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fear-is-truth · 7 months

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hii 🫶🫶 can you write something about tate planning a really fun date for you?? i need to read something fluffy rn lol . Love your writing 🩷🩷

Tate Langdon x reader

𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧! 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 || 𝐬𝐟𝐰 • 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟

✧. a/n ─ thank you anon for this cute request! i had so much fun writing this ~ i’m considering to write this into an one-shot (after my exams are done). xoxo, jackie

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✧. pairings ─ tate langdon x fem! reader

✧. genre ─ headcanons ⨾ fluff

✧. summary ─ it’s halloween, the one day of the year tate is able to go outside. he’s been planning this special date for you. in secret. for an entire month

✧. warnings ─ none, just fluff.

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october is tate’s month. that fact has already been established.

it’s the only month of the year that he insists on being the one to cross out the days on your calendar, counting down the days to halloween.

the concept of days doesn’t really matter to tate, since he’s stuck in the house for eternity. he only keeps track of hours and minutes, waiting for you to come home like a puppy.

so when you’re at school, he gets down to planning.

the date has to be perfect because you are his light and you deserve the absolute best.

he uses Google map on your computer to check out potential date plans, scrawling them down on a piece of paper:

e.g. coffee shops, record stores, an escape room, a haunted house, the halloween festival, etc.

all the while listening to the playlist you guys share— a combo of your favourites songs and his favourites.

when it’s nearly the time you come home, he wipes the search history; turns off the computer, and stuffs the paper in his jeans pocket.

then he sits on the foot of the stairs, patiently waiting for you to step through the front door, just like every other day.

he gives you a bear hug, mumbles “i missed you” into the crook of your shoulder. the two of you share a kiss.

{time skip to halloween!}

he buys your favorite drink from the coffee shop, and the two of you wander through the crowd of people at the halloween festival, holding hands the entire time.

the haunted house is purely for shits and giggles. you live in the murder house, for christ’s sake.

he had chosen that particular place because he wants to see you get spooked. that way, you’ll jump into his arms and he can protect you.

tate hides behind bushes or around corners to jump-scare a bunch of trick-or-treaters. (he’s so immature sometimes)

he raids the candy bowls that sits on people’s doorsteps.

“the note says: ‘take one’. you took like, five.”

“but y/n, it’s sour patch kids and snickers!! ooh just look at these skittles-”

“tate.”

“okay, hear me out: one for you, one for me, and addy, beau and rose, don’t forget your parents-”

the fact that he wore his cardigan with large pockets isn’t just pure coincidence. boy has a major sweet tooth, he needs extra space to store his loot.

you both end up leaving with stuffed pockets. which made you feel a bit guilty, but the adorable and smug smile tate gave you made it a bit better.

“see? stealing isn’t that bad~”

before you can argue, he unwraps a small hersey’s bar and stuffs it into your mouth to shut you up, laughing.

you sneak into the movie theater together, perfectly timed to see the final parts of the movie where the slasher brutally murders everyone. the candy you’ve stolen taken from earlier comes in handy.

tate has always been secretly fantasizing the two of you kissing/holding hands in a dark theater, like in those chick flicks you forced him watch together.

finally, he gets to fulfill that fantasy.

after the movie, everyone else leaves, while you two proceeds to make out during the rolling credits.

until the employee kicks you both out.

your sit next to each other at the beach, having deep, philosophical conversations while you listen to the sound of waves crashing against the shore.

which lead to cuddling, then a hot make-out session.

“tate?”

“yeah, y/n?”

“this is the best halloween i’ve ever had.”

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✧. a/n ─ english is not my first language, please tolerate the grammatical mistakes

requests are open, comment for taglist ♡

©️@cinnamxngirl

#american horror story #tate langdon #tate langdon x y/n #tate langdon x you #tate langdon x reader #fluff #tate langdon headcanon #Tate Langdon hc #ahs #Kit walker

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darkpoetrynprose · 2 months

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“In March winter is holding back and spring is pulling forward. Something holds and something pulls inside of us too.”

― Jean Hersey

#chaotic academia #dark acadamia aesthetic #dark academia #dark academic aesthetic #darkacademic #poetry #light academia #light acadamia aesthetic #poem #english literature #month of march #march #march 2024 #spring #spring vibes

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munsonfamilyband · 1 year

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So I’m aware it’s no longer Valentine’s day but enough people liked part one so here’s part 2 of my Valentine’s Post

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The past couple days had not been fun for Steve. It started on the 12th when Eddie went on a tirade about how much he hated Valentine’s day and wouldn’t ever celebrate it. Steve knew his crush was hopeless already but that was just painful to hear, especially knowing that Eddie didn’t even know it was Steve’s birthday.

