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turtlebreads.bsky.social
👨🏻‍🍳 chef bao 🍎🍞🥯🧀🍝🧅🥬🧄🍳🍅🫘🦐🌽
@turtlebreads.bsky.social
670 followers 170 following 2.9K posts
🍮 苞溢 bao’s yap acct 🍦 20↑ 🍢 any pronouns 🍘 go to @turtlebaos.bsky.social for translations etc.
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turtlebreads.bsky.social
TW for suicide and grief this time around with the memoir!
it wasn’t just that she had died in a senseless way, or that years before she’d landed in her wheelchair, and then her husband had gone off. instead, it was like those things had traveled backward to infect all the stuff that had happened before, all the way back to their births and before that even, and everything tasted a little bit like sadness in the way that you can’t just cut a moldy bit off a tomato because it’s all water. -krystelle bamford, 《idle grounds》 - little anecdotes and details peppered throughout add so much to the story. yes this is EXACTLY what family gatherings with tense undercurrents feel like. - not to make everything about 《house of leaves》 but there was a 《house of leaves》 moment - narration feels like a greek chorus of cousins! - like that it introduces the myriad of cousins and family organically instead of all at once - this quote is so nice because of the association of sadness and water and spoiled goods….love that TW: suicide the room around us in that moment—dim, traced with a glow, half-hollow where the walls arrange themselves against the black side of my mind—will remain buried in my memory forever as the last time i’d see molly alive, all prior memory covered over, like a drowned ship, the last few seconds of our home. -blake butler, 《molly》 - i purchased this book around the time it came out, end of 2023 or early 2024 and at the time i’d been thinking about death for a while. it seems so obvious in hindsight, but reading about that final morning finally made me realize that it would actually be pretty upsetting for some people if i died? food for thought… - blake butler really captured the way time doesn’t stop in an emergency, and as it goes on you get further and further away from making choices that might still change the outcome. - no idea how he found the words for this book, i can barely recount some of my memories without it sounding like a list.
September 25, 2025 at 1:52 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
summer thriller in september.....
it's the shock of the thing, is what i'm saying, and my new and somewhat untested theory is that when something is shocking it also seems unfair even if it isn't. a shock disrupts the normal flow of things and what is normal usually feels the same as what is fair. -krystelle bamford, 《idle grounds》 - love that it starts with describing the romanov family. such a doomed family story. sets the tone! - really like how young the narrator's voice feels. and that the mc is a bit misguided and fully aware that the story will be unsympathetic at times. - didn't read a lot because i had an eye exam and my pupils were dilated most of the day LOL
September 24, 2025 at 3:54 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
they should have let her fuck the devil in slewfoot ngl.....it's a 4/5 from me
are you not the same moon from my other life? he wondered, fixing on it, trying to push through the thin veil of time, listening again for the voices of the ghosts. and there, faintly, from down in the pit, the calls and bellows of beasts from a distant night. -brom, 《slewfoot》 -hoping that the story will draw on the "witches are women who lay with the devil" superstitions.... -it would be sweet if her husband lived on a bit somehow through slewfoot's reluctance to kill her, like bec homestuck and jade harley -starting to hit its stride about 1/4 of the way in? the force swirled around them, stirring up the leaves, then flowed into samson, setting his silver eyes ablaze. he grasped her hand and it entered her. abitha let out a fevered moan as the magic filled her, her eyes rolling upward, her whole body quivering, and for a moment she felt it might be too much, it might break her, drive her mad. but she did not break. -brom, 《slewfoot》 -flat villains are passable in horror visual novels, but somehow less convincing in novels -otherworldly being having an existential crisis is super funny, actually -discussion of bible/paganism pretty interesting -the tension would probably feel more heightened in a show or miniseries the serpent, she thought. it seemed to be waiting to claim her. this terrified her, yet at the same time, some part of her wanted it to take her. she felt its promise of power and prowess. why be the rabbit, it seem to ask, when you can be the wolf? -brom, 《slewfoot》 -the climactic scene for the witch accusations felt pretty abrupt, that kind of setup works better in danganronpa LOL -underwhelmed by the truth of the matter, not really invested enough to be shocking -wish there was more buildup to the witch trials and how people fall in line to fanaticism -i'm wondering about the depiction of the indigenous pequot people in this novel, i think that it tried to be fairer than other stories, but not sure about effect even with cultural research and consultation -it's okay for a halloween read but nothing new
September 23, 2025 at 3:35 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
orz sorry i accidentally hit post w/o adding alt text on the last one </3
“angels must often do dark deeds in the name of the lord.” -brom, 《slewfoot》 - lol i was wondering a bit about the chasteness of their marriage, but it’s okay they fuck! i figured it was going to be kind of ahistorical otherwise, even for puritans…? - historical aspects seem to be leading the story around at times though - antagonist a bit cartoonish, but more digestible if you think of him as a fairytale villain - book shines most when it digs into horror, everyday life is not as interesting….maybe it’s just set dressing…
