lonely moon

Bibliophilia and wordaholic

[lonelymoonsthings]

Said the Dead, Doireann Ní Ghríofa

“In the city of Cork, a derelict Victorian mental hospital is being converted into modern apartments. One passerby has always flinched as she passes the place. Had she lived in another time, she too might have found herself held within those walls.

Now, she notices a sign: FOR SALE.

It is the first of many signs. Guided by an irresistible impulse, she follows them. Soon, she is trespassing, stealing, absconding from the routine of mother, spouse, daughter, as she uncovers a chorus of startling voices: those of the women who knew the hospital best. They murmur from archives and old records. They haunt from stairwells and walls. In them - and in one figure in particular -- she may find meaning and solace, righteous anger, salvation even. Or her final vanishing?”

Paperback

330 pages

Irish literature

Published 19 May 2026

[mahoganyamore]

it’s all just a dream

[mahoganyamore]

kiss of venus

[mahoganyamore]

the little things don’t feel so little anymore

[lonelymoonsthings]

The Bone Season, Samantha Shannon

“The year is 2059. For two centuries, the Republic of Scion has led an oppressive campaign against unaturalness in Europe.

In London, Paige Mahoney holds a high rank in the criminal underworld. Page is a dreamwalker, a rare and formidable kind of clairvoyant. Under Scion law, she commits treason simply by breathing.

When Paige is arrested for murder, she meets the mysterious founders of Scion, who have been looking for someone with her uncommon abilities. If she is to survive and escape, Paige must use every skill at her disposal- and trust in someone who ought to be her enemy.”

Paperback

562 pages

British literature

Published 20 August 2013

Book 1 of The Bone Season

[lonelymoonsthings]

Welcome to Night Vale Episodes, Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor

Mostly Void, Partially Stars, 278 pages, published 6 September 2016.

The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe, 297 pages, published 6 September 2016.

The Buying of Lot 37, 301 pages, published 14 May 2019.

Who's a Good Boy?, 278 pages, published 14 May 2019.

Paperback

American Literature

Part of the Welcome to Night Vale Podcast Series

[lonelymoonsthings]

Five Survive, Holly Jackson

“Red Kenny is on a road trip with five friends when their RV breaks down in the middle nowhere. This is no accident. Someone is out there- and someone wants one of them dead.

With eight hours until dawn, the six friends must escape or work out which one of them is the target. Buried secrets will be forced to light and not everyone will survive the night...”

Paperback

389 pages

British literature

Published 29 November 2022

[lonelymoonsthings]

Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus

“Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.

But it's early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel Prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with- of all things- her mind. True chemistry results.

But, like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why, a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ('combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride') proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook- she's daring them tochange the status quo.”

Paperback

386 pages

American literature

Published 31 March 2022

[mahoganyamore]

love me until i love myself

[mahoganyamore]

two of a kind

[lonelymoonsthings]

Kinky History, Dr Esmé Louse James

“Contrary to popular belief, our predecessors had all sorts of obscene hobbies long before Christian Grey hit the scene. In this enlightening romp, learn about the first instances of homosexuality on record from the ancient world and the diverse history of nonbinary gender; encounter a thousand years’ worth of hilarious and horrifying contraceptive methods; consider the positive and negative effects of the widespread availability of pornography in the digital age—and how our relationship to it changed during the pandemic; take a sneaky riffle through centuries of bedside drawers; and discover the dirty little secrets of luminaries such as Julius Caesar, James Joyce, Albert Einstein, and Virginia Woolf.

Esmé Louise James also identifies the key tipping points that directly inform current beliefs around sex to place the past in conversation with the present. By educating ourselves about the weird, wonderful, and varied spectrum of human sexuality and experience, we can normalize and destigmatize sex, write people of marginalized sexual identities back into the pages of history, and build toward a more liberated future.”

Hardcover

242 pages

Australian nonfiction

Published 3 October 2024

[lonelymoonsthings]

The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy, Mark Logue & Peter Conradi

“One man saved the British Royal Family in the first decades of the 20th century - he wasn't a prime minister or an archbishop of Canterbury. He was an almost unknown, and self-taught, speech therapist named Lionel Logue, whom one newspaper in the 1930s famously dubbed 'The Quack who saved a King'.

