continuing the series!

2) Spring Awakening (2.5/5): I was aware of some of the general themes from having a rough idea of the musical but it is much harder to read in its original play form. For me it was a lot of heavy things with very little break.

3) The Boy In The Stripped Pajamas (1.5/5): I picked this book up some time ago because I had remembered hearing good things (although that might have been more specifically about the movie) and while I remembered hearing some controversy I decided to give it a try. It was terrible, it gets some points because I can see some merit in the story it was trying to tell, it just failed pretty terribly. It doesn't feel like the writer did any research on the Holocaust and just wanted cheap feel good points. The 10 year old raised in Berlin by a Nazi officer comes across so unbelievably stupid as he mispronounces "fuhrer" as "fury", "Auschwitz" as "out with", doesn't know who Hitler is, doesn't know the concept of Jewish people, and constantly makes everything about himself. The author consistently seems to be trying to cram the message of the book down the reader's throat rather than trust them to get it, having characters several times remark about how so and so actually isn't so different after all or how wow so and so is actually a person with a life! In retrospect I should have rated it lower.

4) Inkheart (5/5): I needed something nostalgic that I knew I would enjoy, so I've started rereading the Inkworld series for the first time in perhaps a decade. I absolutely adore the first book, the idea of characters being able to come out of their books is both terrifying and fascinating and I love the fictional story this author made that gets explored in more depth in the later books!

And I'm currently reading the second book of the series, Inkspell! I've been realizing most of the things I remember from this series are from the first 2 books, so I'm excited for when I get to the third book!

[just-gay-thoughts]

Success once again! Had a midterm that slowed down my reading but I didn't break the streak! Not a lot of books finished, but the two I completed are pretty long and I don't have the free time of middle/high school me who could have sped through them in a week and that's fine!

1) Inkspell (5/5): Out of all the books in this series, I remembered the most from this book and it didn't disappoint. I love a fantasy world so the 2nd and 3rd books of this series I do enjoy more than the 1st.

2) Inkdeath (5/5): I do have to give props to the author for how she stretches the plot without it feeling like unnecessary bad luck or a slow pace. She also does a good job making it feel like any character could die any the story would still go on just the same.

And I'm currently reading two books! Frogkisser which is a fairytale inspired book for maybe around middle school ages. I have some thoughts but there's still room for those thoughts to be more positive than they currently are. I'm also reading Red Dead's History for one of my classes, we won't be finishing the book in class (class is focused on the American west and the book and game also talk about the south and Appalachians) but I am enjoying it and will be finishing it on my own. It centers on Red Dead Redemption 2 and the real world history behind the setting and events of the game.

[just-gay-thoughts]

Another month done! Still a slower pace due to school but I've finished 3 books!

1) Frogkisser (3/5): I really wanted to love this book as from the start the premise and world building were intriguing but it felt like too much and too little was being done at times. There were 2 major plots happening that felt like they were fighting for space to be told in a satisfying way. The first, a quest to collect ingredients to turn frogs into humans, took up the entire book and felt like it dragged at times and it rarely felt like the protagonist was in charge of the story. The second, restoring the bill of rights and wrongs, was mostly characters info dumping to the protagonist and some heavy handed metaphors. It's conclusion felt similarly just handed to the protagonist. It was still a good read though, especially if you're the target demographic of a child, just could probably have benefited from splitting the plots into two books so they aren't fighting for space and can be properly developed.

2) Red Dead's History (5/5): Was reading the first section for a class but decided to finish it as it is genuinely very interesting to see how well the video game did at representing history, and the era of US history it's talking about I admittedly don't know much in depth about. It's not overly academic in writing and I would recommend it for anyone wanting to know more about the US that Red Dead Redemption 2 depicts.

3) Sense and Sensibility (5/5): Did I start reading this after saying I was going to stick to 'lighter' books because of my workload? Yes, because I make good decisions all the time. That being said I genuinely loved it, there's a vlogger I follow who gets really into regency books in the spring and I do now get why. I watched the 1995 film the night I finished and fucking loved that so much.

