everyone needs to stop worrying, darling! i'm back
chaos and spontaneity seem to be the only factors for when i decide to write these newsletters
well that tracks with your personality
i am a wing 7 and i will NOT be shamed for it, luv!
i am back after a “brief” hiatus to give you all an update on my progress!! i will be honest and say that i haven’t sent anything new in two months for a couple of reasons:
i was trying to squeeze out the last of summer!!! as many may know, summer IS my season. i decided this back in 2020 when we were in the depths of isolation and fully embracing our collective addiction to screens and the internet so we could FEEL something!
(ADDENDUM) if you were being honest, that time did wonders for your FOMO bc everyone was stuck inside and would FT you whenever y’all were bored
…………..i will not be taking comments at this time! but i will tell you that summer is iconic for multiple reasons, but mostly you don’t have to do the calculus of “will i be warm enough with this many layers or will i overheat?????”
work is spooky in august and half of September! if you don’t already know, i work at a silly little university and work directly with students! so, as they are moving and settling in, i am slowly losing my mind and racking up STOOPID amounts of overtime. while i like my job, that time is such a blur that i lose track of time
also didn’t you go through a whole month where you just watched ugly betty???
….betty is an icon and that is all i will say on the subject
POV: y’all trying to save me on my work-made deathbed
because of those two things, i didn’t read as much as i normally would, so i didn’t have many updates for you all! i wanted to rack up some sweet sweet reviews so that i could bring you some even sweet sweeter content which i KNOW y’all eat up
no crumbs here!!!!!!!
and so i’m coming to you as someone who is ready to serve you all some piping hot content, just don’t mind the takis-blue-heat-colored-rat under my chef’s hat
what i’ve read in the last 68 days
book 1:
finally
okay!!!! I GET IT!!! as we know, lucas has NOT been helpful in finishing this series, and TBQH i think that with schül he doesn't have any space in his brain for ~~~~~~~~~~~~~reading for pleasure~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. so we finished this book via an audiobook. the cute, quirky idea of having us reading to each other is just not feasible! even tho i tried to bully him into it hundreds of times :)
wow never thought y’all would be quitters!!!! especially when the people are BEGGING for good content
well, much like my family, they should know that disappointment is inevitable with me! sorry ladies 💋 but back to the review!
to make a long story short, this has been my fave in the series so far
yay!
because it is about another aspect of the NCU (narnia cinematic universe) that we haven’t seen yet. for the most part, the series is contained in the region of narnia and follows the Pevensie children. so this was a nice reprieve from that to understand that this world is expansive and multifaceted, even if cs lewis wants to make every place the product of the same moral over and over again.
okay, drag him!
and it is v interesting! and fun!
BUT it shows how cs lewis was xenophobic (and like high key white saviorism like the beautiful, fearless princess from an overtly middle eastern-esque region has to be ultimately saved by this scrawny white boy because of clout??? or the descriptions of the characters from calormen???) and plays on stereotypes and caricatures of people from middle eastern ethnic groups. i just have some questions for Mr lewis!!!
BOOOOOOOO
yeah :/ so just be warned!
book 2:
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
?????????um
what is going ON here
just stan behavior! i………,,,…,,,,,love this book!!!!!!! like i told y’all in the last newsletter, this book simply WRECKED my sleep schedule and lowkey my whole life!!!! it is a novel following our KING cyril avery!!!!! from literally the moment he is born till his last day! each chapter is a jump 7 years into the future (so 0, 7, 14, 21
we get it, multiples of 7
good :)))))))))
as he experiences the beginning stages of Ireland’s independence, amsterdam’s progressive environment, and so many other places as they creep towards our modern time! it felt like i was given a snapshot of the world as it was and how cryil navigated it through his own lens. it made me feel like i was there, experiencing his life in real-time while better understanding what it was like to be queer from 1940 to now!!
