![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
Write every day: Day 29
Dec. 29th, 2025 11:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaDay 28: Busy with family; alibi sentence. How about you?
Tally:
( Read more... )
Day 28:luzula, china_shop, badly_knitted, trobadora, brithistorian, goddess47, sanguinity, sylvanwitch, chestnut_pod, cornerofmadness, garonne, brithistorian,
Day 29:luzula, china_shop, garonne, brithistorian,
Tally:
( Read more... )
Day 28:
luzula, china_shop, badly_knitted, trobadora, brithistorian, goddess47, sanguinity, sylvanwitch, chestnut_pod, cornerofmadness, garonne, brithistorian, Day 29:
luzula, china_shop, garonne, brithistorian,Death's End by Liu Cixin (2010)
Dec. 29th, 2025 04:43 pmpauraqueAfter the events of The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest, this conclusion to the trilogy expands the perspective on the Earth-Trisolaran conflict beyond our two petty solar systems to a galactic, interdimensional, and finally universal scale. (Yes, this is the sort of book where rather than wondering if your favorite character survives, you wonder instead if there will be a habitable universe for them to survive in by the last page.)
This book took me a long time to read, not only because it's 600 pages but also because I kept stopping due to real life distractions. I also don't have the book anymore because it had to go back to the library. So I'm afraid this post is going to be more vibes-based than going into a ton of detail, even though seventy million things happened in the book that would each be worthy of detailed discussion.
My ultimate impression of the book (and of the series as a whole) is that there are a lot of things that the author and I will just never see eye-to-eye on, but I don't mind setting that aside because I like the way he explores his ideas even if I disagree with their fundamental basis.
( cut for length )
This book took me a long time to read, not only because it's 600 pages but also because I kept stopping due to real life distractions. I also don't have the book anymore because it had to go back to the library. So I'm afraid this post is going to be more vibes-based than going into a ton of detail, even though seventy million things happened in the book that would each be worthy of detailed discussion.
My ultimate impression of the book (and of the series as a whole) is that there are a lot of things that the author and I will just never see eye-to-eye on, but I don't mind setting that aside because I like the way he explores his ideas even if I disagree with their fundamental basis.
( cut for length )
Yuletide Recs (Part 1)
Dec. 29th, 2025 08:17 pmthisbluespiritReading ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
yuletide fic here and there suited my current state, and I've had a lot of fun with it so far, I actually have a whole batch of recs ready to go for once. (I still need to go back and pick up some fandoms, especially in the first half of the alphabet, and I've barely touched Madness).
( 22 recs in As You Like It, British Airways, Cabin Pressure, Cadfael, Dogsbody, Enigma, Flower Fairies, The Good Place, Georgette Heyer, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme, Ludwig, The Prisoner, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Shakespeare & Hathaway, Time Master, Welcome to Our Village Please Invade Carefully & Yes Minister )
yuletide fic here and there suited my current state, and I've had a lot of fun with it so far, I actually have a whole batch of recs ready to go for once. (I still need to go back and pick up some fandoms, especially in the first half of the alphabet, and I've barely touched Madness).( 22 recs in As You Like It, British Airways, Cabin Pressure, Cadfael, Dogsbody, Enigma, Flower Fairies, The Good Place, Georgette Heyer, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme, Ludwig, The Prisoner, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Shakespeare & Hathaway, Time Master, Welcome to Our Village Please Invade Carefully & Yes Minister )
Post-Christmas mishmash | Recent media
Dec. 29th, 2025 03:47 pmumadoshi(As is so often the case, I'm generally up to date on reading my DW circle, but not doing at all well with commenting.)
I guess at this point we're well into the liminal last bit of the year. (I said toscruloose earlier that I still try to hold "Christmas is twelve days, dammit" in my heart, but it's hard, especially when our observance of the the holiday at all is so low-key.) We had masked visits with both sets of parents (mine on Christmas Eve and scruloose's on Boxing Day), and in between, Christmas Day was just the two of us and the cats and the Netflix fireplaces. My mom sent us home with Christmas stockings and some gifts (also very low-key; we still keep nudging for just not doing presents at all), and the latter included a hard copy of the most recent edition of Garner's Modern English Usage, which was a delightful surprise.
