Book Thoughts - Tumblr Posts

I've been reading many lovely books recently, and I wish I could be more coherent when talking about them with people. I want to be able to say what I liked about the book, identify common tropes in it, be able to summarize it instead of rambling on for ten minutes and still getting nowhere with what it's about. I'd love to feel comfortable typing up reviews to leave on books I love. I want to be able to think critically about them, but I feel like I missed that part of my education (I was a terrible student in school, so maybe that's my fault). Somehow, despite how much I read I just feel so... dumb.

Thoughts about Neverending Story remake

Having heard they're making a remake to Neverending Story I've had a lot of thoughts about how they should do it. You know, what things need to happen to make it good

I say this as a big fan of the original book

While I know there's a lot you can't bring into an adaptation, especially from a book as wild as this, but I feel we could return to the original description of The Nothing

In the movie, The Nothing is depicted as a black and consuming storm. Or according to some, the storm is only there to represent the invisible Nothing, which is still cheating

In the book The Nothing has no color, has no shape, has no tangible presence, no storm clouds to reveal itself. Those who step into it suffer no pain, only cease. And on page 24, as The Tiny says, "when you look at the place, it's as if you were blind."

Making it not invisible either, as some say, but rather something that not a single character within the story can truly describe

Think how all who see Hyde recognize him as being horribly disturbed, despite there being no physical flaws they can point out

Obviously there's nothing they can really do to create that kind of Nothing on film, especially no amount of bad cgi, so what then should be done? That's what I've been thinking about

The best thing to do is keep The Nothing off camera entirely, always just out of our view. With that all we have to go off of is descriptions through dialogue, which many of the characters talk about in the book. Now The Nothing isn't just black clouds, but the terrifying and lovecraftian doom to Fantastica(oh btw, it's Fantastica, they changed the name in the movie) like it always was to so many of the fantasy worlds residents

And because, as everyone who remembers the drowning horse knows, Neverending Story is supposed to be down. So this works imo

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE THOUGHTS

I picked up this book with a few expectations. I bought it three days ago because I was at a book store and I was intrigued. Partially because I knew there was a show, I thought I would never watch, and because I like reading horror.

I can’t watch horror for the most part but I can read which confuses most people as they think the imagination is worse than watching someone else’s interpretation. Anyway, this book has been really interesting.

And when I came to tumblr as I usually do when I finish a novel I enjoy I found myself intrigued by the commentary. I also decided that I had to watch the 1963 movie. I have seen the 1999 remake and it is actually one of the few horror movies I like. Which is apparently not common.

I bought the penguin random house copy of the book so it came with an introduction which tells you to on ignore the remake as well which I find hilarious. Back on track I want to talk about Eleanor and Theo.

I do read Theo as queer coded even if that was not the authors intent. I’m not sure whether it was or not but in the opening it states that Shirley Jackson did not like to bring sex into her books and that they believe this negates the queer theory. I don’t agree with that as sex/relationship(romantic) isn’t needed for a character or person to be queer coded.

I also think that Theo and Eleanor’s relationship has romantic aspects but I don’t think Eleanor is queer. Eleanor maybe 32 but she does not have the mind of a 32 year old. Her life has lead to that part of her not developing. She views all romance in a dream because to her it’s what happens later in life.

Like when children dream of falling love. Eleanor does not feel romantic love because her brain realizes she to fragile for it and subconsciously protects itself. Making all love dreamlike. And things that occur at the end, “Journeys end in lovers meeting”.

So if Eleanor was different and it was a different set of circumstances I could totally see them together. But Eleanor’s mental state was very fragile and I think in a way Hill House was haunting her from the time she heard about it. That it was calling, if you believe that it was another force and not Eleanor herself who manifested what happened.

Which is another interesting theory when it comes to her. Perhaps everything came from her or from something darker that tried once when she was a child and then found another way and set up the whole situation.

There’s also the story the 1999 went with where she was related to the Crains which is an interesting take.

