Why is that tiny room (the one with a clipped ceiling and an quilt on the bed) not quite real?

[paisleycat]

Book List 2009

52. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray. 3rd book in her series.
53. Beatrice Porn from 1902 very good but full of what would bother most folks with modern sensibilties. Not for those new to porn of the era.
54. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Via Audiobook but done in one long day for a refresher.

Exercise log is helplessly out

Comments

[ironwench]

yay! academia! My friends and I listened to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies via audiobook, and I recommend it that way. I could see how it wouldn't be nearly as funny and twisted if a proper british woman weren't narrating it and doing all the character voices.

[paisleycat]

Lots of incest and non-consent/semi-consent. The Victorians really had a thing for incest. This book also has loads of bdsm, but that translates better for modern readers usually.

[paisleycat]

I think it was because the family was becoming a more primary social unit. Couples were consistently marrying for love rather than family obligation (though that was there), and so they spent much more time together. They did not however spend enough time together for most Victorian father's to have to deal with the unpleasantness or real work of raising children, thus making the children once adolescent or grown frankly more appealing, largely because of the taboo and access.

The other thing is this, it really amps up the forbidden-ness of any sexual connection, and the books often start out fairly normal but attempt to slowly build the number of taboos simultaneously broken by the end of the book. And it isn't substantially different to write, just change a few names.

Reading it really bothered me for the first year I had to read a lot of Victorian pornography, but it so ubiquitous that I notice it a lot less now. Still yucky but not a big deal.

[mangokat]

There are always options, we just have to figure out what they are and how to get there (that's what I keep telling myself). Let me know when you have phone reception!

[bowl_of_lilacs]

yeah, that's what i was thinking. it's not that you don't have options, it's that you chose this path, and as you continue on it, you keep choosing it. there are always other options.

i think this a lot, to keep myself from feeling trapped. the more "free" i feel, the better i can work.

[paisleycat]

Dear Amazing Sarah, I am back with phone reception and no longer feeling sick/weird!

Also, activated charcoal is good for keeping destructive bacteria and molds out. You can have a semi closed terrarium or a drier terrarium without it, but if you want something really moist, it helps a lot.

[diageneticmind]

Your last sentence was a huge factor in why I gave up on grad school in Tucson. I felt like I was becoming irrelevant to humanity at large. Now, after a break, I understand that there are other (more satisfying) paths within my chosen avocation. Rather than allowing myself to get pulled down into academia, I realize that I'd rather share my experience in a more public/educational way but not necessarily in a professor kind of way. I'm not saying this realization was not without quite a bit of strife on my part and may not even be realistic... but for the first time in my life, really, I feel like I have something to shoot for that I have actually chosen and want to do rather than just following some interminate path.

[mangokat]

This has nothing to do with anything, but do you use active charcoal in your terrariums? I found a beautiful piece of moss behind my trash area and have everything else I need (i'm not planning on trying other plants at this point). Will my moss die a drawn out death without charcoal?