We actually had a white Christmas, which has never been a sure thing and is getting rarer and rarer at terrible speeds, but now ice and rain are arriving, to be followed by a cold snap, so I'm really glad we don't need to leave the house anytime soon. (See also: will we lose power? Very possibly! >.< But we're pretty well-equipped to deal with it.)
I'm feeling like I should be looking ahead or setting small goals or trying to find specific things I want to focus on, but so far I'm not really scrounging the brain for it. Anyone want to tell me about how you're approaching it?
(I do think I'll sign up for a GYWO wordcount goal again, despite having written almost literally zero words this year, but at this point I have the grim suspicion that the words may stay gone until a new full-on fannish obsession hits me, and that's so infrequent for me. ;_; I have so many Guardian WIPs and fragments. [And while I'm enjoying seeing all the fannish glee over Heated Rivalry, I don't currently feel fannish about it myself {which, honestly, I'm okay with}.])
Recent media, mostly books: All Is Bright, Llinos Cathryn Thomas' "read over Advent" novella, which was lovely; The Dark is Rising (book), which I'm glad to have finally read; I don't know if/when I might read the books that follow it; Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher; Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk; KJ Charles' Masters in this Hall (which I should've checked the series info about first, as it's the third Lilywhite Boys book and I haven't read the second. Oops); and Brigid Kemmerer's A Curse So Dark and Lonely.
scruloose and I finished listening to System Collapse, so we're out of Murderbot books. Yesterday (?) we listened to the four-minute audiobook sample of The Thief, which I might be able to work with? But wow, the voice sounds so much older than Gen to me. (Also, Kobo, four minutes is a reasonable sample length, but it literally cuts off mid-word.)
I watched the season finale of Heated Rivalry pretty promptly on Friday morning, for fear of being spoiled, which meantscruloose, who hadn't seen any of the show previously, pretty much watched it too while feeding the cats and having their own breakfast. (I did give them some background info first.) As noted above: not feeling fannish, but I thought that was really well done overall, and the actors seem like an absolute delight.
And we've watched two movies since starting vacation (Wake Up Dead Man and Sinners), which brings me up to a whopping four [4] movies this year.
I guess at this point we're well into the liminal last bit of the year. (I said to
scruloose earlier that I still try to hold "Christmas is twelve days, dammit" in my heart, but it's hard, especially when our observance of the the holiday at all is so low-key.) We had masked visits with both sets of parents (mine on Christmas Eve and scruloose's on Boxing Day), and in between, Christmas Day was just the two of us and the cats and the Netflix fireplaces. My mom sent us home with Christmas stockings and some gifts (also very low-key; we still keep nudging for just not doing presents at all), and the latter included a hard copy of the most recent edition of Garner's Modern English Usage, which was a delightful surprise.We actually had a white Christmas, which has never been a sure thing and is getting rarer and rarer at terrible speeds, but now ice and rain are arriving, to be followed by a cold snap, so I'm really glad we don't need to leave the house anytime soon. (See also: will we lose power? Very possibly! >.< But we're pretty well-equipped to deal with it.)
I'm feeling like I should be looking ahead or setting small goals or trying to find specific things I want to focus on, but so far I'm not really scrounging the brain for it. Anyone want to tell me about how you're approaching it?
(I do think I'll sign up for a GYWO wordcount goal again, despite having written almost literally zero words this year, but at this point I have the grim suspicion that the words may stay gone until a new full-on fannish obsession hits me, and that's so infrequent for me. ;_; I have so many Guardian WIPs and fragments. [And while I'm enjoying seeing all the fannish glee over Heated Rivalry, I don't currently feel fannish about it myself {which, honestly, I'm okay with}.])
