Jonathan > Recent Status Updates

very grateful for libby's frankly great define feature, it's so non-intrusive and helpful with writing this old (yes i'm here for the infidelity)

if only i could stop looking for new books to borrow on libby :/

fascinated by the dialogue between 2-3 characters taking place in the same paragraph, the same sentence, no quotation marks. otherwise fascinated by the terrible rules thrust upon these victims of a blindness pandemic; at first i thought it inconceivable but, yeah, institutional ableism would do that. interesting female characters, hoping for them not having to succumb to misogyny (this too is fic research, shh)

very much appreciate academic writers who strive for the kind of clarity in their prose that doesn't make reading a challenge

this writer has a knack for introspection, and a visceral depiction of someone whose faith affects how he's able to take up room in this world and how guilt and shame (and to a degree wanting to break with tradition and not knowing how, and getting stuck in that), along with social stigma, and how this violence done to him is being handed down by his own hands to everyone he loves. still found him annoying as hell :'

one story that listed ways in which women had been raped and murdered threw in a 'i never heard of this happening to any man' about a specific scenario and it immediately reminded me of a black man who was raped and murdered in this exact way for being black and bi here, and i cannot imagine that this is violence unique to a single country. ah well, served to solidify the impression that this book wasn't for me

became a chore to finish reading, unfortunately. didn't help that four out of the last five stories all revolved around women being brutally murdered. i feel like this book would have worked as non-fiction (interviews). the stories were almost all structured the exact same way, and didn't seem to have all that much of a narrative to offer aside from women resisting but eventually being killed by misogyny.

i feel that introspection is the shining point of this novel, i enjoy the meandering in general. i just have to constantly remind myself to not hold any expectations for this character, but unfortunately his (casual) misogyny and undoubtedly his middle class background do not help. i think this arrogance paired with passionate suffering is quite common, i just don't find it all that interesting to observe hmm

prose was exciting for quite some time since i had an 'oh so this is how we do queer millennial prose' moment. but also there are things i do not understand, sadly the broader implications, so will need some aftercare (looking up interviews and reviews and such)

true equality is giving poor and rich characters the exact same speech/thought patterns // i also wonder why one would, in an english translation, leave spanish words as fragments of--what, authenticity? are these concepts truly so untranslatable? to rub salt into the wound of the reader not speaking spanish? since i only have apps set up to explain english words, i won't interrupt reading just for this :/

goodness i really don't enjoy this narrator, and the main character so far... i fear the scene in dumbo in which he accidentally imbibes alcohol and goes through a nightmare still affects me (made me intolerant of long scenes detailing the effects of any drug on someone :/)

doesn't happen always, but when it does, the alienation i feel re: cis gay culture is no joke

love to randomly find books with a beautiful title and a beautiful cover and beautiful prose also

[cont.] the funny thing is, some of the points made fly over my head, simply because i don't need to hear them. while i do lack in-depth knowledge, i did grow up with the connection to & regard for the world surrounding me. i do hear the traffic when going outside, if anything i wish i could tune it out lol. and (i suspect it's an adhd thing) i lack the receptivity for the grandeur of nature (a sight is only a sight)

very much appreciate what the author is doing here--examining this topic along the lines of art--but i feel like i fall outside of the target audience circle, possibly because my mind renders the art connections out to arrive at the messaging which is quite simple really: connect with your environment more deeply, learn/cherish other creatures, landscapes, etc., and thus tether yourself to life by all means necessary

some of these have so narrow of a focus on abortion that i do wish they were nonfiction instead, most if not all had a very sombre mood so far. two i couldn't grasp more of than the general gist, i'm a failure of a native speaker ;-;

preface seemed very confused about what kinds of stories were in this book (claimed there were only female characters when there was a man in the first story, and not all authors are cis women either). first story was a bit eh, more of an exercise in worldbuilding. second entry consists of interviews about abortions, which were very illuminating and intriguing.

the things i read in the name of fic research (the genre being story set on train, when i should be looking into viruses instead,,, ah well)

finally picking this back up, and i'm enjoying it a lot more this time. the parallels are still astounding, with the difference being that i emerged as an isolated (then and now) failure out of a similar situation. looking forward to finishing this :'

was very excited to read this in case i had lingering wrong sentiments induced by latin classes to exorcise; unfortunately do not enjoy the humour at all, and wish it wasn't jumping all over the place in how it's narrated

colour me interested in what this book has to say

got tricked into reading ya again, and so far among the three stories i read there hasn't been any that touched or interested me ;-;

extremely interesting, feels like something i should be reading instead of merely listening to ;;

started out great, now i'm not so sure anymore about enjoying the writing style hmm let's see how i'll feel by the end of it.

writing style is too obnoxious, dnf-ing this right here

style might catapult me right out of this book, let's see

ah now this is shaping up to be a fun read >-<