fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #4831 ]

[ SECRET POST #4831 ]

⌈ Secret Post #4831 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

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Books!

Tell me if you're reading anything new and good - but I'm also curious to know: are you a person who rereads books? And if you do, what are your favorite books to go back to and reread? What holds up well?

I reread books, and that's kind of how I judge books. A book is really only good to me if it is worth rereading.

Right now I'm on a Lord of the Rings reread, working through Fellowship of the Ring at the moment. I've reread those many times.

My favorites to reread would be the Tolkien stuff, the Star Wars books, Dune (first one), Last Herald Mage trilogy, the Old Kingdom series, the Belgariad, Space Odyssey series, Time Quartet, and the Broken Earth series. Oh and the Star Trek books that deal with the Eugenics wars and then Khan's life on Ceti Alpha VI.

Edited 2020-03-28 20:49 (UTC)

I reread a lot of books.

My favorite rereads:
1. Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn
2. Tanith Lee's The Silver Metal Lover
3. Lee's Unicorn Trilogy (Black Unicorn, Gold Unicorn, and Red Unicorn
4. Maggie Stievater's The Raven Cycle
5. Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races
6. Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series
7. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
8. Don Marquis' Archy and Mehitabel

So a lot of this is YA and/or fantasy so obviously I have a type. Archy and Mehitabel is free-verse poetry and kinda bizarre but I love it and I'm not sure how many copies of that novel I have in my collection (not to mention the 33 1/3 album).

Re: Book Thread

(Anonymous) - 2020-03-29 00:03 (UTC) - Expand

I've been going through Audible Stories - Free kid's books - and a lot of the originals are pretty entertaining. I like RIvals!. I'm listening to one about a robot girl, and Cirque Du Freak. which would be a reread, but I never heard the audiobook.

I am currently reading the Star Wars OG trilogy (just began Return of the Jedi this afternoon), plan on finishing it tomorrow. My next book will be Janis: Her Life and Music by Holly George Warren (bio of Janis Joplin). After that it will be Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, followed by Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray. After that probably John Muir's A Miscellany.

Re: Book Thread

(Anonymous) - 2020-03-28 21:01 (UTC) - Expand

I'm reading something called My Name is Monster at the moment because I kind of liked the description when I picked it out in January. My mother-in-law got me a book voucher for Christmas and my tactic was to go to the shop without any idea and just look at things/decide. Anyway, I started reading this one a few days ago and realised maybe I shouldn't have considering it deals with a post-apocalypse after "the Sickness" - oh well!

I do reread books but only after many many years. I've re-read Watership Down, Wuthering Heights and War of the Worlds more than twice but that's because those are three books I read for the very first time when I started reading "grown up" books at the age of 10.

Re: Book Thread

(Anonymous) - 2020-03-29 00:04 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Book Thread

sparklywalls - 2020-03-29 00:05 (UTC) - Expand

The most recent books I read are Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon, and False Value by Ben Aaronovitch. I enjoyed both, but I generally like their stuff.

I do reread books, some of my favorites to read are Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books after the first few, Lois McMaster Bujold’s work, especially the Vorkosigan Saga, Robin McKinley’s Beauty and the Beast retellings, and Naomi Novik’s published books.

Re: Book Thread

(Anonymous) - 2020-03-29 00:05 (UTC) - Expand

I read all the time - mostly murdery serial killer stuff - it's a kind of escapism as I work with offenders, so it's a reminder that the folk I work with aren't as horrific as the killers in the books.

I have go to rereads as well though - I reread the Discworld Nightwatch books most years, The Harry Potters every few years. Man without a face - Isabelle Holland is an old friend, as is Flanders by Patricia Anthony. I reread the PJ Tracy books too.

I'm currently working through the Judge Dee series.

In Tang era china a magistrate and his lieutenants solve crimes. Books follow his career from posting to posting.

Solid mysteries series, fascinating characters, well written, (although given that they were written in the 40's some of the language is a little dated) and the fact that they were written by an accomplished sinologist gives the books a feeling of authentic history. As it turns out they are based on a real life magistrate from the time.

Not reading anything new right now - finished the last published book in The Expanse series about six months ago (excellent).

Yes, I re-read books *all the time*. So many rereads! Some more than others, but i've read every book I own at least three times, if not more. Only a very few got the one-and-done treatment.

What holds up: Downbelow Station and Forty Thousand in Gehenna and Out of Africa and Captains Courageous and ....well, frankly, if I love a book, I love a book, so mostly there isn't any issues about holding up. ALL THE BOOKS!!!

Others have already mentioned them, but consider this another vote for Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series and Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I reread the former a lot, it's just fun and full of adventure and really good characters.

I reread all the time. I just read the first two Harry Potter books but the others are in storage.

I reread A LOT. If I told you all the books I love to reread I'd be typing all day.

I am currently listening to the audio book for The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon. I never reread books.

Re: Book Thread

(Anonymous) - 2020-03-29 01:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Book Thread

kaijinscendre - 2020-03-29 02:02 (UTC) - Expand

I'm currently reading Laura Jane Grace's biography 'Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout' and 'The Tao of Pooh' by Benjamin Hoff.

I don't exactly reread the whole book, but if I like a certain part of the book I'll go back to reread that section if I happen to own the book. I've done that with Becky Chamber's 'The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet' and 'Mort' by Terry Prachett.

