📚 Hi! I'm Noah avid reader since age 6 and always happy to discuss books! 📚
I read almost all genre with sweet tooth for fantasy and sci-fi. I also have a growing interest in murder mystery and horror. Lots of queer fiction. I'm also catching up on my classics.
Mostly adult and some young adult but I have enjoy middle grade from time to time.
I read in both english and french, english not being my first language but I'm pretty much fluent.
Yearly book count : 25
Last finished reading
Mangez le si vous voulez by Jean Teulé
Reading in progress
Porcelaine sous les ruines by Ada Vivalda
Carmilla by J Sheridan LeFanu
Already read this year (in reverse chronological order)
Persephone's Choice by Yihan Sim
The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes (Hunger Games #0) by Suzanne Collins
Thom Pain (based on nothing) by Will Eno
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Sauter des gratte-ciel by Julia Von Lucadou
Peau d'homme (Man's Skin) by Hubert and Zanzim
Ruined by S Vaughn, S W Searle and N Smith
Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed
The Lotus Empire (The Burning Kingdoms #3) by Tasha Suri
Escape Incel Island by Margaret Killjoy
These Deathless Bones by Cassandra Khaw
What Matter of Man by St John Starling
Les serres sous le velours noir by Charlène Ferlay
Cent ans de solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Les chants de Nüying by Émilie Querbalec
The Unwanted Guest (The Locked Tomb's short story) by Tamsyn Muir
Cent millions d'années et un jour by Jean-Baptiste Andrea
Yellowface by R F Kuang
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Les Guerriers de l'hiver by Olivier Norek
You Look Like Death, Tales From the Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way
so jane austen was inspired by much ado when writing pride and prejudice and of course she’s brilliant and i love her version of the plot and her very original characters. i mean it’s almost unrecognizable because it’s so original. which is why i love her. she took inspiration from the bare bone plot of much ado with the two couples, and then rooted all their problems in her own time period. it would have been so modern and fresh to read it right when it was published!!
but anyway what i’m trying to say is that i would love to live in a universe where i could see jane and bingley play pranks on lizzie and darcy in a hero and claudio type style. it’s just comedy gold.
Sorry for the rant OP, but this is one of my FAVORITE lit crit topics:
I have written on here many times how much I LOVE that Pride and Prejudice is an adaptation of Much Ado in a kind of stretchy, fanfic-AU sort of way. Austen definitely used the same characters and their dynamics with one another, but she actively adapted the story by giving them all interesting, English Regency versions of their Renaissance Tuscany/London challenges.
My favorite thing is that you see similarities in a) the scandal of an affair with the heroine’s unwed family member, and b) the willingness of the heroine’s “bitter rival” (Benedick/Darcy) to go far beyond what’s expected of him to save her family’s reputation, even when it might hurt his own
In her adaptation, Austen proposes that even if Beatrice/Elizabeth’s family member DID have an extramarital affair, Benedick/Darcy would still be morally obliged to help the family. This differs from Shakespeare, where Benedick believes that Hero is innocent. Sex scandals are therefore key elements in both plots, but Austen really pushes the original narrative to explore what the characters would do if the family member wasn’t innocent and the sex scandal was real. Would Benedick still have the same sense of duty to remedy the situation at great inconvenience/loss to himself? Would that duty be based in his love for Beatrice, or in his sense of ethics? Would Beatrice and Benedick have even fallen in love without their family’s interference?
So like, not only is P&P a wonderful (and very funny) adaptation of Much Ado, it’s also a refreshing, explicit exploration of the themes and issues Shakespeare clearly wanted to introduce to his 16th century audience. P&P doesn’t get to the violent, verbal extremes of “eat his heart in a marketplace” and “kill Claudio,” but it does push the character of Benedick to much more agency and responsibility as a privileged person in relation to Beatrice’s own (lack of) power. And to me, that makes it an exceptionally challenging and effective Regency adaptation of Much Ado.
(But ignore my meta-izing. Let’s talk about what’s really important: Austen preserving the comedy GOLD of suggesting that Benedick/Darcy is painfully in love with Beatrice/Lizzy from the very beginning, and also fucking furious with himself about it)
Obviously it's not one to one, but if we consider the Hero/Claudio storyline, Austen split it into two couples and made it way more realistic (in my opinion)
Jane and Bingley represent the Hero/Claudio "love at first sight" and "separated by machinations" sections, but come to a much more satisfying conclusion because Bingley's folly is based on modesty. He never turns on Jane, as Claudio does, instead he leaves her, but out of a belief that she doesn't love him and therefore wouldn't be harmed by it. Their happy ending is happy to (most) of the audience.
The defence of honour plot, Claudio doing wrong by Hero leading to her social doom and her being defended by Benedick, is all transferred to the trickster, Wickham (Don John?) and his victim Lydia (the other half of Hero). The solution still is marriage, but we are not left with this ambiguous nagging wonder if it's ever possible for Hero/Claudio to be happy, we know Wickham/Lydia is a bad marriage, but that Elizabeth & Jane will help their sister and she'll be okay.
I think if Much Ado About Nothing does have a flaw, it's that Claudio doesn't have his heart eaten in the marketplace. That flaw exists in Pride & Prejudice too, to be honest, but Claudio as Wickham doesn't get what he wanted. He has his ambitions of a wealthy match ruined by Darcy. For me, the ending isn't as uncomfortable, because no one is trying to pretend it's a happy one.
