sideways | Reading

When, in the course of human events, one reads a little bit too much of Marilynne Robinson's incredible prose, and then plays a little bit too much Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and thus gets the two very different types of work all muddled in one's head, and is thus seized with the need to go spit out many thousands of words of Clair-Obscur-fanfiction-in-the-style-of-Marilynne-Robinson, but becomes aware partway through the project that one's understanding of the culture and structure of the Paris Conservatory during the Belle Époque era is incredibly thin, and this lack of understanding is really becoming awkward given that one has gone and invented an entire subplot involving multiple professors at aforementioned conservatory in one's fanfiction based on a passing mention in canon that "oh such-and-such character went to conservatory" and literally nothing else—well, it thus becomes necessary to go read a well-regarded biography of a contemporaneous French composer to amend that lack of knowledge.

Which is how I found myself reading Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life by Jean-Michel Nectoux (translated by Roger Nichols).

("You really have a knack for nerd-sniping yourself," a friend observed dryly when I explained my present pitiable state of affairs. Yeah I sure do, huh.)

As I've been reading this primarily for convoluted fanfiction research purposes, what follows should not be construed as a review or anything even approaching one (I haven't even finished reading the book yet!), but, more of a... thinking-aloud session? Because there's a great deal that's amused me, and also a great deal that's made me very ponderous, and also stuff that just straight-up confused me (recall my aforementioned staggering lack of historical/contextual knowledge)... and yeah the only way I know how to think these days is via blog posts, apparently.

( Read more... )

Oh, also, one last funny bit about the translation: there's a bunch of words that are left with the French spelling, for no particular reason I can discern? The funniest of these is "rôle," which is always spelled the French way, even though there is no semantic difference to be had there. Whatcha trying to prove with that little hat over the O, lol. Though I guess The New Yorker still spells coordinate and cooperate as "coördinate" and "coöperate" so. I guess we all have our little spelling hangups :P

duskpeterson

Most of the official documents of the Koretian government are locked away or in active use, but the outer chamber of the historian's room boasts a magnificent chart of the bloodlines of the previous rulers of Koretia. You will see that there are two main bloodlines; both were cut off by wartime casualties, although the last surviving direct descendant of the second line died surprisingly recently. See the section of this book on Valouse for more details.

The Jackal's previous bloodline is unknown, but the Koretian ruler has established a new bloodline by selecting a young kinsman as his heir. The kinsmanship is dually established through a wardship and through a blood-brotherhood of an earlier generation.

[Translator's note: With his usual reticence, the Ambassador fails to cite plainly his own connection to Koretia's royal line. That connection is mentioned often in Empty Dagger Hand.]

marycatelli posting in

books

Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

The continuing adventures of Jeeves and Bertie.

( Read more... )

anneapocalypse

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tozka

Book Info

A Trip of One’s Own: Hope, Heartbreak, and Why Traveling Solo Could Change Your Life by Kate Wills (2021)

Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Travel

LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/28155352/

Acquired from: Little Free Library, [undisclosed location], USA

Started reading: September 19, 2025

Finished reading: TBD

Bookmark: California bookstore (came with book)

Notes

Page 0: I already travel solo extensively (in fact, full-time for years) but this seems more like a travel memoir than a how-to so I think it’ll be good to read.

She’s following the travels of one of the early travel writers, Egeria, who went on a pilgrimage which means visiting Israel and other nearby sites. In fact this author starts right off in Israel, just fyi.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

drabblewriter posting in

100words

Title: Turned Arouns
Fandom: The Iliad
Characters/Ship: Hector & Andromache
Rating: G
Note: also for “plead my belly” on my

allbingo Piracy Bingo card

( Read more... )

tozka

Book Info

Genre: Nonfiction, Natural History, Ecology

LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/11720259/t/The-Forest-Unseen-A-Years-Watch-in-Nature

Acquired from: Little Free Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA [see log]

Started reading: August 17, 2025

Finished reading: September 2 (DNF)

May come back to this later (in ebook version) but it’s not holding my attention and I don’t want to carry it around waiting for it.

Reading Updates

Title Page: This copy is signed by the author!

Page xii:

Indeed, the truth of the forest may be more clearly and vividly revealed by the contemplation of a small area than it could be by donning ten-league boots, covering a continent but uncovering little.

