i know i’m about a week late to the start of this but this seems like a lot of fun!! i’m reading wicked right now and i’ve been meaning to read howl’s moving castle since i got it, so this is a great opportunity to read both :D
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Today is meant to be progress update day.
However my brain is being evil
[1]— therefore I currently don't have the ability to write a post in the way I'd like, which stresses me out and makes me feel quite disappointed.
But I believe that to post nothing would be worse. I promise that I haven't forgot; I do care about what gardeners are reading.
Feel free to share your thoughts on what you've managed to read, how you're progressing and any other updates you want to share ^^
Thank you for your patience.
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Only read 14 chapters of HNK but I have "enjoyed" it and it will be far more than I have recreationally read in the last few years if I keep on reading
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I have fully finished I have no mouth and i must scream
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I have currently finished 1 out of 2 of the novels I promised to read: Anxious People, which I devoured over the course of one evening because I found it a fun read. It was only roughly 350 pages, so not very long, but I don't think it needed to be any longer than that!
As for the other novel, Magpie Murders, I'm only about 1/4th of the way through. Which might be half of the way through the fictional mystery novel inside of the overall novel? I don't know how it works, yet.
The rest of this post is going to Sissel's honest review of Anxious People, which you may find boring, so feel free to skip. Here you go!
Anxious People
The way this book is written is very odd. It's a non-linear story, hopping and skipping around the timeline as it pleases in order to construct the story it wants to tell. If I were to summarize how it feels to read it concisely... This book reads like how it feels to watch this video:
It's not a bad thing at all! The novel just really likes to go:
Here's what happened. Okay, that didn't actually happen, this is what really happened. Oh, by the way, here's some seemingly unrelated plot line. Okay, back to what we were talking about. What were we talking about again? Oh right, we were talking about what happened. See, I was kidding earlier, here's what actually happened for real this time (this time is also incorrect). Remember that character that I mentioned at the start of the novel who seemed to be very important to the plot? Yeah, they're not going to be mentioned for the rest of the novel, even though they were supposedly present for most of the book's scenes. Wonder what that's about?
It's a lot! I guess I'm describing the novel as super confusing, but it's actually a super easy read, and you can frankly just read what the book is telling you at each original moment and at the end you'll be fine.
Past the unique way of telling its story, this book is a real treat that is full of compassion. It's a genuinely heartwarming tale about a would-be bank robbery that spirals out of control until it's something completely different. It contains just the right amount of dry humour to counterbalance the more weighty topics that it fits just right into the niche that I enjoy. Also, the small amount of mystery that it has is always a plus in my book.
Overall, I would recommend it!
Thank you for reading!
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Hope you read more
Oh the art looks pretty, I'm interested.
I bought House[1] of Leaves a little while back and just haven't found the time to pick it up. I wanna read it so bad. Brain is just bad with books.
I've been meaning to read this tooooo. I like Tales of the Earthsea by Ghibli a lot even though its not the best film. I've heard that its gotten a lot of negative reception. I hadn't seen those comments by Miyazaki and Le Guin... ;w;
Makes me wanna read the source material more so.
One of my favorite books is the cute little Coral Reefs: A Very Short Introduction as the title states the book is a very short introduction to complexity of coral reefs, its a beautiful little introduction it is. I love to reread from time to time to keep my mind fresh with the knowledge. Its help to make me remember the more complex stuff I know about coral reefs that is locking brain.
Its apart of series of books called Very Short Introductions which has 700+ books in the series on a variety of different subjects. Which I have also been wanting to pick some of them up to read...
great song :3 ↩︎
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so many people have said this ive thought about making a house of leaves specific book club
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I finished Atuan not too long after making this post. It was one of those books where I poked at the first half on and off for a few months without a lot of interest and then read the second half almost all at once.
Some parts that made me cry
Listen, Tenar. Heed me. You were the vessel of evil. The evil is poured out. It is done. It is buried in its own tomb. You were never made for cruelty and darkness; you were made to hold light, as a lamp burning holds and gives its light. I found the lamp unlit; I won’t leave it on some desert island like a thing found and cast away. I’ll take you to Havnor and say to the princes of Earthsea, ‘Look! In the place of darkness I found the light, her spirit. By her an old evil was brought to nothing. By her I was brought out of the grave. By her the broken was made whole, and where there was hatred there will be peace.
I went off seeking evil, and sure enough I found it... But you come escaping evil; seeking freedom; seeking silence for a while, until you find your own way. There you will find kindness and silence, Tenar. There the lamp will burn out of the wind awhile. Will you do that?
It made me feel things I haven't really gotten to feel since I started navigating the emergency. I want to read more but I'm not sure what to try next ;-;
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I have a wonderful habit of taking on commitments and responsibilities when I am [redacted], then once I return to ""normal"" I am overwhelmed with it all. This is such an example
But I'll persist; this cat is resilient if anything 
Last month I read Howl's moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones[1], and I also completed The Mechanic by Marc 'Elvis' Priestley. I do not have the energy to write my thoughts on them at this time, however I enjoyed them both very much.
This month's theme:
"Read a book that was originally released/written in a different language (non-english)"
Wow, you want to continue reading land of the lustrous? You can.
Once again, you're not bound to the theme and if you'd like to announce your book choices in advance, feel free!
I'd like to hear others thoughts on what they read last month if anyone is willing to share ^^.
Take care and enjoy!
Actually— I'm finishing off the last chapter right now, but shh! ↩︎
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That conveniently fits with the book I'm already reading so i will be finishing Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung. (originally in Korean)
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I just finished HNK and wow... wow
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I started reading/listening to A Wizard of Earthsea before going to bed. :D
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I hope it's a really good read for you :3 I'll be curious to know what you think about how the sea is depicted in Earthsea!
I'm on to book #3, The Farthest Shore, and right now things are in the dreary slump where everything seems hopeless.
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I'm a few chapters into book two now. I'm listening to a chapter a night before bed. What the heck is being set up! [1]
A Wizard of Earthsea Spoilers
Finishing A Wizard of Earthsea a few days ago, I have had time to digest my thoughts about the book. Something I find so fascinating about the book is the shortness of the book. I felt like I was on such a long journey with Sparrowhawk but I didn't feel like the book was long. [2] Le Guin compacts a story while also giving out plenty of detail and investing us in this story. While having plenty of smaller adventures tucked in the overall bigger plot that were never distractions. Le Guin also invest us in the future by giving small foreshadowing of adventures yet to come.
I'm in wonder about how the Ocean is portrayed. Only small sprinkles of information is given. Leaving me with just questions.
The sea seems to be stormy a lot. I don't know if Le Guin is just building tension or that's just how the seas around the Earthsea are. I could see both. I know some places are, like one being Roke Island has the constant storm around the island.
Sparrowhawks travels never seem to be too long by boat. Leading me to feel the world of Earthsea seems small. While being made up of many islands instead of one singular or a couple big land masses. There seems to be more sea than land. Whish is very neat to me.
Sparrowhawk refers to the ocean being free of evil. He wishes to meet the shadow where there is no evil of the earth. Only storms and monsters. What lays below the waves then? What are these monster? Also is there not earth below the waves of the ocean floor. What makes it not evil or is the ocean a buffer to keep the evils of earth to where earth can touch air in man's domain. Its not just man that brings evil to earth because there are primal evils that predate man. While the evils of man probably further the evil of earth.
I don't recall any magic being cast on the ocean. Only smaller bodies of water. Mages don't use magic by making currents rather by using wind to blow sails.
While evil is a thing of earth also is wizardry. When Sparrowhawk and Vetch travel out past last land magic starts to weaken and act weird, particularly Vetch's magic. The power of names is a thing of earth as Sparrowhawk says when they are out past last land. The fish don't heed the summoning of fishermen's charms because the fish of the Open Sea don't know their own names.
Did Sparrowhawk and Vetch actually reach the dark lands of death where there is no water or sea by passing over the ocean? Than arrived back at the ocean after Sparrowhawk completed his task?
The story overall is wonderful! The major theme seems something along the lines of accepting ones fears/weakness/etc along with coming to age. I take the story as a struggle to understand an aspect of oneself. Being fearful and lonely in not knowing something you can't grasp about yourself. Only to find out by accepting that part of yourself. You find yourself whole and in relief. Which that hits me a certain way. [3]
Last thing I can think of to say right now is the title. Its kinda of humbling, which I love, to this great adventure that is only the start of Sparrowhawk's life. The title is not THE Wizard of Earthsea or just Wizard of Earthsea. Le Guin uses A Wizard. Making sure we know that Sparrowhawk is not something special, although gifted. They are one of the many wizards of Earthsea who all have their own stories in their own right. This particular tome just only holds the story of A certain wizard.
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I am here from the other book thread! I don't know which one is the main book thread but I saw Sanderson and remembered reading the Mistborn trilogy was really fun. Not much of a reader I think but definitely enough to get hooked. highly recommend!
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I've been done with The Tombs of Atuan for a bit. Haven't gotten too far into The Farthest Shore and haven't had time to write about this post. I've been pouring my time into Monster Hunter ^w^ [1] and Hollow Knight [2] Kinda making me not sectioning off time for listening to The Farthest Shore or write this post. I started drafting this after I finished The Tombs of Atuan but whoops here we are almost two months later when I finally felt like writing. [3]
The Tombs of Atuan Spoilers
Something I forgot to say before, The magic system in Earthsea has a charm to it that I really love. Names holding power taken from the song of creation. Humans study this song of creation learning true names of all things around them. To be able to sing an insignificantly small fragments of the song into spells.
Compared to A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan feels small. I feels so contained to one place. There is so much setting built up to all confining you to a singular place. But the story is so much greater than this one place. There is so much history that takes place prior to this setting for this story to happen. This makes the story feel a bit slow to me although it is still interesting to hear about Arha's life and how its later shattered.
Without the inject of an outside presence(Sparrowhawk) this story would just be about a ritualistic tomb keeper of a dying religion. While the setting is building up we get such a narrow perspective from Arha, an unreliable narrator. While Arha feels powerful in her small small section of the world. It felt so good when Kossil basically told Arha to watch her place. Arha is just a figure head of a region that is dying and the only place the worship of The Old Ones matters is this small town. That worship of the Godking is what matters now. This moment feels so good to me. The unreliable narrator starts to really open to question her bias and beliefs. Which Sparrowhawk had been poking holes in prior to the interaction with Kossil.
I want to feel a connection to Arha's story but I just don't. Having so much of your life being told you are something. Only to have your world views shattered and being reawakened to your true self. Its a good story. I want to connect to Arha and her connecting with her true self again. I just don't. At least not like the connection I felt with Sparrowhawk's story in A Wizard of Earthsea which I still start to get feeling well up inside me thinking about that story.
A Wizard of Earthsea feels so big and long to me which makes me love the book. The story goes to so many different places and feels grand. Even though the story about a single persons journey of coming to understand oneself. It does have background foreshadowing building up for a larger story.
The Tombs of Atuan feels so small but has a such huge impact on the world of Earthsea. I feel like Arha's story is over shadowed and made to feel small by the real plot of the book. The adventure of Sparrowhawk into tombs of The Old Ones and his reason for doing so. That is supposed to have a such a huge impact on the world. It makes Arha feel small and her story insignificant to me. Le Guin try to show that Arha is important in this story and Arha really is important. Her experiences and knowledge built from all the story building prior to Sparrowhak's arrival in the story then her shattering of world views all lead to Sparrowhawk's success. Sparrowhawk knows this and tries to offer Arha a grand life. I do relate and love Arha's rejection of that life and her choice there after.
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