L > Recent Status Updates

I think I'm already warming up to Guts, even though I didn't like him in the first chapter. I love seeing how this manga influenced Dark Souls, there are so many references even in this first volume.

I'm putting the Republic on hold for a few days. So far though, this is by far the least dialectic dialogue I've read by Plato.

Derrida is difficult to read. Hegel is (arguably) more difficult to read. Derrida writing on Hegel is incomprehensible.

I plan to reread Plato's Pharmacy soon, it was brilliant the first time around.

These stories are brilliant, I'm suprised it took me so long to pick up a Borges collection! The Immortal is by far the best one so far.

I'm reading odd sections here and there. The sections on symptoms of the mind and body, as well as the sections on causes related to poverty and study have really resonated with me. I can see how Samuel Johnson used this as a cure for his melancholy, it is fantastic!

I've read through the sections on academic criticism and structuralism so far. In terms of further reading, I may read some early Barthes but on the whole Barthesian structuralism doesn't entirely appeal to me.

Culler sucks off Barthes so much. Yes he is a good theorist but does he always have to be correct? Even when he criticises his own earlier ideas?

I only have The Forged Coupon left to read in this collection. Honestly this collection has a lot of highs and lows. The Death of Ivan Ilyich in particular is a standout novella.

I'm taking a short break from Calvino since I'm reading other book reviews/commentaries. Very good stuff though so far.

Honestly the first half of the book is very... meh. Obviously a lot of his childhood/teen years had a lot of influence on his life but I'm more interested in the life of Malcolm X when he actually becomes "Malcolm X".

Up to "co" at the moment. The book is very interesting for etymology, usage of words and learning many old words that aren't used today.

Finished volume 2 and it was very exciting towards the end. You can't have a Russian novel without a little tragedy.

A slow burn so far but it seems to be picking up in pace.

This is so much better than I expected it to be

There's a lot of interesting stuff in this book so far, however there doesn't seem to be much of a connection to the previous books in this series.

This is not a typical poirot story so far. It seems more like a goose chase but the reader knows who the goose is.

So damn much exposition...

Looks to be a very good reference work, particularly for recommendations of interesting and various works.

Just started to continue reading this after a long break and it's already tragic😭