1Caramellunacy
Welcome back digsite backers and enthusiasts! I am returning to excavations at Mt. TBR once again. There remains a lot of upheaval in the world of the digsite, so I anticipate mostly library exhibits this year. I am therefore keeping my goal at 25 this year (since 2 a month seems workable).
2Caramellunacy
Artefacts Excavated in 2025
Catalogue Note: Items listed in italics below are exhibits on loan (library) or ephemera (digital) and therefore are not being counted for purposes of this excavation as the intention is to work through the physical digsite. Items listed in bold are the exhibit of the month (favorite read). (Monthly Total/Overall Total). Items with * have Fieldnotes in thread.
January (17 / 17)
Clementine and Danny Save the World (and Each Other) - Livia Blackburne (library)
The Arctic Fury - Greer Macallister (library)
Have You Seen My Invisible Dinosaur - Helen Yoon (library)
The Other Ducks - Ellen Yeomans (library)
The Jewel of the Isle - Kerry Rea (library)
Bye Forever, I Guess - Jodi Meadows (library)
Our Wayward Fate - Gloria Chao (library)
Lucy on the Wild Side - Kerry Rea (library)
Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz (library)
Planetside - Michael Mammay (library)
1. The Waiting - Michael Connelly
Her Royal Spyness - Rhys Bowen (library)
Just Do This One Thing for Me - Laura Zimmermann (library)
Murder Takes the Stage - Colleen Cambridge (library)
2. The Lost City of the Monkey God - Douglas Preston
Catfishing on CatNet - Naomi Kritzer (library)
Dead Below Deck - Jan Gangsei (library)
February (11 / 28)
The Life Below - Alexandra Monir (library)
A Brush with Magic - Flora Ahn (library)
Tangled Up in You - Christina Lauren (library)
Valiant Ladies - Melissa Grey (library)
Dating and Dragons - Kristy Boyce (library)
Under Loch and Key - Lana Ferguson (library)
Lying in the Deep - Diana Urban (library)
3. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
The Trail of Lost Time - R. A. Montgomery (library)
Temple of Swoon - Jo Segura (library)
Sense and Second-Degree Murder - Tirzah Price (library)
March (11 / 39)
Spaceside - Michael Mammay (library)
Only Bad Options - Jennifer Estep (library)
Magpie Murders - Anthony Horowitz (library)
Prairie Lotus - Linda Sue Park (library)
The Dragon in the Sock Drawer - Kate Klimo (library)
Squire & Knight - Scott Chantler (library)
Squire & Knight: Wayward Travelers (library)
Killing Floor - Lee Child (library)
Kisses and Croissants - Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau (library)
Wake - Lisa McMann (library)
4. Scones and Sensibility - Lindsay Eland
April ( / )
5. Misery Hates Company - Elizabeth Hobbs
Pride and Prejudice in Space - Alexis Lampley (library)
How to Solve Your Own Murder - Kristen Perrin (library)
Barely Even Friends - Mae Bennett (library)
Bird Nerd - Jennifer Ann Richter (library)
Colonyside - Michael Mammay (library)
Drover's Secret Life - John R. Erickson (library)
Master of the Meet Cute - Cassie Mae (digital)
Catalogue Note: Items listed in italics below are exhibits on loan (library) or ephemera (digital) and therefore are not being counted for purposes of this excavation as the intention is to work through the physical digsite. Items listed in bold are the exhibit of the month (favorite read). (Monthly Total/Overall Total). Items with * have Fieldnotes in thread.
