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ofliterarynature · 9 months

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2023 Reading Wrap Up: Favorites from the First Half

Not to sound like a broken record, but I can't believe we're already halfway through the year! (and even further, given how late I'm posting this lol). I've read an ungodly amount of books already, and while I try my best to shout out my favorites as I go or in my monthly wrap-ups, I don't always succeed. So Here I Am, to do a little more shouting about the 10 most memorable books or series I've read so far in 2023!

The God of Endings by Jaqueline Holland

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

Sword Stone Table ed by Jenn Northington & Swapna Krishna

Sea Hearts (The Brides of Rollrock Island) by Margo Lanagan

Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld & Alex Puvilland

Will Darling/Lilywhite Boys by K.J. Charles

Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy L Sayers

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

More discussion below the cut!

The God of Endings by Jaqueline Holland had me entirely engrossed. It's slow and moving and dark, with it's own take on vampirism, with any number of the associated content warnings. All the content warnings actually (but harm to animals, harm to children, and domestic abuse are some of the big ones. Does the Nazi murder make up for it?). Best described as The Historian meets everything I wanted from The Invisible Life of Addie Larue but didn't get.

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez I have, in fact, already yelled about a bit. It was so good! Think A:TLA meets The Raven Tower and The Hundred Thousand Kindgoms, and queer! The thing that really blew my mind was the second-person narration, which is always a swing, and I think this nailed it! I loved how it worked with the story and frame narrative, and let me tell you, on audiobook parts of the story felt positively haunted. I won't say it's the perfect novel (I'm a little eh about the last third), but that in no way dampens my enthusiasm. cw for ritual cannibalism.

Sword Stone Table ed by Jenn Northington & Swapna Krishna is an anthology of Arthurian re-imaginings with about a 1-in-3 success rate (for me anyways. is that good for an anthology?) that snuck onto this list purely on the strength of Mayday by Maria Dahvana Headley. I just yelled about my love for unusual narrative structures, so when I tell you that this is a retelling of the Arthurian family drama set in late 19th century America, told only through found objects, newspaper clippings, and manuscript exerpts? I had *such* a great time trying to puzzle things out with my half-remembered memories of the lore (heavily corrupted by the show Merlin, lol). Additional shout-out to Spear by Nicola Griffith, which didn't make it into the collection due to length but was also amazing!

Sea Hearts (aka The Brides of Rollrock Island) by Margo Lanagan was an absolute surprise, for several reasons. For one, I own both a physical and digital copy under different titles and didn't realize it until I was cleaning up my goodreads account! And second, the Brides cover is an absolute travesty and is entirely the wrong vibe - this may be YA (technically?) but it doesn't read like it! Sea Hearts is the story of a small island community with a history of summoning wives from the sea, a tradition only whispered about until an outcast young woman revives the practices to sow discord and revenge among the community members we follow. Incredibly moving and sorrowful, this is for fans of literary, historical, and speculative fiction.

Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld & Alex Puvilland. This graphic novel is about a city hit by an unknown disaster that has killed or mutated everything and everyone who wasn't able to evacuate in time. Our main character sneaks back in to take pictures to support herself and her little sister, and while I have some reservations about the larger plot, the art of the Zone is GORGEOUS. Sketchy, eerie, hauntingly beautiful, I loved it, enough that I have no regrets. I could see this making a great comic series or animated show instead.

Major, heartfelt shout-out to K.J. Charles, who absolutely saved my sanity for a few months there. My brain was in a weird spot for a few months and I burned through a good chunk of her backlist, so it's absolutely necessary to name drop a few of my favorites. The Will Darling series, a 1920's spy adventure/gay romance, did not immediately win me over, but exposure makes the heart grow fonder? I don't think they say that, actually, but I love a competent dumbass, and when I finally picked up on the crossover with Charles' England duo, I absolutely cackled. I can't wait to reread these! Any Old Diamonds of the Lilywhite Boys series did catch me immediately, even if I managed to read it out of order with one of it's prequel series. Jewel thieves, a heist, revenge, family drama, what's not to love? I loved every single book and novella in this series.

