#my list is very basic but those are the ones i have read/reread recently | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bucktommys · 1 year

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Hey! Can i ask you for buddie fic recs with many chapters or like one shots but very long ones? You are so great at recs 😍

oh thank u so so much!!! im so glad my frantic fic reading pays off in some way haha

ok here are some faves (most of these are 40k/50k+ !)

come love, by @colonoscopys - oh my WORD this fic !! where do i begin with this fic !!!!! basically buck is like a rich ceo and eddie is a bodyguard assigned to him and UGH its sooooo good. an absolute enemies to lovers SERVE, cannot recommend enough

stranger sunlight, still by @mmtions - i mean yall know how i feel about social media aus. buck has a secret thirst trap insta and eddie accidentally ends up kinda catfishing him, oh its SO good i devoured this in 1 sitting and its so so good

let's hear it for the boy by @hattalove - oh this fic !!!! kris has several gorgeous longer fics (tell me about despair BELOVED) but this one is my personal favourite, its so beautiful and i felt so tender and squishy after reading it. buddie adopting reluctant grouchy 20yo my BEST FRIEND !!

pretty much any fic by @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels aka the queen of the multichapter buddie au. i cant even pick a favourite because i adore so so many of them but i did recently reread don't play games (come my way) which is her the hating game au and its SO good. also omg her reincarnation soulmates cowboy au too. mads im obsessed with you

stupid people by @gayhoediaz - ugh SAURRR good oml. eddie explores his newly discovered queerness by hiring a sex worker aka buck and UGH its so good if u love pining and slow burn and angst this is The Fic for u

never felt this way before (yes i swear) by @rewritetheending - dirty dancing au!!!!!!! i admittedly have never watched dirty dancing but i consumed this fic like a rabid animal, its so so good. also the idea of eddie sexy swing dancing literally lives rent free like the thought of it makes me kinda white out

hurt locker by @bvckandeddie - this is sort of like canon au adjacent if that makes any sense. basically classic eddie enlists after shannon falls pregnant but this time he and buck are already friends and buck joins with him. i cannot express how sweet this fic is, the slow burn is MAGNIFICENT and ugh. the best friends to lovers goes SO hard

keep me as your finish line by @thatbuddie - gym buddy (heh) au !!!!!! so so good, SO much fun, buck is so funny in this and its so sweet, cannot recommend even nearly enough

even when the night changes by @fallingthorns - yeah. this fic 🫶 i don't know how to describe this fic other than it's canon compliant and buck and eddie adjust to adult life together and its soooooooo soft it like makes me Ache, you know those fics?? i would get this tattooed on me if i could. so good

anyway that is so many sdafhhdsfhd and i have like 1000 more so plz let me know if u want me to make a p2 to this list because i could keep going

#ask #anonymous #fic rec #fic rec list #i have realised most of these are aus oops

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footprintsinthesxnd · 6 months

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Hi Jess how are you? For your ask thing, have you read any books about Easy?? if yes how do you rate them? I've been reading many reviews hoping it will help me choose one to start my collection. And what about your fav books? Do you have a list of faves you would recommend? can be any genre btw, lots of love ☺️

Hello, I’m so sorry I missed your ask yesterday. 💕

So I’ve read quite a few books about/ from the men of Easy Company and I can easily say that my favourite is ‘Parachute Infantry’ by David Webster. I’m actually on my third reread of his book currently.

I think that Webster book is one of the most accurate books relating to the men of Easy Company and their time during the war. I think that Webster really has a way with words and his book is so immersive and you really feel like you’re there with him. I also like the fact that it’s not directly linked to the series as some of the other books are since the ‘Band of Brothers’ Stephen Ambrose book and so I feel that it’s more accurate. So I highly recommend checking Webster book out, it’s a very good read.

I also really like Dick Winters book ‘Beyond Band of Bothers’ which is Dick Winters memoir based on his wartime diary.

I’ve also read the new book out about Ronald Spiers this year called ‘Fierce Valour’. It’s written by two historians Jared Frederick and Erik Dorr who unveil the fuller story of Spiers and it’s gives more on an insight into Spiers life. It’s a very interesting read and gives you a better understand of a complicated man.

I’ve also read ‘Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends’ by Babe Heffron and Bill Guarnere which I enjoyed reading and I like the fact that they stayed friends all those years, and wrote a book together.

I’ve also got Donald Malarkey’s book ‘Easy Company Soldier’ but I’ve not had a chance to read it yet so it’s on my to do list.

Overall I think that all the books are worth a read (including ‘Band of Brothers’ by Stephen Ambrose of course) I think that each book gives different insights and experiences that each man had during his time in Easy Company.

As for generally book recommendations that’s so tough because I like such varied genres. I’ve recently read Millie Bobby Browns ‘Nineteen Steps’ and I basically binge read it over a weekend.

I also really enjoyed reading Bernard Cornwells ‘Saxon Stories’ or ‘The Last Kingdom’ as it’s also known. I really love this series and it’s the kind of series with really loveable characters that I could just reread again and again.

One of my all time favourite books is ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott. Fitzgerald. It’s such a colour and emotional book that lays out unattainable dreams of love and wealth. The film is also very good but nothing in comparison to the book. I did one of my Literature essays on this book and I can always find so much to say about it. (sorry my inner Webster is coming out lol)

I also enjoy some of the classics by the likes of Charles Dickens, Jane Austin, Thomas Hardy and many others.

Sorry this is a really long reply but I hope this helps and thank you for your ask 💕

#band of brothers #band of brothers books #book recommendations

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the-bloody-sadist · 2 years

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Ten Characters, Ten Fandoms, Ten Tags (except it's one tag bc I hate mass tagging, makes it feel less special lol)

Thanks for tagging me @chouchinobake ! Part of the reason I stay on Tumblr is how different and I suppose intimate (?) it feels to be on here. The whump community in general is such a home to me, but the oddity of this platform gives me a chance to do different things that I'd never be able to do on my Twitter/Instagram.

In any case, it just looks like I'm supposed to list ten characters from different fandoms and why I like them, so here goes. I'm going to limit it to anime, since there are way too many in manga/live action, and, as an organized person, I must restrain myself:

Ash Lynx [Banana Fish]: I've seen basically every BL anime that exists, and yet out of all the boys I've loved from those (Mafuyu didn't make it to the list but he is ONE OF THEM), no one quite stands out to me the way that Ash does. He was such a fresh personality to get into, and I found myself fascinated by the complexities of his character. One thing about Banana Fish in general that I enjoyed was the lack of "need" for it to go through as a BL, if that makes sense. It was an action/gang drama first and a love story second. I am always most attached to characters that I feel like I could never accurately write if I tried, since it gives me great respect for the author. Ash being violent but not uncaring, angry at the world and yet still a victim to it, plagued by recurring trauma (the amount of predatory gay men in BF is absolutely insane btw LMAO I love that Dino has just stocked his gang with gay rapists 😂) and yet still a very dangerous character. It's a tragedy that it ended the way it did, but I guess that's part of why he sticks with me so much. Definitely #1 saddest of the stories I've loved.

The way he has such fondness for Eiji without the author feeling like they needed to actually put them in a confirmed relationship was just so natural to me. Of course, I needed fanfics to help my crumbling heart after the ending, way back when I first watched it, but I always valued that about Banana Fish. I just fucking wish Ash made it back to Eiji for a hug, dammit. The one thing I hated in the show was the lack of hurt/comfort balance. There was so little comfort that it felt like sometimes the emotional aspect was ignored in favor of the action, and that drove me batty. Regardless, one of the favorites for sure.

Xie Lian [Heaven's Official Blessing]: MY SWEET BABU. Holy fuck, I didn't know whether to list Mafuyu here or Xie, because they're both somewhat the same breed of SOFT, MUST PROTECT to me, but Xie won out, since I have to have at least one bandaged boy on the list in the absence of Dazai. Words cannot express the amount of sheer devotion I have to this CREATURE. This is one of those stand-out shows that became a comfort anime for me. The soft-voiced Chinese VAs for Xie and Hua Cheng cause physical reactions lmao. It's a rare softie romance for my favorites.

There are some characters that are so fucking precious to me that somehow my sadist nature drains away, and I actually do not want to see them hurt. This is one of the very, very few. Nobody touch Xie Lian. I will murder you.

