March wasn't great.
Not terrible - but then, the bar for terrible is pretty high (or low, depending on your perspective, I guess,) at this point - but not great.
Basically: my mental health sucks at the moment.
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)
March wasn't great.
Not terrible - but then, the bar for terrible is pretty high (or low, depending on your perspective, I guess,) at this point - but not great.
Basically: my mental health sucks at the moment.
Warning: This post references true crime and murder, and discusses mental health problems - especially Anxiety.
Disclaimer time: I am not any type of psychological, medical, or scientific expert. I'm a chick with a blog, nothing more, nothing less.
Wild-child that I am, of an evening I like to get myself a snack, and a glass of diet coke, and watch TV for a while.
Lately that's meant, more often than not, true crime.
Because there's nothing more calming than some grisly murder before bed.
'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.
I love novel-length fanfiction.
I am forever in awe of the dedication you have to show to something to write a full novel-length fanfic (especially if you're not planning on changing the names and selling it as an original novel like E. L. James 😅)
I gave a list (which you can see here,) about a year ago, of 5 of my favourite novel-length fanfics - and I figured it's time for another one! (Because I read a truly horrifying amount of fanfiction, lol.)
Remember to please check out the orginal rec'ing posts for Content Warnings and SPOILER status.
Some of these fics deal with difficult topics, so def. check the CWs!
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.
'He’s engulfed in the shadow of midnight wings. In the dim lantern light, Izzy examines the damage.'
Yes, I'm rec'ing an Our Flag Means Death (OFMD) fic for the second week in a row.
(You can check out last week's F3 here, if you want.)
It's just what the universe wanted, dearest nerdlets, what can I say? The blogger is beholden to the universe's whims 😅
So, this is the fic the universe gave me for this week.
I don't know why - presumably someone, somewhere, needs to read it. Which is weird, but we live in a weird world, and I was raised by hippies.
(Warning: this post discusses low self-esteem and self-hatred. It also briefly mentions self-harm.)
With series 2 of Loki creeping ever-closer (eep!), I thought I'd discuss something about series 1 that tends to get missed in the online talky-talks (aka 'The Discourse™.')
Before we go any further though - this post is gonna have SPOILERS for series 1 of Loki.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERRRRSSS!!!!!
"He says hi," says Marc. "And he really likes how this alliance is working so far -- new age of the world and all that, very exciting -- but, if you could just...respect the right of the moon to be real frickin' mysterious? Please?"
Before we get into this week's F3 - what do you all think of the new graphic?!
I've been meaning to update the graphic for Friday Fics Fix for a long time - I was still using the one I threw together on a whim around 2015/2016-ish.
I hope you like it!
OK, back to our regularly scheduled fandoming:
This is a Marvel's Moon Knight fic!
I love Moon Knight, and sadly there aren't that many good Moon Knight fics out there (disagree? Please rec!) - but this week's fic is awesome!
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.
Warning: Vague discussions of mental health issues
Disclaimer Time: I am not any sort of psychological, medical, or healthcare professional. I am a chick with an internet connection: nothing more, nothing less.
Does anyone else find it hard to figure out what sort of self-care they need?
Because it's not all bubble baths and scented candles
- in fact I have to be careful with bubble baths in case my skin allergies freak out, and I don't like lighting candles anywhere near the cats because that's just an accident waiting to happen...
And apart from all that, the consumerist, one-size-fits-all, version of self-care does not, in fact, fit all.
'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?
'Bonnet looks at him questioningly. “Concussion?”
“Truth serum.”
"Ah, that'd do it..."'
Somehow this month I've ended up rec'ing only The Umbrella Academy (TUA) and Our Flag Means Death (OFMD) fics.
I did have a blogging-related existential crisis when I realised that I was gonna end up rec'ing an OFMD fic again (only the cool people have sub-labels of existential crises, OK?) - but then I decided I didn't care.
'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.)