Ketutar
Well... there's quite a lot of questionable things, like three men living three days on a human body, probably a man of about 50-60 kilos... I would say there's more to eat in that. But - all in all a very interesting story. Except when he starts explaining geography and zoology. One could have hopped over chapters. And the racism. Well... I suppose we all know he was a racist. This book is no different.
Interesting animals from Pym's adventures:
Southern Polar Bear
“a gigantic creature of the race of the Arctic bear, but far exceeding in size the largest of these animals.” “This bear, upon admeasurement, proved to be full fifteen feet in his greatest length. His wool was perfectly white, and very coarse, curling tightly. The eyes were of a blood red, and larger than those of the Arctic bear—the snout also more rounded, rather resembling the snout of the bulldog.”
“a singular-looking land-animal”
“It was three feet in length, and but six inches in height, with four very short legs, the feet armed with long claws of a brilliant scarlet, and resembling coral in substance. The body was covered with a straight silky hair, perfectly white. The tail was peaked like that of a rat, and about a foot and a half long. The head resembled a cat's, with the exception of the ears—these were flapped like the ears of a dog. The teeth were of the same brilliant scarlet as the claws.”
“We saw several strange animals about the dwellings, all appearing to be thoroughly domesticated. The largest of these creatures resembled our common hog in the structure of the body and snout; the tail, however, was bushy, and the legs slender as those of the antelope. Its motion was exceedingly awkward and indecisive, and we never saw it attempt to run. We noticed also several animals very similar in appearance, but of a greater length of body, and covered with a black wool.”
Absolutely lovely little story of how to find a husband :-D
We have a chubby little girl with really bad self-confidence, bad clothes, bad posture, and a bad attitude, and then there's an ugly duckling story. She gets help from a friend and ends up finding a husband. With a little “but I thought you...” mixed in.
It's funny and nice.
Amy is the most spoiled, self-centered, entitled little 8 years old I've met in literature.
Susan Coolidge is one of the most prejudiced, racist authors I've read. Everything in Europe is horrible, nasty, dirty, unpleasant, ill-mannered, or if not, they speak some other language.
Considering how disappointing Europe was to Katy, I doubt she will want to go there again, though she probably will when she marries...
I like this book the least of all the Katy books.
I really hate Amy.
Now I have read my first Nancy Drew mystery :-D
Acceptably good reading, short, entertaining. Enough excitement and mystery. Also, it's good that she is very self-sufficient. She changes the tire on her car, and fixes the motorboat motor, without sitting there and wishing for a man to arrive and rescue her.
What Katy Did is the first book in a series of girl books written in the 19th century by Susan Coolidge. I loved these books when I was a kid, but now - not so much. I really hate the Christian prim moral tale aspect, luckily it's not much. I really love the description of Christmas morning. And I absolutely love Helen. (Even though she's sometimes so dang prim and “good” it makes my teeth ache :-D)
But, but... this was published in 1872, so I suppose one may excuse the Christian moral attitude.
This book takes Katy from age 14 when she had the accident to age 16 or 17 at the end of the book. I think.
BTW, this is one of the books I read about once a year, or so, so I have read this book dozens of times in my life :-D I think this is just the first time I write a review on GoodReads :-D
Ok... so... I hated this Katrina. How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways...
Firstly, I suppose Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow is the culprit of these Ichabod-Katrina ships. I don't see why we should ship them. Why we should see Ichabod as this romantic hero and Brom as a macho bully?
Nevertheless, because Alyssa decided to take this road, we end up with instalove. They are not only “unconditionally and irrevocably in love with” each other, but they consummate the relationship also very quickly. I think it was their second date.
There comes the virgin myth. Seriously, women, how was your first time, if you keep spouting this crap about it hurting and women bleeding tons of blood? If sex hurts, you are doing it wrong. Stop it! I can only assume these women were too young and scared when they had sex first time. And there isn't much blood if any. It's not like menstruation. Frankly, the whole hymen thingy is a myth.
Also, it was made clear that Katrina was a virgin, but Ichabod was not. Why?
