cup-and-chaucer - Tumblr blog

cup-and-chaucer · 6 months

Text

Really the problem with these BookTok books like Romantic Comedy is that...they are commodities. The answer to Fran Leibowitz's brilliant quote, "A book is not a mirror, it should be a door." is that, with advent of a literary social media, we are not reading to engage with a story or an idea but to attain an ideal. Marketing is built on the tension of relatability and aspiration. We see commercials set in clean, pristine suburban homes with happy, well-behaved children because it feels like it something we could attainably be if only we had the right brand of cereal or peanut butter or dish soap or life insurance. We want to see ourselves in those places that feel within our grasp. With the rise of books as a commodity to be marketed, rather than as art or entertainment, we increasingly want to see ourselves in the books we read. We want to see aspirational versions of ourselves either reading the book (aesthetics bloggers like Dakota Warren) or within the pages of the books. This why so many of those romance books feel so...conflict-avoidant. Don't get too close to reality or imperfection.

As the idea of a corporate morality (think: rainbow capitalism) emerges, it comes out in books too. Books have to have queer or PoC characters...not because those characters are essential or interesting or natural parts of the landscape or have their own purpose in the books but because the people reading the books want to feel like they are reading diversely and want to believe they are the type of people who also have queer or PoC friends. It doesn't matter if these portrayals are sanitized or feel tokenish.

A book like Romantic Comedy, where the characters mouth literal Facebook think-piece memes I saw during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 as their political beliefs, without much self-reflection on the fact that these are two culturally powerful white people who are saying those things to signal that they are good people. It feels like a distraction and a benediction so you can support them in their rockstar fantasy romance, white guilt free. They are saying you are a good person for liking this book because the people in it are good the way you want them to be good and in the way you also want to be good. And they don't have to mean a word of it, they don't have to examine themselves any deeper, if the box is checked and disclaimer signed.

It's also why I think there is so much moral puritanism in reading now. We can't read Lolita because most of us don't want to be associated with its content and what we read, because it is now synonymous with what we buy and own and identify with, is a mirror to who we are and what we aspire to be. The problem is that books are not material things, not really, not the way jeans or furniture or cooking utensils are. They aren't forms of self-expression for the reader, the way fashion or make-up or paint is, they are simply a collection of thoughts from the imagination of an individual put into the world to tell of an experience or make an argument for us to read. That's all.

And all of this, all of this, all of this fucking capitalism is going to get conflated with the very real need for representation in literature and media, for more equitable publishing, for uplifting marginalized voices and experiences.

*sighs*

#booktok #anti-intellectualism #books #publishing #curtis sittenfeld #romantic comedy

49 notes · View notes

cup-and-chaucer · 6 months

Text

Romantic Comedy and the Curse of Booktok

I just finished Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield and my Lord in Heaven do I have feels about it.

And not butterflies at how cute it was.

This was not It for me in so many ways and, in fact, it’s flaws were so great and so significant to me that I do feel compelled to write it all out in a *insert drum roll* numbered list.

Summary: Heroine Sally works at a fictionalized version of SNL and is frustrated by the fact that all these uggo sloppy men hook up with hot beautiful women. She, an uggo sloppy woman, then ends up hooking up with a hot beautiful rock star Noah Brewster during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. The Pacing and Information Dumping

The pacing of this book was…bizarre to say the least. The book was divided into three sections. The first describes the week that Sally and Noah meet. The second is an 80 page exchange of emails between the two as they reconnect online during COVID. The third describes their meeting and romance. All of these were slow in their own way.

The first section was laden with details about the production of a weekly episode of SNL. I found this pretty interesting actually because I am a fan of the show and show biz insider baseball always fascinates me. But as the book went on, this section felt increasingly waterlogged. We never meet many of the characters again and we never return to the SNL set. It does feel like it exists solely to prove that Sittenfield read Tina Fey’s Bossypants. This section, of course, is also…like. Not that funny. It’s just not. Physical comedy is incredibly hard to transcribe to the page effectively and so the descriptions of many of the sketches fell flat for me and also the banter was not anything more sparkling than you would find in any other romance book.

