(no subject)

Jul. 10th, 2025 12:30 am
tellshannon815: (jeanette)
[personal profile] tellshannon815
Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-2.png

Challenge #3

Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?
Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes.




And yes, those who know me, that's Freddie-bulldog going after the halloumi.

Summer, Food and Youth

Jul. 9th, 2025 07:15 pm
author_by_night: (From Pexels)
[personal profile] author_by_night
Based on a sunshine_revival prompt, and a conversation I had with [personal profile] elizalavelle . Some names and minor details have been changed to preserve anonymity.

Icy Pops

I'm at a cousin's baseball game. Five years old. 

My aunt hands me a ice pop, blue because blue ice pops are the best, and I slurp while watching the game. My cousin hits a home run; perhaps amped up by the sugar, I cry, "go Callie!"

Callie smiles and waves.


Ice Cream Sandwich

I grab an ice cream sandwich from the fridge, and go outside to read. Reading's my favorite pasttime.

But I'm reading more than eating, and soon the ice cream drips. I grab a napkin, but some of it's already landed on one of the pages.

The stain goes on to remind me of that simple day.


Chocolate

By sheer coincidence, Cora and I move into the same neighborhood within the same three months. Naturally, we become fast friends. 

 We decide the best way to introduce ourselves is to walk around offering people chocolate from a jumbo pack. Which is exactly what we do. Hardly anyone takes us up on it, so we eat the rest.


Mashed Food

I spend my summers working at a senior living facility. One of my duties is serving our participants food.

Mashed potatoes. Mashed broccoli. Gravy. All in small blue trays. One for Marco, who can only speak Italian; one for Patricia, who is restless until she sings; one for Nettie, who loves singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Enjoy. 


Frappucino

Starbucks is the closest thing my friends and I have to a hangout. We don't go often; but when we do, we know our orders. I always get the Caramel Frappuccino. Iced, of course. 

We sit outside Barnes & Noble, me wanting to buy books but not daring tell my friends. They're not readers. We talk about our hopes for next school year. Our plans for our lives after school. Jill wants to study biology. Cora wants to become a singer. I'm not sure what I want. 

I suck back the last of my Frappe and throw it out as we head back to Jill's car, wondering if we'll always meet here in the summer, or if the future has other plans.



Pickles and Cheezies

I often stay with my grandmother a few weeks out of the summer. She lives in a small bungalow and serves me pickles in a tiny dish. They're always delicious. I talk to her about high school, and she tells me about her high school days, how she met the grandfather I never knew.

At night, we're less healthy. My grandmother loves Seinfeld, so we watch it on her old TV. She in her rocking chair, me on her bed. We always pour cheezies and watch Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer do one terrible thing after the other.


Popsicles

It's a hot summer day, so after a bit of tanning, Cora and I sit in her room. The fan whirrs loudly over us. A copy of Seventeen is on the floor, waiting to be opened.

We split the grape popsicle as we read the advice column to each other, napkins in hand because the popsicle is faster than we are. When we finish, we read each other the jokes. They're so bad, they're good. 

 They're among the last vestiges of our childhood.
 

What I'm Reading Wednesday

Jul. 9th, 2025 11:01 pm
badfalcon: (You Can't Kill Me... There'll Be Paperwo)
[personal profile] badfalcon
What are you currently reading?

Emilia Hart - Weyward I've been wanting to read this for ages and it was absolutely worth the wait. I only started it yesterday but I'm already uhh 53% through
Kelley Armstrong - Bitten A comfort re-read, dipping in and out as my mood pleases. I have so much love for Jeremy, for Clay, for the pack
Annie Worsley - Windswept My current borrowbox read - I'm about 1/3 of the way through, and I'm not quite sure what I think of it
Alice Roberts - Ancestors I have a teenytinyhugeass crush on Alice, not gonna lie. I'm about 75% through and should hopefully finish it soon

What did you recently finish reading?

