melissa
This book has some of the most amazing, genuine and raw Frida Kahlo art I've ever seen. I believe this is a must if you love the artist. There isn't much writing, but all the drawings and journal entries are accompanied by a lengthy analysis. Would definitely recommend it.
Loved it. If you tend to watch a lot of Japanese Anime, Horror or Ghibli movies, this is a great intro to all the symbolism and creatures in japanese Mythology.
This one surprised me. I had never heard of it, and stumbled upon it on an app. It looked short enough and I love tea so said I'd go for it. But it turned out to be so much more. It's about the tea ceremony, and how its tradition reflects the Japanese culture, taoism and zennism. It's about how these traditions are fading with the influence of the west, about materialism and the illusion of progress the more we're further from nature. There are a lot of beautifully written pages, here's an excerpt:
Tell me, gentle flowers, teardrops of the stars, standing in the garden, nodding your heads to the bees as they sing of the dews and the sunbeams, are you aware of the fearful doom that awaits you? Dream on, sway and frolic while you may in the gentle breezes of summer. To- morrow a ruthless hand will close around your throats. You will be wrenched, torn asunder limb by limb, and borne away from your quiet homes. The wretch, she may be passing fair. She may say how lovely you are while her fingers are still moist with your blood. Tell me, will this be kindness? It may be your fate to be imprisoned in the hair of one whom you know to be heartless or to be thrust into the buttonhole of one who would not dare to look you in the face were you a man. It may even be your lot to be confined in some narrow vessel with only stagnant water to quench the maddening thirst that warns of ebbing life.
There's a special kind of eeriness in Shirley Jackson's books that makes me want to cozy up in them.
It's not much a collection of essays as it is a collection of poems en prose, very reminiscent of Allen Ginsberg's Howl. His description is so captivating and cinematic, with run-on sentences going on for pages dropping truth bombs on his way. It's everything I ever wanted in a book.
I could pick any page at random, and any sentence could work as a devastating quote, but I'm gonna go with this one:
“Darkness had completely descended onto the landscape and I stood up and stretched my arms above my head and I wondered what it would be like if it were a perfect world. Only god knows. And he is dead.”
It's cute fluff. It's like a young adult book but for adult adults, which i much prefer (not a fan of reading books written by adults with Witty Teens™ falling in love).
The run on descriptions of the island were beautiful, the woodcuts introducing every chapter were good, but it's just orientalist (is there a more specific word for people describing Polynesians in an extremely objectifying dehumanizing matter?) af. I try not to judge old books with the moral compass of the present, but that one was a struggle.
I liked the structure and the concept of the story, but did not care much for the style of writing (might be due to the translation) or the characters, they were all archetypes.
I wanted to read the comic after watching the movie, cause the adaptation was so dense and intense, and I needed more backstory about the characters, yet somehow the comic is even denser. The art is beautiful but I can understand now why it took Miyazaki 13 years to finish the series.
The main point I got from the comic (more flagrant here than in the movie), is the fact that all these tribes are being attacked by the forest's protectors, the Ohmu, yet all they can think of doing is kill each other off, while finding ways to be even more destructive towards nature. It is the curse of humans bent upon expansionism.
That was awesome! How did I not find out about it until now?! Fast read, truly recommend, instant mood booster.
If there's something I can understand it's the vividness and overwhelmingness of the memories and emotions from hearing a Beatles song.
The series is consistent, the mysteries keep getting more complex, there's a fantasy side to this one that i don't know if it'll pass onto the next ones. Ending is abrupt as always tho, all in all fun.
I love her weirdness. I love the premise of all her stories, the kind of magical realism that makes you a bit uncomfortable. Which is why i have a huge problem with the cover they assign to her books, nothing is cutesy about Bender's style.
Even though it comes with a lot of warnings, i didn't believe them, and it was totally darker than I expected lol. Fun darkness.
This one more had a “story”, the illustrations are also very good, dreamy sunset palette, i preferred the first one's tho, the art was more urgent, but some pages in this book would make great posters. I love how Bemelmans captured Paris.
Reading it I just felt “I love you Anne, but you're so tiring... also you're probably in love with your best friend”.
That was the most well constructed book of the series thus far. There was actual detective work, some not too obvious hints for the reader that went completely over the narrator's head, some mystery, suspense, a bit of emotion and finally an ending with a closure and not the abrupt ending of the earlier books.
CondolenceThey hurried here as soon as you had died,Their faces damp with haste and sympathy,And pressed my hand in theirs, and smoothed my knee,And clicked their tongues and watched me, mournful-eyed.Gently they told me of that Other-sideHow, even then, you waited there for me,And what ecstatic meeting ours would be.Moved by the lovely tale, they broke, and cried.And when I smiled, they told me I was brave,And they rejoiced that I was comforted,And left to tell of all the help they gave.But I had smiled to think how you, the dead,So curiously preoccupied and grave,Would laugh, could you have heard the things they said
I've got a few other favourites from her collection of poetry: Fulfilment, Charles Dickens, Godspeed, Little Words, Rainy Day, Recurrence, Resumé, Solace, Tombstones in the starlight and Verse for a certain dog.
I read it after watching the adaptation with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman and even though Tenessee Williams didn't like it due to the heavy censorship, the casting was on point.
I really love Williams' work in general, not my favourite of his, but as always beautiful tension. It's one of those books where nothing much happens but are mainly a study of human experience. I would love to watch a bookclub discussing these characters in depth.
Thought it was a good idea to read it as an introduction to Murakami, and I was half right. Even though I enjoyed it greatly, it would've been more engrossing if I were more familiar with his work. I would've been even more interested in his writing process and how it mirrors his running technique, or maybe just understood more his writing style.
As it was, I had no idea where to go with my analysis as I had no point of reference, but at least I'm finally inspired to start reading his novels.
