Even with nougat, you can have a perfect moment.
I am a very nagging person, most noticeably a fan of terry pratchett. Currently doing some catching-up with Irish literature due to hoizer book club.
Oh yes, books will be recorded in the language I read them in.
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The Iliad (; Ancient Greek: Ἰλιάς, romanized: Iliás, Attic Greek: [iː.li.ás]; sometimes referred to as …
odyssey的故事更engaging一点，iliad实在是太多....风土人情了。人家死了之后感觉开了好久的运动会。 我没想到took divine intervention to take them down这么literal，真的好literal，。。。。。 希望你们神要打架最好自己下场打，少叫人打，然鹅Fry retold就讲了神造人就是来当pet的，当然我很难说这是不是Fry retelling的时候自己加的pov。刚刚听gaiman norse mythology前言他就也说retelling添油加醋是必然的（more or less）（不过我感觉到gaiman添油加醋跟Fry的晚八点档还是不会一个味道....）
An intimate portrait of two men who cherish the slim bond between them and the …
突然想起来steinbeck就是写了愤怒的葡萄的那位，难怪，对拥有一片土地的梦想和给人打工的痛苦是跟那儿一脉相承（x 我觉得它还是对(dis)ability的痛苦处境具有sympathy的。都是社会的错！born disable和因为工伤disable和因为年老disable，都被置于一种担忧维生的处境里，但是这种要向人中的某一些prove worth，人中的另一些才能维生的环境，。。。。。
Few modern voices have had as profound an impact as Frantz Fanon. A major influence …
虽然听audiobook时有走神，但是殖民伤痕呃—— 感觉书写的时间有点早吧，一些psychology理论现在已经不被承认/使用了。 somehow also learnt in the case study that abandonment leads to autistic-like behaviours (not born autism, but similar behaviours)
The Odyssey (/ˈɒdəsi/; Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems …
咦，竟然编辑器记得六个月以前没发出去的文本... 当时写了： 奇怪，听的时候有听到the gate of ivory and the gate of horn, 怎么搜索文本就搜不到 搜到的源还是Aeneid，可是听Aeneid倒没有听到这个典？
这回听的也有！就是gate of ivory and gate of horn! 是athena给Penelope托梦之后penelope说gate of ivory里的是假预言，gate of horn是真预言！
anyway.... somehow又听了一遍Odyssey，但其实是因为这本是george blagden念的，我好奇... 事实证明that was not a good reason, 因为他自己的口音听着让人想扇人（x）就是... 跟hugh dancy平时说话一样的口音，我想了想决定这可能该被称作boarding school accent, it's very high and mighty and lordy, like, seems like humility but actually comes from a certain class 那种（。）
这本译本是Penguin，E. V. Rieu，相比而言我感觉.... 之前那版比较喜欢。这一版比较好跟得上，但是音韵不如之前那版那么严格地遵守重复，所以没那么韵律强烈。Funny thing is这版附了挺长一节introduction，是某种文本分析，里面还强调了这是oral poetry所以专注用重复来创造韵律，然而这个译本重复还没有别的本明显..... anyway. 至少sorta confirm我对lehman的采用韵律去搞成史诗风格不是信口开河（）intro写的是挺有意思的.. 还有讲到荷马如何串联事件，不用时间顺序讲事，而是自然地由人物视角去讲过去的事，并且靠讲完故事后一句话把时间拉回目前，完成past and present的交织。尽管听到这我觉得这好像就是说... 一种纪传体史书写法？（这并不是史书！） 还讲到了荷马一般写英雄人物都是心里怎么想就怎么做，而反派固定写法是说一套做一套，而odyssey里的主句，奥德修斯一家三口，都说谎骗人，（这个版本形容词是nimble-witted和resourceful，我印象里之前那版甚至写了cunning？）是一种主人公为了match up with the villains，不得不跟他们一样行事，我：but that feels even sadder 还有讲到给弓上弦宛如minstrel给lyre上弦，这个比喻是重要的，因为bow and lyre are both symbols of apollo, 也因如此在整个scene结尾athena才进来，因为之前是apollo metaphor 行吧。 还有讲到如何拉近神和人的距离，me likey 总得来说就是intro不错，也许我该去读文本分析（我不想读东西！就是因为不想用眼睛才听的吗不是） 哎其实是想搞iliad的但是好像还没排得上reserve...
