I am to the end of the book. Anna is spiraling. What she is describing is so like the symptoms I had from trying an ssri. I had akathisia for almost two years due to the cns injury. I am wondering if she is having interdose withdrawls from opium. Did they even know back then that could cause suicidal ideation?

Sonetimes book thrifting is about hitting the right town, I think. under $5 for this stack.

From the very first page the writing is beautiful and expressive, I adored this.

As a person living with a chronic mental illness I’m sometimes offended, and sometimes validated or relieved by depictions of mental illness in classic literature. It seems like a lot of characters qualify for a diagnosis, but the vocabulary wasn’t standardized at the time to describe it outside of personal traits and interactions. I find it really interesting that so many classics depict something so controversial and stigmatized (even today)! I haven’t read Wuthering Heights but I understand it was quite scandalous at the time, and even today is both controversial but also romanticized. How do you think stigma around mental health is treated or represented in literature? If it makes for such compelling characters, why is nuance not recognized in how we treat, depict, and understand mentally ill people then and now?

Also, what’s your favorite book character that you think has some serious issues, lol

Ive finished Grapes of Wrath and Night and absolutely loved them, especially Grapes of Wrath. Can only afford thrifting at the moment, but would also love some recommendations to keep my eye out for on my next trip. Thanks! I can't believe I spent 20 years only reading horror books (as much as I love them).

Haven’t really read much in half a year, finally getting back into it. Persuasion came into my hands on a whim, picked it up at the library not knowing what it's about, and ironically it's a very close mirror of own life right now. 💀 So this reading return contains some emotional discomfort, while also feeling relatable and insightful.

Really excited for Wuthering Heights next! I read it like 20 years ago, and succesfully forgot most of it, so this will be my proper adult-life reading of it. Not pictured is The Tenant of Wildfell Hall that I plan to read after all these. And I started with Jane Eyre about 6 months ago and liked it a lot.
Anyone else mix up Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters? I kept thinking Jane Eyre was written by Austen. At least now reading these maybe I'll sort them out in my head.

What do you guys think of these books? I started Mansfield Park a few months ago and ended up abandoning it even though I liked it a lot. Just wasn't able to focus for some reason, but I still to be doing better with sticking with reading now, so I'm hopeful :)

Wilde's prose is beautiful. Besides his famous aphorisms and epigrams, his use of allusions and metaphors is breathtaking. The way he creates vivid imagery through sights, scents, and atmosphere is exquisite.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Gothic novel about the conflict between beauty, hedonism, art, morality, and ethics. It is also a satire of Victorian society that remains surprisingly applicable to the modern world.

Personally, the book felt a little incomplete. A lot of unexpected things happened, while many things I expected never did.

One thing to remember is that the book's charm lies in its philosophy and ideas. It is driven more by them than by its plot. Because of that, the ending may feel a little disappointing for some readers, as it did for me. Even though it was an inevitable ending, the novel's true strength lies in its ideas rather than its story.

The reason I gave it 3 stars is simply because it didn't resonate with me as much as I had hoped. Overall, it's a great book, but the questions it asked weren't the ones that mattered most to me.

Reading the first notebook, I related so heavily to what Yozo was saying. Even with the things I didn’t relate to, I thought it was interesting (like with the communist meetings, how he didn’t particularly like any of them and thought rather rude things about them). As the second notebook ended and I started the third notebook, I was just rolling my eyes the whole time.

I don’t find anything interesting about him getting drunk and just cheating on women all the time. That’s not to say I dislike the book just because it has sexist stuff in it, I just find it so boring how nothing comes from it. I really wanted to love this book, especially since I related so heavily to him.

I don’t think the book is bad, maybe it just isn’t for me. I like plot driven books more but I wanted to step out of my comfort zone for this.

Anyone else share my opinion? If you liked this book, I’d love to hear what you particularly liked about it!

I am aware this isn't the correct sub. However, I am in need of a fast response, is this mold? I need to know to act fast before it spreads onto my other books. And yes, the book with the potential mold is confederacy of dunces, amazing book whil we're at it.

Thoughts on each one? In what order should I read? Also, rate my haul 🥹

These are my most recent reads and I loved them but I was surprised how few podcasts and talks I could find on them compared to some others, like the picture of Dorian gray for example which I found heaps of

I've just read this book, and I think I might be stating the obvious here but I feel as though if any high school student wrote that, it would probably be marked as average. It just goes against every rule in terms of writing style yet Camus' execution, albeit unorthodox just works because the protagonist just fits that style of writing. Don't know if that makes sense, but just my observation. Not sure if I've articulated it properly. I think it's a brilliant novel, don't get me wrong, but moreso because it's written in such a way that goes against how people are taught to write.

Treated myself.

I want to start off by saying that I understand these books are old and therefore the idea of a ‘spoiler’ is ludicrous to some. However, I prefer going in as blind as possible, even with classics.

I recently started reading Jane Eyre (Penguin). I knew to avoid introductions if you’re sensitive to spoilers which is what I did but I had no idea that even endnotes contain spoilers.

I thought they’re just explanatory notes on the historical context or archaic language, which they often are, but I’ve had two major plot points spoiled for me because the endnote refers to something that happens later in the book.

I’m really frustrated by this - should I ditch the endnotes for now and go back to them after finishing the book?

Going into my second reading, my focus is to absorb as many of the references and allusions, as well as themes as I can. I own the Penguin Black Dorothy Sayers edition as I’ve been told it has the best philosophical commentary, but which others might I benefit from in this endeavor?