January (17 / 17)
Clementine and Danny Save the World (and Each Other) - Livia Blackburne (library)
The Arctic Fury - Greer Macallister (library)
Have You Seen My Invisible Dinosaur - Helen Yoon (library)
The Other Ducks - Ellen Yeomans (library)
The Jewel of the Isle - Kerry Rea (library)
Bye Forever, I Guess - Jodi Meadows (library)
Our Wayward Fate - Gloria Chao (library)
Lucy on the Wild Side - Kerry Rea (library)
Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz (library)
Planetside - Michael Mammay (library)
1. The Waiting - Michael Connelly
Her Royal Spyness - Rhys Bowen (library)
Just Do This One Thing for Me - Laura Zimmermann (library)
Murder Takes the Stage - Colleen Cambridge (library)
2. The Lost City of the Monkey God - Douglas Preston
Catfishing on CatNet - Naomi Kritzer (library)
Dead Below Deck - Jan Gangsei (library)
February (11 / 28)
The Life Below - Alexandra Monir (library)
A Brush with Magic - Flora Ahn (library)
Tangled Up in You - Christina Lauren (library)
Valiant Ladies - Melissa Grey (library)
Dating and Dragons - Kristy Boyce (library)
Under Loch and Key - Lana Ferguson (library)
Lying in the Deep - Diana Urban (library)
3. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
The Trail of Lost Time - R. A. Montgomery (library)
Temple of Swoon - Jo Segura (library)
Sense and Second-Degree Murder - Tirzah Price (library)
March (11 / 39)
Spaceside - Michael Mammay (library)
Only Bad Options - Jennifer Estep (library)
Magpie Murders - Anthony Horowitz (library)
Prairie Lotus - Linda Sue Park (library)
The Dragon in the Sock Drawer - Kate Klimo (library)
Squire & Knight - Scott Chantler (library)
Squire & Knight: Wayward Travelers (library)
Killing Floor - Lee Child (library)
Kisses and Croissants - Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau (library)
Wake - Lisa McMann (library)
4. Scones and Sensibility - Lindsay Eland
April ( / )
5. Misery Hates Company - Elizabeth Hobbs
Pride and Prejudice in Space - Alexis Lampley (library)
How to Solve Your Own Murder - Kristen Perrin (library)
Barely Even Friends - Mae Bennett (library)
Bird Nerd - Jennifer Ann Richter (library)
Colonyside - Michael Mammay (library)
Drover's Secret Life - John R. Erickson (library)
Master of the Meet Cute - Cassie Mae (digital)
3Caramellunacy
Jane Austen Then and Now
I am taking part in a readalong on Litsy #JaneAustenThenandNow.
"Then" months, we read an original Jane Austen novel, "Now" months are dedicated to Adaptations (reading/watching).
January/February: Sense & Sensibility
For January, I am reading a copy of Sense & Sensibility that I picked up at the Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton a few years ago when I attended the Jane Austen Festival. I didn't finish on schedule, but I did finish! Marianne could certainly be a lot, and I found myself far less forgiving of Willoughby than Elinor...
Sense & Second Degree Murder - Tirzah Price
A Regency-era retelling in which Elinor has a passion for chemistry and Marianne helped her father in his private investigation business (and Margaret gathers material for her over-the-top horrid novels). When Mr. Dashwood dies unexpectedly and the Dashwoods are forced to move into smaller accommodations, Marianne and Elinor suspect that their father was murdered and set out to investigate. We have additional suspicious deaths, a match-making client (Lucy Steele), burglary, blackmail, a smoke bomb, opioids...truly Margaret need look no further for plot inspiration.
I think the characters rang true to the original, and I enjoyed this - though I would have hoped that Elinor with her good sense would have been given a bit more to do in terms of crime-solving.
From Prada to Nada (2011)
A contemporary retelling in which spoiled sisters Nora (a serious law student obsessed with her 10 year plan) and Mary (party girl) are forced to move from Beverly Hills to a working-class aunt's house when they lose their father unexpectedly. Mary is really tough to deal with at the beginning as she sneers at "poors" and insists she's going to be murdered for existing on the "wrong" side of town (all super unlikeable and difficult to redeem herself from).
But eventually they connect with their Latina heritage, Nora starts a (highly illegal) free clinic after a taste of helping janitors with her boss Edward, and Mary moons after her TA Rodrigo while verbally sparring with the rough-around-the-edges boy-next-door Bruno. Absurdly grand gestures to finish things off.
Not the most faithful adaptation - I don't honestly think Marianne being an airheaded party girl works, and Nora quitting her job to dispense free advice makes no sense AT ALL, but I loved the aunties, and I am a sucker for ridiculous romance movies. I liked it but probably not going to watch again.