Lord Peter Wimsey (series) by Dorothy L Sayers. This has been a work in progress since 2022 and has consistently made my favorites lists, but truly, she saved the best for last! Murder Must Advertise was stellar, but everyone who said the Harriet Vane novels were the best is absolutely correct. I don't know why I love them, other than that they're wonderfully complex mysteries, but I do. I definitely need to find another long mystery series for my mental health or else I'm going to start these from the beginning again (I still need to read the short stories after all).

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green. I'll be honest, I didn't write a review for this at the time, and my memory for non-fiction is terrible. But I loved this book, I love John Green, and this was fantastic on audio. Thank you John for putting hope and goodness and beauty into the world.

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff was a beautiful little book for the book lover. It's a collection of letters between the American author and a used-book seller (and family and associates) in London in the 50s and 60s. Its funny, it's friendly, it's lovely, but there's also an underlying tension that builds throughout from the repeated invitations to the author to come visit, and the book copy saying that THEY NEVER MEET. It about killed me, and did make me cry. For further reading you can also check out the author's related memoirs, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street and Q's Legacy.

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein. Frankly, I'm impressed by my nonfiction choices so far this year. This one is what it says and it HURT. SO. MUCH. I am absolutely a generalist and it's made life frustrating, so reading this was both extremely comforting but also enraging, because society doesn't need another reason to suck. Alas.

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qbdatabase · 9 months

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Daily Book - Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices

Sword Stone Table ed. Swapna Krishna, Jenn Northington Adult Fantasy / Fiction, 2021, 480 pg North African Muslim; gay male; albino Ugandan female; lesbian female x wlw female; Native American male; Thai gay male; Anishinaabe; black Malaysian-American; Latinx; bisexual; gay male, British-Indian gay male; Mexican; gay male x Hindu gay male Featuring stories by a bestselling, cross-genre assortment of the most exciting writers working today, an anthology of gender-bent, race-bent, LGBTQIA+, and inclusive retellings from the vast lore surrounding King Arthur, Camelot, and the Knights of the Round Table.

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thecolorsinouruniverse · 2 years

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storms rise, and ships wreck. it's a fact of life, boy, though you're too young to know it. everything that seems sound has got a hole in it somewhere.

sword stone table: maria dehvana headley, mayday

#quotes #books #sword stone table #maria dahvana headley #mayday

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nyx-b-log · 2 years

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needed smth a little different after the last two books so went with sword stone table which is an anthology collection of race/genderbent and queer stories set in the arthurian legends.

i'm two stories in so far and tho i kind of bounced off the first one i enjoyed the second one a lot more.

looking forward to the rest!

#bookblr #books #reading #sword stone table #king arthur #it is reminding me how little i actually know about the arthurian legends tho #i read once and future king #that's kind of as deep as it goes #not queued

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libraryleopard · 1 year

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Adult SFF anthology reimagining Arthurian mythology from diverse perspectives

Stories set in the past, the present, and the future and including a variety of tones/representation/takes on mythology

Personal favorites: “Do, By All Due Means” by Sive Doyle, “Flat White” by Jessica Plummer, “A Shadow in Amber” by Silva Moreno-Garcia, and “Little Green Men” by Alexander Chee

#this was really fun to read after a semester of studying arthurian mythology!#lots of elaine stories which surprised me #sadly lacking a bisexual lancelot as i dearly hoped there would be #but overall a very solid anthology #sword stone table #books #lulu speaks #2022 reads #lulu reads #lulu reads sword stone table

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arteaxia · 8 months

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alright, I'm giving in. what are some good Merlin/Arthur Pendragon fics? multiple chapters? one shots work too! I haven't stopped reading harry potter and/or marauders stuff, but I'm branching !!! a new era !! more magic !!

