LH > Recent Status Updates

You know what? Yes, I'm reading this book. It's a flawed rebound book for me, alright? I'm still not over 'Notre-Dame', I DNFd 'The Magic Mountain' today, so maybe, just maybe, what I need is a wacky book where characters will suddenly blurt out philosophical monocultures on free will as if this were normal in day-to-day conversations. Maybe what I need is a book that's simple. How you doing?

Yeah this isn't great. It's like a very bland full course meal. Or a German stand-up comedy set. You can appreciate the effort, but ultimately it's just not fun for you.
Joking aside, I should've been hooked by now, I'd assume. But nothing really is making me cling to this book. Hans isn't interesting. The whole Frau Chauchat development is very lukewarm. I don't know, man, I'm not feeling this book at allllllllll

Never has a book made it so hard for me to acclimatize myself with its mechanisms. I'm trusting Thomas Mann is going somewhere with this pace, or lack thereof, but my hope is slowly dissipating. Nothing yet had grabbed me, nor anything is urging me to stay. I'm living on a prayer that these bland characters will pick up some flavor in a few chapters, like when you learn to season your meals from watching your mom.

Um...
Adapting to this book's dry humor and morbid tone has been quite a challenge for me. I'm still not over my last book, Notre-Dame, and the initial phase with The Magic Mountain is uncomfortable. I'm not really invested yet, I didn't understand the rhythm of this book, nor what to do with the information I'm being given. I don't yet care about Hans, I even sort of think he's a douche. I like Joachim, though.

I'm reading this one with my mom! And besides the occasional spoiler she inadvertently lets out and the extremely tiny font on this edition (seriously, I kid you not, I had to buy a magnifying glass) this is proving to be a very interesting read.

Sobs aggressively

I hate John Sturrock for spoiling this book for me! I am the maddest I've ever been.
Gosh what an incredible, behemoth, fundamental book this is. I love, I absolutely love Victor Hugo.

Roi Louis XI. That whole chapter was fascinating. How on Earth was Victor Hugo able to imagine and recreate a dialogue between a King and his greedy, selfish, disgusting close confidants? That was honestly perfect. Honestly one of my favorite chapters of the book. God, I love this book so much.

le Prudent, King Louis XI, complains about just bills he has to pay, but spends almost triple on a cage for the Bishop of Verdun.
Oh yeah, lots have happened since my last update here. A war scene between one beautiful beast and a thousand truants included. But, we don't need to try to explain how amazing those pages were, only VH can do it right.

He did it, he saved her, and he was beautiful.

Most of my reading updates contains spoilers, so if anyone is reading this, which I don't think is the case, beware:


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La Esmeralda's lament and her plea for love made me very sad. About Phoebus's passing... Eh. I was THRILLED during those paragraphs, but I can't say I will miss the manipulative SOB.

Jehan Frollo is the pits!

Rich French girls bully La Esmeralda. She is in love with Phoebus. The Archdeacon isn't as nice as I thought he was. I reread Besos Para Golpes and could now identify that he is the one who calls Quasi and asks him to capture her. He also curses her on the square, along with Sachette.
Gringoire is great, by the way. He's just vibing along with Djali and his wife, whom he doesn't touch.

I never cry reading books, today I did well up during Quasi's flogging and his screaming "A drink!" three times before La Esmeralda went up to help him. Even Claude Frollo leaves him in despair. It's a beautiful book nonetheless. And it's a beautiful sadness you feel while reading it.

TU, ORA. Trou-aux-rats.
Cervantes paved the way for stories within stories, and Victor Hugo is doing a great job with the story of Paquette and her daughter.

Book Six, Chapter One.
I felt the saddest reading this book in this chapter. Quasimodo replying deferentially to the questions he did not understand made me frown and well up. Jehan Frollo, I don't even know what to say here. Does he not know Q. is his brother? Does he know and tries to hide it from the public? How was Q. captured? It felt strange to learn that Q. can form accurate sentences and I tried to imagine hi

"This Will Kill That" was amazing! What an incredible chapter, so interesting to understand V.H.'s perspective on Architecture vs Written Word. Gosh, that was a trip through time. I thought I wasn't going to like this chapter, but boy, was I wrong. I'd dare say it's one of my favorites so far.

Book Four was my favorite so far. In it we discover Quasimodo's background, Jehan Frollo's (that annoying brat from the beginning), and Claude Frollo's. I felt the Gothic vibe more intensely in these 6 chapters; and C.F.'s austerity and rigor was fascinating. It's so bittersweet to read about Q's relationship with the bells; how he loves them and feels they're all he has, except for C.
He's portrayed as animal like>

I'm dizzy from the turbulence this book puts me through. Book Three was a thorough disconnection and I, as a reader, depersonalized from my investment in it. But it so had me back at the start of the chapter 'Kind Souls'. I'm amazed at how V.H. is able to do that. He is a master. I assume these seemingly alien chapters are odd to everybody else. There's no way you can keep track of all the names, it spins your head a

I could just as well not read A bird's eye view of Paris, because this chapter feels like a joke on the expense of the reader. But I'll not skip it. I'll read through and complain it. Tyvm, I'm sorry if you don't like to hear me whine, but that's just what I'll do. These last two chapters could've not been; I'd be a happier man had they not been. I'm sure they're infamous. I don't want to look it up because I've had

And we're back to wanting to pull my hair out! Why do you have dozens of descriptive pages on Paris and the Church? I get it he wanted to make them characters of the story, but guess what, add them to your plot instead of interrupting the flow of it just when it had gotten good with La Esmeralda and Gringoire. Now there are 20 or so more pages of this nonsense, there's a boring historian talking my ear off... gosh!

Not quite ten pages. Anyhow, I'm liking this book so much, it's so engaging and gripping. La Esmeralda is so mysterious and beautiful, and she carries a green glass in a sachet; this imperfection of the 'gem' makes me like her even more. She pouts on the regular, btw, and I love that. Gringoire is great, too, but his mentor is not a good guy as far as I can tell. Oh btw I never watched the Disney movie, so all is new

What a beautiful wedding! What a beautiful wedding says the Duke of Egypt to the King of Galilee. Yes, but what a shame, what a shame, the poor Groom is a poet!

I'm enjoying the way this story is unfolding! I still have my gripes about how the author will lose focus sometimes, and two or three paragraphs will go by which tell you nothing, until you are brought back to the thing that actually matters. I never thought I'd say this but these parts make me wish for an abridged version. Regardless, the plot shall advance and we shall see what happens to Quasi and Esmeralda.

Okay you guys, hear me out... This book is good

Look, I'm trying something new here. French literature is usually out of my comfort zone; I don't know why, but this has always been the case. My mom says this is a great book and she was the one who recommended Don Quixote to me, so I'm trusting her. This book opens with all of the things I don't like about French literature, but I promised to give Notre-Dame de Paris 130 pages, so that's what I'm going to do.

Not my favorite from the Moomintroll series — I'm having a hard time progressing through this book.

It's a sunny Saturday morning and I spent a few minutes reading this book. It's certainly a classic, though I wish I could've read it in my childhood. The coziest of illustrations, the happiest of friendships and the vainest of Toads, all can be found in this beautiful story. Bath's Classics is perfection.

It's here, it's the final chapter.