When Eddie had left to go help Nancy plan her date with Robin, he had dropped his head onto the counter with a groan.

“It might have been easier if he said he didn’t like me at all.” Robin rubbed his back gently.

“I know. How does he not know it’s your birthday though? Why didn’t you tell him?”

“I don’t like celebrating my birthday usually. I mean, most of the kids don’t even know when it is, but I was going to tell him on the actual day, maybe guilt him into hanging out with me and I could pretend it was a date.”

“Dingus, Steve, platonic love of my life, that is sad.” Steve just groaned again and Robin moved away from him to get back to stocking the shelves like she had been. “At some point you need to just tell him how you feel.”

“Thanks but no thanks, I’m okay existing in ignorance.”

“Steve.” He sat up and turned to her, crossing his arms.

“Robin. You know why I don’t want to take the chance.”

She sighed, looking at the case in her hand briefly before turning to him again. “I know, and as unrealistic as it is, I do wish that the conversation you and Nancy had fixed your insecurities so you could be happy. But I know there are other insecurities there, I just wish you could get something good for yourself.” He gave her a small smile, but he knew she could see how fake it was.

Now, two days later, they were back in Family Video. Robin had insisted that she had to sleep over the night before because it was his birthday and she had woken him up with (thankfully) store bought cinnamon buns and coffee. She had also thrown glitter over him as soon as he was dressed for work, telling him that it was to set the mood for the day.

He hated it then, he still hates it now as he bends over to pick up a tape and glitter falls out of his hair even hours later. It was just after the lunch rush had ended and Steve was dreading the dinner rush, especially since it meant a hoard of boyfriends coming to get last minute movies for Valentine’s day. He just wanted to curl up on his couch with ice cream and the bottle of wine he bought himself.

Robin had been weird all day too. First it was picking out his outfit, including his so-called “ass jeans”, then it was the glitter, then she had been playing the weirdest romcoms in the store. She had somehow been slipping little origami hearts into his pockets all day without him noticing. Things really got weird when he reached into his pocket and found something that wasn’t a little paper heart - it was more solid and felt metallic. Taking it out, he found a Hersey kiss and a note taped to it.

“Rob, I know you feel bad about me not having a date but you don’t need to sneak me chocolate.” He looked over at her for her response and immediately clocked her scheming face. “Robin. What are you doing?”

“Nothing! Just read the little note! I was paid handsomely for that so you better open it.” He just rolled his eyes and looked back at the chocolate. Deciding that he might as well, he opened the note and read it.

“Sweetheart, normally you get spankings but I figured a birthday kiss was a better way to start <3”

“Robin, why the fuck did you give me this?!”

“I’m not super happy about being roped into this, I promise, but I was paid for my time. Just wait, there’s more to come apparently.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Much to his disappointment, Robin refused to say anything more. And she stayed that way for the rest of their shift, including up to the moment they parted ways so she could get into Nancy’s waiting car.

He ended up forgetting all about it when he opened his wine and started in on the ice cream, until he heard muffled music from the backyard. Climbing out of his blanket nest with a frown he worked his way over to the back door and saw Eddie standing there with a boombox raised above his head. He was looking up at Steve’s bedroom window, and he had Madonna, of all things, blasting through the speakers.

“What the hell are you doing, Eddie?” Clearly Eddie hadn’t heard him open the sliding doors and he jumped, nearly dropping the boombox.

“Steve! How did you-were you not upstairs?”

“No, I was watching a movie on the couch. Still not answering the question though.” Steve crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame to look Eddie over. For once his jeans weren’t ripped and he had a plain t shirt on under his jacket. He looked more put together than usual but Steve couldn’t figure out why.

“Shit, uh, that sort of changes my plans but I can work with this. No tower serenade, that’s fine-“

“Sorry, serenade? What is going on, Eddie?” Eddie just sighed in response before seeming to steel himself.

“I fucked up, badly, the other day. I got wrapped up in my own opinions and I didn’t even consider how you felt about Valentine’s day - let alone that it was apparently your birthday. Nancy was actually the one to let me in on it, she asked what I was planning. And uh, well, I got her to help me plan this whole thing, but I was kind of hoping that you would be in your room so that you couldn’t see how terrified I am-“

“Wait, Eddie, I’m confused, why-“ Eddie just held a hand up to stop Steve before continuing to speak.