It is the world of the near future, and Offred is a Handmaid in the …
I've seen better dystopia on ao3, really. There isn't enough discussion on more aspects of that soceity. The ideas are what I have already seen. I don't feel very emotional about the events or situation told. At this age, it doesn't even feel so far away from reality, which probably is why it lacks the impact, or the feeling of a high stake. This is just what we not-developed countries may be facing if you were born with below-average luck.
The most fun thing probably is the last chapter, when the historians look at the main story as historical materials. It reminds me of how I am viewing historical events, and probably I should be more empathetic towards them.
The Glass Menagerie was Tennesse Williams's first dramatic success. Though he went on to write …
This is an BBC radio drama version of it. Well it's a play ... radio drama is almost as good as staged version. I had liked the local theatre production of it. This radio drama version is also good. I like a version where Laura is not sooooo obviously sick and incapable, and where Amanda the mother is not so dramatique and desperate, and Tom is not soooo ... outward angry, even though he is. I like everyone in this version. And it has just the right taste of melancholy and of distant but haunting memory.
And I f-ing love the dialogues and the pace of the play, where to tell me what, the actions and words said and the symbolism and feelings at each moment, it is delibrate but not clumsy or forced. And thematically it hits my soft spots too, so what's not to love. The only bad …
This is an BBC radio drama version of it. Well it's a play ... radio drama is almost as good as staged version. I had liked the local theatre production of it. This radio drama version is also good. I like a version where Laura is not sooooo obviously sick and incapable, and where Amanda the mother is not so dramatique and desperate, and Tom is not soooo ... outward angry, even though he is. I like everyone in this version. And it has just the right taste of melancholy and of distant but haunting memory.
And I f-ing love the dialogues and the pace of the play, where to tell me what, the actions and words said and the symbolism and feelings at each moment, it is delibrate but not clumsy or forced. And thematically it hits my soft spots too, so what's not to love. The only bad thing is my timing, because I obviously picked a really terrible day at work to listen to this during commute. haha just my luck.
Audiobook. Comparatively short, and comparatively, not as fun/quietly deep as Maurice or Nation (well but Maurice and Nation are what he thought as his best so). It's quite typical in how the story develops, what types of roles there are, and it is quite typical thematically - at having choices, at uncertain future. It is comforting at the time when I listened to it, when I was fearing making decisions and really wanted to have decisions made for me and have future planned out for me. It helps me remember having choices and being able to make my own decisions is good too.
In her most exuberant, most fanciful novel, Woolf has created a character liberated from the …
Listened to audiobook. This is actually very short ... and I wasn't very focused when listening to it, and ... yeah I realised when I was listening that time jumped a lot from the beginning to the end, and the book description seems to agree too. There are some beautiful imagery and perhaps symbolism in there, and social commentaries too. idk, maybe I should do it again and actually read it to spend more time on the content.
In her most exuberant, most fanciful novel, Woolf has created a character liberated from the restraints of time and sex. …
Myth can be a kind of human algebra which makes it easier to manipulate truths about ourselves. Symbols and rituals are not toys and games to be dispensed with on our arrival at adulthood, they are tools we will always need. They complement our scientific impulse, they do not stand in opposition to it.
As with the interpretation of myths, double determination – the attribution of inner and outer influence – is as much a matter of preference as anything else. Some love to see the gods appear, interfere and direct, others are happier following humans doing their thing with the minimum of divine intervention.
— Heroes: Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures by Stephen Fry (76%)
This is from the afterword ...
