You wake up and go downstairs, pausing mid-way down.
The lines of each individual stair seem to waver for a moment.
The stairs themselves seem vaguely Burtonesque - all slanted lines and moving pieces.
Your head hurts and you close your eyes.
Dora Reads is the book blog of a Bookish Rebel, supporting the Diversity Movement, bringing you Queer views and mental health advocacy, slipping in a lot of non-bookish content, and spreading reading to the goddamn world! :) (All posts may contain Amazon links, which are affiliate, unless marked otherwise. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. USA ONLY - please do not make UK purchases with my links)
You wake up and go downstairs, pausing mid-way down.
The lines of each individual stair seem to waver for a moment.
The stairs themselves seem vaguely Burtonesque - all slanted lines and moving pieces.
Your head hurts and you close your eyes.
'“Okay, get up, the both of you.” He took out his phone, typed Shuri’s address in, and sent it to Steve’s number. “You’re going to get blood all over the upholstery. And then I’ll have to set fire to it, and then to you for making me sacrifice my good sofa.”'
I love it when fanfic authors have the determination, the dedication, the goddamn verve to write full-length novels.
When those full-length novels are so freaking good - so well thought out, so fleshed out in terms of world-building, so passionate and compelling, that you would legit. buy this as an original novel?
OH MY GOD!!!
Warning: this post discusses racism, ableism, and general prejudice, including reference to dehumanising language and slurs
I've been re-reading* The Princess Diaries for a while now.
For those not aware: this was a massively popular YA series by Meg Cabot from the early 00s where a New York teenager named Mia Thermopolis finds out she's actually the Princess of Genovia. (As you do.)
There also 2 films starring Anne Hathaway, which are fun, but don't really match the tone of the books.
*Well, re-reading the first couple and reading the rest for the first time 😅
'Knock, knock, knock on the door. Three times, not four, and the door isn’t blue. It’s red, glittering in baubles of sunlight cast over its fresh coat of paint. The Doctor is safe.'
So far, I'm loving the way Dr Who is headed with Russell T. Davies back at the helm.
Side-note: Welsh people (which Russell T Davies is,) say Dave-iss, not Daveys. Please, for the love of God, respect that. (And check out this Legends of Tomorrow clip for pronounciation, complete with accent.)
Also, Welsh people with common surnames will use middle initials or names to distinguish themselves from other people with the same name. Don't miss out the initials/names when talking about them, please and thank you.
Since F3 is going on its regular break in December, I thought that now was a great time to give you my stand-out fics of the year!
- That's not the same as the best fics of the year.
It's more... the ones I can still remember when stressed and tired at the end of November 😅 (Expect a lot from the last few months, ngl.)
Remember to please check out the orginal rec'ing posts for Content Warnings and SPOILER status.
I'll leave the link to those original rec. posts when I finish up talking about each fic.
'His captain just looked sad, like he'd failed Izzy in some way.'
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.
Warning: this post briefly discusses Depression
July. Ugh.
Well... let's look at the positives.
Once again, nobody in my life - either human or animal - died, almost died, or had a life-changing diagnosis.
Which is a low bar for a win, but that's the bar that I have - so it's a win.
Warning: As you probably figured out from the title, this post discusses Depression.
Disclaimer Time: I'm not any kind of medical, psychological, or mental health professional. These are my own experiences - nothing more, nothing less.
I love watching tennis.
Like I love it.
It's the one sport that I've followed regularly and consistently since I was a kid.
And for a British kid, there's nothing bigger in tennis than the Wimbledon Championships.
Warning: this post briefly discusses PTSD/mental health problems
'The storm begins while Sam is away. Which means that Bucky is left to fend for himself in their empty apartment...'
We all need some solid SamBucky emotional/mental-health-based Hurt/Comfort every now and then, right?
...I mean.
We all know it's true.
'The coffee is gone.
"No," Clint whispers, staring at the counter where he left it. "What the... is it... coffee burglar?"'
I would like the record (there's a record, right? Sure, let's say there's a record,) to show that I'm not actually a big fan of time-loop tropes.
...Which you wouldn't think, given how often I rec. them, but there we are!
(All of which is to say that this week's fic is a time-loop fic.)
'Ed feels something in his chest, something resembling fondness. He doesn’t know why, he doesn’t even know this guy’s name. And yet, Ed had spent the better part of the last few days thinking of the rich man crying in the rage room, making up stories in his head to justify his presence, his anger, his sadness.'
I mean... it was only a matter of time until I rec'd a novel-length Our Flag Means Death (OFMD) fic.
I am trash. We know this, and we love it (...hopefully.) 😅😈😎
If you haven't watched OFMD yet... Gay pirates and Taika Waititi as Blackbeard. #JustSaying.
(Warning: this blogpost discusses low self-worth and mental health problems. It also briefly discusses toxic/abusive friendships.)
"Oh My God! You remembered!"
She's holding the chocolate orange, still partly covered by reindeer wrapping paper, like it's the most beautiful thing she's ever seen.
"Yeah?" - of course I did, she and our friend spent a good half an hour a month or so back discussing how sad it was that no-one ever gets them chocolate oranges, how much they love chocolate oranges, and that they hadn't had chocolate oranges in forever.
So, when I was buying their Christmas presents, I bought a couple of chocolate oranges. No brainer; no biggy.
"You're so sweet!"
...Am I?
'Edward froze, glancing to the corner Stede had gestured to and seeing nothing there. Stede clearly saw something though, because he kept glancing over there...'
I finally got around to watching Our Flag Means Death (OFMD) - it will come as zero surprise to most people that I utterly freaking ADORE it!
And what I do with things I adore, once I run out of canon material, is read fanfiction - let's be honest, I am nothing if not predictable. 😅
(Fandom notes:
Canon is the 'official' stuff in the book/film/TV series/whatever.)
It's Thursday, I'm trying not to fall back on overworking as an unhealthy coping mechanism in stressful times, let's get some comics-y superhero-y goodness!
'“It's been a year, Buck,” he said. “I hate seein’ you like this. When was the last time you talked to someone other than me?”
“I talked to Nat last week,” Bucky muttered, knowing it was a poor excuse.'