dreams_library | Member Posts

Cover for Sophie Clark's Cruel is the Light

I first got interested in Sophie Clark's "Cruel is the Light" because the cover is really pretty. I wasn't going to read it because while the marketing said "enemies to lovers" the summary wasn't sound "enemy-ing" enough.

Then the Pope died.

And I thought I'd read a book sent mostly in Rome because I had no idea what to read next, fiction-wise.

Cruel is the Light is... Fine. It's fine. It indeed isn't enemies to lovers, it's more rivals to lovers forbidden love fake dating. The love story isn't unbelievable, anymore than any two week love story is. I guessed both that

from the summary

Jules was a demon

and

from early in the book

the Vatican's god was a demon

but not how those two tied together. There's one image I really liked and might draw at some point, idk. The demon/exorcist worldbuilding reminded me of the manga Claymore. Anyway. I don't regret reading it, but I wasn't going to read the sequel. I'd give it a 13/20. (Disclaimer: I read something like half of it while stuck on a stopped train.)

Then the Pope died.

Ok, in the book he's "Exorcist Primus". Point is they're going to be doing X-Treme Conclave next book and I am intrigued.

althea_valara

First y'all: I am disturbed that the original post I grabbed this from called this the "Favorite Characters Colors Addition". It is like nails on a chalkboard, the way I cringed. The correct word in this case is "Edition", and I half-assed a correction using Paint.

I gave a thought of branching out to other Final Fantasy games but no, I could fill the grid only with folks from Final Fantasy XIV, so I did so.

( cut to spare your reading pages, but also: some light character spoilers through Endwalker patches )

Current Mood: bored

forestofglory

Here's some thoughts on media I read and watched recently

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen— This YA fantasy novel was really fun! There are lots of heists and disguises. All the moms are terrible but they aren't dead (being Death doesn't count). I really hated all italicized German words (it is not a problem that they were German I just hate it when “foreign” words are italicized, it's both othering and distracting to me as a reader) However this really sucked me in! It’s fast paced and twisty and the worldbuilding feels grounded.

Coffee Prince ep 5-20— I finished this classic of crossdressing girl media. It was cute and fun! I got a great comment on my post about crossdressing girl media about how crossdressing allows women to form friendships with men on more equal footing. This drama really leans into that and the pleasure of being ‘one of the boys” without having to justify oneself.

This did the best job of “The MC thinks he’s gay because he likes the crossdressing FL” that I’ve seen (Though I haven’t seen many) it could be even better but I was pleased with it nonetheless.

(Content note: Blink and you'll miss it miscarriage and fertility issues)

The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy— Somehow no one told me that it is a crossdressing story but trans. That is, the main character is a trans girl who starts the book thinking she’s a boy in disguise. Interestingly she "disguises" herself as a girl so that she can go out into the world and become a witch (mostly crossdressing men in media are trying to access "inner" spaces). The author even thanks Tamora Pierce in her acknowledgments, so it's very clearly part of that tradition.

What people did tell me about this book is that there are a bunch of meetings, in fact I was expecting more meetings based on how much people talked about them.There are some meetings, but they don’t drag out and are often summarized. But I was not expecting it to be quite as brutal as it was, there was a lot of fighting and some killing, and also quite a bit of phillosy about power and making choices. Definitely a book that gave me a lot to think about.

I don’t often go seek out reviews after I read a book, but this one I really wanted to see what other people said about it. I really liked Roseanna’s review.

The Truth Season 3 cases 4-5— I continue to really enjoy this show! I especially liked the set of costumes that looked part of a production of Midsummer Night’s Dream. Also they have been playing with the format in fun ways with these two cases.

archersangel

previous ranking. this post was inspired by trying the frosted (full frosting, not drizzled) cinnamon roll pop tarts.

*not every variety listed is currently available. some are seasonal, others were for a limited time.

frosted brown sugar cinnamon
s'mores
pumpkin pie (one of the few seasonal flavors i've tried, because who wants to commit to a box of 12 if you don't like them?)
cookies n' cream
chocolate fudge
chocolate chip
chocolate peanut butter
frosted banana bread. ok. could be more banana-y.
frosted (full frosting, not drizzled) cinnamon roll. not as good as brown sugar cinnamon
lemon crème pie. lemon things are either; not very lemony, lemony, or LEMON! these are the second.
peanut butter
fruit ones
pretzel pop tarts. dry & come apart at the end seams.
sugar cookie. would've been better, but smells like some kind of chemical. probably what they use to print the winter scenes on them.
frosted chocolate chip pancake. vague syrup flavor, no chocolate flavor. looks odd because of the chocolate chips on it.
apple jacks. barely tastes like anything, much less apple jacks
snickerdoodle. possibly tied with unfrosted, since they are too.
unfrosted ones
boston cream pie. boston cream filling is not meant to be eaten warm.

