#penguin books modern

[bibliomars]

'I Have More Souls Than One' by Fernando Pessoa

After having the ordinary experience of every person who went to secondary school in Portugal, and being exposed to Pessoa as a teenager, revisiting his work as an adult feels invigorating. Most of his poems do require a certain level of maturity that most 16-year-olds just don't have to be able to fully enjoy. Reading some of his most classic poems in English, also gave the words a new meaning, and made me look at the poems in a different light, and it was nice to see I still recognised some poems even in a different language. It's not the most complete selection of Pessoa's and his alter egos' poetry, but it never claims to be one. It is exactly what it promises: an introduction to Pessoa's more infamous poems, that have shaped contemporary Portuguese poetry until today. A nice book to read in one sitting, it shows just how well Pessoa's ideas and words stand up the test of time while efficiently introducing the reader to his writing style.

[mydaylight]

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson: English covers

source

[macrolit]

Upstairs and downstairs tenants.

[secret-restaurant-press]

Nate Hoil's 24 Hour Monologue is considered by many to be the greatest poetry collection of 2024. It is referred to by many as "truly legendary." But don't just take our word for it... Read it and find out for yourself!

[shelbycarpenter]

[the-readers-archive]

“To be, or not to be--that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--

No more-and by a sleep to say we end The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--To sleep-perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause.”

— Hamlet, William Shakespeare 🗡️

[theserpens]

Drarry Fic Rec: Set Six

Dady Says by GallaPlacidia podfic circa 3,9 hours, M

Eleven-year-old Scorpius starts writing to Harry. Harry starts to fall in love with Draco through his portrayal in his son's letters. Featuring an extremely remorseful Draco living with muggles and working at a second- hand book shop, an isolated Harry, and a Scorpius who's dreading going to Hogwarts because he knows he'll be bullied there.

Modern Love by @tackytigerfic 61,323 words, E

Harry Potter, of all people, knows that life isn’t always fair. And no one gets to be happy all of the time. But surely there’s something more—something better—than a rubbish Ministry job, and a lonely old house, and that feeling that everyone out there is doing a better job of living than Harry is. And it really doesn’t seem fair that Draco Malfoy is back in Harry’s life, all of a sudden, and even though he’s wandless, and living with Muggles, and making his mother cry with his lifestyle choices, he’s happy. So what's he doing right, that Harry isn’t? Because things don’t really change, do they? And if Harry can’t be happy, he’ll settle for a good night’s sleep, some posh antiques, and the opportunity to find out what Malfoy has been up to for all these years. And that’s what starts it all.

Here’s The Pencil, Make It Work by ignatiustrout 49,493 words, M

Harry thinks "Why is Malfoy working in a coffee shop in muggle London?" is a much simpler question than, "Are you going to accept that auror offer and, if you don't, what will you do?"

This set includes my favorite stories about Draco having found his place in the Muggle world and Harry being lost among wizards. All of them feature the boys running into each other a few years after the war, and Harry trying to understand this new Draco Malfoy. Surely he is up to something; why else would he be laughing with his Muggle friends and look so bloody handsome!?

Friendships are always formed first, but they fall in love every time (sorry, spoilers).

'Dad Says' is a wonderful, high-quality podfic read by Galla herself. It has a sad and lonely Harry, a charming but exiled Draco, an adorably earnest Scorpius, and a perfect dynamic between the three of them. 'Modern Love' is lovely, fun, and has many of these same ingredients, but there is also a (sexy, tall!) vicar flirting with Draco and making Harry incredibly jealous. 'Here's The Pencil, Make It Work' also features this same dynamic (sad Harry + exiled Draco = meeting in the middle), and I will honestly never tire of Draco's Muggle friends recognizing Harry Potter's stalking of Draco Malfoy as the crush that it is.

Also, all of these have incredible original characters that make up Draco's new group of friends, and Draco casually using Muggle things with Harry gaping at him. Enjoy!

[yourfavouritebookseller]

The Master & Margarita

By Mikhail Bulgakov

.

50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

[blinkbones]

Title: We Have Always Lived in the Castle Author: Shirley Jackson There is a beautiful large house on the edge of town, and two sisters live there with their old uncle. The town loathes the inhabitants of the Blackwood house. The youngest, Mary Katherine Blackwood, is our unsettling narrator. She weaves a tale of anxiety and mystery -- or is it magic and madness? What secrets lie in the earth, buried beneath the vegetable garden, or by the pond? And who killed the girls' family members, and why?

Recency bias begone! I really want to say that this was my favorite read of the year. It's certainly a favorite. The prose is so fluid, like clear water rushing in a wild little brook, transparent and cold.

Merricat is a wicked main character, and a fascinating point of view to follow. She's often very poetic, but also has a tendency to clinically state what she does without bothering with a justification or reason. You're meant to infer, most likely, based on her teetering psychology and the account of events that she gives.

Merricat I love you, I love you Merricat. And Constance too. This novel has such strong characters, themes and prose. I can't think of a single weakness it may have. I fear it is a perfect book, that sets out to do something and then does it, and with skill. Like a really nice embroidery. You can say that you don't like the picture it paints, or even that you don't like embroidery altogether, but this one is clearly well made, with not a thread, not a stitch, out of place.

I was tempted to put off reading this book. I already knew the general plot of it, and wasn't convinced that it would make for the cozy reading experience I needed to recover from the dog of a flu I caught and the dog of a year I've had. How wrong was I. This was, overwhelmingly, a comforting, warm read. It wrapped me in a blanket that felt familiar even though it was new, warm and dry on the soft earth outside. That's how I felt. If I'm honest, I'm not sure it was the goal. I know this story is meant to be mysterious and unsettling. And I have no trouble imagining how it could feel that way. Merricat seems to always be on the verge of a breakdown, and there is clearly murderer in the nearby area. The house is wound in uneasy tension and so are its inhabitants. Everything, everyone except me. And I loved every part of it, every ambivalent word, every ambiguous character; its weird girls and its sacralized food.

First Shirley Jackson book I read. I definitely want to read more. Most likely, the friend who lobbied me into getting this one will coax me into getting Hill house. We shall see.

[loveoutvoid]

her life had been ruined by literature

[thewomanwithmissingfingers]

[bookrotttttttttttttttttt]

“In the end the party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. And what was terrifying was not only that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right.”

“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious”

~ 1984

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

[macrolit]

Latest post at ml.books

[britneyshakespeare]

I can't believe the Younger Brother (1689) by Aphra Behn has the only one bed trope

[shelbycarpenter]

[the-readers-archive]

I wish nothing but the worst for how Doctor Victor Frankenstein treated Creature (who we call Frankenstein today). Creature deserved so much better.

Victor Frankenstein couldn’t even bother to give his creation a name.

If he isn’t the embodiment of a dead beat father then I don’t know who is.