#lotr and 20000 leagues hit tho

[that-catholic-shinobi]

Was anyone gonna tell me Call of Cuthulhu was 30 pages or did y’all expect me to read Lovecraft myself?

I’m actually starting with Shadow over Innsmouth. I’ve never read Lovecraft before and I have his complete works. I did read all of Conan Doyle’s Holmes stories like 6 years ago.

[kendrixtermina]

Have you ever read a book with a certain ingrained popcultural reputation and that come to find that the actual experience of reading it is very different?

Romeo and Juliet  Reputation: Either cheesy or a critique of cheesy that idiots don’t get Experience: Actually very refreshing, was genre-bursting and innovative and actually a realistic, genuine romance compared to the poetry of its day, Juliet is so underrated; Also it’s said right in the text a bajillion of times that the moral is that the feuding elders created a world where young people doing normal young people things could prove fatal. As the nobility/leaders of the town they were supposed to act responsible not drag everyone in their personal feud, so they are “punished” by losing their own children, including the Prince who didn’t manage to get the Capulets and Montagues to stop fighting. 

The Silmarillion Reputation: Dry complicated read of mostly scholarly interest Experience: Faithful replication of an antique heroic epos/tragedy a la Illiad, Camelot myth or Mahabharata, just as full of compelling mythical archetypical characters.  I thought I’d be forcing myself through it for nerd cred, actually it hit my personal taste buttons more than LotR itself. 

1984 Reputation: Sci-Fi Dystopia about surveillance Experience: Study of tyranny (especially totalitarianism), Deep thoughts on the human condition, surprisingly human characters. Very good writing actually. If any characters ever deserved a coffee shop AU it’s winston and Julia

The Fault in Our Stars Reputation: Sad feelsy, your defs gonna cry, primarily a romance Experience: I perceived this as a very removed, intellectual, high-concept book that wants to have a philosophical discussion with you. 

The funny thing here is that my sister very much did seem to think that it was an emotional book. Shows how different perception can be I guess. For me it made me want to debate not cry. Note that I consider this a neutral distinction. 

Moby Dick Reputation: Dense Masterpiece about revenge, if marred by old-timesy racisty crap Experience: I was surprised by how unpolished it is in parts, not necessarily in a bad ways, but, how’d this end up as a symbol of pedantry? Also I was blindsided by what I would consider the Sci-Fi/ Spec Fic  elements, all the focus on the hows and in and out of survival in the wilderness/edge of the world.  The sailors are treated like astronauts or dragonslayers. 

Phantom of The Opera Reputation: Gothic Romance Experience: Gothic romance was as advertised and much enjoyed, but the mystery aspect and The Persian are left out of all the adaptations and it takes away from how much of a polymath/trickster Erik is 

Sorrows of young Werther Reputation: Emo Artists kills himself because the girl doesn’t like him back Experience: She actually does explicitly like him back,  and the plot is really about his general disillusionment with the world & society of which the girlfriend situation is only an aspect. What actually does him in is that they failed to just stay as friends in line with his ideals of a pure & unconditional bond, but at some point they cave to their mutual attraction and make out and that’s what gets him so ashamed that he shoots himself. The other suitor is not a boring jerk; The three are actually all friends.  This could probably have been avoided by introducing Albert, Werther and Charlotte to the concept of polyamory. 

Effi Briest  Reputation: Critique of long ago politics, dry & boring of value mostly because of the feminist critique in the arranged marriage plot Experience: Beautiful tearjerking prose and tragedy, masterful use of perspective atmosphere and symbolism. Also I don’t think the main character is a “feminist heroine” at all - she’s rather someone who would have needed feminism. Also I don’t think the husband was ever intended as a gross villain, and there’s actually statements from the author to back this up. I actually sympathized a lot with his tragedy of not wanting to be a hypocrite and had a bit of a crush on him. 

Books that were exactly as expected (in a good way): The Parfume, Demian, Faust II, 20000 leagues under the Sea, all the other shakespeare stuff, Frankenstein... seriously, Frankenstein is so good

I have definitely disliked classics tho. Looking at you, Schiller, Berthold Brecht and Jane Austen. I see why ppl read these in school and there’s something salvageable here and there, but I did not enjoy them. 

Then there’s that one play that ends with this tragic but vaguely hopeful ending... in 1930. Because that’s when the author finished it. In hindsight ending the story there is like when the camera pans away right before the coup de grace.