#a dark song review

[literatureaesthetic]

june '24 favs:

a storm of swords ; george r r martin — third book in the 'a song of ice and fire' series, and it may just be my fav instalment yet. i was left utterly speechless over the plot twists in here. one of the best examples of modern fantasy.

the lost daughter ; elena ferrante — it's elena ferrante, of course it's on this list. an intimate character study of leda, a divorcee who suddenly finds herself with zero responsibilities after her daughters move away. a poignant, visceral look into motherhood (girlies with mummy issues, tread with caution😭)

giovanni's room ; james baldwin — the iconic gay, parisian classic. this was my first baldwin, and it's definitely not going to be my last. i haven't been this enthralled by the writing in a classic since 'the picture of dorian gray'. beautiful, gut-wrenching, a must-read for anyone into the classics!!

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

if you look at it through smudgy/rosecolored glasses long enough the 1x8 dinner scene is really just helaegon trying very hard and absolutely failing to talk jacela into a foursome.

[nighttime-thoughts]

Whatever happens tomorrow we've had today.

[imjustcryinginthecorner]

“Arguing with the Ghost of Peter Laughner About His Coney Island Baby Review”, The Mountain Goats // Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

[inknbrew]

InknBrew's Reading Schedule and Deadlines 2024

Reading slump edition

July

To Kill a Mockingbird (7/20-7/31) [Audiobook, Kindle. 1 hour min, 50 pages min, or 3 chapters] PRIORITY

Spiderwick Chronicles book 1 (7/20-7/23) [Kindle] {5/5}

The Lost Bookshop (7/21-7/31)

August

Song of Achilles (8/1-8/11) PRIORITY

Cant spell treason without tea (8/1-8/11)

If we were Villians (8/12-8/20) [Kindle]

[itspileofgoodthings]

The But Daddy I Love Him >>>> Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? stretch of the album. Whew.

[wittyno]

Fall Out Boy: Pete’s lyrics are more like abstract poems than literal lyrics.

Every reviewer: takes the most literal interpretation of their lyrics possible.

Me: Motherfucker

[john-gosh-darnielle]

cap the west's final wildcat well

when you fell

[ek-ranjhaan]

SINGHAM AGAIN REVIEW

What in the multiverse of insanity was that.

I screamed shitless when I saw the trailer, and every time someone entered, I lost my shit. Because, it was crazy.

Oh maan. Like I don't understand why people are hating on it so freaking much.

Singham Again was decent, honestly. Agreed the star cast was overwhelming, but it actually had my interests satiated mainly. All their entries were cool, the puns hit well, certain scenes like the port burning scene had their fair share of adrenaline rush, acting was decent (I dare say even Arjun Kapoor was kinda okay). Overall, it was a cutesy retelling of Ramayana. I actually quite liked the way they presented the scenes and at different locations with the actual evidence of the real Ramayana.

Also, I have this weird habit of counting actors, at least the ones I know, so here we are:

Ajay Devgn as DCP Bajirao Singham

Jackie Shroff as Omar Hafeez

Ravi Kishan as Home Minister Raj Jaishankar

Kareena Kapoor Khan as Avni Kamat Singham

Shweta Tiwari as Devika Singh

Dayanand Shetty as Senior Inspector Daya Shetty

Ankit Mohan as Sarath

Deepika Padukone as DCP Shakti Shetty

Arjun Kapoor as Danger Lanka / Zubair Hafeez

Tiger Shroff as ACP Satya Bali

Akshay Kumar as DCP Veer Sooryavanshi

and holy shit.

Salman Khan as Inspector Chulbul Pandey

[waitingforlostsouls]

What Would Interest You Most?

[fishsticksart]

looking for hope within myself

[The Anthropocene Reviewed, John Green // Mrs Sigrid Ring standing at a stone balustrade, Laurits Andersen Rin // Against the Kitchen Floor, Will Wood // Perfect Magazine, 2022, Ph. Zhong Lin // Letters to Milena, Franz Kafka // Mr Shwartz, Arctic Monkeys // The lamp (my bed reflected in the mirror), Ramón Gaya]

[literatureaesthetic]

guess who (finally) finished a storm of swords, part one 🖤 being back in this world truly was an experience unlike any other. the world that george r r martin has crafted here is unrivalled — it really is one of the greatest fantasy epics <3 i cannot wait to read part two later this month!!

for now, i'll be starting my next book for my classic tomes challenge 👀 very excited

[viir-tanadhal]

am i simply cursed to not find a hotspot review that i like

[lilwomansanctuary]

📖The Color purple by Alice Walker.