Stephen Fry - Mythos 5/5 stars. Greek mythology at its most charming, clever, and chaotic. Stephen Fry retells these ancient stories with so much warmth and humour, I felt like I was being let in on the juiciest gossip from Olympus. Smart, sharp, and ridiculously entertaining — a perfect read for mythology lovers and curious mortals alike.
T Kingfisher - A House with Good Bones 5/5 stars. What starts as an odd visit home turns into a quietly horrifying unraveling of memory, family, and something deeply wrong under the wallpaper. It’s southern gothic with teeth, and I loved every uncanny, bug-filled page.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
Erin Sterling - The Kiss Curse
Poppy Z Brite - Exquisite Corpse
badfalcon: (With Flowers In Her Hair)
[personal profile] badfalcon
three tiny joys, glimmers, or moments of soft comfort from today

💻 I did a solo payment run at work today. There was a lot of panic, but I got through it - everything balanced, everything submitted, and no one needed to rescue me.

📚 My gently used book club book arrived and it looks awesome! I love when second-hand books still have personality but are in really good shape.

🎾 Jannik won his Wimbledon quarterfinal against Sunshine - and there was a ridiculously adorable hug between Simone and Darren afterward. Just look at them: 😍

That’s me for today. If you feel like sharing your glimmers, I’d love to read them 💛
Be gentle with yourself, especially if the good things were hard to find.
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
"Why work here?"

"Weekly pay!"

Yup, that's why I would like to apply for any and all jobs!

(On a side note, A has been sending me a lot of job links today. I'm a bit inundated, but I somehow don't think that "Great, please don't send them to me, just fill them out with my resume for me" is going to go over very well.)

***************


Read more... )

Word: Persiflage

Jul. 9th, 2025 04:49 pm
stonepicnicking_okapi: letters (letters)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi
Wednesday's word is courtesy of [personal profile] kitarella_imagines and is...

...persiflage

[pur-suh-flahzh, pair-]

noun

1. light, bantering talk or writing.
2. a frivolous or flippant style of treating a subject.

origin

First recorded in 1750–60; from French, derivative of persifler “to banter,” equivalent to per- prefix meaning “through, thoroughly, very” + siffler “to whistle, hiss.”

example

Maybe that shows that they’ve finally gotten wise to the PR persiflage of Big Pharma. Los Angeles Times 10/11/23

Sunshine Revival: Challenges 2 and 3

Jul. 9th, 2025 03:27 pm
used_songs: (This ipod sucks)
[personal profile] used_songs
Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-2.png

#2
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.


I love that still, quiet moment after you turn off the car or the TV or whatever and you just sit for a moment. It's like a peaceful reset or transition from driving home or finishing dinner (which is when we mostly watch TV). I always like to just sit in that moment. 

I love Glassworks: I. Opening by Philip Glass. It gives me that same feeling of peace that those moments of quiet do, an opportunity to center myself.

I love our backyard, even now that we are surrounded by houses. I love the trees, the deck, the garden, the birds, all of the bugs (except the mosquitos), the lizards, the sunflowers that sprang up of their own volition, the pergola ... just all of it. I love having an outdoor space. 

#3
Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?


Raspas. When I was a kid we would always get raspas and I loved them. They are a bit too sweet for me now, but I love the idea of them and the memory.

Mangonadas. Seriously. They are the best, especially when it's hot out.Those are some of my favorite flavors.Chamoy is delicious!

Watermelon. Once when I was small, my parents borrowed our grandparents' camper and we went to a park in Arkansas. My dad bought a watermelon and he tethered it in a net in the river which was ice cold. That night we cut it up and ate it. The platonic ideal of watermelon! I think about it a lot.You can put one in an ice chest in icy water and it comes close.



[ SECRET POST #6760 ]

Jul. 9th, 2025 04:29 pm
case: (Default)
[personal profile] case posting in [community profile] fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6760 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.


More! )


Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 12 secrets from Secret Submission Post #965.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Activism

Jul. 9th, 2025 03:03 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Scientists host 'science fair of canceled grants' on Capitol Hill to fight funding cuts

The researchers gathered, alongside the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, to present posters in a good, old-fashioned science fair, titled “The Things We’ll Never Know: A Science Fair of Canceled Grants.”


