First, I think it’s really funny to pair a café business with prostitution. They work late into the night and get up at the crack of dawn to work in the cafe? When do they sleep? And if they’re a prostitute, why isn’t that enough of an income? They really need to work what would have to be a low wage job at a cafe to supplement? So weird.

Secondly, there was very little relationship building or even interactions with Ty and Damien, so it was hard to see their connection.

Honestly, I was kind of bored with it. And Ty was just a giant idiot. The conflicts in this were all about a lack of communication and could have been easily avoided, mostly by Ty divulging important info, and Damien doing the same in the beginning. Basically it got old.

I was curious about Sebastian and Daniel, but apparently there are several more books in the series, but none about them.

Also, Eli approaching Damien was totally unprofessional and a little weird. And it didn’t really seem to add anything to the story or give Damien very much insight into Ty

Maybe 3.5 stars
Read on kindle

Human beings have always known for succumbing to certain ways of consumption patterns of material and non-material entities under the name of this complex whole of culture. Other than this socially obliged conspicuous form of consumption that could be observed in everyday trivial mass activities, there are factors of psychology influenced by what he calls as 'myth' some of which were elucidated by Barthes using then contemporary cultural references of the French society varying from literary articles, wrestling matches, court cases, Charlie Chaplin, Einstein's brain, politics, advertising, etc., These reflections were initially published as monthly articles in French newspapers between 1954 and 1956 ( except for the wrestling essay in 1952), and writing these essays had more to do with the attitude of mass cultural behaviour of seeing things as 'natural' with "which newspapers, art and common sense dress up a reality which even though it is one we live in, is undoubtedly determined by history."

The second part of the work 'Myth today' by which Barthes associates using the series of essays to generalize this theory of myth using semiological elements and ideologies driving to the birth of ephemeral forms yet everlasting myths. This is a highly recommended reading for whoever interested in exploring what it means to be a linguist, mythologist or a cultural anthropologist for that matter. And surely, this particular essay needs a lot of revisiting.

"this is the case with mythology: it is a part both of semiology inasmuch as it is a formal science, and of ideology inasmuch as it is an historical science: it studies ideas-in-form."

This one is written in third person present tense, which is kind of a jarring choice, but I got used to it. It's an interesting premise and world, but the execution was a bit weird.

This book was my introduction to Roland Barthes and semiology, and I can't believe what I've been missing. He examines relatively mundane cultural myths, and it is simply brilliant. His use and examination of language is perfect, and I will reread this book regularly.

My favorite essay, by far, was "Novels and Children." He examines an Elle article about female novelists, and notes their writing is heralded along with (and truly, secondary to) their maternal accomplishments. Given that Wikipedia's American Novelists list was recently pared of female writers, who were shunted to a category just for lady writers, this is still a painfully relevant topic. It was a delight to read.

It is not a "beach read" by any means; it requires quite a bit of thought and consideration. I loved his perspective, and I'm inspired and awestruck. Though I'm not a French speaker, I would assume I have to praise the translations of Barthes' Mythologies by Richard Howard and Myth Today by Annette Lavers.

I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for an intelligent read. Many of the myths he examined from 1954-56 in French culture are relevant to American culture in 2013. I hate to say I found it surprising and a touch mind-boggling, but I do. I truly loved his linguistic and cultural examinations. I cannot recommend this enough; I would give a copy to everyone I know if I could.

After spending a semester with Barthes and pairing it with the Best American Non-required reading 2006 book, I'd say I got a lot out of it. A lot our class (that we read this book for) really didn't like Barthes, primarily because he is so abstract and likes to use the flowery language. I think for the average reader, this is a book where you have to slow down and think about every word, every sentence, every paragraph to get what he is saying in the slightest bit, which is good because it challenges the brain! That's why I did like the book so much. As much as I hated being abstract and trying to decipher it's text, it made me stronger as a reader and a writer. Good ole Barthes! :D