It is fun mainly because my brain played the classic image of Hannibal when I heard the part of god whispering in our ears telling us to do things XD no but the afterword is actually rather sensible. It very well explains why I am hooked to things like Hannibal. It is a fun way to explore the ways to interpret facts. It is just as fun that after Heroes, I opened the Science of Discworld, and it went directly into 'interpretation of facts' too hhhhh the coincidence, the consistency, the fate and luck (doing some human-centric interpretation now are we)
This is REALLY LONG (. well no it just takes me a longer period to finish listening, and I couldn't focus on it, and I did a LOT of reflection on myself as to why I couldn't focus on it, aka why I didn't like it very much despite I thought I would.
I thought I would because satire and observation of dyfunctional society is my thing. But no, that is not entirely true; I like pterry's kind of satire and observation because it is true AND there is kindness in the characters' actions to such things. I don't like satire where you stand by and observe and judge and ... not be involved in some way. It just feels a bit cold to me.
In this case, author showed great compassion to Amelia, and to some extent, William Dobbin, which is fair and understandable and the plotline I like …
This is REALLY LONG (. well no it just takes me a longer period to finish listening, and I couldn't focus on it, and I did a LOT of reflection on myself as to why I couldn't focus on it, aka why I didn't like it very much despite I thought I would.
I thought I would because satire and observation of dyfunctional society is my thing. But no, that is not entirely true; I like pterry's kind of satire and observation because it is true AND there is kindness in the characters' actions to such things. I don't like satire where you stand by and observe and judge and ... not be involved in some way. It just feels a bit cold to me.
In this case, author showed great compassion to Amelia, and to some extent, William Dobbin, which is fair and understandable and the plotline I like the most. For Rebecca and Rawden Crawley, there might be some compassion towards Rawden, I don't get enough for Rebecca. Personally, I know Rebecca didn't do good; but I actually don't blame her much. It was to a large degree the society's fault, that she got into the pattern she repeated. It is also sad that when the nobles reject her, they were like the daughter of a dancer and a painter can't be good. But she started it to not be limited as a daughter of a dancer and a painter. She had to charm; she felt the push to beg, steal, borrow or barter, that's something Amelia didn't have to push for.
I do like William leaving after all these years tho! and the coming back! awwww
It is all the society's fault, that's it. (?) No one is a hero, might just be because every one suffers and causes each other pain so everyone only manages to stay afloat (?)
Also, because there are a lot of people in this and they go all around without .. a narrative, I got lost rather easily. It is like how I am with a documentary or history book; although this is how real life is, I couldn't grasp facts very well without a narrative. This is just consistent with me being unable to read history or general nonfiction... I am rather bad at following things without a purpose I can hold on to.
Snuff is the 39th novel in the Discworld series, written by Terry Pratchett. It was …
I wonder what Pterry would write on 'the one size fits all' topic, if he lived longer. I have a feeling that the darkness thing might have been settled, he might need to move on to something else for the Vimes series.
Uh but uh! Like everyone else is saying Vimes you are a good man you shouldn't be putting too much thoughts on torturing yourself on doing things proper, but Vetinari is the only one who greets Vimes with how many laws have you broken this time, you rogue.... I don't know what to say, I could say that Vetinari is the only person who sees what Vimes thinks of himself/sees Vimes as the beast he could be, I could also say Vetinari is using this to make Vimes watch over Vimes himself, and make Vimes watch over Vetinari, because otherwise, there is no control over the dictatoring power …
I wonder what Pterry would write on 'the one size fits all' topic, if he lived longer. I have a feeling that the darkness thing might have been settled, he might need to move on to something else for the Vimes series.
Uh but uh! Like everyone else is saying Vimes you are a good man you shouldn't be putting too much thoughts on torturing yourself on doing things proper, but Vetinari is the only one who greets Vimes with how many laws have you broken this time, you rogue.... I don't know what to say, I could say that Vetinari is the only person who sees what Vimes thinks of himself/sees Vimes as the beast he could be, I could also say Vetinari is using this to make Vimes watch over Vimes himself, and make Vimes watch over Vetinari, because otherwise, there is no control over the dictatoring power Vimes and Vetinari have, in this structure, and Vetinari really wants to change this dictatorship into something more ... stable, in the long run, but he needs to start with using the dictatorship to do what he wants but he needs to keep what he wants right and he needs Vimes for that? uhhhhhh
Snuff is the 39th novel in the Discworld series, written by Terry Pratchett. It was …
Yes, you could tell the eyes of a murderer, at least after they had done more than three or so and got away with it. Their eyes held the expression some gods probably had. But a killer in the process of trying to kill was always absorbed, constantly calculating, drawing upon some hideous strength. If you cut their leg off they wouldn’t notice until they fell over.
