a storm is always appropriate
hey, folks
I’ve found myself looking backwards a lot lately. 2016 was a mess of a year, but if it’s a devil then it’s one I know well. 2017, particularly starting tomorrow, is unfamiliar and terrifying. I’m not usually one for retrospective lists at the end of a year, but now I can’t seem to stop making them. Favourite movies of 2016, favourite books, and last night I became seized with the urge to make a playlist of the best parts of my favourite film scores of the last year.
It’s weird, but we do what we can to muddle through.
Like look at this photo of Vincent D’Onofrio wearing a tiny hat.
Notable Breakfast
Dog Thing
Mixed Media
I have a rule: if I find myself in an independent bookstore, I buy a book. Ostensibly this is an effort to support small businesses, and in particular indie bookshops, but really it is an entirely self-serving method of permitting myself to buy more books. Regardless, last summer I was on vacation, in a bookshop, and I picked up The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. I’m picky about fantasy–I don’t generally enjoy the Game of Thrones-esque vaguely European middle ages-y knights and wizards setting. But this, about a library that exists outside of space and time, seemed right up my alley.
I was right, I loved it. I immediately ordered the second book in the series, The Masked City, and devoured it, too. I lent them to friends, so we could talk about them. I pre-ordered the third book, The Burning Page. It came in this week, and was just as excellent.
The Invisible Library books follow Irene, who is essentially a secret agent whose job it is to retrieve unique works from worlds throughout the multiverse. The universe of the books is pulled between two poles–chaos and order, and the Library functions as a steady, impartial center. The books in its collection help maintain links to the varied worlds. Irene and her assistant, Kai, operate out of a version of Victorian London, but their work takes them to all sorts of places and times. As someone who loves alternate universe fanfic, I get a kick out of all of it.
Irene is a fantastic, nuanced character, and I genuinely like her. It would have been very easy for Cogman to have her fall into a romantic relationship with any one of her occasional companions, and I’ve read many a fantasy series that have hinged on that sort of pairing, but that’s not what this story is about. Irene isn’t immune to attraction, and she reflects at times on how easy a romance like that might be, but her calling is always the most important thing to her. It’s a thrill to read.
As long as Cogman is writing these books, I imagine I will be reading them.
I read Railhead by Phillip Reeve, a sci-fi book about worlds connected by intergalactic trains. It follows a thief hired to steal an object off of one of these trains. There’s also an android who changes her own base code so she can have freckles and the trains themselves are sentient? I loved it. I reread Planetes. I really can’t understate how good it is.
The Good Place is back, how I missed it! How I love it!
I saw Hidden Figures, which was great, go see it. A good balance of space, math, badass women succeeding, and the realities of racial prejudice (which are not as far behind us as they should be). I watched Paranorman, which remains a delight. I went to see the theatrical release of Studio Ghibli’s Ocean Waves, which wasn’t on the same level as a lot of their stuff (it was originally a tv movie, for one), but I still enjoyed it! There are no actual ocean waves in it, though, so temper your expectations.
Anxiety Pyjamas
Fics I Shouted About
Agape by chaos_harmony Rogue One, Jyn/Cassian, ice skating AU. This bills itself as a Yuri On Ice AU, but honestly it’s mostly just ice skating. Jyn is a skater and the daughter of a skater, and doesn’t deal with pressure well. Cassian is her coach. I really, really love the way the rest of the Rogue One characters fit into this.
untitled by nurseysderek Check Please!, Shitty & Jack. A really lovely little fic about the day Shitty met Jack.
wrong place, wrong time by hellotailor Rogue One, Baze/Chirrut. The story of how Baze & Chirrut met, if it happened while they were both imprisoned on an Imperial ship. Their interactions are spot-on.
A Divinely Attractive Arrangement by Fayhe Love and Friendship, future fic. Excerpts from the diary of one Sir James Martin, lovable idiot who ended the movie a cheerful cuckold. I love the way the author turns that relationship on its ear in this, all in Martin’s distinctive voice.
Or, What Your Will by ryfkah Singin’ in the Rain, Don/Kathy/Cosmo. Monumental Pictures puts on Twelfth Night. The banter in this is perfect, and I love how the author included real Hollywood events.
untitled by ratherembarrassing Supergirl, Alex & Lena. Alex commiserates with Lena about what it’s like to love Kara.
brave enough to love you by kevystel and xyai Yuri!!! On Ice, Yuuri/Victor, future fic. Yuuri settles into life in Russia, and with Victor. This fic has some of the best dealing with Yuuri’s anxiety that I’ve seen–both from the author and the characters themselves.
Lastly
goodbye, good luck, don’t fall into the sea
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