“I was going to give you this whole speech about how I’ve been in love with you for months now but I’ve been way too scared to say anything and even though I seriously messed up, at least it gave me a kick in the ass, so uh-“

“Wait.” Steve had to stop him there, because he was getting the picture but he needed to do a couple things first.

The first thing was rushing forward, grabbing Eddie’s face in his hands and kissing him right on the mouth.

The second, while Eddie was still shocked from the kiss was to say, “hold that thought. I’m going to run up to my room and we can try again.” Grinning like an idiot, Steve ran back into his house and up the stairs. He had never been serenaded before but he was excited to try it.

Taglist

@nburkhardt @i-less-than-three-you @nelotegreitic @liketheocean @darkwitchoferie @4nemo1egend @scarletyeager @the-redthread @thev01dd

#stranger things #eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #and here it is almost a week late but I thought it was cute #i just see eddie as a ”pebbles at the window after dark” boyfriend so a boombox serenade felt on brand

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ddarker-dreams · 1 year

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☾ book recommendations: *✲⋆.

my all time favorites:

the brothers karamazov by fyodor dostoevsky

notes from underground by fyodor dostoevsky

the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde

frankenstein by mary shelly

the plague by albert camus

we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson

others that i'd recommend:

break the body, haunt the bones by micah dean hicks

tomie by junji ito

uzumaki by junji ito

berserk by kento miura

the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson

i have no mouth, and i must scream by harlan ellison

the tell-tale heart by edgar allen poe

the cask of amontillado by edgar allen poe

rebecca by daphne du maurier

wuthering heights by emily brontë

dune by frank herbert

a shadow over innsmouth by h. p. lovecraft

the color out of space by h. p. lovecraft

the dunwich horror by h. p. lovecraft

crime and punishment by fyodor dostoevsky

demons by fyodor dostoevsky

the idiot by fyodor dostoevsky

jane eyre by charlotte brontë

animal farm by george orwell

do androids dream of electric sheep? by philip k. dick

a long fatal love chase by louisa may alcott

the stranger by albert camus

the metamorphosis by franz kafka

the trial by franz kafka

dragonwyck by anya seton

discipline and punish by michel foucalt

the castle of otranto by horace walpole

faust by johann wolfgang von goethe

the fall by albert camus

the myth of sisyphus by albert camus

the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde by robert louis stevenson

blood meridian by cormac mccarthy (do look into the content warnings though, there's heavy violence/depictions of 1840s-1850s racism)

the death of ivan ilyich by leo tolstoy

the dead by james joyce

the overcoat by nikolai gogol

dead souls by nikolai gogol

hiroshima by john hersey

useful fictions: evolution, anxiety, and the origins of literature by michael austin

no exit by jean paule satre

candide by voltaire

white nights by fyodor dostoevsky

notes from a dead house by fyodor dostoevsky

the shock doctrine by naomi klein

#i'll keep on adding to this as i continue reading!!!#recommendations

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the-fiction-witch · 8 months

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You Always Know

Media The Queens Gambit

Character Benny Watts

Couple Benny X Reader

Rating Cute

Requested:

so just hear me out. MAJOR FLUFF. This can either be Nigel, Benny Whitey WHOEVER OUT OF THOSE THREE YOU WANT So they're upset like they had a bad day or just in a bad mood and y/n being a good girlfriend she immediately comes up with an idea. The idea being that she just has whoever you pick lay their head on her thighs/lap and she just like RUFFLES HIS HAIR WHILE COMPLIMENTING HIM. And it immediately makes Whoever you pick so happy they're just instant 😊 immediately.

I hummed to myself as I washed the last couple of dishes in the sink, I gave them a good scrub from dinner and set them in the rack to dry. I heard a car as it pulled up outside and I jumped a little as I heard a car door slam shut but didn't think much of it and continued with the dishes. I perked up though as I headed footsteps down the stairs so I dried off my hands and turned expecting perhaps a knock on the door but I heard it unlock and it swiftly opened.

In stepped Benny, but immediately I could tell something was up. He marched in with heavy-footed steps and slammed the metal door closed behind him so much it vibrated the doorframe, he dropped his bag onto the floor, kicked off his shoes, and threw his hat and jacket on the hook. His face was stern, his brow low, his eyes almost darker than usual.

I spoke up, attempting to determine what I could. "Hi Benny, how was it?"

"Don't. Even start!" he snapped, he ran a hand through his hair as he moved across the apartment

"Is everything alright Benny?"

"I don't want to talk about it!" He yelled as he went into our bedroom and slammed the door shut.

