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Robotswithpersonality

Robotswithpersonality

Joined June 2022

Funny fantasy, sci-fi for speculating, meta horror, final girls, Greek myth, pleasant mysteries, ace/agender rep
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Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
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Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
review
Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

To absolutely no one's surprise, I loved it! As always this series earns my admiration with the balance of fantastical and down-to-earth, drama and healthy communication, ancient Greek myth and modern urban fantasy, the complex adaptation of mythical figures into people with flaws and traumas, the spectacular art and the healthy dose of humour and warm fuzzies.
1/2

Robotswithpersonality 2/2 Without going into spoilers, VERY important developments in key relationships occurred, and I am left wholly satisfied with the experience of this volume and equally eager to read the next one. Love, love, LOVE! ❤️

⚠️SA, abuse
8h
9 likes1 comment
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Robotswithpersonality
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😏

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Robotswithpersonality
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EeeeeeeeEeeeeeeeeeeeEeeeeeeee!!!!🥰
Ahem, pardon the squee. ☺️

9 likes1 stack add
review
Robotswithpersonality
Spy x Family, Vol. 14 | Tatsuya Endo
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Pickpick

Always reassuring when a long running series has a particularly good entry in a later volume. As has happened in the past, this one shone not because it was particularly zany (though the comic quality of this series is to be treasured) but because it managed a multi-episode narrative that was semi-serious in tone, and, as has regularly appeared in the series, commentary on how war affects people as individuals.
1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? Because half the book focused on characters that have never had the spotlight before, it was engaging to read their backstory, but it does mean that we get less time with other characters. This volume still had a lot of time for Anya and her school shenanigans, and even space for a short-lived closed circle mystery with possible supernatural serial killer that I honestly would happily have read a whole graphic novel about, but Loid and Yor 10h
Robotswithpersonality 3/3 definitely got short shrift as a result. Hopefully we get more of their combination of badassery and hijinks in the next volume.
⚠️Discussion of war deaths
10h
8 likes2 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
Spy x Family, Vol. 14 | Tatsuya Endo
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Pfft. 😏

GingerAntics 🤣😂🤣 14h
8 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

Well that was intense! Possibly the most fantasy-horror leaning of the series. I get why in the acknowledgements, the agent suggested not releasing this one in 2020. If I can extrapolate from there, I also get why a particularly dark story would get written in 2020.
Did not see the first reveal coming, or the second for that matter, but the first one gave me a chill and an aha moment, and the second one was just more darkness.
1/2

Robotswithpersonality 2/2 Impactful, but I'm hoping for something slightly more adventure and less horror for the next installment in the series. And more Almost Brilliant!

⚠️child death, suicide, famine, cannibalism
20h
9 likes1 comment
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Robotswithpersonality
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Rather weighted comparisons...👀

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Reminder for my fellow weekend crafters and makers : “...the creative process does not require a product, and sometimes that process produces a failure.“ It's all part of the process! ❤️

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Regular academia is stressful enough, but having demons as your field of study?! 🫣😅

review
Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

Emphasis on the Bedlam. There is much in this book's intent and its writing to recommend it, but that doesn't stop it from feeling messy overall, in a way that I'm fairly certain the publishers wanted to present as charming, but mostly felt distressing. Gow excels at describing larger than life characters he's encountered as well as wildlife and their natural settings. His rueful reports of various wildlife encounters are hilarious, provided 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? it is only the unwary humans and not the animals facing injury; this is not always the case.
He is righteously, thunderingly angry at organizations in Scotland and neighbouring environs who are bogged down my bureaucracy and not truly providing tangible aid in conservation and rewilding efforts, and let's them have it full blast.
2d
Robotswithpersonality 3/? He also has a youth in farming and an earlier career involved in the gamut of wildlife enclosures from decrepit zoos to groundbreaking nature preserves.
Suffice to say there was more discussion of disabled, diseased and dead animals than I was prepared for.
I'm glad he's working towards change, that he sees hope, that he's pushing when he recognizes the need for action.
2d
Robotswithpersonality 4/? What I should clarify is this book doesn't really belong on the shelf beside Wilding (the journey of the Knepp estate from industrial agriculture farm into a rewilded area full of recovering/reappearing species). 2d
Robotswithpersonality 5/? I think the content would be more accurately summarized as one man's journey with a passion for animals from engaging with various species in various commercial enterprises to recognizing the species' intrinsic value and how he can help and what needs to be done to restore British native species, with a number of reality checks along the way about the perils these species are in at this moment. 2d
Robotswithpersonality 6/6 What I do know is I would absolutely love to read further collections of stories about the people and animals he's encountered because he does have an evocative, if breathless run-on-sentence, style that fully engages the reader. Hope those who can handle the content benefit from the experience!
⚠️Animal abuse, animal death
2d
5 likes5 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
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LOVE his descriptions and similes.

