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#evil roots: killer tales of the botanical gothic
godzilla-reads · 8 months
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“We are surrounded by forces that technology cannot yet measure.”
—Charles Dowding
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carica-ficus · 4 months
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Review: "Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic"
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Authors: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Lucy H. Hooper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, H. G. Wells, Edmond Nolcini, M. R. James, Ambrose Bierce, Howard R. Garis, William Hope Hodgson, Edith Nesbit, H. C. McNeile, Abraham Meritt, Emma Vane
Editor: Daisy Butcher
Date: 03/01/2023
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
________________________________________________________
I think I ordered this book some time during summer, after I accidentally stumbled upon it on an online bookstore. I love anthologies and I love plants, so this title definitely intrigued me enough to order it. I finally decided to read it around Christmas and finished it during a recent trip, so it's officially my first finished book of the year.
"Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic" is an interesting anthology of short horror stories by quite a few well-known authors. From the creator of Sherlock Holmes, to the acclaimed writer of "The Yellow Wallpaper", all the way to the legendary H. G. Wells, this collections features some hidden gems of the late 19th and early 20th century. While the stories are certainly old-school, they could still be regarded as timeless classics and masterful creations.
Most stories revolve around the fascination of the exotic - of unknown plants that are in some way dangerous to humans (or other organisms) and which originate from far away places, like South America. There's mentions of exquisite poisonous flowers, murderous liana, mysterious wisteria, and the weirdest of them all - carnivorous plants.
It is interesting just how much the writers and, by default, the general public were fascinated by exotic flora which, in one way or another, transcended the known laws of nature. Plants were considered sedentary, passive, and at the bottom of the food chain, but as new discoveries were being presented and as more people, professionals and amateurs alike, from the western civilization started their expeditions in new places, society was being introduced with oddities that seemingly didn't follow any established rules. So while the horror in this collection is displayed through various flora, the true horror is derived from the simple fact that humans fear what they cannot understand. One of the most frightening things a person, especially a scientist, can experience is realizing that they will never be able to fully predict nature's capability to adapt and to evolve.
Of course, this theme goes hand in hand with the understanding that it is dangerous altering the natural order of things. While this could also be understood as criticism to the human tendency to play god, there isn't much religious commentary throughout the collection. The stories are centered around ecology, evolution, and biology, highlighting how humans shouldn't meddle with something as powerful as nature - which they will never fully understand, let alone be able to control. Even though the writers do create a feeling of dread through the fear of nature, the horror is actually realized through characters that underestimate its abilities and that have the need to disfigure nature in order to measure their own capabilities.
Furthermore, this collection highlights the uncomfortable fascination western civilization had with other cultures. The urge to study new exotic phenomena on their own accord, to test the limits of human science on something they don't fully understand with little to no regard of the laws of nature and the test subject's true needs, is somewhat perverse. These scientists are conducting experiments in uncontrolled environments, and playing with their test-subjects in order to test their own abilities and knowledge. It is a portrayal of poor research. They're acting out of curiosity with little to no regard of the consequences. It is not their subjects that are evil, for they have been brought up and mistreated in an environment completely unnatural to their habitat, but their tormentor, who butchers them through extreme studies. This is usually evident through a secondary character, most often a colleague, who tries to stop the scientist in their mad experiment before it's too late. The horror is, therefore, found in the abuse executed by the brazen oppressor, not in their vicious, abnormal creations.
The fact that the aforementioned themes barely scratch the surface of all the ideas featured in this collection, prove how layered and compelling all the featured stories are. The editor also did a marvelous job with a lovely foreword and an intriguing introduction to each of the authors and their respective work. Of course, as with every short story collection, not all works are equally strong, but "Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic" is still a gorgeous anthology and a noteworthy testament to a relatively overlooked category of horror.