Yozo Oba [No Longer Human]: Written by the one and only Dazai Osamu, there is no character I've ever read about that I relate to more than Yozo Oba. There was a fantastic anime adaptation that I recently stumbled across, which is where the above gif came from. It's called Blue Literature Series, and its biggest feature is NLH, but it features other famous Japanese writers' (from Bungo) stories as well. The anime adaptation gave me such a visceral perspective on Yozo after reading the novel, and I loved everything about the anime (besides the way they changed Yozo's "best friend" to a far better person than he was). In reference specifically to the character, though, Yozo is the ultimate depiction of the extreme fear of human beings and masked depression. I cried at so many moments from the book that hit right where I struggled in life, and I hardly ever reread things, but NLH was a major exception.

No lie, that shit had me saying "he's just like me fr!" 😀 lol... sorry

Kaneki Ken [Tokyo Ghoul]: Yeah yeah, I know. Everyone has talked about Kaneki. But he really is amazing. No matter how memed this poor man is, he remains among the top favorites, both in the depiction of his warring personalities as well as the monster vs. human. The entirety of TG is just GORGEOUS in its world building, character design, and fresh perspectives on the old cliche of half human, half devil. His character arc always gets me going. But he's been talked about enough; everyone knows about him. I don't need to say much except that MAN he truly WAS wayyyy better in the manga. I was stunned at the extreme difference, and I get it now - all those fans who were pissed at the show. That's why I always watch the anime before the manga. It just gets better that way.

Johan Liebert [Monster]: Besides the other antagonist you'll find a little further down in the list, this is my favorite anime villain of all time, I think. He's been hailed by many as one of the best, so I'm sure the subject is already worn out, but everything about this man had me crazy for him. His vicious backstory, his psychopathy, his incredible manipulation, and his treacherously low screen time. This is one of those characters where the lack of appearances in the show actually fueled my devotion, because the times when he did show up were absolutely BANGER, and his fucking presence is so intoxicating. He was fabulously animated too, and the whole show was such a good watch. The VA always has something to do with it for me, and Johan was no exception. (I watch everything in sub, just because the VAs are usually that gorgeous whispery-ear-fuck for mysterious characters like this 😂)

Sebastian Michaelis [Black Butler]: I mean come on, who wouldn't like Sebastian. Honestly, nothing much needs to be said. Ciel makes him that much better. Their tension and dynamics, and the way that their relationship was set up is just incredible. Can't be beat, really. I wish I could go back to the first time I saw BB and watch it all again, cuz fucking hell it was so good. I love the contradiction of Sebastian's devil hunger for human souls being conflicted - not by the fact that he has a human half, but by the fact that he's signed a deal with a human, and has grown some semblance of attachment to that human, and that's what keeps him unpredictable. Will he care for Ciel in the end and choose not to follow through or not? Idk, that was my favorite perspective of his character and the whole show.

Akihito Narihisago [ID: Invaded]: If you haven't seen this anime, you're missing out, firstly on one of my favorite VAs of all time 🥹 Kenjiro Tsuda, and secondly on a very emotional plot and story arc that I didn't expect for the genre of show that it was. Akihito is a detective in a virtual reality, trying to solve a murder. What I didn't expect was the constant appearances of a girl in this world that is Akihito's daughter, and how her face being on every victim made the case so incredibly personal that it was tear-jerking for me. Honestly, Tsuda's performance is probably the main reason why it hits so hard, but this poor man has to go through seeing his daughter's face on every mangled victim, watching her die over and over, and never being able to save her. And that's all he wants. He just wants to save her. I won't spoil any more, but good grief this one was a very unexpected favorite of mine.

Zero Kiryuu [Vampire Knight]: ☺️☺️☺️☺️ Whaaaaaaaaaat? He was my first whumpy boy *pinches cheeks*, my first anime love, *squish squish* baby's first anime! Back then when I was a lazy first-timer, I was watching in dub. By now I've gone back and re-watched in sub after realizing the great and powerful Miyano Mamoru was the voice of my vampire crush, but I am not complaining over the English VA, because Vic Mignogna is the only comparable voice to do any of Miyano's characters. Loved that man. Wish he was still around. In any case, Zero is the ultimate angsty vampire and nobody will ever replace him for me.

Yashiro [Saezuru wa Tori Habatakanai]: I...where do I even begin? T_T The sheer complexity of this man's personality makes him such an obsession to me. I would consume any and all media relating to him, no matter what it is. He's one of those characters that can endlessly be studied and picked apart. He has so much conflict, so many walls, so much pain. It's the ones who pretend they love self-destruction that really get to me. I love seeing Yashiro crumble because of Doumeki's insistent care, and words cannot express how many times I've watched the BLCD paired with the manga for the climactic first sex scene with Doumeki, and how emotional it was. It offered a whole new perspective in my opinion of how deep something as dismissed as erotica could go, and I strive for that same emotional and character depth in my own works because of it. The dynamics of this show in general provoked and inspired the story I'm writing of Ellum and Callyx, even if it existed long before I got into Saezuru. It helped me form it around what I learned from experiencing the manga and then the anime, and then the BLCD, and I can't fucking wait for the rest of this trilogy to come out so I can weep ffs.

Iason Mink [Ai no Kusabi]: Ah, the man who created Taushin. Lol, way back when Sadist was a baby whumper, this was one of the first yaoi I ever set eyes on. Though set in the weirdest and most repulsive world for erotica imo, the dynamics of Iason the Blondie and Riki his little brat Pet will remain one of my favorite power plays, and remains the standard for what I keep looking for in other stories. The anime remake was so unabashedly uncensored that it remains hard to find something that matches it, as far as non-con and punishment/pleasure based relationships go, and I wish it hadn't been cancelled cuz that was a fucking shame. Despite the plot being rather boring, the tension between these two makes up for it, and the constant rivalry of enemies who basically remain enemies and are only reluctant lovers when it comes to it makes it so intriguing. Iason is THE Master of all Masters in my opinion, and was voiced so perfectly in both anime versions - that velvety, stern voice omg - and Taushin was heavily influenced by him, as well as the classism of Gailda, coming from Ai no Kusabi's rankings of Blondies and Pets, which I thought made for an interesting world. If not for Ai no Kusabi, I don't think I'd ever have come up with the story of Dancing with Death, even though Taushin and Angel have a much different dynamic, since Angel is obedient and nothing like the hard-headed Riki. I still owe it to that anime.

Griffith [Berserk]: It's insane to me how long it took for me to finally watch Berserk, but for years all I saw was that ugly bastard with the name Guts in reference to the acclaimed manga and its disgustingly animated show. I never had an interest in reading the manga, so when I discovered the existence of Griffith through one of my friends who was urging me to read it, I realized that the story wasn't what I'd thought. Then, seeing the movies that existed with far better animation, I instantly got into it and was hooked. My gods, the character arc of this man. It remains one of my favorite tragedies, only outdone by Kaneki's. AND THE BEAUTY OF THIS BOY GOOD GRIEF LMAO it's so hilarious to me how pretty he is in a male-driven male-gaze manga, if you know what I mean. 😂 Like this story in general just stands out, and Griffith is the shining star. I got so attached to him, and to see him imprisoned and betrayed and just...JEEEEz. It hurt so much. And it felt so good to see him turn, no matter how horrifying. Still can't really put up with the infamous Casca/Griffith scene as it felt a little misplaced 😂

The Red King [K-Project series]: I feel like this anime is very under the radar, so allow me to introduce you to yet another badass man voiced by Kenjiro Tsuda. Everything about him is just...MUAH. He is a little elusive in the movies (there are several of them), so his screen time is criminally low for how obsessed I am with him, but when he's there he's THERE and is GLORIOUS. As the leader of a gang, in a world where each king rules a color and that color means their gangs have a certain ability - so for crimson there is fire, of course - he is the ultimate stern leader. They contrast this in the movies SO FANTASTICALLY by having this man taking care of a young girl, an adopted daughter of sorts, and showing off his soft spot for her and her alone. Oh my gods, I can't even begin. I just...I live for it. He is a kind leader, but the stoic and cold type, you know? One of my favorite personality types. He is easy to anger, but this girl that he protects adores him and he treats her like a little princess. I need to stop lol, I can't ramble too much, but I'll just say his rivalry with the Blue King, who used to be a good friend (enemies to lovers ship here I come) is heart-wrenching, and his eventual fate which I will not spoil absolutely destroyed me. The end.

I did 12, and I'm not sorry. I couldn't leave out The Red King or Griffith okay. I couldn't. I tried to not list the purely obvious ones, such as Bungo characters, Vanitas no Carte characters, or fandoms where I've made it quite clear how much I like certain people lmao. But they'd nevertheless be part of the list if it weren't limited to ten (COUGH 12), and I wanted to list characters that I had something particular to say about. A lot of them are made better by their counterpart or romantic interests in the show, such as Yashiro being perfectly matched with Doumeki, Zero being put to so much tension with Kaname, Johan being an incredible antagonist to Tenma, Iason showing off his power because of Riki's constant defiance, and The Red King having his soft spot with the little girl. And I mean, who would Griffith be without Guts?