"Okay," I gulped. I collected his bag from the door, unpacked the bag from his trip, set his books back in their places on the shelf, his board on the table, and did a load of his laundry. Once all that was done I grabbed the large ceramic penguin mug and set it on the counter, I grabbed a small skillet pan and the milk bottle from the fridge I poured the milk into the skillet, set the bottle on the side to wash up to return to the milkman tomorrow morning, I let the milk heat while I got the small brown sachet from the back of the cupboard I checked the date and gave it a good shake in one hand while I took the skillets handle and poured it into the mug to let the hot milk steam. I ripped the sachet with my teeth making sure to stir as I poured in the powder turning the warm milk into hot chocolate once it was fully mixed I got some Hersey's syrup adding a nice glob into the bottom of the mug and added some small marshmallows.

I took the mug in hand and sheepishly shuffled my slippers across the apartment carefully opening the door snunk myself inside to see Benny. He sat on the bed his back against the wall and his legs stretched off the side his jeans still in but his socks thrown into the laundry basket, his black turtleneck on snuggly with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows his usual chains against his chest. His arms crossed over his chest and in his hand the small silver cigarette box and a lit cigarette between his lips. He saw me but I spoke first"

"Benny darling, I made your favourite," I smiled offering the mug

For a moment his smile cracked "You always know just how to help,"

"That I do," I smiled coming over to sit on the bed, I passed over the mug which he happily took cradling close to his chest

"You even put it in penguin for me, I thought I wasn't allowed to use the penguin mug?"

"Well, special times." I smiled as I pushed over his slippers from under the bed which he slipped on as he sipped his hot chocolate" What's this?" I asked as I took the cigarette from his fingers

"It's been a long day y/n," he says

"Ummm" I nodded and put the cigarette out in the small ashtray on the dresser "Now, come on then tell me all about it,"

"I'm not sure I'm in the mood..."

"Come here darling," I cooed and gave my thigh a tap

For a moment he rolled his eyes but set his cigarette box on the table with the hot chocolate and he moved so he could rest his head on my thighs

"There we go, all nice and cosy" I smiled as I grabbed the folded blanket from the bed and spread it over him and began to gently stroke his sweet hair "Now tell me all about it"

He sighed but in a nice peaceful way "Okay… so this fucking guy at the tournament was being an utter cunt he didn't want to use my clock which is like what the fuck but whatever but he also didn't want me to use his clock" he explained

"Well that's just plain unreasonable darling"

"Exactly! And then when we got all that sorted he spent ten minutes sharpening his bloody pencil and I said hey man I have other games to play too today"

"Which is a very logical response my darling"

"And he got such a fucking ass about it saying I was wasting his time so he went in the defensive which I mean I can deal with"

"Aww of course you can Benny darling you do your best work playing off defensive"

"Thank you, and he'd already lost but he just kept dragging it out"

"Very unsportsmanlike"

"Exactly! And I told him look you cunt this is my last game your being a dick I need to get home to my girlfriend you and your bullshit is all that's preventing that right now"

"Awww that's very sweet Benny"

"And he fucking called security on me!"

"Ohh I'm so sorry darling"

"It's fine it's just… been a long day"

"Did you win?"

"I did"

"Good, I knew my handsome boy would, anything else you would to tell me?"

"Ohh this fucking woman thought I took her hotel room I kept telling her no this is 108 your room is 801 your holding the key label upside down" he explained, and he went on for a while about the various things from his little trip all the while I just softly stroked his hair and gave him sweet little compliments and such to make him feel better sometimes we'd stop so he could sip his hot chocolate the whole time I plaid with his hair his smile slowly grew often her nuzzle his head closer or he'd make little happy sounds when I tucked in the blanket or found a particularly pent up tense spot on his head to massage with my fingers

"Does this make you feel better Benny darling?"

"It does, very much sweetheart. You always know how to cheer me up."

"I like to I know sometimes these trips can be hard for you and I like you to know how loved and appreciated you are"

"Aww thank you sweetheart" he smiled sitting up and kissing my lips even if I could taste the chocolate on his lips "You and your cuddles and kisses and all your knowledge is very appreciated too you always know how to make me feel better after these things even just seeing you cheers me up a little" he smiled cuddling me close to him

"Awww" I smiled giving his lips a little kiss "Now, how's about I set the little board up and we can play some games wrapped up in bed with a nice hot tea?'

"That sounds perfect sweetheart"

#tbs smut #thomasbrodiesangster #tbs imagine #tbs imagines #thomas sangster imagine #thomas brodie sangster imagine #thomas brodie sangster #tbs #thomas sangster #thomas brodie sangster smut #benny smut #benny watts #benny fanfic #benny #benny watts smut #tqg benny watts #benny watts imagine

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videbi · 3 years

Text

The Best Books

The list is made from an academic point of view. More books may be added or any book may be taken out of the list at anytime.

