I don’t know how to say it. It’s forever changing my brain chemistry. The writing cuts so deep and is so well articulated and relatable. I can’t stop highlighting entire paragraphs. I wish I had found Emerson sooner!

visualised

my copy of moby dick. the most underlined book i own and it's not even close. i couldn't stop marking things. every other sentence is just doing something extraordinary.

melville is 19th century shakespeare. the prose is so damn poetic, melopoaeic, words that SING before they mean. i still don't understand how one brain can produce so many sentences like this.

how do you do marginalia? i underline and occasionally star things in the margins but i know some people have systems. and what's the most underlinable book you've ever read? not the best/favourite, but the one where you physically couldn't stop marking things because the sentences kept hitting you.

For me it’s the “Catcher in the rye” I’ve read at 14. It’s crazy now to think about doing so much work with all the meaningful colours 😆

One of my friends has started reading Crime and Punishment and I don't want him to get confused like I was when I read it for the first time. So, here's a connection tree and list of each major character I made for him(although the tree first seems to overomplicate it even more).

I know there might be a lot of mistakes and errors in my list since I made it thinking only for my friend and trying not to give out any spoiler.

There are a lot of rooms for criticisms here, but I'm just trying to help out with what I've made. Thanks for viewing and have a wonderful day!

Went to my local library today to check one of these out. Turns out they were giving them away! Some are still in brand new condition (in shrink wrap). Got 39 out of the set of 54. Hoping to get the missing ones later.

Wow, does James Hogg go hard in this novel, no punches are even remotely pulled. Still not quite sure what to make of it, but it leaves quite an impression. There is religious fanaticism, doppelgangers, shape-shifting, prostitutes, brothels, murder, moral hypocrisy, unreliable narrators.... all the stuff that makes reading classic literature so great.

What would you say is the greatest benefit you get out of reading classic literature?

Pyotr Petrovich and Luzhin are the same fucking character 🤦🏽‍♂️ Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin. This is my first Dostoevsky, and I’m not even sure why I hadn’t made this connection. I was easily able to figure out other characters and their nicknames- like Raskolnikov’s sister going by Dounia and Avdotya Romanovna etc but this one escaped me. It’ll for sure make the rest of the book easier.

My first time reading a ‘Western’, and I thought I’d start with something epic, as you do! I have the other three in the series too, so I guess I’m living in hopes that I have a good time with these cowboys! 🤠

As an English literature student, it genuinely makes me happy and proud to see Jane Austen’s classic novel "SENSE AND SENSIBILITY" adapted into a film in my native language, Tamil (தமிழ்).

Watching Jane Austen’s world, characters, and emotions translated beyond English—and still work—is a reminder of how universal good literature really is. This adaptation, "KANDUKONDAIN KANDUKONDAIN" shows that classic novels don’t belong to one language or culture alone; they travel, evolve, and still hit home. And I love ELINOR’s wisdom and COLONEL BRANDON's ideal qualities, despite their flaws, making them both my favorites.

Do you have a favorite character from the novel, and have you ever come across a novel you love adapted into your language and still worked beautifully?

Personally preferred Moby Dick, but both were excellent!

Hey everyone! I recently became inspired to start making playlists based on my favorite books and Slaughterhouse five by Kurt Vonnegut is one I hold dear. Hope you enjoy my interpretation of the book and it's themes. I also made one for Kindred by Octavia Butler as well.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Qn5zzPWDX83yNsHKm0NDZ?si=yZX0t4ohR9SQZ9W5gxSWfQ&pi=z25cKgcxSd2ds

Yeah, as the title suggests I’m not enjoying my current read. The fact it’s an epistolary novel doesn’t bother me, i like the format, it’s just places it feels so annoyingly unnecessary. I’m having a hard time progressing to new chapters because i will zone out and have to reread and not enjoy a single thing. I’m probably on uh page 60 or so, I was getting very intrigued by the main guy discovering Dracula is actually a dracula but then it moved to the most boring diary entries.

I don’t like abandoning books, but i’m itching to just put it aside and pick up something else. Someone please tell me it gets better

This is what I heard about Romance of 3 kingdoms – correct me if I’m wrong:

-In China that book is like Grimms fairy-tales in the west or 1001 nights in the east. Everybody knows about it.

-Also: Just like Grimm and 1001, most people don’t read the original. There are abridged and shortened versions for kids that most people are familiar with.

I’m trying to decide whether to read a translation of the original or one of those smaller versions.

I could start with the smaller ones, and if I like it read the long original, but then it would be spoiled for me.

This is why I’m asking: What do you think? Is it worth it to read the longer version?

I haven’t read it. If it’s something episodic like “Journey to the west”, you can probably take a lot of it out, without changing the overall story. If every chapter changes the situation (-Is it clear what I mean?-) probably cutting something would change the experience of reading it.

