Anyone who wants to talk about any of my favourite books or TV shows is welcome. Everything written below is not spoiler-free, so be warned if you look at anything beyond the covers and titles.

Favourite -- or almost favourite -- books:

The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

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"What of Art?" "It is a malady." "Love?" "An Illusion" "Religion?" "The fashionable substitute for Belief." "You are a sceptic." "Never! Scepticism is the beginning of Faith." "What are you?" "To define is to limit." "Give me a clue." "Threads snap. You would lose your way in the labyrinth."

I really don't know how to describe this one since it's supposedly well-known. All I can say is not to trust others' negative opinions on it and to try it out: most of those who found it boring or outdated didn't even understand what it's about.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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"It's a very Greek idea, and a very profound one. Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it. And what could be more terrifying and beautiful, to souls like the Greeks or our own, than to lose control completely? To throw off the chains of being for an instant, to shatter the accident of our mortal selves?"

Bacchanals, murders and other crimes, getting high, drunk and smoking, queer and very morally grey characters, magnificent writing, book in many ways akin to a Greek tragedy. What more could anyone want?

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

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"That maybe even if we’re not always so glad to be here, it’s our task to immerse ourselves anyway: wade straight through it, right through the cesspool, while keeping eyes and hearts open. And in the midst of our dying, as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn’t touch."

Catastrophes, even more getting high and drinking than is in The Secret History, unwell queer teens and later even more unwell adults, art and of course magnificent writing again. Perfect for those who want a book somewhat similar to The Secret History, but more character-oriented and about art instead of academics.

The Poppy War trilogy by Rebecca F. Kuang

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"Five years ago he’d thought he might choose the Seer of the Cike, that thin child from the Hinterlands. But Chaghan was so frail and bizarre, even for his people. Chaghan would have commanded like a demon. He would have achieved utter obedience from his underlings, but only because he would have taken away their free will. Chaghan would have shattered minds."

It's the best series I've ever read, and the absolutely saddest one. I won't bother listing what it's about since I have a shorter way of describing it: think of a content warning and, no matter what you thought of, it's probably in the list of warnings for this series. But, I have to say from personal experience, starting in entirely blind is exceptionally great too.

Babel Or The Necessity Of Violence: An Arcane History Of The Oxford’s Translators’ Revolution by Rebecca F. Kuang

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"We have to die to get their pity. We have to die for them to find us noble. Our deaths are thus great acts of rebellion, a wretched lament that highlights their inhumanity. Our deaths become their battle cry. I don't want to be their Imoinda, their Oroonoko. I don't want to be their tragic, lovely lacquer figure. I want to live."

Language and translation, secret societies with revolutionary aims, colonialism, racism and, of course, since it's by Kuang, tragedy.

The Radiant Emperor duology by Shelley Parker-Chan

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"Ouyang’s bearing was a man’s, he had a man’s mind and manner, and it imbued the delicate roundedness of his brow, the unshadowed fineness of his skin, with an in-betweenness. Not a transient in-betweenness, as of boys in that moment of fragile loveliness before they became men, but an in-betweenness that was fierce and frightening for being permanent, for being other; for being complete in and of itself."

Another historical fantasy series, though this one is a duology and the books in it are the only ones in this page that didn't get five stars from me. I added it purely because of General Ouyang. The books aren't nearly as sad as the others I've put here -- no wonder they aren't part of my favourites -- but Ouyang's story in particular is so much of a tragedy itself I had to add it.

Favourite TV shows and movies:

Gotham Fox

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It's technically 'crime drama', but I find the label very reductive. An expression I find more accurate is 'crime show where 98% of the characters are queer, included the possibly best fucked-up couple of all television -- Nygmobblepot --, and where wild things happen in every single of the 100 episodes'. It's a fucked up and more or less objectively bad show, but it's also the best show I've seen in my whole life.

CBS Elementary

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It's, in my opinion as someone who's read the books, the best Sherlock Holmes adaptation out there. Did they make John a woman called Joan? Yes. Did they make them a straight couple? Absolutely not. Wild shit happens here too, though it's nowhere as wild as in Gotham. I need to rewatch it at some point.

I Saw The TV Glow

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I really don't know how to describe this one. Trans horror? Existential horror? Whatever it is, the first time I watched it I felt so much like shit for all of its 1.40 hours and my headache turned into a strong one. It left me with a feeling of emptiness that made me unable to think of anything else for a day straight. The second time I watched it, over 6 months later, I felt almost the same. I 100% recommend it to anyone trans. Just typing this is making my headache worse. Trust me, watch it.