March/April: Pride & Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice in Space - Alexis Lampley
A futuristic "mash-up" version of P&P with a lot of the original text used and updated, changed and added to in order to reflect the futuristic setting (taking place on various waystations and moons surrounding the planet Londinium), additional PoV and beautiful artwork. Lydia's fashion sketches and the various ads and travel brochures are my favorite additions, but I also liked the comlogs/journal entries (which feel like a nod to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' approach to multimedia storytelling). I felt the tone of the original, particularly the dialogue (and everyone's ages) jarred a bit with the more modern/futuristic aspects. I appreciated giving the younger sisters more personality and how the Lydia situation was resolved.
Becoming Ms. Bennet: Pride & Prejudice (2019)
An American webseries star and vlogger is cast as Lizzy Bennet in a Pride & Prejudice adaptation that is inexplicably low-budget but being filmed with otherwise all-British (ostensibly) Theatre actors in South Carolina (???) Kate is cast as a way to secure ticket sales based on her follower count and despite her painful British accent. In addition to rehearsing for P&P, the overarching story is ALSO P&P with the aloof Liam (Darcy) offering a scathing critique of Kate's lack of training, the jealous meddlesome Emilia (Caroline Bingley), a handsome but morally bankrupt Will (Wickham) and the film's producer and financier Philippa (Lady Catherine).
We are meant to be rooting for Kate whose take on being "spirited" is posting vlogs disparaging her cast members and the producers and when called on it insisting that she cannot LIE and COMPROMISE HER INTEGRITY?! when asked to refrain from posting about the production unless she does so in a positive light. She is insufferably rude to Liam for things that she has no stake in, and I as a viewer wanted her to be fired SO BADLY. Liam/Darcy was cute and did the charming head-duck and smile thing, but MY GOD was this a wooden adaptation - and don't get me started on the painfully stilted "script" of their Pride & Prejudice movie that sounded like reading Cliff's Notes run through some sort of "make it period drama" filter. Ouch.
May/June: Northanger Abbey
July/August: Mansfield Park
September/October: Emma
November/December: Persuasion
-Pride and Prejudice (2005)
-Most Ardently
-I Shall Never Fall in Love
-Scones and Sensibility
-Mismatched
-Camp Austen
-Heartstone
-Manslaughter Park
-Heartstone
I am taking part in a readalong on Litsy #JaneAustenThenandNow.
"Then" months, we read an original Jane Austen novel, "Now" months are dedicated to Adaptations (reading/watching).
January/February: Sense & Sensibility
For January, I am reading a copy of Sense & Sensibility that I picked up at the Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton a few years ago when I attended the Jane Austen Festival. I didn't finish on schedule, but I did finish! Marianne could certainly be a lot, and I found myself far less forgiving of Willoughby than Elinor...
Sense & Second Degree Murder - Tirzah Price
A Regency-era retelling in which Elinor has a passion for chemistry and Marianne helped her father in his private investigation business (and Margaret gathers material for her over-the-top horrid novels). When Mr. Dashwood dies unexpectedly and the Dashwoods are forced to move into smaller accommodations, Marianne and Elinor suspect that their father was murdered and set out to investigate. We have additional suspicious deaths, a match-making client (Lucy Steele), burglary, blackmail, a smoke bomb, opioids...truly Margaret need look no further for plot inspiration.
I think the characters rang true to the original, and I enjoyed this - though I would have hoped that Elinor with her good sense would have been given a bit more to do in terms of crime-solving.
From Prada to Nada (2011)
A contemporary retelling in which spoiled sisters Nora (a serious law student obsessed with her 10 year plan) and Mary (party girl) are forced to move from Beverly Hills to a working-class aunt's house when they lose their father unexpectedly. Mary is really tough to deal with at the beginning as she sneers at "poors" and insists she's going to be murdered for existing on the "wrong" side of town (all super unlikeable and difficult to redeem herself from).
But eventually they connect with their Latina heritage, Nora starts a (highly illegal) free clinic after a taste of helping janitors with her boss Edward, and Mary moons after her TA Rodrigo while verbally sparring with the rough-around-the-edges boy-next-door Bruno. Absurdly grand gestures to finish things off.