September 21, 2025 at 1:54 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
forgot to update the past 2 days
there are a few years in a family when, if everything goes right, the parents aren’t alone anymore, they’ve been raising their own companion, the kid who’s going to make them less alone in the world and for those years they are less alone. -charles yu, 《interior chinatown》 - p. 163 i had to set the book down 🫩 could very viscerally feel the book departing from what i hoped it would be - the “romance plot” dialogue felt like being stuck in a conversation with your loser classmate with a chip on his shoulder (ask me how i know lol) without giving you the insight that 《ballad of songbirds and snakes》 by suzanne collins does - liked the ideas of fatherhood spanning across 2 generations, but underdeveloped - latter half of book relied too much on the screenplay concept would still recommend + will check out show abitha spat out a speck of mud and began digging for her boots, found them, and tugged them from the bog. when that didn’t work, she began raking out the muck, the hard leather biting into her half-frozen fingers. when the pain became too much, she stopped, clutching her numb hands to her chest, trying to regain some warmth. -brom, 《slewfoot》 - some of abitha’s values seem like a rather modern transplant, but it could just be my cynicism from being hurt by 《hamnet》 by maggie o'farrell 💔 - opening scene with a hibernating monster reluctant to reawaken to blood was really cool
September 21, 2025 at 1:53 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
made it halfway through the book hallelujah
he says something you don't quite follow. you hear it, you catch most of the individual words, and yet somehow—you don't understand. this gap, always there. somehow unbridgeable, whether it's across a wide pacific gulf of language and culture, or just a single sentence, father to son, always distance. the texture of everyday actions, simple movements and gestures, is harder than it looks. the great shame of your life that you can't speak his language, not really, not fluently. -charles yu, 《interior chinatown》 - uses procedural cop show to reference "racial triangulation theory" by claire j. kim, especially via racial profiling and typecasting - titular "black and white" cops feel kind of like a strawman at times, or at least clumsily executed....hoping for some payoff - i like that the beat-by-beat plot can change based on how literally you want to take the story-within-TV-story framing - have to look into 《amusing ourselves to death》 by neil postman later as supplementary reading
September 18, 2025 at 4:33 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
ermmm forgot to post yesterday's reading logs but basically i just read a bunch of short things and then finished a mystery novel
“any place you love is the world to you,” exclaimed a pensive catherine wheel, who had been attached to an old deal box in early life, and prided herself on her broken heart; “but love is not fashionable anymore, the poets have killed it. they wrote so much about it that nobody believed them, and i am not surprised. true love suffers, and is silent…romance is a thing of the past.” -oscar wilde, 《the remarkable rocket》 - kind of feel like i’m missing a lot when i read this…i think i noticed some of the themes and references rooted in the time/society oscar wilde was poking fun at though - debating a fairytale happy perfect love as outsiders and a character whose nasty personality is punished, unlike in 《the devoted friend》 - both sides made pretty good points, but i still want to believe in happy romance and true love… i shall anticipate pleasure everywhere and find it too, for it is everywhere! i shall involve myself wholly…everything matters! the only thing i resign is the power to resign, to retreat: the acceptance of sameness and the intellect. i am alive…i am beautiful…what else is there? -susan sontag, 《journals & notebooks 1947-1963》 - interesting to see how susan sontag struggled and embraced her sexuality…she seems to have had a much more fulfilling time with it than i have though - her intellect is daunting, even at 16, but i guess that’s exactly how she went on to write papers that are basically film criticism canon - genuinely wondering how she managed to meet a million girls (it feels like) who wanted her back…especially throughout her life - she’s given me much to think about with my own identities [orczy had] felt that they were alike the moment they’d first met in the classroom. she was convinced chiori had felt the same way. and they got along very well. they had also visited each other’s rooms several times. -yukito ayatsuji, 《the decagon house murders》 translated by ho-ling wang - yuri AND yaoi-baited for what…where’s my yuri yaoi 😭😭😭 - kind of irked by the ending, but i got 1 deduction right! - spoils 《and then there were none》 by agatha christie like less than 1/3 into the book lol 💔 okay maybe i should have read it earlier - not sure this would be worth re-reading like 《out》 by natsuo kirino, but i’ll tune into the manga and new drama adaptation - was pretty fun nonetheless! will continue series 🕵🏻‍♂️
September 17, 2025 at 4:28 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
really hoping this novel will impress me....i want to have a list of asian diaspora fiction i can actually stand behind
