Does anyone else go feral over almost obsessively devoted platonic relationships?

No? Just me?

In love with the energy here its such a cool reveal to Nezuko Deployment

book

wow Okay so in my last bloggy majiggy I talked about how I don't read that much and how I dislike How To Kill A Mockingbird. Well, now, I'm gonna talk about some books I actually DO like!! 1. Stephen King's "The Mist" ----- Okay well if you couldn't tell by some of my posts, I am a huge fan of The Mist, both the Novella and the movie (not so much the show, though.. I'm gonna pretend that doesn't exist..) The book is surprisingly short, but really intriguing and written in a way that doesn't make it feel short. The book IS a "horror/thriller" genre story though, so if you're not down with that, don't read it. Basically it's about a bunch of silly goobers trapped in a grocery store because the dumbass military opened a rift to an another dimension and the creatures of that dimension, which are gross fleshy bug monsters, started pouring into our world along with a thick fog. It's a fun read, and I love Stephen King, and the movie's REALLY good, so what's not to love? 2. All Quiet on the Western Front/Im Westen nicht Neues ----- This one's a give-in. Look at my profile picture, man. Erich Maria Remarque really hit his magnum opus with this one. Not only is this book stellar, but all 3 movies are unique and do the story so much justice. It's a good length, the length it needs to be for a war story written like a journal. It's captivating, a bit scary, disturbing for sure, depressing, and very melancholic- Because that's what WW1 is. In a nutshell, this story was a way for Erich Maria Remarque to dump all his war views and war experiences into a story through the eyes of 17-18 yr old Paul Baumer (I can't do accented A's on my keyboard I apologize in advance fellow AQOTWF enjoyers!!). It's amazing, purely amazing. Changed my perspective on life. On everything. REALLY recommend, even if war stories aren't your thing. 3. Plaguemaker ----- I bet you ain't even heard of this one heehee haahaa. Written by Tim Downs, in a particularly fancy, inviting and calm way, this story is once again not for the light-hearted. It talks about the horrific atrocities the Japanese Empire committed back in WW2 with their infamous Unit 731 project, and it goes into deep details about it, too. Other than that, it's a very wholesome and ambivalent story, and I really felt connected to it the whole time I read it. When I was done, I felt depressed. Literally. I'm even upset there's no movie on it! Good thing I'm going into the film industry! It follows a New Yorker detective, set on a mission to go bust an 80 yr old Japanese guy who wants revenge on America. Little does he know that 80 year old was involved in some batshit insane WW2 crap and is actually a bio-terrorist who wants to spread the plague all across the states and then some. He teams up with his ex-wife and a fellow old Japanese guy and they go on depressingly heartwarming missions to bust this evil Plaguemaker. --- That's it. That's literally it. I don't read much, I don't really like it, if I'm honest. I mean, you could probably tell? but I'm more of a movie person. Now, I have read some other stuff, like Lord of the Flies which I LOVE but don't feel like ranting about, and I've read the entire Wings of Fire and Warrior Cats series', but both of those fandoms I left a long time ago. Thank you so much for reading, I have a fairly big blog coming up full of doodles of lots of different things, so I probably won't post until then. Feel free to tell me if you like any of these books, too. Stay safe everyone, love you guys <3

I just read Stephanie Garber's Caraval, and I'm having a lot of feelings. In particular, feelings about a character that I know I'm supposed to like, but I absolutely don't. The title of this essay is, "Scarlett Dragna is the best sister in the world, and she deserves a better sister than the one she's got..."

SPOILERS

I love Scarlett so freaking much, and I know she loves Donatella wholly and unconditionally. So I'm supposed to love her too. I know Tella loves Scarlett and that the point of the game was to win freedom and security and happiness for both of them and to get Scarlett out of a terrible marriage. Tella had Scarlett's best interests at heart from the beginning. And I don't think Scarlett would argue that the dangers and the prices she paid in the game weren't worth the end result. They were. But that doesn't give Tella the right to act as though no cost was paid. I could accept the “ends justify the means” rationale and forgive Tella for her scheming and even the fact that she shrugs off the 100% real risk of permanent death she exposed herself and her sister to—if she had just validated Scarlett's trauma once it was over.