Current Mood: full

redbird

My right knee is healing, and stretching worked significantly better than yesterday. I even did a few carefully selected PT exercises this afternoon.

I can do more things standing up, and walking around the apartment is easier. However, I seem to have been leaning too much on the other leg, because my left knee started to hurt earlier. Not badly, but enough that I am putting the cane aside for the moment.

update Monday, 6/9: my knees feel mostly OK today. I am still being careful about walking a lot or standing too long. I just got the mail, figuring the two steps down to the mailboxes would be a useful check of how I'm doing. It was doable, but did hurt a little; I'm glad I decided not to go out. (The sidewalk is down another half dozen stairs, which are a bit more difficult than the ones inside, but the main thing is that this way I only had to climb back up two stairs.)

I heard from the GI doctor's office this morning, and have an appointment Friday at 10:30, which will be telemedicine. I hope my knees will be feeling a lot better by then, but if she had wanted to see me in person, I would have called a lyft and taken the quad cane with me just in case.

dhampyresa

I was rewatching Avengers: Infinity War and it, again, struck me how bloody hypocritical Steve's "we don't trade lives" line(s) is. Friend. Pal. Bro. My man. Do you really think no Wakandan is gonna die fighting Thanos' armies. Like. Get a fucking grip, omg.

queen_ypolita

My mum and sister are going to come over for a few days towards the end of next week, so my weekend has largely been about tidying up, getting rid of junk, and figuring out what more I'll need to do next week. I also rearranged things on my desk, which wasn't really necessary for the cleaning or next week but something I'd been thinking about for a couple of weeks. The work laptop I've been using since April is a bit bigger than the older one was, so the way I had monitors and stuff set up before didn't work as well any more.

And I'll need to be on the phone to the dentists first thing on Monday. Starting from Friday afternoon, one of my molars has been super painful with any pressure on it and I strongly suspect I've got an infection at the root. Painkillers and eating very, very carefully have kept things tolerable—I don't like taking painkillers unless I really have to, and this has really been one of those times. I can't remember the last time I resorted to taking both ibuprofen and paracetamol at intervals. No idea how quickly I can be seen, but hopefully between tomorrow and Thursday. I might need to replan my office days though.

peaceful_sands

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

queen_ypolita

I avoided standing an extra 20 minutes at the bus stop on my way to the supermarket at lunchtime because I checked the live tracking before I headed out. Instead, I decided to continue working for another half an hour and take the next bus, which appeared to be on time. And that worked out nicely. But on my journey home, I was rewarded by a 15-minute extra wait for the return bus, so I'm not entirely sure if not having to wait for the bus out actually helped me to avoid wasting time at all.

At least I managed to do the shopping I was intending to do. And I managed to drop off a big bagful of books at the charity bookshop. When I tried about six weeks ago, I happened to try on a day when they were busy training on the new till system and were not accepting any donations. So I took the books back home then and accumulated a few more before taking them out again today, and was relieved not to have to take them back again.

After work, I had a massage appointment, and I'm feeling relaxed and loose for a change.

archersangel

1. Have you ever been to summer camp?
no. that was for kids whose parents had money.

2. Have you ever made a s'more?
yes. both with the marshmallow melted on stick over the hot charcoal briquettes of a BBQ & heated in the microwave.

3. Have you ever slept under the stars (no tent/tarp)?
no. not even out in a tent. hung out on a porch/deck to watch the stars though.

4. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex sleep over at your house?
no.

5. What type of bed do you have (queen, twin, bunk, etc.)?
twin. it would be nice to have a full, or queen, bed but we can not afford to up grade now.

other answers are over here.

