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Jomanda

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Jomanda’s Bookshelves

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Jomanda is Currently Reading

Jomanda is currently reading

Daughters of Saturn: From Father's Daughter to Creative Woman

by Patricia Reis (Goodreads Author)

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(page 124 of 288)
— Feb 20, 2022 05:37PM

Feb 20, 2022 05:36PM

Jomanda is currently reading

Possession

by A.S. Byatt

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Jomanda said: " Many years ago back in high school, I found myself looking for a cable film to watch. At the time, I was heavily invested in costume dramas such as Onegin, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and films produced by Merchant-Ivory. But that night, I s Many years ago back in high school, I found myself looking for a cable film to watch. At the time, I was heavily invested in costume dramas such as Onegin, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and films produced by Merchant-Ivory. But that night, I somehow found Possession— the film version that is. The film starred Gwyneth Paltrow as Maud Bailey—icy blonde, willowy, and patrician (à la Carolyn Bessette Kennedy) and Aaron Eckhart as Roland Michell— likable, relaxed, and casual (though Americanised). At first, I'd assumed it would've been successful due to the leading actors' star power at the time... but not exactly. The film was a modest box office success, and it fit my tastes at the time. Who wouldn't turn away a 1hr 42m film that combines romance, drama, and mystery with pretty costumes and petticoats? I wouldn't. The chemistry between the four characters wasn't bad either.

Then all these years later, with the pandemic and with much more time inside, I decided to find the film again. I watched it, I enjoyed it. But I figured then, "Why not read the book? I'm sure it'll help pass the time." So I did. And I'm possessed.

As an aspiring writer and poet, I was at first intimidated by how dense the book was. 555 pages total! This is clearly not for light reading. But the power of A.S. Byatt's work is the detail, the way in which she fully fleshes out the characters, ones central to the story and those who aren't. She pokes fun at the rigor and pretentiousness of academia and the art world and brings forth the still long-standing issues between the sexes that I'm sure many can relate to. Lastly, what struck me was how powerfully intimate the book was. Dame Byatt masters the nebulous ways in which intimacy and love exist between people, places, and things; of spaces wanting to be closed, the restraint that we hold unto someone and the release that comes, how love can set us aflame yet burn us, and lastly, how intimate bonds can be seen and felt with the passing of time ... even centuries.

All in all, I'm enjoying this book, even though I'm on the eighth chapter. Highly recommend. 12/10 ...more "

progress:

(page 311 of 576)
— Jan 30, 2022 08:33PM

Dec 04, 2021 01:47PM · see review

Jomanda’s Quotes

“Imperfection inspires invention, imagination, creativity. It stimulates. The more I feel imperfect, the more I feel alive.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, In Other Words

tags: aliveness, creative, creativity, imagination, imperfect, imperfection, inspiration

56 likes

“Because in the end to learn a language, to feel connected to it, you have to have a dialogue, however childlike, however imperfect.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, In Other Words: A Memoir

23 likes

“He looks up at her, and behind her, at the sky, which holds more stars than he ever has seen at one time, crowded together, a mess of dust and gems.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

tags: beautiful-writing, literature

3 likes

“The more I feel imperfect, the more I feel alive.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, In Other Words

tags: alive, imperfection

57 likes

“[…] He sees the hair that grows on her legs between waxings, the black roots that emerge between appointments at the salon, and in these moments, these glimpses, he believes he has known no greater intimacy. He learns that she sleeps, always, with her left leg straight and her right leg bent, ankle over knee, in the shape of a 4. He learns that she is prone to snoring, ever so faintly, sounding like a lawn mower that will not start, and to gnashing her jaws, which he massages for her as she sleeps. At restaurants and bars, they sometimes slip Bengali phrases into their conversation in order to comment with impunity on another diner's unfortunate hair or shoes.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

2 likes

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