Olga > Recent Status Updates

So far, the re-evaluation doesn’t make them look more pleasant, rather more scary.

Erudite and beautifully written, by so condescending at times 🙄

Gosh, this is such a slog. Interesting facts, but oh so boring

It’s like reading a cross between a New Wave movie and a Henry Miller book. Unfortunately, it gets more tedious and pretentious with every page

This book is crashing my illusions of Japan as the-most-amazing-country-where-i-would-love-to-live-so-much, and it’s such a relief

I’m so in love with this book

Just how Russian propaganda works re Donbas/Ukraine.
“One group of subjects was reminded of the ingroup’s past experiences of being victimized: these subjects were less willing to accept responsibility of the ingroup for an ongoing conflict; instead, they considered its current misdeeds to be responses to the aggression of the outgroup and refused to experience collective guilt.”

“A high rate of ingroup agency (compared to outgroup agency) in negative events reflects acceptance of responsibility for past failures, whereas only assigning agency to outgroups in such events indicates defensive identity and a poor elaboration of historical traumas.”

This book feeds on suffering of its bored readers

This is such a drag. Why does he write so much about football? I keep skimming through those parts.

Greek-Persian wars - this part reads like a good thriller!

I’m getting Fleabag vibes here

So, what’s the deal with full stops here? No periods. There are no periods in the book about women. Was it an intended pun or something else?

Just started it and am finding the style and humour so annoying - avoidantly annoying

Ok, I’m officially DNFing this one, as a travel book should not be a torture to read at a speed of 8 pages a day.

Reading about Gerald’s brother Lawrence (a friend of Henry Miller’s) is much more interesting than about bugs and such. I’m now curious to read Lawrence’s memoir set on Corfu during the same family trip.

This might be a good book of reportage and interviews, but it is bad travel writing. The book is boring as hell, so far, and, with so many references to unknown to me historical events, I don’t get a clear picture of Poland at all. Sigh. I think I’m going to give up on it.

This book would have greatly benefited from coloured illustrations. Everything is black and white, while there are so many comments on colour.

Ok that just reminded me of The Matrix

Arthur and The Academics - a perfect essay to read before plunging into anything related to King Arthur. A summary of attitudes towards the legend among the academics.

Much more friendly to a lay reader like myself. The first essay - How Myths Are Made - is a must, it shows brilliantly how (especially national) myths come into being.

Dnf-ing, as way too boring, although the idea is great.

B.K. is such a bore. It’s the least exciting book about food that I’ve ever read, so far.

Time for a cozy YA fantasy.
The world building and descriptions are cute, Harry-pottery, and early-teen, which somehow clashes with the presented themes of dark sorcery, murder and 16yo romantic angst.
So far, simple and entertaining. Just what I need when the real world has been too much lately.

I’m already enjoying it - because it has an extensive Further Reading list in the back!

1895… Mediterranean sea… The author is being pursued by a “Moorish” felucca. I’m just loving his yankee response! :D
“…I made mental calculations that the pirate would by this time… be close aboard, and that when I saw him it would be better for me to be looking at him along the barrel of a gun.”

After reading Hutton with his objectivity and Imagined Communities, this book seems just weird and way too speculative. Seems like a presentation of the author’s view rather than a survey of facts and conclusions already made in the field. So far, not many references or supporting materials. I had very high expectations for this one.

Such extraordinary description of English village life, dark and sunny at the same time. Reminded me of Levi’s Christ Stopped at Eboli and The Burning Man movie rolled into one.

Stopping before the Medieval times/arrival of Islam, as am now concerned with the world history until the 10-12th century. So far, a great selection and commentary, more academic than the Hindu Tradition, but still highly readable.

It’s amazing how memorable the characters are, and it’s all action. All those modern YA stories have those emotional relationships and story lines, but no one stays in the memory like that. I want to know his trick!