Showing posts with label historical fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historical fiction. Show all posts

Friday 6 October 2023

Friday Fics Fix - Izzy Hands Is Being Haunted

 

'His captain just looked sad, like he'd failed Izzy in some way.'

 

Title: F3. Background: funky geometry, because why not?



OH MY GOD THIS FIC!!!!

krhguergjopwrgm';¬!

...sorry, had to fangirl over the page a bit there. This fic is so good. 

Like - page-turning, stayed up an extra hour to read some more, good.

Friday 15 September 2023

Friday Fics Fix - Blackbeard's Bedraggled Attack Dog

 

'Izzy stared at the doily, trying to imagine where on the high seas they might have stolen that from. Izzy looked up to find Bonnet looking at him meaningfully, then down at the sandwiches. And back.'


  

Title: F3. Background: artsy geometry


First thing's first: it's my birthday today! (15th Sep)

Woo!

If you feel like doing so, you can buy me a birthday coffee here. But don't worry, I'll still love ya if you don't 😘


OK, back to our regularly scheduled fandom-ing:



Yes it's some Our Flag Means Death (OFMD) this week!

It's a well-written fic, and you know I have no choice: I must rec. These are the rules. *nods sagely*

Thursday 31 August 2023

7 Asian Historical Novels From My TBR



*This post contains affiliate links for Amazon.com (US) - I receive a small commission from qualifying purchases made using these links*




Title: 7 Asian Historical Novels From My TBR





Since my To-Be-Read (TBR) list is always growing exponentially -

and I may never get the time to read every book that's on it (or even a fraction of all the books that's on there - there's like 1000 books, Send. Help.)

- from time to time I like to throw together a list focussing on some of the diverse titles on there.

Partly to spotlight these books, and partly to remind me what I want to read and why I wanted to read it! 😅




This time around, it's time for a TBR post for some of the Asian historical novels on my list.

These are all (to the best of my knowledge) both set in Asia, and written by Asian authors.

(Obviously, since this is a TBR, I haven't read any of these - they might be amazing, they might be awful, they might be anywhere in between!)


Friday 14 July 2023

Friday Fics Fix - Quite Frankly Batpoop OFMD Vibes

 

'“I think I’m gonna faint now,” Stede says. He nods to himself. “Yes, I think that’s it for me for a while.”'


Title: Fics Fix! Background: purple with white lightning bolt shape

 


Are we all recovered from the shock of AO3 going down earlier in the week? Yes? Good.

I really wish there was more than one fanfiction site with AO3's usability, range, and download feature. But I suppose that would be greedy. 😘😅


(Fandom notes:

AO3 = Archive Of Our Own - the biggest and probably most widely used fanfiction site.)



So, with AO3 safely returned to its rightful place on the interwebs, I have some Our Flag Means Death (OFMD) fanfiction for ya!

(It's been like... 3 weeks since I last rec'd OFMD. #Restraint.)

Friday 20 May 2022

Friday Fics Fix - For Stucky Purposes

 

'He promised more details when they weren’t running for their lives, and Bucky was damn well going to hold him to that. Because this kind of stuff didn’t just happen to people.'



'Fics Fix!' with purple background and white lightning bolt shape



One of the many, many, things I love about fanfiction is the breadth of the writing.

Fanfic writers are as varied and diverse a group as you're likely to find - which means the range of the stuff they write is incredible.

...which, while all 100% true, is something I'm bringing up here because I'm rationalising bringing you a fic from the same fandom two weeks in a row 😅





But - BUT! - this fic is so different to last week's that it feels like they're from different fandoms entirely!

(...and if that still didn't convince you, then I'll remind you that it's my blog, so I get pick the fanfiction 😅)

Sunday 30 January 2022

Nerd Church - Of Monsters, Mice, and Men

 

'Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.'

- Holocaust survivor Primo Levi



Of Monsters, Mice, and Men


Friday 10 September 2021

Friday Fics Fix - Not That Strange

 

'The great fairy incident of 1822 was depicted in many paintings, the most famous of them being The Seelie Siege of London by an unknown painter with a penchant for alliteration.'

 

'Fics Fix!' with purple background and white lightning bolt shape


Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is a behemoth of a book.

It's over 1000 pages of alternate history, set in a world where the titular characters are bringing magic back to England, against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.


Friday 18 June 2021

Friday Fics Fix - Pride Fics Fest: Jack the Lass


Welcome back to Pride Fics Fest! That period in June where I stop pretending straight and fanfiction have anything to say to each other 😉


'Fics Fix!' with purple background and white lightning bolt shape



This post contains SPOILERS for Gentleman Jack, series 1

SPOILERS!!!! OK? SPOILERS


Gentleman Jack is a truly amazing BBC historical drama, based on the life and diaries of 18th/19th Century English Lesbian, landowner, and businesswoman, Anne Lister.

Anne left extensive, coded, diaries - many of which were fairly sexually explicit.

I love this series - a well-written, well-acted, period drama about Lesbians who are complex, flawed, genuine, people. It's so good!


Sunday 13 June 2021

Sunday 6 June 2021

Nerd Church - I Watched Jojo Rabbit: Part 2 - Facing History


'I Watched Jojo Rabbit: Part 2 - Facing History'



Welcome to the next instalment of I Watched Jojo Rabbit, aka 'Cee rabbits on about Jojo Rabbit!*'

(And no, I could not resist the pun.)

While you don't need to have read Part 1 of this mini-post-series in order to understand this part, I do recommend reading it (which I would do, because I wrote it,) to get a more generalised view of Jojo Rabbit as a film.

