A Literary Princess

monday | july 20

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. You just have to get people to stop reading them.” —Ray Bradbury.

In so many ways we do inch closer and closer to living in the reality of Fahrenheit 451 each day. In a stupid and likely accidental way, OP is right about reading audiobooks being a skill. But rather than dumbing down audiobooks, just fucking hone the skill. Honestly. Not everything has to be tailored to the lowest common denominator. Either audiobooks aren’t for you or you do the work to be able to handle the extra “cognitive load” (which I guess just means paying attention ???)

book post! #2 of the year - the iliad, tr. emily wilson. I don’t really see this as something I can “review” beyond my experience of it; I’m not a scholar in the area lol. so glad I read it though :)

🦋 Faeries, Sprites & Malevolent Spirits: An Anthology of Classic Poetry & Stories edited by Aurora Thorne

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟/5

This small anthology explores our fascination with the ethereal creatures across centuries and cultures that we call the Good Folk. In literature and folklore they have retained an edge of danger and embodied the mysterious and magical aspects of the natural world.

This was an okay collection of fairy poems and stories, though it didn’t jump out to me. I enjoyed how at the beginning of each section there was a short story, which I enjoyed more than the poetry aspect. There was nothing wrong with the poems chosen, but I’ve read better collections.

If you’re interested in poetry, the Everyman’s Library edition of “Fairy Poems” is where I’d go. Lots of really evocative writing in that one.

“Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That’s part of what it means to be alive. But inside our heads - at least that’s where I imagine it - there’s a little room where we store those memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in awhile, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you’ll live forever in your own private library.” 

book blurb post! my 10th read of the year AND first (potentially only tbh) nonfiction book of the year. purchased on indie bookstore day. :)

A Disability History of the United States by Kim E. Nielsen

hello piranesi nation!! here are my designs for the narrator!

drawing his different “selves” was a really fun challenge. even though the narrator is fundamentally the same person throughout the whole novel, his presentation obviously changes a lot.