I would list Gojo, but there's nothing to say about him that hasn't already been said, and that's just BARKBARKWOOFWOOFGGRRRR

Hope you enjoyed reading. And I hope you might've found some new anime because of it! K-Project seems lesser known, but my gods it's gorgeous, it's ship-city, and it's a fascinating plot heavily featuring on one of my favorite things: COLORS.

Thanks again for the tag 🖤 it's nice to be able to obsess over my favorites for a reason 😤

Tagging @lustfulcat ☺️☺️ if you feel like it, my sweet!

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kyogre-blue · 1 month

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Roundup of manhwa I've been catching up on and/or rereading recently. These are unfortunately mostly on Asura Scans, so linking or bookmarking them is useless. I really hate that about their site.

The scores are in regard to what I expect of the overall genre, not general quality per se. I'm not expecting deep, profound writing here. The range is A to F, with A being an easy recommend, B having some flaws but also having some really strong points that make it worth reading, C being extremely average, not terrible but not really doing anything well enough to recommend, and D being largely a waste of time. F is for outright offensive. But there won't really be many failing grades on this list because I just drop them and forget lol. Plus minus is based on my personal enjoyment.

Return of the Disaster-Class Hero, ch74 - Rank: B+. I really enjoyed it, but it's just that the different aspects are overall passable to good (art, humor, battles), plus it has some presence given to supporting characters (Hugo, Sungjae) and relationships, which I happen to enjoy. Additionally, the story actually advances, which can't be taken as a given lol... Unfortunately, the manhwa has been on hiatus since Aug 2023 due to the artist's health and later passing. It's unclear whether it will continue, or how it will look or progress if it does.

The Novel's Extra, ch93 - Rank: C. I was initially going to rank it higher, but while the art is nice and the characters are passable, the pacing is a mess. I genuinely couldn't tell you what the direction of the story is even supposed to be, despite how many chapters it's been. Have we even advanced at all here? I sure don't know.

The Protagonist's Younger Sister, ch33 - Rank: B, though this notably has the lowest chapter count here by a wide margin. Cute story and I like the protagonist family. It's just that it has always updated very slowly, and I'm not even sure it's still updating, so the pacing feels dragged out even if it's actually fine as a whole. But like I mentioned separately, the story has only just passed basic setup, so I don't even know for sure where it's going in the long term.

SSS-Class Suicide Hunter, ch113 - Rank: A. If I have to pick a manhwa I consider most overall impressive among those I've read, it would probably be this one. It has a very strong sense of its protagonist and what it wants to say, and it uses very distinctive arcs with strong supporting characters to do it. The murim arc was obviously a standout, but I think the romance genre arc that is wrapping up was impressive in what it dared to do. They really said "yeah, the protag falls in love and gets married, this is part of his growth as a person." I genuinely did not expect that they would go through with it and let him actually stay married. That's a thing they did. In general, this is just a very solid story, and I hope they are able to adapt it in its entirety, though that will probably take years to come.

I’m a Martial Art Villainess but I’m the Strongest!, ch92 - Rank: B. This one has a female lead (and thus a prominent romance) but it also does a lot of fight scenes and training and stuff like that. The fairly unusual (in my experience) combination of elements works well for me, though the actual contents are fairly average, nothing amazing or terrible, just okay enough. I think my biggest take away aside from the genre combination is the ML's big boobas. I seriously want the MC and ML to bang, they deserve it.

Ending Maker, ch56 - Rank: B. Actually, this one hasn't had any progress since I caught up on the TLs a while back, but I wanted to note it. I like how much focus is given to the relationship between the MC and his love interest, and I don't really have any major complaints. However, I hope they're able to flesh out the plot going forward. It's been very "go to a place, get a thing" without really giving any major weight to anything that's happened, and the supporting characters haven't really left an impression either.

The Duke's Redemption, ch50 - Rank: B-. This one also hasn't updated since I caught up on it a while back, but adding here. Pros: strong focus on the relationship between the MC and the duke, setup for potentially interesting conflict with Serpens not being chosen as the hero per the OG plot. Cons: art is kinda mid, the actual story so far has been largely filler or not very interesting in and of itself. They've built up the foundation of Shion and Serpens as a relationship, but the stuff around that could have been done a lot better.

Doctor's Rebirth, ch150 - Rank: C+, though that's being generous tbh. It is the definition of extremely mid. However, it does make me lol at least somewhat regularly about how gay the entire supporting cast is toward the MC. Truly peak shounen experience. Whether it's his master, his master's assistant (love triangle), the original novel's demonic hero protag, secondary novel villains A through D... they all want him so bad. It's very funny to me personally.

The Extra is Too Strong, ch50 - Rank: D+. I'm adding the plus purely because I spend a lot of time lolling about how buff absolutely everyone is. This includes the one notable female side character and background female characters. That aside, I'm curious what they're going to do with the original novel's protag. He's mentioned several times and with quite a bit of detail about what his deal was, plus he has a non-standard design, so I feel like we will eventually meet him and something is planned for that.

Return of the 8th Class Magician, ch81 (complete) - Rank: C. I know there's other series with a very similar title, so to be clear, this is the one where the MC has long light brown hair (lol) and regresses uses dragon tongue. A complete story that has no particular flaws, but tbh I don't think it has any particular strengths either. The thing I remember most about it is that, around chapter 60 or so, there is a note from the artist that directly says they're about to start deviating from the novel they're adapting. Immediately the main villain is introduced, dragon lore gets updated, and the MC's father is brought up, so you can just tell, yeah, his father is going to be a dragon. And he is. I didn't have any issues with the manhwa-original (presumed) ending, it was done more smoothly than I would have expected, but the whole story just didn't serve anything to make me really excited. Fine read tho, if you've got some time to kill, and the MC is quite pretty.

Trash of the Count’s Family, ch121 - Rank: C. The art is nice, and I liked the initial sections, but the pacing is a mess and nothing meaningful seems to happen. The biggest issue is probably that the MC is just not a type I care for, and the supporting characters don't feel like they're fleshed out enough to stand on their own. The entire story, with over a hundred chapters, has been just endlessly picking up power-ups in preparation for the supposed war, but 120 chapters in and we're still not to the actual war, so... I do think that I'm finally seeing the appeal of the crown prince, so there's that.

The Newbie is Too Strong, ch90 - Rank: C-. This is also a pretty basic series, but the popoi are cute, the MC doesn't annoy me, and I am legitimately interested in the plot mysteries. Also, it does seem to be promising to introduce some recurring side characters in the future, so there is some room to grow.

Overpowered Sword, ch88 - Rank: C. It's a shounen, functionally. I enjoy it in a brain off way, and I will say that I first shipped Leon with Eclid, but now I keep thinking that Karen is good, I ship Karen. However, it has a weakness in that the arcs aren't particularly interesting in themselves. Not enough emphasis on fucked up backstories for the villains and new allies, I guess. Shounen runs on fucked up backstories.

Of All Things, I Became a Crow, ch107 (complete) - Rank: C+. This is a female lead transmigration romance. It's cute! I like it well enough and it's complete. Not really a lot else to say.

#reading manhwa

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codes · 1 year

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hello matthew!! :D this ask isnt related to the little game u made unfortunately but id like to ask for some advice from someone who probably has to read a lot for school!!

i finished reading a classic of literature recently, jane austens persuasion. having repeated myself many times today, it was a very good thought provoking book. except that i didnt really realise that until i read the introduction of the book where they discuss her techniques and how she handles the themes!! argh.. in fact while i was readin the whole thing i didnt even really know what to feel! i knew about the instances of titular persuasion but i wasnt even really sure what they were saying with nuance...

since im so troubled by my lack of sensitivity and find no help elsewhere on the interwebs, as someone who i find can parse the complex muddled text of enstars with clarity, what should i do to become a more sensitive reader! or rather how do u read matthew?

hi lab! im a lil honored that u hold me in such high regard bc honestly, i dont always feel that my literary analysis skills are up to par! though i think thats an opinion shared by many but i often end up in the same position as you and even my professors say the same thing where they have to reread books before they start to really delve into analysis. its p normal, honestly. a lot of themes in literature are largely opinionated so some people pick up patterns faster than others and sometimes two readings can conflict with one another. it happens! one reading may be more clearly supported by evidence within the text but analyzing literature usually takes a lot of practice more than anything, but sometimes going back to the basics rlly helps and focusing on which critical theory may be applicable. could you maybe analyze the text through a character? perhaps the psychoanalytic theory may help! are gender roles present within the text? maybe looking at it through a feminist critical lens may give you a good ledge to start off. theres also formalism, post-colonialist, Marxist theory, eco-criticism, etc... the world is your oyster and having trouble with analyzing a text is normal! we're not all-knowing and sometimes it helps to look at what other people have to say will help you most of all.

also i asked my friend @cupidneos who is insanely smart for her advice since i bet that she would have something to say (also shes also a jane austen fan) and this is what she said:

i do wanna say that you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself since Persuasion is easily one of her hardest texts to really extend and make sense of so it’s no fault of your own … literature that uses free indirect discourse to hint towards our knowledge of character tends to be harder to understand bc of how limited that info can be! that being said, not being able to place our finger on something until it’s highlighted is completely okay! that’s what the introduction is there for; to help you out. there’s no set list of criteria to being a “more sensitive reader” since the phenomenon of reading itself is so mercurial. with practice i’m so certain that u will get a better sense of where to look for those literary themes. and don’t sell urself short in doing so either! if u find a passage important, pursue it!!! doesn’t matter what everyone else says abt it hehe

#ask #lab #i hope that helps lab!!!