Books that enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted us

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 1813

Emma by Jane Austen, 1815

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, 1844

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, 1847

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, 1848

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, 1860

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, 1862

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1866

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, 1868

Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life by George Eliot, 1874

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, 1877

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, 1884

Germinal by Émile Zola, 1885

The Short Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov, 1888

The Ambassadors by Henry James, 1903

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust, 1913

Dubliners by James Joyce, 1914

The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain, 1916

Ulysses by James Joyce, 1922

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, 1924

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser, 1925

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, 1927

Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead, 1928

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque, 1929

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, 1929

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein, 1933

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1934

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, 1936

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, 1937

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen, 1937

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, 1937

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, 1939

Romola by George Eliot, 1940

Black Boy by Richard Wright, 1945

Hiroshima by John Hersey, 1946

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, 1946

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, 1947

Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry, 1947

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, 1949

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, 1951

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, 1952

Lord of the Flies by William Golding, 1954

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, 1954

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, 1955

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin, 1955

Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene, 1958

The Civil War by Shelby Foote, 1958

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction by JD Salinger, 1959

Rabbit, Run by John Updike, 1960

Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster, 1960

The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs, 1961

The Making of the President by Theodore H. White, 1961

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov, 1962

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre, 1963

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, 1964

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X, 1965

Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown, 1965

Against Interpretation, and Other Essays by Susan Sontag, 1966

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, 1966

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1967

The American Cinema by Andrew Sarris, 1968

The Double Helix by James Watson, 1968

The Electric Kool_Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, 1968

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, 1969

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, 1969

The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles, 1969

Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume, 1970

Ball Four by Jim Boutton, 1970

The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor, 1971

The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam, 1972

The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp, 1973

All The President’s Men by Bob Woodwad and Carl Bernstein, 1974

The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro, 1974

Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow, 1975

Sociobiology by Edward O. Wilson, 1975

The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer, 1979

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel, 1980

Follow The River by James Alexander Thom, 1981

Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession by Janet Malcolm, 1981

The Fractal Geometry of Nature by Benoit Mandelbrot, 1982

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill by William Manchester, 1983

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, 1984

The Center of the Cyclone by John Lilly, 1985

Great and Desperate Cures by Elliott Valenstein, 1986

Maus by Art Spiegelman, 1986

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes, 1986

And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts, 1987

Beloved by Toni Morrison, 1987

The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom, 1987

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, 1988

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPerson, 1988

The Society of Mind by Marvin Minsky, 1988

Summer’s Lease by John Mortimer, 1989

A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving, 1989

A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin, 1991

Mortal Questions by Thomas Nagel, 1991

PIHKAL by Alexander and Ann Shulgin, 1991

Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos by Dennis Overbye, 1991

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir, 1991

Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose, 1992

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, 1992

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, 1993

Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama, 1995

Montana Sky by Nora Roberts, 1996

Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom, 1997

War Before Civilization by Lawrence Keeley, 1997

How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker, 1997

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, 1998

In the Name of Eugenics by Daniel Kevles, 1998

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, 1998

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, 1999

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, 2000

Nonzero by Robert Wright, 2000

Chocolat by Joanne Harris, 2000

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, 2001

The Illusion of Conscious Will by Daniel Wegner, 2002

Atonement by Ian McEwan, 2003

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, 2003

The Known World by Edward P. Jones, 2003

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, 2004

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, 2004

Portofino: A Novel (Calvin Becker Trilogy) by Frank Schaeffer, 2004

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, 2005

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, 2005

The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, 2008

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke The World, 2009

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, 2010

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, 2010

Orientation: And Other Stories by Daniel Orozco, 2011

Books that inspired debate, activism, dissent, war and revolution

The Torah

Bhagavad Gita

I Ching (Classic of Changes) by Fu Xi

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, 1266

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, 1321

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, 1605

Ethics by Baruch de Spinoza, 1677

Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, 1678

Candide by Voltaire, 1759

Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1781

Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, 1781

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 1843

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, 1851

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852

Walden (Life in the Woods) by Henry David Thoreau, 1854

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, 1857

Experiments on Plant Hybridization by Gregor Mendel, 1866

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, 1869

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, 1883

Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang, 1898

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell, 1914

Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein, 1916

Psychological Types by Carl Jung, 1921

Mein Kampf (My Struggle or My Battle) by Adolf Hitler, 1925

Der Process (The Trial) by Franz Kafka, 1925

The Tibetan Book of the Dead by Karma-glin-pa (Karma Lingpa), 1927

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 1932

The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes, 1936

The Big Book by Alcoholics Anonymous, 1939

Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre, 1943

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, 1943

The Road To Serfdom by Friedrich von Hayek, 1944

Animal Farm by George Orwell, 1945

Survival in Auschwitz: The Nazi Assault on Humanity by Primo Levi, 1947

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, 1947

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, 1949

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, 1949

The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, 1951

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, 1958

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 1960

Guerilla Warfare by Che Guevarra, 1961

Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman, 1962

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, 1962

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn, 1962

Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (The Little Red Book) by Mao Zedong, 1964