It's a great tactic, and one that other fields could use too. "Here are some useful things you could have had, but these specific people took them away from you." That's guaranteed to piss off a lot of people.

It's also among the standard protest techniques in Terramagne. Not only is it sound activism for pounding the perpetrators, it also has a pretty good chance of someone else deciding to sponsor your canceled project if they like your pitch. Feel free to prompt me for that.

Cuddle Party

Jul. 9th, 2025 03:01 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.

We have a
cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!

Birdfeeding

Jul. 9th, 2025 02:38 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny, humid, and hot.  Yesterday it rained for half the day and into the night.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.  They've drained half the thistle feeder but I still need to refill that one.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I filled the thistle feeder.

I've seen a male cardinal and a fox squirrel.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I sprayed weedkiller on poison ivy around the yard.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I potted up two apricot seeds.



.

(no subject)

Jul. 9th, 2025 12:31 pm
greghousesgf: (Boingboing)
[personal profile] greghousesgf
Went to the grocery store, among other things I got some ketchup and whisky to make barbecue sauce, I have some baby back ribs I got out of the freezer and I'm gonna make cornbread.

Check-In Post - July 9th 2025

Jul. 9th, 2025 08:04 pm
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[personal profile] badly_knitted posting in [community profile] get_knitted

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.


This Week's Question: What do you like to listen to / watch while crafting?


If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!



Sunshine Revival 2025 - 3

Jul. 9th, 2025 06:58 pm
shadowhive: (Nix Cutie)
[personal profile] shadowhive
Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-2.png

Challenge #3

Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?
Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


So when I saw this earlier I had a ponder, cause I was trying to think what I consider to be a ‘summer’ food. The one that came to mind was ice cream, but I wouldn’t say it’s a favourite. It’s more of a thing that’s nice to have, but I have to be in the right mindset.

The other thing that came to mind is tropical fruits so that’s what I’m going to mention.

My fav ones are mango, which is a fruit I often try and get when it’s on offer. I always like mango flavoured things too. Now I’ve mentioned it I’m wanting to get one, hopefully there’ll be one somewhere in town when I go.

There there’s pineapple, which, again, I love pineapple flavoured things (especially sweets) and I am one of those pineapple on pizza enjoyers. Again I’ve not had one for awhile and I should get one (and some to have on pizza).

I’m sure there’s another one I really like, but I guess it depends what’s considered tropical.

Hopefully I can be more active in reading other peoples entries this time as my brain has been very bleh these past days.

***

Gaming thoughts now.

On a whim/needing a distraction, I went on Star Wars Outlaws Sunday. It was my first time going in it since finishing the main game, so I decided to check out the dlc. (Though first the Naboo cosmetics are VERY pretty) I decided to start with Wild Card which was the first one.

I assumed, from the description that it would be sabacc centric (which is a card game in the game), especially since the setting was a tournament. However that amount to just three rounds of the game, which was fine for me but probably felt lacking for people hoping for more. As it was it was a kinda linear story, mostly set on a new location but then going to one of the game’s planets for the climax. Don’t get me wrong but it was very enjoyable and I did get swept along with it (i ended up finishing it in the day). I might go on the other dlc at some point.

Also ND-5, the droid character in the game is still hot.

On Monday night, while looking for a distraction, I started the Still Wakes The Deep dlc. Like Outlaws, Still Wakes The Deep was a fav game from last year so I was excited when they said dlc was coming. Unlike Outlaws it’s set after the main game with completely new people. Which makes sense as the first game ended with everyone dead and the rig sank. In true horror fashion no one knows what happened to the rig, so of course in the dlc we get people sent to find out what happened.

As such it’s set on the remains of the rig, which is now deep underwater and you’re tasked with exploring it to find out what happened. So far the main ‘threat’ isn’t from anything from the base game, it’s the rig itself. Being a wreck, and so deep underwater, it’s unstable. Scares coke from parts or it falling apart, from creaks in the rusted metal, but not the actual… whatever it was in the base game. But there’s also a sense of a sense, other than bodies there’s no sign of the thing from the base game and so, as a player, you expect there to be something there. I wonder if there is going to be, as I’ve played a decent chunk but not seen anything yet.

It’s prime day and this time it feels more disorganised. Usually there’s an option to search through things but this time there’s nothing which has made it hard to search through. I got Clown In A Cornfield (the book, as there’s no word on a uk release for the film) which I might start tomorrow. I had got a £15 off thing from downloading an app but it’s strange. It offered me to use it on the who ray preorder, but now iponly seems to let me use it on prime day stuff (I assumed it would go on the book but didn’t) so I’ve ended up using it on a u-wing cause that makes it half off (and Lego building eases my mind).

The plan for Saturday (as long as money goes in) is to see the new Jurassic World film but, ugh. I thought it would have a lunchtime showing (last week there was a 1pm showing) but now there’s only a 3:30 showing instead (and 6:30 but that’s too late). I blame Superman taking that slot since it’s out this week but it does make things tricky.

The plan was to do get some stuff after the showing from Morrisons and stuff, but cause of the timing it’ll be a rush to the last bus. II commented we could in theory go to town, go in those places, come back, drop the stuff off and go back but I wasn’t serious. Of course mum heard that and thought I was so it seems like that’ll be the plan which makes it a rush which… ugh.

Today I finished reading Cards On The Table. (Sunshine revival people, I have been doing the #readChristie2025 challenge, to read 12 Agatha Christie books this year, but I’ve slipped behind on it mostly due to health issues.) Still this one was pretty good and I did enjoy reading it. I would start the next one next, which is Crooked House, but Clown In A Cornfield arrived yesterday so I’m gonna read that I think.

I feel I had something else I was gonna mention but it’s gone.

Sunshine Revival Challenge 3: Food

Jul. 9th, 2025 12:44 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Sunshine Revival Challenge 3: Food

Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?

Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so
.

Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-2.png


This is actually from 7/7/25 but it wasn't up when I checked, and then the net was down.

Read more... )
badfalcon: (With A Cherry On Top)
[personal profile] badfalcon
You know that moment, a few pages into a new book or fanfic, where you realise, oh no (but actually oh yes)—this is going to hit every one of your buttons? I love that. Some tropes just get me, no matter how many times I’ve seen them. I will fall for them again and again, gleefully, like it’s the first time. So today, in no particular order, here are the ones that always work on me.

Fake Dating
Top-tier. Always iconic. I don't care if it's full-on romcom chaos or angsty mutual pining in disguise, if two characters have to pretend to be together for Reasons? I'm in. Especially if they’re bad at pretending. Especially if they’re too good at pretending. Especially if one of them catches feelings first and doesn’t know what to do about it. Especially that moment, you see it coming from a mile away, that moment when, as the reader, you see the date turning real but they haven't yet twigged? It's delicious.

Grumpy x Sunshine
Give me the sour-faced one who doesn’t know how to deal with feelings, and the beaming one who crashes into their life like a golden retriever in human form. Let them banter. Let them slowly learn each other’s edges. Let the sunshine one get quietly intense sometimes, and the grumpy one be soft underneath. Peak comfort.

Forced Proximity
Trapped in a lift? Snowed in at a cabin? On the run and handcuffed together? YES. Stick them in a space they can't leave, turn the tension up to eleven, and just let me watch. Bonus points if they have to share resources, or reluctantly open up. All the better if one of them is injured and needs looking after. (Caretaking! Another micro-trope I fall for every time.)

Only One Bed
Look. It's a classic for a reason. Whether it's awkward bed-sharing full of “we’re definitely not touching” tension or the inevitable snuggling that definitely doesn't mean anything (until it does), I eat it up every single time.

Small Town Romance
There's something about the slower pace, the community vibes, the way people keep running into each other all over town. Maybe one of them is just passing through. Maybe they went to school together and haven’t seen each other in years. Maybe the town itself becomes a character. I love it all. Bonus if there’s a grumpy x sunshine and only one bed in the inn.

And here’s the weird bit: the tropes I love to read aren’t always the ones I love to write. Like, I adore fake dating on the page, but I almost never write it. Same with small town settings - I’ll devour them in books, but when I try to write them, I bounce right off. Meanwhile, I find myself writing intense, emotional dynamics or complicated power shifts, even when I’m not actively looking for those as a reader. Isn’t that odd? Not in a bad way, just... interesting. Like there’s a different part of my brain at work when I write, with its own set of fixations and fascinations.

Anyway. I could probably keep going (mutual pining! found family! hurt/comfort! age gap! power imbalance! kink!), but I’ll stop before this turns into a novella. What about you—what are the tropes you can never resist? And are they the same ones you end up writing?

Wednesday Reading Meme July 9 2025

Jul. 9th, 2025 01:34 pm
kitewithfish: (Default)
[personal profile] kitewithfish
What I’ve Read
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro -
By god, what a book, what a monster of a book! Like many, I picked this up because the lure of a good book club is a siren song – the podcast 99% Invisible decided to do a year long project on this book, one extra episode a month to discuss the book and have a conversation with someone about it. (They got great people, too, including the author!)

I fell behind schedule of the podcast but kept listening and reading on my own, and eventually, to finish this book, I ended up owning it in paperback, ebook, and three audiobooks of 1/3rd of the book each. 1200 pages makes a lot of audiobook!

This book is huge story look at one man’s life in public administration of the parks and roads and buildings of New York City. At every stage, the power of an unscrupulous, brilliant, and determined mind is at play in every project he sets his hand to, and the resulting works show his massive ego and talent and all his bigotries. Robert Moses was a fascinating and complicated man, and his legacy is fascinating and complicated. It’s also a key lesson in how difficult it is to get out of power someone who is entrenched and well supported. It also shows someone who’s unethical in small things will be unethical in big ones.

Key thoughts: If you get started on a project, public figures are more embarrassed by half finished project that wastes moderate amounts of money than by one that goes wildly over budget but gets completed. Public goodwill can be purchased by getting the papers on your side, but only for so long. You can’t just be right, you have to be smart.

As a reading experience, Caro is a skilled guide thru a tangled mess of history, legislation, and construction projects. It really can just be picked up and read chapter by chapter – he’ll give you the context you need to understand. Caro’s got a great sense for a revealing anecdote and occasionally a real admiration for the people he writes about as skilled political actors.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
– a very decent murder mystery in a fantasy world with some good characters and fun world building. Both the main characters and the world have mysteries built into them, and I found the whole thing very engaging. I don’t want to say more lest I spoil things.

Star Trek Lower Decks Warp Your Own Way by Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio – A graphic novel in the Choose Your Own Adventures style that is also a very fun Star Trek legacy piece. I don’t know Lower Decks at all but this was a fun introduction. Clearly made by people who love and appreciate Star Trek’s weirdnesses and with a eye on what makes someone heroic. I will say, it was a kind of confusing read – the Choose Your Own Adventure elements sometimes interact with the text, so you have to go thru several branches before getting enough information to figure out how to pick the right branch. It’s an iterative experience, but well written and charming enough to Trekkie that I did not get tired of it.

What I’m Reading
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo – A reasonably interesting premise but I feel like the story is being weighed down a bit. I am about 25% in and we still haven’t gotten the main character to the Big Meeting.

Someone You Can Build a Nest in by John Wiswell – A weird and gooey book with a monster main character.

What I’ll Read Next


The Deep Dark
Track Changes
Alien Clay
Service Model
Monstress, Vol. 9: The Possessed
Navigational Entanglements
The Butcher of the Forest
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain
Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right
The Brides of High Hill
The Tusks of Extinction
“Charting the Cliff: An Investigation into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics”
“Signs of Life”
“By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars”
“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video”
“Loneliness Universe”
“The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion”
“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea”
“Lake of Souls”

Today's Adventures

Jul. 8th, 2025 08:38 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
We went up to Champaign-Urbana today.