The second section was also incredibly mundane. I have developed deep and emotionally intimate connections online and I think this is not an unusual experience to have nowadays. And I am sure if someone read back the transcripts of email and text conversations with those people…they would also not be that interested (though they’d be more interesting Im sure than this). You would need our context to make those conversations sing and to understand why some mundane things meant everything. This correspondence felt dull but it was partially because, without watching how Sally felt when she got a notification, without hearing how Noah wrote and rewrote and rephrased his messages, it was hard to gauge how impactful the exchanges were.

The third section was fine. And again, I know what it’s like to fall in love with someone quickly but their whole relationship felt really rushed. Even here, conversations were weighted down by unnecessary exchanges about what to have for dinner, etc that didn’t move the scene’s actions or emotional arcs forward.

2. Where’s the Conflict?

So. I get that we all want to communicate openly and honestly with our friends and partners. On the page, it’s deeply boring though. This is why Noah Brewster sucks as a hero—he is literally perfect. He’s rich, handsome, emotionally aware, kind, considerate. He apologizes right away and sets appropriate boundaries.

All the potential juice in a conflict is side-stepped from the real ramifications of fame to beauty standards to COVID to wealth disparity. Even Chekov's wig is revealed to be Noah getting some hair transplants that are explained away in a single cuddle session. All is resolved through a series of petty fights and pat reassurances.

*yawns*

The problems in their relationship originate with Sally. She is drunkenly snarky to him at a party and that leads them to not speak for two years, she gets irrationally upset at Noah for dropping her hand in front of the paparazzi, she moves into a hotel the moment they discuss their future and come into conflict. These aren't bad plot points but fighting Noah is like fighting a piece of wet cardboard because he is always reasonable and always level-headed and almost always right.

I thought about this book when rewatching Joe Wright’s adaptation of Pride and Prejudice this weekend. What I love so much about that book and both movies, what makes that one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time, is the fact that both Elizabeth and Darcy grow and change and their relationship is the catalyst of it. This is shown in different ways in each adaption. The 2005 version does a masterful job of showing different perspectives to create a classic misunderstanding and crossing of social wires while the 1995 focuses on Elizabeth and Darcy as truly and deeply flawed. Both work for me in different ways. What I love Colin Firth’s portrayal especially is that he genuinely is an asshole…he’s a good person but not a particularly nice or sensitive one. His attitude is the result of snobbery and classism, not a lack of street smarts (like McFayden’s Darcy who is mostly shy and awkward rather than suave as Colin Firth is when he handles the Wickham situation).

Romantic Comedy hints at wanting to be a social commentary but it ultimately fails because it doesn’t allow its characters to be impacted and warped by the society that they live in the way that Austen and Firth allow Darcy to be unlikable because of his social standing.

3. Beauty and Desirability

Soooooo....like. Sally isn't really unattractive. Sally's narration is focused on other people's appearances...Noah is hot, Henrietta and Viv are attractive, Annabelle is beautiful. She is not. The whole premise of the book is that Sally is not a model. But Sally doesn't actually defy any conventional beauty standards except to be...not the perfect specimen of 21st century beauty. She isn't described as being fat. She isn't described as being visibly disabled. She isn't described as hairy (except when she is shaving everything off). She isn't described as being particularly masc. She is white and so there's no examination of colorism or Western beauty standards. She's just...a normal looking white woman. And like, trust me, as a normal looking white woman who is pretty traditionally femme, of course I have insecurities too, and a lot of Sally's commentary was very relatable to my experiences in dating, in sexuality, in my relationship to other women I perceive to be more attractive than me. But that doesn't make the book particularly interesting or transgressive, especially because the beautiful women in the book don't have much of a personality or depth (looking at you, Ariana Grande caricature.)