Not the most faithful adaptation - I don't honestly think Marianne being an airheaded party girl works, and Nora quitting her job to dispense free advice makes no sense AT ALL, but I loved the aunties, and I am a sucker for ridiculous romance movies. I liked it but probably not going to watch again.
March/April: Pride & Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice in Space - Alexis Lampley
A futuristic "mash-up" version of P&P with a lot of the original text used and updated, changed and added to in order to reflect the futuristic setting (taking place on various waystations and moons surrounding the planet Londinium), additional PoV and beautiful artwork. Lydia's fashion sketches and the various ads and travel brochures are my favorite additions, but I also liked the comlogs/journal entries (which feel like a nod to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' approach to multimedia storytelling). I felt the tone of the original, particularly the dialogue (and everyone's ages) jarred a bit with the more modern/futuristic aspects. I appreciated giving the younger sisters more personality and how the Lydia situation was resolved.
Becoming Ms. Bennet: Pride & Prejudice (2019)
An American webseries star and vlogger is cast as Lizzy Bennet in a Pride & Prejudice adaptation that is inexplicably low-budget but being filmed with otherwise all-British (ostensibly) Theatre actors in South Carolina (???) Kate is cast as a way to secure ticket sales based on her follower count and despite her painful British accent. In addition to rehearsing for P&P, the overarching story is ALSO P&P with the aloof Liam (Darcy) offering a scathing critique of Kate's lack of training, the jealous meddlesome Emilia (Caroline Bingley), a handsome but morally bankrupt Will (Wickham) and the film's producer and financier Philippa (Lady Catherine).
We are meant to be rooting for Kate whose take on being "spirited" is posting vlogs disparaging her cast members and the producers and when called on it insisting that she cannot LIE and COMPROMISE HER INTEGRITY?! when asked to refrain from posting about the production unless she does so in a positive light. She is insufferably rude to Liam for things that she has no stake in, and I as a viewer wanted her to be fired SO BADLY. Liam/Darcy was cute and did the charming head-duck and smile thing, but MY GOD was this a wooden adaptation - and don't get me started on the painfully stilted "script" of their Pride & Prejudice movie that sounded like reading Cliff's Notes run through some sort of "make it period drama" filter. Ouch.
May/June: Northanger Abbey
July/August: Mansfield Park
September/October: Emma
November/December: Persuasion
-Pride and Prejudice (2005)
-Most Ardently
-I Shall Never Fall in Love
-Scones and Sensibility
-Mismatched
-Camp Austen
-Heartstone
-Manslaughter Park
-Heartstone
4curioussquared
Glad to hear the digsite is open once again in 2025!
6MissWatson
Welcome back! I am looking forward to your fieldnotes! And I love the idea of the Jane Austen readalong.
8Caramellunacy
Dig Site Report - January
The digsite didn't see much progress this month with only 2 physical artefacts excavated. The majority of excavations focused on traveling exhibitions due to a great deal of upheaval at the digsite that required it to be moved almost exclusively to storage. This trend is likely to continue until at least March. While time at the dig has been scattered, we did manage a total of 17 artefacts (though none with fieldnotes this month).
January ( 17 / 17 )
Clementine and Danny Save the World (and Each Other) - Livia Blackburne (library)
The Arctic Fury - Greer Macallister (library)
Have You Seen My Invisible Dinosaur - Helen Yoon (library)
The Other Ducks - Ellen Yeomans (library)
The Jewel of the Isle - Kerry Rea (library)
Bye Forever, I Guess - Jodi Meadows (library)
Our Wayward Fate - Gloria Chao (library)
Lucy on the Wild Side - Kerry Rea (library)
Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz (library)
Planetside - Michael Mammay (library)
1. The Waiting - Michael Connelly
Her Royal Spyness - Rhys Bowen (library)
Just Do This One Thing for Me - Laura Zimmermann (library)
Murder Takes the Stage - Colleen Cambridge (library)
2. The Lost City of the Monkey God - Douglas Preston
Catfishing on CatNet - Naomi Kritzer (library)
Dead Below Deck - Jan Gangsei (library)
Favorite Book of the Month:
A sweet middle grade novel with a kind of You've Got Mail twist as our main character and her friends play an MMORPG. It really resonated with me as our heroine feels deeply about a fantasy series that helped her through some dark times and gets a chance to travel to see the author, which reminded me of how excited I was to meet the inimitable Tamora Pierce after clinging to her Song of the Lioness growing up.
