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Clare-Dragonfly

Clare-Dragonfly

Joined September 2016

Writer, reader, mama, knitter, baker, editor, breast cancer survivor. she/her
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Clare-Dragonfly
The Tomb of Dragons | Katherine Addison

I would really love to read Katherine Addison‘s worldbuilding notes.

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Clare-Dragonfly
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Picked up this #bookhaul (and a journal) at my local bookstore today. My bookshelves are getting… a tad overcrowded. I really need to get myself to read more books I already own, so hopefully I can donate some and make room!

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Clare-Dragonfly
An Embarrassment of Witches | Sophie Goldstein, Jenn Jordan
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Bailedbailed

I picked this up based on the title, but I found it pretty boring (the witchcraft is mostly set dressing, which would be fine if I liked the characters more) and didn‘t like the art style, so on to the next.

lauraisntwilder Too bad. That really is a great title. 3d
willaful @lauraisntwilder cool cover too. 3d
Sace That is a book I would totally want to read. Sorry to hear it‘s a disappointment. Well, the marketing team did a great job at least. 😂 2d
24 likes3 comments
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Clare-Dragonfly
The Bog Wife | Kay Chronister
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Pickpick

This book intertwines the POVs of the five Haddesley siblings, latest in a family that has an ancient compact with a bog, in which they give the bog the body of their patriarch and it gives them a wife for the new patriarch. I absolutely loved it. Magrat isn‘t a huge fan of being used as a book rest, but it didn‘t scare her off my lap.

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2d
27 likes1 comment
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#storygraph roundup for June.

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BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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Getting my #bookspin list in just under the wire! @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 5d
18 likes1 comment
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Clare-Dragonfly
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Pickpick

A lot of the criticisms of current “AI” technology in this book wasn‘t anything I hadn‘t heard before, but the book does bring it all together and show the destructiveness of the hype. The chapter on fighting the hype is very helpful, though I‘m skeptical that satire will do more than make AI believers double down defensively. I definitely recommend this book to fellow AI skeptics.

26 likes1 stack add
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Clare-Dragonfly
The Bog Wife | Kay Chronister
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“Her siblings were not… just the same as they had been ten years ago. They were worse. They had spent the decade of her absence growing around one another like roots in the same crowded patch of earth, contorting themselves so everyone could fit.”

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Sellers Books & Art | Jim Thorpe, PA (Bookstore)
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Pickpick

My husband and I may have spent a little money at the bookstore today…

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Triple SEC | TJ Alexander
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Pickpick

Low pick, mostly because of the aforementioned #undramaticirony. It did get revealed in the next chapter. I also felt that all the conflicts were resolved too easily. However, I loved all the characters and found the main three all relatable in different ways, which was nice. The poly and queer rep felt very true to life, and I just loved the endings (it felt like the last two chapters and the epilogue were all different endings)!

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The Lord of the Rings | J. R. R. Tolkien
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It would have to be fantasy. That‘s probably 90% of what I read anyway. If I were compelled to only read fantasy, maybe that would release some guilt about not reading more widely 😆 #sundayfunday

BookmarkTavern Fantasy gives you such amazing sub genres as well! Thanks for posting! 2w
23 likes1 comment
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Triple SEC | TJ Alexander

Gah. I was excited for this polyamorous romance and really enjoying it so far. Then I hit the halfway point and the main character reads some paperwork and discovers!!! Some DRAMA!!!

No idea what the drama is.

I‘m annoyed. I‘m going to give it one more chapter. If the drama isn‘t revealed by the end of that chapter, this is a DNF (and maybe even if the drama is revealed).

Clare-Dragonfly A friend says he calls this “undramatic irony.” I think I‘ll start using that. #undramatic irony 2w
17 likes1 comment
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Clare-Dragonfly
The Patchwork Girl of Oz | L. Frank Baum
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Mehso-so

The Patchwork Girl herself is pretty fun, but most of the other characters are annoying. I‘m getting kind of sick of Baum‘s formula of “some characters get together and travel around Oz, encountering all kinds of weird people and things that have never before been mentioned existing, and the problem is solved in a way that could have been done all along.” I did enjoy the bits of romance between Scraps and the Scarecrow.

rubyslippersreads Scraps needs to tell Elphaba to stay away from the Scarecrow. 😂 2w
Clare-Dragonfly Oh, this was my #bookspin! 2w
24 likes2 comments
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Triple SEC | TJ Alexander
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I‘m on a vacation in the Poconos as I read this book! What a fun serendipity.

