smilebackwards: din with spear (din with spear)
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin. In near-future Portland a man discovers that his dreams can change reality and his psychiatrist takes the opportunity to exploit that. Under the guise of attempting to change things for the better, things actually take drastic turns for the worse. I enjoyed seeing precisely how things went differently than Haber wanted due to lack of specificity and the fact that you can't really control dreams or humanity.

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay. Three girls and a governess mysteriously disappear in 1900s Australia while on a picnic. I thought this was fine, but a classic idk. It was a trip to go back and read the preface that explained what the author considered to have happened. spoilers? )

In TV, I finished:

My Happy Marriage (season 2): Enjoyed it.

Etoile: New York and Paris ballets swap dancers/choreographers. Loved the dance sequences and Cheyenne and Tobais and Gabin. Would watch a season 2 but spoilers )

Andor (season 2): Okay, what can I say about Andor!! It was good. Maybe the fact that it was good is what's making me have so many nitpicky feelings about some things. The last arc has only been out like 2 days so spoilers )

Also I got to go to a theater production of Fiddler on the Roof and it was soo good! Clever and funny and heartbreaking. I knew very little of what it was about going in except that it was considered a great musical and I was holding back tears the whole second act.
smilebackwards: murderbot (murderbot)
The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard. Solar flares cause the ice caps to melt and the world is flooded and reverts to Triassic-era climate and reptile supremacy. People go out to study and salvage what's left of the previous cities. This book has so many good building blocks and yet unfortunately I found it quite boring. I would almost never say this about a book but I think I'd have liked it better as a movie. There's a lot of psychological aspects happening which is cool, but could benefit from the visuals and soundtrack a movie provides. (Just looked up on Google and apparently WB was was working on a adaptation in 2013 but then radio silence so guess it never got made.)

The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. Re-read this because The Drowned World made me crave the action-adventure of it. One of my favorite books but there is a lot of 'oof, product of its time' bits.

In TV, I finished:

Wheel of Time (season 3): This was a great season. The Rhuidean episode was extremely cool and all the Aes Sedai politics and upheaval was intense.

Slow Horses (seasons 1 - 4): NEW SPY SHOW! I mean, it has been on since 2022 but new to me. I love spy media and typically the appeal for me is extreme competence but these are like the reject fuck-up spies and I find them so endearing oh my God. I might just rewatch this series again while I wait for season 5 in September. Anyone getting Apple TV short term for Murderbot reasons, I recommend watching this show too!

And I did just go see The Accountant 2 and it had a lot of extremely funny sibling behavior between Chris and Braxton which is exactly what I wanted. Obsessed with Jon Bernthal in this. I'll probably go see it again.
smilebackwards: john with left yellow stripe (Default)
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. Everyone is correct, this is a superbly written classic about queerness and shame. I love a book that tells you the terrible ending at the very start and then flashes back and unspools what led to it. Also this absolutely insane burn from Jacques to David after he ghosts Giovanni and then everyone horrifically collides in the bookshop hit me hard--"One book," he said, finally, "that you can surely spare yourself the trouble of reading is the Marquis de Sade."

In TV, I watched Shrinking (seasons 1 & 2). Obsessed with Harrison Ford in this. I feel like they gave him the character info and then basically told him to be himself. Also I particularly love Gaby. Jessica Williams' line delivery is perfection.
smilebackwards: mulan made up for the matchmaker (when will my reflection show who i am)
The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy. What it says on the tin. Bleak, pointed contemplation of death after a life that was perhaps not as well-lived as originally thought. I love the combination of bluntness and reflection in Russian stuff. Need to add some more novels to my TBR list.

Flowers for Algernon by by Daniel Keyes. Heartbreaker of a novel about intellectual disability and personhood.

While reading these pretty heavy books, I was watching ridiculous but enjoyable television:

Cobra Kai (season 6): Another final season! I do think they stuck the landing because the last set of episodes that just got released were very fun although during the earlier parts of the season I was kind of like wow, this should have ended in season 5. It is a dumb show about teenagers and old men having karate wars but I love Johnny Lawrence and some of the comedy is gold. Watch a gateway vid: St. Elmo's Fire by [personal profile] lilly_the_kid.

And, speaking of vids, I got a new [community profile] vid_bingo card and we'll see if I manage a premiere for [community profile] vidukon_cardiff. April 6th deadline seems very close to me for any of my current ideas.bingo card )
smilebackwards: trees (trees)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. 200 pages into this I would have said it was over-written (the version I read was I think quarto sized and made it ~700 pages which may have influenced my feelings here) but I reconciled to it as I went on and I admire the writing and all the descriptive introspection. Despite being such a well-known classic it was still kind of suspenseful to me because 177 years old but still spoilers to me )

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. I wanted to read these two books together since Wide Sargasso Sea is essentially a prequel response-type novel to Jane Eyre. This would probably be an even more disjointed novel to read without having read Jane Eyre and even having read them within days of each other I still found it hard to follow--it's purposefully written to be dream-like and about obscured tensions and falling into madness. Worth a read but I wouldn't be one of the people giving this glowing 5 star reviews.

