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emilymknight's reviews
146 reviews
Little Women: The Original Classic Novel Featuring Photos from the Film! by Louisa May Alcott
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
My 2nd time reading Little Women, but my first time reading the edition with stills from Greta Gerwig's 2019 film adaptation. Aside from the odd spelling and grammar errors I loved this edition and I definitely enjoyed reading this more the second time as it made me realise just how true to the text both the 1994 and 2019 films are.
It's such a unique story of finding one's self, learning, persevering, loving, and the way Alcott tells the story with unmatched love for every single character she has created, speaking to the reader almost as a friend, I love it!!!!! There are so many lessons on being a better person, friend, family member, lover and, finding one's passion, learning one's faults, doing better, helping others, leaving childhood and entering adulthood.
And Beth's death just never gets easier, no matter how many times I read the book or watch the films, it's heartbreaking every. single. time.
So much to say, not enough words in the dictionary or time in the world to say it all!!
It's such a unique story of finding one's self, learning, persevering, loving, and the way Alcott tells the story with unmatched love for every single character she has created, speaking to the reader almost as a friend, I love it!!!!! There are so many lessons on being a better person, friend, family member, lover and, finding one's passion, learning one's faults, doing better, helping others, leaving childhood and entering adulthood.
So much to say, not enough words in the dictionary or time in the world to say it all!!
“Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.”
“Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.”
"As Beth had hoped, the "tide went out easily", and in the dark hour before dawn, on the bosom where she had drawn her first breath, she quietly drew her last, with no farewell but one loving look, one little sigh."
A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.75
Needed? Eh. Enjoyable? Eh.
Do I need to see this series through? Yup.
Do I need to see this series through? Yup.
Sophocles: Ajax by Sophocles
And I think this quote sums up Ajax as a character pretty well...
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
4.75
It's hard to rate this play as it's super short - but that means I could probably read a few different translations in the future. I went into this assuming Odysseus was going to be a bit up his own because he got Achilles' armour but it turns out that Ajax is the drama queen and Odysseus acted quite honourably by the end! Although, I do understand that to be awarded Achilles' armour is a symbol of great honour so with Ajax being known as second best to Achilles, I get why he is angry!
There are certain figures from greek mythology that tend to stand out to me, that interest me, that when I hear or see their name anywhere, my attention is caught and my interest is piqued. And Ajax is one of them.
Excited to read more of Sophocles' work next year!
There are certain figures from greek mythology that tend to stand out to me, that interest me, that when I hear or see their name anywhere, my attention is caught and my interest is piqued. And Ajax is one of them.
Excited to read more of Sophocles' work next year!
"It makes me see that we who live and breathe
are nothing more than phantoms,
or insubstantial shadowings."
"For kindness breeds new kindness,
ever back and forth."
And I think this quote sums up Ajax as a character pretty well...
"For those who have bad judgement never know
the good they hold until it's thrown away."
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
I read Hamlet recently and knew I needed to read this!!!
I love anything Shakespeare so a fictional retelling of his family and his son, Hamnet, who died young sounded like a very interesting book to me. While I definitely appreciated how the plot unfolded and the way the feeling of grief was crafted, I just couldn’t completely vibe with O’Farrell’s style of writing. Every line was embellished with metaphors, similes, etc, so it felt like it almost held you back as you read? If you stripped all that away, I feel like it’d be a great 250 page book that you could easily breeze through - however, I appreciate that it is probably O’Farrell’s style!
Personally I love the idea that Shakespeare wrote a play named after his late son. Even though there are not many similarities between a Prince of Denmark or a Ghost of an old King with a young boy from Stratford, I find it heart-warming that the memory of a son stays alive for centuries after his death as people speak his name through the play. His named is immortalised through the play :') and I like that a lot.
I think a reread of Hamlet is definitely needed now!
I love anything Shakespeare so a fictional retelling of his family and his son, Hamnet, who died young sounded like a very interesting book to me. While I definitely appreciated how the plot unfolded and the way the feeling of grief was crafted, I just couldn’t completely vibe with O’Farrell’s style of writing. Every line was embellished with metaphors, similes, etc, so it felt like it almost held you back as you read? If you stripped all that away, I feel like it’d be a great 250 page book that you could easily breeze through - however, I appreciate that it is probably O’Farrell’s style!