Scarlett has just been through Hell. A particularly sick, twisted version of it. She has just suffered the murder and suicide of the only two people in the world she loves, and she loves them with everything she has. She loves them to the extent that Scarlett has no idea who she's going to be without them from that moment forward. Scarlett is finally having her first moment where things are calm enough for the shock to set in—still caked in their very real blood—and Donatella pops up with a cheeky grin, crowing her own cleverness, and announces, "Surprise! It was all a game!" It's insensitive to the point of being sociopathic. (And it has serious Peter-Pan-praising-himself-for-reattaching-his-shadow-while-Wendy-stands-there-holding-the-needle-and-thread vibes.) I get that Tella is excited about their victory. I get that she's proud of her cleverness and relieved that it's all worked out. But Scarlett doesn't know any of that, and Tella blithely drags her sister into her wake without giving the poor girl so much as a minute to catch her breath.

How the hell can Tella stand there, knowing everything her sister's been through in the last five days--and especially the last hour—and insist that Scarlett put on a ball gown and go to a party? The girl hasn't even processed that her sister died, let alone that she's alive again. Who the hell would be in a mood to celebrate? If I were in Scarlett’s shoes, I just might push her off another balcony.

Tella has known all along that the deaths would be undone (except for hers and Scarlett's). But that doesn't mean they didn’t happen. It doesn’t mean game wasn't real. Everything Scarlett felt and everything she endured (both physical and emotional) was real. And just because magic has fixed the physical damage doesn't change the fact that internal wounds are still bleeding. Tella has no right to act like her choices have no consequences just because she got the outcome she wanted.

I love Scarlett to death, and she deserves every good thing. She's more than earned it. But as I look at the prospect of now reading a sequel that's going to force me into Donatella's POV and try to convince me that I should cheer for her happily ever after, I hope Scarlett suffers. I want Scarlett to have nighmares of Caraval over and over and over. I want her to wake up nightly in fevered, shrieking panic, believing Julian and Tella are dead all over again. I want her to constantly doubt what's around her—for her to no longer feel sure of what's real and what isn't, because she's been wrong before. I want Scarlett to no longer be able to trust anything she’s told, not completely, and perhaps especially when it comes from the people closest to her. I want Tella to watch Scarlett struggle to build a relationship with Julian—the love of her life—over top of the knowledge that when Scarlett thought she could only bring back one of them, she didn't choose Julian. I want Donatella to see that her scheme wasn't a game, that there were very high prices for her cleverness, and her sister is the one who paid—and continues to pay—for it.

💬 Happy Thursday! Tell me one good thing that happened this week! 🤎 One great thing for me was my kiddo graduating from Elementary School and moving on to Middle School! It’s such an exciting thing for him. I can’t believe my baby is going to Middle School already though! It really does fly by. I’ve realized I have to pause and really take in every second of it. 🤎 Today I’m sharing the amazing ‘Guardians’ crate by @faecrate! What was your favorite item in this crate? Use my code LIFEINLIT5 when subscribing to @faecrate for a discount! . . . h a s h t a g s : #faecrate #subscriptionbox #bookstagramfeature #bookbox #bookworm #booknerd #bookworming #bookgraphy #stillography #bookgram #readersofinstagram #booksofinstagram #readingtime #booksbooksbooks #bookishhygge #ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ #cozyvibes #cozybedroom #bedroomdecor #bedroomstyle (at My Cozy Home) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce3vLAbOmyR/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Reading update #1 The End of the Affair by Graham Greene “How strange too and unfamiliar to think that one had been loved, that one’s presence had once had the power to make a difference between happiness and dullness in an another’s day.” “[…]but there still remains jealousy of my rival - a melodramatic word painfully inadequate to express the unbearable complacency, confidence and success he always enjoys. Sometimes I think he wouldn’t even recognise me as part of the picture, and I feel an enormous desire to draw attention to myself, to shout in his ear, ‘You can’t ignore me. Here I am. Whatever happened later, Sarah loved me then.’” #capturequiet #quietmoments #bookclub #readwithme #bookworming #interior #home #grahamgreene https://www.instagram.com/p/CmYsDyuhSjB/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