You can read part one here.

Jojo Rabbit is a funny and heart-warming film, with a dark and deeply uncomfortable edge.

And this post? This post looks at that darker part of Jojo Rabbit - from the controversial premise to the dark nature of this darkest period of history.

We're gonna get uncomfortable, dearest nerdlets, fair warning.



* = commission link

Sunday 30 May 2021

Nerd Church - I Watched Jojo Rabbit: Part 1 - The Survival of Humanity

(Warning: due to the subject matter of the film Jojo Rabbit, this post discusses: war, Nazis, Hitler, the Holocaust, bigotry, indoctrination)


I watched Jojo Rabbit...



'I Watched Jojo Rabbit: Part 1 - The Survival of Humanity'



Jojo Rabbit* is a 2019 film written, directed, and starring the legendary Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi.

(It's inspired by, rather than based on, the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens.)

It is a comedy about Nazis.

And yes, you read that right.

It is a comedy about Nazis.


* = commission link

Wednesday 30 September 2020

Review! - Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of The Faun by Guillermo Del Toro and Cornelia Funke

 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.




'Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun' against a background of a creepy forest




Title: Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of The Faun

'Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun' book cover with spooky forest and fairies and a girl walking into it

Author: Guillermo Del Toro and Cornelia Funke

Genre: Media Tie-In, Horror, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fairy Tales (-ish,) Magic Realism(-ish,) Young Adult (Maybe? Maybe just adult with YA appeal. It's kind of difficult to gage the age range here!)



Friday 28 August 2020

From My TBR: 15 Young Adult and Middle Grade Books By Black Authors

 

(Warning: this post references racism and police brutality)


 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.



'From My TBR: 15 Young Adult and Middle Grade Books By Black Authors' against a background of the page-side of closed books, lined-up


There are three important reasons for me writing this post:

1. Black Lives still Matter.

2. It's always a good time to highlight diverse books.

and 3. There are so many amazing Black creators out there, who don't always get the recognition they deserve.


So here's a small selection of some of the Young Adult (YA) and Middle Grade (MG) books on my TBR list that were written by Black authors.

For those of you who don't know the book-blog lingo - a TBR is a 'to-be-read' list. Mine is immortal and cannot be stopped. Send help.

For those of you who are British like me, and/or haven't heard the book blogging term, Middle Grade books are those aimed at (roughly) ages 8-12, or 8-14, depending who you ask.

(Quick disclaimer: obviously, I haven't read these books, just their synopses, so I don't know what they're like in terms of content, quality, etc.)


I hope you find something to add to your own TBR, and remember to support Black authors, and other Black creators.

There're so many talented Black authors out there who deserve our attention!


Friday 20 December 2019

I Watched The Film First! *Gasps* - 5 Books That I Read Because I'd Seen The Adaptations

 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.



You know the voice that's just like: 'you've read the book, now see the movie!'


...that voice doesn't know me at all.


'I Watched The Film First!' projected on a screen at the front of a cinema


I read a butt-tonne of books. 

Like, I read at the 200-per-year kind of speed.

But I watch loads of film and TV adaps. before I read the book.


Wednesday 19 June 2019

Mini-Review! - Dat's Love and Other Stories by Leonora Brito

**This post contains affiliate links for Amazon.com (US). I earn commission from qualifying purchases**



Dat's Love & Other Stories title image with red willow branches hanging down over the corner




Title: Dat's Love and Other Stories

(Also published as 'Selected Stories)

Author: Leonora Brito

'Selected Stories' book cover with an artsy illustration of a Black woman
Genres: Anthology, Short Stories, Contemporary(-ish,) Historical Fiction



Wednesday 24 April 2019

Review Time! - Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

**This post contains affiliate links from Amazon.com (USA.) I earn from qualifying purchases**


Tipping the Velvet title image with silhouette of woman holding her hat






Title: Tipping the Velvet

Author: Sarah Waters

Genres: Historical Fiction, LGBTQ+ (see below for rep,) (Modern) Classics, Romance(-ish)




Tipping the Velvet book cover





Friday 3 August 2018

Friday Fics Fix - Da Vinci, Like Never Before






'"What did they do to you?" he whispered. "What have you done to yourself?" he added without thinking. Words tumbling out of his mouth like the thoughts that used to tangle in his mind. "What did I do?"'









This week's fic is for a TV show I absolutely adore, and which was cut short too soon after just 3 series.

Da Vinci's Demons is a highly underrated show.

It's basically like Game of Thrones with real historical people, but keeping the weird-a** paranormal/fantasy elements.

So it's kind of like an alternate version of history, with a young bad-boy Leonardo Da Vinci.



Wednesday 1 August 2018

Month in Review(s) - July 2018





Where did July go?!

Like... I know sometimes time goes quick, but really?!





July title image with funky grape and banana shapes






I think it's the heat.

I spent most of the month slouching around the house, trying to cool down, and being a generally not-nice person to be around.

Me + heat = grump monster! Lol.




Tuesday 24 July 2018

Mini-Review! - The Girls by Emma Cline



(Warning: this post discusses and refers to serious topics such as rape and child abuse. Please be careful my nerdlets.)





The Girls title image with girl standing in a field with flowers overlaid







Title: The Girls

'The Girls' book cover


Author: Emma Cline

Genre:

Adult Fiction*, Historical Fiction*, Crime*, LGBTQ+ (M/F, F/F)*✢ 

*(ish - it's a really difficult book to define tbh!)

✢ The LGBTQ+ and F/F rep isn't great (neither is a lot of the M/F tbh,) see main review.



Amazon: USA