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kingofspain93's reviews
325 reviews
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
5.0
beautiful black-and-white drawings alternating with incredible full-page paintings in vivid color, zero condescension, rich imagination, an extremely genuine expression of love, Brown and Hurd created the perfect children’s book 83 (!) years ago and I can’t wait to reread this forever. it’s making me emotional to think about. a stunning surprise.
ABC ZooBorns! by Andrew Bleiman, Chris Eastland
3.5
most of the photographs are very good and the captions are only occasionally cringey or lazy. dhole is a good conversation starter, she's provocative. never thought I would be into this kind of board book (thought I'd be more of a princess or stuffed animal kind of guy) but baby animal content is really fun!
Alchemical Active Imagination by Marie-Louise von Franz
5.0
Many scientists, for instance, carry on their practical work—study genetics, or whatever it may be—with a purely materialistic outlook, while on Sundays they still profess in an awkward kind of way to be Christian, but they would not like to have the two things compared too closely within their own psyche.
this is a great book for anyone who wants to understand the relevance of alchemy to the western cultural consciousness. Von Franz briefly touches on the origins and practice of alchemy in Asia and the Middle East/North Africa primarily focuses on medieval Europe using the work of alchemist Gerhard Dorn as an example.
the above quote refers to an interesting tension in this area that von Franz explores, which is the semantic adherence to christianity while pursuing work (internal, external, or internal/external like alchemy) that draws upon the unconscious and so threatens the facile dualism and extreme compartmentalization of that religion. she also talks about alchemic work through a Jungian lens without superimposing her contemporary associations over the culture of the authors she discusses. as always von Franz is a phenomenal scholar who handles challenging topics with an accessible writing style. I feel like reading this will allow me to get more out of alchemical texts in the future!
this is a great book for anyone who wants to understand the relevance of alchemy to the western cultural consciousness. Von Franz briefly touches on the origins and practice of alchemy in Asia and the Middle East/North Africa primarily focuses on medieval Europe using the work of alchemist Gerhard Dorn as an example.
the above quote refers to an interesting tension in this area that von Franz explores, which is the semantic adherence to christianity while pursuing work (internal, external, or internal/external like alchemy) that draws upon the unconscious and so threatens the facile dualism and extreme compartmentalization of that religion. she also talks about alchemic work through a Jungian lens without superimposing her contemporary associations over the culture of the authors she discusses. as always von Franz is a phenomenal scholar who handles challenging topics with an accessible writing style. I feel like reading this will allow me to get more out of alchemical texts in the future!
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
4.0
How rough men were, how brutal in every word they dedicated to love.
after reading The Days of Abandonment last year and being way less into it than I hoped (imagine The Dry Heart but instead of shooting her husband in the head she remarries another man just like him) I was worried that maybe Ferrante wasn't for me. I hate to discard female authors, especially those who write in languages other than english. Thank goodness I really liked this! men are empty husks that are irresponsible and terrible at sex let's gooooooo!
Maybe it's because I have no exposure to Italian literature, maybe it's Ferrante’s style, maybe it's cuz I'm dumb, but there is something about her storytelling that I find slippery and hard to describe. It can feel so literal it is claustrophobic and yet she is working with these big complicated relationships so impressively. upon finishing this I felt stunned, like a dazed animal, when faced with the reality that I wasn't going to get to read about these characters forever. they're all so complicated and frequently boring or loathsome and yet I want to know what happens to them in a year, five, ten. what is this thing she does? I hope someone out there who is smarter than me can articulate it.
after reading The Days of Abandonment last year and being way less into it than I hoped (imagine The Dry Heart but instead of shooting her husband in the head she remarries another man just like him) I was worried that maybe Ferrante wasn't for me. I hate to discard female authors, especially those who write in languages other than english. Thank goodness I really liked this! men are empty husks that are irresponsible and terrible at sex let's gooooooo!
Maybe it's because I have no exposure to Italian literature, maybe it's Ferrante’s style, maybe it's cuz I'm dumb, but there is something about her storytelling that I find slippery and hard to describe. It can feel so literal it is claustrophobic and yet she is working with these big complicated relationships so impressively. upon finishing this I felt stunned, like a dazed animal, when faced with the reality that I wasn't going to get to read about these characters forever. they're all so complicated and frequently boring or loathsome and yet I want to know what happens to them in a year, five, ten. what is this thing she does? I hope someone out there who is smarter than me can articulate it.
City Babies by Kristen McCurry
5.0
it feels fitting that the last book I hadn't read in the series was also the one I was most excited for. it didn't disappoint! the majority of the babies have a ton of personality. the turtle baby and robin babies are especially funny. I'm very excited to have stumbled upon this series and I'm psychologically prepared to read each entry one million times.
The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
3.25
feels VERY similar to A Study in Scarlet in terms of structure but improves on that one in almost every way. Holmes is actually out in the field, for one, doing fun detective shit, and we see a bit of the elaborate underworld network he's established. while the crime is still committed by an earnest man driven to revenge against someone who grievously wronged him and we get waaaaaay too bogged down in backstory, the exposition at least doesn't take up ½ of the book. in addition to the richer world and the cleaner plotting the central duo also feel more realized: Watson's dry humor and stalwart attitude and Holmes’ showmanship and prissiness come through.
I suspect that Doyle’s short stories will be stronger because he'll be forced to cut all of the tedious melodramatic chaff he seems to love but we will see.
scads of horrific period racism in this one, but remember just because other white authors may not write out their racism so explicitly, that doesn't mean it's not implicit in the text!
I suspect that Doyle’s short stories will be stronger because he'll be forced to cut all of the tedious melodramatic chaff he seems to love but we will see.
scads of horrific period racism in this one, but remember just because other white authors may not write out their racism so explicitly, that doesn't mean it's not implicit in the text!
Safari Babies by Aimee Jackson, Kristen McCurry
5.0
a lot of top tier babies in here. several that have giant ears relative to their size which is a special treat. this is one of the series that I think has a really particular warmth to it, right up there with Desert Babies and Forest Babies. only one entry left! 😭
Ocean Babies by Aimee Jackson, Kristen McCurry
5.0
it turns out that baby fish just look like adult fish but smaller. while mammals, birds, and even some reptiles are extremely cute to humans as babies, fish are slightly too far away from us evolutionarily for it to be as pure of a connection. not a complaint, just something interesting I noticed now that I’m a connoisseur of animal baby board books. I’ve always been a coward about this kind of thing though so who knows. I still really want a Bug Babies board book even though it would have the same effect.
Mountain Babies by Kristen McCurry
5.0
one of the charming quirks of this series is that because of the massive undertaking of getting photos of a wide array of animal babies (for example, I think wolves are famously difficult to photograph) the images are all by different photographers and of varying quality and style. most of them are very good and extremely cute; some of them are mid. the entire experience is charming though. I love how many of these books have a raccoon, apparently the cockroach of class Mammalia.
Polar Babies by Aimee Jackson, Kristen McCurry
5.0
there are so many baby biomes I've never considered! there are some great surprise babies in this one. shout out to tern chick the cutest fluffiest thing I've ever seen.