ALSO i loved cyril! he’s funny, thoughtful, and yearning; as a Pisces, this is relatable!!! he made it all seem so engaging, and i couldn’t put it down! we also all know that i love a novel that follows some eccentric, funny person through their whole life (SEE: THE OTHER BOOK THAT I AM OBSESSED WITH THAT’S THE SAME FORMAT BUT IT’S RUSSIA<33333333333)
calm down
I WON’T UNTIL EVERYONE HAS READ THIS BOOK!!! thinking about doing a re-read at the end of the year already
chaotic!
book 3:
i’ve been waitin for this one, turn it up!
this book is the story of hamnet, a boy in 1580, who finds his twin sister, judith, ill. as he tries to find help, the story begins to flashback and we get the perspective of his mother, agnes, a natural healer in the village and how she came to be hamnet's mother, and how he came to inspire the play hamlet because SURPRISE Shakespeare is his dad!!!!!!!!! A TWIST
season 6 let’s get sickening!!!
here's what i loved!!! i really enjoyed all of the nature writing.
classic Irish author ish
EXACTLY
anges is a healer that uses her natural resources to create remedies and balms for the village. because of this, she is deeply connected with the natural world and the rhythm of life. it can feel like she is almost a tree, sharing her interconnected roots with others and using them to heal and understand them.
this book is also about connection. there are multiple pairings in the book, romantic and familial, that are so powerful. they are so in sync that they can divine what the other is thinking or feeling without asking. ultimately, this book is about the inception of hamlet, the Shakespeare play. it re-contextualizes the play to be one of grief, of loss, and of resilience. it decentralizes Shakespeare in the story and the last scene is soso good!
end scene
anyway the writing is just too good! maggie knows how to write a bookie hehe
TBH!!!! the only think I'll say is that i read this at a time where i was REAL busy and so i couldn't give it the time it needs and, because of that, i wasn't as excited to read or as interested until halfway through when the story is more exciting and gripping!
book 4:
i think i would be A Bad Irish Reader if i didn’t at least read SOME yeats! thankfully my fwiend anna was reading it at the same time! we were able to buddy read and discuss the major themes of his work. and discuss we did!! we came up with a couple of ideas that were a throughline in his writing (Celtic mythology, war/suffering, nature, endings! you know, the works!). his writing makes sense in the context of the Ireland he lived in; an agriculturally-based, revolutionary society trying to gain independence from their imperial overlords
les miserables is shaking!!!
the french could NEVER. the history book that i’m reading (more on that below, el oh el) helped me to see the cultural influences of both the author and the country on him, so thanks yeats for the help💋💋💋💋💋
currently in éire
book 1:
all the gorls
which girls?
THE GORLS!!! rant and rave about seamus heaney! he is one of the most prolific irish poets of the 20th century, so i have to read him! i think it’s cool that this anthology was put together posthumously by his children and mother <3! the themes of his poems seems to be similar to yeats. they are mostly about what it means to be Irish (Celtic mythology, visceral connection to nature and agrarian-based society, and some kind of suffering sprinkled in). each poem has been great so far, so i can’t wait to keep reading!
book 2:
is this a —
yes, it is a 600+ page book about modern Irish history.
why are y—
because i want to!!!!! but i want to better understand the country as it is today, and what better way to understand that than to read a giant book???
just use wikipedia
PLEB!!!!! anyway, it’s been really interesting to learn more about how the country dealt with independence, the clunky but inevitable transition from traditional, agricultural, and overtly religious Ireland to embracing modernity and trying to enforce itself as a western European power similar to it’s previous colonizer. it’s made me realize how unstable and difficult it was to live in a country that was trying to catch up with everyone else, which is why so many immigrated as soon as they could. i wonder if it’s one of the reasons why my grandmother did the same. maybe we’ll talk about that more later!!!!!
the journey through dublin
she’s still on the back burner! and i will NOT be shamed for it.
you are showing how big your brave is!
💅💅💅💅💅💅💅💅
that’s all for now! i leave you with the most iconic and relatable frame from ugly betty. it’s how i feel when i am trying to glam up trash (read: me)
Ok low key this made me want to try reading the Chronicles of Narnia again, but honestly I just get so bored with it every time. And like I'll get through the Magician's Nephew and then YAWN. I think the problem is that I keep starting from the beginning so it feels repetitive. How is audiobook? Should I try that?! Why do I have the attention span of a goldfish?
Also I tried listening to Hamnet around Christmas time and it was good but then I didn't finish it because it was Christmas. Not the most compelling story on audiobook so should I just READ it?!?!?!
Also can't wait to read The Heart's Invisible Furies. I bought it because a boy liked it. Oops. But now I'm determined to read it because it's on my shelf. And I'm trying to read everything on my shelf.
OK SEE YOU NEXT TIME WHEN YOU WRITE A NEWSLETTER IN 68 MORE DAYS.
Love the easy link to storygraph added some of these to my TBR 😘