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liannaflower · 1 year

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What are your top 5 books?

Ah well....this is a hard question and for a sad reason. I have no idea😂😅

Most of my so called fave books were my favourite years ago, so it's hard to tell if I still like them. For example Percy Jackson books, specifically the first one because ahh ✨Ares✨ of course, but I recently wanted to reread it again and couldn't even get to reaching camp.

Well anyways, what I know for sure is The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper. (By the way these aren't in order.) It was a unique read and I surprisingly liked it. I also read the next part and had high hopes for it but it flopped. 🥺 The covers are so pretty tho. It had a great vibe (this almost sounds like a red flag) and it basically follows the lives of prostitutes in Pompeii few years before the eruption.

Another one for sure is The song of Achilles (Madeline Miller) and while I usually don't like (khm I hate them) retellings this one was cute. It's been on my fave list for like 8 years and even rereading hasn't diminished it.

Then Prince's Gambit by C. S. Pacat from the captive prince trilogy and oh my gods. This has everything. The ancient Greece vibes, the enemies to lovers, the gayness😂😂😂(and the sex , the torture, the betrayals etc) I found this series by total accident and thank gods I did. I adore it.

Here I would normally mention one of the Pjo books (either 1st or 4th) but I can't do so now, and then I would mention one of the Eragon books but I also can't because it's been years without rereading them. (I always used to say Legendary from Stephanie Garner but I just recently reread it and I realised I no longer love it)

Sooo that leaves me questioning things. One that came to my mind is a Hungarian book. Aranyember - Jókai Mór (roughly translated: Golden man/gold man by Mór Jókai) It's a much hated book in Hungary (at least among students, I'm not sure if it's still obligatory or not anymore) because it's long and the writer has a unique style, where he makes every description soooo long but I adore it. It's a love story with a poor man falling in love with a rich girl and marrying her but then she's just saying yes out of obligation and she doesn't love him back etc etc. Then he falls in love with a poor girl and so he has double lives. He is also very very good with money so everything he invests in turns out so much better than expected and he gets very rich too. So basically just full of lies and love and agony and self debate. It's also not modern so it's set back in the old Hungary but that gives the charm. And damn it's just such a great book now I wanna watch the movie again too. 😭

The other I thought of is a short story to the Captive Prince trilogy. The Pet. Why? No idea. But I think it's great how it adds depth to a certain not so liked side character. After reading it I love him so so much. Also read one of the best fanfics for this book. Fuck that was so gooooood too.

Sadly I don't read as much as I should anymore or as I would want to.

If I really have to pick a legit book instead of the last one it would be The betrayals by Bridget Collins. Wonderful cover first of all. Made me buy it😂 I liked it, it was mysterious and a bit messy but not enough gay for me but oh well. Other honorary mention is Call me by your name and Find me by André Aciman. Beautiful stories. Nice writing. No other words.

Thanks for the ask. I really need to start reading better books because in the past year I mostly read thrillers and trash erotica or just yaoi😅 and none of those will ever hold me as close. On that note do you or anyone have any recs?

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mediawhorefics · 1 year

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Book ask! 1, 10,19, 20! 💙

book answers <333

book you’ve reread the most times?

excluding the series that shall not be named... i have a few ~comfort reads that i've found myself revisting over the years. the watchmater of filigree street (natash pulley) is one of them. shocker i know, none of you expected this!! i've also read the captive prince series (c.s. pacat) a few times, esp. kings rising the last book. i really don't like diana gabaldon as a person (i think her stance on fanfiction is not only stupid as fuck but also hypocritical considering she stole her male lead from old doctor who episodes and didn't even change his name.) but the first outlander novel remains a favourite of mine in the historical romance department and i've read it many times. the series got lost along the way (at least i lost interest) but the first one is really entertaining! also time travel and scotland, you know i'm there for it. i've read red white & royal blue (casey mcquiston) a bunch. 3 or 4x ? it's got that classic romcom vibe and i deeply connected with the way it approaches grieving someone when you're young/for the first time. i've also read cyrano de bergerac (edmon rostand) a lot. both in the original french and different translations. it's excellent.

10. do you have a guilty fav?

i don't know if i believe in guilty favs tbh! as long as it's not hurting anyone, why should i feel guilty about art that i enjoy? but for the sake of the game/for the sake of argument, i'll try to come up with a list. i guess i read a lot of star wars novels (big nerd over here) and they're very quick adventure-y types with a sprinkle of character study so it's hard to consider them as literature sometimes? so a few of those would be on the list. i really enjoyed the padme trilogy, padawan, master & apprentice, all of claudia gray's sw novels, the rots novelisation, brotherhood etc. there are a few het romances i also love a lot that i suppose i could include here? outlander is the first. but i adore emily henry's writing too which makes me feel pretty basic bitch, but she writes a lot of fun romances with bookish themes and that's like catnip to me. any of the darth vader comics ?? that counts, right? oh! i recently read an arthurian retelling that cast merlin as a queer teenager coming to camelot impersonating her brother and meeting young arthur and kind of falling in love with him. i suppose that had a cringe cover but i had so much fun with it. one of my fav ya i've read recently. it's the other merlin! idk that i'd describe it as a favourite book overall but....

19. most disliked popular books?

i loathe the all for the game series that was popular on tumblr a few years ago? there was nothing compelling about it to me. it wasn't that well written, the characters weren't that compelling, the sport was boring and the romance just didn't have the ooof i needed from it. i truly never understood the hype. i tried reading the kiss quotient (helen huang) which was huge in the romance circles a while back and never finished it. ok this one comes from the depth of my childhood and will not be relatable to many of you but les chevaliers d'emeraude (anne robillard) is SO awfully written it gives me hives. i don't know if it counts but i despise jules verne too. fuck that guy, i know he's ~classic but his writing is so fucking dull. and i haven't read albert camus since high school so my opinion might change if i revisit him, but i remember him making me soooooo angry. i think everything written by cassandra clare is pretty awful. i hate her style. sooooo many people were gushing over boyfriend material (alexis hall) and i hated that. the main character was annoying and immature and simply not charming at all to me. i don't think i laughed even once. i need to laugh in a romcom, come on!! it has a four stars rating on goodreads and i simply do not get it. it was boring and i hated the writing style. and apparently, there's a sequel too ??? talk about the most unnecessary book written ever. sorry to fans of it, it was just no my cup of tea.

20. what are things you look for in a book?

not necessarily all at once but:

a historical setting (i esp. love the first half of the 20th century)

some fantasy elements. it doesn't have to be high fantasy (though i like that too) but a little sprinkle is always fun.

romance !!!!! i love a good pinning, swooning, soft, tender romance!!! (duh) enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, strangers to friends to lovers. it HAS to be a slow burn because instalove turns me off.

i love a good found family/a good friend group!!

time travel is not a must but it's an easy way to seduce me

my main character type is heart of gold/noble intentions/heroic but struggling with anger issues... so a bit of that and i'm sorted.

snarky female characters. (actually just well-written female characters in general, which feels like a very basic ask but we allllll know it's not that easy)

i looooooove a good mystery. not a murder mystery, i'm not super into those. but i love a book that presents us with something to solve (like the shadow of the wind)

i'm not super into unhappy endings (tho. i don't mind them once in a while) but i love melancholic stories and Drama. just something that makes me FEEL.

it has to be atmospheric/it has to transport me.

i love poetic writing/beautiful prose.

also it (almost always) has to be gay. lbr.

book asks

#about me #books #book rec

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waspsinyouryard · 4 months

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I’m curious how everyone’s year was so please tell me what you favourite ----- from this year was! Answer as many or as few as you want! (Feel free to send this to other people and change it if you want)

Favourite Movie/Show you watched:

Favourite Album you listened to:

Favourite thing you learned:

Favourite book/comic:

Favourite project you completed:

Best impulse purchase?