Leftcoastzen Nice! 3w
26 likes1 comment
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Pickpick

Absolutely fascinating, compelling book! My mind was blown over and over again. Did you know that termites don‘t actually digest wood?! They chew it up and bring it back to their mounds to be digested by fungus, and then the termites consume what the mushrooms leave! Amazing.

Photo courtesy my husband, since I spotted but failed to photograph the tiny mushrooms on this tree.

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Hollow OGN | Shannon Watters
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Mehso-so

Cute queer romance. Shallow story retelling The Legend of Sleepy Hollow but with real magic and ghosts. Normally YA queer romance graphic novel retelling on a Halloween theme would be my EXACT cup of tea, but I just didn‘t find this compelling. The villain was really over the top.

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The Listeners: A Novel | Maggie Stiefvater
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Pickpick

I was fascinated by the setting of this book—a magnificently luxurious hotel in West Virginia haunted by magical springs, run by a brilliant and determined woman who is furious to learn the hotel will be used to house detained foreign nationals as World War II begins. The characters were harder to get into, since their POVs are not very deep, but the beautiful writing carried me along.

I met a sweet dachshund and had to include his picture!

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Pickpick

Such a cute, funny book! Perfect for new parents… or parents of any age who can remember the newborn days (however foggily… ah, sleep deprivation). It‘s a very short, quick book, mostly comics of one or a few images, and I giggled on nearly every page. And yes, this is exactly what my mom was like.

26 likes1 stack add
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My kiddo wanted to go to the library to get a summer reading game board and I had a hold to pick up. Then he wanted to play on the library computers so I was left to wander… #libraryhaul

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The Girl from the Sea | Molly Knox Ostertag
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Thrift store #bookhaul!!!

Booksblanketsandahotbeverage I recommend the movie for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern too 1mo
22 likes1 comment
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Clare-Dragonfly
Oathbound | Tracy Deonn
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Pickpick

It took me a while to get into this. I don‘t think I remembered book 2 very well and it must have bothered me that the main characters were all separated. Once they started to get back together I was more interested and read faster. I really liked some of the new characters in this book. Somehow fairly early on I felt that this was not a concluding volume and went to Deonn‘s website, which led me to her Instagram, which confirmed: 4-book series.

Clare-Dragonfly With that knowledge in mind, I loved the ending. Looking forward to book 4! Maybe this time I‘ll reread the previous books first. 1mo
22 likes1 comment
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Mehso-so

This book is mostly the same advice on clearing out your closet that you see everywhere else. It‘s even a bit repetitive in itself, and the outfit photos are boring and weirdly repetitive. The focus is on finding and dressing for your individual style, but the author has some very specific ideas about style that she weirdly gives as universals. However, I really liked the “three words” system she gives—there‘s more to it than it sounds like!

Clare-Dragonfly (My three words are “whimsical, vintage, witchy.” I do not think she ever envisioned anyone with style like mine.) 1mo
27 likes1 comment
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Wives and Daughters | Elizabeth Gaskell

“Nobody was autistic in the past!”

Lord Hollingford: shy, doesn‘t know what to say to people who don‘t have the same interests as him, would have learned from a book of small talk, simple character, famous scientist

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Untitled | Untitled
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I read a lot in May… partially at the cost of getting behind on my podcasts because I was listening to Sabriel 😆

BookmarkTavern But Sabriel is an excellent audiobook to get distracted by! 💖 1mo
20 likes1 comment
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Wives and Daughters | Elizabeth Gaskell
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There‘s a Clare in this book! Good start 😄

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BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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June #bookspin list!

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Pickpick

This is a really excellent craft book! Detailed written instructions and clear photographs explain English paper piecing very thoroughly. There are lots of project ideas, though only one is shown step-by-step (the pentagon ball)—it‘s pretty much obvious how to do the rest, since she gives clear instructions on joining shapes and doing appliqué. I can‘t wait to get started doing some English paper piecing.