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pisswizard420 · 6 months
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treeroutes · 5 months
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what's up ! non-exhaustive list of stories featuring weird plants :
The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham
The Night of the Triffids, Simon Clark
In the Tall Grass, Stephen King and Joe Hill
The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig', William Hope Hodgson
The Man Whom the Trees Loved, Algernon Blackwood
The Red Tree, Caitlín R. Kiernan
Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
The Willows, Algernon Blackwood
The Nature of Balance, Tim Lebbon
'Bloom', John Langan
The Ruins, Scott Smith
The Wise Friend, Ramsey Campbell
'The Green Man of Freetown', The Envious Nothing : A Collection of Literary Ruins, Curtis M. Lawson
The Beauty, Aliya Whiteley
The Ash-Tree, M.R. James
Canavan's Backyard, J.P. Brennan
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Jack Finney
The Hollow Places, T. Kingfisher
'Reaching for Ruins', Crow Shine, Alan Baxter
'Vortex of Horror', Gaylord Sabatini
Hothouse, Brian W. Aldiss
Vaster than Empires and More Slow, Ursula K. Le Guin
Odd Attachment, Ian M. Banks
Deathworld #1, Harry Harrison
The Bridge, John Skipp and Craig Spector
'The Garden of Paris', Eric Williams
Apartment Building E, Malachi King
The Seed from the Sepulchre, Clark Ashton Smith
Rappaccini's Daughter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Nursery, Lewis Mallory
The Other Side of the Mountain, Michel Bernanos
The Vegetarian, Han Kang
Sisyphean, Dempow Torishima
The Root Witch, Debra Castaneda
Semiosis, Sue Burke
The Wolf in Winter, Charlie Parker #12, John Connolly
Perennials, Bryce Gibson
Relic, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Gwen, in Green, Hugh Zachary
The Voice in the Night, William Hope Hodgson
Ordinary Horror, David Searcy
The Family Tree, Sheri S. Tepper
The Book of Koli, Rampart Trilogy #1, M.R. Carey
Seeders, A.J. Colucci
Concrete Jungle, Brett McBean
The Plant, Stephen King
Anthologies/collections :
The Roots of Evil: Weird Stories of Supernatural Plants, edited by Michel Parry
Chlorophobia: An Eco-Horror Anthology, edited by A.R. Ward
Roots of Evil: Beyond the Secret Life of Plants, edited by Carlos Cassaba
The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
Sylvan Dread: Tales of Pastoral Darkness, Richard Gavin
Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic, edited by Daisy Butcher
Weird Woods: Tales From the Haunted Forests of Britain, edited by John Miller
'But fungi aren't plants' :
The Fungus, Harry Adam Knight
Growing Things and Other Stories, Paul Tremblay
The Girl with All the Gifts, M.R. Carey
Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Fruiting Bodies, and Other Fungi, Brian Lumley
'The Black Mould', The Age of Decayed Futurity, Mark Samuels
What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher
The House Without a Summer, DeAnna Knippling
Mungwort, James Noll
Fungi, edited by Orrin Grey and Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Trouble with Lichen, John Wyndham
Notes :
all links lead to the goodreads page of the book, mostly because i like to look at book cover art ;
list features authors/books that i love (T. Kingfisher, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Ursula K. Le Guin, the collections from the British Library Tales of the Weird, etc.), but also a few that i don't like and some that i have not yet read ;
if upon seeing that list the first novel you check out is by Stephen King's you have not understood the assignment ;
not all of those are strictly horror stories, some are 100% science fiction (Brian W. Aldiss' Hothouse for instance).
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masonhawth0rne · 4 months
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What I read in 2023!
Isn't it nice to have the whole year's worth of something in one handy list?