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“...a cattle trailer with hiccups.“ 🫣😆

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Damn.

8 likes1 stack add
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Robotswithpersonality
Cat Nap | Brian Lies
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Pickpick

The ART. The WHIMSY! 😍 An exceptional project making an incredibly important statement. A staggering amount of work for a 48 page 'picture' book, but so worth it. Love, love, love. Sincerely hope this becomes a classic for the next generation.

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Robotswithpersonality
Cat Nap | Brian Lies
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That's right, not drawn, not digitally fashioned, actual artworks made for the book and photographed. 🤯

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Robotswithpersonality
Cat Nap | Brian Lies
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So grateful for such an important message rendered in such an accessible fashion.
“If people before us could do it, why not me? Why not you?“

8 likes1 stack add
review
Robotswithpersonality
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Mehso-so

Meh. Various teamups, a few quips, various villains I don't know very well or am not very interested in.
Jimmy Olsen as Elastic Man and Batgirl, as well as Green Arrow and Green Lantern were team ups with fun potential, but neither story was long enough.
Here's hoping next installment in this series is as good as previous ones!

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Robotswithpersonality
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Coppertone ad homage and assorted shenanigans. I approve. 😁

willaful LOL! 5d
12 likes1 comment
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Robotswithpersonality
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Oh, Jimmy, temporary super powers do not make you suave. 🤦🏼‍♂️😏

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Robotswithpersonality
Of Monsters and Mainframes | Barbara Truelove
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Oh my- We do NOT call people impaled by Vlad the Impaler KEBABS!! 🫣🫢😆

GingerAntics I don‘t know how to take this. I mean, so wrong. Also, kind of funny. 6d
Robotswithpersonality @GingerAntics Agreed!!! 🤦🏼‍♂️ 6d
10 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Never contemplated whether some sheep could swim, does the wool weigh them down or make them buoyant? 🤔 🐑🏊‍♂️

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Today's 'scratched my brain just right' sentence. 🎨

10 likes1 stack add
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Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

Not an easy read, but a worthwhile one. Full credit to Gustafson for consistently tackling tough subjects from human and animal welfare perspectives with compassion and vulnerability.
I knew going in that animals in distress, their illness, injury and death might be touched upon, but in the course of her work Gustafson also encounters people in distress, and reckons with how it can be harder to help her own species, 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? how the systems have failed humans and animals, how an understandable lack of trust and resources, and the cruel luck of the draw, can make a world of difference in individual lives.
With incredible writing skill, Gustafson moves through difficult moments in her own life paralleled with stories of cats who see her reflecting on her past: dealing with a previous abusive partner, childhood illness, her mother's cancer treatment,
1w
Robotswithpersonality 3/? mental health concerns, misogyny and the body image and self-esteem issues that stem from our existence under patriarchy. She also reflects on her present, the unique path that led to things turning around, the complicated feelings around new prosperity having struggled financially in the past and regularly witnessing poverty in her cat rescue efforts as well as her previous employment, and what it means to be a social media content creator 1w
Robotswithpersonality 4/? while also recognizing the motivations of care that are the media images' foundations.
The heartbreaking material is regularly countered by Gustafson's simple need to keep doing the work, the inability to stop caring even when grief temporarily overwhelms, and the sense of wonder at the community that develops, those who join teams to help the cats, those who follow and donate online.
1w
Robotswithpersonality 5/6 If you can successfully navigate the subject matter, there's a message of resilient hope that should not be missed.
If you came for cute cat stories, maybe skip this one.
Sidebar: One of my favourite covers of the year.
1w
Robotswithpersonality 6/6 ⚠️ Animal injury, animal death, misogyny, recounting previous emotionally abusive (manipulative, controlling) relationship, mental health concerns, depression, anxiety, dissociation, stalking, description of surgery and cancer recovery, homelessness,descriptions of human and animal wounds, body image, self-esteem issues 1w
9 likes5 comments
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Coldest take: It's a BAD system.