Then comes the modern “woke” attitudes. Yes, a number of people was abolitionists, and there was a current of “feminism” going around in the late 18th and early 19th century. Quite a lot of strong women voicing their opinions in France and USA, though they weren't mostly listened to. It wasn't unheard of, not even unusual for women to be writers. Marrying for love was more unusual. Especially if you were rich. And a woman. But Alyssa makes her Katrina express these opinions in a very modern manner. I like her style and voice in the book, it was easy to picture the events in the 18th century, but some things weren't as successfully written. This part irritated me.
Also, she had them talk about slavery, but that was about it. It didn't add anything to the story, it didn't move the story forward, it didn't illuminate anything, it just was there, hanging. I suppose part of it was to show what a horrible man Brom's father was, but he wasn't much in the story anyway, so why bother?
Yeah, sure, she tries to blame him for Brom's patriarchal attitudes, and why he “grew crooked”, but - it's just there. It really doesn't add anything to the story, so it could just as well have been left out.
Also, Brom... I don't get him. He's like an oil slick, I didn't get any picture of him. It felt like there had to be some sort of reason why Katrina was angry with him, so Alyssa invented this convoluted story that Brom had spoiled Charlotte's reputation by saying she was a witch, so the whole village started ostracising her. But they were very nice to her mother, who was basically the town doctor.
And Charlotte was basically a dish rag. Katrina was horrible, got angry with Charlotte for no real reason, said horrible things to her, and Charlotte just swallowed it all. And this brings us to next sin. We had the “You lied to me! Yes, I was a horrible bitch, but YOU LIED TO ME, so it doesn't count!!!” Yeah, sure, I admit it was good that you lied to me, and you didn't really lie to me, you just didn't tell me the whole truth, because you know me and you knew how I would take it, and I reacted exactly as you said I would, but YOU LIED TO ME!!! I CAN NEVER TRUST YOU AGAIN!
And Charlotte is just there going “yeah, I suppose I deserve that”. F-ign dish rag!
And that scene, that
Charlotte: I need you to come with me, I need to show you something!
Katrina: So NOW you need to show me something!
Charlotte: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but it's really important, please, get up, and follow me
Katrina: whine whine whine YOU LIED TO ME whine whine whine
Charlotte: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but it's really important, please, get up, and follow me
Katrina: whine whine whine...
AAAARRRGH!!!
What else? Oh, yeah. “It's all my fault!!! WAAAAAH!!!” And everyone hurries to place to comfort the heroine. She is then totally fine and over it in 10 pages. Seriously, this bitch waltzes through the whole book thinking only about herself, and every other character is just her entourage. She argues with everyone, throwing accusations around; she accuses her best friend, the love of her life, and basically everyone... it's a wonder she doesn't accuse her dog of something. Maybe I just missed it.
Also, I was expecting Tim Burton fan fiction, and that this book would really have been Katrina's spellbook. But no. No spells. Charlotte would have had some spells, but in this book, Katrina doesn't use any of them. She just gets high and scries. It has nothing to do with any books. So, I don't know which idiot named this book, but they are an idiot. Misleading is a reason why my rating went from 3 to 2 stars. I'm really disappointed and appalled. I was expecting a juicy witch story, and I get this... wet cep.
The story itself... first 1/4 of the book is sex. Then we have Katrina being hysterical. More hysteria. Then she lies to her best friend and steals from her, and then when the best friend comes to her rescue in spite of that, she yells at her. And then we have a portion of self-pity that doesn't last very long, and then she gets a HEA. The End.
Yuk, yuk, yuk, yök, perk, yuk!
Ok, so this is a story of a scientist who rescues a young woman from spirits to be all a woman can dream of, a wife and a mother.
The heroine is pretty. That's about it.
The hero... he's an a-hole. He's a pompous ass, racist, sexist... basically prejudiced in every possible manner a man can be.
And he's a gary-stu. Everybody loves him, except the villains, who hate him. By sight.
