Starless One > Recent Status Updates

Rereading this in preparation for the class I'm teaching on it and I like it even better the second time around. Big recommendation.

I am having a very Gothic autumn so far.

When I read "A Wizard of Earthsea" a few years ago, it didn't leave a strong impression on me, so I didn't exactly rush to get my hands on more of Le Guin's work.

This year, I finally decided to check out TLHoD as a potential candidate for a class on speculative fiction I am teaching and I am so glad I did! The worldbuilding is intriguing and I am loving the writing so far, it's vivid and quite engaging.

I am now reading an abridged German edition, whilst constantly checking the original French text to see if the translator left out a paragraph, in which case I look it up in *another abridged translation*.

At this point, it would be quicker to just get fluent in French.

Nothing compares to the epic scope of this masterpiece, expect maybe for the effort I went to in trying to find a translation that isn't a) abridged, b) sold as an unabridged version despite missing entire chapters (!) or c) so rare it's been out of print since the 80s.

Marketing this book as Dark Academia is a weird choice. I'm 20 chapters in and the MC hasn't even arrived at the academy yet.

Man, I really hate January's father

"He scrambled backwards, all flailing legs and hands, like a particularly ungainly crab. The kind of crab other crabs would pick on and refuse to choose for their team in crab games."

This book has some of the most vivid descriptions I've read in a while, 10/10

The first take on the Princes in the Tower mystery I've read that is sympathetic towards Richard III (he was backed into a corner, afraid for his own family, etc.) while still arguing that he definitely had those kids murdered.

Not sure if I'm the right audience for this book. I'm not generally opposed to cozy stories with low stakes, but for this kind of story to work for me, I need to care about the characters. I've listened to 1/5 of this audiobook and so far, Dex has no discernable personality. The robot deuteragonist hasn't even appeared yet. There is no conflict, no plot, just... vibes. Idk, I think I need a little more than that.

Interessante Gegenüberstellung des historischen deutschen Blicks auf den Nahen und Mittleren Osten im Vergleich zum britisch-französischen, aber ich habe nicht den Eindruck, dass Wippermann verstanden hat, dass auch "positive" Stereotypisierung Orientalismus ist.

Is it really a Freya Marske book if one of the MCs doesn't murder someone in cold blood

This is the second book featuring a blonde actress called Violet engaging in theft on a White Star Line ship I'm reading this year. Which isn't a lot, but y'know....

Spent a year in the East Midlands and never saw the words "me duck" written in print. I'm in love.

My suspension of disbelief suffered an early death when one of the characters called Chelsea an underdog in a match against Arsenal.

There's a missing scene here and only 3 possible explanations:

1) I'm reading an abridged version that wasn't labelled as such.

2) The author did in fact have Protagonist A meet Protagonist B and her family off-screen but is constantly referencing the scene as if it was actually in the novel.

3) The heat has finally fried my brain and I'm experiencing partial amnesia.

Anyways, I'm one step away from dnf'ing this.

There is something so incredibly soothing about the way Tolkien writes about nature. Makes me feel nostalgic for a time and place I never actually experienced.

Re-reading the book that gave birth to some of the worst YA clichés in the history of literature. We are forever in your debt, Trudi.

Julia Quinn sure borrowed a lot from this one.

I love the premise, but the writing is formulaic, the plot drags and something about the way the author writes female characters just rubs me the wrong way, they feel too much like caricatures. So dnf for now, but I might return to it.

Charley is the most accurate representation of someone with an English degree I have ever read and I relate a lot to him except for the part where he, you know, got his PhD at NINETEEN

I know more about camels, rocks and dysentery now than any sane person should ever want to and I'm nowhere near the end.

I love this book from the depth of my very soul but Jesus Christ, parts of it read like a 300-pages Wikipedia article

Did the author just claim that the word "kitsch" comes from "völkisch" and was an integral part of Nazi ideology?!

Ah, yes. The Nazis and their famous googly-eyed garden gnomes. What an aesthetic.

Everything you need to know about Lucian Darnay's character is the fact that if this book was a film, he would be played by Timothée Chalamet.