I read Olivia Dade's Shipwrecked series last year. And these are pretty silly romances tbh, but what I love about them is that the women in them are fat, yes, but their fatness is part of their attractiveness. Dade manages to do this in a way that doesn't feel fetishizing or patronizing. The women are described as being beautiful because they simply are and the men who desire them simply desire them, not just because they have a great personality which *makes* them beautiful, but because what people find beautiful and attractive is diverse. Those books also deal directly with the challenges of being in a "mixed weight" relationship and it drives some of the conflict, particularly in the first book...eating habits, exercise, media representation, etc. In contrast, it doesn't seem like Sally either grows into her desirability or that Noah ever really expresses clearly that she is beautiful to him. He talks about how great their connection is and how much he wants to fuck her...but if my memory serves there's not a lot of *specific* talk about what she looks like, what *specifically* about her physical appearance she finds so repulsive and he finds so hot, if he likes what she wears. This isn't a beauty and the beast retelling where someone looks beyond someone's appearance to see the inner person. This isn't Cyrano de Bergerac where there is something that Sally feels is fundamentally unlovable about her...except sort of a general global malaise about her desirabilty. Sittenfield can't decide what to do with the premise of her own book except to do a pale version of "not like other girls" where Sally becomes the funniest, smartest person Noah has ever met even if, in his own words, he never would have gone after her if he had just seen her picture.

4. Show and Tell and the Self-Consciousness of Politically Correct Writing

All of my issues listed above could pretty much explained by the fact that Sittenfield chooses to tell, not show, nearly all of the story. We are told by Noah that Sally is desirable and he is in love with her....but we don't see much of their interactions beyond just...fucking. We aren't allowed the space to interpret actions and feelings, especially after the first section of the book ends. Even the emails are a cop-out. As a result, the book becomes very literal.

One of the best things my writing partner has ever said is that "Sex should be about everything but sex, and everything that's not sex should be about sex." But in this book? Everything is exactly as it appears and so the underpinning of their interactions lacks chemistry. As Noah says, he's not looking to seduce her. Which is very nice of him. But very unsexy. When they finally do have sex, I struggled to care. It didn't feel like a crescendo of boiling tensions, it didn't feel like anything except the next logical step when you date someone. It is a romance but without eroticism and sensuality. God, it's even set during a pandemic where touching and masking is essential. My God.

This can be expanded into my biggest criticism of the book which was the handling of the political references and diverse cast. The characters clunkily engage with the political ramifications of COVID and the Black Lives Matter movement. The characters tell us that they go to protests (we don't see it), Noah tells us that he thinks about intersectional feminism (is that likely in a teen heartthrob...see Mr Darcy commentary above), they talk about racism (though there are two Black characters in the book who do...nothing). We are told that they are good people with the correct political opinions so we like them. They reach the quota of having one (1) queer friend and one (1) PoC friend. We don't see them do the hard work of being good, we see them do the gymnastics of being palatable to the other one. It doesn't change the fact that this story presents an extremely traditional view of relationships: the heroine marries a wealthy white man and her two friends are mothers in monogamous relationships by the end. It makes every mention of every political event and opinion feel deeply disingenuous and the book as a whole feel so self-consciously written that it was hard to fully immerse yourself in it. I felt the author everywhere, pressing in from all sides, unable to allow her characters flesh and blood and conflicts deeper than a single conversation.

Argh.

#curtis sittenfeld #romantic comedy #pride and prejudice #jane austen #olivia dade #ship wrecked

2 notes · View notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Text

My Month in Books: April 2023

Foster by Claire Keegan: I think a lot about kindness and the complications of kindness. I think it rare to find people musing on that in a way that doesn't feel didactic or cheesy or really obvious...and this is that book. Kindness is often a difficult choice and a difficult thing to experience and this book....just understood that so succinctly. I finished this and immediately wanted to start it again.

Profiles in Ignorance by Andy Borowitz: This book was okay. I think...this is a chronicle and not a history. Borowitz provides a listing of dates, of incidents where politicians stuck their foot in their mouths. What he doesn't explain is what people find appealing about this behavior enough to elect someone to high office. There is no greater argument here, not really, and this probably would more effectively made its point as a long essay. So while I felt like I learned a lot of new information, I don't feel like I gained any new insights.

Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri: This is a book I think I'm going to revisit over and over again. This book describes Lahiri's relationship specifically to Italian and her experience translating Italian novels and letters. The most frequent connection she makes in the experience of translation is The Metamorphoses by Ovid and continually returns to this idea of language as an act of transformation. She also examines the role of the translator, the disregard for translation as a creative art form (merely an "echo"). She even carries through the idea of translation from life to death in the moving final essay about her mother's final illness. It's a very academic book and a little dry in places but well worth the effort.

#my month in books #foster #claire keegan #profiles in ignorance #andy borowitz #translating myself and others #jhumpa lahiri

2 notes · View notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Text

My Month in Books: March 2023

we are back, babyyyyyy. this was the month of novellasssssssssss

Beowulf, translated by Maria Dahvana Headley: This was so, so, so sexy oh my God. I picked this up from my local bookseller and it just--it really floored me by how phenomenal the translation was? I was skeptical, I have to admit but I felt the excitement, the blood, and the enduring relevance of this story through this translation.

Grendel by John Gardner: We love a themed read but this just wasn't for me. I think reading it so closely to the Headley translation was a mistake. This was exceptionally well-written and there are some great scenes but I felt that the overly academic approach to Grendel sucked the viscera and fear from the story. Grendel's isolation was so complete that, as a reader, I felt alienated from him. The most exciting and climactic moment was, of course, when Beowulf appears and there is this fantastic line: "Oh my God, he's insane" in the wake of Beowulf telling the story of him swimming for several nights through a storm. But, maybe in a different time, this book would have struck me differently but it was a miss for me.

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis: One more in the journey to read the complete works of Lewis!! I'd read parts of this before but never completely and in order. So, here's the thing, I love Lewis. I really, really am a True Fan. The way that he organized and categorized the world and human relationships is really impactful and truthful. Even contextualizing him in his time period and social context, I really struggled with listening to the homophobia in this. It really bothered me in this book in a way that his mentions of it in Mere Christianity didn't. Part of it was because the introduction to the book was written by Charles Colson, notoriously conservative evangelical, and part of it was because it was a book on love. I feel silly objecting to something that I knew was part of his belief system, a belief system that I don't think he ever had life experiences to challenge. But--it got to me this time. It is the feeling of: you have helped shaped my worldview and you would pity me? I don't know. There is a lot of gold in here. I had a similar lukewarm reaction to The Great Divorce last year and that book has subsequently never left me alone. So, Lewis is a guy who needs to age in my system, I think.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway: I had such an interesting experience with this one!! I was enjoying it but not feeling particularly moved by it and then halfway through I attended a workshop of an operatic version of it by Paola Prestini and my mind completely changed. Her clear love of the book, the beauty that she mined from it...seeing someone who so clearly loves this book and this story completely changed my perspective on it. And when I finished it, I had a much deeper appreciation for the story, the drama of it, and the beauty in it.

Here Goes Nothing by Eamon McGrath: This sucked. Like, this is already the worst book I have read and will read this year. I mean, it was remarkably bad. I listened to the audiobook version on the drive home from Boston and it was incredible. I listen to audiobooks to help pass the time and this actively made my trip feel longer. I just. It was only 2.5 hours long and I felt like I lost years to this book. The writing was inconsistent--vacillating between pretty good to sophomoric and just filled with poorly constructed metaphors. The story was confusing, without purpose or shape. The idea of the audiobook was to have a customized soundtrack that matched the story and it just--was bad. Like, sir, the reason you never made it big as a musician is because you are bad at this. I understand the romanticization of your misspent youth and a nomadic period of your life...but this whole rebels without a cause thing just didn't land. As I grow older, my patience with the sighing, looking out the window at human foibles and disappointments grows shorter and shorter. My guy, you need better friends. You need to be a better person. Treat your mom better. That's all. It was an interestingly gendered book--the characters are all male and apparently unable to understand or communicate...any emotion or physical urge including anger, hunger, fear, happiness in any way that is remotely productive. The lack of women here was also very noticeable. I mean--to be sure, it was about a group of men and they are in a culture where women are there to be...fucked or are their literal mothers but the narrator low-key drops that he had a nameless girlfriend the ENTIRE time in the last fifteen minutes and you're like, oh my GOD, you really...really...WHAT. You really...really treat the women in your life disposably.