Recent media, mostly books: All Is Bright, Llinos Cathryn Thomas' "read over Advent" novella, which was lovely; The Dark is Rising (book), which I'm glad to have finally read; I don't know if/when I might read the books that follow it; Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher; Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk; KJ Charles' Masters in this Hall (which I should've checked the series info about first, as it's the third Lilywhite Boys book and I haven't read the second. Oops); and Brigid Kemmerer's A Curse So Dark and Lonely.
scruloose and I finished listening to System Collapse, so we're out of Murderbot books. Yesterday (?) we listened to the four-minute audiobook sample of The Thief, which I might be able to work with? But wow, the voice sounds so much older than Gen to me. (Also, Kobo, four minutes is a reasonable sample length, but it literally cuts off mid-word.)I watched the season finale of Heated Rivalry pretty promptly on Friday morning, for fear of being spoiled, which meant
scruloose, who hadn't seen any of the show previously, pretty much watched it too while feeding the cats and having their own breakfast. (I did give them some background info first.) As noted above: not feeling fannish, but I thought that was really well done overall, and the actors seem like an absolute delight.And we've watched two movies since starting vacation (Wake Up Dead Man and Sinners), which brings me up to a whopping four [4] movies this year.
Yuletide recs (part 2)
Dec. 29th, 2025 10:38 amsnickfic posting in yuletideMore recs at my journal, including:
Possibly in Michigan
The Secret History
The Raven Tower
Impromptu/19th Century RPF
The Dispossessed
The Long Walk -Stephen King
Waking the Moon
Rope
Possibly in Michigan
The Secret History
The Raven Tower
Impromptu/19th Century RPF
The Dispossessed
The Long Walk -Stephen King
Waking the Moon
Rope
Yuletide recs, part II
Dec. 29th, 2025 10:36 amsnickficSo many delicious goodies. :') I hope to make at least one more recs post before writer reveals.
Two, Seven, Eight, Possibly in Michigan, 1.8k. The Beachwood Place Mall is not a great work environment. The canon is a bizarre 1983 short film about weird men in masks following women in shopping malls, possibly with the intention of eating them, which you can watch here; this fic is a series of incident reports and answering machine messages to and from a concerned perfume counter employee. IDK if it's possible to fully capture the fever dream quality of the film, but this takes a good stab.
an island made from fate, The Secret History, Camilla & Charles, 1.6k. Early on at Hampden, Camilla escapes a tedious house party and finds Charles. This is a great, elegantly written little character study of Camilla, who never got quite enough time in the book IMO, and really shows the fault lines of her relationship with Charles. Great stuff.
k2, p2, yo, k2tog, The Raven Tower, The Strength and Patience of the Hill and The Myriad, 1.2k. The Strength and Patience tells a story about a sheep, and The Myriad has quibbles. The story about the sheep is fun and feels very in keeping with the universe of the novel, and the reveal about why the Strength and Patience has chosen to tell this particular story is delightful.
la femme comme il (en) faut, Impromptu (1991), George Sand, 3.2k. George gets invited to a salon and attends despite her better instincts. I'm not familiar with the movie and found this via the historical RPF tag, but I really enjoyed this vivid portrait of the Parisian artistic community at this time period, and the last scene really elevates it, IMO, and ties the whole thing together. I love the subtle emotional arc of this, and now I kind of want to go find the George Sand biography the author mentionds in the notes.
More A Comment Than A Question, The Dispossessed, Laia Asieo Odo & Sadik, 2.3k. Every so often, Laia goes a little mad and hears a voice claiming to be from the future. It's been a long time since I read about these characters, but I enjoyed this so much. The device of visiting Laia at these various points in her life was very cool, and there's something so peaceful about this whole fic, too, the same sense of peace and simplicity I got from reading the novel years ago.
There's No Discharge in the War, The Long Walk - Stephen King, Stebbins, 12k. Stebbins walks, dies, walks again. Stebbins has always been a sneaky favorite of mine, and I love seeing him get a fic all his own here that fleshes him out and gives him his own unique horrific trauma! The author uses the time loop device to fantastic and creative effect, and it all adds up to a conclusion that I like more and more the longer I think about it. Absolutely spectacular work. One of my favorites this year.