January
Medieval England: From Arthur to the Tudor Conquest, Jennifer Paxton ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hannibal, Livy ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster, Sam L Amirante, Danny Brodrick ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone ⭐️⭐️
Trouble With Lichen, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Reanimator's Heart, Kara Jorgensen 😠
The Miracle of Dunkirk, Walter Lord ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
Alone on the Ice, David Roberts ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
The Midwich Cucoos, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hanging Tree, Ben Aaronovitch ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Polygamist's Daughter, Anna LeBaron, Leslie WIlson ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
Stowaway to Mars, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️
Confession of a Serial Killer, Katherine Ramsland ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
Sparta's First Attic War, Paul A Rahe ⭐️⭐️ NF
FantasticLand, Mike Bockoven ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia 1942, Special Service Division Services of Supply US Army ⭐️⭐️⭐️NF
Columbus Day, Craig Alanson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Blood in the Snow, Tom Henderson ⭐️⭐️NF
The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Last Days of Stalin, Joshua Rubenstein ⭐️⭐️⭐️NF
Sons of Cain, Peter Vronsky ⭐️⭐️NF
Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Web, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️
An Unnatural Vice, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
An Unsuitable Heir, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alexander the Great, Norman F Cantor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️NF
A Dark Night in Aurora, William H Reid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️NF
The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Snow Killings, Marney Rich Keenan ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
The Odyssey, Homer trans. Emily Wilson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Martian, Andy Weir ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
How Great Science Fiction Works, Gary K Wolfe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️NF
Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
February
False Value, Ben Aaronovitch ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Amongst Our Weapons, Ben Aaronovitch ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Revelation Space, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Lancashire Witches, William Harrison Ainsworth ⭐️
Queen of Teeth, Hailey Piper ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hacienda, Isabel Cañas ⭐️⭐️
Age of Myth, Michael J Sullivan ⭐️⭐️
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester ⭐️⭐️
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Meddling Kids, Edgar Cantero ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Monsters We Defy, Leslye Penelope ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Man and the Crow, Rebecca Crunden (ss)⭐️
A Better Fate, DN Bryn (ss) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Artemis One-Zero-Five, CHristopher Henderson DNF
House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
All Systems Red, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Artificial Condition, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Exit Strategy, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
New Earth, Ben Bova ⭐️⭐️
Death Wave, Ben Bova ⭐️
Mouth of Mirrors, Maxwell I Gold (ss) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
March
On the Beach, Nevil Shute ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Star Nomad, Lindsay Buroker ⭐️
Burning Roses, SL Huang ⭐️⭐️
Trick or Treat, Richie Tankersley Cusick ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Unfinished Tales, JRR Tolkien ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pushing Ice, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The End of the World Anthology ⭐️⭐️
The Home of the Blizzard (nf), Sir Douglas Mawson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Night Stalker (nf), Philip Carlo ⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the Court of the Nameless Queen, Natalie Ironside ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Green Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Ultimate Evil (nf), Maury Terry ⭐️
The Hillside Stranglers (nf), Darcy O'Brien ⭐️⭐️
The Element of Fire, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chasm City, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
April
The Stolen Heir, Holly Black ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Kintu, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Kidnapped, Diane Hoh ⭐️⭐️
Overlord, David Wood & Alan Baxter ⭐️⭐️
Child of God, Cormac McCarthy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Walking to Aldebaran, Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Redemption’s Blade, Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️
At the Mountains of Madness, HP Lovecraft ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Initiation, Diane Hoh ⭐️⭐️
The Book of Queer Saints Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Expert System’s Brother, Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pluto’s Republic, David Roochnik (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Twisted Ones, T Kingfisher ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Evil Roots, Killer Tales of Botanical Gothic Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Shadow Over Innsmouth, HP Lovecraft ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Whisperer in Darkness, HP Lovecraft ⭐️⭐️
Alien: Convenant Origins, Alan Dean Foster ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Coveant, Alan Dean Foster ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Wendigo, Algernon Blackwood ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien III, William Gibson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: The Cold Forge, Alex White ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Republic, Plato ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Prototype, Tim Waggoner ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Isolation, Keith RA DeCandido ⭐️⭐️
A Thief in the Night, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Dialogues, Plato ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Into Charybdis, Alex White ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Infiltrator, Weston Ochse ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Percent, Jon Elofson (ss) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Aliens: Bug Hunt Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Growing Things & Other Stories, Paul Tremblay ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Babel-17, Samuel R. Delany ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Lords of Uncreation, Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