Funniest joke you heard?

Strangest building you went in?

New food you discovered?

Most memorable conversation?

Prettiest sunset?

Favourite new outfit?

What are you proud of this year?

Favourite Memory from this year:

Anything you would change?

Anything you’re looking forwards to in the new year?

~Gumi

I'm going to try and answer all of these but I can already tell that some of these are going to be difficult:

1. Favorite movie/show

I don't really watch movies out of my own volition and I'm like the one Tumblr user who doesn't watch TV shows (and my memory is bad, so I could also be forgetting something) so my options are very limited:

The FNAF movie (which was laughably terrible)

Stranger than Fiction (a 2006 movie that was just. not good. I didn't like it.)

Rio 2 (a kid sitting next to me for a substantial amount of time was watching it and I could hear the audio)

Out of those options I'd probably have to say the FNAF movie was my favorite because it was bad in a funny way and also recency bias.

2. Favorite Album

My music consumption is almost exclusively video game soundtracks and I haven't really found any games to love the soundtrack of recently anyways so

3. Favorite thing I've learned

I can't think of any one piece of knowledge that stands out as my favorite. I'm just happy to know things tbh

4. Favorite Book/Comic

I read quite a few books (mostly the Warriors series, near the beginning of the year) but my favorite probably still has to be Love and Limerence by Dorothy Tennov. I reread it this year so it counts.

5. Favorite project I completed

Probably this ridiculous 14k word Wings of Fire fanfiction where the world ends tbh. It's kinda very rough, but I had a blast making it.

6. Best impulse purchase

A greenish-blue Hawaiian shirt

7. Funniest joke

Unironically this

youtube

Leave the poor woman alone :(

8. Strangest building

Probably the church I took those photos in tbh. I get that it's not that strange overall but it was for me

9. Best new food

I can't think of any new food, but I did discover that French fries and (to an admittedly lesser degree) saltine crackers make surprisingly good additions to toppings and/or fillings.

10. Most memorable conversation

This one's memorable in a bad way.

Essentially, it was a conversation between myself and a friend about a Minecraft server we were on where said friend told me that I managed to piss off every single other member of the server. Of course I was a bit distraught about this, and I decided that I just wouldn't play on it anymore. Before that I was basically the most active member by far.

The reason I remember it so well is because I'm still so baffled about why what I did (kill the Ender Dragon on the first day of a new world (after rules regarding doing so were specifically abolished) and kill the Wither like a week later) enraged these people so much that they called for my friend to ban me (he didn't, btw).

11. Prettiest sunset

All of them. Unless I'm trying to go west and the sun is shining in my eyes.

12. Favorite new outfit

The Hawaiian shirt I mentioned previously.

13. Things I'm proud of

Here's a list, not in any sort of order:

Writing that fanfic I mentioned earlier

Figuring out Tumblr API stuff so I could improve @postsofbabel. And I guess it in general.

My progress on a new fanfic set in the Warriors world, where being sold to 1D is a major plot point.

Surviving, tbh

14. Favorite memory

15. Anything I would change

I would change a lot about 2023, but I simply do not think I would have the ability enact a lot of these changes if I could go back through this year again.

16. Anything I'm looking forward to

World of Goo 2. Probably more that I can't think of at the moment but World of Goo is excellent

#ask

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tromb0ning · 2 years

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1-6 book ask

Jeez this is gonna be a long one. Ok here we go (thx for submitting ily)

1. What book are you currently reading?

Swapping between a few at the moment. Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett, the republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch, a History of Eastern Europe by Vegas Gabriel Liulevicius, and I’m almost done with Paladins Strength by T. Kingfisher

2. What book did you recently finish?

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. Terry Pratchett as usual had me laughing like a madman and nearly brought me to tears at one point. Don’t let the whimsical title or simple sounding plot summary fool you, it’s great.

3. What’s a book that’s been on your to-read list for a long time?

Alecto the Ninth because I need to know where the ever living hell Tamsyn Muir is going with all this. Been on my to read list since I finished the last book, this is the first time in years I’m current enough on a series to anticipate a book release.

4. What’s the next book you’re hoping to read?

When I’m done with history of Eastern Europe I want to read a book about the history of China. I’m trying to get into more nonfiction, and even though I’ve always enjoyed history I’ll admit I only have the most basic surface level understanding given by the American education system and everyday media, which makes me ridiculously ignorant.

5. Is there a book you own, but aren’t planning on reading?

All quiet on the western front. I read some, and I kind of understand why its so well regarded, but I’m honestly not interested in completing it

6. What was your favourite series as a kid? Would you still read it now?

Harry Potter easily my #1 series tbh. I definitely reread some scenes and parts a ton back then, but don’t feel any need to go back to them now. I was about 7 when the fourth book came out and I read the first 4 in that one summer.

Close second I’d like to mention would be Animorphs, which I read at a slightly older age and remembering some of those scenes still fucks me up to this very day. That I would go back and read again for specific books.

#tromb0ning answers #Harry Potter #mainly tagging so ppl can black list. I know it’s a touchy subject but it was my favorite.#thank you for asking!!!!!!

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americankimchi · 2 years

Note

okay so i just recently got into dc (okay correction it's mostly just batman/batfam/batcat) after being like vaguely interested for years and enjoying all the memes and stuff you reblog and i was wondering if you knew any good batfam or batcat fics? bit of a long shot but i'm struggling to find any on my own lol

RUBS MY HANDS TOGETHER OHOHO ANON YOU HAVE COME 2 THE RIGHT PLACE

listen im a dick grayson stan first and batfam stan second. so this reclist is gonna reflect that sjskjsk

anyways here are some of my favorites xoxo

The world where Bruce went to therapy by shanahane

this one is a No Capes AU (means they are civilians not superheroes) where bruce goes "perhaps,,, i will seek professional help,,," and does not end up punching criminals in the throat at night. instead he is metaphorically punching criminals in the throat by focusing 100% of his attention on the civilian sphere (instead of 50% bc bruce still does that in canon... just not as much as he dropkicks in the name of justice sjkjskksj)

i love it bc it's SO good,,, so Healing,,,,,, he still adopts all his kids except they are ALSO well-adjusted kids who. stay kids instead of vigilantes. please read this series if u want family-friendly fun that is wholesome and cute <3

Earth 27 by Anonymous

in dc, universes are given tags to denote which continuity it follows in the multiverse. in this fic it deals with two universes, earth 27 and earth 32. earth 27's dick grayson is dead. earth 32's dick grayson was kidnapped to make up for the loss. this fic deals with grief and the ugly ways you deal with it when you have the ability to hop universes to "fix" things

detective stories by prismatical

i have read every fic in this series MULTIPLE times. they're all casefics and they're all complete except for the third one in the series which hasn't been updated since 2020 😭

most of them have dick getting his ass sent to the horse plinko while the rest of the batfam are desperately trying to save him before he hits the fire but the POINT is that it's all very good batfam fun. i recently reread "fun and games" and oughhh baby it's 👌👌👌

upside down and inside out by danishsweethearts

reverse robins au which basically means that the batkids have their ages flipped so damian's the oldest and dick's the youngest. has that rare quality in a reverse robins au where the author doesn't make the older batkids use the robin moniker. truly one of my dealbreakers for reverse robins aus since it absolutely doesn't make any sense for robin to exist before dick joins the family since that was his mother's name for him

actually i recommend everything danishsweethearts has written. a goldmine of fics 👍

Watch This by snackbaskets

baby dick grayson grifts barry and hal and uses it as an excuse to give everyone in the justice league a heart attack. also to be very cute with batdad :')

The Titans never really stopped being teens within by mielipieli

okay granted this one's not a batfam fic rec it's more a titans fic rec but i have to give it a shoutout as one of my favorite titans series on ao3 PLEASE GIVE IT A TRY there are SO few fab five fics on ao3