In TV, I finished:

Silo (season 2) - While this show is sometimes filmed so darkly I literally had to watch it at night because any glare meant I could not see what was going on, I enjoy it and I want to know what happens next. Juliettte ♥

What We Do in the Shadows (season 6) - Final season! I'll miss Guillermo and the dumb Staten Island vampires.
smilebackwards: chel looking horrified through her fingers (chel looking horrified through her finge)
The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery. Woman is given one year to live and proceeds to make choices that horrify her stuffy society family! This was fun and cleverly written and I feel a strong need to write a Star Wars fic inspired by it which is maybe mildly insane of me--the vibes are very different--but also is just life in fandom. Will see if the muse holds.

Speaking of Star Wars, I watched Skeleton Crew and it was very cute! I feel like I heard almost nothing about it and I wasn't going to watch it but I'm glad I decided to. Space kids accidentally going off on space pirate adventures! I'd be interested to see a season 2 because they left several things half open but the season also worked as a good stand-alone.
smilebackwards: mako in the jaeger suit (mako mori)
First new reads and watches of 2025!

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Continuing my reading of new-to-me classics. This was another really interesting POV one. Traditional African culture running up against British colonialism. I didn't originally realize this was part of a trilogy but maybe I'll read the next two. Also, it's becoming a pattern that every time I read a classic it seems to get a new TV/movie release. Wuthering Heights is being redone, Netflix just released One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Things Fall Apart has an upcoming TV adaptation staring Idris Elba and David Oyelowo.

In television, I watched:

Brilliant Minds (season 1): Zachary Quinto on my TV! I actually loved this show. It feels so much kinder than most medical shows and they really lean into adapting to and living with neurological issues rather than 'we solved your medical mystery and you're cured yay'. NBC, please renew.

Star Trek: Lower Decks (season 5): Final season! I miss them already. Mariner and T'Lyn are my faves <3

Also, I don't usually list all the movies I watch because it would probably be a lot but I have to say I watched Conclave and it was soooo much fun. I love that it's a political drama but also, quite frankly, a comedy from a certain perspective. I was all set to go see this in theaters months ago and then I got absolutely slammed with some kind of respiratory illness and by the time I was better it was out of theaters, boo. Anyway, both this and Brilliant Minds are on Peacock and were worth the $8 to me, although I should go cancel now so I don't forget in February.
smilebackwards: din with spear (din with spear)
Come Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie Mallowan. Travelogue of Agatha Christie's time on an archeological dig in Syria with her second husband. It was interesting to see her writing style in something other than a murder mystery and the kind of everyday travel and life disasters in this were amusing.

TV I've been watching: Great British Bake Off (season 15). The Dragon Prince/Mystery of Aaravos (season 7). Flashpoint (seasons 1 - 3 rewatch). Not much to say about any of these. They're pretty undemanding watches and I'm in end-of-year couch mode.
smilebackwards: viktor from arcane (viktor)
Shout out to the [community profile] holiday_wishes comm. I always like to see if I can do a few things from people's wishlists. Some of them are relatively low effort things like recs or mail or charitable donations.

In recent TV watching, I watched Mindhunter (seasons 1 & 2). I have mixed feelings about it because I'd say it's a well done show and it has Anna Torv, as all shows should, but it's kind of like a prequel to Criminal Minds where they're trying to figure out the psychology behind serial killers and obviously that's pretty dark and also I feel like the characters like each other less and less as it goes on which is a valid arc but not what I look for in a show. Of course this kicked me off into re-watching some of my favorite Criminal Minds episodes which are the Reid focused ones in the first few seasons.

Also watched Arcane (season 2) and my feelings about that are not mixed at all. I'm in full obsession mode. I actually already watched this twice and the amount of fanart I've reblogged on tumblr is a lot. Originally I watched it for the animation, which is incredible--like I am not an art person but I can say wow and put it on level with Into the Spiderverse--but I've also been slapped with feelings about the science partners. [personal profile] lylith_st made a bunch of gorgeous icons so I'm well supplied for any posts.
smilebackwards: john with left yellow stripe (Default)
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Continuing my reading of classics I missed out on. Thank God this had a family tree in the front matter because I could not keep track of the Jose Arcadios and Aurelianos of each generation, though the repetitive naming was a good literary show of the cyclical issues of this family. I enjoy magical realism and this delivered but it was a slow read for me.

