Lili

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Lili is Currently Reading

Lili is currently reading

Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)

by Leigh Bardugo (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: on-my-nook, currently-reading

Reading for the 3rd time

read in April 2023

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Lili said: " I could have gone in a number of different directions to soothe my Babel book hangover, but I chose the “hair of the dog” approach and immediately dove into the copy of Ninth House that had been hiding in one of my ebook libraries. And now I’m suffer I could have gone in a number of different directions to soothe my Babel book hangover, but I chose the “hair of the dog” approach and immediately dove into the copy of Ninth House that had been hiding in one of my ebook libraries. And now I’m suffering a book hangover from Ninth House! Fortunately, the sequel is already out and next Saturday is Independent Bookstore Day.

From the very first page, Ninth House was jarring to read. Something bad had happened, but the reader isn’t certain what. The only things that the reader knows are that a female character named Alex is holed up at a place called The Hutch with some really disturbing wounds. And that we’re in New Haven, Connecticut on or near the Yale University campus. The story then moves back and forth between Alex’s life in California before Yale and Alex’s life in Lethe at Yale, creating more questions than answers. How did Alex get to Yale? Where is Darlington? Who is responsible for the blood bath back in California? Who killed Tara Hutchins? Answering the last question propels the plot forward until, about 80-percent through, the book catches up with its first scene.

For the most part, the book is a dark lark as Alex bumps around Yale trying to figure out the Tara Hutchins murder, making potential new enemies at each turn. As she moves closer to the answer, more is revealed about her past and more is revealed about the missing Darlington. The narrative hardly ever pauses to reflect upon itself; it’s just constant forward motion, which creates a lot of sequel bait.

Privilege is the central issue of this novel: who has what privileges? what is the source of their privileges? how do they use their privilege? And it’s not surprising that privilege equates to power: privilege corrupts, and absolute privilege corrupts absolutely.

While Ninth House will not unseat Six of Crows as my favorite novel by this author, I did enjoy it quite thoroughly. The banter between Darlington and Alex was the highlight of the novel for me. However, the pacing felt uneven. Most of the time, it was going too fast, without enough space for the reader to reflect as secrets were revealed.

Of course, despite my minor complaints with this novel, I will definitely be picking up the sequel on Independent Bookstore Day this coming weekend. ...more "

progress:

(42%)
— Feb 05, 2026 07:03AM

Apr 24, 2023 06:04PM · see review

Lili is currently reading

Wuthering Heights

by Emily Brontë

bookshelves: on-my-nook, pw-book-club, currently-reading, audio-from-the-library, ct-smutty-book-club

Reading for the 3rd time

read in December 2022

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Lili said:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

" At the October 2022 meeting of our work book club, the three of us who attended decided that it would be a great idea for our November 2022 book to be a classic work of literature that we were mandated to read in high school but that we wanted to rev At the October 2022 meeting of our work book club, the three of us who attended decided that it would be a great idea for our November 2022 book to be a classic work of literature that we were mandated to read in high school but that we wanted to revisit from an adult perspective. I chose to reread Wuthering Heights. Reading angsty contemporary romance and erotic fantasy romance had helped me get through 2022, so I thought it only fitting that I revisit the original brooding prickly hero.

To the best of my recollection, my only reading of Wuthering Heights was in sophomore high school English class. I don’t recall whether it was actually assigned or whether I read it on my own as I tore through the entire Jane Austen canon, plus Jane Eyre and similar classics. However I happened to read Wuthering Heights that many years ago, I didn’t recall many specifics other than that it was a love story between Heathcliff and Catherine that included lots of longing and walks in the English moors. Suffice it to say, my recollection was not at all accurate. Wuthering Heights read much less like a Jane Austen comedy of manners, and much more like Ethan Frome, the Edith Wharton tragic classic that I also read in sophomore high school English class.