Roadtrip Vigilantes by Beabaseball

basically bruce stays with the league of assassins instead of returning to gotham to become batman. he still manages to find and adopt a robin. this one is an absolute masterpiece :)

i do have some more fic recs but they're unfinished ones with only one chapter out right now or on hiatus or unfortunately abandoned. also i know you asked for batfam/batcat fanfics but i,,,,,, truly only read fics with my boy in them. which is why i also didn’t put the fics that were primarily focused on dick and had little to no mention of the batfam sjksjdk

i think i had some bruce-centric fics i really liked but those were on ff.net and i don't remember my login info so my favorites list is unfortunately lost to time 😔😔😔

i hope u get a kick outta these anyways tho anon 👌

#fic recs #rec list #anon #ask #the favoritism just JUMPED out

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crunch-barr · 3 years

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u mentioned making a rec list for books for children that are less problematic and better written!! i would love to see those <3

welcome to bean's list of book recommendations to read to your kids instead of h*rry p*tter, from an ex-hp kid who looked really hard for good books to fill the void all those years ago:

(pls lmk if any of them are problematic or haven’t aged well and I didn’t know, I’ll remove them from the list !!)

disclaimer: i was a kid reading kid books during the early 2000s and early 2010s, and I’ve realized while making this list that a lot of the writers I read growing up are... very white and cishet. that’s not to say there weren’t diverse writers being published or trying to get published, but there was certainly a lot less push for diversity in genre fiction (especially children's) back then. to make up for this I’ve added links to lists of diverse middle grade novels after my personal faves list, I haven’t personally read all that are mentioned on those lists but I plan to! please go check them out!!!! Most of them were published in the past few years

personal childhood favourites of mine:

The "House of Secrets" Trilogy by Christopher Columbus and Ned Vizzini. This was my favourite series as a kid, and surpassing HP in my mind at the time was like. Insane. That being said, goodreads has some simply scathing reviews of this by some adults who thought it was too violent and crowded but 12 year old me LOVED it SO MUCH. There’s some violence, there’s magic. It’s about three siblings and their creepy old house that can travel into books, but the books they travel into are WILD. I remember the second and third being better than the first. These would be fun to read aloud, too

"Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" by Grace Lin was one of my absolute favourites as well from that time. I’ve read it as a late teen/young adult as well and it still holds up. It takes inspiration from Chinese folklore, it follows a girl named Minli who takes it upon herself to find fortune for her family. I remember carrying this book around in my backpack for like a year after I read it bc I loved rereading it so much. It’s so good guys it’s so good

"The Princess Bride" by William Goldman. This might seem like a basic pick, but it’s on the list bc I read this out loud with my mom when I was 10, taking turns, and it was SO FUN. I had the time of my life. It’s such a romp of a book and works so well read out loud.

The "Chrestomanci" Series by Diana Wynne Jones— it’s the same sparkly magic as HP, but written better and also written first. I liked everything she wrote, but this series was really solid. My fave was The Lives of Christopher Chant

“The Girl Who Could Fly” by Victoria Forester retains that HP school vibe, with kids with superpowers instead. I remember loving this book a TON as a kid. I remember some specific scenes so clearly, they just live in my mind constantly

Rapid fire multi-book series’ I’ve read and generally liked, that would be fun to read to your kids:

- the "Land of Stories" series by Chris Colfer

- the "Wrinkle in Time" series by Madeleine L’Engle

- "Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart

- "The School for Good and Evil" series by Soman Chainani

Honourable mentions that didn't really fit the list:

- "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (actually a lot of Terry Pratchett is good for this genre!! I also loved Gaiman's books as a kid but they are a bit darker)

- "From the Mixed-Up Files of Ms Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg (I just love this book too much to not include it)

Honourable mention but not a middle grade read-aloud style thing:

- ALL the Lumberjanes volumes by Noelle Stevenson (et al.)

And here are some links to diverse middle grade fantasy lists that have been published recently!

https://www.feministbooksforkids.com/middle-grade-fantasy-books/

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/kids/8-amazing-diverse-middle-grade-fantasies/

https://www.readbrightly.com/contemporary-diverse-middle-grade-books/

https://hclib.bibliocommons.com/list/share/220740577/677756200

https://www.google.com/amp/s/lgbtqreads.com/middle-grade/%3Famp

https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/diverse-childrens-books/ <- this link also includes an excellent portion on the importance of diversity in children’s fiction, while also talking a little about how diversity has become much more prevalent in publishing since the early 00s.

There are so many good books out there. Go read! Read good stuff to your kids out loud!! Support your locally owned bookstores!! Buy books for your kids that aren’t written by bigots

#pls feel free to add onto this post if u want with your own recs #!!#relegated this list to just 9-12/middle grade kids fiction but i could probs do like a YA list at some point #hp

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rein-ette · 3 years

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If it hasn't been asked already, do you have any headcanons about France and England's relationship? 👀

Ah, and now we end where I always seem to end. These two cannot get rid of each other, and I cannot get rid of them.

*cracks knuckles* ok idk what you want to hear so I’m just gonna ramble here goes

So before I got my soul stolen by engport, fruk had been, like. Everything. Then I went through a crisis period where I was like 😱 how do I choose 😱 and now I’m like, ok, but why do I have to choose? I think Port and France fill very different roles in Arthur’s life, both of which are essential. Not only that, thinking about engport has helped me better understand Francis and Arthur’s dynamic, so I’ll be comparing a little throughout these hcs.

For me, fruk is a very — latent? — relationship. It’s ironic, bc engport are the ones who actually call themselves best friends and fruk prefer to be known as enemies/occasional lovers, but if you saw them on the street, you’d think France and England were close friends and England and Portugal, are, well, clearly gay for each other. They’re far more openly affectionate, whereas even for those who know them like Spain or Prussia, it can sometimes be hard to believe France and England are dating, let alone head over heels in love.

But they are. It’s just that they’ve been by each other’s side for so long, had those feelings for so long, that they’ve become a part of the background hum, a basic part of their lives. So usually the feelings Arthur or Francis actively feel for each other are mild, everyday things: annoyance, impatience, curiosity, worry. Especially in public/around other nations, they're not touchy or affectionate at all.

But if you know where and how to look, you'll see the signs. A napkin with scribbled math equations, something they argued over at a cafe. A cufflink here, a watch there, all gifts from each other from the hundreds of birthdays they've spent together. Arthur's number listed as an emergency contact on some inane government form. Francis' handwriting on the margins of Arthur's meeting minutes: remember to discuss this with Denmark, the address for a restaurant they're meeting at that night. Francis rereading various titles of english literature, trying to understand him better. Arthur paying for Francis' clothes with his own card without thinking about it. Their lives are intimately, mundanely intertwined in a way that's remarkably rare among nations.

This is actually a rather recent development in their relationship. In my hc Francis and England only started seriously seeing each other right before World War II, and began an "official" (or what passes for official) relationship right after. Then they broke it off for a while again when de Gaulle became president, then got back together shortly after he left office and have more or less gone pretty steady ever since. So that's like, what, a couple decades? A drop in the ocean for a nation. But this easy familiarity they've found doesn't feel new, to them or to anyone else, because in reality they've been building it up for centuries, albeit in unconventional ways. It's almost like through killing, conning, and tearing each other apart, they've lost their fear of each other. Nations have with their own kind a wariness, a constant stumbling block in the back of their mind reminding them no matter how deep their feelings, their interests can never truly align -- and this results in small awkwardnesses like pointedly locked office cabinets and walking away to take phone calls. But such things don't apply to Francis and Arthur. Part of it is the luxury of being allies now, but most of it is the fact that they've seen every side of each other, told every possible lie. Even if Francis did find some shit in Arthur's office, political secrets or otherwise -- what of it? They've planned enough conspiracies with and against each other that short of "I'm plotting a second invasion of Paris with Germany," there's really nothing they can't just scream at each other a little about and then brush off.

Basically what I'm saying is I like my fruk super domestic. But I also like my fruk highkey dramatic. One of the periods in their relationship I think about a lot is right before the American and French Revolutions (Louis XIV era), when I hc that they were in a nearly-entirely-committed, almost-honeymoon-like relationship. This comes from one fic i read that I can no longer find or remember, but where Arthur stays at Versailles for a couple years as the official English Ambassador and they begin a *clandestine* romance that's only half clandestine. This is a time when they were well and truly in love and not afraid to say it -- it was a time when they almost believed they could work out, fairy-tale style. But then the American revolution begins and Arthur is devastated, furious, accusing, betrayed -- they have an explosive fight and their relationship slides right back to hundred years war level hatred for the next century, culminating with Napoleon. The only difference from before is that now Arthur's anger is tinged with a desperate grief ("how could you do this again when you know i love you") and Francis' resentment now has a hint of despair ("I knew we couldn't last, the world is proving me right and i hate it.")