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade: I read one trashy romance book a year and this was ittttttttttttttt. It was, as all these books are, a Time and a Half. I actually liked this one best of the whole series. Like just--absolutely a wild time from beginning to end. 10/10 they tried to fuck in a room next to a wedding proposal filled with all their coworkers no notes. I do think that it's hysterical that D&D not showing up to that Game of Thrones fan conference probably sparked this entire romance trilogy in which they, very specifically, feature as the single worst human beings to ever exist on the face of the earth. Good for her.

#ship wrecked #olivia dade #here goes nothing #eamon mcgrath #the old man and the sea #ernest hemingway #the four loves #c.s. lewis #grendel #john gardner #beowulf #maria dahvana headley #my month in books

3 notes · View notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Text

Melanie Miller (British, 1961) - Satin Moth (2020)

1K notes · View notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Text

i just think it's neat that odysseus gets put in a position where he has to kill his child to avoid going to war and he can't do it and then agamemnon gets put in a position where he has to kill his child to go to war and he does it

#people ask odysseus the secret to a happy marriage #and he's just like #idk no infanticide???

62K notes · View notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Note

Okay—so say someone is hyper-fixating on the 1978 miniseries I, Claudius but didn’t know anything about the Julio-Claudians or Ancient Rome, where would you recommend them starting to Educate Themselves? Asking for a friend.

I love this for you ❕ I mean, your friend—I love this for your friend; who has v good taste, impeccable taste, the best taste.

for a historical overview of the imperial period which is clean, clear & dips into various pots of intrigue, drama, marginalised voices, & sequestered societal niches without becoming too stuffy, heavy, overly-specialised & therefore obsolete, I recommend R. Alston's (1998) Aspects of Roman History: AD 14—117 💫 latterly it's split thematically, but it begins with single chapters on each of the Julio-Claudian emperors & their mess of a family tree; as a broad, overarching introduction to the period & its characters I think it's brilliant (he is also a very droll, dry man irl, & that comes across in his v simple, unpretentious writing style which is always a win in my book when it comes to the world of academia!)

& for primary sources on the period—omg buy yourself some Tacitus, you will not regret it; he is a salty queen who just f*cking rips the imperial system to shreds (the Annals) when he feels like it whilst finding the time to fawn over his father-in-law (the Agricola) on the side; but seriously his smooth dissection of power politics, mirroring of anti/heroes, & sharp pinpointing of the hypocrisy at the heart of all that he comments on was fascinating to me as an undergrad, & still is. ✨ x

#to the sideblog!! for memory purposes!

6 notes · View notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Text

ITS MARCH YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS

240K notes · View notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Text

My Month in Books: February 2023

I read two books this month. Which is the baseline goal for me every month. I reealized I've been reading (or listening) to slightly longer books recently. Which could be a huge part of what seems like a reading slump for me. Also, I'm clinically depressed so. You know. Anyway! I'm excited to dig into next month's books:

1. The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carre: This is John le Carre's version of a memoir, so really an assemblage of recollections and anecdotes on a theme. le Carre is such a good writer and it made me want to really do a deep dive into his work. He has a thoughtful and unique perspective on politics and the postwar period--his strong stance on American interventionism in Germany, the surveillance state, torture, the state of Cold War intelligence services were all fascinating to read. It is not a deeply personal book--in some cases, I felt some additional context could have been helpful, like his tirade against Kim Philby being informed by the fact that Philby was the reason his cover in Germany was compromised and prompted his leaving MI6--until the end where he writes a masterful essay on his relationship to his parents, especially his father. (Though his description of his mother's departure and the sexual perversion of her white leather suitcase is just--he is such a good writer!!!!) The ending essay on the "green box" is just a mic drop. I really, really need to read more of this man.

