Everything to do with books! Mostly book reviews, but occasionally, I have the non-review bookish post too.
After realising that I’ve not written a review for Mansfield Park, I thought it would be a good idea to combine a post that could be a book review with my attempt to defend Fanny Price. Fanny (unfortunate name aside) has been considered one of Austen’s most controversial characters. Do we like her, or do… Read More An Attempt to Defend Fanny Price (Book: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen)
I’m not sure how but I’ve finished The Age of Innocence in two days rather than the planned three (in my mind, it was a longer book). So I’m here to talk about it – be warned there will be spoilers. First, Newland Archer. He remains whiny for the rest of the book and is… Read More June ’23 Rereading: Day 27 – The Age of Innocence (II)
It’s the start of a new week and it’s actually the last week of this project. I’m a bit sad to be ending it because there’s more I want to reread and I know I won’t do much of that once I go back rereading “new” books, but I am also excited to go back… Read More June ’23 Rereading: Day 26 – The Age of Innocence (Part 1)
We go back to one of Britain’s most fascinating dynasties (or perhaps one that has been talked a lot of in recent times, what with Henry VIII’s wives and his daughters) to look at their private lives. For some reason, I thought that The Private Lives of the Tudors would be a book about the… Read More Book Review: The Private Lives of the Tudors by Tracy Borman
I’m writing this a bit earlier than normal because I will be heading out for a book club dinner tonight and I am sure that I won’t have energy to write before I come back. So before I go out, let me tell you about what I’ve been reading. I started the weekend with The… Read More June ’23 Rereading: Day 25 – Weekend Roundup
After reading Kiku’s Prayer, I moved on to Silence, arguably Endo Shusaku’s most famous work. It’s thought-provoking, more depressing than Kiku’s Prayer, and also more controversial. If you’ve not read Silence, you can get a feel of this book from the trailer for the marvellous adaptation by Martin Scorsese: As you can tell, this book… Read More June ’23 Rereading: Day 23 – Silence
As planned, I have finished Kiku’s Prayer and as expected, it was a rough ride. In the last half (third?) of the book, we see Kiku and Seikichi suffer unimaginable torture of body and spirit. Kiku, in a desperate attempt to relieve Seikichi’s actual torture, sells her body to bribe a corrupt official. Seikichi is… Read More June ’23 Rereading: Day 21 – Kiku’s Prayer Part 2
Hello again! I took a day off blogging yesterday because I was really tired and decided that instead of just recapping my day, I would try writing a discussion post – it’s the one that you saw earlier today! And doing that was actually really energising, which helped me regain the momentum for today. As… Read More June ’23 Rereading: Day 20 – Kiku’s Prayer
I just saw the news that Elizabeth Gilbert has cancelled the publication of her latest novel because it’s set in Russia, a move that was criticised by Ukrainians as being insensitive to them. That immediately got me thinking: Can we read books with “bad” themes? Or to put it a different way: “is it acceptable… Read More Discussion Post: Can We Read Books With ‘Bad’ Themes?
I’m back again! I am seeing this pattern in which I do not post on Saturdays because I’m really just not at the computer on Saturday. I did, however, have a good reading day since I finally finished the third Thursday Murder Club book and a good chunk of Jane Austen, Game Theorist. Today, I… Read More June ’23 Rereading Day 18 – Jane Austen, Game Theorist and Some Strange Medieval Advice