#merlin #merlin and arthur #arthur pendragon #merlin bbc #king arthur #the sword in the stone #knights of the round table #arthurian mythology #ao3 #merlin ao3 #merthur

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aesthetic--mood · 7 months

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Edmund Pevensie Aesthetic

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diagic · 9 months

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Sword in the Stone, 2023

#original art #pointillism #art #linework #sword #sword in the stone #illustrator #illustration #artist on tumblr #blackwork #mixed media #literature #knights of the round table #king arthur #line work #dotwork #tattoo #tattoos

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checrawford · 4 months

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Scroll to pull a sword and see if you’re ready for adventure

#Dnd #dnd5e #dungeons and dragons art #art #comic #cartoon #comics #webtoon #dungeons and dragons #webcomic #table top #rpg #roleplay #sword #the immortal think tank #sword in a stone

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mad-i-moody · 1 year

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I don't usually go for crack fics (I already have enough nonsense in my life) buuuuuuut, Sword in the Stone (1963) and BBC Merlin crossover would be the greatest, goofiest fanfiction ever created. For reference this is what Sword in the Stone Merlin looks like.

Imagine the possibilities if you will. They are cursed.

#bbc merlin #merlin #arthur pendragon #knights of the round table #sword in the stone #merlin funny #i cringe and giggle thinking about it

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rocknroll7575 · 1 year

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The Boy King AU

So... recently I watched "The Sword in the Stone" the animated movie and then I watched two other movies "King Arthur legend of the sword" and "The Green Knight" and then I went down a rabbit whole of Arthurian legends and then I thought how this would work with RWBY and my first thoughts were to make the like Arthur but then I thought back to the Sword in the Stone and thought how Young Arthur became king in that movie and that got me thinking...

What if Oscar was Arthur and he too pulled the sword at a young age?

So, I started going down an insane path of making up a story woth Oscar as King Arthur, Ozpin and Merlin (of course), and other RWBY characters as other Characters from Arthurian legend and... uh... I even made a family tree for the whole story...

Yeah, I kind of went off the rails with this one.

So basically the whole story goes like this:

Oscar's father, the King of Vale (the one who ended the great war) never disbanded the monarchy of Vale or the other kingdoms, and became a great king, (His name is Alexander you know, aver Alexander the great) however, Alexander's half brother, who is Watts in this story, made a deal with a Witch (Guess who) for the power to take Vale for himself, and so he killed Alexander and his wife, a woman named Victoria Soleil (Hint, Hint), and also killed Alexander's firstborn daughter, her wife, and most of the Wife's family, Watts even killed his own wife. The only surviving members of the royal family are Ciel, Carmine, Oscar, and technically Jaune.

Ciel and Carmine escaped to Atlas with the help of a loyal knight, Jaune survived the slaughtering of his family by escaping with Ozpin, who also managed to escape with baby Oscar.

Oscar was then given to Tai and Summer to raise and instead of growing up as a Pine, he grew up as a Xiao-Long.

The events of the story happen when Oscar's 15. Ruby's 17, and Yang is 19.

Here's the whole family tree:

As I said, Oscar is Arthur in this story, but the family tree is a bit different.

Ciel is Morgan le Fay and remains the Older sister. Carmine is Mongause and instead of being Oscar and Ciel's half-sister, is actually their cousin. Instead it it s Terra who is their Older half-sibling

Jaune is only related to Oscar and Ciel by marriage, but Jaune is supposed to be Gawain only instead of being Oscar/Arthur's nephew, he's Oscar's Brother-in-law. It's Adrien who's Oscar's nephew and the two are actually around the same age in the story. Adrien represents Mordred, however, no one knows what happened to Adrien during the killing of the Royal Family, so it's possible the whole "Mordred" Storyline doesn't happen(?).

That's pretty much all I have as of now as I am still working on it, but man does this get my juices flowing!

#rwby #rwby oscar #oscar pine #king arthur #knights of the round table #jaune arc #ciel soleil #morgan le fay #rwby king of vale #arthurian fantasy #the sword in the stone #the boy king au

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ofliterarynature · 1 year

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Currently reading this month’s book club pick, Sword Stone Table ed. by @jennirl! So glad to finally be crossing this one off my TBR 💕

[instagram]

#bec posts #2023 #from Instagram #sword stone table #ahhh I hope it was ok to @ you Jenn!

