Alexandra > Recent Status Updates

"If a wish could have transported her, she would have gone off; just for one day. She yearned for the strength which such a change would give,—even for a few hours to be in the midst of that bright life, and to feel young again." (232) Love love love this sentiment

“And that was death! It looked more peaceful than life. All beautiful scriptures came into her mind. ‘They rest from their labours.’ ‘The weary are at rest.’ ‘He giveth His beloved sleep.’” (215)

“His eyes were dry and fierce; studying the reality that her place should know her no more.” (215)

Currently reading these moving pages that have me in tears as I wait in the optometrist’s office lol

Giving this one up.

I was already having trouble with finding funny much of the humor in the book and tolerating the immature behavior of the FMC, but upon learning she is almost 30 years old howwww is any grown adult in her orbit putting up with her childishness?! If I were in my teens maybe I’d be into this book more, but alas… I just can’t get into this story today—a positive? Quick banter, at least…

This one …. Is very grating if I’m being honest.. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a character as clumsy as the FMC… and don’t even get me started on the “I’m just a girl” persona. You’re in Oregon, NOT ANTARCTICA!!!! Use your brains!

Insane.. Insane!!! Oh Ch.24, I shan't be forgetting you any time soon! I could see Margaret's hesitation & refusal coming from a mile away, but that didn't make it any less awkward or painful to read when Gaskell SO painstakingly writes just how moved Mr. Thornton is when we know he's worked hard to become reserved & indifferent in public. Gahhhh!!!

"You look as if you thought it tainted you to be loved by me" (194)

"She would fain have caught at the skirts of that departing time and prayed it to return, and give her back what she had too little valued while it was yet in her possession. What a vain show Life seemed! How unsubstantial and flickering and flitting! It was as if from some aerial belfry, high up above the stir and jar of the earth, there was a bell continually tolling 'All are shadows! All are passing! All is past!"

"'gentleman' is a term that only describes a person in his relation to others;when we speak of him as 'a man,' we consider him not merely with regard to his fellow-men, but in relation to himself—to life—to time—to eternity. A castaway lonely as Robinson Crusoe—a prisoner immured in a dungeon for life—nay, even a saint in Patmos has his endurance, his strength, his faith, best described by being spoken of as 'a man'"

"Mr. Thornton felt that in this influx no one was speaking to Margaret, and was restless under this apparent neglect. Only, he knew what she was doing—or not doing—better than he knew the movements of any one else in the room. Margaret was so unconscious of herself, and so much amused by watching other people, that she never thought whether she was left unnoticed or not" (161).

IT'S STARTING

DNF'd this book 2 years ago but couldn't remember this story at all or why I gave it up. Well, I found out what annoyed me but pushed thru & I'm glad bc Riley's mom is hilarious!

"He committed arson on some level, and demonstrated predatory tendencies toward my daughter. He is Satan, and now I realize I am much more comfortable with the devil I know.' She gestures around the foyer. 'Hence my presence in Hell'" (483)

Giving this one up.

I don't like to DNF books if there's something along the way that doesn't sit well with me bc I understand it's a piece of fiction & a story is a journey, not a vacation trip. That being said, there HAS to be committment from the author in untangling the complexities they're writing about—this book has none of that. The sexual assault, the violence, the pregnancy? All surface level treatment.

Ngl... I'm not sure how I'm feeling about this one. For sure this started off with a pretty dang original premise for such a genre, but... meh this might be too dark and shallow-ish for me.

Okay, so I was totally ready to write this off not even like twenty pages in bc it felt childish. But as I got more used to Cal's personality, the more I took everything in stride. Kinda. Anyways, I'm liking it so far! The biggest thing the book has going for it is the attention paid to the story world & side characters which is sadly not as common as I'd like in contemporary romances that end up feeling insular.

Ehhhh -- not bad, just not feeling it right now to help me get out of my mini slump

I'm gonna call it quits on this one, sadly. Nothing wrong with its writing or story—I found myself at times getting absorbed into the action—but honestly... I've been trudging along. And it's my fault, not the book's!