I mean... we have this young man coming riding in town, he says he's a scientist, and the heroine's mother immediately invites him to her home and asks him for advice on how to deal with her daughter's future. And instead of saying he couldn't possibly, he seriously considers the question. HE HAS KNOWN THE GIRL AND HER MOTHER FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS IF EVEN THAT. The minister of the community comes to visit, and he immediately sees the man as bad news, even though there really isn't anything wrong with him. He's polite, intelligent, and good-looking... but he is the villain. He has known the family for a long time, but the mother trusts this total stranger's opinion more. Why? Beats me. I suppose because the goodness of a person is totally visible, and even such animals as women can smell it.
Ok, so while he is visiting the family, some weird things happen. There's knocking and the light goes down, and things like that. No explanation, but this scientist man doesn't believe in any supernatural stuffs, so he doesn't seem to notice these things either. Later in the book, they have a seance where things fly around without anyone there to touch them, a wine glass materializes on the shelf from a locked cupboard, things are being written on a notepad, a “horn” floats in the air, and voices are heard. “It must be something totally natural and scientific, like telepathy and telekinesis”. Er... what? You believe in telepathy, but not spirits? Of course! Spirits are totally impossible explanation, as no one was able to actually do these things, as everyone in the present was sitting too far away and didn't move, then it must be telekinesis. Doh!
Yeah... stupid me. Oh, and clairvoyance is also a totally scientific, natural ability.
But it doesn't matter at all, because our scientist man doesn't believe in spirits, he forgets all that happened because it really couldn't have happened, so it didn't.
And through the whole book, he is the only one who can save this girl from the insanity and infamy of being a medium means. She has to be saved so that she can marry a respectable man. Our scientist man. Of course. And it's not her kindness, intelligence, fresh spirit, or anything, really, that he loves. It's her beauty. Again and again, when he thinks of her or speaks about her, it's her beauty.
I like Fay Weldon. This book... not so much. The beginning was very chaotic and almost unreadable. The ending saved the whole thing. It's still not good, though. If you loved [b:The Life and Loves of a She Devil 135048 The Life and Loves of a She Devil Fay Weldon https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1419181143l/135048.SY75.jpg 1271073], don't read this one.
It was hard to read. A lot of violence. Of all kinds. Not good.
But the point was well made. Whoever has the power will use it to hurt people under the power. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I also kept thinking about today's “masculinists” and how afraid they must be as their overpower is being stripped away, little by little. They don't know how to be equal, how to be a human being, or how to treat people well. How sad it is that they don't get it. You don't need to be afraid if you have never harmed another person.
Of course, a lot of harm has been done by people who look like me, and it is fully understandable that people are afraid of people who look like people who have harmed them... A lot of women are afraid of all men because a lot of men have harmed them. It isn't fair to harm people just by association, but it happens. All we can do is see we won't become them.
This is, of course, very nice. But not the best “how did” books I've read. I prefer [b:Just So Stories 34053 Just So Stories Rudyard Kipling https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546075870l/34053.SY75.jpg 2475078] as that, and [b:The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit 223627 The Tales of Uncle Remus The Adventures of Brer Rabbit Julius Lester https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391088821l/223627.SX50.jpg 216578] as Americana folk tales. (Now, I read that as an excellent Finnish translation, I don't like the style of writing, as I'm not very good with... I don't know if that is Ebonics or something else, but I like to read my English as proper as possible. After all, it's a foreign language to me.)This is not written with any kind of accent or slang, but it is a bit... too “educational” to my taste. I keep thinking about [b:Animal Farm 170448 Animal Farm George Orwell https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1325861570l/170448.SY75.jpg 2207778], and that is not something one should be thinking about when reading a children's book :-D So, only 4 stars.
Well... it's better than the first book. I think I gave it two stars because I actually managed to finish it. So this gets three. Don't think I liked it, though :-D
I am bothered by the timeline. I don't think it would have taken two weeks to travel from Paris to Wien, even in the 19th century. I'm also not quite sure when these events are supposed to be happening. I think it's supposed to happen in the last decade of the 19th century, but I'm not sure.
I think Diana is unusually childish and selfish. She behaves like 10 years old, not like the 14 years old she's supposed to be.
