Yuletide 2021 Recs
Dec. 31st, 2021 04:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladybird97Just under the wire before author reveals!
First, I must recommend the PHENOMENAL gift that I received! KJ Charles’s England series, A Country Mile. Brilliantly written casefic, in which Pat and Fen get called out to another country house to solve another mystery. It’s Fen’s POV, full of beautiful insight about the ways she’s grown thanks to her experiences in the book, and about her deep emotional intelligence.
Books and Plays
Anne of Green Gables, What you would call a simple soul. Anne tries to lead Matthew into an imagination flight of fancy. It’s perfectly true to the spirit of the original, especially Matthew’s gentle cautious sweetness.
A Christmas Carol, Blunders Made in Yesteryears. A wonderfully imagined extension of the supernatural world that we see in canon, in which Jacob Marley faces his own justice at the same time that he becomes an instrument for Scrooge’s.
The Echo Wife, all this time wasted and all this time gone. Post-canon, Evelyn and Martine grapple with the weight of their secrets and the damage done to their bodies. Insightful and unsettling in exactly the same way as the original.
KJ Charles, England Series / Will Darling Adventures. “A series of memos to and from the staff of the Private Bureau on Very Important Matters.” If you thought Daniel was snarky before, wait till you see what he can do in the format of Office Memo. Hilarious epistolary banter.
KJ Charles, England Series, Lie Still, Ye Thief. Daniel and Archie go undercover in a theater troupe! Impressively in-depth research and skillful language play, with everything that makes Daniel and Archie wonderful individually and as a couple.
Jane Austen, Emma, Mrs. Knightley and the Perfect Scheme. Post-canon, Emma has definitely learned and grown - but she still can’t resist matchmaking, and she’ll use her powers for good.
Frankenstein, The Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Canon divergence in which Victor does make a second creature, and she writes to Elizabeth to document her progress through the world and discovery of herself. Beautiful epistolary with a meticulous recreation of the language of the original.
Jeeves and the Diaphanous Dilemma. Bertie needs to get a present for Madeline and Gussie’s baby’s first birthday; hilarity, of course, ensues. Utterly note-perfect Wodehouse style! Rapid-fire wordplay and banter; a situation that goes wrong and then even wronger before it gets set right again; vivid characterizations - it’s all fabulous!
Lady Astronaut Series, Other Side of Life. Post-canon epistolary between Elma and Stetson: a wonderful depiction of their complicated friendship, and a very authentic-feeling representation of how it would have grown over the years. Fabulous little details about Elma practicing Judaism on Mars, too!
Much Ado About Nothing, Skirmish and Retreat. How Benedick and Beatrice had their first try a relationship, and how it fell apart. It feels very true to both of their voices, and shows both how compatible they are and how much they need to grow emotionally before they can really work as a couple.
Night Circus, wish me a wonder. A lovely dreamlike story, with lyrical turns of phrase and vivid sensory language that perfectly evoke the original canon.
October Daye, Come a Knocking. Teen shenanigans! With bonus Luidaeg snark, internet memes, and a hilariously chaotic addition to faerie lore from real-world folklore.
Oxford Time Travel Universe, Oxford University Temporal Site Record. The aftermath of Doomsday Book as told through administrative records. Meticulous attention to detail, and beautifully skillful glimpses of emotion showing through the impersonal official forms.
Princess Bride, vehigadta (and you shall tell). I could tell you that it’s a story about research into S. Morgenstern’s life, but that isn’t even close to doing it justice. It’s about love and family and resilience and Judaism and history and creativity; and I laughed and cried while reading it, just as I always do when watching The Princess Bride.
TV
The Good Place, Groundhog Day Rules. As the summary says, instead of rebooting “Michael snaps his fingers, and nothing happens.” All the voices are PERFECT, especially Jason, who made me actually laugh out loud before I was done with his first paragraph. And then, of course, in the best spirit of The Good Place, it got me misty before the end with its sincerity.
Middleman, The Ghost Light Glorification Gambit. The ectoplasmic alarm at Middleman HQ keeps going off - could it actually be ghosts? It is, and it’s everything I love about Middleman, too: rapid-fire dialogue, meta-humor in the chyrons, and tons of pop-culture allusions related to the monster of the week. It is BUCKETS of fun!
Murder She Wrote, Murder Lightly Toasted. Excellently cozy casefic that feels like an episode of the show! When there’s a recipe contest for a Cabot Cove cookbook, old secrets start to come to light - and of course, murder, too!
The Repair Shop, very strange and wonderful. The Repair Shop is in a faraway corner of space, but you can still find it if you’re in need. A beautifully detailed and tender story, with a deep understanding of why people love objects and how healing it can be to talk to someone who respects that love.
THIRTY-NINE Ted Lasso fics?!? Here are some of my favorites:
- The Cursing Allowance. Ms. Bowen makes her own version of a swear jar for Phoebe, and of course hilarity ensues. Full of wonderfully authentic details about kids; and a sudden turn into deep heartfelt emotion in the best tradition of the show.