Expeditions took the team to 7 countries - (USA, Canada, UK, Honduras, China, The Caymans and The Bahamas), 9 US states and Outer Space.
Unfortunately, I have fallen hopelessly behind on my Jane Austen readalong, but am aiming to catch up (and hopefully find a bit more time to spend with Fieldnotes!)
The digsite didn't see much progress this month with only 2 physical artefacts excavated. The majority of excavations focused on traveling exhibitions due to a great deal of upheaval at the digsite that required it to be moved almost exclusively to storage. This trend is likely to continue until at least March. While time at the dig has been scattered, we did manage a total of 17 artefacts (though none with fieldnotes this month).
January ( 17 / 17 )
Clementine and Danny Save the World (and Each Other) - Livia Blackburne (library)
The Arctic Fury - Greer Macallister (library)
Have You Seen My Invisible Dinosaur - Helen Yoon (library)
The Other Ducks - Ellen Yeomans (library)
The Jewel of the Isle - Kerry Rea (library)
Bye Forever, I Guess - Jodi Meadows (library)
Our Wayward Fate - Gloria Chao (library)
Lucy on the Wild Side - Kerry Rea (library)
Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz (library)
Planetside - Michael Mammay (library)
1. The Waiting - Michael Connelly
Her Royal Spyness - Rhys Bowen (library)
Just Do This One Thing for Me - Laura Zimmermann (library)
Murder Takes the Stage - Colleen Cambridge (library)
2. The Lost City of the Monkey God - Douglas Preston
Catfishing on CatNet - Naomi Kritzer (library)
Dead Below Deck - Jan Gangsei (library)
Favorite Book of the Month:
A sweet middle grade novel with a kind of You've Got Mail twist as our main character and her friends play an MMORPG. It really resonated with me as our heroine feels deeply about a fantasy series that helped her through some dark times and gets a chance to travel to see the author, which reminded me of how excited I was to meet the inimitable Tamora Pierce after clinging to her Song of the Lioness growing up.
Expeditions took the team to 7 countries - (USA, Canada, UK, Honduras, China, The Caymans and The Bahamas), 9 US states and Outer Space.
Unfortunately, I have fallen hopelessly behind on my Jane Austen readalong, but am aiming to catch up (and hopefully find a bit more time to spend with Fieldnotes!)
9Caramellunacy
>4 curioussquared:, >5 connie53:, >6 MissWatson:, >7 Jackie_K:
Thank you all for visiting (and sorry for my late return). I always love to have people stop by the digsite and to see what you all have read/are reading!
Thank you all for visiting (and sorry for my late return). I always love to have people stop by the digsite and to see what you all have read/are reading!
10detailmuse
Glad to find your thread. Seventeen books in January!
11Caramellunacy
>10 detailmuse: Some cute picture books definitely help round out the total.
13Caramellunacy
This month in Sense & Sensibility adaptations:
Sense & Second Degree Murder - Tirzah Price
A Regency-era retelling in which Elinor has a passion for chemistry and Marianne helped her father in his private investigation business (and Margaret gathers material for her over-the-top horrid novels). When Mr. Dashwood dies unexpectedly and the Dashwoods are forced to move into smaller accommodations, Marianne and Elinor suspect that their father was murdered and set out to investigate. We have additional suspicious deaths, a match-making client (Lucy Steele), burglary, blackmail, a smoke bomb, opioids...truly Margaret need look no further for plot inspiration.
I think the characters rang true to the original, and I enjoyed this - though I would have hoped that Elinor with her good sense would have been given a bit more to do in terms of crime-solving.