Current Mood: hot

redbird

We had a *weird* power outage today: most but not all of the apartment lost power. Mercifully, we did not lose power to the study, where I've been sitting quietly in the air conditioning all day (the high was 35C/95F). Our first thought was that something weird had happened to our apartment's power. Cattitude spent some time on the phone with the management company, which sent a technician. The technician looked things over and told us to call Eversource.

Some piece of their equipment broke, leaving 37 customers without power, according to the outage map, including us and our upstairs neighbors who also had power in part of each apartment. It took them several hours to fix, but fortunately we got our lights back before it was entirely dark out. The oddest-feeling bit of this was realizing that I could plug my phone in to charge, in the middle of a power outage.

I have been doing almost nothing today, to avoid straining my knee*. It's feel better now than last night, but still not great, and I'm having trouble using the quad cane correctly: even moving slowly, my foot and the cane are landing with one an inch or so ahead of the other (sometimes the foot is forward, sometimes it's behind). Tomorrow is supposed to be a lot cooler, but I'm still planning to stay home, and hopefully do some stretching.

* Yes, I buried the lede in yesterday's post, because the googly-eyed train was more interesting.

queen_ypolita

Tonight, I went to see National Theatre Live recording of Tennessee Williams's The Streetcar Named Desire from 2014, with Gillian Anderson as Blanche. If it had rained the same way it rained when I was coming home from the office, I would probably have stayed at home, but the rain had stopped. Even so, I procrastinated at home long enough that I needed to take the bus to town, which I hardly ever do. But I made it. The Hexagon seats were really uncomfortable for something that lasted over three hours, but it was definitely worth seeing. I thought I'd seen some version of the play before, but having now actually seen it, I'm not so sure. Maybe I've only read it, or just read about it and seen things about it. Some of it was very familiar, other parts a lot less so.

Coming home, I managed to take the bus without much waiting, but only after seeing I couldn't make it at the first possible stop, and then walking fast to the later stop on the route and hoping that the bus would linger it at a timing and sometime driver change stop the usual extra few minutes. As I managed to catch it, it presumably did—otherwise I would have been home faster by walking rather than waiting for the next bus.

redbird

Since my last reading post:

Nobody Cares, by H. J. Breedlove. This one is good, but dark: it's dedicated this to Black Lives Matter, and fairly early on I got to the first mention of Missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. It's also book 3 in the Talkeetna series, with further developments in the friendship-turning-romance of Dace and Paul.

The Disappearing Spoon, by Dan Kean: a history of the periodic table, with a bit about each of the currently-known elements and the people, or groups of people who discovered them. Someone recommended this after I mentioned liking Consider the Fork, but the two books have almost nothing in common.

The Electricity of Every Living Thing, by Katherine May: a memoir, about walking and what happens after the writer hears a radio program about Asperger's and thinks "but that's me." (I don't remember where I saw this recommended

Return to Gone-Away, by Elizabeth Enright: read-aloud, and a reread of a book I read years ago. Sweet, a family's low-key adventures in an obscure corner of upstate New York. As the title implies, this is a sequel; read Gone-Away Lake first.

Beautiful Yetta, the Yiddish Chicken, by Daniel Pinkwater, a short picture book that we read aloud after Adrian and I realized Cattitude hadn't read it before. Conversation in three languages, with translations (and transliterations) for the Yiddish and Spanish. Not Pinkwater's best, but fun.

Thimble Summer, by Elizabeth Enright, because I enjoyed rereading the Gone-Away Lake books. Several months of a girl's life with her family on a farm. The plot and adventures are relatively low-key. I liked it, and am glad I got it from the library.

Also, it looks as though I didn't post about the summer reading thing here. It started June 1, and the bingo card has a mix of kinds of books, like books in translation, published this year, or with an indigenous author; some squares with things like "read outside" and "recommend a book"; and some that go further afield, like "learn a word in a new language" and "try a new recipe." Plus the ever-popular "book with a green cover." (OK, last year it was "book with a red cover.") I do a lot of my reading on a black-and-white kindle, so I don't know what color the covers might be. Therefore, I walked into a library yesterday, looked at their summer reading suggestions, and grabbed a book with a green cover.

duskpeterson

The royal sactuary is arguably the most important chamber in the palace. It is here that, in former times, a sanctuarian priest held daily rituals designed to uplift the spirits of worshippers and – I am sorry to say – crush the spirits of slaves. The Emorians, rightly appalled by the Koretians' treatment of their slaves, built part of their new palace over the burning ground just outside the courtyard, which lay within easy sight of the sanctuary.