— Snuff by Terry Pratchett (78%)
Also Vimes: I know the eyes of a murderer, Mister Stratford, oh I surely do, because I’ve looked into eyes like that many times. And if I need reminding, I look into my shaving mirror.
Also Vimes: He had slept the sleep of the dead except for the bit where bits fall off and you crumble into dust, and all he could recall was cool blackness and, rising now to the surface, a certainty, as if a message had been left in the blackness to await the return of thought. He is after you, Blackboard Monitor Vimes. You know this because you recognize what was in his eyes. You know that type. They want to die from the day they are born, but something twists and so they kill instead. He will find you, and so will I. I hope the three of us meet in darkness.
( what is …
Also Vimes: I know the eyes of a murderer, Mister Stratford, oh I surely do, because I’ve looked into eyes like that many times. And if I need reminding, I look into my shaving mirror.
Also Vimes: He had slept the sleep of the dead except for the bit where bits fall off and you crumble into dust, and all he could recall was cool blackness and, rising now to the surface, a certainty, as if a message had been left in the blackness to await the return of thought. He is after you, Blackboard Monitor Vimes. You know this because you recognize what was in his eyes. You know that type. They want to die from the day they are born, but something twists and so they kill instead. He will find you, and so will I. I hope the three of us meet in darkness.
( what is this, the pitiful things that sometimes are born in the hospital??)
Also Vimes: law is order and order is law and it must be the highest thing. The world runs on it, the heavens run on it and without order, lad, one second cannot follow another. Meanwhile, Vimes's colleague: when I found a big awful terrible mess I kenned that was something to do with you, commander.
Vimes, do you like order so much because you are such a mess??? Is this why you said you were not the law?
Snuff is the 39th novel in the Discworld series, written by Terry Pratchett. It was …
Vimes, in the privacy of his own head, tried out the statement, ‘Well, since you ask, I have a deadly demon sharing my mind, which seems to be helping me for reasons of its own. It lets me see in this gloom and somehow allows me and goblins to communicate. It’s called the Summoning Dark. I don’t know what its interest in goblins is but the dwarfs think it brings down wrath on the unrighteous. If there has been a murder I’ll use any help I can get.’ He did not in fact articulate this, on the basis that most people would have left very quickly by the time he had finished, so he settled for saying, ‘I have the support of a higher power, chief constable. Now, let’s check out this place.’ This didn’t satisfy Feeney, but he appeared to understand that it was all he was going to get.
— Snuff by Terry Pratchett (39%)
and Vimes can now just consult the Summoning Dark for crimes. How come even Vimes has progressed to supernatural crime solving, skipping the good old deduction to go directly at the wrath unto the unrighteous, mon dieu
Snuff is the 39th novel in the Discworld series, written by Terry Pratchett. It was …
‘You see, sir,’ said Willikins, ‘being definite is what gave them all this money and land. Sometimes lost it for them as well, of course. One of Lady Sybil’s great-uncles once lost a villa and two thousand acres of prime farmland by being definite in believing that a cloakroom ticket could beat three aces. He was killed in the duel that followed, but at least he was definitely dead.’
[...]
'He never worried about who he was. He was a decent old boy, her father – and her granddad, too. Certain, you see, never worried.’
They walked along an avenue of chestnut trees for a while and then Vimes said, morosely, ‘Are you saying that I don’t know who I am?’
[...]
'As for your question,’ he went on, ‘I think Sam Vimes is at his best when he’s confident that he’s Sam Vimes.’
— Snuff by Terry Pratchett (10%)
