Wine-dark seas, rosy dawns and many-storied stars

Thérèse / Catholic / Female / Neurodivergent / Polish / (in that order) / proud defender of the Hays Code (sans certain elements) / adopted child of the Alpine regions / poet / by most definitions an anti, but, like, doesn't do hatemail / outside the political binary / suffering from chronic baby fever and a permanent Tolkien hyperfixation / 🇵🇱Polish-Ukrainian solidarity🇺🇦

[marietheran-archived]

disclaimer: that I reblog somebody's posts — or from somebody — doesn't mean there's no objectionable or adult content on their blog or that I endorse all their views.

disclaimer no. 2: While I keep this blog clean, I do reblog posts with swearing/profanity. I don't always tag them; if I do it's "language warning"/"language sorry"

I have a Tolkien blog at @edennill, formerly @ettelenethelien (though be prepared for a pretty ridiculous amount of related stuff on here because I can't help myself) and a Star Wars blog at @jecki--lon.

Tagging tries to be consistent but is rather idiosyncratic as of rn.

Sometimes I use abbreviations as tags for my own use, so if you encounter a weird one it's probably that. #q is for "queue"

Tags to filter: #current issues, #discourse, #pro life, #anti taylor swift, #therese rants, #tw sex mention

[meme-conservation]

The Ides Of March

Conservation status: Least Concern

Classification: Non-native, non-invasive

This meme population has persisted in the pre-internet ecosystem since 44 BC, but for over a millennium the meme remained at very low population levels. Introduction to the theater habitats of England in approximately 1599 by an early meme ecologist (also notable for the introduction of such memes as Damned Spot and To Be Or Not To Be) caused a population boom that has led to the continued stable population of Ides of March despite the extinction or near extinction of the Ides of other months and all known Nones and Kalends.

The Ides Of March, like many other calendar memes such as April 25th (The Perfect Date), Thursday The 20th, and It's October 3rd, has a life cycle that can confuse amateur memeologists. These memes benefit greatly from the presence of scheduled posts in the ecosystem, appearing absent until their highly specific time, when the memes all bloom simultaneously and dominate the dashes of many users.

[meme-conservation]

The annual bloom of the Ides of March meme is almost here!

For those who are new to the tumblr ecosystem, it can be overwhelming, but even for the rest of us, it's a sight to behold! This Ides of March, remember to take a few minutes to stop and smell the refreshing aroma of emperor blood. Spring is here!

[marietheran-archived]

This blog is now archived. Find me at my old URL @marietheran as usual!

[marietheran-archived]

This blog is now archived. Find me at my old URL @marietheran as usual!

[marietheran-archived]

This blog is now archived. Find me at my old URL @marietheran as usual!

[marietheran-archived]

This blog is now archived. Find me at my old URL @marietheran as usual!

[marietheran-archived]

This blog is now archived. Find me at my old URL @marietheran as usual!

[marietheran-archived]

This blog is now archived. Find me at my old URL @marietheran as usual!

[marietheran-archived]

This blog is now archived. Find me at my old URL @marietheran as usual!

[marietheran-archived]

This blog is now archived. Find me at my old URL @marietheran as usual!

[marietheran-archived]

Resigning this to drafts for now because I don't want it to be easily seen who I'm vagueing but. Oughhh. When a blog first posts a mean teardown of some characters without even using anti tags, and then complains about the fandom being so divided the next day...

*sighs* Have you considered that maybe, just maybe, you are part of the problem?

[marietheran-archived]

This blog is now archived. Find me at my old URL @marietheran as usual!

[marietheran-archived]

I'm really thinking of switching to a different account for this year, mostly because I want to separate my main and Tolkien blog, mostly because of being a big believer in keeping political things out of fandom and I sometimes do post politics here... but it would be a hassle.

[ymutate]

PA Mathison (American, born 1969) Family Tree, 2022

Acrylic on canvas 24 X 36 inches Private collection

[marietheran-archived]

6, 8, 9?

6. Dead Dove Do Not Eat: Book you would recommend to a select audience with a mountain of caveats

I'll actually reply with two books since there were a few like that.