- I Know We’re In the Long Game. Roy’s POV, hilariously profane, of course, and it’s great to see what’s going on in his mind. Even better is all of the background murmur of the AFC Richmond family: everyone taking care of each other, connecting, and helping.
- The Alice House. Trent and Ted encounter a crime in progress, but are, uh, distracted. The voices in this one are fabulous - it really captures each character's rhythm.
Trent: I’m trained to observe. I’m a journalist, you see.
Inspector: Yes. (Small sigh.) You’ve said.
- love you for a long time. A little Ted/Rebecca at the end, but it’s mostly Keeley POV, and mostly about the friendship between Rebecca and Keeley: how they support each other and build each other up over the years, from Keeley reminding Rebecca that she needs to eat to Rebecca helping Keeley find the right way to guide Roy through his injury and retirement.
Movies
Casablanca, A Beautiful Friendship. Because of course that’s what’s it’s called: it’s about Rick and Captain Renault, before and during and after canon, circling each other cautiously but getting closer with each time around.
Knives Out, Sweeping Up the Heart. Post-canon, Marta works on sorting through Harlan’s belongings, and her own memories. Quiet and subdued, with some lovely flashbacks to Marta and Harlan’s conversations and a genuine knowledge of grief.
So many Shang-Chi! Here are my favorites:
- brushstrokes of my love. Katy / Xialing. Seeing these two supremely confident characters being vulnerable was incredibly sweet, and every step in the development of their relationship felt authentic and earned.
- give me your stars to hold. Shang-Chi’s trauma and recovery, traced through the things and people he’s lost.
- finding our way together. Another Katy / Xialing, this time with a perfectly-paced slow burn. Even better, though, is the lovely Katy POV as she processes everything she’s learned about herself in her time at Ta Lo and figures out how to carry it forward.
Fusions and Crossovers
Mayhem: The Chitauri Invasion. Allstate’s Mayhem commercials in the MCU, where you need insurance against everything from superheroes to alien invasions. Note-perfect and HILARIOUS
A Garden Invasion, Miss Marple/Good Omens. Aziraphale and Crowley encounter a very perceptive old lady in a cozy little village. Everyone’s voices are perfectly rendered, and the whole story is just delightful.
Hamlet, Denmark’s New Groove. Only at Yuletide could you get Hamlet fused with The Emperor’s New Groove. It is every bit as weird and wonderful and hilarious as you would think.
The Battle of Tastings. Winnie the Pooh and the Bayeux Tapestry!! Inspired by this image. Complete with adorable illustrations and overflowing with Pooh-ish whimsy.
First, I must recommend the PHENOMENAL gift that I received! KJ Charles’s England series, A Country Mile. Brilliantly written casefic, in which Pat and Fen get called out to another country house to solve another mystery. It’s Fen’s POV, full of beautiful insight about the ways she’s grown thanks to her experiences in the book, and about her deep emotional intelligence.
Books and Plays
Anne of Green Gables, What you would call a simple soul. Anne tries to lead Matthew into an imagination flight of fancy. It’s perfectly true to the spirit of the original, especially Matthew’s gentle cautious sweetness.
A Christmas Carol, Blunders Made in Yesteryears. A wonderfully imagined extension of the supernatural world that we see in canon, in which Jacob Marley faces his own justice at the same time that he becomes an instrument for Scrooge’s.
The Echo Wife, all this time wasted and all this time gone. Post-canon, Evelyn and Martine grapple with the weight of their secrets and the damage done to their bodies. Insightful and unsettling in exactly the same way as the original.
KJ Charles, England Series / Will Darling Adventures. “A series of memos to and from the staff of the Private Bureau on Very Important Matters.” If you thought Daniel was snarky before, wait till you see what he can do in the format of Office Memo. Hilarious epistolary banter.
KJ Charles, England Series, Lie Still, Ye Thief. Daniel and Archie go undercover in a theater troupe! Impressively in-depth research and skillful language play, with everything that makes Daniel and Archie wonderful individually and as a couple.
Jane Austen, Emma, Mrs. Knightley and the Perfect Scheme. Post-canon, Emma has definitely learned and grown - but she still can’t resist matchmaking, and she’ll use her powers for good.
Frankenstein, The Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Canon divergence in which Victor does make a second creature, and she writes to Elizabeth to document her progress through the world and discovery of herself. Beautiful epistolary with a meticulous recreation of the language of the original.
Jeeves and the Diaphanous Dilemma. Bertie needs to get a present for Madeline and Gussie’s baby’s first birthday; hilarity, of course, ensues. Utterly note-perfect Wodehouse style! Rapid-fire wordplay and banter; a situation that goes wrong and then even wronger before it gets set right again; vivid characterizations - it’s all fabulous!
Lady Astronaut Series, Other Side of Life. Post-canon epistolary between Elma and Stetson: a wonderful depiction of their complicated friendship, and a very authentic-feeling representation of how it would have grown over the years. Fabulous little details about Elma practicing Judaism on Mars, too!