Unsafe at Any Speed by Ralph Nader, 1965

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, 1969

The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer, 1970

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig, 1974

The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer, 1987

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, 1988

The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, 1995

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling, 1997

Books that shook civilization, changed the world

The Holy Bible

The Qur’an

The Analects of Confucius

The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer

The Histories by Herodotus, 440 BC

The Republic by Plato, 380 BC

The Kama Sutra (Aphorisms on Love) by Vatsyayana

On the Shortness of Life by Lucius Annaeus Seneca (The Younger), 62

Geographia by Ptolemy, 150

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, 160

Confessions by St. Augustine, 397

The Canon of Medicine by Avicenna, 1025

Magna Carta, 1215

The Inner Life by Thomas a Kempis, 1400’s

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, 1478

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli, 1532

On Friendship by Michel de Montaigne, 1571

The King James Bible by William Tyndale et al, 1611

The First Folio by William Shakespeare, 1623

Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton, 1687

A Tale of a Tub by Jonathan Swift, 1704

Encyclopaedia or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts, 1751

A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson, 1755

Patent Specification for Arkwright’s Spinning Machine by Richard Arkwright, 1769

Common Sense by Thomas Paine, 1776

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, 1776

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, 1776

The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1762

On the Abolition of the Slave Trade by William Wilberforce, 1789

Rights of Man by Thomas Paine, 1791

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft, 1792

On the Pleasure of Hating by William Hazlitt, 1826

Experimental Researches in Electricity by Michael Faraday, 1839, 1844, 1855

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, 1848

On the Suffering of the World by Arthur Schopenhauer, 1851

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, 1855

On Liberty by John Stewart Mill, 1859

On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, 1859

The Rules of Association Football by Ebenezer Cobb Morley, 1863

Das Kapital (Capital: Critique of Political Economy) by Karl Marx, 1867

On Art and Life by John Ruskin, 1886

The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, 1898

The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud, 1899

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, 1906

Why Am I So Wise by Friedrich Nietzsche, 1908

Married Love by Marie Stopes, 1918

Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence, 1928

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, 1929

Civilization and its Discontents by Sigmund Freud, 1930

Why I Write by George Orwell, 1946

#books #authors #best #list #videbi.tumblr.com #lists #favorites #books list #best books

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psalm22-6 · 1 year

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Source: the Bay Area Reporter, 9 November 1989

Not often do grossly over hyped pieces of theatre live up to the expectations they engender. Les Miserables, the spectacle of this decade’s dramatic spectacles, is a fabulous exception. As seamless a production as ever has been mounted, the musical works like a battalion of well-oiled clocks as it justly earns a place in stage history.

The element that most recommends Les Miserables is its respect for its source. Victor Hugo’s mammoth 1,000-plus page novel is rendered faithfully in content and tone. One might expect a work of such literary complexity and size to become somehow diminished or trivialized when adapted for the stage. Novels often do not transfer easily to visual media. With Les Miserables, the main question before writers Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg was how to convey adequately the politics, philosophy and view of humanity in Hugo’s novel.

Drama Before Technology

The creators of Les Miserables came up with the answer: practical and simple staging, executed with a precision to make NASA weep. Yet as large, expensive, and grand a set as it utilizes, Les Miserables does not favor high technology over basic dramatic tension. The tricks Les Miz pulls out of its hat are big, but, actually, they are not new. They are just done better (and with bigger budget to support them) than any previous. And for all the pyrotechnics, this is still very much an actor’s piece.

The basic unit of the set is an almost perpetually moving turntable, built-in and ﬂush with the stage floor. On this symbolic wheel of life revolve the fates of Hugo’s characters. [. . .] Played out against the citizen and student riots of 1832 Paris, Les Miserables is an eloquent appeal for freedom of expression, civil rights and commitment to the cause of justice.