On the one end of the "select audience" spectrum there's Traitor by Amanda McCrina, which imho deserves more than its 3.5 Goodreads rating... but it seems the reviewers have mostly complained about being lost between the different factions. I would say that it says something about the Western conception of history, because even if there was a four-way-or-more conflict going on in the Lvov region by the end of WW2, how hard can it be to keep track of Poles and Ukrainians and Russians being different people (I'm assuming no one is confusing the Nazis with any of the above, because if so I am really concerned)... but well, while I liked the book and did not find the plot hard to understand, I am Polish, I've actually got family history there... I just can't say whether the average audience is poised to understand what's happening as well.

On the other hand, I've started upon the Kithamar series by Daniel Abraham. From an artistic standpoint it is good, not Tolkien-quality-lifechanging, but good — but I'm not sure if it is something I could in good faith reccomend, mostly because it's probably somewhere on the border between things I read and things that have too much sexual content for me (actually the important liaisons per se tend to be treated discreetly as they happen, but there is a lot of stuff that is just mentioned in vulgar ways and the F-word is used a lot in its literal sense)? Also, there will be people among my followers who won't appreciate the fact that book 1 features a girl with an unrequited crush on her (also female) best friend although nothing comes out of it (honestly, this was also probably not the best thing for me to be reading with my tendency towards OCD-ish obsessing over my own feelings, but that's a more personal concern). And on a completely different note, book 2 took such a boring and frustrating direction with the religion stuff — things like taking the nonsensical-if-you-think-about-it "gods are born from human faith" conceit seriously — that... ouch. I hate how immaturely most fantasy writers treat religion.

8. Blorbo Of The Year: Perhaps not your favorite of the year, but contains The Character

Aside from the somewhat rushed ending, it is actually one of my favourite 2024 reads, but Nyr from Elder Race (Adrian Tchaikovsky) had a character voice I loved. I cannot name what exactly appealed to me in him, except perhaps a certain ressemblance to another character in one of my favourite fanfics (won't even give a name because the comparison doesn't make any sense except to me, and the fanfic gives the character an original personality anyway), and something in that mixture of high competence and being utterly at loss... anyway, Nyr was great.

9. Compels Me Though: Okay, maybe not all of it made sense, but you had a great time anyway

Honestly, I don't tend to enjoy books where the plot falls apart past the point where it starts doing that... but I suppose the above can also fit. I don't remember what exactly was wrong with the ending, just that the climax felt over too quick... but there was enough going in for the book to leave me with a positive opinion of it.

[miggylol]

You've been isekai'd into a fictional setting. Spin this wheel to find out which one.

How will you fare?

This is going to be a BLAST, actually! I'm thrilled!

Okay, I can totally handle this. Let's go!

There will be challenges, no doubt, but I should certainly be able to meet them

I'm definitely concerned, but with a little luck I'll be able to make it through

My odds are ANYTHING but good, but I'm still going to try

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

Voting ended onJan 9, 2025

[carys-the-ninth]

2024 Reads in Review Asks

Faves of the year

Flops of the year

DNF With Prejudice: Book(s) you didn't finish on purpose

DNF With Regrets: Book(s) you didn't finish but want to get back to

Crowd Pleaser: Book you would recommend to almost anyone

Dead Dove Do Not Eat: Book you would recommend to a select audience with a mountain of caveats

Wasted Potential: Great premise and/or characters but fell down on execution

Blorbo Of The Year: Perhaps not your favorite of the year, but contains The Character

Compels Me Though: Okay, maybe not all of it made sense, but you had a great time anyway

Sleeper Hit: Not a book that you have to force into people's hands, but well-executed

Favorite non-fiction of the year

Favorite series of the year

Favorite standalone of the year

Most anticipated—did it live up to the hype?

Biggest disappointment?

Biggest surprise?

New author (either to you, or with a recent debut) you're hoping to read more of?

Favorite recent release you read this year

Favorite old(er) book you read this year

Did you re-read any books? Were they what you expected?

Best recommendation from a friend

Best book you found in the wild

Free space--talk about any book you read in 2024 not otherwise covered

Do you have any goals for your reading in 2025?

What's on the top of your list for 2025?