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Oof, academia flashbacks. 😖

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Cheers to Bubbles! 😺🫧 ❤️ The little guy who got the author away from Robby, the bad guy. 😒

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“I would be different.“
No, money can't be directly exchanged for happiness, but anybody who's experienced poverty, food or housing insecurity, can tell you: financial stability, leading to other kinds of stability, makes a world of difference, provides the kind of foundation that allows the freer pursuit of happiness.

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This book is going to hurt me. 😿

8 likes1 stack add
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Robotswithpersonality
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Just a little trash-talking the green lanterns. 💚

11 likes1 stack add
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Robotswithpersonality
Half-Breed | Maria Campbell
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Pickpick

There's no way I'm going to do this book justice in attempting to explain why it should be read.
This isn't about the quality of the writing, though it's staggering to recognize a young woman wrote this and conveyed such a strong feeling of being present at the moments of growing up, those early years of childhood innocence and joy, considering everything that came after, the brief moments of pure storytelling relaying family foibles, 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? ghost stories or legends, or that she relayed clearly, even sparely, so many traumas and heartbreaks.
I've never encountered such a comprehensive overview of all the issues that can negatively impact Indigenous woman in one self-portrait, only to be floored by the same person's quiet resolve to work for the solace and improvement of her community, all while recognizing how many government programs have failed them,
2w
Robotswithpersonality 3/? or actively worked against their interests. And the book offers still more in being a window into a specific time and place which provides history for later generations.
Campbell's new afterword is full of joy that there are so many examples of Indigenous art, writing, tradition-sharing, etc working towards decolonization.
2w
Robotswithpersonality 4/? I'll list the content warnings so you know what you're in for, but I truly think if this book isn't in curriculum it should be. First person experience relayed by one so often marginalized as both a woman and a Métis person is valuable in and of itself. The hope is we're always ready when someone chooses to share about their life, and this is an opportunity to learn and gain resolve, to hold space and listen to know how to help, 2w
Robotswithpersonality 5/5 so Campbell's hopes for the future can come true. ❤️‍🩹

⚠️racism, misogyny, domestic abuse,child abuse, substance abuse, death in childbirth, death of a parent, SA, withdrawal, internalized racism, mental health concerns, generational trauma, self-harm, institutionalization, separation of children
2w
10 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
Half-Breed | Maria Campbell
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“Dreams are so important in one's life, yet when followed blindly they can lead to the disintegration of one's soul.“ 💔

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Half-Breed | Maria Campbell
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“I used to believe there was no worse sin in this country than to be poor.“

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Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

A book about making things with the latest things I made. ☺️ Having Canadian Thanksgiving before Halloween makes it really easy to go into Xmas mode in November. 🤷🏼‍♂️Tricky to summarize for the purposes of assessment. The subtitle 'The Education of a Craftsman' helps in that regard, to pair up the strong threads of memoir with the more philosophical and didactic passages that might otherwise fit better on their own in a treatise or manual. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? Korn, for the most part chronologically, follows milestones in not just his development of a certain skill level as a craftsman, but his growing understanding of what it is to be a maker with a tangible craft, how that can lead to a fulfilling life, how a life fully involved in a community, in earning a living, in teaching, can involve craft, specifically (wood) furniture. 2w
Robotswithpersonality 3/? It's engaging to see his ideas about craft and the world evolve, to manage the transition of isolation and struggle to a shift for the purposes of connection as much as financial stability or clear direction.
While his delving into the more spiritual and even psychological didn't always find me following along with all points made, I was on occasion startled by the quality of the writing, an evocative or relatable turn of phrase, and how
2w
Robotswithpersonality 4/? concisely emotionally impactful his brief forays into his bouts with Hodgkins disease (cancer) were.
I think this book has a lot more value for being written by a man in his late fifties, humbled and enlightened by a variety of experiences, which on the other hand makes it that much more quietly sad that he seems to consistently acknowledge his father's reservations about his chosen work throughout the decades.
2w
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Robotswithpersonality 5/? There are passages in here that are empowering, offer camaraderie to the fellow maker in exploring the depth of rewards gained by engaging in craft, but there are also the regular recognition of how the individual was helped, got lucky, rose and fell in regard and, as time marches on, and a multitude of fulfilling options around running a crafts school appear, finds themselves grateful to be part of a larger organism, with less material 2w
Robotswithpersonality 6/? crafting as part of the day or year.
The book recognizes the importance of craft beyond fine art being elevated in recent decades, recognizes what it has to offer to many people who experience it first, second or third hand, and while there are intriguing even esoteric explorations of the benefits and thought surrounding it, it doesn't canonize craft.
2w
Robotswithpersonality 7/7 Korn appears to be just spiritual enough that 'an even-handed approach' might be too grounded a phrase to use, but insofar as he regularly returns from the lofty heights of the mind, of writing and language and philosophy, to the tangibility of materials and other earthly concerns, I think anyone who has a personal or professional interest in crafting could find something worthwhile.
2w
dabbe 🤩😍🤩 2w
17 likes7 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
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☺️🌸🌺

