Spaghetti Academia

22 • Reading blog • he/they

[spaghetti-academia]

My name is Spaghetti! My pronouns are he/they, and I'm 23 years old. TERFs and bigots are not welcome here.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

I graduated from college, so now what does one do with their studyblr?

On this blog, you'll find: book reviews, book memes, and other book-related stuff! I may also post stuff related to movies and TV shows, but most of my posts are going to do with reading.

Important note: I like to read non-fiction. I do not agree with every author I read. Reading their book is not an endorsement.

Currently reading

AI Ethics by Mark Coeckelbergh

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

Mrs S by K. Patrick

The Tragedy of Great Power Politics by John Mearsheimer

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Laundering Black Rage by Too Black & Rasul A. Mowatt

Homestuck - check out my homestuck liveblogging!

key: fiction non-fiction webcomic

What genres do I like to read?

Fantasy & Sci-Fi - always been a huge fan of these genres. I'm a huge sucker for interesting worldbuilding, and I'd like to read more about soft/social science fiction

History - Learning about history is super important! It reveals a lot of about why things are the way they are

Society & Politics - I studied sociology and political science in college, and I want to keep learning.

What are some of my favorite books?

The Warriors series by Erin Hunter

Wolves of the Beyond series by Kathryn Lasky

World War Z by Max Brooks

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

I'm also participating in The Hardest Reading Challenge You'll Ever Do (HRCYED) by Qwordy!

Books I've read so far in 2024

[podargus-strigoides]

think im understanding this story well maybe. #ithuink

[secretmellowblog]

> I am recommended a feminist historical romance

> I ask whether it’s actually feminist, or whether it’s a story about how patriarchy is good as long as the patriarch is benevolent

> they don’t understand

> I describe the common trope in faux-feminist historical romance where the female lead is able to “escape” the sexism of her time simply by marrying the rare good man who respects women— as if patriarchy is a problem of abusive individuals, rather than an inherently abusive system. As if all the issues in patriarchy go away if the man you marry is Nice. As if “patriarchal systems can actually work well when the patriarch is kind and loves you uwu” is a bold feminist statement, instead of the cornerstone of inherently reactionary tradwife beliefs about gender roles.

> they laugh

> “it’s a feminist historical romance”

> look inside

> it’s a story about how patriarchy is good as long as the patriarch is benevolent

[spaghetti-academia]

it took me almost 90 minutes to read 14 pages. fuckass adhd

[sielankowy-nihilizm]

Imagine the sh*t Raskolnikov would have done if he had death note

[toastyglow]

(some guy on the internet voice) it's so unrealistic and forced when women win fights against men in stories. of course, when a young boy defeats a huge man I'm cheering and screaming because it is so badass, and when a frail old man defeats a cocky young warrior I feel nothing but satisfaction. I love these power fantasies about easily dispatching people who underestimate you, a thing I desire despite the fact that I will likely never have the skill to achieve it in real life, but I'm pretty sure women don't have that same desire, and even if they do, they shouldn't get to see it in media. because it's so unrealistic, you see. I mean I'm smart enough to know I can't take down a big man in a fight but the women, you know, they'll get ideas. I could probably do it if I trained hard enough, but the women??? for some reason I can't see it happening, and who can say why that is.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

This phrase has already entered my vocabulary re: media criticism where like. The viewer has a concrete view of what they expect a story to be based on the tropes and cliches they're used to seeing together, and when that doesn't happen, they judge it as a failed depiction of what they assumed it was going to be instead of judging it as what it actually is.

"This show is problematic because the hero didn't kill the villain at the end": When does he steal the bread?

"These two characters who were close friends throughout the series don't kiss at the end! What the fuck?": When does he steal the bread?

"This feels like it's missing a conclusion! Like, the protagonist does bad stuff and because of a critical decision he makes as a result of his major character flaws, meets tragedy in the end! Where's the part where he learns better and brings is love back from the dead and becomes a good guy and gets a happy ending?": When does he steal the fucking bread??

[taahko]

i think some of you dont like narratives or stories or characters i think you just like fanfiction tropes

[morganaspendragonss]

will you guys cancel me if i say that queer tragedy has a place in the creative arts and shouldn’t immediately be dismissed as bury your gays

[rubynye]

adding @glorious-spoon 's astute tags:

#bury your gays and women in refrigerators and the black guy dies first are all about treating marginalized people like props#to further the story of the (white straight male) protagonist#that's not the same thing as a tragedy! some stories are tragedies! whose story has weight and meaning - that's the question

[novella-november]

Whatever decisions you make as an indie author, just know you probably can't fail as badly as Milo Winter and The Age of Scorpius, as long as you do extremely basic care as an author:

Don't take preorders on a book you haven't finished writing yet.

Don't announce a publishing date for a book you haven't finished writing yet.

If you accept preorders on a book you haven't finished writing yet, keep those funds in an untouched account so you can do refunds immediately if you don't meet your stated publishing date because you haven't finished your first draft (let alone the final, edited draft)

First drafts are not final drafts.

Don't publish unedited first drafts after lying about having a famous editor working on your story.

Make sure your plot, characters, and worldbuilding mesh and make sense in the narrative.

Make sure you're not misspelling your own character's names and settings.

The story you wrote when you were twelve is probably not up to your current quality as a writer when you're 20. Keep that original story somewhere safe, but if you're going to publish it for money, you're gonna wanna rebuild it from the ground up so its up to par.

Make sure you are actually doing multiple drafts and edits after you finish your first draft!

Make sure you have editors!

Make sure you take feedback from beta readers!