Despite its despicable misdeeds of the past, Koretia's priesthood has survived to the present day. The Jackal, who is also High Priest of Koretia, holds annual services to honor the slaves who served and died in Koretia; these services are often attended by the few slaves who survived their treatment. Some of these slaves remain dead in mind but come willingly to this service, drawn here by the Jackal, who is the god of death and who therefore watches over their spirits in the Land Beyond. To witness these dead-in-mind men and women gather around the Jackal is a deeply moving experience - a living monument to the Koretian belief that the gods can transform evil into good.

The royal sanctuary was desecrated at the time of the Emorian invasion of 961; the sanctuary was used to stable horses in the years that followed. After the Emorians withdrew from Koretia in 976, the chamber remained empty for many years. In 987, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the liberation of Koretia's slaves by the Emorians, the chamber was rededicated under the name of the Royal Sanctuary of the Living Dead. It is now a memorial to the suffering of Koretia's former slaves.

Conveniently for visitors, the royal sanctuary can be visited separately from the rest of the palace. The sanctuary now has its own entrance, unconnected to the royal residence or any other portion of the Koretian palace.

[Translator's note: The Royal Sanctuary plays a dramatic role in Death Mask.]

sage

( books (Palmer, Davis, Liu, Trungpa, Trungpa, Adams) )

dirt
Yay, the ginger root I planted has FINALLY sent up a shoot! Boo: Thursday I found the evidence of chomped leaves in the terrarium, meaning the snail is an omnivore and had to go, so I scooped it up with a spoon and put it outside...where the lemon tree has a whole actual branch now! The leaves are still tiny, but I'm so glad to see it come back to life. Meanwhile, the arugula died, which was sort of expected. I have more seed so I can just plant more. But I probably need to sterilize the soil, given the whole thrips situation. Also, I harvested a double handful of rattlesnake beans and am waiting on the rest to be of size to pick. I put more seed to soak yesterday and planted them today.

yarning
I went to yarn group on Sunday and finished the bodies of two kickbunnies and worked on a head. My shoulder ached but didn't scream, so that's a relative win. Then I voted in the municipal runoff. It remains hard to get motivated to crochet during the week. This is frustrating.

#resist
June 3 to 9: Target Boycott
June 14: Flag Day & No King's Day (Trump's Birthday) Protest
June 19: Juneteenth Protest
June 27: Stonewall Anniversary Protest
June 24 to 30: McDonald’s Boycott
July 4: Independence Day Boycott and Protest

I hope all of you are doing well! <333

redbird

Two minor amusing things from a trip downtown this morning:

I saw (and rode) one of the googly-eyed trolleys for the first time.

And on the way back, an ad in a subway car for some AI thing. The headline is something like "offload the busy work." The steps given below that are "AI drafts brief" and "brief accepted." Almost anything would have been a better example, after repeated news stories about lawyers getting in trouble for submitting impressively flawed AI-drafted legal briefs.

The trip was to try on sandals at the Clark's store. There was one that was slightly two big, so I have ordered a pair in my usual style, to be delivered to the store, so I can try them on there and return them if they don't fit.

I stopped to grab some lunch at the Quincy Market food court, and then wrenched my knee while sitting down on some stairs in order to eat it. The trip home was not fun, but I came home, sat down for a couple of minutes, then got out last fall's cane and went into the kitchen to make tea.

Current Mood: sore

althea_valara

I was discussing confidence and job searching with friends the other day, and one of them suggested reading Refuse to Choose: Use All of Your Interests, Passions and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams so I dutifully clicked the link and then went WAIT WHAT A BARBARA SHER BOOK I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT?!?!

I'm a big fan of Barbara's books, and spent a lot of time on her message board when I was younger. I helped proofread Wishcraft when she was first digitizing it, and had even talked to her on the phone once regarding the project. I was very sad when I heard she had passed away, because her books were very formative and helpful for me.

So yes, I immediately bought the ebook of Refuse to Choose and started reading it, and well, it's basically a how-to manual for scanners.

Hmm.

Okay, let me explain: Barbara says there are two types of people in the world: scanners vs. divers. A diver is someone who finds a subject they are interested in, then dives into it and learns everything about it. Scanners are the opposite: they taste a bunch of different subjects and have a lot of different interests.