And I'm currently in the middle of a book about fishermen in peru and how fishing impacts their economy and the lives of those on the coast. It's another one for a class but I am unfortunately not enjoying it as much as the Red Dead book as the tone is much more academic and formal and it doesn't help this is for a 200 level course and your girl is tired. Parts have been interesting but I gotta finish it tonight to complete the assignment, so I'm about to spend like 3 hours on this😞

[just-gay-thoughts]

5th month done!

1) Coastal Lives: Nature, Capital, and the Struggle for Artisanal Fisheries in Peru (1/5): This was required reading for a class and while aspects of it were interesting to learn about, the manner in which it's presented makes this book better for someone truly deeply interested in every aspect of the subject on an academic level.

2) The Handmaid's Tale (5/5): A tough read at times in the current climate, as many of the issues being referenced and touched on haven't felt like they've changed much since the book was written. Still very good, I couldn't put it down much of the time.

3) Water For Elephants (5/5): All I knew going in was circuses were involved so I did choose it thinking it would be a happy book. I was wrong but oh my God it was amazing! I a couple times had to reference back to previous parts of the book as I realized more about what was happening.

4) Gulliver's Travels (3½/5): Overall it was interesting and I was enjoying parts of it, hated the protagonist and his ego though. The last section is why it got knocked down a little, as while I understand the author is using these far off lands as a mechanism to critique English society, it feels like fair critique by 1700s standards go until the last section. The reaction to the 'Yahoos', the protagonists obsession with the horses and his rejection to being compared to the 'yahoos' while comparing every other human to them just felt like too much, and that's without mentioning the intense section on lawyers and the racism. Every other section the people of the land the protagonist finds either directly or indirectly point out faults in English/Western society while the protagonist defends it or at least ensures to mention the virtues. In this section the protagonist instantly gives up any attempt to defend humans or human society, except when he himself is being compared to the 'uncivilized' version, and the critiques come from him not the people of the land he found. It just comes off as very suddenly harsh with little to no reason. Protagonist is also unable to be normal about women's bodies, like idk dude I think I wouldn't be filled with disgust and repulsion at seeing a giant boob, but I also would treat my wife better.

[just-gay-thoughts]

Halfway through the year!

1) The Adventures of Pinocchio (5/5): a very enjoyable and lighter read, it is very much the tone of children's writing but it is very interesting to read.

2) The Mysterious Benedict Society (5/5): This was a childhood favorite series of mine and I'm so happy it held up! The writing style is definitely aimed at a younger audience but it was delightful to read again!

3) The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey (5/5): not much to add that I haven't already said about the first book, this is the book I remembered the most from prior to reading but it was still enjoyable!

4) The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma (5/5): I remembered the least from this book but oh it was such a perfect ending to the series! I might have to look into finding the prequel book to read at some point now!

I'm now currently reading The Raven's Scholar after hearing rave reviews from my mother, I'm loving the world building and overall enjoying it although some characters in having a harder time understanding their motivations and actions. I'm still early in the book though, and very curious to see where everything goes!

[just-gay-thoughts]

First ever recorded "googling medical problems" win, the weird thing I noticed seems to confirm I have some form of connective tissue disorder (have been on a wait-list to be tested for some time) and isn't itself dangerous or worrisome

[just-gay-thoughts]

Succeeded in reading for a month so fuck it, here's a brief review of the books I finished in January! Fair warning, I give out 5 stars easily as the criteria for me is "did I enjoy reading this" because I use a non social based app so the data is just for me

1) The Kiss Curse (5/5): I started this new years eve and flew through it. Very easy light read, if you're a season based reader it's perfect for fall. It avoided many of the romance tropes I hate and had me full giggling and kicking my feet at times

2) Last Night At The Telegraph Club (5/5): A queer historical romance set in the 1950s. It was genuinely very good, it explored many aspects of being a teenager in the 50s and the author included a bunch of the research they did at the very end of the book. Not necessarily a feel good book but it's not necessarily sad either.