Wuthering Heights begins in 1801 when the tenant of Thrushcross Grange calls upon the household at Wuthering Heights to pay his respects to his landlord, who is Heathcliff. At Wuthering Heights, the tenant discovers a household at odds with itself; basically, everyone - Heathcliff, Hareton Earnshaw, Catherine Linton Heathcliff - hates each other yet they are forced by circumstances to reside under the same roof. Intrigued by the situation, the tenant asks the maid at Thrushcross Grange - Ellen “Nelly” Dean - to explain those circumstances. So Nelly narrates the multigenerational tale, which begins with the idyllic Earnshaw family prior to the adoption of the child Heathcliff and ends with the death of Heathcliff’s son not long after his forced marriage to Catherine Linton. Nelly’s narration is occasionally punctuated by the questions and activities of the tenant, but still constitutes the bulk of the novel. After the tenant is brought up to date, he finishes out his term at Thrushcross Grange and then revisits Wuthering Heights to find the same acrimony among its residents. By happenstance, the tenant finds himself in the area roughly a year later (1802) and decides to call on Nelly again, who has been relocated from Thrushcross Grange to Wuthering Heights. Being the storyteller that she is, Nelly fills him in on the happenings of the past year, which includes a precarious alliance between Hareton and Catherine and, ultimately, the death of Heathcliff. The removal of Heathcliff from the household allows young love to blossom and ends the novel on the high note of joyful upcoming nuptials.

Through the lens of Nelly Dean, Heathcliff is a mean, scheming, and vindictive antihero of a man. When his childhood sweetheart chooses to marry another man - Edgar Linton - and then dies shortly after childbirth, Heathcliff holds in his heart the destruction of all that is beloved by that man. There is nothing but cruelty and hatred to him. Heathcliff seduces the younger sister and holds her captive at Wuthering Heights. When the sister meets an untimely death in London, Heathcliff claims his son for Wuthering Heights rather than allow him to be raised at Thrushcross Grange with his uncle Edgar and Edgar’s only daughter Catherine. Heathcliff contrives for his son to become the beloved of his cousin and then forces the marriage during Edgar’s death watch. Once Edgar has died, Heathcliff hastens the death of his own son through his heartlessness.

Despite drawing out my rereading over a month, I am glad to have reread this novel, if only because it corrected my notion of Heathcliff in literary canon. Whereas Fitzwilliam Darcy was an ass because he was weary of society approved matches, he did have the capacity to be good and to repent once Elizabeth Bennett proved herself to be more than mere fluff. However, personally, I didn’t feel that Heathcliff was presented with any redeeming qualities. Even his tenacious love for his childhood sweetheart seemed tinged with madness and ill intentions. Any retelling from Heathcliff’s perspective or other contemporary adaptation would have to be a psychological thriller or other literary fiction rather than a romance. Knowing what I now know about the original character, I would be very (very) leery of reading a romance styled after Wuthering Heights. ...more "

Dec 28, 2022 04:35PM · see review

Lili is currently reading

Tourist Season (The Seasons of Carnage Trilogy, #1)

by Brynne Weaver (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading, ct-smutty-book-club

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progress:

(page 138 of 368)
— Nov 20, 2025 02:52PM

Oct 21, 2025 06:25PM

See all 8 books that Lili is reading…

Lili’s Quotes

“...we may indeed assume, with a high degree of probability, that Jane Austen went commando.”
― Margaret C. Sullivan, The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World

4 likes

“My Oberon, what visions have I seen!
Methought I was enamored of an ass.”
― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

39 likes

“When she's abandoned her moral center and teachings...when she's cast aside her facade of propriety and lady-like demeanor...when I have so corrupted this fragile thing and brought out a writhing, mewling, bucking, wanton whore for my enjoyment and pleasure.....enticing from within this feral lioness...growling and scratching and biting...taking everything I dish out to her.....at that moment she is never more beautiful to me. ”
― Marquis de Sade

265 likes