Singout Mmmmm…reminds me of an amazing B&B I was at in Gaspésie about 15 years ago. 2w
14 likes1 comment
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We love a good simile. 🌬️💨

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😬🫣

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Today's 'scratched my brain just right' sentence.

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“...craft's materiality imposes cooperation on the sometimes discordant factions of the mind...Thus the holistic quality of craft lies not only in engaging the whole person, but also in harmonizing [their] understanding of [themselves] in the world.“

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“... intellect, manual skill...when you add in the creative component of design, craft becomes a fully integrated application of one's capacities....pleasure and empowerment...like an engine firing smoothly on all pistons...“ 😌❤️

review
Robotswithpersonality
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Panpan

Hard to look at this one objectively, the premise holds such potential and I feel thwarted by this particular execution.
Choosing a selection of nine books or authors, coming back to these works over a period of decades, reflecting on what the books had to say to a person at different times in their lives, relating to the authors' lives as well as pivotal moments in your own, is in itself an essay collection with dash of memoir I could get on 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? board with, especially as the author is a competent and seemingly insightful writer.
The tricky part lies in what is chosen for close reading and personal reflection: I don't think there was a single book covered that I had an interest in reading upon hearing more about it. It's objectively interesting to see a shift in perception about characters, motivations, inner lives, author influences, especially as it relates to the reader's life,
3w
Robotswithpersonality 3/? but there seems to be a large proportion of what my approaching-40 self now classifies as unnecessary drama in the telling. [And not for nothing, but the maddening character psychoanalyzed and prescribed with religious mania and rather clumsily alternately as frigid and asexual was not a fun reading experience.] 3w
Robotswithpersonality 4/4 Speaking of fun reading experiences, if anyone knows of other non-fiction takes on re-reading, especially exploring the habit itself, I'd love to move from specifics of one person with a set of books, to either one person investigating the phenomena as a passion/proclivity among readers, and/or collating responses from many people about books they like to reread.
⚠️animal abuse, animal death

3w
Robotswithpersonality Not the auspicious start to Non-Fiction November I was hoping for. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Back from vacation now and hoping for some more satisfying reads in the month. 3w
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review
Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

This collection gets all the love for the essays I truly enjoyed, but I will say there's a variance, in the quality of the writing, in how the author's chose to address, or seemingly not quite address the topic suggested by the title of the collection.
I don't know if it's a matter of understanding or not understanding the assignment, I think it's more accurate to say that there are essays 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? from authors talking from a memoir perspective about what was formative to their experience of horror, that made them fall in love with the genre at large, in various media, those that talk about their experience of horror, of trauma, and how fictional horror helps, and those talking about the writing of horror and what it means to them. And there are various essays that include multiple or all of these components. 3w
Robotswithpersonality 3/? I will say a number of authors make specific reference to particular personal traumas, so be prepared.

My favourites:
Stephen Graham Jones - Why Horror?: Of course. I love his writing style, anyone who's read the acknowledgements in his books, knows they're in for a treat, his earnest appreciation, the hilarious metaphors.
For similar reasons I loved Gabino Iglesias's Horror is Life: A Blood-Soaked Love Letter.
3w
Robotswithpersonality 4/? Rachel Harrison - Permission to Scream: I loved everything about this, think I officially enjoy her non-fiction writing more than her novels.

Paul Tremblay: An enchanting and concise way to talk about history of experiences with horror and the love of the genre.