“Classic Literature is just a bunch of boring old white guys?”
First of all, how dare you! Genuinely HATE this take because it’s not even close to being true.
For Pride Month, I present to you a short list of recommended (by me!) queer classic literature.
1. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) - Oscar Wilde
You already knew this book was going to be on this list.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Gothic novel about a beautiful, young man who remains forever youthful and leads a life of self-indulgence, whereas a portrait of him ages and reflects his sins. The original manuscript of the novel had 500 words deleted by the editor prior to publication including Basil's confession that he felt a "romance of feeling" towards Dorian and had never before loved a woman. So while the novel is not explicitly queer, the intention is definitely there. Also, Oscar Wilde himself was sent to prison for 2 years for "gross indecency with men". So....subtext is everything.
2. Giovanni's Room (1956) - James Baldwin
There's no subtext in Giovanni's Room. James Baldwin was an openly queer man and had relationships with both men and women. The main character in his novel does the same. David is a gay (or bi?) man who struggles with his sexual identity, outright denying it at times. He is engaged to a woman, but spends the majority of the book trying to come to terms with the fact that he is actually in love with Giovanni, a man he is having a sexual affair with. Very poignant novel about homosexuality, repression, and internalized homophobia in mid-century Paris.
3. The Well of Loneliness (1928) - Radclyffe Hall
When a book gets banned, I immediately have to read it. The Well of Loneliness was banned from publication in the UK for being "obscene" and only allowed to be published in the US after years in court. There is nothing sexually explicit in the book, but a novel about a butch lesbian written by a butch lesbian in 1928 is going to cause a little social panic. It's also a beautiful book. The main character, Stephen (a woman) falls in love with a nurse named Mary and though they start a happy relationship, they have to navigate the social rejections of their families, friends, and wider community.
4. Goodbye to Berlin (1934) - Christopher Isherwood
The inspiration to one of the greatest musicals of all time, Cabaret. And also semi-autobiographical as it was based on Isherwood's time in Berlin. Isherwood was a gay, American writer who spent much of his 20s exploring queer spaces in Berlin before the rise of the Nazi party in Germany. One of these spaces is the avant-garde, gender bending Kit Kat Club. Ultimately, Isherwood has to flee Germany when Hitler gains power, and we're left with a sad ambiguity about what happens to all of the friends he made in Germany.
*Valley Girl voice*: I must, like, not fear. Fear is literally the mind-killer. Like it’s basically the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will totally face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me, and? When it’s gone? I’m gonna like turn the inner eye to see its path! Where the fear has gone there will be literally nothing. Only I will remain.
cosmic horror is when the Thing is Not Familiar, the Location Makes No Fucking Sense, and the Outside is BIG.
gothic horror is when The Thing is Of Your Own Making, the Location has a Deeply Bloody History, and the Outside is Wet and Cold and Is Caging You In.
folk horror is when the Thing Should Be Familiar, But Is Not, the Location Should Be Pleasing, But Is Not, and the Outside is Trying Very Hard To Kill You
roald dahl was antisemitic and misogynistic. george orwell was openly homophobic. edgar allan poe married his 13 year old cousin. dr seuss cheated on his wife (and was racist as well as antisemitic!). hp lovecraft was racist as fuck.
anyways they’re fucking dead it’s not like you’re enabling their behaviors in the afterlife or something. then again I think they bleed into the books so uh keep an eye out for that
the difference between these old white guys and jk rowling is that the former group is all dead. jk rowling is alive and using your money to oppress trans people
Three showing up obviously knowing it's in trouble for not following the plan and offering the lamest excuses is just . . . it's got free will now and no idea how to use it.
edit:
Three looked at me and said, “Perihelion-drone is angry that I didn’t follow the plan.”
Yeah, I bet. “You know that’s a you problem.”
“Oh.” Three was disconcerted. Welcome to the consequences of your actions, Three. It said hopefully, “It can’t be a we problem?”
“No, it can’t,” I said. “Get in the shuttle.”
Will you do it as my ally? Ally. As if that encompassed even half of it. But Malini could not ask for this on the basis of whatever lay between them: A handful of furious kisses, a knife against a heart, a flower around a throat, a yearning that never truly seemed to abate.
Priya looked at her and looked at her, and somehow the looking had brought them closer together
——
Priya and Malini are peak yearning and restraint 😭❤️🔥
The scene is from Book 2 of The Burning Kingdoms (The Oleander Sword) by Tasha Suri
I also wanted to try doing something in an Ivan Bilibin fairy tale style illustration.
PS I’m obsessed with The Jasmine Throne/Burning Kingdoms lately so do check out my last Tumblr posts if you want to see more fanart of this series!
rocky's crew dying from radiation exposure, something humans go to great lengths to prevent and are very scared of and grace's crew dying in their "sleep" with nobody watching, something eridians go to great lengths to prevent and are very scared of. cool book that is easy to read through your tears.
I think I've said something to this effect before but the thing about paul the sixth is that to themself they feel like a powerful happy whole person made from the souls of two people who loved nothing more than to be together meanwhile everyone else looks at them and sees a double headstone