Hyacinth Girl, Waking the Moon, Oliver Crawford, 7.6k. Oliver, before the Divine. The author tags this as "Tragic Backstory" and they are correct!! I read this book last year and yet feel as though I'm missing things in this fic; I can't quite tell how many of these elements were present in the novel and which the author invents here, but the result is gorgeous and heartbreaking. You've got fairy tale stuff, dysfunctional family, the Benandanti always menacing in the background, more literay quotes than you can shake a stick at, absolutely gorgeous imagery.
Knife, Rope (1948), Brandon/Phillip, 4.9k. Brandon and Phillip's class go on a camping trip, and Brandon discovers that Phillip is not just more wallpaper. This is obviously backstory to the movie but feels like a beautiful, self-contained little psychopathic romance on its own. Two weirdos falling in love via discussing murder scenarios!! I was compelled from start to finish.
Two, Seven, Eight, Possibly in Michigan, 1.8k. The Beachwood Place Mall is not a great work environment. The canon is a bizarre 1983 short film about weird men in masks following women in shopping malls, possibly with the intention of eating them, which you can watch here; this fic is a series of incident reports and answering machine messages to and from a concerned perfume counter employee. IDK if it's possible to fully capture the fever dream quality of the film, but this takes a good stab.
an island made from fate, The Secret History, Camilla & Charles, 1.6k. Early on at Hampden, Camilla escapes a tedious house party and finds Charles. This is a great, elegantly written little character study of Camilla, who never got quite enough time in the book IMO, and really shows the fault lines of her relationship with Charles. Great stuff.
k2, p2, yo, k2tog, The Raven Tower, The Strength and Patience of the Hill and The Myriad, 1.2k. The Strength and Patience tells a story about a sheep, and The Myriad has quibbles. The story about the sheep is fun and feels very in keeping with the universe of the novel, and the reveal about why the Strength and Patience has chosen to tell this particular story is delightful.
la femme comme il (en) faut, Impromptu (1991), George Sand, 3.2k. George gets invited to a salon and attends despite her better instincts. I'm not familiar with the movie and found this via the historical RPF tag, but I really enjoyed this vivid portrait of the Parisian artistic community at this time period, and the last scene really elevates it, IMO, and ties the whole thing together. I love the subtle emotional arc of this, and now I kind of want to go find the George Sand biography the author mentionds in the notes.
More A Comment Than A Question, The Dispossessed, Laia Asieo Odo & Sadik, 2.3k. Every so often, Laia goes a little mad and hears a voice claiming to be from the future. It's been a long time since I read about these characters, but I enjoyed this so much. The device of visiting Laia at these various points in her life was very cool, and there's something so peaceful about this whole fic, too, the same sense of peace and simplicity I got from reading the novel years ago.
There's No Discharge in the War, The Long Walk - Stephen King, Stebbins, 12k. Stebbins walks, dies, walks again. Stebbins has always been a sneaky favorite of mine, and I love seeing him get a fic all his own here that fleshes him out and gives him his own unique horrific trauma! The author uses the time loop device to fantastic and creative effect, and it all adds up to a conclusion that I like more and more the longer I think about it. Absolutely spectacular work. One of my favorites this year.
Hyacinth Girl, Waking the Moon, Oliver Crawford, 7.6k. Oliver, before the Divine. The author tags this as "Tragic Backstory" and they are correct!! I read this book last year and yet feel as though I'm missing things in this fic; I can't quite tell how many of these elements were present in the novel and which the author invents here, but the result is gorgeous and heartbreaking. You've got fairy tale stuff, dysfunctional family, the Benandanti always menacing in the background, more literay quotes than you can shake a stick at, absolutely gorgeous imagery.
Knife, Rope (1948), Brandon/Phillip, 4.9k. Brandon and Phillip's class go on a camping trip, and Brandon discovers that Phillip is not just more wallpaper. This is obviously backstory to the movie but feels like a beautiful, self-contained little psychopathic romance on its own. Two weirdos falling in love via discussing murder scenarios!! I was compelled from start to finish.
