As the week of comps draws to a close I can only say how thankful I am. My friends & family (including Litsy fam) all came together to support me while I took these exams. The culmination of a year‘s worth of work, compiling lists & reading them, feels unreal ♥️

That said, this book by Roy Porter is heartbreaking & comprehensive. Anyone planning to study psychology should give it a read. Also anyone struggling with madness, like PhD students! 😆

Finished paper 1 at 2 am
& now I sit here yet again
to write another line and verse;
I hope this essay isn‘t worse
than this poem.

I‘m halfway through comps exams & enjoying the heck out of the process even if I am tired. Today I get to write about microscopic worlds, affective ecocriticism, & The Secret Garden.

Highly recommend the tagged book even if you are not writing for scholarship. It‘s so cool! This illustration is one of my favorites🧚

My exam starts tomorrow! This is the book I‘ve been most excited about but for some reason I saved it for last— maybe like a really delicious dessert! It‘s definitely living up to expectations. Highly recommend 🔎 the tea is good, too ☕️

Read this to give my brain a break from comps reading & it delivered beautifully. Not very spicy but vulnerable, reflective, & heartfelt. Perfect for breaking up the weight of all the theory & philosophy I have to read this week. Exam questions arrive Monday morning! I hope I have enough time to write a few sentences in an email to each of my advisors in between speed reading what‘s left on my list 😅😬😰😭🫥 this summer has been so transformative

Moving right along into more Anne Brontë ♥️

An artist with courage & perseverance. Also, some interesting reading about how Charlotte‘s biography of Anne misrepresented her. She also was responsible for repressing this book in particular. According to the introduction, she told the editor it was “a mistake“ to write about such a subject. I wonder at the family dynamics since Anne & Emily published before Charlotte.

?by me at Longwood Gardens?

I had way more to say about Anne Brontë so I had to do a second post (sorry!)

She‘s SO smart. Her religious philosophy has such a Unitarian vibe— “G!d is love; love each other.” Her answer to the patriarchy was female community. Always choose integrity over comfort, even if defending your principles means discomfort. Wield a quiet persistent power & providence will answer your prayers. Be kind but have boundaries.

The stoic philosophy of Agnes♥️

The kind of book Elinor Dashwood might have written about life as a governess. Charlotte wrote a prettier line. Emily wrote a better narrative. Even so, I think Anne would have been a better friend.

Highly recommend the audiobook— the narration of the penguin classic version is excellent! It does a great job of capturing how awful the supposed “quality” can be but without any ire.

📸 hook, line, & tinker project by moi #audiocrafting #stitchitup

Le Fanu ♥️ “Green Tea” is my favorite— books & pots of tea leading to more awareness than sanity can contain intrigues me (obv.).

& Dr. H‘s hypothesis about the metaphysical matter is pure Victorian science, akin to adding a bit about quantum physics to a story today.

Mesmerism was a very real at the time this was published. The relationship between physical & mental ambiguous. Stories on the border between paranormal & mystery are so thrilling!

Finished the series! (Technically, there‘s still the Shrieking Skull, but it‘s a reread.)

Even Christmas in July can make it the most wonderful time of the year. I went into July upset, anxious, & weary. I‘m feeling more refreshed now. Still mad, but braver 😈

I know they‘re “just” stories, but they‘re really not. If I‘m going to remain hopeful, I need plants & books & coffee. I treated myself to a garden reading day & it was the best decision.

The ghost stories in this one are American, entirely collected from newspapers, & much more realistic. They have a level of grit; they have heft. I prefer the aesthetic of a British ghost. Give me fancy! Still, I recommend for the sheer number of glowing skeletons.

Merry Christmas in July! On this day, Will Smith defended Earth against alien invasion.

To celebrate, we will be watching all of our favorite holiday movies, reading Victorian ghost stories, & making iced horchata hot chocolate while eating an absolutely ridiculous feast of all our favorite foods.

I also highly recommend this series of ghost stories 👻 it‘s become one of our traditions to read one aloud before bed 🎄 they make great gifts, too!

Came to Indiana, PA for a campus event & was fortunate enough to stay with a friend who took me here. As the sun set it felt like swimming into an oil painting.

Also finished the tagged book as part of comps exams, which draw ever apace. It was delightful and I highly recommend. I‘m a fan of all fairytales. These are quite different from Grimm but sure to enchant.

#nokingsday just a helpful graphic of the gear Hong Kong protesters wore back in 2019. 📸 by Saša Petricic & my friends over on Instagram

My beloved finally noticed this morning that everything in the world is terrible before I‘ve had a cup of coffee. Shout out to observant partners everywhere. ☕️#chatterday

May all the protesters stay safe today— if you don‘t have any homemade revolution, store-bought is fine. Reading books fights fascism, too.

Charles Taylor again today. It‘s brilliant & won lots of awards for it, all rightfully earned.

