#jackrhackam

[aconissa]

do you have any recommendations for fantasy novels?

To be honest I don’t really read much fantasy, just because I tend to prefer realism most of the time and then gothic/horror or light sci-fi if not. But there are certainly fantasy novels I’ve loved and I’m trying to expand my reading scope and include more, so here’s a couple I’d recommend:

Tolkien, obviously. I think part of the reason I don’t read much fantasy now (especially high fantasy) is because I love The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings so much that nothing can ever beat them for me

Neil Gaiman, who is one of my absolute favourite authors. Particularly Neverwhere, American Gods, The Graveyard Book, Norse Mythology and Good Omens (written with Terry Pratchett)

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and the first of the new trilogy The Book of Dust. I loved these books to death as a kid and they still hold a special place in my heart, especially since there’s a new trilogy 

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter. Extraordinary and sensual feminist retellings of fairy tales from the 1970s

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado. These stories are somewhere on the cusp of fantasy/sci-fi/horror but they’re all spectacular. Think Angela Carter, if she was a queer woman of colour in the 21st century

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. A female-centric retelling of the King Arthur legend. Reading this book when I was a teenager was a life-changing experience

The Song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller. Technically these count as fantasy, even if they’re just based on classical mythology! Everyone knows how much I love TSoA especially but Circe came out recently and it’s phenomenal

The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland (and most other Maitland novels). One of my favourite books, I’ve read it 3 times and have the audiobook as well. A really clever novel set in early 14th century England, with a shifting perspective and a great host of characters (primarily women). Fantasy elements come in the guise of pagan rituals and folklore

The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. Technically a kids book but I love everything she writes, and this book is just gorgeous

The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan. Something in between fantasy, cli-fi and dystopian fiction. Basically about characters living on our earth when the sea levels have risen dramatically and people either live their entire lives on tiny sought-after islands or on boats. Also, gay!

A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge. Brilliant and spooky English Civil War era historical fantasy novel

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar. The fantasy element is subdued and I suppose it’s more magic realism, but it’s an excellent book and well worth reading

[brightbluedot]

u ever think about james and thomas attending the theatre together. sitting up on the balcony. their hands are entwined of course. every so often they look over at each other and smile. they talk about the play very passionately for hours afterward. they're always really nice to all the house staff who all know them and love them.

i can honestly say i have never thought about that before but now i am and i am LIVING ARI OH MY GODDD <33

like this is so precious. sneakily holding hands up in the balcony is like. the 1700s equivalent of kissing in the back of a movie theater and I am HERE FOR THIS. also now i’m thinking about thomas, who is Pining, inviting/dragging james, who is also Pining, to a play (Very Platonically of course it’s just that they’ve been Working So Hard and I really think you’ll enjoy this, Lieutenant, do come along – ) and james is just. sweatin. because he’s sitting So Close to Thomas, like there’s no desk between them now and he is Dying and unbeknownst to him, thomas is having the same thoughts, and james laughs at some joke and thomas just dies and then he smiles at james and then james just DIES and it’s all very blushy and very gay

but THEN they go AGAIN soon after they’re TOGETHER and listen just. imagine. t dot ham making his move and reaching for james’s hand and james just going !!!!!!!!!! for a moment or ten before so gently rubbing his thumb over thomas’s and the both of them just being so happy

also i’m 10000% Dying over the thought of them being pals with the house staff like that is The Most Endearing thing, i’ve got this image of a staff member seeing the pair of them walking out of the theater already absorbed in animated conversation about that one part and just smiling like, ah, yes, there they go, such nice young men, come again soon~

ALSO!!! CONSIDER. they get to the carriage and the second the door closes and it’s Safe thomas just pulls james in by his cravat and just kisses the shit out of him, like james ends up practically in his lap, then when thomas pulls away he tells james how it was torture to not be able to do that for hours with james sitting right there, and james just laughs because thomas is ridiculous and god, he loves him, and they spend the whole ride home curled up together, talking about the play in between kisses, and nothing bad ever happens to them ever the end

