anisha_inkspill's reviews
154 reviews

 I enjoyed coming back and reading this. Yeah, the plot is predictable for me but it’s build-up and its central mystery were just as intriguing. The story does pick up for me, and though I knew what came, I still wanted Mary to escape. 

The edition I read is by Penguin translated by Justin O'Brien added more context with an Afterword by James Wood. 

The main essay, The Myth of Sisyphus, makes an interesting read, it has also so far left me with the clearest understanding of the idea of the absurd. All six essays have these moments of wonderful descriptions that made this an enjoyable read. 

I’m left speechless, my first response is the four stories that make this mini collection are sad as they are beautiful in how they each show the human condition. 

The four stories are: First Sorrow; Little Women; A Hunger-Artist; and Josefine the singer, or the Mouse People 

In this abridged journal by Sylvia Plath, what stands out to me, as it does in her other work is her writing. The journal is a mix of writer’s and reader’s diary along with private recordings. What emerges is a complex picture of an ambitious, intelligent woman who is trying to achieve the things that are important to her. Throughout there is commentary to bridge the entries, and I like how her last entry has a casual, upbeat open-ended note, whenever I read Sylvia Plath's work, I am always left with the sense that what really mattered to her was her writing. 

 This book has been on my shelf for years waiting patiently for me to be ready to read it. What amazed me is I enjoyed reading this; I was expecting a dry difficult read with poems that I would not be able to connect to, and though it was tough trying keep up with all the characters and what was going on, the most thrilling part is to read something so very old. 

I enjoyed reading this and found it very informative, but it felt disjointed and didn’t have the big wow!!! factor of what these five women achieved in their own time against what was expected of them back then.  Of the five I know some poetry of Hilda Doolittle (H.D) and works by Virginia Woolf. Dorothy L Sayers I’ve heard of (until I read this, I hadn’t realised she wrote more than crime fiction), and the last two were new to me – Jane Harrison (classicist) and Eileen Power (economic historian). 

Greek myths retold for a very young audience; Theseus is described as a good king for listening to his mum, and Medea as wicked and naughty. 

Parts of this are outdated but my younger self would have still found these stories fun and engaging. Here there’s adventures, a little bit of magic, monsters to fight, some quirky characters and heroic deeds. When the book ended I wanted it to carry on and tell me more stories. 

 Fascinating and enjoyable are not how I would have described reading Plato’s <i>Republic</i>. I’ve had this on my tbr since 2016, I’ve always imagined this would be impossible to understand, turgid and really, really hard work but instead it was the complete opposite, and what a read!!! I didn’t grasp everything but I was okay with this as I intend to read this several more times more whilst trying to get more familiar with global ancient history. 

I like this more for it heroic read is how it shows the people involved are from all walks of life, and other parts of the world, where most of them had no expectation of being credited, receiving pay or a reward for their contribution to make the OED. 

This is not a perfect read but for me an interesting one. 

 This is a mix of fiction and nonfiction. In its fiction mode, there are many moments that make this 1000+ page worth reading; some are very sad, whilst others made me smile. Gavroche’s spirit is wonderful (for one so young he’s been through so much and yet is so free and so brave) but it’s Jean Valjean and Fantine that make the story. And though I didn’t like the ending, it was the right ending, as a whole this has left quite an impression on me.