because by the time he gets to “west virginia, mountain mama,” you’re going to be singing along, and by the time he’s done, you might understand why a seventy-seven-year-old guy from a tiny island in the taiwan strait who’s been in a foreign country for two-thirds of his life can nail a song, note perfect, about wanting to go home. -charles yu, 《interior chinatown》 - the 2nd person POV is a genius choice….bold, controversial, and brilliant - “you” implicates the non-asian reader, also immerses anyone into the shoes of the seemingly-everyman protagonist - touches on really fresh topics that i’ve yet to see broadly discussed in diaspora fiction, LOVE LOVE LOVE
September 17, 2025 at 4:24 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
started a reading blog (edited the titles after the screenshots for clarity though)

bao-is-reading.tumblr.com
that explains the dance: he doesn’t mind getting wet, because he’s besotted with romance. -roger ebert, 《singin’ in the rain》 - love love love the word “besotted” in this sentence….etymological roots in “wetness” - disliked mary corliss’s introductory piece because of the way she described aging actors 🙄 isn’t it a privilege to witness their craft as they mature?? what a typical hollywood attitude. - picked random ebert reviews to read and a little surprised there wasn’t a quotable in every one of them. skimmed some of the history parts, but it was still interesting. “what are you saying?” agatha laughed and ran her fingers through orczy’s short hair. “you need to have more self-confidence. you know, you’re cute. you just don’t know it yourself. don’t look down so much and stand proud.” -yukito ayatsuji, 《the decagon house murders》 - PLEASE YURI PLEASEEE….this is bao bait…..this is such bao bait… - read the manga and i’m mad they got rid of agatha’s wavy hair and made orczy skinny with huge tits and pink underlights….wtf…unnecessary character changes plus there’s nothing wrong with plump, unfashionable orczy 💢💢💢 - the manga also transed kawaminami taka'aki into kawaminami akira LMAO good for her 🫰🏻 - going to try solve this as detective bao. beware all schemers, i WILL uncover your plots!!! she probably does not remember the texture of the elevator wall when she touched it. or how the white floor felt when she wiped the spilled drink with her handkerchief. or the song that we listened to together. only i will remember these moments. as long as i function, always. -bora chung, 《a song for sleep》 translated by anton hur - immediately started crying when i reread this. reminded me of 2 great losses in my life in a cathartic way. - nonbinary masc elevator communicating in an incredibly humanistic way to get to know more about an old woman who is losing herself to parkinson’s….the fact that conversation and touch turned them human (as much as an elevator can be) is so beautiful 😭😭😭 - death and machines are a theme that i’ve seen explored before, but i still loved reading about the elevator learning about death like a child. - people come and go, but objects are forever… - bora chung is one of the few writers whose short stories i don’t struggle to get into.
September 15, 2025 at 4:13 PM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
why do we need a thread abt this when we could just.....read the manga with an active mind....
August 21, 2025 at 10:31 PM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
okay ig this makes a little more sense but yeah i would argue that the 2 overlap much more than that person was saying 💔 maybe i'm more put off by their overall lack of curiosity.....that just doesn't make sense to me even if they say they don't like books and reading
August 11, 2025 at 7:05 PM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
coincidentally, they were only sitting a few books apart on my shelf!!
July 31, 2025 at 3:36 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
yippee
July 26, 2025 at 8:04 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
you did a rlly good job with your icon, mine looks like this LOL
July 26, 2025 at 8:03 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
i expect applause for this find
July 19, 2025 at 8:35 PM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
this book has been in the free section of the library for like a year now and every time i think it's a gay book but it's not....
July 18, 2025 at 4:18 PM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
my find of the day at the free section of the library
July 16, 2025 at 10:14 PM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
i'm not going to be mean i'm not going to be mean
July 15, 2025 at 7:28 PM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
WAHHH GUESS WHAT I GOT FOR FREE AT THE LIBRARYYYYYY
July 9, 2025 at 9:10 PM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
i hate you. you haunt me.
July 7, 2025 at 8:34 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
i need a gun
July 7, 2025 at 6:42 AM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
when i made japanese curry for the first time 🥹
July 5, 2025 at 10:47 PM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
there's a setup for an ee-ending rhyme in dirty work that just doesn't pay off and it bothers me every time
Call me the reaper, I'm knock, knock, knocking It's me, it's me, a little baddie Just 'cause I'm pretty doesn't mean I don't do hard things Hard things, make me feel like a thunder
June 28, 2025 at 3:48 PM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
really enamored with this find at the free section of the library. it has such good descriptions of food.
the auberge of the flowering hearth by roy andries de groot
June 25, 2025 at 11:32 PM
turtlebreads.bsky.social
i feel like the older i get the more i am interested i religion, not as someone who worships, but in the way of things. thank you to whomever donated this to the used bookstore 🫶🏻
complete c. s. lewis signature classics
June 14, 2025 at 5:23 PM