#cutearose

NEW ICON!!!

12. did you enjoy any compulsory high school readings? i think i sort of hated them all on principle (not liking being forced to read something, no matter what it was) BUT i did like the tempest!

14. do you ever mark/dog ear books you own? yes! i was pretty anti-annotation until i borrowed a book from someone who had annotated it and found it such a lovely reading experience that i was like wait... why am i NOT annotating my books... hrmm (but i always dog-eared the pages of my own books growing up, much more efficient than keeping track of bookmarks)

20. what are things you look for in a book? these aren't necessarily must-haves but i do love a good unreliable narrator, unreliable/straight up unlikeable/challenging characters, lots of character development, etc etc... basically plot and (even world-building) is secondary to me, so long as i have well-written, compelling characters to root for (or against)!

its something to do w tumblrs coding!!!! it just hates hearts!!! like sometimes they get replaced w a code too its just. v annoying

Sunflower: Is there somebody you look up to? Who are they? My parents, I just admire them so much

Daisy: What is something you find unique about yourself? Appearance wise my hair colour, personality wise my transparency (as my inability to hide emotion)

Tulip: Tell us about something precious to you. What value does it hold? Could we see a picture of it? I know this is gonna sound silly, but my dad always carries a raw chestnut in his pocket because apparently, according to an old tale, it brings you luck both in your “normal” life and when you’re climbing/mountain hiking, so I started doing the same thing a few years ago. We now have this kind of shared tradition, and I actually plan on tattooing a chestnut on my arm at some point 

Thank you!

skdjsksjxksjsksjdks if it makes you feel better i keep doing the same thing. who the fuck is-- oh that's me

I think it's worse because I've been green toned for like two years

3. What were your top five books of the year?

look I just finished The Burning God and I think it was my favourite of the trilogy of The Poppy War but I’m inclined to leave The Poppy War on my top 5 in its place because y’all need to read all three of them

so it remains Priory, Jane Eyre, The Poppy War, London Lies Beneath, and Terra Nullius.

13. What were your least favorite books of the year?

I don’t think I could truly rank A Least Favourite or a few? Because for the most part, I will dump books before finishing them if I hate them.

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters is one of them. I’ve enjoyed everything else I’ve read of hers, but it felt like it needed to be a third shorter, and even then I wouldn’t have liked it that much, as the plot was just... eh. I do wonder if it was one of those books where the author is established enough that their editors aren’t as edit-happy.

The Dressmaker’s Secret by Rosalie Ham is another. Not what I wanted from a sequel at all, which made it very hard to enjoy. And very hard to review, as I got an eARC of it - I was trying to review it objectively, and I think my dislikes were all more subjective.

Though looking at my reading list for this year, that’s it, mostly because anything else I didn’t care for, I didn’t make it to the end.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

This Is Going To Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, by Adam Kay. It sounded alright, and I spotted it at work so grabbed it, but didn’t expect to enjoy it remotely as much as I did. It’s an absolute delight - at times, laugh-out-loud hilarious (and I read it at work and on my commute, like a fool); at others, utterly heartbreaking, because you are reading about the lowest lows of an OB/GYN doctor.

Another, which I know you’ll appreciate, is The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters. It’s very out of type for her - a ghost story, and no canon lesbians in sight. (Caroline Ayres is definitely a lesbian, though, and nobody can tell me otherwise.) But it’s an excellent gothic story, right down to the specific tragedy, and to the creepy old mansion, and I didn’t expect to love it quite so much. (Pretty fucked up that this might be my favourite of Waters’ novels given it lacks what she’s famous for.)

18. How many books did you buy?

Look, I counted before, and it was in excess of seventy. About twenty were in November, but that’s what happens when you’re seeing every book that you’re selling, and you have no self control because you spent three months of lockdown powering through books. Nearly 50 are on the book shelf in my room? Some are in the other rooms of the house, some I’ve loaned out, some were for other people, some I’ve added to the pile to go back to the op shop.

i think ive finally decided on a couple of tattoo ideas/designs which im REALLY excited about, because ive wanted tattoos forever, but! i have nooo idea abt placement/where i should get them, soo im a bit stuck :( ill share the ideas though, because maybe someone will have some suggestions for where they would look good! for ideas 1 (& 2, i guess) i want a couple of weapons - negan’s bat from twd, and faith’s knife from btvs. not sure how big id want them but again, i think that would depend more on where i end up getting them. i was thinking maybe inner bicep (so when i flex...) but then idk if i should put them one on either side, or both on the same side and just smaller. THEN my other idea is to get some violets to commemorate my cat, violet, who died last year. i just need to find some good reference images because i wanted them in a lil bunch tied together with some string or something, but i dont think that’s really a thing people do with violets... and all in b&w if that makes any difference! and that’s it :-) hhhh one day ill stop talking about it and just get tatted, i swear...