Clay McLeod Chapman: Especially liked the end.
3w
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Robotswithpersonality 5/? Victor LaValle- Horror Saved My Life:
Just a wonderful experience to read his writing.

Haley Piper - The Giant Footprint of Horror: Apparently I love Hailey Piper's non-fiction writing, I should probably try her fiction writing!

David Demchuck - Of Monsters and Men: To tell a story and also make it an opportunity to write about the reasons you love horror and your personal experiences with it. THIS is how you do it.
3w
Robotswithpersonality 6/? Grady Hendrix - Why I Love Horror: Vulnerable and unsettling, while emphasizing what horror provides in the way of spine chilling doubt, quality work.

Definitely a recognition of seeing oneself in The Other, in horror in a number of essays, particularly liked those from Tananarive Due, Jennifer McMahon.
(edited) 3w
Robotswithpersonality 7/? I do appreciate that the editor has a background in horror reader recommendations and she provides an introduction to each author and suggests a starting point and a similar author for further reading, but I do feel like the effort to explain why these essays were arranged in the order and grouping they were in every introduction occasionally felt forced, overall an unnecessary inclusion.

3w
Robotswithpersonality 8/8 ⚠️domestic abuse, child abuse, suicidal ideation, self-harm, miscarriages 3w
8 likes7 comments
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...a historical war... And I hope it stays there. 😮‍💨

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From “Permission to Scream “ by Rachel Harrison.

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Clouds of Witness | Dorothy L. Sayers
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“facts...nasty, hard things, all knobs.“ ☺️

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Robotswithpersonality
Clouds of Witness | Dorothy L. Sayers
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Mehso-so

I do treasure a cheeky last line.
I'll admit to being a bit surprised that this one felt so much more like a court drama than a classic mystery, it was technically following the beats of looking for clues, discovering evidence, but Wimsey seems to play a smaller role in figuring things out, we get less fun or incisive character moments with him and Bunter, less cozy or outrageous about town moments, and there were large swathes 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? of news coverage and deposition.
Classism plays a major role, because I had no idea (and hope it's not still the practice) that peers of the realm were given an entirely different process within the justice system after initial charges are brought, and it's clear that the Lords and Duchesses are given every consideration during the investigation while the common folk and the less well off minglers in a certain echelon of society,
3w
Robotswithpersonality 3/? are often depicted with less intelligence, less manners, and more readily suspicious motives.
It doesn't appear that the central male characters of the story are treating the female characters with much more consideration than in the first novel of this series, but you do get a broader range and a clearer picture of what the womenfolk have in the way of restricted options in the time period of the novel.
3w
Robotswithpersonality 4/? Mary Wimsey, who couldn't pursue her original love interest because the family wouldn't allow it and she had no funds without their approval, who could only reconsider once the man found a job that could also offer her a modest salary as a secretary alongside, who alternatively planned to marry a man who guaranteed her a certain level of indifferent independence and an approved match that would secure her inheritance; 3w
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Robotswithpersonality 5/? Mrs Grimethorpe, suffering an appalling amount of physical violence from her husband, which no one in her immediate circle has worked to put a stop to, who feared for her life if she tried to leave, attempting to find solace with another man who didn't bother to try to lift her out of her circumstances, as men of his station are so used to having a wife and entitled to whomever else as well; 3w
Robotswithpersonality 6/? Simone Vonderaa, a mistress whom everyone understands has to look out for her own interests, going where the money is even if it devastates a former lover/supporter, because she needs a source of income that again, necessarily comes from a man. Pretty grim. 3w
Robotswithpersonality 7/7 As with many other series, I'll let the third book help me decide to continue or not based on whether it offers the same kind of promise as the first, or suggests it's not a series to wallow in if it drags about like certain portions of the second.
⚠️Domestic abuse, suicide
3w
7 likes6 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
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Spirit bar in the bathroom, with 'wretched hive of scum and villainy' vibes. The visual! 🤩

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Wh- Hey! I want that story, too! 👀

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Robotswithpersonality
Clouds of Witness | Dorothy L. Sayers
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The ultimate physical form of a detective? 🕵🏼‍♂️🤔

10 likes1 stack add
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Thanks, Mom. ☺️ 🏦💸

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“Now you know how I feel. And if you already felt it? Then you know you aren't the only one.“ ♥️