In TV, I finished Only Murders in the Building (season 4). I think the murderer reveal was a bit weak but overall a fun season. I'm in it for the hilarity of the Charles/Oliver/Mabel squad.
smilebackwards: john with left yellow stripe (Default)
Book reading marathon has slowed as expected now that I finished the Aubrey-Maturin series and the weather is cooling down so I'm not outside reading, though I still have a giant TBR stack. Mostly TV watching this month.

Heartstopper (season 3): Cute. I enjoy the show but don't have much to say about it.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story: I put off watching this for a long time because I thought 'spin off, eh' but straight up this was by far the most affecting of all the seasons. I was legit sobbing in the final episode and the barriers to the love story don't feel as contrived. Every other season the barriers are so solvable I'm rolling my eyes a little but here I was like 'oh fuck' and I think the reveal was done well even though you kind of know from other seasons.

Band of Brothers (re-watch): Usually when I do a re-watch of this it's in June for D-Day but I felt like watching now and it's so eternally good. Love a show made in 2001 that holds up like this. Unexpectedly threw me back into the fandom so I am reading all the new fics and might write something if I can convince myself to start writing again. Have been at a horrible writing standstill since like July.

Yuri!!! On Ice: I have some shows that I hesitate to watch because I worry I might become obsessed and I already have enough media obsessions so I'm happy to report that while I finally watched this and see why it's a fandom darling, I thought it was fun but sprouted no fandom feelings. I do love the intro a lot.
smilebackwards: trees (trees)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. One of those classics I had never previously read and I fully see why it is a classic. A+ fantastically fucked up obsessed relationship. A lot of really good intense descriptions. Haunting the narrative! This is one of those love or hate books and I personally love it.

21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey by Patrick O'Brian. Three chapters of the latest Aubrey-Maturin book O'Brian was writing when he passed. This was set up to have the typed manuscript on the left pages and the handwritten draft on the right which was interesting but also I couldn't read O'Brian's handwriting for the most part so I could only catch a few bits where things were changed or what happened at the end (duel!) where he hadn't started typing any of it up yet. Will be ending my personal series collection with the final complete book 20.

In TV, I watched Shogun which I hear won many Emmys, good for them. Interesting historical setting, intricate politics, and exploration of cultural differences is a winning combination to me too.
smilebackwards: john with left yellow stripe (Default)
I'm not writing but I am reading.

Treason's Harbor by Patrick O'Brian. Book 9 of the Aubrey/Maturin series. Much spy shenanigans in this! It's constantly surprising to me how I feel like so little happens in each book but it's so interesting? They are hanging out in Malta for 100 pages at the start and I was still riveted. And I thought surely the climax will be what happens with the agent situation but no, we wait until the next book. It really is like 1 incredibly long book just broken out into 20 books.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. Time travel. I liked the structure of this. It went through multiple character POVs and then reversed back through them. Reused characters from The Glass Hotel so I guess kind of a crossover but I would have been fine not having read that too. Usually I'm good about not hoarding books I'm not expecting to read again but this is such a lovely little hardcover, with blue painted edges, and the typeset is so nice I might keep it just for aesthetics.

This week I watched Dead Boy Detectives which was entertaining. Sometimes I just want something that is mildly enjoyable but I don't feel like joining the fandom and this fit that for me.
smilebackwards: cleon xvii from foundation (lee pace in the gold crop top)
Even more summer deck reading. I'm doing a summer reading challenge at my library and I have been reading every day. At some point, I will get a prize :)

The Witness for the Dead & The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison. I didn't know Katherine Addison had written more in The Goblin Emperor universe! I saw these on the shelf next to it and I was like 'oh, what's this?' I honestly read Goblin Emperor so long ago that I don't remember much about it except that it was well-written and had interesting politics, but these books are a spin off of Celehar solving crimes. I enjoy the writing very much and Celehar is the kind of character with a completely warped self-perception that I love. Apparently it's a trilogy with one more book coming out next year.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov. I'm still rotating the Foundation TV show in my head and I decided I'd grab this off the shelf. A lot of the show did follow the book but the show made a great decision in genderswapping Gaal and Salvor in my opinion. The book literally has one named female character and it says her name all of once and then calls her the Commandr's wife the rest of the time. It was super noticable to me. Also when I started, I was like 'Is the writing bad? This is Isaac Asimov, the writing can't be bad, right??'. I'm not sure if it was meant for the character POV or just warming up or what but it got better.

I finally watched the zombie show In The Flesh and I enjoyed it. I accidentally watched episodes out of order but honestly it still worked for me. Also I watched Bridgerton season 3 and then caught up on the new season of Doctor Who. DW has the whole range of ridiculous fun to horror episodes, which I appreciate, and I love Ncuti Gatwa. And I caught up on The Acolyte and I don't love it but I think it's fine.

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