May
The Day We Ate Grandad, CM Rosens ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Out of the Shadows, Tim Lebbon ⭐️⭐️
Jaws, Peter Benchley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Room on the Sea, Andrē Aciman ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: River of Pain, Christopher Golden ⭐️⭐️
Alien: Sea of Sorrows, James A Moore ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Gentleman From Peru, Andrē Aciman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Century Rain, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hyperion, Dan Simmons ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dust, Elizabeth Bear ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
100 Fathoms Below, Steven L Kent & Nicholas Kaufmann ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Saturn’s Monsters, Thomas K Carpenter ⭐️
Address Unknown, Kressmann Taylor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Murder by Other Means, John Scalzi ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Ethics of Aristotle, Joseph Koterski ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Neil Gaiman at the end of the Universe, Arvind Ethan David ⭐️⭐️
Bag of Bones, Stephen King ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bewilderness, Part One: Threshold, Jonathan Maberry ⭐️
Ten Low, Stark Holborn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Benny Rose, the Cannibal King, Hailey Piper ⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Dark Vanessa, Kate Elizabeth Russell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester ⭐️
Three Hearts and Three Lions, Poul Anderson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Almost Human(nf), Lee Berger & John Hawks ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Paladin’s Grace, T Kingfisher ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Killing the Bismarck(nf), Iain Ballantyne ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ancient Mesopotamia(nf), Amanda H Podany ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Art of War(nf), Andrew R Wilson ⭐️⭐️
The White People, Arthur Machen ⭐️
June
Witch King, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Broken Sword, Poul Anderson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Early Middle Ages (nf), Philip Daileader ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The History of Ancient Egypt (nf), Bob Brier ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Banewreaker, Jacqueline Carey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Godslayer, Jacqueline Carey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chernobyl 01:23:40 (nf), Andrew Leatherbarrow ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Stress and Your Body (nf), Robert Sapolsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ice Ghosts (nf), Paul Watson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Illiad, Homer, trans. Edward Earl of Derby ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Th Hunt & the Haunting, Victoria Audley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Our Shadows Have Claws Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Writing Creative Nonfiction (nf), Tilar JJ Mazzeo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Brain Wave, Poul Anderson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
July
Travel by Bullet, John Scalzi ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Redemption Ark, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Labrys(ss), Victoria Audley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Grown Gown(ss), Derek Des Anges ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hellbound Heart, Clive Barker ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Orca, Arthur Herzog III ⭐️
The Gallows Pole, Benjamin Myers ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Chemist, Stephanie Meyer ⭐️
Icehenge, Kim Stanley Robinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Band Sinister, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Now She Is Witch, Kirsty Logan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Slow Bullets, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Inside the Mind of BTK(nf), Johnny Dodd & John Douglas ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Antarctica, Kim Stanley Robinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
August
The Henchmen of Zenda, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Morning Star, Peter Atkins ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Subsidence (ss), Steve Rasnic Tem ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Man in the High Tower, Philip K Dick ⭐️⭐️⭐️
What the Dead Know (ss), Nghi Vo ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Maze Runner, James Dashner ⭐️
Unfit to Print, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chill, Elizabeth Bear ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bryony and Roses, T Kingfisher ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Confessor (ss), Elizabeth Bear ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Grail, Elizabeth Bear ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Babylon (nf), Paul Kriwaczek ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Unquiet, E Saxey DNF
The Ritual of the Labyrinth (ss), Esmée de Heer ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Terminal World, ALastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Essays of Flesh and Bone (ss), Victoria Audley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Book Eaters, Sunyi Dean ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Future of Work: Compulsory (ss), Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Lady or the Tiger (ss), Frank Stockton ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Too Like the Lightning, Ada Palmer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Falling Free, Lois McMaster Bujold ⭐️⭐️
Dreamsnake, Vonda N McIntyre ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The First Fossil Hunters (nf), Adrienne Mayor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shards of Honor, Lois McMaster Bujold ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Red Land, Black Land (nf), Barbara Mertz ⭐️⭐️⭐️
On Planetary Palliative Care (ss), Thomas Ha ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Nova, Samuel R Delany ⭐️⭐️⭐️
September
Time to Orbit: Unknown, Derin Edala ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️*