Personally I love the idea that Shakespeare wrote a play named after his late son. Even though there are not many similarities between a Prince of Denmark or a Ghost of an old King with a young boy from Stratford, I find it heart-warming that the memory of a son stays alive for centuries after his death as people speak his name through the play. His named is immortalised through the play :') and I like that a lot.
I think a reread of Hamlet is definitely needed now!
”Agnes bends forward to touch her lips to his forehead. And there, by the fire, held in the arms of his mother, in the room in which he learnt to crawl, to eat, to walk, to speak, Hamnet takes his last breath.”
Stoner by John Williams
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
A sad and reflective journey of a simple life led by many small decisions, some good and some bad. The reflective side of this book reminded me of East of Eden while the monotony of his days reminded me a little of Of Human Bondage.
William Stoner is a simple man,he goes to university, becomes a professor at the same university, marries the first girl he falls in love with, has an affair, loves his job one second and finds it boring the next, his friend dies and he is left with only one more, and then he dies of cancer. He's a good professor at times, and a shitty husband at others. Nothing revolutionary happens, but that's the point.
While I did not love this book as much as I thought I would, I can definitely appreciate how well it has been composed, and the feelings it sought to convey. And I did particularly like the nostalgic feelings in the final chapter - it was well done, not overly emotional and dramatic, just simple, to reflect his simple life.
William Stoner is a simple man,
While I did not love this book as much as I thought I would, I can definitely appreciate how well it has been composed, and the feelings it sought to convey. And I did particularly like the nostalgic feelings in the final chapter - it was well done, not overly emotional and dramatic, just simple, to reflect his simple life.
"The light of the desk lamp (he could see it now) had been absorbed by her studious small face that bent in childish absorption over a book or a picture, so that the smooth flesh glowed against the shadows of the room. He heard the small laughter echo in the distance. 'Of course,' he said and looked upon the present face of that child. 'Of course,' he said again, 'you were always there.'"
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
At first I was a little unsure on how to feel about this play, but, after studying this play and writing an essay on it, I have now fully come to appreciate it's beauty and complexity. My eyes have been opened to the darkness with which Denmark is poisoned, not only on a political level but on a personal and social level. Corruption has seeped into every area of Denmark and Hamlet becomes part of the very problem he seeks to remove.
Something certainly is rotten in the state of Denmark and I love it!
Something certainly is rotten in the state of Denmark and I love it!
"Lay her i'th'earth,
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring!"
"If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity for awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain
To tell my story."
Animal Farm by George Orwell
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
I was really really sceptical about this before I started, I was unsure how a book about some farm animals could be so highly regarded. But I get it now. I much preferred this to 1984, it was wayyyy easier to read and way more engaging. I also had no clue as to where the ending was going to go and man THAT LAST LINE. yupppppppp.
”Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Though this man is an emotional wreck at times, he is also has such great emotional depth - he is straight to the point and often rude, but he is also so self-aware and analytical of himself? It's like two sides of his brain are warring one another. Strange but interesting! And quite depressing.
It's almost like the man from White Nights who craves love and life, but enjoys the thought more than the actually doing, meets the overly self-aware and spiral-prone man of Hesse's Steppenwolf.
I think, like White Nights, this protagonist is someone who you will definitely think about a lot.
It's almost like the man from White Nights who craves love and life, but enjoys the thought more than the actually doing, meets the overly self-aware and spiral-prone man of Hesse's Steppenwolf.
I think, like White Nights, this protagonist is someone who you will definitely think about a lot.
"But man is a frivolous and incongruous creature, and perhaps, like a chess player, loves the process of the game, not the end of it. And who knows (there is no saying with certainty perhaps the only goal on earth to which mankind is striving lies in the incessant process of attaining, in other words, in life itself, and not in the thing to be attained."
