ranam's reviews
82 reviews

I really enjoyed this epic poem about the brave, courageous, noble, monster-killer:  Beowulf. There is a perpetual reference to God in the purely and strictly monotheistic sense of the word except near the end where the term Father in heaven is used. I can't believe this text had to be translated before it became what it is today. The meter and rhyme used throughout is perfect in English and adds value to th  opinion that it's native tongue is that. As an aesthetic artifiact, an object of beauty, it's obvious that the author should be credited with the language and style, not the translator. The author is anonymous and no one knows who wrote it or why. The back cover said it was written in England before the Norman conquest. The defense rests its case.

A brave indictment against conventional ideas of beauty by society's impressionable standards, I think  this book is important because it raises awarenes  for inner beauty over outward unlike what is held valuable in superficial societies. 

This book's writing is superb. However, the main character's suicide idealization near the end was perturbing. From what I read  Virginia Woolf committed suicide.

This was a nifty read. I found all of the vignettes poignant, smart, and beautifully written in poetic prose. Einstein dreams about a series of scenarios that have time as a concept as their theme.  These worlds can exist with or without time. Time is either fluid or inert or non-existent. It is malleable, crossing into the realm of sci-fi. 
One example of such a world is one in which every day is the end of time.  People stop caring about anything and engage in activities they would not have at any other time. But is time a circle in such a world without any allusion to a hereafter? Are the citizens of such a world  destined to keep living the same day infinitely?

There's another issue I'd like to discuss. There's a type of person who lives in the past, refusing to move forward,  clinging to good times and happy memories. This person leads a stagnant,  fossilized life. In this world, the past and present are indistinguishable.  The past is gone, the future unknown and the present is a gift; that's why it's called the present.

My only issue is that the past was once the present. Even in heaven,  people have good memories from their previous life. Time I believe is linear because you can't repeat the past once it's gone even if you tried.  Each memory is etched in time like text on a chalk board, continually changing in the perspective of the memory holder.  I don't think the present can ever be indistinguishable  from the  past. Life goes on. 

You are dead and brought to life,  then you pass away, then you are brought before the Lord for judgment and sentenced to heaven or hell based on your book of deeds. Then you will have everlasting bliss or misery, the fire with charcoal to drink  or gardens with rivers of pure water, milk, honey, and wine of glorious substance without intoxicating qualities.
Time is just another creation based on quality, not quantity.  Not insurmountable but mercurial. There's a new standard for the next life.

Rana M.
 

The main character,  the narrarater, is a self-avowed anti-hero; cruel,  mean and lacking any ethical boundaries , he needlessly suffers for his transgressions because he is sick and tries to subjugate people, even those who love him in spite of his reclusive  predilection.  He only torments himself however.  No one stays behind to bother him  

He reminds me of Dorian Gray, James Taggart of Atlas Shrugged, the stranger in Camus and the main character of Blue Eyes, Black Hair by Marguerite Duras. How can you believe in your own existence and not in the existence of a Creator.

This is a unique, beautiful magical realism novel with Faustian themes and a lovely love story. Margherita is the heroine of this book. She saves her lover's manuscript from the fire and is a real champion of his hard work and efforts. If you believe in God, the devil,  and Jesus through the eyes of his enemies and his people, or the priceless souls of human beings as evidenced by their pain, anguish and sorrow then please do not pass up this novel.

This was sweet.  It's filled with an array of characters: specters,  gryphons, ogres, dragons, human royalty, fairies, scorcerers and dwarves. It was a bit slow-paced, but the last half or so of the book went by quickly enough.  I loved the fantastical elements that likened it to Ella Enchanted, the only other book I read by her. Good read. 

This book is so funny.  It focuses on the exploits of two British male friends in what is now modern day Afghanistan. Like the themes in this type of sub-genre , its women (in this case from the  indigenous population) that thwart the colonists ambitions to rule over their people.  They lust after them and say they look like British women.  That's their hubris,  women. 

I got this copy from @crownpublishing. I felt like shedding pure cathartic tears by the end of this book.  About two thirds of the way through I wasn't sure how I felt about it,  but further on it became quite engrossing. Part of the reason I had ambivalent feelings was my  averse dislike of the characters. Also  I understood the main theme was normalcy, it was interesting to think  about it,  what it reveals about communities, people and their desire to belong,  but that word,  normal,
was so repetively used through out the work that it felt like overkill and Rooney was beating me over the head with it. 
Still, it was romantic.