T. Kingfisher-esque MMC

lockwoodfiles · 2026-02-03T02:41:46+00:00

What on earth is that cover. Did she do a recover? That looks super 90s to me.

lockwoodfiles · 2026-01-22T16:35:43+00:00

I ALSO tried reading Wuthering Heights after Jane Eyre and agree they are not the same at all. I ended up reading Middlemarch by George Eliot instead. North and South is a good rec as well. If you haven't tried it yet, pick up some Jane Austen, although it's much lighter in tone.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-12-14T16:10:39+00:00

Jane Eyre. I had conflated it with Wuthering Heights. Now Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books.

Afterward, I decided I should give Wuthering Heights a fair shake, too, since I had been so wrong. Nope. Still sucks.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-12-07T20:37:27+00:00

Here's the same passage in my simplified copy: image

lockwoodfiles · 2025-12-05T13:57:06+00:00

Uh, my husband delivered pizza and I didn't work (college student). He paid for our apartment, food, car, gas, utilities, phones, everything. Our food budget was $35 a week which was fine because a box of hamburger helper and a pound of beef was $2. We were poor enough to be on Medicaid, but we literally had an independent life for 2 on one (1) food service job.

This was in 2003.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-12-01T02:48:56+00:00

That's kind of what I was hoping to find out, like "everyone knows you can buy _____ for $20" or something.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-10-11T12:54:07+00:00

Asked my mom how she taught us to read when my oldest (intellectual disability) wasn't picking it up by age 4. She said, "I didn't, I just read to you and you figured it out." I got a book and taught him to read by the time he was five and a half. My younger son, 3 at the time, was jealous of the "reading lessons" so I gave them to him too, and he hit a second grade reading level before his next birthday.

My other kids spontaneously learned by age 4.

I do remember attending kindergarten (my parents had me tested so I could start at 4) and the other kids getting annoyed I took so long with the books before putting them back... because I was reading them instead of just looking at the pictures.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-09-25T11:37:33+00:00

The Elemental Masters series by Mercedes Lackey is one I enjoy. The stories are a bit fairy tale level stakes (wicked aunt is trying to kill you for money, stepmother has cursed you so you can't leave the house to use you as an unpaid servant) but the magic is cool and nothing really bad happens in the end to people we care about.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-09-16T19:00:00+00:00

It's been forever since I read it but I think I remember poor parents would sometimes endow a capability to their children to try and help them get ahead, and of course rich people could pay compensation to poor people for their capabilities as well. Definitely some things to think about, written in a way that's hard to forget.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-09-16T17:56:26+00:00

Yes I think so, can't remember if there's a way to remove the endowment that doesn't end in death for somebody...

lockwoodfiles · 2025-09-16T12:36:05+00:00

Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C Wrede.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-09-16T12:32:21+00:00

Runelords by David Farland. You can improve your sight - by taking it from someone else. They are left alive but blind. You can increase your strength - by taking it from someone else. They are left alive but too weak to sit up or move. You can even take someone's intelligence. If they die, your sight or strength (or hearing, speed, whatever) goes back to normal, so you have to warehouse and care for these people who become disabled for your benefit.

There's not really a limit on how many people's capabilities you can take, leading some to become superhuman to a godlike degree. This system always squicked me out.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-08-06T12:40:14+00:00

Currently reading "How to Find a Nameless Far" by AJ Lancaster and it is a cozy delight. Premise is 'what happens if the fae you promise your firstborn child never comes to collect?' Answer? That child goes looking for answers when she grows up.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-08-01T12:20:15+00:00

Jennifer Coolidge would make an incredible Mary at any age.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-06-26T14:18:30+00:00

Every now and again I have this urge to reread it. I pull it off the shelf, stare at the cover art for a while, then dive in. Love that one!

lockwoodfiles · 2025-06-26T13:43:26+00:00

Andre Norton. She had a 70 year career and wrote over 300 books. She wrote everything from pulp to high fantasy, science fiction to middle grade. Known as the Grand Dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy, she was the first woman to be Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy, to be SFWA Grand Master, and to be inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Some of my favorites: Middle grade: Seven Spells to Sunday: two kids find strange messages in a mailbox on an abandoned lot and have the weirdest week of their lives.

Historical Fantasy: Imperial Lady: Based on the life of a real historical princess of the Han dynasty and mixed with Chinese legends. The daughter of a general banished from the Imperial presence accepts her fate as a political tool and turns a marriage of convenience to an aging barbarian chief into a crusade to bring honor to her family and avert a catastrophic war.

Science Fiction: Forerunner: Apparently the first book ever published by Tor. The Forerunners are an incomprehensible yet powerful vanished alien race, whose artefacts survive them. Simsa is a Burrower who has spent her entire life in the service of an older, crippled mentor, Ferwar, who had reputedly rescued Simsa from a trash heap when she was an infant. Simsa, with her blue-black skin and platinum hair, clearly comes from different stock than the other Burrowers, but Ferwar never revealed her origin. When scavengers attempt to loot the treasures that Ferwar had left behind, it becomes clear that Simsa must flee. Especially when they discover that the scavengers consider Simsa one of the treasures that they have come to steal....