Read more... )

Got a callback

Jul. 9th, 2025 11:57 am
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
Asked where I lived, was concerned that the answer is "Staten Island". FFS, it's not Siberia!

I need to start telling people I'm moving in with a friend in Tribeca. Just straight up lie.

what i'm reading wednesday 9/7/2025

Jul. 9th, 2025 10:10 am
lirazel: Anne Shirley from the 1985 Anne of Green Gables reads while walking ([tv] book drunkard)
[personal profile] lirazel
What I finished:

+ A Lonely Death by Charles Todd, another Ian Rutledge mystery. I don't really have anything to say about this! It's an entry in a mystery series--you know what you're getting!

+ The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky. This is only the second Tchaikovsky I've read--I've started a few but up till now, the only one I liked enough to finish is Elder Races. I don't read nearly as much scifi as I do fantasy, mostly because most scifi (emphasis on most) seems like it's more focused on the ideas than on any of the other stuff that makes a book for me--characters, emotional resonance, even worldbuilding from a cultural perspective rather than a technological one.

However, I do like to read them now and then, and this was an example of one where the idea was indeed very intriguing--extradimensional cracks between worlds as an excuse to think about what sentient life might have looked like if it had developed at other points on the evolutionary tree. Very cool, actually! I liked the idea, I liked Tchaikovsky's prose well enough, I liked the unconventional way of giving information (via excerpts from a diegetic text--btw, can you use diegetic to talk about things other than sound? I am simply going to do so because I think it's a very useful word).

There's a wide-ranging cast of characters, too, which I enjoyed, varying in race, gender, and sexual orientation though not nationality (all the human characters are British). I could have done with some truly old characters--I am one of those people who thinks that every story can be improved by the inclusion of an old lady--but I won't complain about that since if I complained about that I'd have to complain about 90% of books. The characters were pretty well-developed but for reasons I can't articulate, I didn't emotionally connect very deeply with any of them. It was more like me going, "That's a good character design," than me truly caring about the characters. But I find this is true in a lot of scifi, and it's not a dealbreaker for me when there's other interesting stuff going on.

This is one of those books that ended up being so long that if I'd gotten the physical copy and seen that it was 600 pages, I might not have started it at all, but it was an ebook so I didn't know when I started! And I did read the whole thing over the course of a long weekend, so clearly it was readable enough even at that length. I thought the pacing was good, and the toggling between character perspectives was enough to keep it moving briskly, so it didn't feel as long as it is.

All in all, a book I enjoyed but did not love.

What I started but abandoned:

+ A Fate Inked in Blood, a Norse-inspired fantasy that was a massive bestseller, which I'd heard good things about from someone whose taste usually completely aligns with mine, but...nah, this isn't for me. I was initially intrigued by the fact that our heroine is married to a terrible guy, which is just not something you see a lot. But then in the opening chapter, along comes this super hot guy who is so clearly coded as Our Male Romantic Lead that I found it annoying, and then they started flirting, and I was like, "I am too ace for this," and I peaced out. I also wasn't impressed by the first person perspective/prose style, so I don't think this is any real loss for me.

What I'm reading/what's on pause:

+ On recommendation from [personal profile] chestnut_pod, I started Sofia Samatar's The White Mosque, and I am very enamored of it despite wishing that Samatar's prose style was about 15% more conventional (more on that when I actually write this up), but I have put it on pause. The book is a memoir about half-Mennonite, half-Muslim Samatar tracing the steps of a 19th century group of Mennonites who traveled through and settled in Central Asia for a few decades--one of those unexpected quirks of history that gets me wildly excited. But I got a chapter or so in and she referenced a nonfiction book about the same topic that covers the historical trip in detail, I saw that we have it at the library of the university I work for, and so I decided I would go read it before I read this book. But I am so looking forward to getting back to this. [personal profile] chestnut_pod was correct that this book is Extremely Relevant To My Interests.

+ I also started Godkiller by Hannah Kaner but I am literally a chapter and a half in so I can't possibly speak to whether I'll like it or not.

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