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paigeweb's reviews
99 reviews
Dune by Frank Herbert
3.75
I want an apology from all the pretentious film bros who made me believe this book was wayyy too difficult for the casual reader and put me off it for so long.
Denis Villeneuve, I love you for what you've done for Chani.
Denis Villeneuve, I love you for what you've done for Chani.
Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Returning to Clarice’s beginning after exposure to the majority of her written corpus - and while currently making my way through her semi-autobiographical chronicles - I can recognize in Near to the Wild Heart the origin of many motifs and themes that she would repeat and reinvent continuously for the next 30 years. As with her later works, I’m not sure I have the capacity to completely understand this novel in all of its ambitious complexity. But as with her later works, comprehension is only one aspect of the Lispectorian reading experience, and maybe not even the most important… it’s much more about the sonority in her prose, the entrancing intimacy of the stream of consciousness she evokes, the tension between abstraction of expression and conceptual depth.
The chapter “The Encounter with Otavio” and the ending will haunt me for some time. I’m not sure Joana will ever go away.
I only have one life and this life slips through my fingers and travels to death serenely and I can do nothing and all I do is watch my depletion with each passing minute, I am alone in the world, those who are fond of me don’t know me, those who know me fear me and I am small and poor, I won’t know I existed in a few years’ time, all that is left for me to live is little and yet all that is left for me to live will remain untouched and useless, why do you not take pity on me?
The chapter “The Encounter with Otavio” and the ending will haunt me for some time. I’m not sure Joana will ever go away.
I only have one life and this life slips through my fingers and travels to death serenely and I can do nothing and all I do is watch my depletion with each passing minute, I am alone in the world, those who are fond of me don’t know me, those who know me fear me and I am small and poor, I won’t know I existed in a few years’ time, all that is left for me to live is little and yet all that is left for me to live will remain untouched and useless, why do you not take pity on me?
Greek Tragedies, Volume 1 by Sophocles, Richmond Lattimore, Aeschylus, Euripides, David Grene, Elizabeth Wyckoff
4.75
oh Antigone :(
The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.
The writing is unbearably elementary, and the use of third person in the present tense too jarring for my tastes.
The Odyssey by Homer
Did not finish book. Stopped at 31%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 31%.
Sorry, Carson 🙏 I'll come back and finish this someday.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
P.S. The "Shape of Things" section at the end of this edition - an intimate look inside Diana's mind and at her writing process for the series - was really fascinating!
adventurous
medium-paced
3.0
Perhaps it was unfair of me to read the Outlander book after watching the show, because I can’t help but judge the first in comparison to its adaptation. If anything, setting the two against each other gives me a greater appreciation for how aptly the show alternately synthesizes/condenses and expands upon its source material... With this in mind, sections of the book felt bloated, surprisingly abrupt, or simply random by contrast.
Aside from (subjectively) inferior differences in terms of pacing and characterizations (Murtaugh is a prime example), I generally was impressed by Diana's prose. Her language is best employed in descriptive passages, where it flourishes, but sometimes flounders when it comes to dialogue... much of which felt awkward and unrealistic, even considering the archaic setting of the characters.
Aside from (subjectively) inferior differences in terms of pacing and characterizations (Murtaugh is a prime example), I generally was impressed by Diana's prose. Her language is best employed in descriptive passages, where it flourishes, but sometimes flounders when it comes to dialogue... much of which felt awkward and unrealistic, even considering the archaic setting of the characters.
Ultimately, I’m glad I gave this book a try but I’m unlikely to revisit it in the future and will likely stick to the STARZ series for the sequels.
P.S. The "Shape of Things" section at the end of this edition - an intimate look inside Diana's mind and at her writing process for the series - was really fascinating!
The Apple In the Dark by Clarice Lispector
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Abstract, obscure and enthralling. The Apple in the Dark went from being my least favorite Clarice book in the first half to ranking among my favorites during the second and third parts. Somewhere around the midway point, something clicked... As Clarice would say, in her signature phrasing, "something had happened"; as a reader, I "awoke."
In The Apple in the Dark, Clarice deconstructs a man down to his basest elements before setting about the laborious process of his incremental psychological resurrection. As his mental landscape evolves, so does the clarity of the writing; it is as if, with the character of Martim as surrogate, Clarice is giving birth to herself in a dual act of self-creation on part of both author and protagonist (comparisons to A Breath of Life would be interesting on this point). The catalyst for Martim's metamorphosis? A crime that is at once central and peripheral to the story. Its particulars are of small importance to the plot, yet its consequence is a profound existentialist meditation on what it means to be and to communicate, and the cost of individuality.
"Are we bad?", he wondered perplexed as if he'd never lived. What dark thing is it that we need, what greedy thing is this existence that makes a hand grasp like a claw? and yet that greedy wanting is our strength and our clever and helpless children are born from our darkness and inherit it, and beauty is in this dirty wanting, wanting, wanting -- oh body and soul, how to judge you if we love you?
In The Apple in the Dark, Clarice deconstructs a man down to his basest elements before setting about the laborious process of his incremental psychological resurrection. As his mental landscape evolves, so does the clarity of the writing; it is as if, with the character of Martim as surrogate, Clarice is giving birth to herself in a dual act of self-creation on part of both author and protagonist (comparisons to A Breath of Life would be interesting on this point). The catalyst for Martim's metamorphosis? A crime that is at once central and peripheral to the story. Its particulars are of small importance to the plot, yet its consequence is a profound existentialist meditation on what it means to be and to communicate, and the cost of individuality.
"Are we bad?", he wondered perplexed as if he'd never lived. What dark thing is it that we need, what greedy thing is this existence that makes a hand grasp like a claw? and yet that greedy wanting is our strength and our clever and helpless children are born from our darkness and inherit it, and beauty is in this dirty wanting, wanting, wanting -- oh body and soul, how to judge you if we love you?
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
4.5
It's very validating to revisit an old obsession and find that you still enjoy it every bit as much as your teenage self did. This series will never not be iconic and this entry might just be my favorite.
The Metamorphoses by Ovid
5.0
I think this will always be my favorite ancient literary work ... enjoyed taking my time with it (over an embarrassingly long 6 months).
The terror of change against the improbable hope for personal exemption.
Vivam.
"A universe where nothing stays the same, sea, sky, wind, earth, and time forever changing -
Time like a river in its ceaseless motion;
On, on, each speeding hour cannot stand still,
But as waves, thrust by waves, drive waves before them,
So time runs first or follows forever new:
The flying moment is gone, what once seemed never is now, which vanishes before we say it,
Each disappearing moment in a cycle,
Each loss replaced within the living hour."
The terror of change against the improbable hope for personal exemption.
Vivam.
"A universe where nothing stays the same, sea, sky, wind, earth, and time forever changing -
Time like a river in its ceaseless motion;
On, on, each speeding hour cannot stand still,
But as waves, thrust by waves, drive waves before them,
So time runs first or follows forever new:
The flying moment is gone, what once seemed never is now, which vanishes before we say it,
Each disappearing moment in a cycle,
Each loss replaced within the living hour."