From Prada to Nada (2011)
A contemporary retelling in which spoiled sisters Nora (a serious law student obsessed with her 10 year plan) and Mary (party girl) are forced to move from Beverly Hills to a working-class aunt's house when they lose their father unexpectedly. Mary is really tough to deal with at the beginning as she sneers at "poors" and insists she's going to be murdered for existing on the "wrong" side of town (all super unlikeable and difficult to redeem herself from).
But eventually they connect with their Latina heritage, Nora starts a (highly illegal) free clinic after a taste of helping janitors with her boss Edward, and Mary moons after her TA Rodrigo while verbally sparring with the rough-around-the-edges boy-next-door Bruno. Absurdly grand gestures to finish things off.
Not the most faithful adaptation - I don't honestly think Marianne being an airheaded party girl works, and Nora quitting her job to dispense free advice makes no sense AT ALL, but I loved the aunties, and I am a sucker for ridiculous romance movies. I liked it but probably not going to watch again.
Sense & Second Degree Murder - Tirzah Price
A Regency-era retelling in which Elinor has a passion for chemistry and Marianne helped her father in his private investigation business (and Margaret gathers material for her over-the-top horrid novels). When Mr. Dashwood dies unexpectedly and the Dashwoods are forced to move into smaller accommodations, Marianne and Elinor suspect that their father was murdered and set out to investigate. We have additional suspicious deaths, a match-making client (Lucy Steele), burglary, blackmail, a smoke bomb, opioids...truly Margaret need look no further for plot inspiration.
I think the characters rang true to the original, and I enjoyed this - though I would have hoped that Elinor with her good sense would have been given a bit more to do in terms of crime-solving.
From Prada to Nada (2011)
A contemporary retelling in which spoiled sisters Nora (a serious law student obsessed with her 10 year plan) and Mary (party girl) are forced to move from Beverly Hills to a working-class aunt's house when they lose their father unexpectedly. Mary is really tough to deal with at the beginning as she sneers at "poors" and insists she's going to be murdered for existing on the "wrong" side of town (all super unlikeable and difficult to redeem herself from).
But eventually they connect with their Latina heritage, Nora starts a (highly illegal) free clinic after a taste of helping janitors with her boss Edward, and Mary moons after her TA Rodrigo while verbally sparring with the rough-around-the-edges boy-next-door Bruno. Absurdly grand gestures to finish things off.
Not the most faithful adaptation - I don't honestly think Marianne being an airheaded party girl works, and Nora quitting her job to dispense free advice makes no sense AT ALL, but I loved the aunties, and I am a sucker for ridiculous romance movies. I liked it but probably not going to watch again.
14detailmuse
>12 Caramellunacy: I've long been intrigued by these choose-your-own but never experienced one, either in book or video format. Looks like availability is limited now but I think I'll get one of them!
15Caramellunacy
>14 detailmuse: They are fun little books and they have a ton of different subjects/plotlines so you'll likely find something that amuses you.
17rabbitprincess
>16 Caramellunacy: Looks like it would be worth a library borrow, at any rate!
18Caramellunacy
>17 rabbitprincess: Ooh, definitely. I borrowed from the library because I wanted the physical book to get a look at all the thoughtful details in the artwork!
19Caramellunacy
Becoming Ms. Bennet: Pride & Prejudice (2019)
An American webseries star and vlogger is cast as Lizzy Bennet in a Pride & Prejudice adaptation that is inexplicably low-budget but being filmed with otherwise all-British (ostensibly) Theatre actors in South Carolina (???) Kate is cast as a way to secure ticket sales based on her follower count and despite her painful British accent. In addition to rehearsing for P&P, the overarching story is ALSO P&P with the aloof Liam (Darcy) offering a scathing critique of Kate's lack of training, the jealous meddlesome Emilia (Caroline Bingley), a handsome but morally bankrupt Will (Wickham) and the film's producer and financier Philippa (Lady Catherine).
We are meant to be rooting for Kate whose take on being "spirited" is posting vlogs disparaging her cast members and the producers and when called on it insisting that she cannot LIE and COMPROMISE HER INTEGRITY?! when asked to refrain from posting about the production unless she does so in a positive light. She is insufferably rude to Liam for things that she has no stake in, and I as a viewer wanted her to be fired SO BADLY. Liam/Darcy was cute and did the charming head-duck and smile thing, but MY GOD was this a wooden adaptation - and don't get me started on the painfully stilted "script" of their Pride & Prejudice movie that sounded like reading Cliff's Notes run through some sort of "make it period drama" filter. Ouch.