The Invincible, Stanislaw Lem ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Prefect, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Myrtha (ss), Victoria Audley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Archaeology: An Introduction to the World’s Greatest Sites (nf), Eric H Cline ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Catching Teller Crow, Amberlin Kwaymullina & Ezekiel Kwaymullina ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Old Man’s War, John Scalzi ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Don’t Hang Up, Benjamin Stevenson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Superluminal, Vonda N McIntyre ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
World War Z, Max Brooks ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Flight of the Fantail, Steph Matuku ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cyteen, CJ Cherryh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Regenesis, CJ Cherryh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mindfulness for Stress Management (nf), Dr Robert Schacter ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Orange Eats Creeps, Grace Krilanovich ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Kushiel’s Dart, Jacqueline Carey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Aye, and Gomorrah (ss), Samuel R. Delany ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Carnage (nf), Mark Dapin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Blue Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Unknown, Jordan L Hawk ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chocky, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sword of Empire: Praetorian, Richard Foreman ❌
Revival, Stephen King ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Apollo Murders, Chris Hadfield ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
*Time to Orbit: Unknown is hosted online [HERE] and is currently still updating twice a week
October
Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, Hailey Piper ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ghost Bird, Lisa Fuller ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Forest of Stolen Girls, June Hur ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Liar’s Dice, Jeannie Lin ⭐️
Straya, Anthony O'Connor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Toxic, Dan Kaszeta (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Illuminae, Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Penhallow, Georgette Heyer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Myth of the Self Made Man, Ruben Reyes Jr (ss) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Call, Christian White & Summer De Roche ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Death of the Necromancer, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cretins, Thomas Ha (ss) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Kill Your Brother, Jack Heath ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Valley of Terror, Zhou Haohui, tr. Bonnie Huie ⭐️⭐️
The Curse of the Burdens, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️
Amazons, Adrienne Mayor (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Kraken Wakes, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dead Mountain, Donnie Eichar (nf) ⭐️⭐️
Family Business, Jonathan Sims ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the House of Aryaman A Lonely Signal Burns, Elizabeth Bear ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Blessing of Unicorns, Elizabeth Bear ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
METAtropolis Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plan for Chaos, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Fatal Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, Emma Southon (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Outward Urge, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️
King Solomon’s Mines, H. Rider Haggard DNF
The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle tr. David Ross (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
November
The Jewel of Seven Stars, Bram Stoker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Terror, Dan Simmons ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hannibal: The Military Genius who Almost Conquered Rome, Eve MacDonald ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ nf
Luna, Ian McDonald ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hoka! Hoka! Hoka!, Poul Anderson & Gordon R Dickson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dracula, Bram Stoker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cicero: The Life & Times of Rome's Greatest Politician, Anthony Everitt ⭐️⭐️⭐️nf
The Worst Journey in the World, Apsley Cherry-Garrard ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️nf
METAtropolis: Cascadia Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Haunting of Willow Creek, Sara Crocoll Smith ⭐️
Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne ⭐️⭐️
METAtropolis: Green Space Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
December
Carrion Comfort, Dan Simmons ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wanted, A Gentleman, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️
Interview With the Vampire, Anne Rice ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Henry VIII: King & Court, Alison Weir ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
Alexander the Great & the Macedonian Empire, Kenneth W Harl⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
The Isles of the Gods, Amie Kaufman ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman & Dirk Maggs DNF
Phosphorescence, Julia Baird ⭐️⭐️⭐️NF
And so the grand total for 2023 is....
267!
Of course, there's a couple of DNFs in there which inflate this number somewhat, but I am absolutely not going to pick through and count them out. Plus, a DNF only gets included on the list if I've gotten through a significant portion of the book. If it's a page one no-no, it's not even worth mentioning.
I made the decision at the start of this year, to try out more books I'd never heard of before. I really like trawling through the library app, or through audible's free archives and finding stuff that I'd probably never normally have discovered. Also, revisiting books that I read a long time ago and seeing if they resemble my memories of them.
Overall, I think this was a very satisfying year of reading, and I hope that I enjoy 2024's reads just as much!
nf= non fiction ss= short story
Stars awarded at my whim.
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peonybookblog · 5 months
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I'm reading Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic edited by Daisy Butcher (a bit late for a spooky read, but I'm counting it), and it's just so charming and fun! She did a great job picking which short stories to include, and I'm loving everything about it. It also looks like she co-edited one about insects? You know me, I love bugs, so I'm excited about that one too. Anyway, I'd recommend the plant one for sure, and I'll probably pick up the insect one after the holidays!