Well fuck Balin

This is one of my favorite lines! It makes me smile every time

thoughts with spoilers for murderbot 6

Reasons "Well fuck Balin" is a great line

JollyBaby going "nah Balin is a manager" and MB being like "wait Balin doesn't lift heavy things because it's a manager? UGH" is just funny and relatable

It's also MEMORABLE

This means that later on, when we learn more about Balin, I'm not like "uh whomst the fuck?"

(I have a so-so memory and frequently struggle to keep track of different characters' names)

AND it's important that we remember Balin

I seriously think this one line is just... really incredible from a "how does the story fit together" point of view.

It's memorable, but it doesn't draw too much attention to itself. It's short and unobtrusive.

It's memorable because it's funny. It's not obvious like a character, I dunno, ominously standing in the shadows with its eyes/indicator lights turning red.

It helps the story function. Imagine how much worse the story would function if Balin was completely unmemorable.

And that's why "Well fuck Balin" is one of my favorite murderbot lines of all time.

Hiiiiiiiii, I’m sorry if you don’t want to answer any more ‘shipping’ related questions but I was wondering what is you’re favourite Bree and Sel moment from Bloodmarked? (if you have one) Thanks in advance☺️

Hello anon,

it’s okay I don’t mind the question. Tbh that whole book was a whole meal for Bree and Sel shippers so there is a lot to choose from but one that I just couldn’t forget was a moment that was in the beginning.

THE SCENE:

The whole emphasis on ‘Not YOURS.’

I kept thinking about that song by arctic monkeys called ‘I wanna be yours.’

This whole exchange HAD ME giggling and kicking my feet, as they say. This man went out of his way several times, in different ways throughout the book to remind her that he wasn’t HERS and that frustrated him to no end.

Tell me you want to be hers without telling me you want to be hers.

Maybe I was reading too much into this moment (even though I don’t think so).

My least favorite thing about multiple pov books, is how the author inevitably tries to switch povs consistently but there are always those parts where one pov is full of action and really interesting and the other (s) is soooo boring in comparison. And I have to force myself to not skip the boring povs temporarily, and I hate it

My least favorite thing about multiple pov books, is how the author inevitably tries to switch povs consistently but there are always those parts where one pov is full of action and really interesting and the other (s) is soooo boring in comparison. And I have to force myself to not skip the boring povs temporarily, and I hate it

joining a series fandom after the majority of it has been released sucks because you don't get to live theories and reactions and you risk spoilers, but it's also really nice because you don't have to worry so much about cliffhangers. You can go straight into the next book or season or movie without thinking about it for a year

Fake relationships in books and movies make me really mad because the characters suck at it. Like do they know they can be chill about it? Do they realize that by fake dating they have essentially an inside joke?? I would be so much better at this stuff. You could randomly assign me a person and bam are we getting engaged tomorrow?? They've gotta get better about pda and not catching feels and not being awkward and uncomfy. Like actually when a third party is like oh kiss (first of all that's kinda weird why do you want to watch people kiss but also) the fake dating couple knows it's fake so you don't need to be like oh my gosh oh noOoo like just kiss who cares?

Also because both of you are in on it, it's like an inside joke. You two are keeping a secret from everyone else and that, I promise, is an instant bond.

But actually why do characters suck at fake relationships? This person has to be your friend for the time being, use it. You can steal their food, hold their hand, frame them for a crime, use them as a headrest. And if you end up having to share a room, big deal. Some authors clearly never had to share a bed with a sibling, because unless it's a small bed, you can probably fit 2 people without much contact. And if you can't, either person can be like oh dude let me take the floor, I don't mind. Why do the characters take it so seriously?? Where is the chill?? You guys have terrible social skills if you can't even pretend to be comfortable

Went from reading full fiction to either historical or science fiction. Went from fluff to angst. Went from shipping the straight protagonists to actively looking for lgbt books. Went from happy endings to ambigous endings. Went from short stories to encyclopedias. Went from children's books to classics.

Ya know. The usual.

How much has your taste in books changed throughout your reading journey? Is your favorite genre different?

I don't trust any book on which the name of the author is printed in bigger letters than the title