3) Once Upon A Dream (5/5): This book is part of Disney's Twisted tales collection and is the first of the series that I read. I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would, the twist they put on the fairytale is one I haven't yet seen and was very fun to slowly figure out what was going on. Aurora and Phillip got on my nerves occasionally but it was less of a "why don't you just do the obvious thing" and more "you're both kids and idiots and suck at communicating and going through something traumatic so while I wish you would use your words better I can't blame you".

4) Project Hail Mary (5/5): I read this one in anticipation of the movie adaptation coming soon and knowing I loved both the book and movie The Martian and it didn't disappoint. I love how Andy Weir seems to ground all of his science in reality to the point where I had moments I forgot it was a fiction book not based on any true events.

5/6) No Nest For The Wicket and Cockatiels At Seven (5/5): I'm lumping these together because they're part of the same series that are an easy enjoyable read for me. They're murder mysteries and while I wouldn't say they're groundbreaking, they're a nice read. I'm on my tenth or eleventh of the series and they don't feel too formulaic and the main detective character doesn't feel like a Sherlock rip off, she's just in the right/wrong places and curious.

And I'm still early in Six Geese A Slaying but my one wish of a goose committing murder might happen, the victim managed to piss of a group of people prior to dying and anywhere between 6 to 37 people from that group were dressed as geese at the time of murder.

[just-gay-thoughts]

Another successful month, lots of days I read just a single chapter, but my overall goal is to try and finish more books I haven't read and to get into more of a habit

The reviews are as follows:

1) Six Geese A Slaying (5/5): Like the others in this series, just very fun and silly to read. When I finish my nostalgia run I look forward to continuing the series!

2) Spring Awakening (2.5/5): I was aware of some of the general themes from having a rough idea of the musical but it is much harder to read in its original play form. For me it was a lot of heavy things with very little break.

3) The Boy In The Stripped Pajamas (1.5/5): I picked this book up some time ago because I had remembered hearing good things (although that might have been more specifically about the movie) and while I remembered hearing some controversy I decided to give it a try. It was terrible, it gets some points because I can see some merit in the story it was trying to tell, it just failed pretty terribly. It doesn't feel like the writer did any research on the Holocaust and just wanted cheap feel good points. The 10 year old raised in Berlin by a Nazi officer comes across so unbelievably stupid as he mispronounces "fuhrer" as "fury", "Auschwitz" as "out with", doesn't know who Hitler is, doesn't know the concept of Jewish people, and constantly makes everything about himself. The author consistently seems to be trying to cram the message of the book down the reader's throat rather than trust them to get it, having characters several times remark about how so and so actually isn't so different after all or how wow so and so is actually a person with a life! In retrospect I should have rated it lower.

4) Inkheart (5/5): I needed something nostalgic that I knew I would enjoy, so I've started rereading the Inkworld series for the first time in perhaps a decade. I absolutely adore the first book, the idea of characters being able to come out of their books is both terrifying and fascinating and I love the fictional story this author made that gets explored in more depth in the later books!

And I'm currently reading the second book of the series, Inkspell! I've been realizing most of the things I remember from this series are from the first 2 books, so I'm excited for when I get to the third book!

[just-gay-thoughts]

Success once again! Had a midterm that slowed down my reading but I didn't break the streak! Not a lot of books finished, but the two I completed are pretty long and I don't have the free time of middle/high school me who could have sped through them in a week and that's fine!

1) Inkspell (5/5): Out of all the books in this series, I remembered the most from this book and it didn't disappoint. I love a fantasy world so the 2nd and 3rd books of this series I do enjoy more than the 1st.

2) Inkdeath (5/5): I do have to give props to the author for how she stretches the plot without it feeling like unnecessary bad luck or a slow pace. She also does a good job making it feel like any character could die any the story would still go on just the same.

And I'm currently reading two books! Frogkisser which is a fairytale inspired book for maybe around middle school ages. I have some thoughts but there's still room for those thoughts to be more positive than they currently are. I'm also reading Red Dead's History for one of my classes, we won't be finishing the book in class (class is focused on the American west and the book and game also talk about the south and Appalachians) but I am enjoying it and will be finishing it on my own. It centers on Red Dead Redemption 2 and the real world history behind the setting and events of the game.