8 recs in 7 fandoms
Dec. 29th, 2025 06:26 pmmrs_redboots posting in yuletideIf you go to my journal you will find recs for stories in the following fandoms:
Puck of Pook's Hill/Callendar Series
Sussex Set
Swallows and Amazons (two stories)
Cadfael Chronicles
Chalet School
The Secret Garden
and Dragonriders of Pern
There may yet be more to come....
Puck of Pook's Hill/Callendar Series
Sussex Set
Swallows and Amazons (two stories)
Cadfael Chronicles
Chalet School
The Secret Garden
and Dragonriders of Pern
There may yet be more to come....
Pithy Realization
Dec. 29th, 2025 12:08 pmjesse_the_kSince we met in 1977, MyGuy has always eaten the spongy white stuff which dwells between an orange and its skin (whether he picks it off the whole peeled orange or nibbles it away from the cut-open peel).
Yesterday I tried it. It's delicious! Michigan State University claims it also has as much vitamin C as the fruit.
What else am I missing?
Why on Earth: An Alien Invasion Anthology
Dec. 29th, 2025 05:34 pmprofiterole_readsWhy on Earth: An Alien Invasion Anthology, created by Rosiee Thor and Vania Stoyanova and written by 10 more authors, was a lot of fun. Teen aliens on a rescue mission crash-land on Earth.
This book is called an "anthology" but it's more of a collaboration (like my beloved Grimoire of Grave Fates). Rosiee Thor and Vania Stoyanova wrote the prologue presenting the aliens, then the other authors wrote stories about them encountering human teens, or sometimes just about humans dealing with the existence of the UFO. It's labelled as YA, but the writing feels MG to me.
The aliens choose their own genders, and don't necessarily stick with it. There are several enbies (among both the aliens and the humans), a trans boy, as well as some m/m, f/f and f/nb.
This book is called an "anthology" but it's more of a collaboration (like my beloved Grimoire of Grave Fates). Rosiee Thor and Vania Stoyanova wrote the prologue presenting the aliens, then the other authors wrote stories about them encountering human teens, or sometimes just about humans dealing with the existence of the UFO. It's labelled as YA, but the writing feels MG to me.
The aliens choose their own genders, and don't necessarily stick with it. There are several enbies (among both the aliens and the humans), a trans boy, as well as some m/m, f/f and f/nb.
Final December meme post, and some fannish links
Dec. 29th, 2025 01:24 pmdolorosa_12Today's prompt from chestnut_pod brings this year's December talking meme to a close, and it's been a great run of questions. Many thanks to all of you who left a prompt! This final prompt is to talk about how I learnt to garden, plus any longstanding plant friends in my garden.
( Response here )
fandomtrees is due to open for reveals on 10 January, but it will only do so when every participant has a minimum of two gifts each. This post on the comm links to a spreadsheet of needy trees — there are still a substantial number of participants with only one gift, or with no gift at all. My own tree is here.
And the new year means thatsnowflake_challenge will be rolling around again. I'm always so happy to see the consequent burst of enthusiastic activity on Dreamwidth!
chestnut_pod brings this year's December talking meme to a close, and it's been a great run of questions. Many thanks to all of you who left a prompt! This final prompt is to talk about how I learnt to garden, plus any longstanding plant friends in my garden.( Response here )
fandomtrees is due to open for reveals on 10 January, but it will only do so when every participant has a minimum of two gifts each. This post on the comm links to a spreadsheet of needy trees — there are still a substantial number of participants with only one gift, or with no gift at all. My own tree is here.And the new year means that
snowflake_challenge will be rolling around again. I'm always so happy to see the consequent burst of enthusiastic activity on Dreamwidth!
Books finished in 2025, end of year edition
Dec. 29th, 2025 10:44 amvivdunstanMy end of year full reading recap will be posted on my main blog - and a link to it posted here - by Hogmanay. In the meantime, here is my complete list of books finished this year, including 4 newly finished since my last post.
Of the newly finished ones, Alice's Oxford was a little bit too speculative for my taste, and plagued with an overly small font. But I did find a lot to enjoy, and am very glad I read it. Though I wanted clearer maps, to understand the geography. I've only been to Oxford a couple of times.
Wintering promised so much but was ultimately extremely disappointing. It stretched the concept of "wintering" to breaking point, and was repeatedly too self indulgent and written from a position of great privilege which the author seemed quite unaware of. Some good bits in there, and at times her writing was truly beautiful. But in the end, nope, not good. And a very poor ending.
The Doctor Who book about River Song's introductory episodes is one in the "Black Archive" series of episode analysis books from Obverse Books. I liked a lot about this, but was frustrated by how much the author ended up writing about things outside the two episodes, including River Song's wider arc, Steven Moffat's writing more generally, and paraphrasing rather too many science books. In the end I gave it 3/5 stars, but it's not one of the best "Black Archive" books for me.
The King of Elfland's Daughter was my book club read for December. I'm very glad I read it. It's a classic fantasy, which has influenced many other authors, including Tolkien. But it had flaws. It's more descriptive-driven than either plot-driven or character-driven. And with a positively glacial pace of story I found it hard to stay engaged and keep reading through to the end. Yet overall glad that I read it. And I loved one character especially. But I don't think I will ever reread it.
- ( earlier books )
- Alice's Oxford: People and Places that Inspired Wonderland by Peter Hunt
- Wintering: How I learned to flourish when life became frozen by Katherine May
- Silence in the Library / The Forest of the Dead by Dale Smith
- The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany
Of the newly finished ones, Alice's Oxford was a little bit too speculative for my taste, and plagued with an overly small font. But I did find a lot to enjoy, and am very glad I read it. Though I wanted clearer maps, to understand the geography. I've only been to Oxford a couple of times.
Wintering promised so much but was ultimately extremely disappointing. It stretched the concept of "wintering" to breaking point, and was repeatedly too self indulgent and written from a position of great privilege which the author seemed quite unaware of. Some good bits in there, and at times her writing was truly beautiful. But in the end, nope, not good. And a very poor ending.
The Doctor Who book about River Song's introductory episodes is one in the "Black Archive" series of episode analysis books from Obverse Books. I liked a lot about this, but was frustrated by how much the author ended up writing about things outside the two episodes, including River Song's wider arc, Steven Moffat's writing more generally, and paraphrasing rather too many science books. In the end I gave it 3/5 stars, but it's not one of the best "Black Archive" books for me.
The King of Elfland's Daughter was my book club read for December. I'm very glad I read it. It's a classic fantasy, which has influenced many other authors, including Tolkien. But it had flaws. It's more descriptive-driven than either plot-driven or character-driven. And with a positively glacial pace of story I found it hard to stay engaged and keep reading through to the end. Yet overall glad that I read it. And I loved one character especially. But I don't think I will ever reread it.
Curse Of The Seafaring Life - Our Flag Means Death icons
Dec. 29th, 2025 08:29 pmmagnavox_23 posting in fandom_icons
In Other News
Dec. 29th, 2025 10:22 amscifirenegadeTo calm down my boiling blood, I'm watching Dr. Mabuse (der spieler) (the first part). It's been literal ages and boy, is this HD copy contrasted to hell and back. Sometimes I can barely tell people's facial features!
Which leads us to Bad Film Restoration, which is exactly what it says. TLDR, less is more. Don't go crazy on the cloning and noise reduction tool.
Conrad Veidt, ein magier der Leinwand disappeared from YouTube after many years of it being up. The channel was terminated. It was full of German movie documentaries you can't find anywhere else. Copyright is, indeed, against art preservation.
The documentary is on the Internet Archive for anyone's viewing pleasure. No subs though.
Which leads us to Bad Film Restoration, which is exactly what it says. TLDR, less is more. Don't go crazy on the cloning and noise reduction tool.
Conrad Veidt, ein magier der Leinwand disappeared from YouTube after many years of it being up. The channel was terminated. It was full of German movie documentaries you can't find anywhere else. Copyright is, indeed, against art preservation.
The documentary is on the Internet Archive for anyone's viewing pleasure. No subs though.