The Desi Girls Have Finally Gotten Their Black Swan.

the night circus says what if every piece on a chessboard had a personality and a history all their own. what if the victor of the last game was still skulking on the board. what if the queens were imbued with unearthly magical power and aimed directly at each other. and what if they fell in love

Some of us are just born with tragedy in our blood

- Richard Kelly

I can’t stop thinking about how perfectly Barbie portrays girlhood and growing up… How you’re born in a perfect pink world, where you make the rules and get to prioritise whimsies and friendship and beauty, and then you notice something has changed, you discover that something is wrong with you, and you’re offered an illusion of choice, but even if you’d rather keep wearing your heels and go home and be safe and comfortable, you have to choose the Birkenstock, you have to leave your home, you have to grow up. So you’re thrust into this gritty, unfeeling world, where you’re scrutinised and suppressed, where you want to disappear into yourself, because everything is harsh and big and you are tiny and fragile and inadequate. And as overwhelming and impossible as it seems, you survive it. You find truth in the things you believed in when you were young, the inherent good in humanity, connection and love; your friends who look at you while you are crying, and tell you that they cannot imagine what it is that you do not like about yourself.

I may look fine but deep down I wanna do this.

i’m a slow reader, i feel no shame in admitting that. it takes time to appreciate the words- i want to savor them, really see them, have them penetrate my mind before going the next and doing it all over again

So I noticed something about the stories in Sweet Sorrows.

The first and the last are about the pirate and the girl, the ancient love story (Once, very long ago…Time fell in love with Fate). Then there’s the Acolyte. The Zachary, the son of the fortune-teller, and the main narrator when the book is in the present (and the only one for this section of it). Then the dollhouse (something someone else mentioned was a little like a constantly growing Harbor itself, and which comes back when the bees do.). Then the Guardian story, which includes Dorian. Then our introduction to Elenore, then the inhabitants of Harbors (people like and including Allegra), then the Keepers (Now there is only one), then Simon, the man lost in time.

Introducing us to the main players. So I wonder, what if the Acolyte who sang the full month was Rhyme?

Gorgeous gorgeous girls get drunk on song lyrics, book quotes, and poems.

my favourite lines from The Bees in The Starless Sea

‘You know, you want to think you’re… You want to think you’re not like other women, but you are, you know. You’re still… that’s still how the rest of the world, how men are going to see you. Like, I know you hate labels, but like… You live in a woman’s body. You’re vulnerable. No matter what you think, you’re vulnerable, and sometimes, you’ll need other people. Friends. Me.’

- Boy Parts by Eliza Clark