me: *forgets words in english* whoops, well english isn’t my first language so me: *forgets words in native language* whoops, I’m better at english lol me @ me:

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me: *forgets words in english* whoops, well english isn’t my first language so me: *forgets words in native language* whoops, I’m better at english lol me @ me:

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A Study in Grey and Green by Orsi Skultéti
Two months ago a very good friend of mine asked (read: begged and bribed) me to build a kitchen as birthday gift to her boyfriend. No, he is not a chef and it is not a regular kitchen – she handed me 2 sets of dvds and dozens of screenshots to work with, and she asked me to recreate the kitchen of 221b Baker Street from BBC’s ‘Sherlock’.
Read more →
An ask in exchange: can you recommend some favorite Polish writers? I think I've only read Wisława Szymborska (quite a bit) and Czesław Miłosz (a very little). I don't know what all's been translated into English, but I'd love to expand my horizons. :-)
Wow, I spent way too much time thinking about this ask. I’m sorry if it will turn out to be quite lengthy.
I think that if you liked Szymborska, you might want to try reading some Julia Hartwig. I actually like Hartwig more (maybe because Szymborska is all over the school curriculums and I got a bit too used to her voice). Her poems are simple, precise and profound, and there’s a lot of travel impressions (of America, among other places) in them. She’s also a bit more dark than Szymborska, I think.
As for prose… Well, this is difficult, because the books I like are either very dependent on their language, or very Polish, and thus probably not that interesting (or comprehensible) to someone who’s not. One of my favourites is Bruno Schulz, but he’s definitely not for everyone, given the dreamlike, mythological and generally surrealistic qualities of what he writes (some people compare him to Kafka, if you have read him). A lot of the beauty of his writing might be lost in translation, but I haven’t read it, so I don’t know how successful it is. I also like Witold Gombrowicz, especially “Ferdydurke”, but again, this is a really weird book. It uses absurd and invents new words a lot, and, although it deals with more universal themes like youth and opression of identity, it’s also a critique of certain aspects of Polish culture of the time (it was published in 1937), so… eh, I’m not very good at recommending things, am I. But Gombrowicz is probably the best-known non-heterosexual Polish writer, so his works, apart from being of literary interest, are also interesting because of this non/less-heteronormative perspective.
From more easily-digestible books, there’s the wonderful, musically constructed “Madame” by Antoni Libera, which I recommend to anyone who will listen. I think there might be even some translated fragments of it on the internet. The story is quite simple - it’s about a student hopelessly fascinated with his French teacher in the 60s (= communist government and all that it entails), but the writing is absolutely brilliant. Or, if one was after some late-XIX-century, published-in-installments, supposedly-Dickensian (I say “supposedly” because all Dickens I’ve read was “A Christmas Carol” years ago) portrait of Warsaw society, there’s “Lalka”/“The Doll” by Bolesław Prus (but it’s also kind of male-centric and the main female character is… ugh, little more than a motivator for the main male character).
Sadly, there aren’t many prose-writing Polish women whose style I’m a big fan of. I wish there were more of them. The one I like the most is probably Olga Tokarczuk. Her stories often have central female characters; she likes to write about uncovering the past of places (and people) in a mystical/spiritual sort of way. Which is not exactly my cup of tea, but she definitely can write.
ahahaha this is probably way more than you asked for, but I’m glad you did, because it made me think about what kind of books are “exportable”, i. e. would be understood and appreciated the most, and how much of what I like doesn’t seem to be “exportable” at all, at least to me. Not to mention the problem of translations, because, obviously, there are few and far between and their quality varies. I didn’t even bother to recommend you much poetry, because looking at the English translations just made me sad.
(I knew this would turn out lengthy. Sorry!).
Dear hbbo, how does one learn to read (or listen to, as the case might be) books as attentively as you do?
Ahahahaha gosh. Lots of practice?
The David Copperfield-style long-form answer:
Keep reading
I want to say vis-a-vis the “gins and hbbo have different perspectives” question…
Keep reading
Love this:
Close reading is just about being conscious, noting what catches your attention, why it catches your attention, and thinking about how Thing <X> relates to Thing <Y>; and it doesn’t matter whether or not the Thing <X> and Thing <Y> that catch your attention are the same Thing <X> and Thing <Y> that your English teacher in 11th grade wanted you to talk about.
And totally agree. Do read Gins’s whole addition!
Also: I kind of can’t believe I neglected to bring up re-reading, which Gins touches on lightly at the end of her response; especially since one of my favorite definitions of “literature” is “fiction that grows upon re-reading.” I’m actually not natively a great re-reader—unlike, for example, Gins, who reads at the speed of sound, I physically read pretty slowly, and I always have so much on my to-be-read shelf which I’m eager to get to that I often neglect to make time for re-reading things I’ve already got through once. But I do think that, especially as we get older, it can be an amazing exercise in deepening our reading skills—and just our experience of life—to revisit pieces of fiction which we read much earlier and which we reacted to either very strongly or with surprising apathy; and to then take some time to reflect on how that piece of fiction changed for us as we ourselves have changed and grown.
I should make time for some re-reading in the near future!
I can't believe I got a lengthy reply both from hbbo and gins!
@hbbo: Yes, it was immensely useful, and thank you for taking your time to write such an extensive answer. It's always interesting to hear other people's reading/writing journeys, especially if, figuratively speaking, they have been on the road for a longer time. I envy you the literary atmosphere of your family, and it fascinated me how you wrote essays about your knitting! I think I can take out a lot of what you said for myself, especially the "if you want to be a reader, become a writer" thing.
The main difference between us is probably that (as you are likely able to tell) I'm not a native English speaker, but I read more in English than in my mother tongue right now - and I have to constantly balance being sort of well-read in Polish literature and being a newbie in all that's English. Which is a problem of both reading and writing. You'd think that learning how to read in one language (I will be forever thankful to my high-school Polish teacher for opening my eyes to the joys of the written word) would transfer to another one, but somehow, I find that it's not always the case. But I guess it's something I will have to figure out on my own. Anyway, thanks again. I will certainly be returning to what you wrote.
@fizzygins: What you say about fandom and fanfic certainly resonated with me (well, I wouldn't be on your - or hbbo's, for that matter - blog if it wasn't for fandoms and fanfiction, obviously). Although I've only been hanging around here for a year or so, it has certainly taught me how to be more critical of writing of various sorts, be it TV shows, classical literature or fics on AO3. I actually, and a bit embarrassingly, carried this childlike mentality of "if it's published, it must be good in some way, because, duh, it's published!" over into adulthood, which isn't at all useful in trying to read in a more analytical, or at least attentive, way.
The part where you talk about how your and hbbo's approach to literature complement each other was very interesting, too. I have never met a person engaged in any artistic endeavours similar to mine that I "clicked" with and that had different opinions on the subject, but I can certainly see the appeal.
All in all, what I take from both of your answers in that it's as much about environment as attentive engaging with fiction in a personal way, including both reading and writing. I can't always change the former, but I can always work on the latter.
Werner Herzog on his childhood in post-World War 2 Munich (via here)

