MD
Rain, if it comes, will come.This god loves the virus as much as the child.
i wish half-star ratings existed because this is definitely a 3.5. loved some of the poems, but some were so dull that it almost evened out.
“though you're in the limelight nowyou must still kiss a candleto feel the essenceto feel the light”
/ If You Can Only Reflect. 40.
The conch bears no sea sounds, only the silenceOf a wave's interior calm. I think of youAnd light breaks over still water. Already You are forgetting this: the day, the hour,The primary colors.
He wanted his work perceived as a moment in time, I think. “Serenade” is his best work definitely.
. . . How strangethis world would be if we were all in uniform, sad to sewa garment for someone who wasn't allowed to dream.Now, go forth in the alluring clothes of the stranger,and visit others as if a needle and thread sewednot just a new style into this world but also a new dream.
- “The Tailor”
Technically, I thought from beginning to end was brilliant, but emotionally, there were only a few poems here or there that impressed me, until the last two sections. The last poem, “How to Celebrate a Revolution,” was especially beautiful and left me amazed.
A fun gathering of fan content, however one particular essay, about the film Fire Walk with Me, irked me. Here's why:
The piece insists that the film takes Laura's character and presents it as “a bad girl getting what she deserved.” This is an incredible untruth of the film and of her character in it! The movie is about how she copes with abuse in extremely unhealthy ways, so it should be assumed that there's very little of a “good side to counterbalance her descent.” That isn't the nature of the film. The essay in the same breath praises Laura Palmer's Diary, which is surprising considering I've had the complete opposite experience with both entries into the universe. The novel felt almost unnecessary, as if it was so focused on Laura's pain that it became fascinated only with displaying more of it, and not of Laura herself. I recognize that these are all personal opinions though, and it was interesting hearing what fans thought of the film upon release.
Hello, War . . . I see you're going through a medieval European phase again.
I picked this up at a convention a few years ago, but didn't get around to it until now. Loved the concepts a lot, but the majority of the characters fell short, & the story seemed like it needed some editing. The prose also wasn't really what I look for. Will say that I loved the four horsemen, especially War <3. & once Death actually figured things out, it was much more engaging.
I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time.
??? so many thoughts. the way he constantly disregards her opinion on her own condition, belittles her, makes her feel silly and isolates her. so upsetting, great work
“There are some you go into—in this line of work—that you know will be heavy. The details don't matter. All you know, for sure, is that your brain starts humming with brutal vibes as you approach the front door. Something wild and evil is about to happen; and it's going to involve you.”
So, this book is an awesome piece of gonzo journalism! What I've pieced together from reading + research is that gonzo is more just about subjectivity of the author and capturing a feeling than the real event? This book is an extremely personalized depiction of drug abuse & hallucinogenic drugs. However, most of the events (especially the theft, assault, etc.) here are entirely fictionalized. The book feels like a gust of wind that drags you away with it, all the time. You never know what's going on fully because the characters jump from one objective to another in a flash, and it kind of makes you feel like you're on drugs too. After reading this, I def want to explore more of HST's books, + other works of gonzo!
You're less than a dog less than a rat less than a bee or an ant less than a white maggot crawling around on a dungheap. You're dead mister and you died for nothing.You're dead mister.Dead.
i feel so ill
"I offer you helplessness," she said. "I offer you insignificance in the face of a world that thinks nothing of you. I offer you the cold, sick fear of not knowing."And the goddess took it and was gone.
and then I transformed into a fish or a gnat and then some mist and I observed it all and then I flew up into the sky and observed from there and I observed and made sure the audience knew deep in their hearts that I was also observing for 400 pages!
If you couldn't tell, I didn't appreciate the narrator. At the beginning I thought it was fun, but it soon became grating to read descriptions of the narrator purposefully accomplishing pure nothing over and over, & was it really necessary for EVERY scene to have a moment where the narrator went and described exactly how and where they watched the events transpire? & the humor in general I came to find annoying!! Didn't end up enjoying many of the characters, especially hated the Duke and Miss Bickle. Mitchelmore and Caesar were the only two I ended up really enjoying spending time around. I was blessed that Mitchelmore was the main character, but almost everyone around her.. uhg.h.
while i don't believe this essay invalidates the book entirely, & in fact stand by heart of darkness as an important contribution of its era, achebe's essay is of course a compelling & engaging piece of work.
screams this book is so fucked up
the repetition i find interesting because it would usually become annoying but here i found it added into a dream-like quality integral to the story
A short read that wasn't necessarily mind blowing, but still sweet. Friend lent it to me, so thank you to him!
super interesting start! i've gotten spoiled for a lot of what happens in this manga, but that just means i can appreciate the foreshadowing & set-ups here a lot more than i would've if i'd gone in knowing nothing haha. love the characters & writing!!