[beanabouttown]

i'm thinking about the memories that prompt thomas' sleep-talking and what they did to him in bethlam...aversion therapy is a given, so i'm sure they'd take him out of his cell at night when he'd been sleeping, when he's most vulnerable, and he's dreaming of james, maybe, and he just calls out to him as a reflex before realising where he is and that he's all alone and that they're going to hurt him again

you. you i like 

okay alright but now let’s think about the first time that thomas wakes up from a nightmare and doesn’t realise where he is. or who james is. or that he’s not about to be hurt again. and.....well. let’s just say that bethlem stripped him of any reluctance he might have had about begging 

[newtkins]

1, 3, and 16 for the film asks!

Thanks! I’ve already done #1

3. An actor/actress you’ve seen in more than 8 movies? Name the movies.

Uuum the first who comes to mind would be Keira Knightley with Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, the 3 Pirates of the Carribean (haven’t seen the last one & don’t know if I will), The Phantom Menace, The Imitation Game, Never Let Me Go, A Dangerous Method, & Bend It Like Beckham... maybe others I’ve forgotten tbh if you mention that Keira is in the movie I will probably watch it

16. A film you love but everyone else hates?

I can’t think of any for the moment? I have Unpopular Opinions I’m sure but it’s more the opposite, films everyone loves but that I can’t stand. Anyway nothing comes to mind right now, I’ll reblog this if I think of anything!

[aconissa]

have you read giovanni’s room? it’s the first james baldwin i’ve ever read and i’m really, really enjoying it. i feel like savoring every word and pausing after each paragraph.

it’s one of my favourite books ever!! god the writing is just unbelievable isn’t it? every single line resonated with me so deeply and I kept having to re-read bits because they just took my breath away

[brightbluedot]

so that whole miranda+window post is a heartbreak in a cup bUT when i read your tag about miranda and thomas gossiping about their affairs i just smiled so big please elaborate on that if you want to because that's the cutest idea omg

OH BOY DO I EVER WANT TO - but first things first, I cannot take credit for the idea! I believe I first accepted this image into my heart ‘n soul after reading this tremendously nsfw and most excellent fic by azarias. (basic plot is that Miranda tells Thomas all about her, ah, encounter with James in the carriage and they both get off it’s amazing would highly recommend)

just. this is my ideal dynamic for them. married best friends checkin’ out guys together. like just imagine: they’re at some Society Gathering, and Thomas pulls Miranda aside and points out some young noble with sharp brown eyes who looks very good in that blue coat and tells her like “Miranda he and I just had a wonderfully lively conversation about de Cervantes and he’s an avid fencer with arms to prove it you should definitely seduce him”. Or Miranda pulls him aside to whisper that she’s heard that lord so-and-so of such-and-such over there shares his inclinations so perhaps they ought to have a chat? 

picture Thomas waiting up for Miranda after some tryst, like he’s sitting there reading, then he looks up when he hears her come in, and he smiles and puts his book down and asks “so how was it?” and she grins and grins and runs over and plops down next to him and gushes about how romantic he was, Thomas, and oh, his hands, or she mentions how nervous he was, because wouldn’t her husband notice her absence? and they both laugh and laugh and Thomas kisses her forehead. similarly, imagine Thomas coming home late after some Very Innocent Meeting with lord so-and-so of such-and-such, and Miranda asks “So, was I right?” all eager, and Thomas just grins coyly, so she gasps and says “I was, wasn’t I? Tell me everything.” so he laughs and tells her all about how it took him so bloody long to get the hint (”I brought up The Symposium three times, Miranda”) but once he did –