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interesting thing, a tuxedo
a couple of months ago i was reading this book for my lgbt+ american history and literature class called The Beautiful Room is Empty by Edmund White, which is a semi-autobiographical book about a gay man growing up in the 50s and 60s (and it’s also really really good). but as i was trying to read it in peace i stumbled upon this line that just stopped me because i knew it, and i just sat there like ‘what the fuck’ before realizing why i recognized it:
“But for me, the tuxedos (which depersonalize waiters and lend distinction to friends)…”
here’s the paragraph in full
and i realized that it’s almost identical to one of sherlock’s lines in the empty hearse
and i was like oh my god MARK and it was bothering me for months because i researched it to see if maybe both sources were referencing something else altogether but i couldn’t find anything. and so finally this past sunday at the sherlocked con, i was like ‘shit i never asked mark about that book’ and i looked over and there was no one in line for an autograph from him so i went over and asked the woman next to him if i could take a few minutes to ask him a question
and she said yes and so i started telling him this whole story and it was really sweet because when i asked him if he’d read the book he was like “of course i have :)” like genuinely happy to be talking about this book and possibly to realize what i was bringing up
and i told him about how i’d recognized it and realized what it was and i was about to say ‘because it’s in the empty hearse!’ and he cut me off and said ‘it’s the line about the waiter’ and i was like ‘!!! yeah!’ and he started reciting the line with me like. saying it right behind him and i got so excited to have that finally answered, because i mean he just straight up told me that he referenced THAT quote in THAT SCENE
so um. he Did That thanks for coming to my talk
Inktober Day 5, teamwork.
Pillows pt4
concept: sherlock using the meme “cracking open a cold one with the boys” like it means solving cold cases with john and greg
“He kidnaps, she screams”: words associated with gender in Wikipedia plot descriptions
by variance_explained
In linguistics we call this “social gender”, which is basically whether a word has a feminine or masculine connotation. This kind of thing can be hard to intuit, since there are no hard and fast rules. Obvious examples include words like “nurse”, which may be technically gender neutral, but it’s got such a strong feminine connotation that many people will clarify “male nurse”. Less obvious examples are words like “muscles”, which all humans have, but the default interpretation is like, a manly guy with bulging biceps.
Many many words have social gender that’s difficult to notice, either because of the natural struggle to see gender, or because it’s just that subtle. So a corpus analysis like this is exciting because it gives concrete data on words we might not have thought twice about!!

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New BTS pics from #SherlockedUSA 2017! 😍😍😍 (source)
tag yourself I'm Sian in the last one
they’re telling people at sherlocked that they got a new skull painting and that tfp looked like that becuase the show has such a small budget
Well, that’s that burning question laid to rest.
S4 is definitely sorted now!
Ah. good to know it was so lyrical and rich in meaning
@wssh-watson pack your things, we can go home
So I was messing around with faceapp to see just how many (female) variations I could make out of John’s face. It could use some teaks here and there, but I have to say I’m satisfied with the results ~
Other Femlock Edits -
Female Sherlock
@wssh-watson

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Can I just… talk for a moment… about how much I love how, if you know them well, words don’t have synonyms?
English, for example, is a fantastic disaster. It has so many words for things that are basically the same, and I find there’s few joys in writing like finding the right word for a sentence. Hunting down that peculiar word with particular meaning that fits in seamlessly in a structure, so the story flows on by without any bumps or leaks.
Like how a shout is typically about volume, while a yell carries an angry edge and a holler carries a mocking one. A scream has shrillness, a roar has ferocity, and a screech has outrage.
This is not to say that a yell cannot be happy or a holler cannot be complimentary, or that they cannot share these traits, but they are different words with different connotations. I love choosing the right one for a sentence, not only for its meanings but for how it sounds when read aloud. (Do I want sounds that slide together, peaceful and seamless, or something that jolts the reader with its contrast? Snap!)
I love how many words for human habitats there are. I love how cottage sounds quaint and cabin sounds rustic. I love steadiness of house, the elegance of residence, the stateliness of manor, and tired stubbornness of shack. I love how a dwelling is different to a den.
And I love how none of them can really touch the possessive warmness of all the connotations of home.
Words are great.
I did not expect to cry by the end of this, but I did. Which proves the point, no?
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between a lightning bug and the lightning.” - Mark Twain (and one of my favorites, since I happen to agree with everything the OP said!)
being lonely is lesbian culture
the L in lesbian stands for loneliness