Ceecee > Recent Status Updates

I’ll be on Fable and StoryGraph from now on. As much as possible, I’d rather not support Amazon and the monopolization of Goodreads as the social media for book lovers. It’s time for a change.
Fable has cool graphics, interfaces, curated lists and many active book clubs.
Still setting up my StoryGraph (ceeceemayordomo)
Please add me on there.

https://fable.co/ceecee-439366285148

“…Thoreau and Arendt…both aim to mobilize protest as a way to protect against the tendency for democracies to be carried away by the tyranny of the majority as well as the apathy and corruption of the citizenry.”

“Around 989 AD, (Prince) Vladimir of Russia began to look for a major religion that could command the loyalty of his subjects. Once he chose the right religion, he could mandate conversion and ban the worship of other deities, making it difficult to challenge his government.”

Religion as a political tool to divide people and gatekeep power, classic.

“…The Russians posed as Christians because Abbasid law allowed peoples of the book, Christians Jews to pay lower taxes than other non-Muslims.” Interesting. You’d think Muslims back then only favored their own.

I've always loved how the Arabs invented algebra and that we use their numerals

"She'd pined for the world before with such intensity she'd shoot a child. Even entertained killing herself to keep the 'way it was' remaining 'as it is'. What power. Stronger than one's own reason and instinct, driving one to malformation of the mind, body and even the forfeiture of the colors of the soul. Less a desire for one's survival than that of which none could say they fully understood."

I think it's important to listen to the voice of the persecuted. There are important discussion points in this page.

"I pity these people," Charlie whispered.
Sailor spit out, "Fool, you are these people"

That's gotta be the most striking image of the "rapture"

"Words are magic, see? You say anything often enough and you believe it. Belief is the first step on the path of being."

"Her mother had always called her special. and no matter how often her mother made the claim, not even the successor with which special was uttered, she always heard "special" as "different '

I have a hard time understanding what's going on. Maybe im not as smart as i thought

I'm confused. If it's The Good Place season finale then this should be in 2020. No pandemic mentioned. And why isn't Audrey driving Toni to her chemo sessions? That's so sad

...Did the author just use the term "halal" incorrectly, and if so, was it intentional? I need answers

"Was there really a time when she thought retail stores had sales because it loves its customers? That it's impossible to be unhappy while golding balloons? Her past passions sound tinny when clinking against the jar of time. But they add up to a growing collection of desire and insight that might acquire significance if she trusts that they will."

"When you're alone, you are in the right place to watch sadness approach like storm clouds over an open field. You can sit in a chair and get ready for it. As it moves through you,you can reach out your hands and feel every edge. When it passes and you can drink coffee again you even miss it because it has been loyal to you."

"Mark: the sound of the neighbor's dog's bark, post surgery" lol dad joke

"They want you guilty of your own murder, of your own sacrifice!"

They were very much the same, each attempting to force their picture of reality upon me and neither giving a hoot in hell for how things looked to me

The sentiment that teenagers get when they want to stand by a principle but it doesn't really help much to change the situation is accurate. Everything is always magnified and dramatic when you're in puberty. You think being an online vigilante is significant

Hmm, clever. To think that "high art" was marred with racial and class prejudice, in 1400s as in 1800s. which is why we only see "fair maidens" in classical paintings even though major cities back then were as much of a melting pot as modern society's

how she describes a maple seed falling into a puddle of horse piss - both irreverent and beautiful at the same time. the joy does burst through. it was a rocky start but now i'm hooked.

When people say Nurse Ratched was "only doing her job" i wonder if "doing her job" includes power tripping and threatening shock treatment if McMurphy doesn't "own up" to his "sins (beating up aides who were themselves abusing their power)". Should we meekly submit to the status quo if it's hurting the vulnerable?

What a slog. I can't really explain it but the narrator is so uninteresting, and most of her passages read like what her reports to the Ministry would sound like, which is colder than tepid. She is afraid to let any personality shine through.

Slow start...I'm afraid it's hard to care. The language feels stunted

Man, that was wack. Gotta remember this was in 1914 or something.

There's only a notion of freedom, only a notion of caring, when the underlying motive of it all is control. There is a horror in having an emotion be dismissed nonchalantly

People who think Nurse Ratched was just misunderstood didn't read this scene

Decided to reread this book after seeing plenty of people trash on this book on Tiktok 🤭

Title drop!