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joyglass · 5 months

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okay. somewhat consolidated thoughts on the pjo series

percy is just so fucking funny and riordan's writing style is so charmingly witty for a children's novel. percy is definitely a child but it's so entertaining even reading it now at my old college age.

i do wish pjo handled some more mature themes especially considering the entire basis of the novels are greek mythology but i understand the sanitation and im not mad at it. it is a kids novel. but reading about how so many kids literally died during the war i do think it's kinda inescapable though. percy and annabeth really did live through 2 wars they need to live in PEACE for the rest of their lives not whatever rick is making them go through in the new series 😭😭😭

luke was right.

controversial opinion i think i don't think luke loved annabeth romantically and i think it's silly that rick forgot about the existence of platonic love in that moment. she clearly did love him.

favorite book was TLO because of said mature(r) themes. i think rick did great balancing levity and the urgency of the war

that being said, idk if it's because it's a children's novel but i enjoyed the pace. i thought it was perfect. but it's probably because i get bored super easily so a children's series appeals to me more

one of my favorite scenes in the series is probably when they find pan and he tells them that the wild is in every single person. that they need to make 'the wild' themselves and that the responsibility is in their hands. i think it's such an important theme and heavy handed reminder of global warming even back them when the books were originally written!!! pan was so right for that,

percabeth percabeth percabeth. they were my original otp for a reason. i could go on about them but they're relationship progression is one of my favorite things ever. also being older i can understand where annabeth was coming from.

hades was so mean to nico for no reason at all. i heard he's somewhat of a better father in the recent books but damn. he straight up implied he wished bianca had lived except for him ouch??? anyway new appreciation for nico. i feel so bad for him😭😭😭

justice for the Aphrodite kids because RR was NOT nice to them at all 💀

#idk if I'm going to read the will/Nico series #but I am going to reread HOO #also I am definitely RR critical but this is more about the series itself #pjo posting

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thataspdfeel · 7 years

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that book list I promised

//rubs my grubby hands together happily

Boy howdy do I ever have some book recommendations. This would’ve been posted earlier but mobile decided to go fuck itself. Just a heads up, this is gonna be long

I mostly read series because tbh teen fiction is some of the best. It tends to take the most risks with both style and characterization. (Granted, it also tends to fall risk to some of the worst tropes imo like abuse stalker creepy guy is hot cause he loves protag)

Anything Garth Nix has ever written in his whole life. He’s one of my favorite authors and tends to stick to series. Keys to the Kingdom is 7 books and the first is Mister Monday and you read in order of the days of the week. No really. You’ll see why. His Old Kingdom series is 5 books and a short story so far and starts with Sabriel. It’s about necromancers who keep the dead down rather than raise them. Like I have the biggest boner for this series it’s not even funny

Terry Pratchett is my absolute favorite author of all time (besides Shakespeare) and he’s written over 50 books. You don’t have to read them in any particular order but he does follow characters across books sometimes. I recommend starting with Monstrous Regiment, Small Gods, or Going Postal first. If you want to start in chronological order, I think The Colour of Magic was written first

If you’re patient, read the whole Lord of the Rings series from The Hobbit onward. Tolkien sucks his own dick and describes clouds for a whole page cause he’s a world builder kind of writer. I haven’t had a chance to try the series again but I remember enjoying The Hobbit. Just know this is a very tedious option and may result in more boredom

Less boring is The Chronicles of Narnia but there are a few books that are just an absolute bear to get through. I recommend this right after lotr because these stories are a result OF THE SAME DRUG TRIP because Clive Staples Lewis (no really that’s what CS stands for) and Tolkien were college roommates. And because Narnia is a fucking fun place to visit

George RR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire cause it includes more detail than Game of Thrones and because I’m always a slut for kingdom musical chairs and dragons

Speaking of dragons, The Inheritance Series which is Eragon etc because it’s like lotr for people who can’t stand reading about a cloud for two pages, almost entirely action. Plus, in one of the books, they (Eragon and Saphira) do a couple of really stupid, slightly offensive things to the elves and admit their mistakes which I thought was cool cause it feels like sometimes protagonists don’t apologize in books

Chris D'Lacey also writes these REALLY COOL books about dragons called The Last Dragon Chronicles where these ladies make dragons out of clay and I’m 90% sure The Fire Within is the first book. There are at least 7 and I really need to catch up

Angie Sage writes about a boy named Septimus Heap who’s the 7th son of a 7th son and those books start with Magyk and there are at least 6 maybe 9. They’re fucking awesome and full of magic and adventure and I’m pretty sure he gets a pet dragon somewhere

Suzanne Collins also writes a lot of great stuff but I REALLY like her Gregor the Overlander series. Think Alice in Wonderland with a guy and no drugs and it’s awesome

