🍵 Lots of nonfiction, literary fiction, poetry, classical literature, speculative fiction, magical realism, etc.
📖 Beaucoup de non-fiction, de fiction littéraire, de poésie, de classiques, de spéculatif, de réalisme magique, etc.
💬 they/them ; iel/lo 💌 Find me on Mastodon: silvan.cloud/@gersande
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In a world where addictive technology is designed to buy and sell our attention, and …
Attempting to read nonfiction that is not SUPER depressing, I guess?
I am skeptical about this one, but it came unexpectedly soon in the library so let's hop to it.
Gersande La Flèche
boosted
In After Dark—a gripping novel of late night encounters—Murakami’s trademark humor and psychological insight are …
This is such a beautiful, short novella. I went into it with no expectations, and I'm glad I didn't.
The whole story takes place over the course of seven hours, from midnight to 7 am, and follows a small cast of characters over the course of the night. The experiences that most of the characters had reflect a strong sense of community and care that I remember coming across late at night while I was in university. Of course, there are bleak moments here, but the weight of them are kept at bay by the humanism of the characters.
The story does have surreal moments, but they don't predominate, and they add a lot to the story. Late at night, things don't always feel right, and the surreal really feeds into that.
One component of the story that does a lot of work is the point of view. For one, …
This is such a beautiful, short novella. I went into it with no expectations, and I'm glad I didn't.
The whole story takes place over the course of seven hours, from midnight to 7 am, and follows a small cast of characters over the course of the night. The experiences that most of the characters had reflect a strong sense of community and care that I remember coming across late at night while I was in university. Of course, there are bleak moments here, but the weight of them are kept at bay by the humanism of the characters.
The story does have surreal moments, but they don't predominate, and they add a lot to the story. Late at night, things don't always feel right, and the surreal really feeds into that.
One component of the story that does a lot of work is the point of view. For one, the narrator and the point of view have nearly anthropomorphic characteristics. At the same time, the whole story is told in the present tense. The narrator learns about occurrences at the same time we do, and it offers a sort of meta-commentary. In some ways, it reads almost more like a screen play than a novel. The PoV's voice adds to the sense of strangeness and wonder.
My only regret was that the book is so short--but I also think it was as long as it has to be.
Persuasion is the last novel completed by Jane Austen. It was published on December 20, 1817, along with Northanger Abbey, …
I always forget how short this book is! A little fairy tale.
When you know the Disney Beauty and the Beast, the bones of this story are very apparent. But they're good bones. And though I don't like the first two-ish chapters, it does pick up nicely.
Pride and Prejudice is an 1813 novel of manners written by Jane Austen. The novel …
Well, that was cheerful. And I'm noticing so many more little similarities between Persuasion and P&P and the evolution from P&P to Persuasion is very interesting to think about. The use of the epistolary is so good.
Pride and Prejudice is an 1813 novel of manners written by Jane Austen. The novel …
The botched proposal, followed by the heartfelt letters, are such good scenes. Interesting how Persuasion also has the haughty, love forlorn man hand his lady a letter.
"Our Dragon doesn't eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them …
"Our Dragon doesn't eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside …
Ach! The ending! Too soon!!!
"Our Dragon doesn't eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside …
Pride and Prejudice reference! I knew it! I knew I remembered it!
"Our Dragon doesn't eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside …
The book is definitely better than I remember, so far!
"Our Dragon doesn't eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside …
The beginning is actually better than I remember it. I remember thinking the beginning was a bit too bland, a bit too cookie-cutter, but I think there were little details I missed, or maybe that got flattened as I got further into the book. Or maybe I'm just better at paying attention to those little not-really-hidden things that are interesting.
"Our Dragon doesn't eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside …
I remember liking Uprooted a lot, despite how well it follows many romantasy/fairy-tale tropes to the letter. Revisiting to see if it holds up against my memory (I originally talked about Uprooted on my blog a million years ago.)
Pride and Prejudice is an 1813 novel of manners written by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of …
Gersande La Flèche
boosted
Set in an addicts' hallway house and a tennis academy, and featuring one of the …
WOW. This book had long been on my to-read list, but I pushed it to the top, as someone mentioned that it helped them cure their depression. It surely didn't do that for me, but it had me reflecting on my own life. There isn't a lot here that's resolved, but it's so easy to get attached to the many, many characters--both "small" and large. I felt most attached to Don Gately, and Mario is one of the single most lovable characters in literature. There's so much here that's unresolved, but it feels a lot like life. The book functions as both a circle and a triangle, but I'll let you read it to get a sense of what I mean by this.
I have more to say on this, and I might just write a post about plateaus and what J. O. Incandenza calls "figurants." Those two concepts, in …
WOW. This book had long been on my to-read list, but I pushed it to the top, as someone mentioned that it helped them cure their depression. It surely didn't do that for me, but it had me reflecting on my own life. There isn't a lot here that's resolved, but it's so easy to get attached to the many, many characters--both "small" and large. I felt most attached to Don Gately, and Mario is one of the single most lovable characters in literature. There's so much here that's unresolved, but it feels a lot like life. The book functions as both a circle and a triangle, but I'll let you read it to get a sense of what I mean by this.
I have more to say on this, and I might just write a post about plateaus and what J. O. Incandenza calls "figurants." Those two concepts, in my reading, are central to the novel.