"Even sometimes there is happiness in the midst of sorrow; and indeed sorrow is everywhere."
"we are all divorced from life, we are all cripples, every one of us, more or less. We are so divorced from it that we feel at once a sort of loathing for real life, and so cannot bear to be reminded of it. Why, we have come almost to looking upon real life as an effort, almost as hard work, and we are all privately agreed that it is better in books."
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
I think everybody needs a Morrie.
When I began reading this, I couldn't feel connected to the story because my mind separated it from the fact it was a true story, so about half way through I searched Morrie Schwartz on youtube and watched some of his interviews and from that point, as I read, I could almost hear Morris’s voice.
And as I was reading, I kept finding myself thinking, ‘keep talking, say more, keep going’. We all know from the get go that Morrie dies, but I wanted to delay it. Ahhh all the questions I would ask if I had ever met Morrie. I also found myself throughout my days reading this book thinking, what would Morrie say about this? what would Morrie be thinking right now?
Loved. This is a book that everyone must read in their lives.
When I began reading this, I couldn't feel connected to the story because my mind separated it from the fact it was a true story, so about half way through I searched Morrie Schwartz on youtube and watched some of his interviews and from that point, as I read, I could almost hear Morris’s voice.
And as I was reading, I kept finding myself thinking, ‘keep talking, say more, keep going’. We all know from the get go that Morrie dies, but I wanted to delay it. Ahhh all the questions I would ask if I had ever met Morrie. I also found myself throughout my days reading this book thinking, what would Morrie say about this? what would Morrie be thinking right now?
Loved. This is a book that everyone must read in their lives.
‘“Aging is not just decay, you know. It’s growth […] you understand you’re going to die, and you live a better life because of it.”’
Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin
Did not finish book. Stopped at 45%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 45%.
DNF @ 45%
I really really tried with this book. The writing is beautiful at times but it got to the point where it was a man telling another man about a time when he was talking to another guy who was talking to him about a girl… It was confusing and I just didn’t get what was happening. I thought the spaniard speaking for 200+ pages was a lot but from other reviews I have read, he keeps on going, and when it becomes a narrative in a narrative in a narrative, it’s just not enjoyable.
The same scenes were repeated loads and he described every emotion and feeling of the scene in a million different ways, Maturin said so much but hardly anything happened. The lack of proper formatting during dialogue was annoying too, I’d miss when it changed to another person speaking so then I’d get confused who said what.
It’s a shame because this is a great example of the gothic genre (when the plot is understandable) and with Charles Robert Maturin being Oscar Wilde’s great uncle (by marriage) and someone Wilde looked up to when writing The Picture of Dorian Gray, I really wanted to like it!
Here are some of the quotes from what I read that I did love…
I really really tried with this book. The writing is beautiful at times but it got to the point where it was a man telling another man about a time when he was talking to another guy who was talking to him about a girl… It was confusing and I just didn’t get what was happening. I thought the spaniard speaking for 200+ pages was a lot but from other reviews I have read, he keeps on going, and when it becomes a narrative in a narrative in a narrative, it’s just not enjoyable.
The same scenes were repeated loads and he described every emotion and feeling of the scene in a million different ways, Maturin said so much but hardly anything happened. The lack of proper formatting during dialogue was annoying too, I’d miss when it changed to another person speaking so then I’d get confused who said what.
It’s a shame because this is a great example of the gothic genre (when the plot is understandable) and with Charles Robert Maturin being Oscar Wilde’s great uncle (by marriage) and someone Wilde looked up to when writing The Picture of Dorian Gray, I really wanted to like it!
Here are some of the quotes from what I read that I did love…
“I must have experienced many emotions, but they all subsided like the waves of the sea under the darkness of a midnight sky, - their fluctuation continues, but there is no light to mark their motion, or trace when they rise and fall. A deep stupor pervaded my senses and soul; and perhaps, in this state, I was best fitted for the monotonous existence to which I was doomed. [..] My life was a sea without tide.”
“I was an outcast of the whole earth, and I wept with equal bitterness and depression at the hopeless vastness of the desert I had to traverse.”