Anything Rick Riordan has ever written in his life. I love love love the Percy Jackson series and he also wrote Children of the Lamp which is the bomb dot com about djinn children

Douglas Adams has a whole Hitchhiker’s Guide series and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the first and it’s just bonkers and loads of fun. Basically earth gets blown up and the protagonist has to deal with it. An absolute riot

James Rollins writes the Blood Infernal series about vampires and were-beings not just werewolves. The first book is Sanguine and the protagonist’s best friend is a werewolf. The first two books don’t have much to do with each other aside from being in the same universe but book three picks up at the end of book one and ties them both together. I’m pretty sure there’s sex

I’d also recommend anything Edgar Allen Poe or Shakespeare ever wrote. I know that’s more Classical Canon or whatever the fuck but honestly? Delightful. Same sentiment for Stephen King

I can’t remember the names of all the series I’ve read but these I definitely do. So onto individual books!

I, Coriander by Sally Gardener set in 17th century London and has to do with a fairy world if I remember correctly

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine about a really ugly inn keeper’s daughter and it’s kind of a retelling of Snow White (She wrote other stand alones but I haven’t read them. Based off this, though, I’d recommend them)

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about a girl who immigrates from Nigeria(?) to the US and it’s just really really good

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe set in Nigeria(?) right when colonialism happens. The first part is pre-colonialism and then it gets into the beginnings of it and all this happens within the lifespan of one man. Trigger warning though for mentions of abuse, explicit child murder and explicit suicide. Like it’s a good book but it’s gonna be a rough ride if you don’t know what you’re in for

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez is good, if tedious. It’s a Latin American book so the story is circular and told in spirals. I literally have no other way to describe it. Also don’t ignore the family chart at the very beginning because people get the same names across generations and it’s absolutely hellish. Trigger warning for incest, I think rape, definitely abuse, and a baby gets eaten by ants at the end which is more gross than anything

Black Rain by Kuroi Ame is about the bombing of Hiroshima. I’m pretty sure that’s all the trigger warning you’re going to need

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie is a collection of short stories about various Native American characters living on a reservation

Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt is about a Blackfoot medicine man who finally talks about his life but it’s less interview and more John interpreting things so this needs to be read a little critically

Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions by Richard Erdoes is a book where a Sioux medicine man talks directly to Erdoes from a Native perspective about various things from sex to politics. Was a joy to read honestly. Very enlightening

Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo basically entails the way of the bushido or the samurai code more or less. Kind of technical but I enjoyed it

Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause is about the werewolf protagonist trying to fit into her pack and figure out how to be a teenager. There’s at least one graphic mention of death (I think). It could also be suicide) so heads up

The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause is a vampire romance set in the 90′s and has absolutely nothing to do with the other book and was definitely something I loved. The protagonist watches her mother waste away from illness so avoid if that’s not something you can handle. Apparently, there are more stories (which I’d LOVE to read) and I’d recommend them just based off the two I have read

The Spook’s Apprentice by Joseph Delaney was amazing and I’ve just found out it’s a series not just a stand-alone so I know what’s going on my to-read list. It’s about an apprentice to The Spook who puts down evil things that hide in the dark. Kind of spine-tingling so if you don’t do horror, don’t read when it’s dark. It’s not horror-horror but if it’s not your thing, definitely read during the day

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is the only thing Faulkner ever wrote I can possibly stand. It’s a short story and the time is out of order but I still liked it

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is also a short story and my absolute favorite

Also not a book, but I greatly enjoy the Puritan poet Anne Bradstreet but not everybody does because 1 early American literature and 2 Puritan but that’s something if poetry is up your alley

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell is about the life of a horse set from the horse’s perspective. No seriously. With I statements and everything. I thought it was very interesting. (I was also like 8)

White Fang by Jack London is by wolves. I don’t remember much more than that because of how long ago I read it but it was probably decent since it stuck in my mind

The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman is about a prince’s whipping boy which is a thing because you can’t spank a prince directly so you have to punish somebody else. V interesting

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl was very enjoyable. I like Roald Dahl anyway but the concept of a chocolate factory was awesome. I also read it before I saw either movie and before the remake

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is pretty good but skip the epistolary at the beginning and read it after if you want to spare yourself some headache

Dracula by Bram Stoker is a classic and just really fun and I can definitely see why it’s a classic

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman was really interesting and honestly, I’d read anything that man writes after I read that

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is even better than the movie but there’s abuse mentions in it like even more so than the movie. If you haven’t seen the movie, heads up for graphic depictions of miscarriage, racial violence, and I don’t remember if the one death mentioned is graphic or not but it’s a heavy book

I’d have more but I can’t remember their damned names right now and it’s bugging me. I also have obscure video game recs because I’m one of those indie freaks. They tend to really draw me in

