swamp ophelia

Anybody got any book recs for either nonfiction or fiction set in Central Asia and/or Afghanistan prior to the 19th century? (Going back as far as you like.)

I just find this area of the world really interesting but find little information on it. I'm super interested in Samarkand, the Silk Roads, etc.

There are a number of travelogues that people have written, like, tracing the Silk Roads and things. And those are interesting! But I'm really looking for something that isn't filtered through a contemporary perspective.

My flist is full of smart people. Can someone explain to me in very small words what Straussianism actually is and what constitutes the divide between East Coast Straussians and West Coast Straussians?

I have to get a new phone case. Which one should I get?





OR I am open to suggestions if there's one out there you think is Very Me.

I can't decide which Childless Cat Lady bag to buy.

Anyone up for betaing 7,000 words of Wangxian remix fic by Friday?

You can read the original if you wish and tell me if it's too derivative or just give feedback on what I've actually written.

I should warn that there's some brief suicidal ideation and also a touch of pet play in that WWX fantasizes about being LWJ's pet rabbit, but that is neither explicit nor sexual in nature, and they don't actually do any pet play.

+ I am considering doing Fandom Trumps Hate, but for some inexplicable reason, I am intimidated by it in a way that I am not for exchanges. I would love to hear about other people's experiences with participating!

Also, does anyone know whether I can do a thing where I say, I'll write Pairing A up to 10k words and something Character X-centric up to 5k words?


+ I have become consumed with the need to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2022 take on Much Ado About Nothing. It's on BBC iPlayer. However, even with my VPN, I cannot get the page to load properly. I've tried a bunch of different UK proxies and none of them work.

Does anyone know a) where I can watch it elseweb (legally or illegally, I do not care) or b) live in the US and have a VPN that allows you to watch stuff on the BBC site? If it's just a problem with my VPN, I will switch VPNs. But I don't want to go to that bother if it's not going to work on another VPN.


+ And now I need to vent: my mom got an Instagram account a few years ago so she could see the pictures of my niblings that my sister posts (reasonable). Unfortunately in the last couple of months she's discovered Reels, and she keeps sending me all these videos of people telling you how not to get your house broken into or to not get kidnapped by your Uber driver. It's pure fear-mongering! I hate that she is watching these, especially because we worked so long to get her to not spend much time on Facebook! BOO SOCIAL MEDIA.

I also know that she has zero idea how to tell what's real and what's not, what's AI generated and what's not (even when it seems obvious to me, what is a legit website and what's not. I worry about her online all the time! I do not like this!

So! I am not ~Back Yet~ but I am with my parents and planning our UK trip. (How will I wait till May???)

I know a number of y'all are in the UK or visit there fairly frequently so I am now soliciting recommendations of good, not-high-end places to eat in:

+ London - I mean, we're going to visit a lot of the markets for street food, but maybe a few places nearish to where we're staying in Bloomsbury
+ Bath
+ Winchester
+ Oxford

Any recommendations will be appreciated!

I got too much Buffalo mozzarella at the grocery store last week and I need to use it up before it goes bad. Does anyone have a good recipe that I can make for lunches next week that uses quite a bit of mozzarella?

I've got a vegetable lasagna one I might do, but I'd like another option!

I don't have time to just sit down and read for very long when I'm with my family, so I mostly just read a page or two here and there when I have a moment. This is obviously not the ideal way to read most books, including almost all of the ones I have on my ereader at the moment, so I am asking for book recommendations.

I'd love to read any really good middle grade or classic YA books that you really love, preferably either fantasy or historical fiction in nature. If they're MG, they can be written at any time, but if they're YA, I really prefer them to have been written before about 2010, which is (imo) when the YA publishing industry really jumped the shark.

Some books in this vein that I did not read as a kid but that I have enjoyed discovering as an adult: Monica Furlong's Juniper and Wise Child, The Sherwood Ring and The Perilous Gard, The Book of a Thousand Days, The Raging Quiet, The Star of Kazan, and I, Coriander.

And some of my favorites growing up: L.M. Montgomery and Robin McKinley, obvs, the All-of-a-Kind Family series, the Borrowers series, Betsy-Tacy series, the Gone-Away Lake Books, Witch of Blackbird Pond, Mara: Daughter of the Nile, The Bronze Bow, Little Women, the Little House series (I know), Ella Enchanted, etc.

Anyone got any recs along these lines?

I've been reading nonfiction and kids' books lately, so it's time for something different.


What adult fantasy should I read? I'm wanting something second world and fairly serious in tone (I'm not in a fluffy, lighthearted mood) with good characterization and worldbuilding. Hit me with your favorites, please!