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Brooms | Jasmine Walls
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Pickpick

So much fun! It‘s 1930s Mississippi and magic is widely known, but Black people are forbidden from having or using it. Two Black and Choctaw girls, one of whom is Deaf, need money to pay for a magic license. Their cousin suggests they join illegal broom races. Brooms has a wide variety of representation of all kinds and a great, exciting story. I also liked the simple but expressive art style. Thanks, @Kenyazero for inspiring me to get this!

Kenyazero I'm glad you enjoyed it! Nice review! 1mo
22 likes1 comment
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Sabriel | Garth Nix
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Pickpick

I‘m not a big audiobook fan but I loved this! I think it‘s a combination of the fact that I‘ve already read this book a few times and Tim Curry‘s masterful narration. I especially enjoyed his drawling Mogget voice!

Kitta I loved Sabriel when I read it as a kid. Such a good trilogy! 1mo
Clare-Dragonfly @Kitta Yes, I‘ll definitely be continuing the trilogy on audio! I might reread the further books as well, though I‘ve only read them once each so audio probably won‘t be the way to go. 1mo
32 likes2 comments
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Zinester Scenester | Arthur Graham
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Pickpick

My #doublespin this month was “a zine” so I‘m finally getting a start on my (not huge) zine collection! This zine was both fun and well researched, with several pages of sources at the end. It was almost as professionally done as a published graphic novel, except for one place where the formatting was apparently messed up 😂 I had good timing to read this, as I expect a friend over soon who would love it, so I‘ll pass it on to him!

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But Not Too Bold | Hache Pueyo
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Mehso-so

This was an enjoyable little creepy novella full of tarantulas. I liked Anatema as a horrific employer and love interest a lot, and the world was very well drawn for such a short book. What was missing for me was Dália, the narrator. At a few times she mentions feelings or thoughts she seems to have had for a long time, but never came up before. I didn‘t feel like I could connect with her at all.

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The Twisted Ones | T. Kingfisher
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Pickpick

Not my favorite T. Kingfisher, but that‘s like saying that poppies aren‘t my favorite flower—I‘m still glad to have them! Nicely creepy and filled with fun characters. I wish I‘d already read the story this is based on, “The White People,” but I plan to read it this spooky season and I‘m sure I‘ll think back on this book when I do. And I may never look at deer the same way again!

monalyisha What *is* your favorite Kingfisher? I read my first (Nettle & Bone) this year and would happily read more! 1w
Clare-Dragonfly @monalyisha That is my favorite (so far)! 1w
22 likes2 comments
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One of my favorite movies! I didn‘t know there was a book!

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Rosewater | Tade Thompson
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Mehso-so

Strange book. I really liked the world and the way the story was told, in a complex nonlinear way that was fairly easy to follow due to date stamps (I still had some confusion about which things happened before and after the dome, but that didn‘t detract). Lots of interesting characters. Unfortunately, the POV character is a lazy, greedy, sex-obsessed bore. I did not enjoy spending time with Kaaro and I really don‘t get what Aminat sees in him.

28 likes1 stack add
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Clare-Dragonfly
The Emerald City of Oz | L. Frank Baum
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Pickpick

I liked that this book had a bit more of a plot through-line than others. Of course, the invasion plot chapters are interspersed with Dorothy having adventures and meeting silly beings all over Oz. Lots of puns and bits that are very reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. It really grates on me that Dorothy never thinks that if something can reason and talk to you, it deserves to choose its own fate.

BookmarkTavern I‘m looking forward to this one! 2mo
willaful Agreed! Ozma is a bit dictatorish too. 1mo
Clare-Dragonfly @willaful Yes, it‘s like only a few characters in Oz are people, and those people have no problem making decisions for the non-people inhabitants of the country. 1mo
23 likes3 comments
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Rosewater | Tade Thompson

I‘m enjoying this book, but I sure wish there was less about sex and erections.

RaeLovesToRead 🤣🤣🤣 2mo
shanaqui I seem to recall that being one of the reasons I rather bounced off it... I finished it for the concepts and plot, I'm pretty sure, but... yeah. 2mo
23 likes2 comments
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Heavenly Tyrant | Xiran Jay Zhao
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Pickpick

This was even better than the first book! It really got into the political complexities of Zetian‘s world (which mirror our own). I appreciated that she learned that, as she puts it, “drastic actions have drastic consequences.” In so many ways! I could hardly put it down as I got close to the ending. Can‘t wait for the next book!