In the past, I had considered myself a scanner. Now, I'm not so sure. I mean, it's been TWENTY YEARS and I am still primarily listening to Final Fantasy music. It's been FIFTEEN YEARS and I am still knitting and crocheting happily. And those are primarily my two interests. So that feels more like a diver to me.

And yet: I get bored within 6-12 months at a job. Once I learn what I'm doing and master it, I get depressed and listless. I was also the person in high school and college who took classes just because they sounded fun (like, I was never REALLY interested in acting or the theater, and yet I took both "Beginning Acting" and "Play Production" in high school, and enjoyed the classes.)

There's such a thing as a frustrated diver--that person who hasn't found their niche yet. I do wonder if that could be me. Or flipping things around: am I really a scanner that's masking as a diver right now because of anxiety/depression/whatever? There are so many ways I'm afraid to step out of my comfort zone. I'm trying to be more brave and try new things, but it's going to be a process.

If I think of all the things I have tried in the past... well, let's list them:
* photography
* drawing (when I was a kid)
* digital art (a college class I took that was open to highschoolers)
* journal/memoir writing (took a class on this)
* fiction writing (I subbed to Writer's Digest for several years)
* acting
* play production
* embroidery (I have a kit from the library that I was working on)
* candle making (never did it, but bought a kit when I was younger)
* astronomy (had a telescope)
* piano (took lessons as a kid, had electronic keyboards as an adult)
* flute (played in grammar/high school)
* violin (bought a cheap one off ebay and the Suzuki method books and played around with them)
* marathon walking
* pin loom weaving
* tablet weaving via backstrap method
* bracelet making (as a kid/teen)
* origami
* studying Japanese for fun
* anime/manga
* coding for fun (bot!)
* interactive fiction coding/writing
* website design
* DVD making (I made a simple menu for a DVD of Serenity-related items)
* painting, particularly on windows
* trading card games (MtG and LOTR)

...and probably more... that's quite a list! And I wouldn't say I mastered any of them, with the possible exception of bot. I am proud with what I did with bot. Oh, and I actually succeeded in completely a marathon, so that's an exception too. But all of the others, I dipped into for a bit. Usually, I would get REALLY EXCITED about something, throw my all into it for a bit, maybe succeed in accomplishing something, and then... drop the subject.

One thing I notice is that much of the stuff on the list has a creative element to it. I do very much feel like I'm a creator. I want to produce stuff. I want to create stuff out of nothing. I want to inspire or bring joy to people with my creations. I am happiest when talking about creating things. Also happy when discussing video games, but then it's primarily about the really good stories and characters and not so much the gameplay. I'm a sucker for a good story.

So yeah, maybe I *am* a scanner that hasn't allowed herself to explore lately. Either way, I'm gonna finish reading the book and see what Barbara has to say.

Current Mood: contemplative

queen_ypolita

Finished since the last reading post
Family History, which was OK, but what made it hard for me to really feel engaged with it was the feeling that the fun and exciting parts of Evelyn and Miles's relationship were all happening off-screen. And I didn't feel really interested in her as a character—too clingy in her relationship and without other interests in her life.

Currently reading
Still reading Heaven on Earth.

Reading next
Not entirely sure but I'll need to pick up something new. With the new books I've bought recently, I certainly have a few options.

dhampyresa

8 episodes is way too short for Doctor Who. The core of the show is the Doctor + Companion(s) relationship(s) and there isn't any time for that in these Disney seasons.

archersangel

really, where does the time go? it feels like the year started last month. not to mention, the century/millennium feels like it started less than 10 years ago.

anyway; things are persisting, but so am i. more or less.

Current Mood: pensive

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Dream's Library

October 2014

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Dream's Library

Member Posts

Conclave made me do it

meme time: favorite characters by color

Meida Round Up: Crossdressing Girls and Other Disguises

pop tarts reranking*

boring knee update

"We don't trade lives" sure, man

Weekend with cleaning

May Progress on my 101 in 1001 list

Frustrating buses at lunchtime

friday 5

weird power outage, and knee update

Dragged myself to the theatre

semi-recent reading

FIC: The Royal Sanctuary: historical background (Tempestuous Tours)

What I'm Doing Wednesday

(no subject)

scanners vs. divers, again

Wednesday reading

DocWho

my birthday, again

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October 2014

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