Their relationship slowly, glacially recovers after europe boots Napoleon. In fact, besides a couple proxy wars and shouting matches, the Napoleonic Wars was England and France's last major conflict to date. This coincides with the gradual worsening of Gabriel and Arthur's relationship in the 1900s. At this point Arthur wasn't actually trying to replace Gabriel, and in fact was still deep in denial about his feelings for Francis, but it certainly seemed to Gabriel as if he was being pushed out of Arthur's life and that Did Not Help Anything Whatsoever. Francis, for his part, was incredibly hesitant to push in part because of his lingering fear that they just weren't meant to be, and in part because he actually felt guilty that he was worsening Arthur's relationship with Gabriel, the loss of whom he knew would kill Arthur inside.

I realize I'm going on again so I'll end by saying that now, Francis and Arthur still sometimes have their dramatic moments of "oh shit I'm in love with him, the fuck?" even though the set-piece battles are over. When Francis delivers a particularly elegant speech, for example, or actually puts that mind and sharp tongue of his to work in a pitched negotiation. When Arthur surprises Francis with a weekend getaway, complete with a boat, flowers, and lots of cute blushing and blustering. Or when one of them is seriously ill, overworked, or hurt; when something just snaps one day and all their nightmares catch up to them -- the cold fear and sleepless worry are all reminders of how deep their feelings run, even if they don't constantly make themselves known.

#fruk #hws england #hws france #whew hopefully this made sense i was just dead from everything today #dunno if my mind is working anymore #my hcs #ask #rainbowfruitpastilles #oh engport is mentioned

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howlinchickhowl · 2 years

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Chose between: Lip and Fiona. For recs - do you have fics you've read recently you would rec? And do you have any fics you've saved to read that you're excited about??

How to choose between problematic faves?! Anon you challenge me. Hmm, I think Fiona. I love Lip as a character but as a human he would drive me round the bend. I think at the core of Fiona is a big ole heart and a love of terrible hip hop and I can vibe with that. I think at the heart of Lip is angry little babyman stomp stomp. And I only have room for one of those fuckers in my life

I am in a bit of a holding pattern with fics at the moment, I am reading a lot of the same wips that many of the folks are, and loving all of them! though I am woefully behind on commenting 😣 the latest Elevator Music destroyed me, I am loving the vibes in both Tender Hearts and Other Maladies and An Exception to the Rule, I am delighted that we are getting an extra chapter of Ian the Friendly Ghost and am dying for updates of Dancing After Death, Let the bodies do the talkin' and Apartment 4A and, of course, Things Beyond Mistake! Intro to Quantum Dating is like a warm hug and a cosy blanket so every update of that makes me very happy, and it just updated!

I did recently reread both @ hornygaythug and size matters...and definitely recommend them both highly.

Things I have saved to read is a much longer list, all of the big bang fics basically, I barely scratched the surface, the spicy collab fics are coming now and that is very thrilling! Mel's newest I haven't made it to yet, nor Stas' Karen/Mandy adventure. There is so much to read, anon! And I always welcome recommendations if anyone wants to give me any ☺️

were you just invited to a sleepover?

#howlin atcha #sleepover asks #anon #👻#thanks anon!#if I had the wherewithal right now I would make a good rec list. but I haven't #soon!#gallavich fic recs

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st-just · 3 years

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I need a good podcast to listen to (informative or entertaining audio, not really looking for a story at the moment). Do you have any recommendations?

Oh do I!

But honestly, it depends on what you’re interested in?

So, like, historical lectures (in increasing order of my impression of obscurity)-

Mike Duncan’s Revolutions. Decent chance you’ve already heard of/listened to it, he’s one of the more commonly interviewed semi-intellectual pop historians at the moment (..that might come off as derogatory. Not intended. Just in terms of where he gets interviewed). A series on the great political revolutions of modernity, starting with England, though America, France, Haiti, Spanish America (told as an extended biography of Simon Bolivar), the July Revolution in France, 1848, the Paris Commune, Mexico, and Russia (currently ongoing, to be the last). The first two aren’t...bad, but no great either. Haiti is amazing and a topic that’s basically never covered in mainstream historical surveys. Honestly a better historical survey of the long 19th century in Europe and Latin America period than you’re likely to have gotten in school. The first dozen episodes of the Russia series are also a generally decent explanation of the development of marxist and anarchist thought in the 19th century.

Partick Wyman’s Fall of Rome and Tides of History. Fall of Rome is what you would expect from the name, though rather than trying to do any sort of general survey after the introduction he focuses episodes on specific regions or themes rather than just a slice of time, generally. Tides of History is the same for the period from 1250-1550 (I think? might be a century off there), which he considers Europe to have developed the necessary conditions for the creation of the modern world. More recently, still under the Tides of History title, he’s moved on to early humanity, with the most recent episode being on predynastic Egypt. Found of, like, hypothetical case studies/explaining events and situations by describing what the biography of someone unexceptional living through it would have looked like. Spices things up with interviews with other academics and book club discussions with his producer on occasion

Sharyn Eastaugh’s History of the Crusades and Reconquista. On the opposite end, these very much are chronological narrative histories of the periods and subjects (including the Albigensian and Baltic crusades). If you’re the sort of person whose eyes glaze over at lots of names and places or zones out after fifteen minutes spent on one battle, you’ll bounce off of this, but she does an excellent job of getting into/trying to describe the personalities involved, and digs up plenty of interesting anecdotes to spice things up. First part of HotC excellent to listen to as you read Foucault’s Pendulum.

(Okay, I’m too lazy to write out descriptions of all of them, but History of Japan, Egypt and Byzantium, Age of Napoleon and Fall of Civilizations are all also good)

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Still history, but more conversational

Robert Evans’ Behind The Bastards. Which, again, decent chance you’ve heard of. Biographies of the worst people in history interspersed with comedic banter with a rotating cast of guests. Early episodes are more comedic and obvious, stuff about Hitler’s attempts at painting or Saddam Huessein’s poetry and such. After that focuses on digging into terrible people and horrifying things that you probably wouldn’t have heard of, though! (also gets significantly more openly political).

Isaac Meyer and Demetria Spinrad’s Criminal Records. A true crime podcast but instead of serial killers its about digging up really weird of interesting crimes or court cases - ‘the oldest court case in ancient mesopotamia for which any record still exists’ is probably my favorite example. The hosts are a couple with a solid rhythm to their banter, and in between episodes on like the Stonewall riots or Jack Johnson or William Calley, they really do dig up some wonderfully obscure and bizarre bits of history.

Anthony Kaldellis’ Byzantium and Friends, an interview series with various experts in the study of byzantine/eastern roman history and related fields. Far more than any of the others listed, this is academics talking to academics for a presumed audience of academics, so neither a great introduction if you don’t know the field at all nor very snappy or highly produced or polished and often more than a bit dry. Still, really interesting and extremely current in terms of the state of the field.

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Pale Reflections is the unofficial-official Pale read-along podcast, analyzing a week’s updates at a time as they release. Useful substitute for having any friends irl you can actually talk to about new updates! Also good for pointing out the obvious things you missed and letting you feel smart for noticing things the hosts didn’t.

Pale in Comparison is a recently started Pact live read podcast where one of the hosts has read Pact and the other hasn’t but has read Pale, trying to figure out what Blake’s in for and understand the setting with that accurate-but-incomplete grounding. Doing an excellent job so far of making me want to reread Pact!

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Beyond that mostly scripted fiction which you don’t want, various politics/current events/opinion shows whose value basically depends on if there’s an ideological niche you wanted to fill in your news diet, and a couple Canadian investigative journalism shows which are probably a bit parochial. So hopefully one of those appeals!

#reply #plumcoloredblazer #podcast #history #recomendation #in this essay I will #honestly I need to find some more history shows by non white dudes at some point #but all the common recomendations just have way too high a banter to information ratio

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arofili · 3 years

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I love reading what you write! It's always such good, easy writing no matter what it's about! Do you have any Russingon fic recs? I'm new to Ao3 and still figuring it all out.

Aww thank you so much <3 <3 that means a lot! and YES I have lots of Russingon fic recs! These are all taken from my bookmarks and I know there are other great fics out there, but these are ones that I have saved and come back to frequently!

(I’m also going to plug my Russingon fics bc I write them a lot and I’m pretty proud of some of those works!)

Blessed Hands Will Break Me by @absynthe--minded - WIP currently at 139k, lots of worldbuilding, from Fingon’s discovery of Maedhros’ capture to the Mereth Aderthad - Absynthe is an amazing Russingon writer, absolutely check her stuff out!