2. The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller: I can't decide how I feel about this book. I thought the subject was interesting, the characters endearing, and the writing very good. But it was also a lot of telling, rather than showing. It made sense as a "memoir" but like...i wanted some more unreliability, more use of the first-person voice. This is also a very, very queer book which is interesting. Almost every other character, except for Sven himself, is gay or asexual which...it makes sense that all these marginalized people float to this marginalized corner of the world but it did leave Sven as this sort of lone straight white man just learning to be an ally lol. It was an interesting book about an interesting part of the world in an interesting moment of history...I'm glad I read it and I'll keep an eye out if Miller decides to write anymore. Recommended by my dad.

#the memoirs of Stockholm Sven #Nathaniel Ian Miller #the pigeon tunnel #john le carre #my month in books

0 notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Text

My Month in Books: January 2023

I really struggled with reading this month. After nearly reaching 50 at the end of last year and coupled with a crazy work month, I haven’t felt the most motivated to read or felt pressured by the internal numbers game. Which is something I never subscribed to until I realized that reading 50 books was a possibility for me. Seeing how much other people read does impact me more than I would like to think it does.

Still, I read three! And it was proof that I need to get back to the mindset that 2 books a month is a good goal to keep me in the habit, that reading a lot is not the same thing as reading well, and that our reading numbers fluctuate for all sorts of reasons.

Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer: First of all, this bitch is MY age and the sophistication of this story is so upsetting to me. Maps tells the story of Lia, a happily married mother of a young daughter, who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. The book flips back and forth between Lia’s present process of dying, Lia’s past being raised the daughter of an evangelical minister and her abusive first relationship, and the voice of her cancer. I so, so, so enjoyed this. The second quarter of this book was a little muddy but it really stuck the landing. The perspective she has on Matthew is so interesting and felt very real to me. From the outsider’s perspective, we can see that a teenager and a twenty-something should…like not be dating. The way that MM shows how being with someone with that sort of critical age difference impacts Lia’s relationship to herself, her self-worth and confidence, isolates her from her peer group, makes her lonely before any physical abuse has even occurred is really subtle. The implication that what abuse looks like can be different, can be subtle, can even be unintentional is so good here—Matthew gets with Lia, I think, initially less from a sense of power but rather from a profound immaturity without understanding the profound implications of a fifteen year old having sex with a twenty-one year old. The idea that she views this relationship as a romance, even after it’s violent conclusion and takes on some of the blame for the fact that Matthew abuses her, still, years later, I think is also really well-done. It’s a complicated dynamic and MM allows us to be immersed in an uncomfortable, unsafe, and unreconciled point of view. The twist at the end, the idea that we’ve been living inside a retelling of Wuthering Heights the whole time made me lose my mind, I will not lie to you. I get why people will not like this book the way I did. I think so much of my enjoyment has to do with the fact that I listened on audio and so the things that felt gimmicky in print and might have driven me crazy if I was reading a physical copy of the book. this book is flawed, certainly, and could have used with some grounding but!!! I still gave it 5 stars. (Recommended via Jen Campbell’s YouTube Channel)

The 13 Clocks by James Thurber: This was a perfect read for a snowy day!! I read this in two big gulps. It’s a delightfully dark children’s book about an evil Duke who keeps his niece, the beautiful Saralinda, captive in a cold castle. A prince, with the aid of a magical creature called a Golux, go on a mission to rescue her. It’s Jacobean and whimsical and dark. I think that if I had read this as a child I would have lost my mind and it would have altered my brain chemistry. It’s fun as an adult because the pattern of the language is so much fun to chew on but I literally cannot wait to read this to a kid. Neil Gaiman listed it as one of his favorite books and I have an interview with him about this book queued up and I can’t wait to hear more.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt: I have finally read it! And I am in the camp that loved it lol. I think its use of perspective is brilliant, the characters and setting are so well-drawn. It is truly immersive. What I don’t see people talking enough about is how poundingly funny it is? People talk about adapting it into a film or show and it always sounds so serious and it’s like…this would literally be Derry Girls with murder. I do have two criticisms which is…I think the last third is quite bloated and loses focus. I also think that Charles’ descent and apparent control and jealousy over Camilla needed more set up….like, her and Henry’s relationship felt very complete even while it occurred off-screen and I had the impression that incest could be a twist early on but…I felt like it needed more flesh to it. But other than that, so so so so good. I do think it hits a little different if you went to a small New England liberal arts college…like there were parts that rang uncomfortably true about the culture of Hampden. And having lived in the area where it was set for many years…there’s a mythology to the region that DT plays on really well.

