under the dome by Stephen king and Arsene lupin - classic French lit (nexflix show lupin) Edit to add raffles (the armature cracksman by ew Hornung) the tv show from the 70s was amazing!

Happy Easter Bookaholics 🐰 (Or Good Morning if you dont celebrate it ❤️)

Here is your question of the day.....

What do you think your taste in books says about you? Accurately or not, up to you 📖

I'll admit to being a bit shallow when it comes to good prose 🫶. I love good rhythm in writing, the cadence of punctuation, and an especially good turns of phrase or two can give an otherwise mediocre book a bit of leeway, as far as I'm concerned.

Do you pay attention to prose? Do you find yourself rereading a lovely paragraph? Who are some of your favorite "prose stylists"?

I asked this question months back, and the answers were absolutely brilliant, so I thought it would be fun to ask again!

If you were dropped into the book(s) you are currently reading, where would you be and what would you be doing?

"When they were around the riverbend, he pointed, and she saw the house looming white against the darkening sky. She sucked in her breath and waited; then, when they were close to the dock, she saw that what she had thought was true: the house was a classic Fowler's octagon."

I saw a polygon and immediately thought of the decagon house murders. I also didn't know what a classic Fowler's octagon was, so I thought I'd look it up for other curious readers, and oh boy, the things I've learned about Fowler...

I read An Eight-Sided House for Health and Happiness: The Octagon in Context by the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario to gain a more Canadian perspective on the house. Fowler was a practitioner of phrenology, a pseudoscience that associates measurements of bumps on the human skull with mental traits. I'm sure you all can tell how this shit is gonna be racist. Some links are here and here. A quote from the second link: In Human Science, among many other publications, Orson portrays "Caucasian races" as superior to those of "Indians," whose "combination of Faculties"—i.e., character traits supposedly revealed through cranial analysis—"create that cruel, bloodthirsty, and revengeful disposition common to the race." This method of associating physical presentation with a personal trait extended to Fowler's vision of an octagonal house. The ACO article goes into detail about what kind of rooms he recommended and what they represented for the man and woman of the house. I think there are two interesting historical tangents from this: (1) the use of the cupboards within cupboards being used to hide enslaved people, so it'd be interesting if other historical recounts of dismantling slavery mention the use of Octagon homes, and (2) the precursor to concrete that Fowler used to make these homes and the overall history of material engineering. Side note: There is one remaining octagon home in Port Hope, which is a short distance from where I live, so hopefully I can see it in person this year! Anyways, all this to say, I'm curious if the structure of the house plays a role in how Lou behaves. The author has already mentioned the existence of indigenous characters who live close enough to clean up the place before Lou arrives, but far enough that she's alone. And that they were taking care of the bear that lives on the property, even though other bears don't live in the area. Not saying that I suspect the octagon shape of the house is gonna cause her to have sex with a bear, but perhaps reinforce/allow certain ideologies she has on indigenous peoples as a historical records collector that is primarily exposed to colonizers' materials.

List of Resources: A Phrenologist's Dream of an Octagon House An Eight-Sided House for Health & Happiness: The Octagon in Context - Architectural Conservancy Ontario How Profit and Prejudice Built a Family's Human Skull Collection - Atlas Obscura Phrenology - Encyclopedia of the History of Science The Deceitful Chin - The Forgotten Files Substack

hiiii friends!! what are your guys absolute favourite/comfort books? I'll go first; mine is twisted emotions by cora reilly and heartless by elsie silver!! i also adoree Jacqueline wilson books bcz i was obsessed with them during my childhood 🤭