Chi > Recent Status Updates

Impressions up to chapter 12:
- Newland Archer is a bit of twat. He thinks that May is going to be a biddable, mouldable wife, and that he will have much to teach her about taste and knowledge
- Countess Ellen Olenska seems to be a bit of a free spirit thus far. She seems more bohemian than the uptight folks of society
- The society at large seems pretty tight-knit, with all of their strict rules of propriety

Note to self: I cannot read this book before bed, because otherwise the songs end up running through my head the whole night long.
Thus far, the book is BEAUTIFUL! Every chapter thus far is a dissemination of what happened behind the scenes to bring "Hamilton" to life. For every lyric in the musical, they've included commentary from Lin Manuel Miranda, as well as gorgeous cast and production photos in full colour.

Isabella to Catherine: "Of all things in the world inconstancy is my aversion."

Volume 1 now done, and there's been some rather amusing insights thus far: Mrs Allen and her preoccupation with her dress, Mrs Thorpe only caring about her children, Isabella and John Thorpe's sole concern for their favourite topics, and Catherine is so naive, with her knowledge of the world formed only from books. Lordy but she reminds me a great deal of what I was like!

Catherine is really naïve. And she's so young, she doesn't yet know what men and women could be like, let alone have any insight into their true natures and intentions.

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."

Mina Harker, calling herself a "poor weak woman". lol

The deed is done. I wonder why it wasn't published in two parts / books? Or easily more?

With the shops now open (YAY!), I went and bought myself an annotated Penguin edition of "Dracula", so I could better understand Mr Swales' speech / rant.

WTH would authors want to write down things as they hear them??? It's so hard to understand what they're saying >_<

I'm only a chapter in, but it's pretty intriguing so far. I didn't know that the book was written as a series of diary entries!

Some of them run away from what they fear. Others (Asuka) act with arrogance, and others fake it with false bravado (Toji).

I've been thinking (while procrastinating from my school work >_>) that a recipe for a good sports manga = short, everyday "hero" / observant MC / highly talented MC + rival + highly competitive sports (preferably team?) + fun names for special moves + lots of good humour. I'll probably refine that as I go along this manga (up to volume 28 so far).

Sports manga = addictive. How do I manage to sit through so many characters being introduced, and still enjoy the tension in the sports-portion (and the humour in the side stories) is beyond me.

I didn't fully understand the statement, though it is incredibly profound.

"Remember that it is nothing to do your duty that is demanded of you and is no more meritorious than to wash your hands when they are dirty; the only thing that counts is the love of duty; when love and duty are one, then grace is in you and you will enjoy a happiness which passes all understanding."

"'I had no illusions about you,' he said. 'I knew you were silly and frivolous and empty-headed.'"

How fascinating. I usually detest characters who cheat on their partners, but Kitty... Kitty is so obviously naive, bored in the marriage, and is so utterly sympathetic that I'm actually feeling terribly sorry for her instead.

I am SERIOUSLY loving Eileen's voice! Not sure about Leena's for now...

The language is so ... different to modern styles, It's really difficult to read through all the philosophising (especially on Lord Henry's part), so it feels like I'm missing a good part of the story.

Does he consider Miss Crawford's forwardness as being indelicate and unladylike?

Poor Fanny. Unable to find a place for herself either at Mansfield or at Portsmouth.

Austen is so harsh on Mrs Price, painting in with such similar strokes as her sisters!

Mr Price... is interesting. All the characters in one way or another, seem only selfish and self-interested. Fanny has perhaps a more generous spirit, and Edmund too is in a more generous light than anyone else.

'... and to find herself forced into a purpose of that kind, compelled into a correspondence which was bringing her the addresses of the man she did not love, and obliging her to administer to the adverse passion of the man she did, was cruelly mortifying."

"... and it was not till it was over, that she knew he was giving her the affectionate farewell of a brother."

"William and Fanny were horror-struck at the idea."
Oh the joy that one, simple sentence elicits!

"It is he who sees and worships your merit the strongest, who loves you most devotedly, that has the best right to a return."

"Perhaps, Sir," said Fanny, wearied at last into speaking-"perhaps, Sir, I thought it was a pity you did not always know yourself as well as you seemed to do at that moment."