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Pickpick

This book is hard to review. It‘s a manifesto for Liberatory Harm Reduction, but it isn‘t organized enough to be a manifesto. However, I think the scattered presentation is to its benefit; it‘s all about humans being humans, and humans don‘t live neat, organized lives (especially the queer, trans, BIPOC, street and sex workers this book lifts up). I was only passingly familiar with harm reduction, so I learned a lot.

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BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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Here‘s my #bookspin list, just squeaking in!

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2mo
19 likes1 comment
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Woman, Life, Freedom | Marjane Satrapi
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Pickpick

The title of this book is the rallying cry for Iranian protesters after the murder of Mahsa Amini by police. This graphic collection pulls no punches. I was disturbed and inspired. I know a lot more and have a much better understanding of the recent history and current state of protest and repression in Iran. And, unfortunately, some of it reminded me very strongly of the current state of politics in the US. 😞

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The Road to Oz | L. Frank Baum
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Mehso-so

Another adventure through strange and random lands. Another thing that is pretty dark if you think too hard about it, which Baum clearly didn‘t intend the reader to do. The characters were fun, and while I‘m getting pretty sick of the way Baum correlates beauty with goodness/friendship, at least he subverts that a little in this book.

BookmarkTavern Yeah, the beauty = goodness always bothers me too. 2mo
19 likes1 comment
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Pickpick

This starts out slow—the witchcraft takes a while to show up—but builds to astonishing intensity. The real-life horrors of the Home for Unwed Mothers combine very well with the magical horrors. There are some extremely intense depictions of childbirth that I could feel viscerally! I truly felt like all the characters were real people. The epilogue fell a little flat for me, unfortunately.

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A Harvest of Hearts | Andrea Eames
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I won this book in an Instagram giveaway. I‘m so excited to read it! Look at that cover, those sprayed edges, the stickers the author included! 😍🫀

Ruthiella Neat! 🤩 3mo
30 likes1 comment
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I don‘t think I‘ve ever seen a fictional depiction of pregnancy rhinitis before. It‘s not a well-known side effect, and it was one of the worst parts of pregnancy for me—my nose just running constantly. So it‘s really cool to see this main character also having to deal with it!

Blueberry Yeah, I had it too. 3mo
19 likes1 comment
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THE FOXGLOVE KING | Hannah Whitten
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Pickpick

I really enjoyed the world of this book, the dead and missing gods and the way the magic worked—primarily, controlling (or at least trying to control) the essence of death. I felt at a remove from the POV character much of the time, since it was clear she was hiding information about her own past, even from the reader, but that didn‘t annoy me too much since she was also trying to keep it from herself. I loved the twisty plot.

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Rosewater | Tade Thompson
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Today‘s #libraryhaul—I returned one and picked up two so I‘m behind again 😂 I think I heard about Rosewater on a podcast and I don‘t remember what it was about but it sounded incredible. But Not Too Bold references a nice creepy fairy tale and the back said “dark fiction” and “Latin” and “sapphic” so there was no way I was leaving without it.

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Half Sick of Shadows | Laura Sebastian
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Love a #littlefreelibrary haul!

CBee Oh my gosh! The Celery Stalks at Midnight!! That brings back memories ♥️ 3mo
32 likes1 comment
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Lolly Willowes | Sylvia Townsend Warner
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Pickpick

What a delightful book! Oddly paced, for sure, but worth the time it takes to get there. I‘m glad I finally read it.

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Mill on the Floss | George Eliot
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I‘m reading this as an ebook, but I just had to share the gorgeous copy that my library has. The page edges are shiny gold! 🤩

StaceGhost Oh this is so pretty! 3mo
Leftcoastzen Nice! 3mo
dabbe 🤩🤩🤩 3mo
31 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Lolly Willowes | Sylvia Townsend Warner
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“I don‘t think one has much option about keeping a cat,” Laura said. “If it wants to stay with me, it shall.”

It seems the Cat Distribution System was in full effect a hundred or so years ago! (Featuring: Magrat!)

Ruthiella I suspect it is as old as the domestication of cats (or as old as the domestication of humans from the cats‘ point of view!😹) 3mo
26 likes1 stack add1 comment