I’m so sorry but in the nicest way possible do yall actually read books or just read words??? Cause I’ve been seeing that trend of people not understanding how “snarled” and “eyes darkened” and “eyes softened” etc. was used in a book and like…

Genuinely, do yall just not have imagination?? Or not understand figurative language??? Also eyes do literally darken and soften have you not lived a life??? How do you read with no imagination? Is this how you get through so many books in one month - you simply don’t take the time the understand the words as they are read?

{Words by Anaïs Nin, from The Diary Of Anais Nin, Vol. 4 (1944-1947) / Cynthia Cruz from diagnosis,The glimmering room}

Random writing thought: the best stories are often the ones that only you could have written — but also the ones that you could only write at this one moment.

I couldn't write All the Birds in the Sky from scratch now if I tried. But the me of 2013 couldn't have written The Prodigal Mother either.

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own [originally published 1929]

Final Thoughts On 2023

I know I have a very dysfunctional sense of time, but this year seems extra short and long to me. But such is the way it goes. Vague recap time!

Shut Down published! I went to my first therapy session. I toured apartments with my roommate. I traveled for the first time with just a friend. I got to meet the voice actors for The Animaniacs Pinky and The Brain. I celebrated my first Aro week. I wrote my first pilot episode. I got on TikTok for class and ended up not hating it. I volunteered to help at an student Oscar event and for student plays. I lost my best friend. I finally joined my school's writing club. My parents accidentally read my poetry collection and loved it. I moved into my very own apartment. I went on a family vacation to New York and got to see my almost little sister for the first time in 4 years. I hosted my very first book signing! I published Reprogrammed. I learned how to live by myself. I took a pottery class. I started a movie script. I let go of my best friend for good. I became the secretary for the writing club. I found a little bit more of myself in my fashion sense. I hosted a Halloween party. I met the producer of Me Before You. I made more friends and learned how best to love some of my others.

And in what has been one of the greatest decisions I've ever made, I stayed incredibly active on this lovely site and I got to meet, know, and love all of you. You guys are my diary and my joke book and a safe place for everything I am and love. I can be 100% myself on here without a single worry and you guys will never understand what that means to me.

My love list will just have to continue to grow, but that's okay. I love each and every one of you and I cannot wait to spend another year alongside you. Happy New Year! 🥂

All my love,

~ toribookworm ♥️

Love List pt. I

@angryaromantics @minutiaewriter @pluromantic @christiew @candlelightkissess @lady-of-himring @asteroidtroglodyte @panic-in-the-attic @elizaellwrites @writing-and-trying @eli-writes-sometimes @thatndginger @hyuccubus @chargeaznable @master-of-the-pigeon-religion @lividdreamz @ashen-crest @saphoblin @akiwitch @wearfinethingsalltoowell @daisywords @the-orangeauthor @arigalefantasynovels @brianamorganbooks @bluejay-in-write @elijahrichardwrites @alittlewarlord @apocalypsewriters @bookmarks-reviews @pure-solomon @xtakeitisisx @alnaperera @all-my-dreams-and-ambitions @porchswingstories @jlilycorbie @rsdan @midnight-and-his-melodiverse @litbylightning @lyssentome @theunboundwriter @writingforevren @regalserpent @axl-ul @likegemstone

Panel that makes me want to CRYY every time I see it in action in the anime it make me so emotional.. her big brother home......

And cuddled up girlie :-]

quick reminder that it’s ok to say that you love reading and that reading is your passion without reading 30+ books in a year. if you connect with books and love the power of the written word, you’re bookish. you don’t need to justify your love of reading.

shakespeare nerd birds