Page 8: Somebody did a lot of underlining in pencil but stopped after the second chapter. Guessing they DNF’d this, but I’m enjoying it so far. It reminds me of Seasons of the Wild but more satisfyingly science-y.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

spiralsheep posting in

endings

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larissa

my hands still really hurt, so i'll try to keep this entry short.

however, i finished my fic archive! i'm really happy with how it came out. i need to tweak a few things that have errors, but other than that it's in good shape. fic writing has always been part of fandom for me but not something i've really talked about on my websites until recently, so this is a little weird for me to make, but: in a web that's increasingly narrow, i think it's important to carve out little spaces like this.

also, i like writing behind-the-scenes content for fics, so there's that.

other than that, my hands have been in terrible shape so i've been offline a lot to rest. watched several movies over the past week, of varying quality, but nothing standout. i should really start on one of those shows that's been on my to-watch list while i'm icing my hands, but i haven't gotten around to it yet.

my brother's wedding is in two weeks! i am not in the wedding (thank god) but of course i'll be going. while stressful, i think i am looking forward to it; he's the first of my siblings to have a big wedding so it'll be an experience for sure.

that's all for now. on to next week!

Current Music: haku — noanowa

pauraque

[Happy Hobbit Day! This is a revision of a review I first posted to my LJ on October 10th, 2011. It has been edited for clarity and additional information.]

Though apparently a huge success in Europe, this game is more obscure in the US, where it was released as Hobbit Software Adventure. (In the 1980s the word "software" was exciting enough to put in a name. Some early games also advertised on the box that they were "100% machine language!")

screenshot showing image of a hobbit door and a text description of same

screenshot showing image of a hobbit door and a text description of same

The manual calls it "one of the most sophisticated adventures ever designed for microcomputers," so let's don our evening attire, pour a glass of wine, and boot it up.

( SOFTWARE! Excited yet? )

You can play the DOS port of The Hobbit/Hobbit Software Adventure in your browser, for an unforgettable evening of text-based sophistication. 🍷

prixmium

On AO3 | Done for the prompt "shopping mall" for the

fandom_empire Bingo Challenge

I started listening to Jason K. Pargin's TikToks on some other platforms since I myself never made a TikTok account or downloaded the app. I started to vibe with his perspective. He's a generation older than me, but he speaks to a lot of the weird alienation that has accelerated in the past decade or two. He does a lot of good work to try and help men, especially young men, stop being so disaffected. I think he tries to get them to engage with art in a meaningful way, even if it's silly pop art.

As a result of my admiration for his online work, I decided to support him by reading and buying his book I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom. Then, I started to read/listen his other books when I finished that one. I'm nearly finished with This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It and still kind of like it. I don't feel fervently fannish about it, but I feel a bit fannish about it, and I wanted to fight against my making-stuff paralysis while writing words seems clogged up.

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: King - Florence and the Machine

but_can_i_be_trusted posting in

100words

Title: 'Goal'
Fandom: Original Fiction
Rating: G
Notes: Crossposted to

drabble_zone

( Goal )

but_can_i_be_trusted posting in

100words

Title: 'Laureate'
Fandom: Original Poetry
Rating: G

( Laureate )

kaffy_r

Despair Sucks. Perhaps a Palate Cleanser's in Order

Even though the world is on fire and every morning brings pit-of-the-stomach dread about what the morning headlines will tell, it isn't giving up the fight to say "today I'm going to tell despair to suck it."

I realized this morning that my last couple of posts have been full of rage and frustration. Those are true emotions, but they're also corrosive in the long run - and who the hell knows how much time "the long run" comprises. So here are a couple of things I can honestly say made me smile, or things that I did that I think were fun, or good for someone.

I can't recall if I've mentioned my friend Sandy's efforts to get her and her husband, Dr. Bob, back into the house they had to leave last December because of fire. Their situation has been fraught on so many levels, and Bob and I haven't been able to help much, other than to have them over for supper and an evening away from their long-term BnB just to have time away from the whole thing. But now that they're starting the process of getting back home, we've been able to help.

They have had 1100 badly packed and mislabeled boxes of goods delivered back to their house (that's part of why their situation has been so fraught, even now) and they were overwhelmed with the prospect of unboxing everything and putting things back to rights. Bob and I have spent a few hours every day or so helping them do that; from helping them sort things into "keep," "give away," and "pitch" bags, to simple things like breaking down boxes. Boxes and boxes and boxes - and breaking down those boxes and packing garbage bag after garbage bag with the paper used to pack the boxes - becomes really important in this situation. Sometimes all Sandy needed was someone to listen as we took a coffee break, so that she wasn't simply screaming into the void.