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forxstboyfriend · 1 year
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Thanks to @persistent-wallflower for tagging me 💌
Last song:
Revisiting this whole album lately specifically bc this song came on shuffle and I was like “god this is the best soundtrack to my intrusive thoughts to burn my whole life down”
Last movie: a Finnish film called Dogs Don’t Wear Pants about a man who becomes completely detached from his real life after meeting a dominatrix that chokes tf out of him. It was actually a really good story ;-; (and the ending was NOT anti-kink which I was happy with)
Last show: Currently watching: current season of drag race and a playthrough of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty on YouTube :)
Currently reading: a collection of short stories called Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic 🪴🖤 and another called The Amateur by Andy Merrifield that is pro doing things for the love of it and not to be good or marketable at it
Current obsession: idk I’m not really being gorilla gripped by anything rn…. I’m definitely in a constantly cleaning phase rn though so imma say that lol
Tagging: @kirbyandthenerveofthisbitch, @library-of-leaves, @represent-asian, and @ccrustacian (only if y’all want :3)
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bookclub4m · 2 years
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Episode 155 - Literary Fan Fiction
This episode we’re talking about Literary Fan Fiction! We discuss ancient myths, fairy tales, Sherlock Holmes, copyright, Sherlock Holmes, authorized sequels, Sherlock Holmes, and sequels vs reinterpretations! Plus: Sherlock Holmes! (Okay, he didn't get mentioned that much.)
You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or your favourite podcast delivery system.
In this episode
Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards
Things We Read (or tried to…)
The Girl in Red by Christina Henry
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss
Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was reprinted in Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens by J. M. Barrie (Wikipedia)
Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie (Wikipedia)
Copyright status
Telling Tales by Patience Agbabi
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Other Media We Mentioned
The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
And Another Thing… by Eoin Colfer
Shadow Master Series Volume 3 by Andy Helfer, Kyle Baker, and Joe Orlando
Includes the comic in which The Shadow’s head is placed on a robot body
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
Jack the Ripper in fiction (Wikipedia) (Yes, there’s an entire article and it mentions at least five additional stories that feature Sherlock Holmes.)
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill
Fables (comics) by Bill Willingham (Wikipedia)
The Argonauts and the Quest for the Golden Fleece (Wikipedia)
Beowulf (Wikipedia)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith and  Jane Austen
Grendel by John Gardner
Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray
The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow
A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman (Wikipedia)
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
The Great Mouse Detective (Wikipedia)
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century (Wikipedia)
Elementary, Dear Data (Wikipedia) - Star Trek: The Next Generation episode
House (TV series) (Wikipedia)
Elementary (TV series) (Wikipedia)
Sherlock (TV series) (Wikipedia)
Dorian Gray (2009 film) (Wikipedia)
Victor Frankenstein (film) (Wikipedia)
The Adventures of Shirley Holmes (Wikipedia)
Enola Holmes (film) (Wikipedia)
Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith (Actually just about cowboys who really like Sherlock Holmes)
Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the American West by John S. Fitzpatrick
Links, Articles, and Things
Fan fiction (Wikipedia)
Matthew was probably combining Robert Ludlum (died in 2001 and since then thirty books have been published under the “Ludlum brand”) and Tom Clancy (died in 2013 and since then 18 books have been published under the “Clancy brand”)
Marple: Twelve New Mysteries A 2022 collection of new stories by various authors about Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple character
Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture (Wikipedia)
Robin McKinley (Wikipedia)
Frankenstein's monster (Wikipedia)
How Rocket Raccoon Rescued My Brother, Famed Marvel Writer Bill Mantlo by Mike Mantlo
Doujinshi (Wikipedia)
Doraemon Doujinshi Accused of Infringing Copyright
Hark Podcast
Sherlock Holmes  (Wikipedia)
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Copyrightable Character by Nicholas Perrotti
Sargasso Sea (Wikipedia)
22 “Literary Fan Fiction” (retellings, adaptations, sequels, parallel novels, etc.) books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) Authors
Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.
For this booklist, the original story being retold/referenced appears (in parentheses).
Telling Tales by Patience Agbabi (Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer)
The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (El Gaucho Martín Fierro by José Hernández)
The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang (The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Windward Heights by Maryse Condé (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)
The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud (The Stranger by Albert Camus)
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan (A Room With a View by E.M. Forster)
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle (The Horror of Red Hook by H.P. Lovecraft)
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells)
The Holder of the World by Bharati Mukherjee (The Scarlet Letter by Nataniel Hawthorne and the Ramayana by Valmiki)
Mama Day by Gloria Naylor (The Tempest by William Shakespeare)
Even in Paradise by Elizabeth Nunez (King Lear by William Shakespeare)
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh (The Tale of Shim Ch'ŏng)
Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel (The Ramayana by Valmiki)
The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall (Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell)
My Jim by Nancy Rawles (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson (Wee'git stories)
Unforgivable Love by Sophfronia Scott (Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos)
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
Prince of Cats by Ron Wimberly (Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)
Sansei and Sensibility by Karen Tei Yamashita (Various works by Jane Austen)
Pride by Ibi Zoboi (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
Give us feedback!
Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!
Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!
Join us again on Tuesday, August 16th we’ll be discussing an update on what media we’ve been enjoying outside of the podcast. (Oh no that’s next week.)
Then on Tuesday, September 6th we’ll be discussing the format of Audio Book Fiction!
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I'm reading Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic (they're very not evil) and Carnivorine just sounds like the world's shittiest Beholder.
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contre-qui · 3 years
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🍁 Autumn Studying Challenge 🍁
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I went a little nuts in the bookstore today ✨ (although these are from two different shops and includes both new and used)
I'm really excited about all of these, but Evil Roots especially seems so cool. I picked up most of the others because they'd been on my list or I knew about them, but I love getting an impulse buy book every now and then - and this one called out to me from the Halloween display. I thought it seemed like such an interesting collection and perfect for spooky season, plus I love plants and botanicals so it's really a match made in heaven.
24 October: Fluffy socks or slippers?
Both! I like slippers for walking around the dorm when it's chilly because sometimes the kitchen floor is either damp from mopping or a little gross, so having a hard-soled slipper is nice to keep my socks from getting nasty. Slippers are also great for video calls because I can kick them on and off without looking weird on zoom. But I also can't deny fluffy socks - perfect for a lazy day or movie night. They're just good for different purposes I think.
//
[Image 1: Seven books scattered on a gray fabric background and a brown paper bag. Roughly left to right: Paradise Lost by John Milton, Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster, The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, Useless Magic by Florence Welch, Evil Roots edited by Daisy Butcher, Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra by C.S. Lewis, Circe by Madeline Miller.]
[Image 2: A closeup of Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic edited by Daisy Butcher. The cover is mostly black with a hand and leaf accents in green. End ID]
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Currently reading ‘Evil Roots: Killer tales of the botanical gothic’ a collection of Gothic Horror novels about nefarious plants. This post is honestly just a way of forcing myself to actually finish this book because I plan on talking about it on here. I should probably differ my content from the MCU stuff I’ve mostly been posting. In my defence I did write a post about sharknado but forgot to save it as a draft. Anyway, I will at some point talk about Gothic plant horror.
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thoroughlyfagged · 3 years
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i was tagged by @hcsperrhodos to list some of the books I plan to read in 2021, and as everyone knows i never follow my lists cause other random interesting books always tend to find me and i get distracted, but here we go
1. stigmata - cixous
2. some of the discworld series (they’re 41 in total so we’ll see)
3. το θέατρο και το είδωλο του (theatre and his double) - artaud
4. literature and evil - bataille
5. universal history of the destruction of books: from ancient sumer to modern-day iraq - fernando báez
6. the rise of kyoshi - f.c. yee
7. killer roots: killer tales of the botanical gothic - daisy butcher
8. monster, she wrote: the women who pioneered horror and speculative fiction - lisa kroger/melanie r. anderson
9. the order of the pure moon reflected in water - zen cho
10. i’ve read uzumaki and some other junji ito’s short stories so perhaps i’ll start tomie - and generally i’m looking for manga with cool art
11. kokoro - natsume soseki
12. i am a cat - natsume soseki 
13. also yeah i did read conversations with friends so i should read normal people - and confiteor/serotonin/stoner/augustus cause they’ve been talked a lot 
14. lips too chilled - matsuo basho/ the book of tea - kakuzo okakura
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weirdletter · 5 years
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Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic (British Library Tales of the Weird), edited by Daisy Butcher, British Library Publishing, 2019. Cover art by Enrique Bernardou, internal illustrations by Lauren Forrester, info: www.bl.uk.