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gawayne · 2 years

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✨ Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise king born of all England ⚔

Hello all, I’ve got a new guy up for grabs! This glitching Excalibur is a gold-plated soft enamel pin, 2″ tall, with a stained glass window inside the sun. On the back is sandblasted gold with two butterfly clutches.

Preorders run from today (May 27th) through June 17th. Pins are expected to ship in late July.

~ Check em out now in my shop! ~

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thecolorsinouruniverse · 2 years

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when you have overcome self-hatred, there is nothing in the world you dare not do

sword stone table: ken liu, white hempen sleeves

#quotes #books #sword stone table #ken liu #white hempen sleeves

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nyx-b-log · 2 years

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Sword Stone Table (edited) by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington Review

read: sep-oct 2022

rating: 3.5 stars

goodreads link

summary:

an anthology collection of 16 stories (split into past, present, and future) featuring racially and queerly diverse stories set within and around the arthurian legends.

opinion:

i wanted to like this more! and i don't think i really dislike it in any way.

it's an anthology collection, so ofc there's the mediocre with the good, and the stories that you just don't vibe with; that's kind of how it goes.

with this one, i felt that they were all good in their own way (the sarah maclean story the bladesmith queen aside, romance is not my thing and it hit upon so many tropes and writing quirks that i don't like that i skimmed over it), they weren't...for me.

now, it's possible that there's a disconnect between myself and the characters in terms of lived experiences, and that meant i struggled to relate to the characters, but i don't think that's it. i enjoyed the stories that dealt more explicitly with race (the quay stone, set in singapore and featuring a mixed race black and asian main character) and ones that didn't as much (black diamond), and these characters' backgrounds were extra parts that enjoyed, not key to my enjoyment (or lack thereof). plus, the ones i universally struggled to get into were the ones set in the past, which weren't as obliquely diverse (i being young and foolish being the main exception) but were much more committed to the canon parts of the arthurian cycle.

honestly, i think it's that the required base level knowledge of the arthurian cycle is just a touch too high compared to where i was before i started. it's lucky i remember elaine well otherwise i think i would have really struggled; she turns up in at least half of the stories.

obviously, this is more my fault than anyone else's. should i have expected every story to spell it all out? no, that would have been unpleasant for all involved.

i think i'd like to come back to this later down the line, after i've read around the stories involved more, and see what i think. i think it might get rid of that feeling i had of constantly missing out on some reference that was the key to some of the themes.

all that said, standouts for me were do, by all means by sive doyle, it is criminal this is their only published work this is easily my favourite (wlw with swords and a perfect writing style for the story), passing fair and young by roshana chokshi, mayday by maria dahvana headley, black diamond by alex segura, and white hempen sleeves by ken liu (once i thought about it for a bit).

i'd recommend this for people who already know a fair bit about the characters and their family histories, or are willing to do a bit of research beforehand.

or, of course, if you are familiar with and already like the authors' work!

#books #bookblr #book review #sword stone table #arthurian retelling #it was an interesting read #i want to know more #and it was great to see a wide sample of authors and work styles #maybe it just wasn't for me

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katnissgirlsmakedo · 2 years

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Chain of Gold, Cassandra Clare // Merlin 4x13 The Sword in the Stone - Part Two // 3x13 The Coming of Arthur - Part Two // 5x13 The Diamond of the Day - Part Two

#he’s so cordelia coded. said about the guy who very much in every way came ages before cordelia even existed.#anyway it’s supposed to be like. the sword in the stone. the round table. his death. are like the pillars of his mythology #and it’s mythology he didn’t ask for and maybe doesn’t even deserve but it’s his anyway #and he didn’t want to be a muse he didn’t want to be a story but he is anyway #and he couldn’t save them. just like cordelia.#merlin #stuff i made

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