As of today, when I walked in to help Dr. Bob and their friend Steve with more unboxing, the place is starting to look a fair bit more than simply piles of boxes. I think even Dr. Bob, who is inclined to be a glass half empty type, was feeling a little bit of hope.

They have a long way to go before the place is completely back to rights, but at least they know we won't abandon them. Their longtime friend and retired housekeeper is coming up from Birmingham to do some of the heavy emotional and unpacking lifting that's still necessary. I think they'll finally be able to call their home an actual home before the end of the year.

Earlier this week, we had the unexpected pleasure of a visit from

ljgeoff , who was on her way from one travel nursing assignment to another. It's been a few years since Lisa last visited us; we shared some pizza, chocolate chip cookies, and conversation, and then she was on her way. She has more energy in her little finger than I have in my entire body. She also is braver than I think I'll ever be. It was a joy to be in the same room with her again.

And finally, we've decided to give away the Keurig coffee/tea/whatever maker that a friend gave us. We are drinking enough coffee these days that we haven't used the Keurig in months. Mind you, given the increasing price of coffee, perhaps keeping the Keurig and getting rid of the regular coffee maker might be the smarter choice. Sigh.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: the office ceiling fan

tozka

Life Updates

Well, that was a longer gap than I meant to do! From my last update to now:

have left my Ann Arbor catsit
flown to California to visit parents and sat in a SoCal heatwave for a week
bought new suitcase, repacked items, swapped out clothes, etc.
flew to new catsit in undisclosed location (in the Western part of the US, anyway)
settled into new catsit for about a week, then
became vaguely ill for a week and
only now picked up laptop and felt energetic using it

I’ll do a more precise (friends-only) catsit update to introduce y’all to the new kitties, but overall I’m really enjoying this new location– though I miss the garden from Ann Arbor! I do have a balcony with a view of the river with an enormous amount of ducks here, though.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

halfshellvenus

A New Man
Idol Wheel of Chaos | Week 10 | 2440 words
Intrigant (one who intrigues or is involved in intrigue)

x-x-x-x-x

Winslow Johnson was a middle-aged man in a Midwestern city who suffered from being constantly overlooked. Even his name, which should have been interesting, somehow wasn't. People noticed it for half a second, and then slid right off into "Eh…" It was unusual, but somehow also blah, like Winslow himself.

Sometimes, Winslow wondered if he was invisible.

He worked as a shoe salesman at J. C. Penney, a job that was even less exciting than it sounded. Penney's specialized in 'sensible' and 'matronly,' with a large overlap between the two. Winslow had also never cared for feet, which only made the job more unpleasant. He had tried feigning enthusiasm for them before, but found that it only made him seem weirder.

What he needed, Winslow thought, was a personality transplant.

At office parties and in the breakroom at work, he never seemed to have anything to talk about. He had hobbies, and they weren't anything desperate like collecting string. But when he mentioned his tiny herb garden or he invited someone to spend the day watching trains with him, he got nothing but blank stares in return. Why couldn't he be like Dave from Home and Garden, who was a sports nut and knew how to make people laugh? Or like Janet from Housewares, who was always up-to-date on new movies and the popular TV shows?

Winslow had no idea how to solve his problem. There were no classes for that sort of thing, no magic potions that could make a difference. The only thing he could think of was to go to the bookstore and consult the self-help section. The quantity of selections was overwhelming:

"The You You Are," by Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale.

What? Winslow thought.

"You Are Special, Yes You Are!" by Bitsy McLintock.

Winslow cringed, and kept surveying the shelves.

"Why You Suck, And How To Stop," by Chad Barton.

Huh. The title was kind of harsh, but didn't it basically describe his problem? And if anyone would know how to be cool, it would be someone named Chad. Winslow picked the book up and started leafing through it.

Chapter 1
Why You Suck and Nobody Likes You

You're creepy. You're boring. You smell bad. Do any of these sound familiar? The suckee is always the last to know.

Oh, no! Winslow thought. Could one of those be his problem? Or worse, all of them?

( Read more... )

There's no poll this week, as it's a contestant-only vote.

pauraque

After some consideration of my options, I have made a Star Wars icon that pleases me. It's a screenshot of the music video for Jeremy Messersmith's "Tatooine" with animation by Eric Power.