[just-gay-thoughts]

Another month done! Still a slower pace due to school but I've finished 3 books!

1) Frogkisser (3/5): I really wanted to love this book as from the start the premise and world building were intriguing but it felt like too much and too little was being done at times. There were 2 major plots happening that felt like they were fighting for space to be told in a satisfying way. The first, a quest to collect ingredients to turn frogs into humans, took up the entire book and felt like it dragged at times and it rarely felt like the protagonist was in charge of the story. The second, restoring the bill of rights and wrongs, was mostly characters info dumping to the protagonist and some heavy handed metaphors. It's conclusion felt similarly just handed to the protagonist. It was still a good read though, especially if you're the target demographic of a child, just could probably have benefited from splitting the plots into two books so they aren't fighting for space and can be properly developed.

2) Red Dead's History (5/5): Was reading the first section for a class but decided to finish it as it is genuinely very interesting to see how well the video game did at representing history, and the era of US history it's talking about I admittedly don't know much in depth about. It's not overly academic in writing and I would recommend it for anyone wanting to know more about the US that Red Dead Redemption 2 depicts.

3) Sense and Sensibility (5/5): Did I start reading this after saying I was going to stick to 'lighter' books because of my workload? Yes, because I make good decisions all the time. That being said I genuinely loved it, there's a vlogger I follow who gets really into regency books in the spring and I do now get why. I watched the 1995 film the night I finished and fucking loved that so much.

And I'm currently in the middle of a book about fishermen in peru and how fishing impacts their economy and the lives of those on the coast. It's another one for a class but I am unfortunately not enjoying it as much as the Red Dead book as the tone is much more academic and formal and it doesn't help this is for a 200 level course and your girl is tired. Parts have been interesting but I gotta finish it tonight to complete the assignment, so I'm about to spend like 3 hours on this😞

[just-gay-thoughts]

5th month done!

1) Coastal Lives: Nature, Capital, and the Struggle for Artisanal Fisheries in Peru (1/5): This was required reading for a class and while aspects of it were interesting to learn about, the manner in which it's presented makes this book better for someone truly deeply interested in every aspect of the subject on an academic level.

2) The Handmaid's Tale (5/5): A tough read at times in the current climate, as many of the issues being referenced and touched on haven't felt like they've changed much since the book was written. Still very good, I couldn't put it down much of the time.

3) Water For Elephants (5/5): All I knew going in was circuses were involved so I did choose it thinking it would be a happy book. I was wrong but oh my God it was amazing! I a couple times had to reference back to previous parts of the book as I realized more about what was happening.

4) Gulliver's Travels (3½/5): Overall it was interesting and I was enjoying parts of it, hated the protagonist and his ego though. The last section is why it got knocked down a little, as while I understand the author is using these far off lands as a mechanism to critique English society, it feels like fair critique by 1700s standards go until the last section. The reaction to the 'Yahoos', the protagonists obsession with the horses and his rejection to being compared to the 'yahoos' while comparing every other human to them just felt like too much, and that's without mentioning the intense section on lawyers and the racism. Every other section the people of the land the protagonist finds either directly or indirectly point out faults in English/Western society while the protagonist defends it or at least ensures to mention the virtues. In this section the protagonist instantly gives up any attempt to defend humans or human society, except when he himself is being compared to the 'uncivilized' version, and the critiques come from him not the people of the land he found. It just comes off as very suddenly harsh with little to no reason. Protagonist is also unable to be normal about women's bodies, like idk dude I think I wouldn't be filled with disgust and repulsion at seeing a giant boob, but I also would treat my wife better.

[just-gay-thoughts]

I can't wait, because of the way I've prioritized my needs, for the day I have my own apartment and the living room looks sad because it's one chair and maybe a side table, but at least I have beautiful bookshelves

[just-gay-thoughts]

Nothing has made me more forgiving to stranger's incorrect spelling and grammar on the Internet than observing my own spelling/grammar habits when I'm tired.