and James. James. oh my god when James enters the picture. they would both be so excited. the second they’re alone after James leaves that first time Miranda would just be like “so, we’re keeping him, right?” “I certainly hope so.” and they’d Appreciate his hair and his uniform and his everything. (“Miranda I made him laugh today” “oh my god go on”) and listen. we know Thomas knew they slept together. there is no way she did not hook her best friend up with those details. (”When he kissed me, I expected he’d be shy, but then he used his teeth” “Oh my god” “I thought I would die - and he’s covered from head to toe in those freckles” “Oh my god” ) and oh god when Thomas began to properly fall in love with/pine for James, Miranda would Be There. like whatever the 1700s equivalent of arriving on the scene with ben & jerry’s in hand is. she’d have his back. and ahhhhhhhhh once Thomas and James got together, Thomas would be so happy and Miranda would be so happy for him because they’re best friends and this is what they do and neither of them would trade it for the world.

[aconissa]

this is a long shot but do you happen to know of any scholarly resources about the charioteer? i want to read it for my lit class but i have to prove that there is research material available before i can select it.

That’s a tough one! I’ve only found these:

‘Horses and Heroes: Plato’s “Phaedrus” and Mary Renault’s “The Charioteer”’ by Nikolai Endres

Reading behind the lines: Postmemory in contemporary British war fiction by Natasha Alden (I’m not sure how much there is in this one)

‘Masquing the Phallus: Genital Ambiguity in Mary Renault’s Historical Novels’ by Ruth Hoberman (this one focuses on the classical novels)

‘The Heart in Exile: Detachment and Desire in 1950s London’ by Matt Houlbrook and Chris Waters

Gay and After by Alan Sinfield (look up ‘Renault’ in the index); there may also be something in The Wilde Century but I haven’t got a copy to check

As for that, I have very much! I’m basically just copying these from my dissertation bibliography so I’ll leave it under the cut. Faves in bold:

Bittner, David, ‘Sebastian And Charles - More Than Friends?’, Evelyn WaughNewsletter, 24 (1990), 1-3

Brennan, Michael G, Evelyn Waugh: Fictions, Faith And Family (London:Bloomsbury USA Academic, 2013)

Byrne, Paula, Mad World: Evelyn Waugh And The Secrets Of Brideshead (New York: Harper Perennial, 2011)

Carpenter, Humphrey, The Brideshead Generation: Evelyn Waugh And His Friends(London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989)

Davis, Robert Murray, ‘Brideshead Revisited’: The Past Redeemed (Boston: TwaynePublishers Inc.,U.S., 1990)

Davis, Robert Murray, Evelyn Waugh, Writer, 2nd edn (Norman: Pilgrim Books, 1986)

Eade, Philip, Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016)

Garnett, Robert Reginald, From Grimes To Brideshead: The Early Novels Of EvelynWaugh (Cranbury, (NJ): Associated University Presses, 1990)

Heath, Jeffrey, The Picturesque Prison: Evelyn Waugh And His Writing (Kingston,[Ont.]: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1983)

Higdon, David Leon, “Gay Sebastian And Cheerful Charles: Homoeroticism InWaugh’s ‘Brideshead Revisited’”, ARIEL: A Review Of International EnglishLiterature, 25 (1994)

Kennedy, Valerie, ‘Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited”: Paradise Lost Or ParadiseRegained?’, ARIEL: A Review Of International English Literature, 21 (1990)

Stannard, Martin, Evelyn Waugh: The Early Years 1903-1939 (London: Dent, 1986)

Stannard, Martin, Evelyn Waugh: The Later Years 1939-1966 (New York: Norton,1992)

Carens, James F, Critical Essays On Evelyn Waugh (Boston, MA: G K Hall & Co,US,1987)

Littlewood, Ian, The Writings Of Evelyn Waugh (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1982)Page, Norman, An Evelyn Waugh Chronology (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997)

[beanabouttown]

jackrhackam replied to your post: Thomas totally bought a very soft brush to brush...

now i’m thinking about thomas seeing flint’s shaved head and just rubbing his hands all over that fuzz all the time because lbr every time anyone i know shaves their head no one can keep their hands off of it

but dude!! this!! its canon!! he touch!! 

but yes absolutely. all the time. james loves it.