lin·gua·phile

So, for those of you who dislike liveblogging or are just not interested in my thoughts on Kate Elliott’s Cold Magic, set your Tumblr Saviors to block “liveblog,” because although it is 1am here and I should probably be sleeping, I am instead sitting in bed with pillows and comfy blankets and what already looks like it will be an awesome novel.

Right now the plan is to break for sleep by 3am if not earlier. We’ll see how this one works out…

SHANNON

SHANNON

I LIVE IN A WORLD OF MAGIC AND WONDER (granted we already knew that this was the definition of New York because, hello, Young Wizards)

BECAUSE I WALKED ACROSS THE STREET FROM MY APARTMENT TO THE BOOKSTORE THAT USUALLY DOES NOT HAVE MUCH SFF OR YA

AND THEY HAD THIS ON MARKDOWN!

Good thing I was a diligent student earlier today, won’t feel bad about reading & liveblogging this til ungodly hours of the morning, surviving on tea & chocolate biscuits & girlpower & MAGIC!

(In case you can’t tell I am expecting a lot out of this book but luxheroica’s judgment = flawless, so I really doubt I will be disappointed. Also do you see that tagline? WHEN SCIENCE AND MAGIC COLLIDE! That is basically a definition of every book I have ever loved, ever.)

posthorn:

The Turgot Map of Paris was commissioned in 1734 by Michel-Étienne Turgot, and printed between 1734 and 1736.

The map is drawn from an isometric perspective and is in the form of 20 separate, non-overlapping engravings. The assembled map is approximately 2.5m high by 3.2m wide. The original copper plates are kept at the Chalcography of the Louvre, where they are still used to reprint copies of the map which are available for purchase.

The map can be found in a single file at Wikimedia Commons, and divided up into higher-resolution chunks at the Kyoto University Library and at Harvard University.

Nnnngh you guy I love old maps and this one is BEAUTIFUL. Ugh. Must have.

klg19:

The mural in the lobby of my library: Butler Library, Columbia University, NYC; painted by Eugene Savage in 1935.

It is an allegory of Columbia, as Athena, fighting back the demons of ignorance and bringing knowledge to the masses. 

There are a lot of really delightful details in this painting, such as the hammer and sickle in the hands of the masses, and the sliver of landscape featuring the Empire State building (under Columbia’s shield) and the Hayden Planetarium (under the flame of the demons’ torch).

Yeah, I go to school here.

dduane:

drakochan:

dduane:

wearsherlock:

Russell Hobbs 1.7L Blue illuminating kettle
As seen in 221b in Series 2

Glass. Concealed element. Blue LED lights.
£25.99 / $40 Available here at Amazon.co.uk

Our kettle is dying and we need a new one…

WAIT, THIS ONE IS SEEN IN 221B?  I must have this kettle.

HUSBAND? FETCH ME THIS KETTLE!

Yeah, so you have to put your sunglasses on to look at it late at night? TOUGH.

THIS KETTLE.

(photos follow of the Sherloc!KETTLE)

djasklfasd fwant

Also can we just take a moment to appreciate how much of a fangirl Diane Duane is?

This is why I love her so much ffff <3

I don’t fangirl things often, but when I do, I’m thorough.

I fangirled this thing called “Star Trek” once.

…I was thorough.  :)

Diane Duane, teaching me how to be unashamed of fangirling & associated geekery since page one of So You Want to Be a Wizard.

theotherausten:

barelysuppressedfirth:

sigh
so i ordered the sense & sensibility graphic novel from amazon, a used copy.
i got this instead.
can we discuss this 90s-era pseudo-romance novel cover, please?
what is going on with the lace on whoever-that’s-supposed-to-be’s dress? and wait.
two sisters. two romances. a tragic tale of love and deceit…
lol. was this like, in the YA section in between the baby-sitter’s club and christopher pike books?
there are only two romances in the book?
i’m just really annoyed/confused. good thing my published p&p fanfiction book came today, too…

FIRST, REPORT THAT SELLER. second, i’m diggin’ the 90s cover. not EVEN regency.

This is almost as great as this Northanger Abbey cover I found a while back (and actually managed to use as part of an argument about the way that even Regency readers could judge books by their covers, even if they didn’t have such faaaaaaabulously misleading artwork and cover blurbs!). I also have a really great 90s-ish copy of Persuasion that my sister gave me for Christmas, which may even be better than this (think of Wentworth looking like a sea captain out of a bodice-ripper, add a horrendous color scheme, and you are getting close!), but sadly I am in New York and it is not, so no photo.

luxheroica asked: 1, 6, 10, 13, 20, 28, 31,

1. What was the last book you read? Depends if we count this as “finished” or just “read some part of”; if the former, then Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (contemporary YA romance, sweet & adorable), but if the latter, then Clarissa by Samuel Richardson.