Embedded video: Paper cutout animation retelling the plot of the Star Wars Original Trilogy.

Watch on YouTube

veronyxk84 posting in

100words

Title: Laid Bare
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Characters/Pairing: Spuffy
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: some coarse language
Word count: 200 (Google Docs)
Setting/Spoilers: Set in S6, at the end of ep. 6x07 “Once More With Feeling.”
Summary: Buffy’s POV. The moments after “Where Do We Go From Here” that lead up to the Spuffy kiss.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created for fun and no profit has been made. All rights belong to the respective owners.

Prompt: [Amnesty XLVI] #001 Sweet + #144 Ache + #356 Double/Triple Drabbles

Crossposted:

anythingdrabble,

drabble_zone,

sweetandshort,

emotion100, My journal, Sunnydale After Dark

—
( READ: Double drabble/Laid Bare )

marycatelli posting in

books

How Right You Are, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

The further adventures of Bertie and Jeeves. Minor spoilers for earlier works.

( Read more... )

atamascolily

I remember enjoying the earlier books in this series about a London-based doctor who treats angels, demons, and monsters, but it's been so long that I can only really remember what happened in the first one. Unfortunately, this one really didn't work for me. The back cover blurb bills it as a road trip across America with Greta, an angel, and a demon, but things move so slowly that it's halfway through the book before they even get across the ocean, and they never actually leave New York City at all??? Very much a letdown.

The actual plot is about politicking between heaven and hell involving a lot of side characters in meetings plus mysterious attacks which have to be treated by our hero and allies, and I did not particularly enjoy it, even without the misleading marketing copy.

It's too bad, because the supposed premise is interesting, and the cover art is cute, but it felt like this book (supposedly the final installment in the series) went out with a whimper instead of a bang. Very disappointing.

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Winger

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Page Summary

queenlua - partial notes on Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life by Jean-Michel Nectoux
duskpeterson - FIC: Historian's room (Tempestuous Tours)
marycatelli in books - Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves
anneapocalypse - not-so-blue skies ahead
tozka - 📖 reading log: a trip of one’s own
drabblewriter in 100words - [Amnesty][Challenge #398: Serve] The Iliad: Turned Around
tozka - 📖 reading log: the forest unseen by david george haskell
spiralsheep in endings - (no subject)
larissa - 2025 week 38
pauraque - The Hobbit, aka Hobbit Software Adventure (1982)
prixmium - Moodboard: John Dies at the End Tribute
but_can_i_be_trusted in 100words - [AMNESTY: Challenge #391: Map] Original Fiction: 'Goal'
but_can_i_be_trusted in 100words - [AMNESTY: Challenge #8: Poetry] Original Poetry: 'Laureate'
kaffy_r - Dept. of Sunshine
tozka - 📝 weeknotes (sept. 14-20, 2025)
halfshellvenus - LJ Idol: Wheel of Chaos: "A New Man"
pauraque - twin suns of Tatooine taught me everything I know
veronyxk84 in 100words - [Amnesty XLVI] BtVS / Spuffy — Laid Bare
marycatelli in books - How Right You Are, Jeeves
atamascolily - "Strange New World" (Dr. Greta Helsing #4) by Vivian Shaw

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Style: Teal Eaves for For the Bold by timeasmymeasure

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Page generated Sep. 23rd, 2025 08:11 am

not today or tomorrow

Reading

partial notes on Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life by Jean-Michel Nectoux

FIC: Historian's room (Tempestuous Tours)

Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves

not-so-blue skies ahead

📖 reading log: a trip of one’s own

Book Info

Notes

[Amnesty][Challenge #398: Serve] The Iliad: Turned Around

📖 reading log: the forest unseen by david george haskell

Book Info

Reading Updates

(no subject)

2025 week 38

The Hobbit, aka Hobbit Software Adventure (1982)

Moodboard: John Dies at the End Tribute

[AMNESTY: Challenge #391: Map] Original Fiction: 'Goal'

[AMNESTY: Challenge #8: Poetry] Original Poetry: 'Laureate'

Dept. of Sunshine

📝 weeknotes (sept. 14-20, 2025)

LJ Idol: Wheel of Chaos: "A New Man"

twin suns of Tatooine taught me everything I know

[Amnesty XLVI] BtVS / Spuffy — Laid Bare

How Right You Are, Jeeves

"Strange New World" (Dr. Greta Helsing #4) by Vivian Shaw

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September 2025

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