Re: Book Thread

(Anonymous) - 2020-03-29 01:43 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Book Thread

(Anonymous) - 2020-03-29 10:57 (UTC) - Expand

I read a lot. Currently on kindle, I'm working my way through the "Paranormal Women's Fiction" genre (basically light urban fantasies that feature a 40-something protagonist rather than an early-20-something protagonist) on kindle unlimited. I've obviously liked some of the books more than others, but overall they've mostly been enjoyable.

I don't reread books a lot. I do occasionally, especially if it is a series and the next book is out and I want to be reminded of details, but there are so many new books that I would enjoy that I tend to prefer to do that.

I just started a book called Life Ruins, and I've only read the first couple chapters so I'm not sure about it yet, but it seems interesting (it's a murder mystery type thing). I'm also reading a short story collection called Mouth Full of Birds, which is kind of boring so far. I feel like it's trying too hard to be weird and ~quirky~ and I usually love weird stuff, but it's just not weird in an interesting way.

I have reread books before but haven't in a long time. I already feel like I will never have enough time to read all the books I want to and even if I really love a book, rereading it is time I could be spending reading something new...the more books I can read, the better!

Yesterday someone replied to my dream cosplay post saying they wanted to learn to sew and make patterns. I left a reply with some info, but I just wanted to share something I saw reblogged today; that a craft class site, myblueprint.com, is offering all their online classes free through 4/9.

Tbh I’d never heard of if before I saw the post today, but poking around the website, it seems legit and like they have some cool stuff.

Does anyone else have advice for someone who wants to learn to sew or make patterns, or want to share progress on a craft project or cosplay, or questions about how to do something crafty, or anything like that?

That site is great! Used to be called Craftsy (I think they got bought out), and it has a lot of professional video classes. No e in the URL, though: it's mybluprint.com.

I'm a self-taught seamstress and learned primarily through blogs, free youtube videos, and sewing books. Vintage sewing books from the 1970s are extremely helpful and still relatively easy and cheap to come by used. I recommend The Vogue Sewing Book (which comes in a beautiful slipcover ) and anything by Adele Margolis. Also blogs. Find a pattern you like, google it, and read all the blog entries from people who have made it and taken time to fully detail their constructions process. From there, you will find people whose blogs click with you, and at this point many of those blogs are so old that they're a goldmine of archived information as good as any sewing book.

The site sewing.patternreview.com has active forums and is an excellent resource for beginners.

Sewing is not hard, but it takes a lot of patience and the drive and resourcefulness to seek out information.

Making patterns, on the other hand, is serious business. I have almost a decade of experience with garment construction, and I still won't attempt it. There are designers who won't attempt it. They design by draping and have someone else draft the design into a flat pattern. Not only must you have the technical expertise for drafting, but you must be familiar enough with garment construction to work without instructions. Not trying to discourage anyone, just a reality check. If you want to make patterns, I would suggest working with as many different commercial patterns as possible. You will get a feel for it and soon be able to alter commercial patterns to suit your own designs.

- Learn where you adjust your thread tension and keep scrap fabric for testing your stitches
- Start with the really simple things to practice keeping your seams even and all that. Like, upcycle old towels into makeup removal pads or whatever. I made pantyliners from old sheets.
- Yes, your iron is your friend. Learn to turn it on full steam.
- Modifying existing patterns is probably 10x safer and easier than creating your own ones

A goal I fully support! As a professional as well as hobby cosplayer...

I'm working on a book about choosing and modifying patterns for cosplay, but until that hefty undertaking pans out, I can offer tips and advice anytime. Especially since my business is a bit, ah, slow right about now. Advice is always free.

When you're learning to sew for the purpose of cosplay, as opposed to quilting or crafting, I strongly suggest practicing with useful garments, because costumes are actually garments, not crafts, and half of making a costume look good is making sure it fits you. Learning by practicing on pajamas/drawstring pants, knit shirts (if you want to learn knits), and so on will allow you to learn the basics of how clothing fits human bodies. We're not all straight lines, and it's not until you start fiddling with patterns that you start seeing how shapes inform fit and comfort. Drawstring pants are forgiving but also useful for cosplay, not every design is jeans or dress pants or shorts you can buy off-rack. And then you have something useful to wear, too!

As for personal project sharing, today it was finally warm enough that the laundry area of our basement was not too cold to spend a couple hours dyeing fabric. Success on my ombre dying of the hem of a kimono, not so much success trying to darken a purple linen. And then my paint order from Dharma arrived so tomorrow I'm painting pinstripes on a different kimono!

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(Anonymous) - 2020-03-29 01:27 (UTC) - Expand

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capsulecorp_tm - 2020-03-29 01:41 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2020-03-29 02:50 (UTC) - Expand

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capsulecorp_tm - 2020-03-29 03:27 (UTC) - Expand

Thank you! I will definitely check those out!

Also, will you be posting any updates on your work, if you get around to it?

Thank you again!!!

Re: That was me

(Anonymous) - 2020-03-29 02:51 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Crafters and also anon who wanted to learn to sew from yesterday

(Anonymous) - 2020-03-29 03:58 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Crafters and also anon who wanted to learn to sew from yesterday

(Anonymous) - 2020-03-29 14:39 (UTC) - Expand

I personally regret writing a really graphic gang bang for my fandom. Someone reviewed it and said it was the saddest thing they'd ever read. I would delete it but it was reviewed really well by a lot of commenters and I've not been able to delete it yet. I feel like an awful person.