Also, if you like manga, I’ve read like idk how many series but a shitload and the day onemanga shut down was the day my soul died

Anyway, I hope this is fine. It isn’t even the half of what I’ve read. Like I spent almost all of my childhood reading and I enjoyed most of it. I just wish I could remember book names. Their stories are floating around in my head, just not their names. If I remember any more, I’ll probably add to this list

#original post #words #i just recommended at least 500 books probably #maybe more even??? idk #kizamimai #god im so sorry i just love books so much #IF YALL HAVE READ ANY OF THESE HIT MY ASS UP #I AM ALWAYS FUCKIN DOWN TO TALK SOME LITERATURE #its why im an english major tbh

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gwdbp · 7 years

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G&W Incorporation and Dune Park Construction: Part One

I will skip a lot of railroad history about Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois. If such history becomes relevant, I will update the blogs or posts as necessary. To get a sense of pre-modern day NWI and Illinois, check out http://oprt.org/history-1.htm.

There are numerous moving parts to the begins of railroad history in Northwest Indiana. I will be very careful with how I describe them and to be as accurate as possible. Also, you may see me interchange the name a lot from “The G&W” to “DPB”. Just note that I am referring to the Dune Park Branch.

NWI looked slightly different back before the G&W was built. Before the railroads, trails were used for wagon trains and foot travel. The trails were first created by Natives, and subsequently acquired by legal and illegal means by the Federal Government and private enterprise. Plank roads were laid out on a lot of these trails. The plank roads later became track beds for the major railroads, more-or-less.

I am not quite sure but I believe that the Buffalo & Mississippi Railroad was the first railroad in the region, being chartered February 6th, 1835. It was not built west that far beyond Michigan City. Its name was change to Northern Indiana Railroad (NIR) on February 6th, 1837 and it ran from the eastern boarder of Indiana to Michigan City and southeast from Michigan City to LaPorte.

Michigan Southern Railroad (MS) planned to use NIR’s line in its push to Chicago, and operations began November 30th, 1850. The MS & MC mergers continued to accelerate throughout the mid-to-late 1800′s. There were numerous name changes, so numerous that I will not waste time listing them all in this post.

As far as I can surmise, rivals Michigan Central (MC) & Michigan Southern Railroad (MS) were the first two major railroads to cross NWI and access Chicago, with MC being the very first, being maddeningly aggressive with MS in its push from Michigan to Chicago. MS had to use some legal trickery in order to cross more than three miles into Indiana. MS & MC were able to build their connections to Chicago through a series of mergers with smaller railroads into themselves.

Here’s a photo of railroads and pipelines dated 1900.*mistakenly labeled 1850

Let’s get a little bit closer.

You can see by 1900 there were several railroads coming through the area. The DPB is apart of this, but it’s running through the southern portion of where US Steel sits today. This is a detail that I believe most people don’t realize, and it will have severe consequences for the G&W in the future.

In spite of MC’s aggression, MS’s fortunes changed. NIR eventually merged with MS to form Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad (MS&NIR) in 1855. The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad (CP&A), which did not operate in Indiana, leased the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad (C&T) in 1867. CP&A changed its name to Lake Shore Railway (LSR) a year later and in 1869 LSR merged C&T into itself. That same year, MS&NIR merged with LSR to form the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway (LS&MS).

These strategically important series of mergers allowed for the LS&MS to extend from Chicago to Buffalo, NY... as well as whatever ROW’s it had in Michigan and elsewhere in the Midwest.

And finally, the final piece of this puzzle. In 1877 New York Central & Hudson River Railroad (NYC&HR) took notice of the LS&MS. It bought majority stock and became the owner of the entire LS&MS system. This led to the creation of the new New York Central Railroad (NYC). This action would leave NYC as top dog in the region, with MC being a rival.

Now - let’s talk about Indiana Harbor Railroad (IHR) and Illinois, Indiana & Iowa Railroad (II&I) or (3I/Old Three I/3 Eye Route). The 3I was a successful coal running railroad that terminated in Churchill, SE of Ladd, IL (southwest of Joliet). 3I built the portion of the line that went from Streator, IL to South Bend, IN. Only a small segment of the Indiana line is still in use.

The photo below shows a line map. The blue line is the Norfolk Southern (NS) Kankakee Route. This is a part of the old 3I Kankakee Belt. The red lines indicate portions of the line that are now abandoned. I bring it up because the 3I line used to connect to the Chicago line via the Kankakee Belt @ South Bend.