@AllDebooks @Chrissyreadit @BookwormAHN

Drop whatever Victorian novel you‘re reading & go get a copy of this one. I‘m one of the many boffins in love with Lydia Gwilt & I don‘t care who knows it. Also, I know which Allan Armadale I prefer— I‘d kill the other for whistling, other offenses aside.

It‘s also nice to see some representation in a nineteenth century novel— there are many more affluent people of color in the landscape of Europe than a whitewashed history would have us believe.

Listening to this on audio because a pressure headache had me wincing all day thank goodness the storm finally broke for #hyggehour

After reading Armadale, I predict Lucy Graham is a psychopath based on her charm & accomplishments

📸 of the wisteria installation outside the Longwood Gardens gift shop— would love to install this over my bed or bookshelves

Spent the morning drinking coffee, spinning records, throwing away watercolor sketches, & doing light school work ☕️

Making chickpeas now so I can make vegan macarons later lol future plans include watching literary adaptations from a nest of pillows while it rains & rains & the children visit their Grammy 😍

What are you reading today?

#chatterday @Chrissyreadit @AllDebooks @BookwormAHN

Missed posting during #fridaynightshare but enjoyed seeing everyone‘s posts 💕 tagged book is not my favorite Hardy novel, but I loved reading this during May. (Armadale will likely be my favorite read of the summer, though.)

Yesterday I practiced watercolor sketching while reading in the Mediterranean garden at Longwood. I love this new conservatory— modern arches with classic taste #naturalitsy #midsummersolace

I‘m not embarrassed to say I‘m more enchanted with Lydia Gwilt than the dunderhead Miss Milroy. Give me Ozias Midwinter over every Allan Armadale, too.

Reading this in the park with the whole family was a perfect #hyggehour experience ❤️ I can‘t wait to go back & do it again next week!

Book haul from one of my favorite places ❤️ featuring “the Pure and the Impure”by Colette, “How Proust Can Change Your Life” by Alain de Botton, “Indian Ghost Stories”with an introduction by Dr. Mithuraaj Dhusiya, Martin R. Delaney‘s “Blake or the Huts of America,” the Chakras Activity Book, and a watercolor workbook by Emily Lex 🎨

“Yes: victuals and drink is a cheerful thing… ‘tis the gospel of the body, without which he perish, so to speak it”

Packing breakfast, lunch, & snacks for the whole family takes me about an hour what with all the fruit & veg to be washed & prepped but it‘s so worth it! Gospel, indeed, & one of love‘s offices, as Robert Hayden might say, although I doubt he ever packed a bag lunch for his family 🍎

Walked around the State House to go to Old Fox Books where many blissful hours were passed perusing their many shelves, drinking tea, & finding fabulous old editions of 19th century literature.

This salad has you suprême your citrus & shave your fennel— so fancy! I can see myself making this for lunch this summer. It has to be pretty good to get me excited for salads & this delivers ?

I love the accessibility of the recipes, too— even the sectioned citrus comes with a how-to guide. It looks like good food cooked with fresh ingredients & a lot of attention to detail ❤️

Highly recommend the audiobook version read by Andy Serkis. The story is long and complicated with lots of names but worth the work. It‘s powerful & redolent of his source material: the myths & sagas of the ancient world, mostly Norse but also Finnish.

My advice is to let it wash over you rather than try to make sense of it or capture every detail. You can always get the details on the next go around.

Reading about ships wrecking in the harbor where we like to go picnicking adds a certain historic flavor to the experience. I gasped & told the awful details to my partner but had to make sure my son couldn‘t hear. His 6 yr old imagination kicks his empathy into overdrive.

Altogether a fascinating read— caught this pic of the University of Delaware boat heading out into the bay just before we packed it up & called it a day.

Pictures of myself are hard. This book was hard. I wish things could be different for her, for me, for my mother & sister & grandmother & aunts. Until then I‘m going to do what Moss does: send a good, bright wolf back in time to provide exactly what is needed ❤️ I‘m going to start by choosing to love the body that houses me

“he left behind him a trail of debts and broken hearts; one lover was so distraught by their break up that she spent most of the remainder of her life living in a hollowed-out tree.”

I kind of love the idea of being so heartbroken over a breakup that I turn into a literal dryad.

📸 by Rebecca of aclotheshorse

Had a great time at the Taylor Swift Symposium ❤️am I a Swiftie yet? Idk but “I was there/ it was rare”

My bestie on the westie and I presented on Durkheim, the Eras tour, and the TS is a witch conspiracy. It was epic indeed.

Tagged book recommended for anyone looking to have a bit of fun & find TS talking points. I‘m enjoying the conversation 🫶

When I am dead, my dearest,/sing no sad songs for me;/plant thou no roses at my head,/nor shady cypress tree:

be the green grass above me/with showers and dew drop wet;/and if thou wilt, remember,/and if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows,/I shall not feel the rain;/I shall not hear the nightingale/sing on, as if in pain:/and dreaming through the twilight/that doth not rise nor set,/haply I may remember,/and haply may forget.

