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lucysbookshelf's reviews
45 reviews
Romancing Mr Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
4.5
It's my third time reading this book and I wish I could promise it'll be my last but one can never be sure with books.
This story means so much due to how lovable a character Penelope is. We know her in the other books, see her suffer due to mean people in the ton, other times smile and enjoy her time with the Bridgertons and deep down we root for her to get the happy ending she deserves with whom she chooses. For reasons only the heart can understand, she chooses Colin Bridgerton (even if the reader can't truly understand why after his very loud declaration of not having the least intention to ever marry her).
In this book, we have many revelations at once. The first one being that Penelope is Lady Whistledown, the witty author that exposes what the ton does and has fun while mocking fashion and delights on scandals. The second one is that Penelope is tired of not being seen and decides to show the world who she really is. The third one is that Colin Bridgerton is more than just a charming man, he also has a terrible temper, cares deeply about those he loved and apparently, Penelope is a part of that group.
This love story is so imperfect and yet, makes sense for Penelope and Colin, to get from that almost friendship that was extremely polite and had no feeling (at least on Colin's side) to feelings that are overwhelming like anger, passion and ultimately, love.
If the new season of the show can keep at least 50% of who these characters truly are and their chemistry, it will be a good one and I can't wait to watch it!
This story means so much due to how lovable a character Penelope is. We know her in the other books, see her suffer due to mean people in the ton, other times smile and enjoy her time with the Bridgertons and deep down we root for her to get the happy ending she deserves with whom she chooses. For reasons only the heart can understand, she chooses Colin Bridgerton (even if the reader can't truly understand why after his very loud declaration of not having the least intention to ever marry her).
In this book, we have many revelations at once. The first one being that Penelope is Lady Whistledown, the witty author that exposes what the ton does and has fun while mocking fashion and delights on scandals. The second one is that Penelope is tired of not being seen and decides to show the world who she really is. The third one is that Colin Bridgerton is more than just a charming man, he also has a terrible temper, cares deeply about those he loved and apparently, Penelope is a part of that group.
This love story is so imperfect and yet, makes sense for Penelope and Colin, to get from that almost friendship that was extremely polite and had no feeling (at least on Colin's side) to feelings that are overwhelming like anger, passion and ultimately, love.
If the new season of the show can keep at least 50% of who these characters truly are and their chemistry, it will be a good one and I can't wait to watch it!
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I usually struggle to enjoy French literature and never get an explanation as to why that happens, and yet, this book proved to me that some books are an amazing exception and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Flaubert, just like every reader of Don Quixote, liked how he apparently was driven to madness due to reading too much and decided to write a similar theory for Madame Bovary. So we get the story of a young woman whose life is ruined and who suffers because of the ideals she enjoyed in books, the adventures and passions she lived through pages and that she wanted to have in real life.
I felt sympathy towards Emma, I thought she was probably hated and set as a bad example for her time (both in fiction and in the world by readers) due to her being a woman who craved manly passions. For the 19th century, a woman who wasn’t content with her sort, felt dissatisfied in her marriage, wanted sexual encounters and never felt satisfied were all masculine traits and feelings that would be considered normal, but for a woman who was supposed to be content with her lot of staying at home wherever her husband chose that was, administrating the money instead of using for personal purposes and finding a reason to live in her children and husband, she broke all the rules possible.
What makes this story work is the parody of romantic elements Flaubert used like those moments of desperation for love that could end in death, the exaggeration in feeling and the must do things like writing love letters of courtship for someone you actually feel nothing for.
Flaubert’s writing, the emotional, witty, the sarcastic and the comedic parts equally made this novel enjoyable and one impossible to forget.
El mito de Sísifo by Albert Camus
5.0
In this philosophical essay, Albert Camus uses the Myth of Sisyphus, art, authors and even some books to explain his idea of what it is the absurd (the contradictory, the divorce of ideas). Summarizing his ideas is an ambitious goal for any reviewer, but if I had to do it, I would say that his proposal of living for the whole purpose of living, and his "time will make time live and life will serve life" (I'm not sure if those are the exact words, I read it in Spanish so that's my translation) are concepts that will live in my mind for a long time and some of his ideas related to authors like Kafka and Dostoyevsky will definitely change my perspective on their works.
Resurreccion by Leo Tolstoy
4.0
I have some mixed feelings about this novel in the same way that I had them while reading "Little Women" by Alcott. As a reader, I'd rather have the author's ideas shown by the way their characters behave and try to see what philosophy they are following instead of having the author be a preacher throughout the story. It's palpable that the main reason this novel has for existing is it's pedagogical content about how the law and justice fail men daily, how the prisons can bring the worst out of a man instead of helping him and it repeats time and again who is innocent and clean of all sins and vices to judge others.
