Terri

Unintentionally hilarious. The khaki skirt strikes again.

Wanting your boyfriend to turn you into a vampire is a no-brainer decision, but agreeing to marry him is somehow MORE serious?

Second time reading this, gets better every time.

Rilke has a gift for capturing the beauty of solitude. His poetry is melancholy, filled with longing, but never depressing.

Favorites from this collection:

Evening

Autumn

Silent Hour

Solitude

The Neighbour

Maidens I

Moonlight Night

In April

Death

Lament

Symbols

Growing Blind

Love Song

The Book Of A Monk's Life

This was my second time reading this, but the first time reading the anniversary edition with the additional content which was amazing. It has a little bit of everything - mythology, folklore, horror, fantasy, science fiction. One of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors, would definitely recommend.

This is a surreal and interesting collection of short stories. The characters from each story intertwine and appear across stories, and there's the recurring appearance of various keys that play a significant role. Overall, the stories feel like feverish dreams.

Some of these mini memoirs are better than others, some were gems that made me think twice, some were skimmable. For the most part I enjoyed it and would recommend.

This is a beautiful, original fantasy story. I somehow hadn't read it growing up, but I'm glad I got around to it now. Would recommend.

I kept waiting for some amazing twist, but I could've literally just read the summary and had the same experience in less time.

This book gave of the feeling of being inside on a stormy day. It's oddly peaceful, even though it's extremely sad. I found myself enthralled from the beginning. I had no idea what to expect when I picked it up, but I was pleased with the ending.

An excellent selection of short stories from around the world. Some were familiar (The Yellow Wallpaper, The Garden-Party, The Lady With The Toy Dog), others were new to me and a pleasant surprise. My favorites were: The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket, The Prussian Officer, Bartleby the Scrivener, The Necklace, The Garden-Party and The Yellow Wallpaper.

The stories included in this collection are:

- Bartleby the Scrivener - Herman Melville
- The Necklace - Guy de Maupassant
- The Death of Ivan Ilych - Leo Tolstoy
- The Man Who Would Be King - Rudyard Kipling
- The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- The Fortune-Teller - Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
- The Lady With The Toy Dog - Anton Chekhov
- How Old Timofei Died With A Song - Rainer Maria Rilke
- The Path To The Cemetery - Thomas Mann
- The Prussian Officer - DH Lawrence
- Araby - James Joyce
- Mrs Frola and Mr Ponza - Luigi Pirandello
- The Mark On The Wall - Virginia Woolf
- A Hunger Artist - Franz Kafka
- The Garden-Party - Katherine Mansfield
- The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket - Yasunari Kawabata
- A Clean, Well-Lighted Place - Ernest Hemingway
- The Sacrificial Egg - Chinua Achebe
- A & P - John Updike
- Borges And I - Jorge Luis Borges

Read this one last, even though it's the second in the series. It fell short, especially after Eve Brown. I didn't feel that the romance was as strong in this one.

This is an excellent book, but heartbreaking.

This is an amazing and beautifully written novel. It's almost 600 pages long, but every word is well chosen and at no point does it feel like the plot is dragging.

There's an emphasis on the importance of storytelling, education, and maintaining strong relationships with the women around you. Would definitely recommend.

This is a beautifully written book; I was continually amazed at the way the individual stories intertwined. It's an emotionally charged story, not an easy read, but definitely worth it. Would recommend.

I really enjoyed this. It reminded me of Dorian Gray from the beginning, and a bit of À Rebours, though it stands on its own. It was definitely a novel to savor, it was almost impossible to speed read because of the rhythm of the writing.

I read this because I enjoyed [b:Bitter Orange 38589871 Bitter Orange Claire Fuller https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519083306l/38589871.SY75.jpg 59739980] by the same author, but I can't say I enjoyed it. It was well written, but if I had known what it was about before picking it up I would've passed.

As with all of Jackson's work, this was artfully unsettling. I had no idea what the story was about when I began, and as the events unfolded I was more and more surprised. Definitely qualifies as psychological horror, I'd be interested to see this adapted for film. Would recommend.

This was very different from what I was expecting, and I was pleasantly surprised. Twist after twist, and it had a great ending. Worth the read.

This is one of the best books I've read this year. While it did take me a few chapters to give it my full interest, it was worth it. Esme is a likeable and relatable character, and I loved her relationship with her father and Ditte. There were a few moments where I feared the plot would turn into an “enemies to lovers” story with some unlikable characters, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Would definitely recommend this.

This was my least favorite of the entire Ripley series. Too much exposition and too many unanswered questions. Even if considered separately from the original Ripley novel, I don't think this story stands on its own. Glad I finished the series, but disappointed that they declined in quality

Much like Ripley #2 and #3, The Boy Who Followed Ripley pales in comparison to the original. Unfortunately, it also pales in comparison to the second and third. While those were decent mystery stories in their own right, The Boy Who Followed Ripley is tedious at times, cartoonish in others, and the character of Tom feels stale and lacking dimension. Tom is unusually trusting, stupid, and both feeling and unfeeling in bizarre situations. The ending felt thoughtless, and I was frustrated the untapped potential that the plot had. I'll be finishing the fifth book since I've made it this far, but I don't feel too optimistic about it.

This is a lovely collection of poetry that touches on solitude, beauty, and the relationship between humans and nature. A few of my favorites were Why I Wake Early, The Arrowhead, Luna, and Look Again.

I wasn't sure of this book at first - I even gave up on it about 10% in - but for some reason I felt compelled to finish it. I'm glad I did. It's not an easy read, emotionally speaking, but it was worth it.

The writing style of this book is definitely unique, and I was intrigued by the plot at the beginning. However, I honestly found the main character, Janina, annoying and the twist at the end barely felt like a twist at all. The endless paragraphs of astrological ramblings also distracted from the plot. There was one surprising element, but it wasn't enough to make up for the rest in my opinion.