An American webseries star and vlogger is cast as Lizzy Bennet in a Pride & Prejudice adaptation that is inexplicably low-budget but being filmed with otherwise all-British (ostensibly) Theatre actors in South Carolina (???) Kate is cast as a way to secure ticket sales based on her follower count and despite her painful British accent. In addition to rehearsing for P&P, the overarching story is ALSO P&P with the aloof Liam (Darcy) offering a scathing critique of Kate's lack of training, the jealous meddlesome Emilia (Caroline Bingley), a handsome but morally bankrupt Will (Wickham) and the film's producer and financier Philippa (Lady Catherine).
We are meant to be rooting for Kate whose take on being "spirited" is posting vlogs disparaging her cast members and the producers and when called on it insisting that she cannot LIE and COMPROMISE HER INTEGRITY?! when asked to refrain from posting about the production unless she does so in a positive light. She is insufferably rude to Liam for things that she has no stake in, and I as a viewer wanted her to be fired SO BADLY. Liam/Darcy was cute and did the charming head-duck and smile thing, but MY GOD was this a wooden adaptation - and don't get me started on the painfully stilted "script" of their Pride & Prejudice movie that sounded like reading Cliff's Notes run through some sort of "make it period drama" filter. Ouch.
22connie53
>12 Caramellunacy: That sounds really weird. Could be intriguing as well as superficial.
Waving at you!
Waving at you!
23curioussquared
>21 Caramellunacy: I enjoyed this one, too :)
25Caramellunacy
Hello everyone, a quiet return to this thread after some difficulties.
28detailmuse
Glad to see you're back, hope your difficulties are in the past. Your fieldnote bullets always make me smile!
>25 Caramellunacy: its emphasis on the feminine
Sometimes that seems the most objectifying aspect of anti-feminism
>25 Caramellunacy: its emphasis on the feminine
Sometimes that seems the most objectifying aspect of anti-feminism
29Caramellunacy
>28 detailmuse: That's a very good point, and I am inclined to agree.
31Caramellunacy
A wrap-up of 2025's digsite before a hopefully more productive site in 2026!
While 166 artefacts were excavated in total in 2025, all but 22 were from the library with only 11 paper ROOTs, 8 digital and 2 audio.
Favorite Reads of 2025
Picture Book
A Book for Escargot - Dashka Slater (our favorite snail goes looking for a book at the library)
Graphic Novel
Squire & Knight - Scott Chantler (a fantasy/fairy tale graphic novel about a clever Squire and his bombastic knight)
Middle Grade
Bye Forever, I Guess - Jodi Meadows (a sweet middle grade story about friendships, fandom and creating)
YA contemporary
Geekerella and Bookish and the Beast - Ashley Poston (a space opera fandom, YA romances and fairy tale retellings - all of it thoroughly charming)
YA Historical
Most Ardently - Gabe Cole Novoa (an LGBT Pride & Prejudice retelling)
Romance - Contemporary
Let's Make a Scene - Laura Wood (enemies to lovers, dual timeline with actors on set at a period drama - extra points for the horse enamored with the female lead's assistant)
Temple of Swoon - Jo Segura (Adventure romance)
Romance-Historical
Dukes Prefer Blondes - Loretta Chase
Earl Crush - Alexandra Vasti
Mystery-Historical
Murder Takes the Stage - Colleen Cambridge (Agatha Christie's housekeeper investigates a mysterious death in the theatre world)
Mystery
The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman
Fantasy
The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy - Anne Ursu (Princess Academy in a darker boarding school for troublesome girls)
Sorcery of Thorns - Margaret Rogerson (dangerous library, magic, Gothic vibes)
Divine Rivals - Rebecca Ross (journalistic rivals to lovers in a WWI-esque magical war zone
A Study in Drowning - Ava Reid (Gothic, dark academia with a terrifying house and folklore)
The Sinister Booksellers of Bath - Garth Nix (second in a series about magical booksellers)
Sci-Fi
The Blighted Stars - Megan E. O'Keefe (a reread, but the first in a thought-provoking space opera survival adventure with romantic elements)
Non-Fiction
Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger During World War II - Becky Aikman
Romance was my most-read genre (surprising no one at the digsite), but I had a particularly good time with YA fantasy titles (generally with romantic elements).
