Lyme > Recent Status Updates

Cool book so far, was bound to at least somewhat enjoy it given its origin among the SCP Archive. The chapter about Gage freaked me out quite a bit, and really played on my fear of losing capacity

Have just finished reading "The Window" and I've finally got into the flow of reading Woolf's prose. To reiterate my prior update, it's stunning how much emotional depth she's able to pack into this novel. It's also very humanising to read about characters that are so temporally-removed from myself having thoughts and struggles very similar to those I have in daily life.

Woolf's writing is so dense that it's difficult to keep track of what's going on at times. Despite that, I'm really intrigued with how she manages to capture the thoughts and mindscapes of all the characters presented so far. Keen to keep reading.

Pretty much hooked on the book at this point, and trying to find time to read it wherever possible (at least one chapter at a time, can't really stop partway through one).

Minotaur chapter was particularly freaky, and it was cool to get a really unimpeded telling of the Navidson Record in this chapter. I really liked how this chapter put a bit more focus on the psychology of Navidson and Karen's children. The comparison of their drawings to those of children who had survived the holocaust left a pot in my stomach.

Started reading this one yesterday and am enjoying it a lot more than Authority. Keen to see where it goes.

Book's moving a lot quicker now due to the changes in formatting. Still a good read

Kept trekking forth, even though I'd initially planned to stop for the night, and have now finished chapter IX. Surprised by how easy this was to read, given its incredibly weird formatting. It also surprisingly dropped a list of thematically-relevant films, which will be added to my watchlist 🙂‍↕️

Kinda sick of Johnny's escapades, but at least his experiences with the (¿Minotaur?) are spooky

Have just finished Chapter VII & VIII. Tone was a bit more mellow than the last couple of chapters that I read, but still enjoying the book so far. Flicked ahead to check out how long the next chapter is, and it seems like the book's structure is going to become truly WEIRD in the next chapter.

Up to the very final part now, seems like it might start to veer in a direction closer towares what Annihilation was at this point, which I'm keen for. The mystery/spy/bureaucracy angle is still fun, but not really enjoying it as much as the first novel in the series

Although it may seem I've made no progress since my last update, I've actually just finished the Whalestoe Letters, an emotional sub-story about Johnny's relationship with his mother. As somebody who's had a loved one succumb to dementia, I found this to be a particularly confronting read.

May 8th, 1987 might be one of the hardest reads of all time, truly horrific stuff.

Have just now finished the incredibly long and arduous chapter 5. This chapter was a masterclass in tension, and the way it managed to weave the seemingly irrelevant tangent on echoes into the later parts of the chapter was crazy. Not a great book to read in the lead-up to bedtime.

Undecided whether I'm going to continue on to the next chapter or read the Whalestoe Letters when I next pick up the book.

Interesting read so far; it's cool getting some further insight into the Southern Reach and Area X. It is really jarring how Vandermeer is suddenly starting to mention every characters ethnicity now though (I realise this is probably because the story is told from Control's perspective but still lol)

Have now read the prologue and the first 4 chapters. The final few paragraphs of the prologue were genuinely spine-chilling. The way Danielewski utilises fonts and footnotes to simultaneously tell multiple interlinked stories is really impressive. Definitely a slow-burn sort of horror, but it's managed to freak me out at least a few times so far.

Very keen to continue reading

Absolutely loving the segments where the biologist reminisces on her time observing nature (e.g. the rental's pool and the tidal pools)

Enjoying the book. It's pretty different from Garland's film, but definitely explores similar themes and concepts. Not sure just yet whether the biologist is an unreliable narrator, but I'm sure there'll be some clarification further on.

Really liked the conversation where they name-dropped the book's title, cool sort of analogy. Also really loving how sombre the book is

really appreciate that the book isn't trying to explain and justify every weird thing that's happening in it, it adds a nice air of realism whenever they brush past these things as if they're normal. cool book so far :)

It would be an understatement to say that there's a lot going on in this book. Great stuff so far, but I have absolutely no clue where the story is going to go at this point.

Interesting read so far which appears to deal with issues of identity, belonging and colonisation. I've hit a bit of a wall with Salih's writing however, as it's currently a bit overindulgent and flowery for my liking. This could just be burnout from having read a good portion of the book over the last two days though. I shall report back later 🫡

On to part 2. Wasn't necessarily ready for chapter 6 being about the murder of a kitten but we move. Very interesting book so far, even if I don't agree with what appears to be its central philosophy, but I'm still unsure whether this is Mishima's own thoughts shining through or whether he'll critique it. Will report back once I'm done.

Just finished chapter 3 of part 2. Thought I was done for the day earlier, but was a bit bored and decided to continue reading. I feel like a broken record with how often I end up saying this, but I'm enjoying this book