Mary is awful. She gets praised by everyone even though she never does anything. And even though Diana is awful as well, she is supposed to be awful, and everyone is bitchy to her. Mary on the other hand is supposed to be this angel, and she most of the time is being horrible to Diana. Frankly, I can't remember her doing anything in this book. She planned the trip to Wien, but it didn't happen, because Sherlock Holmes jumped in, and took care of it all. He even placed her with Irene Adler, who just handily happened to live in Wien. Then when they get kidnapped, Mina Harker just happens to handily live in Budapest, and just handily happens to send someone to rescue them. They manage to rescue whatever the girl's name was from the asylum - or Diana managed to do that - but somehow Mary gets the credit for it. What did she do? Nothing at all.
This is one of the reasons why I hate marysues so much. The author has to tell us what a wonderful, amazing, intelligent, resourceful, lovely person the marysue is, BECAUSE SHE NEVER DOES OR SAYS ANYTHING TO SHOW US THAT SHE IS.
(The other reason is that everyone, at least every good person, immediately falls in love with her. This, too, happens here.)
Then the research thing. If you want to write fan fiction, respect the canon.
1) Irene Adler was a contralto, not a soprano.
2) Sherlock Holmes had grey eyes.
3) Vlad Dracula's name was short of Vladislaus, not Vladimir.
(4) Hobbits stole mushrooms when they were children, they didn't steal carrots when they were adults. This one isn't to Theodora Goss, it's to the idiots who made the LOTR movies.)
YES, THESE THINGS ARE IMPORTANT.
And that actually made me reconsider and take away one star.
I liked it a lot.
It got a bit boring at the teenages, but all in all, it was a very warm and loving story. It felt like an autobiography. I kept forgetting it wasn't :-D Now, of course, I can't say what the reality of being intersexed is, so maybe I'm wrong, but to me it felt like someone telling their own story.
The ending was very nice.
I heartily recommend this book. It was interesting, had enough of magical realism, history, funny bits, and emotions, to make it a good read.
I liked it a lot. I like the fact that I wasn't certain about anyone's loyalties or sides or so. I was suspecting everyone, and half of the people weren't as bad as I feared they would be :-D Also, the bad guys were as bad as they were supposed to be. Or at least, that's the impression we got... now... there's always the possibility of things changing in the future. I suspect the fae might not be quite as bad as presented, and the library might not be as good as presented. I like that aspect of the story.Also, this is sort of a “pilot episode” :-D It can be read as an independent story and forget everything about what will happen in the future. This story has an ending, and it's satisfactory, though it leaves plenty of threads hanging for people who are interested to read on. After all, there are 8 books in this series. I do hope it doesn't do me [b:A Discovery of Witches 8667848 A Discovery of Witches (All Souls, #1) Deborah Harkness https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525097370l/8667848.SY75.jpg 13190160], where the first book was nice, the second book pure crap. [I think I hate those stories most of all. Like Game of Thrones. (Tv-series. I haven't read the books, and I doubt I will, because of the tv-series. Sorry, George.) The stories start very well, but then fall down and keep flopping. It's like I've been promised an iPad for a present, and then it's one of those sanitary pads with an eye drawn on. I seriously hope this isn't like that.]This reminds me somewhat of [b:A Winter's Promise 40969531 A Winter's Promise (The Mirror Visitor #1) Christelle Dabos https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532807526l/40969531.SX50.jpg 25320621]. If you liked that, you might like this, if you liked this, you might like that.P.S. I love the characters. I like Irene, I'm in love with Lord Silver, Kai is amazing, and even Bradamant is somewhat interesting. I hope Vale improves, I just need to know more about the elder Miss Retrograde, if there is a younger Miss Retrograde, and who and what might that be :-D
Well... It was interesting. Entertaining. I liked some bits of it a lot, but... there were some bits I didn't like. I have to say I like Terry Pratchett's and Phil and Kaja Foglio's version of a sort of medieval coffee shop better. I mean... cinnamon buns and chocolate bread in all honor, I can imagine dozens of better pastries, and considering we are moving in a fantasy world, I wish Travis had invented something absolutely decadent and luscious... But, all in all, a good book. I liked it.