Strangling vines and meat-hungry flora fill this unruly garden of strange stories, selected for their significance as the seeds of the villainous (or perhaps just misunderstood) ‘killer plant’ in fiction, film and video games. Step within to marvel at Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s giant wistaria and H. G. Wells’ hungry orchid; hear the calls of the ethereal women of the wood, and the frightful drone of the moaning lily; and do tread carefully around E. Nesbit’s wandering creepers… Every strain of vegetable threat (and one deadly fungus) can be found within this new collection, representing the very best tales from the undergrowth of Gothic fiction.
Contents: Introduction — Daisy Butcher Rappaccini’s Daughter — Nathaniel Hawthorne The American’s Tale — Arthur Conan Doyle Carnivorine — Lucy H. Hooper The Giant Wistaria — Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Flowering of the Strange Orchid — H.G. Wells The Guardian of Mystery Island — Edmond Nolcini The Ash Tree — M.R. James A Vine on a House — Ambrose Bierce Professor Jonkin’s Cannibal Plant — Howard R. Garis The Voice in the Night — William Hope Hodgson The Pavillion — Edith Nesbit The Green Death — H.C. McNeile The Woman of the Wood — Abraham Merritt The Moaning Lily — Emma Vane
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masonhawth0rne · 1 year
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What I read in April
Each month I like to keep track of what I read and what I thought of it. I used to post these to twitter, then I tried Ko-fi for a while, but I think I'm going to post them here now.
The Stolen Heir, Holly Black ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Kintu, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Kidnapped, Diane Hoh ⭐️⭐️
Overlord, David Wood & Alan Baxter ⭐️⭐️
Child of God, Cormac McCarthy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Walking to Aldebaran, Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Redemption's Blade, Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️
At the Mountains of Madness, HP Lovecraft ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Initiation, Diane Hoh ⭐️⭐️
The Book of Queer Saints Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Expert System's Brother, Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pluto's Republic, David Roochnik (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Twisted Ones, T Kingfisher ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Evil Roots, Killer Tales of Botanical Gothic Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Shadow Over Innsmouth, HP Lovecraft ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Whisperer in Darkness, HP Lovecraft ⭐️⭐️
Alien: Convenant Origins, Alan Dean Foster ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Coveant, Alan Dean Foster ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Wendigo, Algernon Blackwood ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien III, William Gibson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: The Cold Forge, Alex White ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Republic, Plato ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Prototype, Tim Waggoner ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Isolation, Keith RA DeCandido ⭐️⭐️
A Thief in the Night, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Dialogues, Plato ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Into Charybdis, Alex White ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Infiltrator, Weston Ochse ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Percent, Jon Elofson (ss) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Aliens: Bug Hunt Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Growing Things & Other Stories, Paul Tremblay ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Babel-17, Samuel R. Delany ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Lords of Uncreation, Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
nf=non-fiction ss=short story
stars awarded by vibes alone
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perseiis · 4 years
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top 10 current favorite songs; top 10 favorite books
top ten favorite songs (currently) —ben savage & hannah sanders - reynardinenoah & the whale - jocastajoy williams - until the leveesaint sister - half awakehozier - to noise makingsaint sister - blood moonben savage & hannah sanders - selkie songof monsters and men - organsthe lumineers - gun song
top ten favorite books —angela carter - the bloody chambermadeline miller - circephillip pullman - the golden compasszoe gilbert - folkdaisy butcher (ed) - evil roots: killer tales of the botanical gothicursula k. le guin - orsinian talespatricia mckillip - the bards of bone plainimme dros (trans.) - ilios (the illiad)mary shelley - frankensteinanne brontë - the tenant of wildfell hall
neither are in particular order, as i find books & music difficult to actually order.
thank you very much for the ask!
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contre-qui · 3 years
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🍁 Autumn Studying Challenge 🍁
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Big reading day for me. I did some essay prep by reading another Sophocles play and some Antigone revision. Some lectures, some notes and research, some reading. In the evening, I wound down by starting a new short story collection I got this weekend because it's just perfect to get into the spooky mood without scaring myself too much before bed.
26 October: Spooky mood or cozy mood?
Arguably both, but if I had to pick just one: spooky mood for sure. I've got all the rest of winter to be cozy, let me be spooky in October!
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[Image 1: a graphed spiral notebook with half a page of notes. a pen and metal ruler are on top of and next to the notebook.]
[Image 2: a kindle showing the title page of Oedipus at Colonus rests on top of a paperback copy of Evil Roots. End ID]
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