Wringing Grandeur

There are many who shed tears over the wringing grandeur of Claude-Michel Schonberg’s score, with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. The original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean Marc Natel holds up well in translation, although for the die hard Les Miz-ophile I suggest the original French cast recording. Somehow the soundtrack in its native language raises goose bumps that the Anglo version does not. However, potent though it may be, Les Miserables is not so much a tear-jerker as it is a heartstopper. The musical is constant assault on the senses, especially the ears and eyes. If it causes some to whip out the hankies, so be it. But, ultimately, that will not be Les Miserables’ lasting gift.

A Lesson in Stagecraft

Les Miz is an object lesson in efficient stagecraft. Aside from the aforementioned turntable (a device as old as the Greeks), the only major set pieces are two levered wagons which come together at the end of Act I to form a barricade for the student revolutionaries. Before this, they hinge and rotate to form a Paris backdrop, a balcony, a street scene.

John Napier’s design is actually very mundane, refreshingly so, in fact. The set, along with David Hersey’s exquisitely designed and produced lighting, precisely establishes mood, place and tone. We are overwhelmed not by the magnitude of the set, props, costumes and effects. Rather, we are appropriately impressed with how well, and simply, they are used. There’s no denying that Les Miserables is an event. The production deserves to be, but it’s too bad people cannot discover it without first being bombarded by the soundtrack, the TV commercials, and the ubiguitous [sic] red, white and blue urchin posters. In an era of empty-headed epics such as Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Starlight Express and Chess, it’s encouraging to see a musical with a soul almost as big as its budget, and one not entirely overshadowed by it. No matter how many times the stage turns round, or how dense the onstage smoke, a beautifully sung “to love another person is to see the face of God” never loses its power to move. Les Miserables Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St. Tues-Sat, 8 p.m.; Sat matinees, 2 p.m.; Sun matinees, 3 p.m. $16-$50 243-9001

#les miserables #lm musical

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my-chaos-radio · 7 months

Text

youtube

Release: July 29, 2023

Lyrics:

She will only let me down

Leave me low

Begging on the ground as I watch you go

Break my body, heart and soul

Always coming back around, and I can't say no

Toxic, toxic, I can barely breathe

Choke me when you love me

Put me on a leash

Buried in the pocket of your denim jeans

Carry me around like a dime in your Celine

Say I'm sick of it, but you know I want more

Faded on a sip, I'm addicted

Only ever wanted you to give what I came here for

A little bit of bad love

Hate the pleasure, love the pain

Can't help but come and play

I'm a sucker in your game

You only let me down

Leave me low

Begging on the ground as I watch you go

Break my body, heart and soul

Always coming back around and I can't say no

I can't say no

To you

I can't say no

To you

Smoke on your lips

I get drunk on a kiss

Get me high, leave me dry

Now I'm twisted, I miss it, I miss it

All alone feeling so masochistic

Wish you never existed

Say I'm sick of it, but you know I want more

Faded on a sip, I'm addicted

Only ever wanted you to give what I came here for

A little bit of bad love

You only let me down

Leave me low

Begging on the ground as I watch you go

Break my body, heart and soul

Always coming back around and I can't say no

I can't say no

To you

I can't say no

To you

I can't say no

To you

I can't say no

To you

Hate the pleasure, love the pain

Can't help but come and play

I'm a sucker in your game

You only let me down

Leave me low

Begging on the ground as I watch you go

Break my body, heart and soul

Always coming back around

And I can't say

You only let me down

Leave me low

Begging on the ground as I watch you go

Break my body, heart and soul

Always coming back around and I can't say no

I can't say no

To you

I can't say no

To you

I can't say no

To you

I can't say no

To you

I can't say no

To you

I can't say no

To you

Songwriter:

I can't say no

To you

I can't say no

To you

I can't say no

James Hersey / Sean Van Vleet / Jeoffrey Harris

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twistedkittyart · 11 months

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Hello June - "June is the gateway to summer". - Jean Hersey. I can't believe it is already June! Month 6 of this year. Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous month ahead.

#june #6 months in #summer is here #quote #summer quote

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snackerdoodle · 4 months

Text

books I read in 2023

I had a huge reading year this year because of my gruelingly long commute. The list below the cut is mostly for my own edification, but I’m a nosy person who supports other nosy people, so if you want to know what I’ve been up to, have at it. Almost everything I read this year was from the library.

