nacholas > Recent Status Updates

one more chapter, gaaaaahdaaaahm; that written, this was such a trip through the ancient world; a lot of names that blasts past (1st half is better than the 2nd half), the translation remains effortless. will probably finish it this week as there's only 40ish pages left 🫪

page xxiii of introduction and i'm already so pulled into the world of augustine, of the 5th century ad. having just watched Ben Hur, also reading about Histories (written during 5th century BC) and then this, the overlap is pretty nice... but i can also already foresee this being a pretty dense book to dive into due to the descriptions

30 pages of intro, i am already fond of the works within, while also learning how similarly he was, as a person to dostoyevsky. as always, pretty hyped when it comes to tolstoy's work

okay, actually blown away by how gradual it feels, i'm sure moby dick drew a lot from this, but it also feels more exciting? i like the language and prose, much more effective than mb; i can also see where the critiques for racism is, but given its the 17th century and the normalised aspect, it is nice to notice it being stated he comes from middle class and is well off to do 🤷🏻‍♀️

just finished Lois the Witch and it has got to be one of the better ones of the bunch in here. still taking my time to read because gaskell's pretty good when she locks in, can't say the same for the shorter ones

read the 25ish pages of intro, pretty insightful as to the conception of such stories and where she is inspired from; i had somewhat of a run-in with gaskell in Wives and Daughters (and it didn't hook-in, 50 pages in) and i hope this time it'll stick because the variety seems intriguing enough 🤪

making my way through it, 20 pages a day; the one section in Book 4 about the seas and all kinda bored me to death; but when it got back to the drama and of the people, it's pretty good

translator notes & intro to chapter 1; i again, as PER always, with the flips of intro, fell in love with the prose of dostoyevsky. really, no one does it like him 🙏

just reached book 4 of 9, which, this is such a delight to go through, minimum 20 pages a day, 40 at most. it is relatively densed as it has a lot lot lot of names and the structure is reminiscent of 'flow state', which, works well. the notes, maps and glossary index does come in super handy whenever references are needed.

most intriguing, how, although it's 5th century bc, we haven't really evolved since then.

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