“whoso list to hunt” by vauquelin (elftrash) - 3k oneshot, post-Angband, 1st person Fingon POV - another incredible writer

“Old Pains” by @zealouswerewolfcollector - ficlet, post-reembodiment, Maedhros is unsure of reality

Did My Heart Love Till Now? by @absynthe--minded (with art by @felixwhetsel !) - 5k, Years of the Trees, masquerade shenanigans <3

“stay thy mind, and all the rest” by @mc-dude - 25k oneshot, get together, Fingon visits Maedhros in Himring, the ANGST and LONGING gahhhh !!!

“commit (to the bit)” by vauquelin (elftrash) - 4k oneshot, Years of the Trees, FAKE DATING FOR WORLD PEACE, this author has a GIFT for prose and the subtlety of interpersonal interaction

“cliffs of fall” by @arrivisting - 3k oneshot, nonlinear narrative but generally focused on post-reembodiment reunion with Complicated Feelings - another author with a truly inspiring talent for prose, I reread the wedding scene in this fic at least once a week and it never fails to make me emo

In Equal Measure by @siphilemon - WIP currently at 108k, time-travel fix-it, bullet point fic, not just Russingon but they’re the ones who time traveled and anyway their parts make me go insane

Your colors by @elesianne - 2 chapters, 3k total, Years of the Trees and then Beleriand, gift-giving and anniversaries and dirty talk, so tender and loving, Elle’s Russingon always hits me right in the heart <3

“Like the old season” by Tyelperintal - 1.8k oneshot, post-Angband, Maedhros and Fingon take a walk in the woods, super sweet

“Gifts of the Heart” by @wren-of-the-woods - 10k oneshot, Years of the Trees, really lovely get-together fic, gift-giving, just super sweet and fun

Our Houses Bound Together by @senalishia and @z-h-i-e - 5 chapters, 17.2k total, arranged marriage AU!!, mutual pining, lots of drama, very fun

“just one safe place” by sunflower_diode - 2.1k oneshot, post-Angband, homoerotic haircutting

“All About Your Heart” and its sequel “At Last Broke Silence, And The Ice” by @admirablemonster - first fic is 2k, second is 8k, modern AU ft. aspec Fingon and genderfluid Maedhros!!!, get together, family drama, ice angst <3

Life after Death by Sylanna - WIP currently at 69k, Fingon-centric post-reembodiment fic, slow moving and contemplative, the author is truly the sweetest person ever

What Is Wrought Between Us by @nikosheba - 90k series (with plenty of smut too), complete, canon compliant, ranges from the Years of the Trees all the way to after the Dagor Dagorath, a truly incredible work

“Kindness” by justonelastdance - 1.6k oneshot, Maedhros in a fucked up mental state post-Angband, hurt/comfort - this author writes a lot of Maedhros whump so if you like this check out their other stuff too (this one is just my favorite)

and under the cut, some smut recs....

smut recs

In a Jeweled Crown by @absynthe--minded - 3 chapters, 12k, complete, Fingon’s coronation and the aftermath - this one still makes me go nuts every time I read it

Reconnecting by nyromes - a series with 2 parts, 9k total, first time post-Angband + first time Maedhros bottoms post-Angband

“Bright Defiance” (1.7k) and its companion fic “Very Good” (800 word ficlet) by @edgeoflight - two oneshots, Fingon coaxes Maedhros’ story out of him post-Angband + some PWP - these are some of my favorites, I come back to them frequently

“all your perfect imperfections” by @stormxpadme - 1.8k oneshot, stumpfucking, I’m biased bc this was written for me but I do love it very much, Himring era

“These Games We Play” by @edgeoflight - 1.7k oneshot, the original stumpfucking fic, Himring era

A Surprise At Home by Findecutie and MayGlenn - 25k of pwp, Years of the Trees, newlyweds, crossdressing - part of the much longer Russ and Finno Verse but this was my intro to that verse and it’s good on its own!

“Fuath” by yeaka - 3k oneshot, first time, some truly disturbing manipulation by Melkor but the Russingon here fucking destroys me ;-;

“Rozanne” by yeaka - 2.8k oneshot, Maedhros recovering from Angband, I once saw someone use the phrase “lovingly described blowjobs” and that’s basically this fic

“Sleeve” by yeaka - 2.4k oneshot, trans!Maedhros, Years of the Trees, Fëanor invents the condom for Maedhros and Russingon are incredibly eager to try it out, they’re SO IN LOVE here it gets me every time

Passion and Anxious Care by LiveOakWithMoss - 12.5k total, 2 fic series, modern AU, oh my god they were roommates, get together and then first time, this is another one I return to frequently - this author is/was a BNF a few years ago but hasn’t been active recently

“For nimble thought can jump both sea and land” by TheLionInMyBed - 2.2k oneshot, palantiri foolishness that leads to video sex basically, Beleriand era - another BNF who is/was buds with LiveOakWithMoss

Treat me soft but touch me cool by LiveOakWithMoss and TheLionInMyBed - 4 chapters, 18k total, swoon kink/medical kink, relationship difficulties that are resolved, Beleriand era with a final chapter post-reembodiment, love this one

“Enthroned” by @ultraviolet-eucatastrophe - 4.5k oneshot, throne sex, fealty kink, King Fingon era

“A Disgrace to the House of Finwë” by @edgeoflight - 2.3k oneshot, get together/first time, Years of the Trees, they’re just super sweet together <3

“What Happens in Himring” by teasoni - 3.4k oneshot, reunion sex, Himring era, fealty kink, this fic is tagged “finally some dicks get sucked!!!!!!” and I think about that tag every time I write a Russingon blowjob jdkfhdkj

“a light in darkness, hope in woe” by @admirablemonster - 4k oneshot, trans!Maedhros, surprise baby Gil-galad in the middle of the Bragollach

“A lord and his prince” by @ultraviolet-eucatastrophe - 3.1k oneshot, early Beleriand era, reunion sex, super sweet and fluffy

“Made of Lava” by @edgeoflight - 2.1k oneshot, Years of the Trees, tender get-together fic with a kind of silly premise

Bend, bruise, beg by LiveOakWithMoss - 5 chapters, 13k total, part of a larger modern AU but tbh I haven’t read the main fic in that verse and this absolutely stands on its own, Maedhros discovering his kinks, chapters 2 (first time) and 4 (butt plug shenanigans) are my favorites

“in a field of stars” by Nacht - 3.4k oneshot, Years of the Trees, first time/get together, the writing style here is really unique and sticks with me

“a sword once sheathed” by @mc-dude - 3.5k oneshot, Beleriand era, reunion sex, the amount of horny longing is truly astonishing

Of Flight and Freedom by @admirablemonster - 2 chapters, 6.6k total, wingfic/wing kink, first time/get together, the Rescue and its aftermath

“Thorns” by yeaka - 2k oneshot, post-Angband, Maedhros with lousy self-worth, Fingon who punishes him with love, bondage

The Ice Between by angrymermaids (who has a tumblr but I don’t remember the url oops) - 7 chapters, 33.5k total, Beleriand era, piecing their relationship back together / trying to get back to being intimate, focus on Fingon and his trauma from the Ice

“much too tall for a boyfriend” by @i-am-a-lonely-visitor - 4.7k oneshot, fem!Maedhros x budding-transmasc!Fingon, Years of the Trees, I think about this fic ALL THE TIME I kind of want to write a sequel to it sjfdhdkjh

“the beat of your heart as my hand touches your skin” by @admirablemonster - 5.3k oneshot, part of the Elves in Pon Farr series, Years of the Trees, heat fic/mating cycles, first time/get together, Maedhros’ first heat catches him by surprise while on a camping trip with Fingon, accidental soulbond

“Beneath the Blanketing White” by @nikosheba - 2.3k oneshot, Himring era, pwp, cameo from little Gil-galad at the end

“What I Am (When I’m With You)” by @thatfeanorian - 5k oneshot, part of a larger modern AU, married fluff, Fingon with baby Gil, ends with some lovely smut, this was written for me so AGAIN I’m biased but I do very much love this one

“open your body and soul to me” by @the-quiet-fire-of-defiance - 2.3k oneshot, Years of the Trees, trans!Maedhros, pregnancy, exhibitionism, sex toys, they’re so in love that it drives me crazy, I can’t stop thinking about this fic djfhkjd

“Like the Golden Fire in Your Eyes” by @sianascera - 3.8k oneshot, Years of the Trees, Maedhros invents nipple piercings, extremely fun <3

#anon #answers #russingon #fic recs #tefain nin #maedhros x fingon #there are truly some incredible writers in this fandom; thank you SO much for all your contributions <3 #save #russingon fic recs

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