IHR - different from the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad - was incorporated April 17th, 1896 in Illinois. In 1901 Indiana Harbor (now East Chicago), a city, was constructed to accommodate the Calumet region’s shipping needs, centered around IHR. MC and LS&MS financed the endeavor. In 1905 IHR purchased track from MC in the Calumet District of Chicago, and track that lead to Union Stock Yards. MC & LS&MS obtained whole stock in IHR October 31, 1907, changing the name to Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad (IHBR). This brought the IHR into the NYC system. NYC made Charles W. Hotchkiss General Manager, as Hotchkiss was the creator of the IHR.

Now this bit is confusing Firstly... on August 9th, 1906 NYC merged the 3I with IHR and the Danville and Indiana Harbor Railroad to form the Chicago, Indiana and Southern Railroad (CI&S). YET on the other hand, IHR was reorganized into the IHBR. The confusion comes into play because I’ve read in other forums people who’ve said that IHR was completely different from IHBR, and I find that to be highly unlikely. The IHR is only different from the IHBR in the sense that IHBR was brought into the NYC system through MC & LS&MC's capital stock ownership.

CI&S stock was owned by Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (LS&MS) as well as Michigan Central Railroad (MC). Bear with me. CI&S’s stock was owned by LS&MS and MC. New York Central (NYC) owned stock in both LS&MS and MC. Get it? Got it? Good.

Here’s the critical part.

MS were the ones who originally built the line that would later become the DPB. It had track laid that ran west through the north end of Gary. I believe it was called the Indiana Harbor Lake Shore Line (or branch) or something close to it.

This can be proven by looking at a map. Here is the one claiming to be from 1850 again. I say claiming because on this map it’s labeled LS&MS - yet LS&MS wasn’t incorporated until 1869.

Top right corner - that would be be Baillytown (present day Burns Harbor). You can clearly see where MC ran into Hobart and MS ran westward into Gary (wasn’t Gary then). The MS line ran exactly along the same route the DPB is now. It was not built by IHR, though IHR could have operated along the MS/LS&MS later on before being reorganized into IHBR. You’ll see what I mean below.

We move the map further west and you can see the path that LS&MS took through Gary. MC’s route can also be seen. See the shaded area at the center of the photo labeled “New Stock Yards”? That’s the property that will later become US Steel. It is unknown to me who first deemed this area to become stock yards before US Steel got involved. Little known fact: There was a lighthouse on the US Steel shoreline. It was first lit in 1837. There is a newer lighthouse built in 1911 that is still in use today but not publicly accessible.

When US Steel bought this property, the LS&MS ran right through it on the southernmost end of the shaded area. LS&MS had to remove a large section of its Lake Shore track, in 1904 - before the steel mill was built. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) also had to remove their tracks, but it was not cut off like LS&MS was. We’ll get to that in a future post.

CI&S founded the Gary & Western Railway Company (G&W) the same year construction of US Steel commenced. Some accounts I’ve read say that the G&W was a purely CI&S venture with NYC, others say basically that the G&W was a subsidiary of US Steel and was operated by CI&S. I can’t say either way - a big grey area there. Until proven otherwise - I’ll say that G&W was a subsidiary of US Steel and US Steel worked with CI&S to build it. I seem to remember reading this somewhere, but I can’t remember the source.

According to the ‘Biennial Report of Fred A. Sims Secretary of State of the State Of Indiana for the Fiscal Term Ending September 30, 1908’ - on October 6th, 1906 the G&W received $200,000 in stock.

According to an Indianapolis Star article published Sunday, October 7th, 1906 - Articles of Incorporation were drafted with Secretary of State Fred. A Sims the day before - October 6th, 1906. It stated as follows:

“Gary and Western Railroad Company, to build nine miles of track in Lake County as part of the Chicago, Indiana & Southern Railroad - capital stock, $200,000.”

G&W rebuilt the LS&MS line through Gary, moving it to the south of US Steel and elevating its route to avoid grade crossings. The G&W DPB was a single track, standard-gage, steam railroad. It’s westernmost end begins at Gibson Yard in Hammond, Indiana, heading east through Ivanhoe Junction in Gary, curling north over Route 12/20 (5th Avenue). The eastern portion of the elevated line reconnected with the remaining portion of the original IHR/CI&S line east of Gary Works at a point known as “G&W Junction”. From this junction, the G&W continued east, terminating just west of the area known now as Burns Harbor at a huge sand pit.

LS&MS is who is cited most often for the creation of the DPB, but it is evident that CI&S, maybe in conjunction with US Steel, was the one responsible for reconnecting it after it was removed. It’s hard to nail down exactly when the original track bed was lain by MS between Burns Harbor and Chicago but I estimate that MS did so at least 50 years prior to the construction of US Steel.

This is nowhere near the definitive story of RR history in NWI, but as far as the Dune Park Branch is concerned, this can shed a lot of light.

#dunepark #Dune Park #Gary #Indiana #NYC #New York Central #LS&MS #Conrail #Penn Central #Northwest #Chicago #Railroad History #Gary & Western #G&W

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