[novella-november]

There's apparently a new update on this disaster of a situation, gonna watch the new videos covering it 😂

[spaghetti-academia]

where it all begins

[spaghetti-academia]

what if i got drunk and tried to read homestuck from the beginning again.

[tineiya]

[genderoutlaws]

Never read Baldwin before?

Nonfiction

The Price of The Ticket (borrow from IA)

The Fire Next Time (pdf download)

Notes of A Native Son (pdf download)

Nothing Personal (read on IA - not great quality sorry)

The Last Interview (pdf download) (only 10 pages!)

Fiction

Giovanni's Room (pdf download)

If Beale Street Could Talk (pdf download)

BONUS

Little Man Little Man (read or pdf download on scribd) (Baldwin's only children's book)

Go Tell It On The Mountain (pdf download)

Another Country (pdf and epub download)

Sonny's Blues (pdf download)

Going to Meet the Man (pdf download)

[creatingblackcharacters]

My next Black History Month request:

Pick one of James Baldwin's works and read it!!! The Fire Next Time is an excellent essay, most of us are familiar with the quote on gay white people from The Last Interview but not the rest of it. If Beale Street Could Talk even has a movie!

[polaraaace]

BookTok Girlies TM (not normal romance readers. the overconsumerist ones who cannot conceptualize of literature beyond tropes and "spice level.") are actively setting women and society as a whole back and I want them to feel the pain they're inflicting on the rest of us.

[problematic-faves-appreciation]

Firstly, people reading romance novels with their favorite tropes, and heat levels in mind is nothing new.

What is Category Romance? And Why Is It So Satisfying?

A Brief Look at Category (aka Series) Romance

The whole Medical Romance subgenre

Harlequin's Blaze Line (Erotic romance books; 2001–2017)

Fated Mates: Back in Time with Harlequin Blaze

Sexual Heat Levels in Romance

Old-school tropey books — the titles and covers tell you what you're in for:

Temporary Wife (1974): Marriage of convenience

The Impossible Boss (1976): Workplace romance about an asshole, rancher boss.

Blackmail (1982): Dangerous alphahole hero

The Devil's Price (1985): Vengeful alphahole hero

Bond of Hatred (1995): Enemies-to-lovers romance with an alpha male hero.

A Marriage Has Been Arranged (1997): Marriage of convenience

The Italian's Mistress (2005): Rich Mediterranean hero and his mistress, who most likely has a secret baby.

Dante: Claiming His Secret Love-Child (2009): Rich Mediterranean hero, secret baby trope, second chance romance

People's spice preferences aren't setting anything back, man.

Finally, in response to your "over-consumerist" remark, I'mma leave this screenshot here:

Who cares if someone wants to collect romance novels like the Comic Book Guy? Or whatever else these book snobs picture in their minds when they look down on BookTok people. Actually, the pros of people collecting books outweigh the cons: stuff lasts longer. For example, I was probably able to get my hands on a 1983 edition of That Sweet Enemy because of a collector. Not an easy find, let me tell you:

Anyway, the "BookTok Girlies™" aren't causing the "dOwnfAll oF la LittÉratuRe!". They're just the modern version of category romance-enjoyers — who didn't set women and sOciEtY back either.

You sound like a reactionary with those talking points.

[marisatomay]

at the risk of being cringe with everything going on — this week, the last six months, the past five years — i keep thinking about that one quote from the great gatsby

[marisatomay]

“they were careless people…they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

[marisatomay]

it’s just every day now, huh.

[0re0bun]

First-year undergrad math textbooks: $300, only available through a DRM-protected portal that goes down for maintenance on Tuesdays. You can't even pirate it, because you're required to submit all of your homework through a proprietary portal that keeps bugging out. Will go out of date in 6 months because they feel like it. Made by some dude who barely passed undergrad.

Fourth-year undergrad math textbooks: $20 on Ebay. From the 60s, but all of the ideas still hold up except a minor reference on page 123. Widely available, despite being out of print. Made by the guy who invented numbers.

[drbigsadbabymd-blog]

I think the part of the 40k fandom who really earnestly want to prove Astartes do/can in fact fuck are kinda missing the point.

Like Astartes are at their core deeply tragic creatures. They're people who've been turned into tools to serve the interests of fascist imperialism and, in the process, have had their humanity stripped away because they're purely utilitarian by design.

The scope of their entire existence has been narrowed down to a single point. They're more advanced than baseline humans in a physiological sense--stronger, faster, larger, better reflexes, etc--but beyond that, they're actually more limited.

There's a point in one of the Night Lord books where Octavia observes that, for all of the Astartes' advanced capabilities, they're really quite developmentally stunted. Like, huge powerhouses with unnaturally long lifespans, but the hyper-simplistic emotional depth and worldview of a 12 year old.

Which adds up. The Astartes love to sneeringly dismiss things like sexuality, intimacy and romantic love as nothing but the base, inferior drives of mortals, but once you strip back the superiority complex, it just sounds like a tween boy who can't wrap their head around why anyone would want to kiss a girl.

And, again, it's all by design; the Imperium doesn't want them developing attachments outside of a basic sense of brotherhood and filial love for their Primarch because that distracts them from their sole intended purpose. You don't want your hammer vanishing on a fuck fueled vacation to Bali with your handsaw when you're trying to build a shed. It's all a means of control.

And I get finding one of them hot and having horny headcanon, go fuckin nuts.

But whenever I see a reddit post that's like "B-BUT THE SPACE WOLVES FUCK! HORNY ASTARTES ARE CANON--!", it's like...I dunno, isn't it more compelling if they can't? That they've been robbed of simple human joys in order to better serve the interests of an uncaring theocratic fascist state? And they can't even grasp what's been taken from them?

Maybe that's just me.