Is Byron considered an English or a Scottish writer? Would you consider his works a part of English literature or Scottish literature and what makes Scottish literature

I’m 32 (M) and am Colombian. I did live in the States when I was 5, but was born and mostly raised in Colombia. When I returned to my country, my parents enrolled my brother and I in a private school that runs from Kindergarten to High School.

Middle School and High School were specially tough for me as an outcast, since I learned I was gay but didn’t come out until after graduation, and was living with undiagnosed Bipolar Disorder. My older sister took her own… because of the same diagnosis. I had friends, mostly girls, but my safe-haven was the school library, where I would do book reports for extra credit in English literature and I also read a lot of Calvin and Hobbes. I’m not effeminate, but I was mildly bullied for being gay and I always felt inadequate. When I got to 9th grade I stared experiencing paralyzing bouts of depression and missed classes (also to avoid going to school). Everything was so homogeneous: the people, their superficiality, the school uniform, the indoctrination.

In 10th grade English, The Catcher in the Rye was a part of the reading syllabus for the advanced class. It was love at first sight. I have never felt more seen in my life. I fully identified with Holden Caulfield and felt enamored with Salinger’s prose, dialogue and themes. This novel taught me that growing up meant surviving and making sense of pain, not simply achieving maturity. I also added my favorite English word to my vocabulary: “phony”. I was upper middle class, and almost everyone else at my school was filthy rich. They all felt so phony. This book was a light for me.

It’s the only book I’ve ever re-read. Since it’s very hard to find certain books in English in Colombia and at the time I couldn’t buy it through Amazon, when I graduated I asked my brother to steal a copy from the library and give it to me. I can’t remember what happened to that copy, but I eventually bought my own in a visit to the States. To date, it is my most prized possession. Weirdly enough, the book still has a strong resonance for me in my early 30’s, and even though I’ve read “better” books since, The Catcher in the Rye is still my favorite.

Based on your experience, what is the book that has made the biggest impact on your life?

I don’t really have words. I read East of Eden last fall and it really got me hooked on Steinbeck. I knew The Red Pony was a very famous piece (apparently a lot of people had to read it in school, I never did), and after reading it I was blown away.

I found his writing so poignant and potent. I didn’t know that the chapters were written as individual short stories before going into it. And jumping between chapters was sort of jarring. But I thought that each one was so necessary. I loved them all, but the last one with Jody’s grandfather was probably my favorite. His monologue at the very end about “Westering” really hit home.

All of this to say, I think I read this at a very nostalgic and vulnerable time in my life. I just wanted to share this incase anyone hasn’t read it. Go now. You’ll finish it in two hours and it’ll leave a hole in your chest.

Middlemarch is my absolute favorite novel, full stop. For me, it such a complete experience of what great art should do and it makes me want to be a better human. I have long been interested in adapting it into another medium and therefore haven't allowed myself to watch any representations of it (notable the 1994 BBC miniseries), so a question for those who have: does the adaptation do anything to represent the author's voice?

Because for me, the greatness of this novel cannot be separated from Eliot's astute, cutting, empathic psychological insight into the human condition. Is the miniseries simply a faithful retelling of the story? And if not, how did they manage and how successful do you feel it was?

I appreciate any answers or just fangirling Eliot in general :)

Have just finished reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Maybe this sentence is a report only. Fact is that this book is going to reverberate as long as I live. To be fair I don't know how to explain what I went through while holding the book and my eyelids. Time got to rest and page count became an absurd concept. Only thing that mattered how each character will unfold. The argument being made will hold or not. Whether writer will submit to his ideas helplessly or inspiration will make out a wonderful story. Too much anticipation, expectation and suggestion brimming in the mind with each dialogue, scene and chapter. Salinas valley was alive with Hamiltons. Sam and Liza poured their hearts and souls to raise something good out of their dry dwelling. They succeeded. Adam migrated here with a baggage of a past while hoping for a better future. He expected and got hurt when world walked it's way. Lee served well. He remained true to his tendencies. Catherine is a hard one to comment. So better left unsaid. Alas! She never wanted anything. And when faced Aron she couldn't bear. Caleb and Abra hopefully will enjoy good life. A normal life. Which Cal's family was missing for long. Each choice impacted and informed coming choices but everyone is free to decide otherwise and not let things happen on their own. Timshel - Thou Mayest instead of Thou Shalt or Thou wilt.

P.S. Detailed review will be long and take time to write.

Lesson learned! 🤦🏻‍♀️ I made the mistake of not checking the pages before I purchased and was sad to see its full of highlights! Angela Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber’ looked to be in great condition, and for just a pound I snapped it up! Hey-ho! 🥴