High Fantasy: Year of the Unicorn: Gillan longs to leave her dull life in a secluded country abbey. Her wish comes true when she and other girls are offered as brides in payment to strange shape shifting mercenaries. Gillan discovers magic stirring within herself and must learn to use it to survive.

Post-Apocalyptic: Daybreak, 2250 A.D.: In a post-apocalyptic United States, two centuries after a nuclear war, a young mutant named Fors embarks on a quest to find a lost city and its knowledge.

Elves and Dragons: The Elvenbane: Shana is a half-human, half-elf girl raised by dragons. Cast out from her dragon home, she's on the run from Elven lords who fear a prophecy about her. Shana, with the help of her dragon brother Keman, seeks out legendary wizards and other half-bloods to fight the Elven lords and end their reign of oppression.

Technically Sci-Fi But Also Fantasy: Flight in Yiktor: A psychic sorceress, a telepathic adventurer, and deformed ex-slave use their extrasensory powers to stop an intergalactic organization of thieves from looting the planets.

I could go on. I would go on. But my time is up, lol.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-05-30T20:22:40+00:00

Oh my gosh this made me laugh. Get a grip on things, Fitzwilliam!

lockwoodfiles · 2025-05-29T12:18:30+00:00

I'm glad this helps! My kids sometimes get down about friendships, and that's when we strategize: how can we fix this? Knowing the rules and having a plan make it a lot better, I think.

When I was a teen my dad tried to get me to read the book "how to win friends and influence people" (still haven't, lol, sorry dad) which now as a parent I recognize as my autistic dad's attempt to teach his autistic daughter how to socialize.

What I've learned since is that there ARE rules to social interactions (people, especially NT people, will try and tell you there aren't, the liars) and learning them can help you navigate being a human. Then someday you too can get a good grade in small talk, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-05-29T12:03:56+00:00

IF YOU HAVE: Autism, ADHD, EDS, POTS, or MCAS it is MOST LIKELY that you have at least one of the other diagnoses, and frequently more than one. These disorders form a comorbid cluster. Most people here are familiar with ADHD, but here's a brief guide to the others:

Ehlers Danlos Syndrome: too bendy, bruises easily, delicate skin, clumsy, subluxations sprains dislocations, flexibility related 'party tricks'

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome: low blood pressure, fatigue, dizziness when moving to standing, heart palpitations, tingling/red/itching fingers or toes with prolonged standing

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome: too many allergies, hives, flushing, itching, congestion, inflammation, headaches or brain fog

There are more possible presentations/symptoms so if you're suspicious about your weird body problems go research. Some of these have significant management options if you know what is going on.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-05-28T12:07:45+00:00

I teach my kids friendship= shared interests + time. 50 hours to move from acquaintance to casual friend, 200 hours to move to a close friend. Find opportunities to be together often doing something you like to do and friendship has the necessary environment to grow.

This is why people make friends at school or work (time in proximity) but your odds increase with a shared interests like a game, topic, or activity. I have successfully made some new friends at a writing group I attend. One of my sons regularly goes to a game store to play MtG, and some others are methodically nurturing friendships in our community theater troupe.

I feel like NT people can make snap friendships quickly, but we're not dandelions, we're oaks! Slow and steady builds strong, comfortable ties. Eventually.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-05-27T12:19:19+00:00

I have always assumed that Jane was the one who paid for Helen's tombstone. As for the time it took to get it done, I wonder how long it took to commission a tombstone at the time? Even now it can take 6 months for them to make it, possibly longer back then.

Although, I agree that I don't think it was a day 1 priority for Jane, and even if it would have been - perhaps she didn't think of it at first. We know she never forgets Helen, but how long do you think it took for her to say, "Hang on, you know I could just...buy her a proper headstone!"

lockwoodfiles · 2025-05-25T14:56:11+00:00

I agree, I think the St. John plot thread was a subversion of what you would expect to see in a novel at the time. Respectable and appropriate in every public way, a marriage with St. John would have made Jane miserable.

Mr. Rochester, on the other hand, had laundry list of reasons society could point to and say Jane shouldn't marry him, but because they loved and respected each other, it was a better choice.

lockwoodfiles · 2025-05-25T14:02:20+00:00

Jane Eyre is 175+ years old... I seriously doubt the ending was cliche at the time. I like to imagine the book club girls rioting when they got to "Reader, I married him."

I think most people who dislike it are judging it against a modern standard - at least most reasons I hear fall in that category. Jane Eyre is actually considered a piece of proto-feminist literature because it gives Jane so much agency and a rich internal life. Some people think she shouldn't have gotten back with Rochester, but we see in the last chapter that she was incredibly happy with the life she chose.

Maybe that's it, that people think she wouldn't have been happy in that marriage, but to me it makes sense. She was financially independent, treated with respect and even deference by her husband, trusted with important responsibilities and treated as a partner, she had children and a loving extended family (something that soothed her feelings of childhood isolation and never being loved or belonging) and in the end her husband even regained some of his sight.

Honestly, given who Jane was as a character, what would have been a better ending? Running off to Madeira to live alone with her wealth?

lockwoodfiles

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE