Irene
Mockingjay was more entertaining than catching fire but the writing and the pace fell kinda off. Objectively speaking probably was the worst from the 3 but the plot was way more fun :) Also even though the movie of catching fire was more fun than the book, the book of mockingjay was definitely better than what they did to movies.
Overall a very good read, very hopeful and bright.
I believe this book is great for kids between the age 14-17, I think it would make them think a lot about the future in a hopeful way, so they can start asking themselves on what they actually want to do and what it would make them feel fulfillment. In what kind of way they can participate in this world. What they think it's their personal treasure in this life and their purpose. Law of attraction is a big theme in this book and overall the search of a bigger existence than humans, something greater without giving it a specific figure which I love and once again very optimistic view.
But personally I am past this age for about a decade and I am past my existential problems so for about half of them book I couldn't say it touched me in any way.
I really loved how pure the love was described in it, once again very hopeful very innocently in a good way and overall how without making a complex adventure this book makes the reader to think.
I am like other people, I see the world as I would like it to be and not as it really is.
I don't want to change because I don't know how to change. I got used to myself too much.
Because Mecca keeps me alive. Only she helps me and I endure all those always same days, those mugga jars, lunch and dinner at that awful restaurant.
I'm afraid to make my dream come true and have no reason to exist
I found the trilogy on Vinted for 5 so I was like why not?At some point I needed to complete it and I needed a break from what I was reading, it's a good book for a break and maybe I would have enjoyed it better if I was reading it in a vacation or a trip.
I read the first one when I was a teen, I wasn't fond of it so it's not surprise that I find it even more mediocre now. I had completely forgotten what was happening in the first one but there was no way I would read the first one so I did read an analysis of it and I have to say that the analysis of 12 paragraphs or so, summed the first book completely.
Very easy to read and what I mean by that is that it doesn't really simulate your brain or needs that much brain power, which isn't a bad thing (I needed something like this) but for the times it has been called a masterpiece I think it's important to mention it. The writing is fine, above average for today's standards for sure but nothing I would describe as lyrically beautiful or great. The characters are annoying through and that's what made the experience unpleasant for me and compared to the first one that the premise was somewhat interesting and above average the second was mostly focused on the annoying characters.
2.5 for average but maybe I am just a hater that doesn't understand the genre. When I am finished with the 3rd they will go back on Vinted.
Μα τι ωραίο βιβλίο και πόσο νοσταλγικό όταν το διαβάζεις ως ενήλικας πάλι.
Όπως και άλλοι και εγώ είχα διαβάσει πρώτη φορά αυτό το ανάγνωσμα όταν ήμουν μικρή και μου είχε μείνει η περιπέτεια των παιδιών. Με επηρέασε αρκετά ως παιδί, σε βαθμό που θυμάμαι να λέω στους γονείς μου ότι θέλω να κάνω και εγώ κάτι παρόμοιο.
Το βιβλίο περιέχει 4 μικρά διηγήματα από τον Luigi Pirandello. Συμπαθητικό βιβλίο που διαβάζετε εύκολα, με απλό αλλά πολύ όμορφο λόγο.
Το πρώτο διήγημα είναι “Η πρώτη νύχτα” που είναι μια πολύ μικρή ιστορία για 2 ανθρώπους που από ανάγκη παντρεύονται μεταξύ τους ενώ είναι και οι δύο προσκολλημένοι με τους συντρόφους τους που έχουν πεθάνει.
Το δεύτερο η “Νυχτερίδα” που είναι για έναν σκηνοθέτη(και σεναριογράφο) θεάτρου, ο οποίος κερδίζει τον θαυμασμό του κοινου για το έργο που ανέβασε, από έναν εξωτερικό παράγοντα και όχι από το έργο που αυτός δημιούργησε.
3ο Είναι το “Εάν” που ως κύριο θέμα είναι το φαινόμενο της πεταλούδας(περίπου) και πόσο ελέγχει πραγματικά ο άνθρωπος τη ζωή του και σε τι βαθμό δρα παρορμητικά χρησιμοποιώντας μόνο τα ανθρώπινα ένστικτα του;
και τελευταίο διήγημα και ποιο ενδιαφέρον είναι “το καθήκον του γιατρού” αν και θα έπρεπε να είναι μεγαλύτερο (είχε περιθώριο να εξελιχθεί) Πολύ δυνατή ιστορία η οποία θα μπορούσε να εξελιχθεί σε βιβλίο.
Very disturbing read, mostly because the end of Kafka was very similar to the protagonist.
So everyone knows the analysis of this book and how Kafka wanted to show the the disconnection of the spirit from the body, alienation from the social environment and the boundaries of sympathy and kindness from humans. How when you lose contact with people from your environment and dissociate from it, you are consumed with speculating about their moods and how that reflects on your own insecurities and your own fears and at the troubled relationship his father.Besides those I will also share some interesting things. The protagonist of this story, is a man that his whole family depends on. His parents for their debt and his sister for her dreams. He mentions how little he cares about his job, showing that he had no passion for it or anything else and we also see how everyone in his family has taken him for granted. In the beginning even thought they panic for their son becoming a bug and losing him, they seem more panicked about money and how now they need to work and fire their current housekeeper.From being the man that everyone's depends on, he ends up becoming a bug that completely depends on others for his survival.An interesting point in the book is his sister as well. She is the only one that keeps some kind of relationship with him, taking care of him in a sense when no one else wants too and at the end she is the first person to say that he needs to die so they can live. He was betrayed from the only human he had a relationship with.I would also say about his parents that it's mentioned how little interest they had for his sister when she had no use in the house. He mentions how his parents didn't bother with her, and they finally showed interest only when she started doing something they couldn't, in the house and when she started working and bringing money. The same thing seems to happen with the protagonist. When he became useless they lost their interest in him, so I can't say that it's only him projecting his own thoughts of his parents since they appear to be a certain type of people. There are some contradictions that are interesting as well. The protagonist seems that he wants to disappear, so no one notices him but at the same time when the people around him start ignoring his existence he doesn't like it. The same thing happens with his room and his furniture. He wants space so he can climb freely in the walls, but when his mother and sister try to take his human belongings he gets defensive about them.Overall I would say we see a man who his deepest desire is to give up. He subconsciously makes some attempts to show to those around him, that there's still human in him, still hope with his contradictory acts but the others around him have given up on him before he did.
Victor Hugo himself said that this book was written for all the nations but especially for France and Italy in the 19th century “ where the man lives uneducated and desperate, where the woman sells her body for a piece of bread, where the child suffers from illiteracy and lack of education, the book of the Les Miserables will knock the door”
So almost 2 centuries from the writing of this book and unfortunately what he describes is still happening, not in France and especially Paris and not in Italy but there are plenty of countries still in this situation.
When it comes to religion which is a relatively big part of the book he touches the theme in such a great way. Challenging and critisizing it and at the same time recognizing the need in human beings to believe in something above them, the need for searching for something deeper in human nature.
“The monastery puts salvation as its purpose, but then handles sacrifice as a medium. It's selfishness. It reaches the extreme of self-abnegation”
“She was never taught to communicate with God and yet inside her at that moment she felt something divine, a redemptive hope that went high into the heavens”
He describes the French revolution and the civil conflict in Paris with their last ever king and he puts characters who were fighting for their ideals and they were ready to die for them and once again he doesn't dissapoint doing it. (I am so used by americans taking greek history and molding it how they want too and reading something that it's in fact fiction but historically correct at the same time was refreshing)
“tribes stagnant in doctrine or corrupted by speculation are incapable of advancing civilization” oh only if he lived to see which country influences the other ones for a few decades now
“This book is a drama starring infinity. Second person is the man.” describes les miserables accurately
*I half disagree with one point he tries to make(I do understand where he is coming from thought) and I was debating if I should cut 0.25-0.5 but honestly I think if he could see today's crimes, he would change his mind about it
Oh only if I could write better and kept notes.
I hated everything about it.
I went in with high expectations since I loved her crime book series and the dissapontment was even bigger with whatever this was.
I can't see how this book got marketed as a “feminist” book.
The woman kills 2 men(one of them casually with no reason) and she wastes 3 years of her life going after her ex because he cheated.She and her husband are pretty similar. They both liked younger people, both of them are extremely ambitious, extremely selfish and lack compassion to the point that they could be considered sociopaths. They would do anything to reach their goal and the only difference is that she is a murderer while in the last few pages(trying to save the story) Lackberg makes him a pedo.If you are interested in the human nature in it's worse, I think this book may be interesting but to prove that gender has nothing to do with how shitty someone can be. She casually kills someone when she is like 20 because he may talk to her future husband about her past. She goes after her husband because he is extremely ambitious, he has status, his name counts and she dreams of villas, millions, pools and every materialistic thing you can imagine with him. She gets older, husband ignores her, she gained weight and in almost every 2 chapters she mentions how skinny, younger and more beautiful but pathetic the other women are because they aren't as smart as her.(The irony is she herself goes after fit younger guys later on) Founds out her husband cheats(he gave every sign) with a younger, hotter woman and she plans a revenge that the maths ain't mathin when she gives a valuation of 10m(I don't remember how much they gave her for the 10 percent for sure) in a company she wants to build that doesn't even exist yet in an oversaturated market. For 3 years she focuses on this shitty man(because she is shitty herself probably) and her revenge because he was cheating(thing is that she also cheated). Like I said if Lackberg didn't made her ex a pedo last minute in a chance to save the nonsense plotthis book would be a nice 0.5, but I could still tell that she used it as saving.There are even more things that don't make any sense. Saying something like every woman has been cheated on at least once is ridiculous since the possibilities of a man cheating is the same as a woman. it's 50-50, Also, there is not a chance she would be able to make huge profit from her silly company in 3 years no matter the funds and the marketing especially because the funds were so high, that's why investors stay for 3-4 years until they make their money back in startups. Moving on the way she talks to her investors is ridiculous , no one would take her resioulsy when asking for funding, no matter the name of her ex. Plus the whole comparison with other women who were skinnier, prettier and younger, just made it clear how insecure she was for herself and like I said she herself liked her men younger and fit.
I didn't expect to like it but I did, I am surprised with myself.
I started reading it with no expectations, I knew it had supernatural elements and I am not a fan of that, but it didn't even bother me.
The writing was just so beautiful, so beautiful and yet simple at the same time. The setting of the mood between the girls and the detailed description of the girls and especially Carmilla was just chef's kiss.
The fact that it didn't drag at all was also a bonus.
What can I say? Genius.
Orwell was one of the few political writers that criticized the left just as much as the right after he had some first hand experience in the war in Spain.
The animal farm is a book about Soviet Union and the “battle” for leadership between Trotsky(Snowball) and Stalin(Napoleon). It shows how Stalin managed to get Trotsky out of the country, even though he wanted to kill him sooner, the propaganda that was going on against Trotsky and how he managed to convince the public he was a traitor, the false promises and hopes the people had and how the man who said he was different from his enemies wasn't different at all.
When I first read it as a kid with my dad I really thought that it had a moral message of how greed and a position of power can corrupt people but in the case of Stalin(Napoleon) I wouldn't say that was the case.
The only problem I have, that I may be false because maybe I don't remember correctly, is that Orwell portrays Stalin as useless, without his own ideas at all and I don't think Stalin was that useless. Stalin was criticized for not being as intelligent as Trotsky or Lenin but Orwell basically makes Stalin a man who can't stand on his own and he relays heavily on others.
A good short book explaining the history of capitalism or at least a part of it. Very focused on history.
It concludes that capitalism so far is the economical system that we have seen the most economical growth which is true, working class could rise up. At the moment and at least in USA the way they practice capitalism doesn't seem to work however. Switzerland and Luxembourg seem to have made it.
I read this in 2016 I believe so my review won't be as accurate as I would want it to be but the I won't change the rating.
I loved the theme and the hypothesis of this book, I tend to like books that focus on the relationships between mothers and daughters. The plot was genius in my opinion and that's why I loved the mini series based on it BUT I hated the writing. The way Gillian Flynn wrote was so off putting to me, it felt like it was written by a 16-18yo and with such a good plot it felt like crime.
''Richard argues that eternally youthful gay men do more harm to the gay movement than do men who seduce little boys'' yeahhhh, no I can't read this at the moment. Imagine thinking that a gay manchild(coughing baby) does more harm to the gay movement than a gay pedo(atomic bomb). Gay men fought to be separated with the pedos they share the same sexuality with, Richard's character definitely wouldn't move an inch to help about that. Haha so funny, this is the man who is dying from AIDS and I should feel sorry about? I have zero empathy points to give. I am way too sensitive at the moment for that!
Such a waste because the prose is good, the prologue is written beautifully even though the theme is disturbing. Maybe if I hadn't read what I read so recently maybe just maybe I could ignore it and move on with it but atm I just can't. I am indeed very sensitive about that atm.
I should have bought Carol by Patricia Highsmith.
Read in 2016. The first book that made me feel sick. No thriller or horror book ever touched me like leopard did. The huge descriptions and the sickening details it had, were the best thing. It actually made my skin crawl and I have a hard time feeling anything.