A classic bildungsroman.

Adorned with yearning for sweet freedom, a testament of raw desires of the feminine heart, filled with fierce female characters- The Color Purple is a bold and one of a kind feminist novel.

Celie, our main protagonist, writes letters to God describing the major and sometimes minor events taking place in her life. Through her very first letter we learn how her stepfather "Pa" sexually, physically and verbally abuses her.

The sole person she was loved by while growing up was her younger sister Nettie. But to their dismay, their relationship was tore down by Celie's abusive husband Mr______.

After getting separated from Nettie, it was Shug Avery, a fashionable and fiercely independent singer, who brought a new dawn to the perpetual moonless nights of Celie.

Shug is the woman who shows Celie the path to self love and self discovery.

The letters are very sensitive and demonstrates vivid and heart wrenching descriptions of abuse.

Celie's feelings find crystal clear expression in her letters and she acts as a spokesperson for every single woman who are made to feel imprisoned in the cage of their own gender. For every Black woman whose color is seen as a curse.

Sofia is the first female character in the book who boldly forbids the men around her from treating her like an object, as an unequal. Her actions ans words-SHE SLAYS.

When Harpo, her husband, beats her for the first time, she doesn't give in. She fearlessly asserts in front of Celie "But I'll kill him dead before I let him beat me."

Nettie, oh I love her personality!

Educated unlike her sister, Nettie eagerly learns about Africa, about the "land for which our mothers and fathers cried-and lived and died-to see again."

After travelling to Africa as a Christian missionary, she leaves no stone unturned to help the people and educate them. To aid the women to live a dignified and equal life. Even after facing constant protests, tackling numerous hurdles, Nettie stays firm on her values and ideals.

The ending was so satisfying!

Celie conquers every battle that came her way.

Breaking her silence, she realised the might of her mortal wings with aid from Shug Avery, the woman she falls head over heels for.

She receives a love-so liberating, a home-she forever longed for, and freedom from every social and emotional barrier holding her back.

In the concluding letters to Nettie, Celie states how she feels "at peace with the world."

I'm so happy for my girls!

Not every book has the power to make the reader feel enraged and content at the same time. My soul needed this book. I'm so hopeful and content.

P.s: The book is written in southern dialect, which kinda made it an easy and fast paced read.

✨6/5 stars✨

[jessread-s]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

✩☄️🌙Review:

The conclusion to Lan and Zen’s story will overwhelm your tear ducts.

Following the events of the first installment, “Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White” revolves around Lan and Zen as they seek out a way save their kingdom from the Elantian colonizers. At the center of both of their journeys are the Demon Gods and the immense power they have. Only, they are no longer fighting together. Now on opposite sides, Lan and Zen will have to face each other and the choices they made to free their people. 

Inspired by ancient Chinese history and mythology “Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White” is just as lyrical and atmospheric as its predecessor. 

Having done all the heavy lifting in terms of world-building in the previous novel, Zhao focuses mainly on Lan and Zen’s relationship. Their star-crossed love was captivating, making it difficult to put this book down even as my heart was breaking. 

The internal struggle Zen faces throughout the book - losing himself completely to the Demon God devouring his soul, yet wanting to give Lan his heart - absolutely wrecked me. Seriously. Reading from Zen’s perspective was almost painful because I grew so attached to his character and understood the cause he sacrificed everything for, which is a testament to Zhao’s ability to heighten emotions in her readers.

Much like “Song of Silver, Flame Like Night,” this book’s ending is equally beautiful and devastating. While bittersweet, wrapping it up any other way would have been unsatisfying. Make sure you have tissues on hand!

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

[the-sky-queen]

So has anyone heard of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark? It's this theater musical of Spider-Man they tried making and it was a famously massive flop. Basically everything that could've gone wrong did go wrong. It was a disaster.

Anyway, the band U2 wrote the songs for it and my sister is a massive U2 fan, so we've decided to react to the soundtrack for the first time together. I'll write out a full post with our final thoughts when we finish. Currently we are both having a blast and tearing our hair out at Bono's inability to write not as himself. XD