Much Ado About Nothing, Skirmish and Retreat. How Benedick and Beatrice had their first try a relationship, and how it fell apart. It feels very true to both of their voices, and shows both how compatible they are and how much they need to grow emotionally before they can really work as a couple.
Night Circus, wish me a wonder. A lovely dreamlike story, with lyrical turns of phrase and vivid sensory language that perfectly evoke the original canon.
October Daye, Come a Knocking. Teen shenanigans! With bonus Luidaeg snark, internet memes, and a hilariously chaotic addition to faerie lore from real-world folklore.
Oxford Time Travel Universe, Oxford University Temporal Site Record. The aftermath of Doomsday Book as told through administrative records. Meticulous attention to detail, and beautifully skillful glimpses of emotion showing through the impersonal official forms.
Princess Bride, vehigadta (and you shall tell). I could tell you that it’s a story about research into S. Morgenstern’s life, but that isn’t even close to doing it justice. It’s about love and family and resilience and Judaism and history and creativity; and I laughed and cried while reading it, just as I always do when watching The Princess Bride.
TV
The Good Place, Groundhog Day Rules. As the summary says, instead of rebooting “Michael snaps his fingers, and nothing happens.” All the voices are PERFECT, especially Jason, who made me actually laugh out loud before I was done with his first paragraph. And then, of course, in the best spirit of The Good Place, it got me misty before the end with its sincerity.
Middleman, The Ghost Light Glorification Gambit. The ectoplasmic alarm at Middleman HQ keeps going off - could it actually be ghosts? It is, and it’s everything I love about Middleman, too: rapid-fire dialogue, meta-humor in the chyrons, and tons of pop-culture allusions related to the monster of the week. It is BUCKETS of fun!
Murder She Wrote, Murder Lightly Toasted. Excellently cozy casefic that feels like an episode of the show! When there’s a recipe contest for a Cabot Cove cookbook, old secrets start to come to light - and of course, murder, too!
The Repair Shop, very strange and wonderful. The Repair Shop is in a faraway corner of space, but you can still find it if you’re in need. A beautifully detailed and tender story, with a deep understanding of why people love objects and how healing it can be to talk to someone who respects that love.
THIRTY-NINE Ted Lasso fics?!? Here are some of my favorites:
- The Cursing Allowance. Ms. Bowen makes her own version of a swear jar for Phoebe, and of course hilarity ensues. Full of wonderfully authentic details about kids; and a sudden turn into deep heartfelt emotion in the best tradition of the show.
- I Know We’re In the Long Game. Roy’s POV, hilariously profane, of course, and it’s great to see what’s going on in his mind. Even better is all of the background murmur of the AFC Richmond family: everyone taking care of each other, connecting, and helping.
- The Alice House. Trent and Ted encounter a crime in progress, but are, uh, distracted. The voices in this one are fabulous - it really captures each character's rhythm.
Trent: I’m trained to observe. I’m a journalist, you see.
Inspector: Yes. (Small sigh.) You’ve said.
- love you for a long time. A little Ted/Rebecca at the end, but it’s mostly Keeley POV, and mostly about the friendship between Rebecca and Keeley: how they support each other and build each other up over the years, from Keeley reminding Rebecca that she needs to eat to Rebecca helping Keeley find the right way to guide Roy through his injury and retirement.
Movies
Casablanca, A Beautiful Friendship. Because of course that’s what’s it’s called: it’s about Rick and Captain Renault, before and during and after canon, circling each other cautiously but getting closer with each time around.
Knives Out, Sweeping Up the Heart. Post-canon, Marta works on sorting through Harlan’s belongings, and her own memories. Quiet and subdued, with some lovely flashbacks to Marta and Harlan’s conversations and a genuine knowledge of grief.
So many Shang-Chi! Here are my favorites:
- brushstrokes of my love. Katy / Xialing. Seeing these two supremely confident characters being vulnerable was incredibly sweet, and every step in the development of their relationship felt authentic and earned.
- give me your stars to hold. Shang-Chi’s trauma and recovery, traced through the things and people he’s lost.
- finding our way together. Another Katy / Xialing, this time with a perfectly-paced slow burn. Even better, though, is the lovely Katy POV as she processes everything she’s learned about herself in her time at Ta Lo and figures out how to carry it forward.
Fusions and Crossovers
Mayhem: The Chitauri Invasion. Allstate’s Mayhem commercials in the MCU, where you need insurance against everything from superheroes to alien invasions. Note-perfect and HILARIOUS
A Garden Invasion, Miss Marple/Good Omens. Aziraphale and Crowley encounter a very perceptive old lady in a cozy little village. Everyone’s voices are perfectly rendered, and the whole story is just delightful.
Hamlet, Denmark’s New Groove. Only at Yuletide could you get Hamlet fused with The Emperor’s New Groove. It is every bit as weird and wonderful and hilarious as you would think.
The Battle of Tastings. Winnie the Pooh and the Bayeux Tapestry!! Inspired by this image. Complete with adorable illustrations and overflowing with Pooh-ish whimsy.