It surprised me with the main character, Prince Nejludov, due to how imperfect a hero he was at the beginning. I'm used to encounter in his books people like Konstantin and Pierre that are not too good and not too bad before they go into their hero journey, but this was a nice change in his way of writing. It also surprised me how in his other novels, the character seems fully transformed by the end of it, as if the change has already been taking over his mind and soul whereas here, the end of the novel is only the starting point for Nejludov to become the man he believes he needs to become to do his part in changing humankind.
I also believe this to be Tolstoy's most political novel, filled with details about the law and the state of the prisons, the inhuman way people were treated even before they were truly proved guilty and the main character's thoughts on land and how no one should own it.
Overall, the story has a good and constant pace without necessary following the formal structure of a novel and without a crescendo except in ideas, it's divided in three parts (making an allusion to Jesus Christ's Resurrection) and the characters (even secondary or named only once or twice) become fundamental when trying to elucidate Tolstoy's idea of how poorly prisons are managed and how the justice and the law can be the more unjust of all.
It surprised me with the main character, Prince Nejludov, due to how imperfect a hero he was at the beginning. I'm used to encounter in his books people like Konstantin and Pierre that are not too good and not too bad before they go into their hero journey, but this was a nice change in his way of writing. It also surprised me how in his other novels, the character seems fully transformed by the end of it, as if the change has already been taking over his mind and soul whereas here, the end of the novel is only the starting point for Nejludov to become the man he believes he needs to become to do his part in changing humankind.
I also believe this to be Tolstoy's most political novel, filled with details about the law and the state of the prisons, the inhuman way people were treated even before they were truly proved guilty and the main character's thoughts on land and how no one should own it.
Overall, the story has a good and constant pace without necessary following the formal structure of a novel and without a crescendo except in ideas, it's divided in three parts (making an allusion to Jesus Christ's Resurrection) and the characters (even secondary or named only once or twice) become fundamental when trying to elucidate Tolstoy's idea of how poorly prisons are managed and how the justice and the law can be the more unjust of all.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
4.0
3.5
This was an entertaining read, I feared for it to be a bit dense given that it's the first book in the series (as always, as the world buildings starts manifesting page after page and we have the introduction to the characters, it can be pretty slow at first) but it wasn't like that at all. There isn't an impressive world building, though and the only characters to be a bit complex are the two MC, Jude and Cardan, and Madoc, the rest of the secondary characters are pretty bland (something I hope changes in the next books).
About the writing, it was simple, it didn't have too many descriptions (I wish it had some more to be able to picture the places named in here better) and not all dialogue either.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read but I trust that the next two books can be better than this one and give me more of the fantasy vibes that I need.
This was an entertaining read, I feared for it to be a bit dense given that it's the first book in the series (as always, as the world buildings starts manifesting page after page and we have the introduction to the characters, it can be pretty slow at first) but it wasn't like that at all. There isn't an impressive world building, though and the only characters to be a bit complex are the two MC, Jude and Cardan, and Madoc, the rest of the secondary characters are pretty bland (something I hope changes in the next books).
About the writing, it was simple, it didn't have too many descriptions (I wish it had some more to be able to picture the places named in here better) and not all dialogue either.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read but I trust that the next two books can be better than this one and give me more of the fantasy vibes that I need.
The Maddest Obsession by Danielle Lori
3.0
I read this book after seeing everywhere on booktw but I have to admit, I was disappointed. The reading was entertaining enough and it could be read fast but the pace seemed either to drag for chapters or to act too rushed. The perfect example would be the first part of the book being dragged on vs the ending being too rushed and not giving the sensation of being truly finished.
I need to clarify that I haven’t read the first book before reading this one, but I still understood everything anyways.
I need to clarify that I haven’t read the first book before reading this one, but I still understood everything anyways.
Flores tardías by Anton Chekhov
5.0
Fun and wit are mixed in this tale. I only read "The Cherry Orchard" by Chekhov before and since then, I keep finding little things I like about his writing. In "Late Blooming Flowers", the story seems lighthearted in style but it touches subjects such as love, sickness, society changing and how the money and the power dynamics might save or ruin a life. Chekhov transforms emotional scenes into something natural and cyclical, reminding us all that our luck can change everyday.
Something that makes both his plays and his tales notoriously his, it's that they have no ending, making me feel as an intruder who was just a viewer of someone else's life for a little while or like catching up with a friend and then never talking to them again, losing contact and having their stories unfinished.
Something that makes both his plays and his tales notoriously his, it's that they have no ending, making me feel as an intruder who was just a viewer of someone else's life for a little while or like catching up with a friend and then never talking to them again, losing contact and having their stories unfinished.