Geography
Expeditions took the team to 24 countries (mostly the US & UK, but good showings by France and Egypt), and within the US to 33 states.
Favorite Fieldnotes
Only 7 sets of fieldnotes completed this year, but here are my favorite:
- 1 Hilarious Foul-Mouthed Peppy Serbian Personal Trainer
- 1 Trial for the Right to Propose
- Truly Epic Amounts of Self-Centredness
- 1 Predatory Carnival Doberman
While 166 artefacts were excavated in total in 2025, all but 22 were from the library with only 11 paper ROOTs, 8 digital and 2 audio.
Favorite Reads of 2025
Picture Book
A Book for Escargot - Dashka Slater (our favorite snail goes looking for a book at the library)
Graphic Novel
Squire & Knight - Scott Chantler (a fantasy/fairy tale graphic novel about a clever Squire and his bombastic knight)
Middle Grade
Bye Forever, I Guess - Jodi Meadows (a sweet middle grade story about friendships, fandom and creating)
YA contemporary
Geekerella and Bookish and the Beast - Ashley Poston (a space opera fandom, YA romances and fairy tale retellings - all of it thoroughly charming)
YA Historical
Most Ardently - Gabe Cole Novoa (an LGBT Pride & Prejudice retelling)
Romance - Contemporary
Let's Make a Scene - Laura Wood (enemies to lovers, dual timeline with actors on set at a period drama - extra points for the horse enamored with the female lead's assistant)
Temple of Swoon - Jo Segura (Adventure romance)
Romance-Historical
Dukes Prefer Blondes - Loretta Chase
Earl Crush - Alexandra Vasti
Mystery-Historical
Murder Takes the Stage - Colleen Cambridge (Agatha Christie's housekeeper investigates a mysterious death in the theatre world)
Mystery
The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman
Fantasy
The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy - Anne Ursu (Princess Academy in a darker boarding school for troublesome girls)
Sorcery of Thorns - Margaret Rogerson (dangerous library, magic, Gothic vibes)
Divine Rivals - Rebecca Ross (journalistic rivals to lovers in a WWI-esque magical war zone
A Study in Drowning - Ava Reid (Gothic, dark academia with a terrifying house and folklore)
The Sinister Booksellers of Bath - Garth Nix (second in a series about magical booksellers)
Sci-Fi
The Blighted Stars - Megan E. O'Keefe (a reread, but the first in a thought-provoking space opera survival adventure with romantic elements)
Non-Fiction
Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger During World War II - Becky Aikman
Romance was my most-read genre (surprising no one at the digsite), but I had a particularly good time with YA fantasy titles (generally with romantic elements).
Geography
Expeditions took the team to 24 countries (mostly the US & UK, but good showings by France and Egypt), and within the US to 33 states.
Favorite Fieldnotes
Only 7 sets of fieldnotes completed this year, but here are my favorite:
- 1 Hilarious Foul-Mouthed Peppy Serbian Personal Trainer
- 1 Trial for the Right to Propose
- Truly Epic Amounts of Self-Centredness
- 1 Predatory Carnival Doberman
32curioussquared
>31 Caramellunacy: Love the summary and a lot of your faves are some of mine, too :) I don't think I'm going to have a ROOTs thread this year, but I'll plan to still follow yours! I'll be in the 75ers group exclusively this year.
33rabbitprincess
>31 Caramellunacy: Ooh, I'm in line for Spitfires at the library! Looking forward to it.
34Caramellunacy
>32 curioussquared: I will have to stop by and drop a star on your 75ers thread to keep abreast of what you're reading!
>33 rabbitprincess: I hope you enjoy it!
>33 rabbitprincess: I hope you enjoy it!
