Status Updates From Ondine

started this months ago, lost interest, ran out of reading material, picked it back up, finally seems to be gaining a bit of steam

Hmmm. Jury still out. Never read this famous author before. Too much abusive sexual interaction being framed as passionate. Then again this book was written in 1997. All our sensibilities were different then

" 'Nothing so bleak as native ale. The vintage of Aquitaine. I think! Rich and fruity wine, red like love's sweet passion!' 'Is passion red, then?' 'Very red . . . think of it, milady . . .'

'Why is it--more vulnerable as you pretend--you have not?' 'I am not the earl, and though charming---I do mind my manners!---it seems that women, alas, do fall prey to his very aloofness. Ah . . . that which cannot be obtained!'

"'No man can be owned. To think so is folly....I dare say. A wife, you see, swears a vow of loyalty...but a servant who fulfils his duty owes no more...but a wife should not tire of her...duty, should she?...For what one may call duty, one who has spirit would call pleasure, wouldn't you say?'

'They say that once such beasts roamed our forests, protecting Saxons from Normans---and Royalists from Cromwell's wrath.'"

Cause for introspection, self-awareness.

"What is the matter with you? Can you truly enjoy this boy's plight? If so, I pray that you find one day that you are in dire need of the two shillings you paid for your seats, and that you find you are tempted to fish a stream that belongs to some gentry, just to feed your empty bellies. Suffer with this boy! Else you could well find that his suffering could be your own--"