1/12 A Charmed Life, Diana Wynne Jones

1/18 The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School, Sonora Reyes

1/24 The Life-Changing Magic of

Tidying Up, Marie Kondo

1/25 Hotel Magnifique, Emily J. Taylor

1/30 Spark Joy, Marie Kondo

2/2 The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune

2/8 The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik

2/8 Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, Ashley Herring Blake

2/15 The Nile, Toby Wilkinson

2/23 The Painted Queen, Elizabeth Peters and Joan Hess

2/28 Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine

3/5 Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters

3/12 Lord of the Silent, Elizabeth Peters

3/16 Marie Kondo’s Kurashi at Home, Marie Kondo

3/20 Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, Ruth Franklin

3/20 The Art of Simple Living, Shunmyo Masuno

3/26 The Bird’s Nest, Shirley Jackson

4/11 Life Among the Savages, Shirley Jackson

4/12 A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn

4/18 The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories, Charlotte Perkins Gilman

4/21 Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto, Tricia Hersey

5/1 Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo

5/3 Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, Ashley Herring Blake

5/10 Fight Like Hell: The Untold Story of American Labor, Kim Kelly

5/11 Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, Joy Harjo

5/12 Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge

5/15 The Lottery and Other Stories, Shirley Jackson

5/18 The Lives of Christopher Chant, Diana Wynne Jones

5/29 A Little Devil in America, Hanif Abdurraqib

6/3 A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske

6/6 Ducks, Kate Beaton

6/8 Wild and Wicked Things, Francesca May (awful. Every character was an idiot. Why did I finish this)

6/10 Breathing Lessons: A Doctor’s Guide to Lung Health, Meilan K. Han, MD

6/19 The Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu

6/19 A Fortune for Your Disaster, Hanif Abdurraqib (I liked this even more than the last one I read. Maybe because it was an audiobook read by the author.)

6/22 Disjointed, Diana Jovin (ed) (skipped parts that were totally unrelated to me and some things that were also too technical)

6/22 The Lavender Scare, David K. Johnson

6/26 Enquête au collège, Jean-Phillipe Arrou-Vignod

6/28 The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner

7/3 Last Call, Elon Green

7/12 Cache Cache Petit Fantôme

7/13 Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint-

Exupéry

7/13 La fille qui navigua autour de féérie dans un bateau construit de ses propres mains, Catherynne M Valente

7/14 Lost in the Moment and Found, Seanan McGuire

7/14 Ich mag dich gesund sagte der Bär, Janosch

7/25 The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch

7/31 The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty

8/10 A Restless Truth, Freya Marske

8/16 Camp Damascus, Chuck Tingle

9/6 The Body in the Garden, Katherine Schellman

9/11 Silence in the Library, Katherine Schellman

9/13 When Things Get Dark, various

9/19 Death at the Manor, Katherine Schellman

9/25 Sorcery and Cecelia, Patricia C Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

10/3 The Grand Tour, Patricia C Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

10/6 Murder at Midnight, Katharine Schellman

10/12 The Mislaid Magician, Patricia C Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

10/18 Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies, Elizabeth Winkler

10/18 Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen, JK Rowling

10/25 Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA search for Mind Control, Stephen Kinzer

11/1 Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date, Ashley Herring Blake

11/3 Nothing But Blackened Teeth, Cassandra Shaw

11/9 Unfuck Your Habitat, Rachel Hoffman

11/11 Safe and Sound, Mercury Stardust

11/12 Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD (revised and updated), Susan C. Pinskey

11/18 Red Seas under Red Skies, Scott Lynch

11/20 In With the Old: Classic Decor A to Z, Jennifer Boles

11/23 Habitat: The Field Guide to Decorating, Lauren Liess

11/24 Vermeer: The Complete Paintings, Norbert Schneider

11/29 The Conscious Closet, Elizabeth L. Cline

12/4 Leech, Hiron Ennes

12/6 The Star that Always Stays, Anna Rose Johnson

P12/14 The Republic of Thieves, Scott Lynch

12/15 An American Sunrise, Joy Harjo

12/20 The Wife Upstairs, Rachel Hawkins

12/22 How to Keep House While Drowning, KC Davis

12/30 The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, Margareta Magnusson

Gave up on: The Woman Who Would Be King, Kara Cooney (too speculative/fictionalized)

A Scatter of Light, Malinda Lo (nothing really wrong, it just wasn’t holding my attention at all)

14 histoires pour avoir peur mais pas trop quand même (turned into full cast audio and the music between stories was really annoying)

Manhunt, Gretchen Felker-Martin (not in the right headspace maybe, maybe just not for me)

American Cozy, Stephanie Pedersen (got annoyed at how much of the information hinged on living in a huge suburban home with 18 closets and a husband and multiple children you can make do your chores for you)

The Curated Closet, Anuschka Rees (not bad just not what I was looking for)

#Snackerdoodle actually makes a post #Books read 2023

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