#my month in books #the secret history #donna tartt #maddie mortimer #maps of our spectacular bodies #james thurber #13 Clocks

2 notes · View notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Text

Oh hey, MERMAIDS!

262 notes · View notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Photo

Cannot resist these church conversions. The Ferry Hall Chapel, built in 1888, in Lake Forest, Illinois was designed by noted architect Henry Ives Cobb. This Gothic style building has 3 bds. & 3.5 ba. Listed for $1.6M. (I’ve been noticing that some people are reticent to live in a former church, but when they sell a church it is deconsecrated by a priest and is no long a sacred place or the House of God.)

Keep reading

140 notes · View notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Text

Okay but I’m imprinting on Henry Winters

#the secret history #Henry Winters

3 notes · View notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Text

My Month in Books: December 2022

Milk Fed by Melissa Brouder: I had such a complicated reaction to this book. I thought living inside Rachel's head was a really intense experience and her reflections on disordered eating, compulsive behavior, and bisexuality felt really real and like magnified versions of my own experiences with all of those things. But her treatment of Miriam and, more importantly, the narrative's treatment of Miriam really disappointed me. Miriam was a fascinating contrast to Rachel and while I think it felt consistent within the narrative that Rachel essentially fetishize her...the book was never able to step outside of itself to give weight to the risks and consequences of what Miriam went through. The book ended abruptly and too neatly.

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Phillip Pullman: I read this book and thought about the book of mormon. Both this book and that musical are trying to accomplish the same thing: harsh satires of organized religion. But...The Book of Mormon is so much more successful at satire because it attempts to understand the reason that organized religion exists and the power that it has (even if the musical's plot relies on a racist assumption to do so.) The musical engages with the different ways that organized religion *Actually* shows up--in colonialism, in personal guilt, and politics. Philip Pullman simply does not like organized religion which is *fine* unless you're trying to write an argument against it. It especially impacts Pullman's assertion that revolutionizing Judaism was the extent of Jesus' mission. Again, fine argument to make but "Jewish" in this book doesn't mean anything, Jesus as a political rebel doesn't mean anything, a human Jesus doesn't mean anything because all of it so 2D. There's a self-seriousness within this book that makes it exhausting to read. You gave Jesus a twin brother! Have some fun! Without that humor, without nuance, this book is a drab, bland, one-note criticism.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engel: I love this book. I read this during a very stressful period and it just lifted me up to remember the *why* of all things. I love this book's weirdness, I love the world, and I love love love the characters. I love the complications of goodness in this book. And I love Meg Murray. I love the anger, I love the disillusionment, I love her love for Charles Wallace, for her father, for Calvin.

The Swallowed Man by Edward Carey: A monologue from Gepetto, trapped within the belly of the big fish in the middle of Pinocchio, about fatherhood, grief, and art. This is gorgeously and macabrely gothic and I think Carey's background as a playwright really shows. You need to read the dedication to truly understand this book though-- To my first son, 2006. Edward Carey, and his wife, Elizabeth McCracken, lost their first child (called Pudding) in a stillbirth. With that context, this book takes on a powerful rage that takes it from interesting to really transcendent.

#tw miscarriage #tw stillbirth #the swallowed man #edward carey #a wrinkle in time #madeleine l'engle #philip pullman #the good man jesus and the scoundrel christ #milk fed #melissa brouder

0 notes

cup-and-chaucer · 1 year

Text

One Thought About Each Book I Read This Year

Book Stats: 47 (possibly 48?) books; 60% fiction; 40% non-fiction; 57% female-identifying authors; 12.7% in translation

Sex with Shakespeare by Jillian Keenan: This woman gets me; like, yes, I too have figured out everything from grief to sexuality through shakespeare.