You know that part in Anna Karenina where she‘s crying on the train about leaving her little boy behind and Count Vronsky‘s mom is like “oh that never ends my boy is so big and I still cry” well I just dropped my son off at his grandparents for spring break send chocolate & coffee plz bc I am cry

Elinor helping me read for comps at her brother‘s taekwondo practice ❤️ she liked the sonnets best

Really enjoying this after reading the Letters, the Hobbit, the Trilogy, the Silmarillion, & the Unfinished Tales. Highly recommend!

📸 featuring a rare reddit image of a lost entwife

Book haul (+ one record) from Third Eye in Annapolis 👁️ I had so many zines in my hand but made it home with just these three.

I managed to put three other books back in the shelf too. Incredible self-control, I know. I wager those can be found at the library while these cannot, although the Rousseau was obv. for the gold foil cover I also want to read it again for class.

Finished the LotR trilogy, starting the Silmarillion & v excited for the critical theory I‘ve chosen to pair with it. Also mad about not having all the books I want to read on audiobook ho hum

This book was lovely— a lot of excellent moral readings BUT I wanted more nuance. Still, delightful. Looking for a close reading involving Tolkien‘s other works & specifically an analysis of “the scouring of the shire”

#freeluigi #feanorno

Another cute escape in Dream Harbor. Come for the hot chef, stay for the pancakes 🥞

I have to admit, I kind of sped through this one, but I enjoyed the hard boiled detective, especially since she was an academic adjacent female detective with more backbone than the rest of her department (btw not always a good thing)

I think if thrillers rather than cozy mysteries were more your style, you would like this one better than me

📸 of my desk for real life professor inspired horror

I just love Jenny Colgan books when I‘m having a tough time 💕this one was warm & sweet with just enough difficulty for the characters

I think what I like the most about her books is the way she creates cinematic moments 🫶 & books with characters that like to read, knit, & bake just make me really happy 🥐🧶📚

I love these books 📚 first of all they‘re filthy 🥵 I‘m in love obv. 🌶️ but also I have really enjoyed thinking about how religion intersects with sexuality, the way the Catholic church in particular interprets things like guilt, punishment, & shame, & how much identity overlaps with belief

so I mean, if a book can do all that & contain so much smut I‘m on board 🍆

🧶 Knitting & reading 📖 my two great loves ❤️

This book has been so bonkers. It‘s the strangest on my comps list so far and that‘s really saying something lol

🪲a beetle the size of a cat causes chaos for a character who really doesn‘t need the hassle 🐈‍⬛

A tiny book to have beef (tofu?) with and also a book fan because I am also a book fan 🥁

A much needed day off! Tolkien is the perfect author to spend it with ❤️

A very compelling story blending the genre of sentimental abolitionist novel with slave narrative to question the caste system of race in post civil war America. Iola was almost too good for me. I hated how her story was told through the men in the novel but loved the story, told with grace, although it addressed the darkest and most disgusting part of a deeply American institution, one were still reckoning with today.

📸 by Philip Evergood

I have spent so much on ebooks since bookshop.org started selling them. I even bought a new Boox ereader— not used, new! Reading for school almost requires it.

One of my more recent acquisitions, this book is not the scholarship I hoped. It is still highly readable and has inspired some interesting ideas but they‘re rather more speculative than fact.

📸by abnormalize being on Instagram

These poems truly capture the complexity of love for me. I‘ve always thought it strange how the strength of love can invoke its opposite.

I‘m not saying love is an excuse for a pattern of mistreatment (it‘s not) I‘m saying it‘s complicated & painful sometimes & always scary— your heart walks around outside your body & if you‘re lucky you can trust someone to take care of it. I trust Pablo ❤️

📸of tarts I made my kids & friends for Valentine‘s

Why do I read other books when I‘m supposed to be reading a particular book?

This was so tender, such an unexpected read. I couldn‘t help imagining myself in all their places (kind of the point, I know)

$1.99 on Bookshop.org ebooks

Interesting, but not entirely substantiated scholarship— still, definitely worth the read and fascinating 🧚🍁💀not for the weak-stomached scholar, that‘s for sure

An interesting read! The many contributors have a lot of differences in terms of style and devotion but they‘re all exquisite facets of the same jewel 💎

📸 of my terrarium at work, welcoming spring with a single white flower 💮

What an indictment of colonialism ✨❤️ gorgeous descriptions 🪴 real magic is in the garden

📸 from Longwood Gardens in PA

I calculated my reading time for my comps exams today: https://www.omnicalculator.com/everyday-life/reading-time

Storygraph broke everything down for me: 41, 269 pages total.

This means, in order to be ready to take my exams in early September/late August. I will need to read for ~5 hours a day. This is totally doable and also I'm REALLY excited! I think I might hit 300 books this year 😲

We had a great time reading this. It begs to be read out loud and has very funny jokes for parents. I love Ayoade. Highly recommend!