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3.27 AVERAGE
3.27 AVERAGE
Got to page 30. The author seems to assume that I've already read a number of biographies of Byron so she can skip any info she can't be bothered with. If I had read a number of biographies then I'm not certain what this book was add. It was at least very easy to read but it was just dull.
I've read other books about Lord Byron and about the Romantics, so there wasn't a ton of new stuff in here for me, but I did like how O'Brien focused on Byron's love affairs - not just casual sex, but emotional relationships - and boiled it down to the "juicy bits." It reads almost like a novel and was highly enjoyable. Any man who is "mad, bad, and dangerous to know" is going to be fun to read about. If you like reading about the scandalous love lives of the Romantic poets, you'll love this.
....well! *clears throat*
That was interesting.
(Never really liked Lord Byron or his work much anyway. Now I kinda see why...)
That was interesting.
(Never really liked Lord Byron or his work much anyway. Now I kinda see why...)
Somewhat cursory, always lyrical, fascinating without being torrid. My only complaint is about her sentences, which sometimes run off a comma when a semi-colon or period would be preferred.
Mad, bad and dangerous to know, especially if you were a half-sister, heiress, Turkish boy, Italian Revolutionary, radical feminist, Whig politician, Greek Revolutionary, publisher or school friend with a shilling...mad, bad and dangerous to know pretty much covers it.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This was interesting and not overly generous with the adjectives. Spurred me on to add "Childe Harold" to my "to-read" list. Quite the physically-challenged, evil genius antihero thing going on...
I'd probably have gone on at least one date with Byron, considering some of the other characters I've dated. Byron couldn't have been worse than a one-balled dude on lithium. Heck, at least Byron would've probably written me a little poem...
I'd probably have gone on at least one date with Byron, considering some of the other characters I've dated. Byron couldn't have been worse than a one-balled dude on lithium. Heck, at least Byron would've probably written me a little poem...
adventurous
informative
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
Ever since I watched Red, White , & Royal Blue and they mentioned that Lord Byron was bisexual I wanted to learn more about Byron. I feel there are so few representations of LGBTQ+ individuals in the way that we tell history, though we are getting better about including that side of individuals stories, and to have such a megalith of a name be mentioned as being bi I was intrigued. I had tried to find some biographies of Byron but the ones I had found were out of my proce range, that is until I was at my local library and noticed this book. I knew I had to check it out and give it a read.
I learned that Byron lived a wild life of many lovers and in many places. He indeed was involved with both men and women, but this book says that most of his major relationships were with women. One being his half sister which really through me for a loop. His last lover though was a man, who seemed to have been not really all that interested in Byron and actually. found him unattractive and old at the age of 36 which I'm sure must have been hard for Byron as this book mentions that he was though of as beautiful for most of his life. The book, to provide context for his relationships, talks of Byron's life and different things that shaped him. One such thing being that he had a club foot which I had never heard of before and I definitely think that that made him ore reckless as a way to prove to others he could keep up and even be ahead. And how his life affected his writings like Child Herald's pilgrimage.
I also liked how the book told about the lovers a little bit as well as their own people and not as extensions of Byron's life. In Italy his lover had to almost be restrained by the pope for her love of Byron. Hi actual wife was young and sheltered and so very happy to be marrying Byron but in a childish way that showed she knew nothing of her future husband at all. She tried to lean on Byron's half sister, not knowing of their relationship and then how the half sister did nothing to help with her pleas. It was all very dramatic and I enjoyed it.
While this book was very informative, I did not love the writing style and when I first started reading it was kind of hard to follow the sentence structure and so I had to slow down more than I like to. This book was also very dry and so while it was short, it seemed to drag which sucked because the topic is so interesting but that spark was dampened by a lack of excitement.
I learned that Byron lived a wild life of many lovers and in many places. He indeed was involved with both men and women, but this book says that most of his major relationships were with women. One being his half sister which really through me for a loop. His last lover though was a man, who seemed to have been not really all that interested in Byron and actually. found him unattractive and old at the age of 36 which I'm sure must have been hard for Byron as this book mentions that he was though of as beautiful for most of his life. The book, to provide context for his relationships, talks of Byron's life and different things that shaped him. One such thing being that he had a club foot which I had never heard of before and I definitely think that that made him ore reckless as a way to prove to others he could keep up and even be ahead. And how his life affected his writings like Child Herald's pilgrimage.
I also liked how the book told about the lovers a little bit as well as their own people and not as extensions of Byron's life. In Italy his lover had to almost be restrained by the pope for her love of Byron. Hi actual wife was young and sheltered and so very happy to be marrying Byron but in a childish way that showed she knew nothing of her future husband at all. She tried to lean on Byron's half sister, not knowing of their relationship and then how the half sister did nothing to help with her pleas. It was all very dramatic and I enjoyed it.
While this book was very informative, I did not love the writing style and when I first started reading it was kind of hard to follow the sentence structure and so I had to slow down more than I like to. This book was also very dry and so while it was short, it seemed to drag which sucked because the topic is so interesting but that spark was dampened by a lack of excitement.