Logue wasn't a British aristocrat or even an Englishman - he was a commoner and an Australian to boot. Nevertheless it was the outgoing, amiable Logue who single-handedly turned the famously nervous, tongue-tied Duke of York into one of Britain's greatest kings after his brother, Edward VIII, abdicated in 1936 over his love of Mrs Simpson.

This is the previously untold story of the remarkable relationship between Logue and the haunted future King George VI, written with Logue's grandson and drawing exclusively from his grandfather Lionel's diaries and archive. It throws an extraordinary light on the intimacy of the two men, and the vital role the King's wife, the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, played in bringing them together to save her husband's reputation and reign.

The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy is an astonishing insight into a private world. Logue's diaries also reveal, for the first time, the torment the future King suffered at the hands of his father George V because of his stammer. Never before has there been such a personal portrait of the British monarchy - at a time of its greatest crisis - seen through the eyes of an Australian commoner who was proud to serve, and save, his King.”

Paperback

229 pages

British-Australian nonfiction

Published 17 November 2010

[lonelymoonsthings]

Blue Sisters, Coco Mellors

“The Blue sisters have always been exceptional and exceptionally different.

Avery, a strait-laced lawyer living in London, is the typical eldest daughter, though she's hiding a secret that could undo her perfect life forever.

Bonnie was a boxer but, following a devastating defeat, she's been working as a bouncer in LA - until a reckless act one night threatens to drive her out of the city.

And Lucky, the rebellious youngest, is a model in Paris whose hard-partying ways are finally catching up with her.

Then there was Nicky, the beloved fourth sister, whose unexpected death left Avery, Bonnie and Lucky reeling.

When, a year later, the three of them must reunite in New York to stop the sale of their childhood home, they find that it's only by returning to each other that they can navigate their grief, addiction and heartbreak and learn to fall in love with life again.”

Paperback

339 pages

British literature

Published 23 May 2024

[academic-vampire]

𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢 𝔞𝔠𝔞𝔡𝔢𝔪𝔦𝔠 𝔣𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔡 𝔤𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔭 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔰𝔢𝔢 𝔞𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔲𝔫𝔦

[writersisland]

Awesome Online Resources for Writers & other Creatives

papyr.com: freely accessible and summarized classroom materials in rhetoric, composition, grammar, and linguistics from a retired english professor

typelit.io: practice writing speed and accuracy by copying entire classical books

wordhippo: thesaurus where synonyms are separated by specific meaning and connotation, making it very easy to find a variety of words

adjectives for: get a selection of adjectives matching to any word you need them for

Heraldicon: create your own coat of arms

A Soft Murmur: make your own personalized ambience music

dmnes.org: database of names found in historical sources all across Europe from the middle ages

foodtimeline.org: timeline of the development of human foods and from when the first evidence we have of a food being consumed

Google News Newspaper Archive: archive of old newspaper pages, some dating back to the 19th century

Green’s Dictionary of Slang: a history of slang and insults in the english language

HathiTrust: digital library and archive with an extremely wide variety of topics and archived books and articles - eg. Fashion Periodicals: an archive of fashion magazines dating back to the 19th century

Marginalia Search: search engine that prioritizes non-commercial content (forums, blogs, and academia) and does not use genAi

[lonelymoonsthings]

The Lottery, Shirley Jackson

“Step into the unsettling world of Shirley Jackson with a collection of her finest, creepiest short stories, revealing the queen of American gothic at her mesmerising best. This selection includes 'The Lottery', Jackson's masterpiece and one of the most terrifying and iconic stories of the twentieth century.”

Hardcover

232 pages

American literature

Published 26 July 1948

[lonelymoonsthings]

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Suzanne Collins

“Ambition will fuel him.

Competition will drive him.

But power has its price.

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games.In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmanoeuvre his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined - every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favour or failure, triumph or ruin.Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.”

Paperback

517 pages

American literature

Published 19 May 2020

Prequel 1 of the Hunger Games