Like I know myself, I know I know the difference between the 'there's and it's vs it's and any other homophone out there. Doesn't stop the reality of me typing when tired resulting in the closest version of the homophone being typed. It's not a conscious decision, it just happens.

And I see so many people acting like failure to spell perfectly is a moral failure and you must be a complete idiot with nothing to say. Most of the time I'm typing tired it's for my college classes, on essays and papers I get As on, I make sure the spelling and grammar is right for those. For random comments on social media? If one slips through why should that invalidate what I had to say.

[just-gay-thoughts]

Succeeded in reading for a month so fuck it, here's a brief review of the books I finished in January! Fair warning, I give out 5 stars easily as the criteria for me is "did I enjoy reading this" because I use a non social based app so the data is just for me

1) The Kiss Curse (5/5): I started this new years eve and flew through it. Very easy light read, if you're a season based reader it's perfect for fall. It avoided many of the romance tropes I hate and had me full giggling and kicking my feet at times

2) Last Night At The Telegraph Club (5/5): A queer historical romance set in the 1950s. It was genuinely very good, it explored many aspects of being a teenager in the 50s and the author included a bunch of the research they did at the very end of the book. Not necessarily a feel good book but it's not necessarily sad either.

3) Once Upon A Dream (5/5): This book is part of Disney's Twisted tales collection and is the first of the series that I read. I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would, the twist they put on the fairytale is one I haven't yet seen and was very fun to slowly figure out what was going on. Aurora and Phillip got on my nerves occasionally but it was less of a "why don't you just do the obvious thing" and more "you're both kids and idiots and suck at communicating and going through something traumatic so while I wish you would use your words better I can't blame you".

4) Project Hail Mary (5/5): I read this one in anticipation of the movie adaptation coming soon and knowing I loved both the book and movie The Martian and it didn't disappoint. I love how Andy Weir seems to ground all of his science in reality to the point where I had moments I forgot it was a fiction book not based on any true events.

5/6) No Nest For The Wicket and Cockatiels At Seven (5/5): I'm lumping these together because they're part of the same series that are an easy enjoyable read for me. They're murder mysteries and while I wouldn't say they're groundbreaking, they're a nice read. I'm on my tenth or eleventh of the series and they don't feel too formulaic and the main detective character doesn't feel like a Sherlock rip off, she's just in the right/wrong places and curious.

And I'm still early in Six Geese A Slaying but my one wish of a goose committing murder might happen, the victim managed to piss of a group of people prior to dying and anywhere between 6 to 37 people from that group were dressed as geese at the time of murder.

[just-gay-thoughts]

Another successful month, lots of days I read just a single chapter, but my overall goal is to try and finish more books I haven't read and to get into more of a habit

The reviews are as follows:

1) Six Geese A Slaying (5/5): Like the others in this series, just very fun and silly to read. When I finish my nostalgia run I look forward to continuing the series!

2) Spring Awakening (2.5/5): I was aware of some of the general themes from having a rough idea of the musical but it is much harder to read in its original play form. For me it was a lot of heavy things with very little break.

3) The Boy In The Stripped Pajamas (1.5/5): I picked this book up some time ago because I had remembered hearing good things (although that might have been more specifically about the movie) and while I remembered hearing some controversy I decided to give it a try. It was terrible, it gets some points because I can see some merit in the story it was trying to tell, it just failed pretty terribly. It doesn't feel like the writer did any research on the Holocaust and just wanted cheap feel good points. The 10 year old raised in Berlin by a Nazi officer comes across so unbelievably stupid as he mispronounces "fuhrer" as "fury", "Auschwitz" as "out with", doesn't know who Hitler is, doesn't know the concept of Jewish people, and constantly makes everything about himself. The author consistently seems to be trying to cram the message of the book down the reader's throat rather than trust them to get it, having characters several times remark about how so and so actually isn't so different after all or how wow so and so is actually a person with a life! In retrospect I should have rated it lower.

4) Inkheart (5/5): I needed something nostalgic that I knew I would enjoy, so I've started rereading the Inkworld series for the first time in perhaps a decade. I absolutely adore the first book, the idea of characters being able to come out of their books is both terrifying and fascinating and I love the fictional story this author made that gets explored in more depth in the later books!

