frwll_hppy_vlds's reviews
135 reviews

Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.

This is a little too dense for me, but I still want to learn the concepts, so I'm switching to something supplemental.

The Rosicrucian Enlightenment by Frances Yates

informative lighthearted slow-paced

4.0

Very informative historical record on the historical intersection of "magic" and science in the early 17th century. Objective, honest about the lack of material and research where necessary, and full to the brim of recommended literature. A GREAT place to start if you're interested in the history of things like the Cabal, alchemy, and the end of the Renaissance. 

Sula by Toni Morrison

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Some of the dialogue between Sula and other characters will stay with me forever. 

Illuminations: Stories by Alan Moore
Did not finish book. Stopped at 31%.

"The Improbably Complex High-Energy State" did me in. What did I just read? I appreciated the parallels drawn between our current reality and the hypothetical reality according to Ludwing Boltzmann, but I think the joke went on too long. Also, so much sex - well, not actually "sex", but, brain sex. Ya, you'd have to read it... 

The Tin Drum by Günter Grass
Did not finish book. Stopped at 43%.

Too sexual - some of it wildly inappropriate, to say the least. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Did not finish book. Stopped at 34%.

Not my kind of book.

Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment by Roger Stern

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The illustrations are beautiful and badass, but the dialogue, especially Mephisto's, is quite cliche. 

Dear Dawn: Aileen Wuornos in Her Own Words, 1991-2002 by Aileen Wuornos

dark sad slow-paced

5.0

The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

More exposition about the actual suspense than suspense/action. LOTS of interiority.

Never any real resolution.

No likeable characters in sight, except the

maids who up and leave while the main characters are falling apart.

Didja hate Hamlet's soliloquizing? Give him ecstasy (the drug) and imagine that as a whole book. I gave it 2 starts instead of 1 because at least Murdoch can describe a beautiful landscape - but she does so way too much, especially since where the whole story takes place is in-between two (castle-like) houses. A must if you need 1,000 ways to describe bodies of water. 

Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.

This is written beautifully but also so sparsely. I will need to come back to it after I read some contextual material about it.