Galatea by Madeline Miller: sometimes we all need to write a caffeine-fueled one-shot piece of fanfic at 2am and some of us have access to professional publishers

I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell: Like every Maggie O'Farrell book, I read this, love this, cried at it, and no longer remember what it was about.

Hour of the Witch by Chris Bojalian: I wanted to bite everyone in this book. And not in a sexy way.

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel: A tale of what happens when the gatekeep, gaslight, girlboss meme reaches its final form.

Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Why I decided to read this when I was so depressed I could barely shower I don't know but I did and it didn't help. 10/10 read though.

Little Weirds by Jenny Slate: A book that is maybe bad but maybe saved my life.

The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin: oh but this was an interesting one--a refocus on Mary as a mother.

Nomadland by Jessica Bruder: Important topic, bad execution.

Bolla by Pajtim Statovici: this man took every trigger warning that has ever existed and called it a book; jesus christ, my guy. nihilism is just exhausting

This is Water by David Foster Wallace: I loved this! So important!

A Practical Christianity by Jane Shaw: Fine.

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride: Mixed feelings! I'm glad I read it and will never read again; also frederick douglass wasn't a pedophile. i just. for the record.

This Will All Be Over Soon by Cecily Strong: I thought this was a beautiful book and I'm so glad I got to meet Owen through these pages.

How The Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill: LOL not great history but a GREAT read.

Sprit Run by Noe Alvarez: This was. Not Good. I'm sorry. I was rooting for you.

Tyrant by Stephen Greenblatt: This will be remembered not for being a great book on Shakespeare but for being an artifact of its time and that's alright with me actually.

Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman: Fun rainy night read.

Gentleman Jack by Anna Choma; One of my favorites of the year and now I'm horny for a dead woman. Again.

Fludd by Hilary Mantel: I love nuns that spontaneously burst into flame too, hilary.

Blood Water Paint by Joy McCollough: NO

The Abolition of Man & The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis: I'm going to be honest with you, I skimmed The Abolition of Man but the Great Divorce maybe altered my brain chemistry or at least gave me a framework for my brain chemistry to exist

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker: If you read this book and don't like this book, I'm going to bite you. Once again, not in a sexy way.

Bluets by Maggie Nelson: What a wonderful little volume about love and loss and color.

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan: I liked this so much more than I thought I was going to! I would totally read more of her c.s. lewis fanfiction

The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power: I have a crush on Samantha Power. also, a good introduction to the ideas behind liberal interventionism and the obama administration's foreign policy trajectory

The True Tragedie of Richard III by Thomas Legge: This made me laugh out loud multiple times.

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry: a group of lovely characters looking at fOsSiLs. everyone in this book is precious to me.

If We Were Villians by M.L. Rio: guys, it's just a mystery novel and a rather unremarkable one at that.

A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis: I mean what is there to say. beautiful.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata: i really want to go to a convenience store in japan.

All the Feels by Olivia Dade: the most heterosexual novel ever

House of Names by Colm Toibin: the first third of this is gorgeous and the last 2/3s are hot garbage

The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante: I need to call my mom both more and less.

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jeannette McCurdy: what a back to back reading experience and i am also glad her mom is dead?!?!?!?!?

Disfigured by Amanda LeDuc: I wanted to like this so, so much and I am so, so sorry that I didn't

Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown: I wish i had this woman's body count.

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alan Lansing: THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE NARRATIVE NON FICTION THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Lovely.

Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit: meandering. gorgeous. impactful. nonsensical.

Deathless by Cathrynne M. Valente: it has been probably the book that has impacted my writing the most this year; people underestimate the power of this book, i think

I Was Better Last Night by Harvey Fierstein: i learned a lot about fierstein in this book but mostly about how you must fail to create art

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman: now a sigyn/angroboda/loki shipper. i'm sorry, they rule my brain now.

Milk Fed by Melissa Brouder: JUSTICE FOR MIRIAM

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman: Who knew that Jesus having an evil twin could produce the most boring book ever

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle: Calvin O'Keefe IS the reason I am still single.

The Swallowed Man by Edward Carey: You need to read the dedication to understand this book.

#2022 in books

0 notes