Outlaw of the Outer Stars

Jul. 20th, 2025 04:53 pm
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
Outlaw of the Outer Stars by John C. Wright

The adventures continue!

Read more... )

Sunday 20/07/2025

Jul. 20th, 2025 09:20 am
lhune: (3L)
[personal profile] lhune posting in [community profile] 3_good_things_a_day
1) The Sudden showers of rain rain yesterday and last night have refreshed the air

2) Dinner at my parents’s place

3) Enjoying their garden if it remains dry today

Recent Reading: The Goblin Emperor

Jul. 19th, 2025 09:47 am
rocky41_7: (Default)
[personal profile] rocky41_7 posting in [community profile] books
I first read The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison last year, but I never got around to reviewing it, in part because I didn't know what to say about it. My friends had loved it, and while I'd found it enjoyable, I was still percolating on what I liked (or didn't!) about it. Listening to The Witness for the Dead, a book in the same universe, got me thinking about TGE again, so this month I gave it a re-read. This time, it all clicked.
 
This book is truly such an enjoyable read. The basics of Maia's tale are not unfamiliar—a seeming nobody is thrust into a position of power no one ever expected them to have—but Addison puts her own fascinating spin on it. It has the same feeling I got from The Witness for the Dead, where the story prioritizes doing the right thing and many if not most of the characters in it are striving to be good people (whatever that means for them). It makes a nice contrast to the very selfish, dark fantasy where you know from the start every character is just in it for themselves (and I do enjoy those too, not to say one is better than other!) The protagonist Maia in particular is put in any number of positions where he could misuse his power for personal gratification—such as imprisoning or executing his abusive former guardian, Setheris—but he, with conscious effort, chooses differently. That is not the kind of person—not the kind of emperor—Maia wants to be. And honestly—there is very gratifying fantasy, particularly today, in the idea of someone obtaining power and being committed to some kind of principles of proper governance, of having some code of honor above their own personal enrichment.
 
  
 
 
 
 

Saturday 19/07/2025

Jul. 19th, 2025 09:44 am
lhune: (3L)
[personal profile] lhune posting in [community profile] 3_good_things_a_day
1) I’ve spent the evening reading on my balcony until it became too dark ♥

2) Visit to the libraries today (yes, both of them ^_^)

3) Yummy leftovers for dinner

Recent Reading: The Sapling Cage

Jul. 18th, 2025 05:43 pm
rocky41_7: (Default)
[personal profile] rocky41_7 posting in [community profile] books
Oof. Today I threw in the towel on Margaret Killjoy's The Sapling Cage because I'd rather be alone with my thoughts than sit through another three hours of this book. This is a fantasy book about a "boy," Lorel, who disguises herself as her female friend to join a witches' coven (She's a transgirl, but her journey on that understanding is part of the book, and she refers to herself as a boy for much of the story.)
 
First, I will say that I think Lorel is a protagonist written with love; clearly Killjoy wanted her to be relatable and sympathetic, and someone eager for a trans fantasy protag may be willing to forgive the book's many weaknesses for that. That said...
 
I was shocked to realize this book is not categorized as Young Adult/Youth literature. Lorel is 16 at the start of the book and she's very sixteen. She makes all the sorts of stupid, immature mistakes you would expect from a teenager, which makes her a realistic character, but also deeply frustrating to read as an adult, particularly since the first-person narration puts us right in her head. The book feels young even for a sixteen-year-old; it reads more like a preteen novel about teenagers.
 
The book itself feels incredibly juvenile, both in prose and in narrative. The writing is simplistic, the narrative barely there, and the worldbuilding painfully thin. The book infodumps on the reader constantly, going into detail about things that are then never relevant again and don't connect into any kind of overarching picture of what this world is like. Reads very much like the author just throwing a bunch of things she thought were cool at the reader without actually thinking about how they would impact her world or the characters in them.
 
 

Friday 18/07/2025

Jul. 18th, 2025 11:40 am
lhune: (3L)
[personal profile] lhune posting in [community profile] 3_good_things_a_day
1) I’ve bought a gorgeous flowering plant in discount yesterday and this morning i’ve properly installed it on my balcony

2) Reading a good book on said balcony surrounded by colourful flowers and friendly bees

3) Picking up my latest painting at the atelier this afternoon

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 4

Jul. 17th, 2025 06:59 pm
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 4 by Kanehito Yamada

Spoilers for the earlier books.

Read more... )

friday 5

Jul. 17th, 2025 06:12 pm
archersangel: (like the movies)
[personal profile] archersangel
This week's questions were suggested by [livejournal.com profile] bindyree .


5. Name five favorite movies.
ghostbusters (1984), jurassic park, the blues brothers, ferris bueller's day off, patriot games.

4. Name four areas of interest you became interested in after you were done with your formal education.
ancient rome, ancient greece, ancient egypt, medieval europe.

