@Loki
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PygmyLion — 5 months ago(October 31, 2025 06:49 PM)
I have been visiting Boston lately for no good reason.
I recently finished up Nathanial Hawthorne's
The Scarlet Letter
, which takes place in colonial Boston.
Right now, I am reading Henry James'
The Bostonians
, which is about feminists in Boston in the period after the Civil War. -
sheetsadam1 — 5 months ago(October 31, 2025 07:34 PM)
Excellent! Hawthorne was a brilliant writer and I've read
The Scarlet Letter
twice. I actually prefer his short fiction, though. Henry James was great as well, though I've not read that one.
After reading nothing but horror fiction since late September, I plan to take a break from that genre next month, with some newly published nonfiction and contemporary fiction, as well as two titles that come highly recommended by a couple of the very best posters here. My tentative November reading list:
The Bible According to Spike Milligan- A recommendation from
@Loki
Notes from Underground
by Fyodor Dostoevsky - finally beginning my Dostoevsky journey,
@Celestia Bloodshed
!
Paper Girl
by Beth Macy - A memoir of Rust Belt Ohio from the author of
Dopesick
Nobody's Girl
by Virginia Roberts Giuffre - Posthumous memoir by the Jeffrey Epstein trafficking victim.
Hot Wax
by M.L. Rio - A new novel from the author of
If We Were Villains
, set in the world of music.
Draft Barron Trump
- A recommendation from
-
Tigereyes — 4 months ago(November 20, 2025 07:33 AM)
seen this article?
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/07/fyodor-dostoyevsky-formula-happiness/679203/
i just saw that it's behind a paywall. here's The Atlantic's corresponding facebook post from Nov 14:
The Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a tortured soul—he accepted nothing and questioned everything, including his own faith, Arthur C. Brooks writes. And yet, “this deep uneasiness with life led him to create a blueprint for living centered not on comfort and enjoyment, but on meaning.”
https://theatln.tc/fefP74UD
If you are a little uncomfortable in your own skin or a bit at odds with the world, “you may have a bit of Fyodor in you,” Brooks writes. A dose of his philosophy, “though quixotic and challenging, might be just what you need to achieve some peace.” And, as Brooks explains, a look at the recurring themes in Dostoyevsky’s writings—including “The Idiot,” “Crime and Punishment,” and “The Brothers Karamazov”—reveal a set of rules for living a meaningful life.
Those rules, Brooks explains, are: 1) The journey is the destination. 2) To be alive is to embrace freedom. 3) Beware the palace of crystal. 4) The pain is the point. And 5) Look up.
Dostoyevsky believed that pain—even existential anguish—is important in life. “That kind of suffering,” Brooks continues, “is the inevitable and necessary cost of realizing what we all truly seek in life: love.”
When it comes to our daily experiences, Dostoyevsky believed that “we should attune ourselves to the supernatural dimension of human existence,” Brooks writes; only in doing so is it possible to identify what we crave in life. And for those such as Dostoyevsky who have a turbulent soul, embracing this path can better open up the world around you. Brooks expands upon Dostoyevsky’s rules and details the five resolutions that helped him—and might help you—embrace rules:
https://theatln.tc/fefP74UD -
sheetsadam1 — 4 months ago(November 22, 2025 05:36 PM)
Sorry I'm late responding. I saw the notification the other day and then fell back asleep
Anyway, here's a non-paywall link:
https://archive.is/GCEh7
#3 is especially interesting to me.
Draft Barron Trump -
Tigereyes — 4 months ago(November 22, 2025 05:48 PM)
i got sidetracked a little these past 2 days and havent made much progress. i thought i'd give myself time until christmas for finishing the book. i've read my 100th book this year 2 weeks ago (i think it was To Kill a Mockingbird) which was the goal i set for myself in 2025, so i'm not in a hurry now and think i can still do it in one month.
that said, i'm in the 120s right now, so that's a 1/10 in 2 days. that's alright.
you probably just wanted a page number from me and now you got a whole paragraph. -
sheetsadam1 — 4 months ago(November 22, 2025 06:06 PM)
Larry Underwood
"He's a righteous man!" (Hopefully they made his big hit song sound just as cringe in German lmao). Flagg will be there soon
Ok, so Randall Flagg bibliography:
"The Dark Man," 1969
The Stand
, 1978
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
, 1982
The Eyes of the Dragon
, 1986
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
, 1987
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
, 1991
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
, 1997
"The Little Sisters of Eluria," 1998
Hearts in Atlantis
, 1999
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
, 2003
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
, 2004
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
, 2004
The Dark Tower: The Wind through the Keyhole
, 2012
Draft Barron Trump -
Tigereyes — 4 months ago(November 22, 2025 06:42 PM)
oof so this Flagg guy is a big player in the King universe then. pls don't spoil anything to me tho about this mysterious dude before i havent read it… lol i hate spoilers, especially for books i'm currently reading. i wanna go as blind and pure as humanly possible into the story.
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Celestia Bloodshed — 4 months ago(November 03, 2025 06:29 PM)
i'm currently reading Steinbeck's early short story collection,
The Long Valley
(1938)
and i started re-reading Toni Morrison's fascinating sleeper novel
Sula
(1973)
cursed, scarred & forever possessed -
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Celestia Bloodshed — 4 months ago(November 03, 2025 09:36 PM)
ohh which one is on your nightstand? i got
Tar Baby
from her at a thrift store today, one i havent read yet. there is nobody, absolutely no one, like Toni Morrison.
cursed, scarred & forever possessed
lemme know when you get to that part. And that part. 