#next read

Read, The God of the woods by Liz Moore.

Bookmark of choice for this read was, Butter stick 🧈

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04/29

⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 7.9 out of 10

This book was really good ! I gave it a 7.9 because there weren't any plot twists but more like revealing secrets and a nice little surprise at the end ! Definitely not mad at and it was a quick read. The book is good at keeping you interested, you do want to know what actually happened.

There's a lot happening with a lot of people based on just one event but truly that's how real life can be as well one event can impact lots of people in a positive and negative way. The end made me happy, it was satisfying.

This is A Vile Season by David Ferraro. It follows Lucian, a vampire turned human trying to regain his immortality.

I absolutely loved this book! I listened to the audio version and could not put it down. I basically listened to it in one sitting 😂

For LGBT+ representation, a lot of the story follows a “marriage games” plot. Where women and men compete to win the next dukes affections. Then there is also the central “love triangle” between the main character Lucian and the two brothers Maxwell and Ambrose.

There is also a lesbian couple and I think 2 characters who are explicitly described as being gay.

This book also has a variety of poc characters. I don’t recall specific ethnicities or races being named, but it’s heavy implied that many of the main characters are black. This is further implied by the cover art.

The world of this book does not seem to have racism or homophobia. Unless you count hatred of vampires as an allegory for race, sexuality, or the like.

Highly recommend giving this book a read or listen 📖🎧

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber.

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie.

I would say that I have the highest expectations for Skyward. Sanderson is my favorite author, and I've been meaning to read this for years.

I also have high hopes for City of Bones- I just finished the Infernal Devices and I'm looking forward to more by Ms Clare, despite my criticism of the ending of CP2.

Ballad of Never After is wild card 1, I'd say. I low-key hated the last Romantasy book I read... so this will be interesting.

Half a King is the real wild card, though. I have no idea who recommended it to me or where I heard of it, I just found it on a random library list and thought it sounded cool.

I think I'm leaning towards starting with City of Bones. I'd really like to save it for second to last, but I'm very very curious.

I expect that Skyward will be the last, because there has almost never been a Brandon Sanderson book I didn't like.

"Oh, but Stella, if you're so interested in The Mortal Instruments why didn't you just decide to make it your next read?"

I finished Swann’s Way! Now I need your input on what to read next.

Vote in the poll below!

Some reflections for context:

This is such a dense and rich book. Beautifully written, with a lot of layered imagery, literary and artistic references, extended metaphors, and interwoven story arcs…

Time itself seems to dilate and contract as one read: some parts of the prose are so rich in imagery that I had to slow down and reread several times, while others flow effortlessly with the stream of thought.

It is peak stream-of-consciousness: less about the actual childhood memories, more about the act of thinking and remembrance.

Proust literally teaches us how to read his book. He invents the fictional writer Bergotte, celebrated not for his narrative alone, but for his “flow of melody, old-fashioned phrases, and idealist philosophy,” which reveal sublime images of the world, so beauty is within reach of the ordinary readers. This is Proust’s artistic motto, and he accomplishes exactly that. 

That said, I’m not swept away by these marvelous tangents. I am more drawn to the psychology of the characters and the dynamics of young love. Sometimes Proust’s metaphors feel a bit too literary, verging on pretentious (though very much in character for Proust). 

Still, the images of the madeleine soaked in tea and pink hawthorn flowers shall stay with me long after I close the book. 

Swann in Love

Now, this is exactly what I’m looking for. It reminds me of Stendhal’s The Red and the Black in the way it methodologically dissects love and infatuation and almost destroys the illusion of “romance”. 

I was reminded of a popular meme:

Yet for all their talk of love, the way they over-analyze love makes me think French authors are the least likely to “die for love”. 

Just contrast:

“When Odette ceased to be for him a creature always absent, longed for, imaginary, when the feeling he had for her was no longer the same mysterious disturbance caused in him by the phrase from the sonata, but affection, gratitude, when normal relations were established between them that would put an end to his madness and his gloom, then no doubt the actions of Odette's daily life would appear to him of little interest in themselves…” - Swann in Love by Marcel Proust

Vs: 

“Follow me, reader! Who told you that there is no true, faithful, eternal love in this world! May the liar's vile tongue be cut out! Follow me, my reader, and me alone, and I will show you such a love!” - The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

So, what should I read next?

Continue reading Proust’s In Search of Lost Time: The later books dive into Proust’s own infatuation with Gilberte, Albertine etc. 

Read My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgard:  a six-book autobiographical series often compared to In Search of Lost Time in its exploration of private pleasures, dark thoughts, commonplace needs and pursuit of higher arts, but plainer in style and meant to be read more quickly. Especially, A Man in Love and Boyhood, explore childhood and young love I’m most interested in.

Read something shorter, non-fiction: perhaps Love and Limerence? Open to other suggestions. 

Read some light-hearted fiction: open to suggestions. Ideally experimental and intergenerational narrative.

Others - leave a comment