Oh, you never sawsuch a good leafy place, andeverything was fine, my dog and the fawndid a little dance,they didn't get serious.Then the fawn clambered away through the leavesand my gentle dog followed me away.
Hell yes!! This collection is so human. It's cruel, regretful, and loving. I've fallen in love with Mary Oliver, and I do have to thank Shawn McComb for that. I think it was through one of his update videos where he raved about this exact collection of hers, that I decided to pick Dream Work up. I'm SO glad I did. The excerpted section above is from one of the standout poems, entitled: “1945-1985: POEM FOR THE ANNIVERSARY.” It's been a semi-long time since I've felt inspired enough to write analysis on a poem; I usually only do so for poems that impact me heavily. I'm so happy to feel that same inspiration flowing now, since it's the only way I feel like I can give back to these wonderful authors. Ugh that poem was just so beautiful it's taking up my entire brain. I will definitely be coming back to it often.
Laterthe doe came wandering back in the twilight.She stepped through the leaves. She hesitated,sniffing the air.Then she knew everything.The forest grew dark.She nuzzled her child wildly.
I almost forgot to breathe. For a moment I had an inkling of what it might be like if instead of two people in the World there were thousands.
This... wow. WOW.
Throughout my reading I came across numerous ways that the text could be interpreted, and I'm very curious to read some of those analyses. For me, there is only one way. Suppression, willing ignorance towards the cause of your pain. To forget is to heal, and to face it head on will only make things worse.
This is one of the most entrancing books I've ever read. It almost feels like it was written for me; the occult, the loneliness, the lingering sense of loss . . . all things I am transfixed by. I almost dropped Piranesi early on, and I am so so glad I didn't. When I became fully invested, I never wanted to leave this World. I'm still there, letting the waves sweep over me. Always I am saved.
“Give me the same thing, only different!”
This line is referenced over and over by Snyder, spoken by some CEO during a conversation on film. It indicates that this book is not about producing a well-thought out, creative, intriguing work, but rather that the author likes money and is letting you in on ‘tips' to earn money like he does. He boasts about being a successful screenwriter but only two of his films have ever been made, and both of them were received terribly. All my thoughts were vindicated by a YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgO2XrKaFA8) that definitely explains the problems with this bundle of dead tree far better than I could. Go watch it!
“I have wrestled with Death. It is the most unexciting contest you can imagine, it takes place in an impalpable grayness. With nothing under foot, with nothing around, without spectators, without clamor, without glory, without the great desire of victory, without the great fear of defeat . . . without much belief in your own right, and still less in that of your adversary.”
i understand the criticisms that have been made about this book in recent years, but I look at it this way: the book talks about Africans the way it does because it's the way the white people within the novel view them. The book implies that all of humanity is born from a darkened heart, but the characters aren't smart enough to realize this, so they shift blame elsewhere, cast themselves as saviors. I'm fully aware that the time in this book was written guarantees that it would never be a fully progressive story by today's standards, but for its time it was very important & even now i still believe it is, for historical context if not the message
The ending was a bit frustrating, which is really what's dragging the rating. Otherwise, the prose was beautiful and the atmosphere was <33
I withdrew in silence and left her to her weeping. Perhaps it would help her start to heal.To me, it only sounded like pieces of glass falling from a shattered window.
Hell yeah!! I love this grimy urban fantasy detective novel shit. Storm Front is super silly (talking skull porn addict levels), but doesn't shy away from concepts of gruesome murder, domestic abuse, etc. Found it really stupid but charming, & now I need to read the rest of the series asap.
incredibly fast read, this one was fun. i like the concept with the 8th floor. felt a little less interesting than the first volume, though
God did not live in this church; these statues gave an image to nothingness . . . Loneliness. Loneliness to the point of madness.
Finally finished with this! Sometimes I'm ashamed that certain books take me so long to read, but life gets in the way I guess. Anne Rice lost her daughter when she was about to turn 6. In this book, the vampire Claudia is turned when she is about 6, and most of the story revolves around her. Rice has said it was her unintentional way of coping, when she'd lost faith in the church and all. Reading Interview with the Vampire in this light is a dramatically different experience than if you read it without context, I assume. It makes everything so much more tragic, the gentle feeling of loss that flows through every page, whether it's Louis's loss of his own human life or the connections he'd made with other vampires, etc. Claudia is the crux of it all, and it's heartbreaking.
I enjoyed the book a lot more towards the end, the middle was a little slow! Really it's a 3.5 star but half-stars don't exist here, so, 3.
“. . . To be with me. That is what it means to be healed.”
Starting off the new year with something I've been wanting to read for a while. I've heard a lot about this author in general, and don't think this first volume lets down any expectations. It was a little hard to get into the groove at first, but once Donkey + the cult were introduced, I was ofc drawn in. Excited to see how it plays out!
can't match up to the og series but it was cool to read for things like the judge & the page about cain