i think the problem with getting back into a world you’ve already read about with different characters is that the entire time you’re thinking “i 3.5*
i think the problem with getting back into a world you’ve already read about with different characters is that the entire time you’re thinking “i wish x was still here.” glokta you are so missed.
shivers paralleling logen would have been really good and moving if i didn’t love logen and constantly wish i was reading about him
need baz to torture everyone again soon
great ensemble cast, though i don’t care much for monza ...more
a deceivingly comedic tragedy of the poor and indictment of the church.
the concept of a middling american engineer suddenly waking up in king ar4.5*
a deceivingly comedic tragedy of the poor and indictment of the church.
the concept of a middling american engineer suddenly waking up in king arthur’s time (where everyone speaks shakespearean english for no apparent reason) and immediately accepting his fate before deciding he’s going to recreate the 19th century and do away with knighthood and the nobility is incredibly funny—and it is certainly amusing at first.
hank’s (it feels weird to call him by his name) inner monologue is sardonic and witty. he is the “normal” man among a group of strange, archaic people whose form of speech he openly mocks and whose customs he painfully tries to change. he shows open disdain for the peerage and their titles, seethes against the church’s power, and constantly tries to explain basic reasoning to what might as well be aliens. his rivalry with merlin was hilarious, as were his relationships with clarence and sally. the absurd plot of creating telephones and railroads and newspapers in the 6th century made for a great comedic background, but i found myself becoming increasingly skittish as it went on.
the most fascinating part about this story is that (and spoiler alert for a book written in 1889) hank fails. he realizes time and time again that people do not want to be freed. that the poor lament their stations but are unwilling to ever stand up against the upper classes. that it is better to laugh at those lower than them than to rebel together. that no matter how educated a man may become, it is difficult to teach superstition and religious fervor away. slavery, both metaphorical (to become mentally enslaved) and literal, plays a massive role, and while here it has to do with class disparities, it is an obvious parallel to twain’s real life. hank compares the poor englishman to the poor white who would uphold slavery (an institution he can’t even participate in) simply to have someone he may feel superior to.
for all his new inventions and perceived “magic,” for all the improvements he makes to the average person’s life, for all the joys he experiences, hank cannot win in the end. the people have always had a king, and the people will always want a king. the church has always dictated their lives, and they have no idea who they are without it. his beloved republic must die, and he must go with it....more
had a lot of mixed feelings when i read the grene and lattimore translation for class. it felt so clunky and weird and not like anything i’d read befohad a lot of mixed feelings when i read the grene and lattimore translation for class. it felt so clunky and weird and not like anything i’d read before. maybe it’s because i’m so accustomed to the story at this point, or maybe the fagles translation is easier to read, but i liked this way more the second (third for agamemnon?) time around. no other greek family has a history as interesting as the house of tantalus. i dogged on aeschylus’ long choral odes (which are just as long here), but they’re really beautiful. ...more
what a deeply touching and beautiful ending to the city watch subseries. i can’t pretend to know much about sir terry pratchett, but i have to ima4.5*
what a deeply touching and beautiful ending to the city watch subseries. i can’t pretend to know much about sir terry pratchett, but i have to imagine that, knowing his health was worsening, he deliberately wrote this book in a way that felt like an ending for the characters. his grace, the duke of ankh, commander sir samuel vimes is an entirely different character than who he was in the first book, and yet he is wholly familiar. watching him grow from a jaded, frustrated man working solo to a dedicated family man to a mentor has been unbelievable. the way that he started out the series annoyed about adding even one copper (who was human!) to the watch only to be the world-renowned leader of a massive and diverse system of justice!!! i can’t even begin to explain how much his tone of voice has changed from the other books. always him, always a bit sardonic and pessimistic, but progressively more understanding and loving.
as much as i want to read the rest of the discworld novels, i can’t imagine a world without vimes, carrot, angua, cheery, detritus, nobby, colon, sybil, willikins, igor, etc. that’s my family!!! so happy to be able to end the year with them :) ...more
3.5* recently i’ve been thinking a lot about the house of atreus’ legacy in attic tragedy. besides the trojan war it might be the only consistent story3.5* recently i’ve been thinking a lot about the house of atreus’ legacy in attic tragedy. besides the trojan war it might be the only consistent story across the three playwrights, and orestes is definitely one of the only human characters to show up (in a speaking role) across their works. but they deliver such conflicting accounts about him that it’s like looking at totally different characters. one moment he’s solemn and noble (eumenides), deceitful and rude (elektra), murderous and spiteful (andromache), silly and rather daft (iphigenia at tauris)… like, who is this guy? homer’s brief mentions of him paint him out to be some beloved hero, obviously not true if we take euripides’ word, so it’s like we’re looking at a little doll that changes depending on the playwrights mood and intentions that day....more
getting to watch the most insufferable, obnoxious character to ever be written about in all of greek mythos go through countless trials and tribulatiogetting to watch the most insufferable, obnoxious character to ever be written about in all of greek mythos go through countless trials and tribulations over 24 books was so cathartic. thank you homer ...more
a full 1/3 of the iliad is essentially “x killed y who was the son of z the son of w who hailed from the long line of q” and you have to read that lina full 1/3 of the iliad is essentially “x killed y who was the son of z the son of w who hailed from the long line of q” and you have to read that line again and again and again. not a single hero (greek or trojan) does anything even mildly impressive without the help of a god, except maybe ajax? really enjoy the way fagles translated homer’s ornamental epithets ...more
hard to say anything that hasn’t already been said in the last 2000 years, but i’m fascinated by the complete split in personality that aeneas undergohard to say anything that hasn’t already been said in the last 2000 years, but i’m fascinated by the complete split in personality that aeneas undergoes in the last 3 books. even without mentioning the tumultuous (and unfinished?) ending, pious aeneas is horrific in the last bit of the poem. the moment where turnus asks his men to throw him his sword and aeneas threatens whoever dares to is genuinely shocking. he’d always been rather tricky, but it was usually under such a heavy layer of self-deprecation and worry that it was easy to overlook. it’s a bit of a despairing end. ...more
“It was my first step into the darkness, Three-Persons. My first step into this long night I live in now. When I waded into the cold waters of that po“It was my first step into the darkness, Three-Persons. My first step into this long night I live in now. When I waded into the cold waters of that pond, I was walking away from my life, my swift-runner, and I could never go back, no matter how hard I tried. It’s like if you tore down your dead-man cross up there and dragged it through the street, burned it, and made water on the ashes. Your god would leave you, then, and your whole world. That’s what was happening to me, and I didn’t even know it, was only thinking about a many-shots gun.”...more
janice hallett’s trademark epistolary style is sooo much fun to read. she has a really incredible way of writing people’s voices through text messagesjanice hallett’s trademark epistolary style is sooo much fun to read. she has a really incredible way of writing people’s voices through text messages. andrew making long-winded paragraphs about how miserable he is while everyone else is taking these weekly pub-quizzes way too seriously was very funny ...more
i remember really loving the original two witcher prequels but feeling ambivalent on the first book of the main series, so i wanted to try this out ani remember really loving the original two witcher prequels but feeling ambivalent on the first book of the main series, so i wanted to try this out and … man, i really liked it. i’m not sure if i’m just more of a fan of solo-geralt stories involving various connected missions than i am of the larger plot of the series OR if i just didn’t give the series a fair enough chance when i read blood of elves ...more