6. A strong memory associated with reading: The first time I read Pride and Prejudice I had NO IDEA what happened in it. The plot hadn’t been spoiled for me at all. So when the first proposal happened midway through the book, I was taken aback entirely — and this happened while sitting in my history teacher’s class, having finished a test early. My friend was sitting across the room, also having finished early, also reading P&P, and hit the exact same scene about a minute after my contained flailing.

10. A book recommendation: In addition to all of the things I blog incessantly about, White Cat by Holly Black was REALLY GOOD. (And the sequel is possibly even better.) YA urban fantasy at its best — I mean, assuming we leave Young Wizards out of the equation because obviously YW > everything else ever.

13. Top 5 female characters: Ugh why do you do this to me?! This is hard! Still, here’s something like a list, but not in any order.

—Deryn Sharp: more confident and talented and brave than I could ever hope to be, and also quite dashing!

—Nita and Dairine Callahan: I’m cheating and counting them as a single entry because I have always felt that I fall somewhere in between the two of them; I grew up with more of Dairine’s precocity, but with more of Nita’s concern for others and her impulse to help make things right. I’m not even sure I could tell you which of these girls I have more complicated feelings for, because I feel incredibly complex things about both of them.

—Elizabeth Bennet: She’s witty and quick and clever and not always right, but she’s one of the few people in the world of her novel who understands what is deserving of solemnity and what needs to be laughed at. Not to mention she walks across fields and gets her skirts six inches deep in the mud to visit her ailing sister the day after a storm. Elizabeth continues to teach me how to inhabit others’ expectations in my own unique way, with the intention of changing them (or getting things out of them that weren’t thought possible). 

—Hermione Granger: even before the Callahan sisters, Hermione was a geek girl I could relate with, someone whose story I cared about, someone who lived in the books instead of in the world but was like me in some emphatic way that made me see my own intelligence as something that mattered.

—Nora Darwin Barlow: I am realizing that my feelings about this fabulous lady boffin are extensive and vast, but as a woman going into a male-dominated career field (not as badly male-dominated as the sciences but still arranged around male privilege), I take courage even (especially?) in fictional representations of women who are not only good at what they do, but care about it. Dr. Barlow is not always the best person, but right now I respect her for the way she doesn’t let anyone treat her as a woman first and a boffin second: she is the head of the London Zoo, and she fabricated the perspicacious lorises. Seriously. Does it get more badass?

(Oh look they are basically all geeks/nerds/bookworms and/or career women, this is not surprising in the least.)

20. First book you remember reading/being read to you: The first book I ever read all on my own was The Berenstein Bears and the Spooky Old Tree.

28. A book you’re looking forward to: Games Wizards Play! I need it I want it I must have it! Also the Manual of Aeronautics and Black Heart, the third book in Holly Black’s Curseworkers trilogy.

31. Favorite fictional character of all time (or just today): Again, what is it with the difficult questions?! It really depends on the day. Right now because I’m listening to the audiobook of Goliath it may be Deryn, but normally this is a question I am just not capable of answering.

robotamputee replied to your post: robotamputee replied to your post: Tom/Carl Your…

I’d never particularly cared about New York until I read the YW books. They’re pretty much solely responsible for my interest in visiting there one day. I’d love to take a YW tour of the city, if only that were a thing :P

I will someday single-handedly make that a thing, if necessary! :D Seriously, the first time I visited, I geeked out over all the YW-related stuff. And in general I’m pretty sure the reason why this city has come to feel like “home” so quickly is that it feels like Young Wizards, which ultimately amounts to about the same thing.

neversayneverland:

(Retooled from this movie questionnaire originally by uhhbry.)

1. What was the last book you read?
2. What was your favorite book/series as a child?
3. Top 5 books
4. Top 5 writers
5. Your opinion on the screen adaptation of a book you’ve read
6. A strong memory associated with reading
7. A guilty pleasure
8. An overrated book
9. An underrated book
10. A book recommendation
11. A book you read purely because of the cover design
12. Top 5 male characters
13. Top 5 female characters
14. Hardcover, paperback, audio or ebook?
15. Favorite children’s book
16. A tearjerker
17. A book that you know is bad but you can’t help but love
18. Favorite genre
19. Favorite quote
20. First book you remember reading/being read to you
21. Favorite series
22. A book you’ve read more than once
23. Favorite Science Fiction or Fantasy book
24. A book that made you laugh out loud
25. Favorite Love Story
26. A book/series you hate
27. A book from your favorite author you didn’t liked
28. A book you’re looking forward to
29. A book you read after seeing the movie
30. Favorite fictional character you love to hate
31. Favorite fictional character of all time (or just today)
32. A book you wish you’d never read
33. A book that changed your life
34. A book you read for school that you hated (alternatively: a book you expected to love but hated)
35. A book you read for school that you loved (alternatively: a book you expected to hate but loved)
36. A book that scared you

YES DO THIS PLEASE.

(via luxheroica)