I think I just waited too long to get to this book in the series & honestly kinda moved on from the story. I skimmed to the ending. No clue how I'll rate this or organize it in my bookshelves though

"But, east or west wind, I suppose this man comes" (75).

"...and time to people of limited income was money" (97).

"There were the yellow, sea-stained letters, with the peculiar fragrance which ocean letters have" (106).

"Even in this smoky place, enough to blind one's eyes, the owls can see that" (130).

Just some lovely sentences (out of many that I can't fit into this update) that have stood out to me <3

Yeah, I'm running out of patience with Mr. Hale with every turn of the page 🫠

I'm just laughing at how without meaning to—if one wanted to, you really could find so much of what has so many romance readers in a chokehold nowadys in this book. You got a male protagonist that's "tall & broad" (totally headcanoning a minimum of 6'3 here sorry not sorry), a slow burn lite E2L tention simmering, and now apparently an age gap trope thrown in between Margaret & Mr. Thornton. Hilarious, really

Elizabeth Gaskell lowkey outdoing all contemporary romance writers in just five sentences describing how Mr. Thornton can't stop staring at Margaret fiddling with a bracelet that falls over and over from her arm to her wrist..... HER MIND

"The stroll down to the beach to breathe the sea-air... the great long misty sea-line touching the tender-coloured sky; the white sail of a distant boat turning silver in some pale sunbeam:it seemed as if she could dream her life away in such luxury of pensiveness, in which she made her present all in all, from not daring to think of the past, or wishing to contemplate the future"(59-60). Gorgeous details to drown in

Halden needs to get chewed up by a dragon I'm so serious

Narelle reacting to Xaden and Dean in the bookshop is hilarious I'm afraid

The ending to Coda was magnificent oh wow

I need more time to take in "Marigold & Cable."

"In morning's coloratura
a magick eye plays tricks
under the ongoing mossy
cloud-mass, exhilirating
traingles and timpani softly
in silt air, in the blanketed
nowhere of now
...
darkly we love
in the ex, the far sun
carpeting, the clouds
stilling,
...
the sun
over aphasia, we
didn't ask for this
wintering rust
but elegy is tonic
on the stoop,
far candle" (59-61)

Just to get it out of the way because the sentiment's been building up—I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF MR. HALE!!!

Okay. Frustrations aside, I am absolutely in love with Gaskell's writing. I'm constantly catching myself spellbound by her sentences and the way she describes her characters and their thoughts and actions. Also kinda proud that I've retained enough BritLit knowledge from past classes so I don't feel too lost lol

Awww I procrastinated foreverrrrr in opening this book since it came out last year and while my memory of the sequel is slowly coming back to me—making me have to pause and look up details like every three pages lol—I missed these characters!

"Inside Out Loud" and "Letter to the Ghost World" almost succeeded in breaking me with their tenderness.

"There is
a greensward
inside.
A reclamation
in small things.
There is a hill and
on this hill
I see
another hill.
...
Leaves
came to
ground.
What wind
brought me,
wanting
to see
the truth
in green.
...
Sunday was
like this,
an unwavering
lively
occurring,
stupefied
and restless" (38-39).

A trickling stream of consciousness, almost dream-like. I keep pausing having to pause as the scenes dissolve or transform into nothing or something else entirely...

"Passion comes from a difficult world—I'm sick of twilight,
when the light is crushed, time unravels its string.

Along the way I discovered a voice, a sun-stroked path choked with old light, a ray already blown.

Look at the world, its veil" (16-17).

Okay, I did not realize this was the second book in a series, my baaad — It does seem like this is a standalone, I was just kind of thrown off a bit because I had no idea the FMC was like some popstar and literally thought to myself how did I miss that information lol

I'm wrecked.

Edward Hirsch has left me emotionally wrung dry again. How is this man reallllllllll

…I was curious……. And you know that one popular saying about curiosity? …. Yeah… 🫠 Giving this one up lol