3. Name three things you would change about this world.
tax the rich, give poor people money, end wars.

2. Name two of your favorite childhood toys.
i do not think i really had any.

1. Name one person you could be handcuffed to for a full day.
scott bakula. not for any dirty reasons, but from what i hear he's a decent guy & hopefully would not be hostile about it.

other answers over here.

The Friday Five for 18 July 2025

Jul. 17th, 2025 01:39 pm
anais_pf: (Default)
[personal profile] anais_pf posting in [community profile] thefridayfive
This week's questions were suggested by [livejournal.com profile] bindyree

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . .

5. Name five favorite movies.

4. Name four areas of interest you became interested in after you were done with your formal education.

3. Name three things you would change about this world.

2. Name two of your favorite childhood toys.

1. Name one person you could be handcuffed to for a full day.

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

Thursday 17/07/2025

Jul. 17th, 2025 12:01 pm
lhune: (3L)
[personal profile] lhune posting in [community profile] 3_good_things_a_day
1) Breakfast and lunch on my sunny balcony while listening to the birds chirping merrily

2) Discovered a new series which is excellent to watch with headphones when my neighbours have visitors ^_~

3) Visiting a garden center in the open air this afternoon

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 3

Jul. 16th, 2025 05:27 pm
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 3 by Kanehito Yamada

Spoilers for the earlier books ahead.

Read more... )

Wednesday 16/07/2025

Jul. 16th, 2025 10:26 am
lhune: (3L)
[personal profile] lhune posting in [community profile] 3_good_things_a_day
1) I still have lots more energy :D I’m so happy

2) Went to the market for vegetables and lots of yummy fruit

3) A couple of long awaited packages will be arriving today ^_^ Never mind that I paid for them, it feels like presents are coming my way
rocky41_7: (Default)
[personal profile] rocky41_7 posting in [community profile] books
On Monday I finished The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow, about a trio of sisters in the American city of "New Salem" in Massachusetts in 1893 who take it upon themselves to revive witches' magic.
 
The Once and Future Witches dovetails historically with the movement for women's suffrage, creating some parallels between seeking the right to the vote and seeking the right to practice magic. I would have liked to have seen this carried more through the latter half of the novel, but I suppose I can see why it wasn't, particularly given it would be another nearly thirty years before the passage of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. The suffragettes played a long game. 
 
The core focus of the novel is sisterhood, both blood and otherwise. Harrow presents a beautifully wounded and layered portrait of siblinghood in the relationship between the three protagonists: Bella, the oldest; Agnes, the middle child; and Juniper, the youngest. Raised without a mother (she passed birthing Juniper) under the thumb of their abusive and alcoholic father in rural poverty, all three girls learned early on what they would do to ensure their own survival. And while there is great love between them, there is also great hurt, and by the start of the book, the three are not on speaking terms. Harrow did a great job with the complexity here, and watching their relationships develop and begin to heal was very enjoyable. 
 
 

Tuesday 15/07/2025

Jul. 15th, 2025 03:11 pm
lhune: (3L)
[personal profile] lhune posting in [community profile] 3_good_things_a_day
1) The new way of getting my medication is a huge success, I feel much less tired than usual *crosses fingers the next days will remain the same*

2) Enjoyed the sunshine on my balcony in a deckchair, heavenly ♥

3) Starting to diet properly again but with more salt his time ^^

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 2

Jul. 14th, 2025 06:39 pm
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 2 by Kanehito Yamada

Spoilers ahead for the first volume.

Read more... )

Monday 14/07/2025

Jul. 14th, 2025 02:49 pm
lhune: (3L)
[personal profile] lhune posting in [community profile] 3_good_things_a_day
1) Had a lovely chat with my neighbour

2) Trying a new way to get my bi-annual medication, much easier and faster once we’re used to it

3) Clean flat when I arrive back home

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 1

Jul. 13th, 2025 01:26 pm
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 1 by Kanehito Yamada

Prologue: the hero and his companions -- one the elf Frieren -- are honored for the defeat and death of the Demon King. They watch a meteor shower and Frieren speaks of seeing it in a better place to view, in 50 years.

Read more... )

Sunday 13/07/2025

Jul. 13th, 2025 10:19 am
lhune: (3L)
[personal profile] lhune posting in [community profile] 3_good_things_a_day
1) Nice hot shower this morning

2) Wimbledon final between Sinner and Alcaraz *bounces*

3) Dinner at my parents’s place

The New School Reader: Fourth Book

Jul. 12th, 2025 04:10 pm
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
The New School Reader: Fourth Book by Charles Walton Sanders

A 1856 book on elocution. Opens with discussions of how to say things, and then offers many samples of eloquent prose and poetry to praise on -- and to have your character formed by, since, as he writes, they were chosen toward that important end.

Saturday 12/07/2025

Jul. 12th, 2025 09:57 am
lhune: (3L)
[personal profile] lhune posting in [community profile] 3_good_things_a_day
1) The plants on my balcony are recuperating after the hot weather (or adapting to it?) they look a lot better *crosses fingers it will remain getting better.*

2) I’m putting the new plants in their proper flowerpots

3) Clean bedlinen for to night

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