tilly s > Recent Status Updates

i’m 2 stories in and trying SO hard to like this but it’s SO BAD 😭 really hope it picks up soon

this is heading to the dnf shelf, at least for now. I’ve been told it takes a while to get into this book but surely 1/5 of the way should be enough? all the characters are so dislikable I don’t have much motivation to find out what happens to them.

dnf
not at all what i expected/was lead to expect
the idea of writing about morality in tolkien’s writing without relating it to christianity at all is so weird to me and comes across forced and awkward in the essays
most of the essays also just seemed to be repeating what tolkien had said himself in a less interesting way
also not to be a horrible snob but the academic style was much too american for my taste lol

i feel like i’m fighting this book lol
i really want to finish it bc it is good but WHAT A SLOG

I’m trying to keep an open mind about the greek chorus of talking cows but it is HARD

another update 6% later lol but I am starting to slightly lose patience with perry
the underlying theory is brilliant and I’m learning a lot but the practical suggestions are often deeply out of touch imo
also i am sick of this idea that you should never put babies into positions they can’t reach on their own (sitting, standing, etc.) bc it’s literally not a big deal and fine to do, good, even

very good so far if sometimes a bit hyperbolic or labouring the point (you can say being on your phone all the time is bad without implying it will make your child a drug addict, for example)

finally back with frodo and sam lol

this book is very slow going for me
really enjoying it but the dream like afterlife, non-chronological narrative, and my lack of knowledge of sri lanka in the 80s etc. is making it hard for me to follow sometimes and i’m doing a lot of googling, it’s worth it though!

(andy serkis audiobook) i am loving merry and pippin’s with treebeard but ngl im listening in 1.5x speed
i am so much more interested and invested in the lore during this reread
and my tom bombadil obsession continues

weirdly for a book about linguistics and translation, kuang LOVES an etymological fallacy lol
but finally feel like things are picking up a bit, but wish this development had come much earlier in the book rather than being dragged though 3 boring years at oxford first

i really want to enjoy this but atm the pacing feels all over the place and the characters are quite flat