nacholas > Recent Status Updates

decided to bring this out as Histories was way too big; The Empty House really sets the tone and now i get why blackwood served as one of the inspirations for lovecraft. words chosen to describe scenes or horror, incredible power when i can see it, when i read this on the train. can't wait to read the remaining 5 when i do get them.

translation facts and intro was 25 pages; pretty insightful for a person who has almost zero background... tbf, it's also of one from 5th century bc. i got this book since 2018 before my reading glow-up, i remember reading not even breaking 100 pages and it was left dormant since. but hey, im glad to be returning to this, during the reading glow up. i may be in the ancient history waters for awhile

first time reading of this kind and it was definitely unique; the translation works well, with the addition of notes to interpret further, loved how after centuries have passed, how similar humans are to humans from BC and how nuanced this felt. pretty introspective of Horace's self too

what a chapter, chapter 33 was omg; similarly to the previous entry, i love the flow and progression of character motifs. how it reveals itself too is so, genuine? albeit it's a simple story that has a chunk of "journal" entries, but it's entertaining to read.

is it really a surprise i immediately found the writing so comforting and welcoming? i love her prose that borders on simplistic language (written in 1848) yet uses pretty complex terms when only needed. characters are introduced like butter and so is the flow.

not really much to add on since then but it's interesting learn of how variation, species, genes and the whole bunch of science words make sense given the context of the writing, which i gotta write, it's pretty 'straightforward' as the comparisons to plants and animals are easily understood

while i see myself giving this a 3 towards the conclusion, its like good as it takes excerpts from other authors and deconstructs them in an insightful manner, but through that sadly, it makes for it a strenuous read as its densed in a way that begs for a pause after 20 pages. still, very insightful despite the tiresome nature

read the 1/3 of the intro, really insightful as to the reverence of scientists towards darwin. need this to "counter balance" wollstonecraft's prowess. hope this isn't worst in terms of descriptions lmfao

she throws a lot of examples in the first chapter alone, but as you get her stride and writing style, you get to understand it better. love how she ties a lot of 'civilisation' starting stuff into it, examine it closely to see how men who are rotten gets to be there or how the gangrene spreads. intrigued to be reading this as the days pass

gonna pause on this for a bit, similar to what i did with War and Peace, i'll pick it back up after several months. not because it's boring or what, but rather i miss my normal momentum and this takes a great patience to make it through 15 pages in 2 hours bc of the language and abundance of notes, of which i love but... as i said, i'll finish it in several months time.

i am in love with the writing so far, the way characters are introduced or places allowed to be expanded through descriptions; the jousting scene was top tier combat descriptions. Notes have also been in abundance and of great help to understand terms or quotes or etc with a nuanced perspective

my ass is so unprepared for the amount of referring to the dictionary and then the Notes embedded within. this is gonna take awhile to finish, but, i remain steadfast this is actually gonna be fun. granted, i lock in all the times of reading, as i have a habit to doze off and snooze for 10 minutes, then continue the other half.

introduction was going in circles about Ivanhoe being a romance and also a history; but also was insightful in preparing me for this read + loved the history of Scott as a person and his involvement in terms of publishing and printing. i would've soldiered on but 40 pages after, my mind is exhausted. nonetheless, i am excited!

amidst how horrible this was in terms of the vividness of the chaos and just people dying, the writing can get a little repetitive at times. but still, it's interesting to see parallels of this and covid and how much we have not changed, however advanced our medical stuff got.

again, technically 30 but the introduction doesn't "count". i do love that it prepares the readers to constantly flip back and fourth to the appendixes (it has like 4) to be locked into the story while acknowledging its non linear structure. this is gonna be funnnn

some are hits, some are misses; still, intriguing to read how he tries to come up with pretty ngarly stuff, Hell Screen is by far like the best of the ones i've read. we push on as id normally be finished by now but real life has been a pain and i've also been sick, but finally, im back

with intro, ard 30 i think, but murakami's intro felt so stretched out and while good, feels like empty calorie. the first story was interesting, Rashōmon. calling it a day however, mentally exhausted but quite hyped for the following stories!

tapping out; sorry virginia :/

hmm... while i'm not the 'biggest' fan of the flow, i still can't get over how vivid woolf's descriptions are, how the dialogue flows or this being the literal "flow of consciousness" if it was a book. i'll chug on because while it just seems like a simple story, woolf has shit she wanna spill and i'm just here for the tea

introduction was 30 pages, very insightful and makes me excited to read the texts itself!

the further it goes, the more untrustworthy almost everyone seemed; ultimate gaslighter, one of them were! i love how subtle the texts are too, seemingly like a precursor to 1984 but just with way more width and of a totally different, albeit more realistic manner when it deals with a group. i'm so excited to read on

just realised i haven't done an update since last week; again, really good progress, great chunky dialogues that humanises every pov. just past the chapter that may set off a chain reaction... but i am so glad to be enjoying it so far. i just love how smooth the pace is as well

sorry sir, imma dnf you because good lord was this kinda meandering, kinda incomprehensible because of the methods of description, kinda also confusing bc why is the person introduced, only to not be used further in the story? sorry king but the editor is right, you're good in parts but it's a slog to read

reading the interaction so far, kinda inviting into the 19th century world even tho it's a little hard to grasp. hope this will make the trip fun during the downtime as the book is relatively short (220 pages). quite hype to read something like this

shit sucks because i have to leave this at home from tomorrow till wednesday 😭 i am having such a wonderful time reading it so far and while it still is laying a lot of ground for characters to have an eventual twist, im so here for it. the characters are so alive in this.

technically 37, when including the intro, but i digress. it's really immersive so far, with how it feels like a brush stroke, but be warned that the notes, while of vital importance, are at lengths. do prepare your mental fortitude. as always, will only update once a week as im doing them mostly on the reading journal these days :)

extremely in-depth, well-written introduction. i'll be back when i finish it or have some other stuff of note... kinda just sad on the vincent van gogh thing :/

sad to say, i have to dnf this. gave this a 2 week, daily chapter run and it was so dull and wordy. maybe in the future? sorry melville.

midway through; interesting to read of how his mind works, what's he's been put through, the back and forth of the family dynamics, the dangers of being so isolated and filled with all kinds of thought that it kinda distracts you.

i'll report back in a week :p

i still do not understand why, other than the one chapter about the type of whales exists, do people consider this a good read. like it's a slog to read, even on a chapter a day basis. whatever, we keep on pushing.