And I'm currently reading the second book of the series, Inkspell! I've been realizing most of the things I remember from this series are from the first 2 books, so I'm excited for when I get to the third book!

[just-gay-thoughts]

Success once again! Had a midterm that slowed down my reading but I didn't break the streak! Not a lot of books finished, but the two I completed are pretty long and I don't have the free time of middle/high school me who could have sped through them in a week and that's fine!

1) Inkspell (5/5): Out of all the books in this series, I remembered the most from this book and it didn't disappoint. I love a fantasy world so the 2nd and 3rd books of this series I do enjoy more than the 1st.

2) Inkdeath (5/5): I do have to give props to the author for how she stretches the plot without it feeling like unnecessary bad luck or a slow pace. She also does a good job making it feel like any character could die any the story would still go on just the same.

And I'm currently reading two books! Frogkisser which is a fairytale inspired book for maybe around middle school ages. I have some thoughts but there's still room for those thoughts to be more positive than they currently are. I'm also reading Red Dead's History for one of my classes, we won't be finishing the book in class (class is focused on the American west and the book and game also talk about the south and Appalachians) but I am enjoying it and will be finishing it on my own. It centers on Red Dead Redemption 2 and the real world history behind the setting and events of the game.

[just-gay-thoughts]

Another month done! Still a slower pace due to school but I've finished 3 books!

1) Frogkisser (3/5): I really wanted to love this book as from the start the premise and world building were intriguing but it felt like too much and too little was being done at times. There were 2 major plots happening that felt like they were fighting for space to be told in a satisfying way. The first, a quest to collect ingredients to turn frogs into humans, took up the entire book and felt like it dragged at times and it rarely felt like the protagonist was in charge of the story. The second, restoring the bill of rights and wrongs, was mostly characters info dumping to the protagonist and some heavy handed metaphors. It's conclusion felt similarly just handed to the protagonist. It was still a good read though, especially if you're the target demographic of a child, just could probably have benefited from splitting the plots into two books so they aren't fighting for space and can be properly developed.

2) Red Dead's History (5/5): Was reading the first section for a class but decided to finish it as it is genuinely very interesting to see how well the video game did at representing history, and the era of US history it's talking about I admittedly don't know much in depth about. It's not overly academic in writing and I would recommend it for anyone wanting to know more about the US that Red Dead Redemption 2 depicts.

3) Sense and Sensibility (5/5): Did I start reading this after saying I was going to stick to 'lighter' books because of my workload? Yes, because I make good decisions all the time. That being said I genuinely loved it, there's a vlogger I follow who gets really into regency books in the spring and I do now get why. I watched the 1995 film the night I finished and fucking loved that so much.

And I'm currently in the middle of a book about fishermen in peru and how fishing impacts their economy and the lives of those on the coast. It's another one for a class but I am unfortunately not enjoying it as much as the Red Dead book as the tone is much more academic and formal and it doesn't help this is for a 200 level course and your girl is tired. Parts have been interesting but I gotta finish it tonight to complete the assignment, so I'm about to spend like 3 hours on this😞

[just-gay-thoughts]

Had to break the news to my friend the other day that the amount of Christianity facts and rants I have are not in fact the result of growing up in the church and rather a symptom of some larger problem with my brain

[just-gay-thoughts]

To be fair to her, I think being brought up in a Catholic church(as in the specific church my parents were part of, not the entirety of the religion at the time) that was relatively chill and non bigoted helped in the sense that while not religious I don't have inherent bad feelings to the idea of organized religion. Makes it easier to study Christianity like a bug

[just-gay-thoughts]

Had to break the news to my friend the other day that the amount of Christianity facts and rants I have are not in fact the result of growing up in the church and rather a symptom of some larger problem with my brain

[just-gay-thoughts]

Accidentally mildly stigmata-ed my palm with nair and I think I understand Jesus more on a fundamental level. Like yeah I'd fuck right off as well if I had 4 of these, that shits uncomfortable and making it hard to seem all wise and cool and mysterious