![luce [is reading]](https://wishfullyreading.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/9429655-1.jpeg){kind=small}
-
The Inseparables by Simone de Beauvoir
“She had appeared so glorious to me that I had assumed she had everything she wanted. I wanted to cry for her, and for myself.” Superbly written The Inseparables is a novella that pairs an enthralling depiction of female friendship with a razor-sharp commentary on gender and religion This is the kind of work of…
1920s, 1st pov, 4 STARS, academia, Adult, all girls school, ambiguous protagonist, beautiful prose, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, catholicism, CHILDHOOD, Christianity, CLASSICS, coming of age, existentialism, female authors, female friendships, feminism, first love, FRANCE, FRENCH, French author, friendships, GENDER, growing up, introspective, jealousy, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, LITERARY FICTION, modern classics, My reviews, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, obsession, published in 2020, queer, queer undercurrents, read in 2021, reading, Religion, SEXUALITY, Simone de Beauvoir, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, suicide, The Inseparables, TRANSLATED FICTION, unreliable narrators, unrequited love -
NOTES OF A CROCODILE BY QIU MIAOJIN
“Cruelty and mercy are one and the same. Existence in this world relegates good and evil to the exact same status. Cruelty and evil are only natural, and together they are endowed with half the power and half the utility in this world. It seems I’m going to have to learn to be crueler if…
1980s, 1st pov, 20th century, academia, Adult, ambiguous protagonist, ANGST, bi side characters, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, CLASSICS, DEPRESSION, endless monologues, existentialism, female authors, gay side characters, HISTORICAL FICTION, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, LITERARY FICTION, modern classics, My reviews, navel gazing, Notes of a Crocodile, published in 1994, Qiu Miaojin, queer, read in 2021, reading, sapphic, SEXUALITY, style over character, subject over characters/story, suicide, taiwan, taiwanese author, toxic relationships, TRANSLATED FICTION, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE -
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
That I choose to re-read this confirms that I do indeed have masochistic tendencies. “I did not want him to know me. I did not want anyone to know me.” In a striking prose, James Baldwin unfurls a disquieting tale of cowardice and self-deception. In many ways, Giovanni’s Room reads as a confession of sorts,…
1950s, 4 STARS, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, America, American, american classics, beautiful prose, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, CLASSICS, existentialism, favourite authors, forgiveness, FRANCE, gay, Giovanni's Room, GUILT, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, introspective, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, m/m, male authors, masculinity, modern classics, My reviews, Paris, psychological, published in 1956, queer, re-reads, read in 2016, read in 2021, reading, ROMANCE, SEXUALITY, terrific prose, tragedy -
Carol by patricia highsmith
“My Angel,” Carol said. “Flung out of space.” Fans of the film adaptation of Carol may find the novel to be not quite as polished or romantic. I, for one, find the novel’s elusiveness and opaqueness to be entrancing. Unlike other books by Highsmith Carol is not a thriller or a crime novel, however, it…
1950s, 20th century, 3rd pov, Adult, ambiguous protagonist, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, american classics, Carol, Claire Morgan, CLASSICS, cold tone, f/f, female authors, first love, heartbreak/breakups, HISTORICAL FICTION, introspective, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, LITERARY FICTION, NEW YORK, Patricia Highsmith, published in 1952, queer, re-reads, read in 2021, road trip, ROMANCE, sapphic, SEXUALITY -
The Charioteer by Mary Renault — book review
“He was filled with a vast sense of the momentous, of unknown mysteries. He did not know what he should demand of himself, nor did it seem to matter, for he had not chosen this music he moved to, it had chosen him.” This is the fifth time I’ve read The Charioteer and once again I’ve been…
1930S, 1940s, 20th century, 3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, beautiful prose, bildungsroman, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, British author, british classics, CLASSICS, coming of age, england, existentialism, family, favourite authors, female authors, first love, friendships, gay, greek myths, HISTORICAL FICTION, HOSPITAL, identity, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, love triangle, m/m, male friendships, Mary Renault, masculinity, modern classics, morality, mothers & sons, My reviews, philosophical, psychological, published in 1953, queer, re-reads, read in 2016, read in 2017, read in 2018, read in 2020, read in 2021, ROMANCE, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, The Charioteer, unrequited love, WWII -
Olivia by Dorothy Strachey — book review
“And so that was what love led to. To wound and be wounded. ” Set in a French finishing school Dorothy Strachey’s Olivia tells the story of a schoolgirl’s infatuation with her headmistress. Narrated by its titular character, Olivia perfectly evokes adolescent love. Olivia becomes enamoured with Mlle. Julie, and experiences an awakening of sorts.…
1890s, 19TH CENTURY, 1st pov, academia, age gap, all girls school, beautiful prose, beauty, boarding/private school, British author, british classics, CLASSICS, Dorothy Strachey, england, f/f, female authors, first love, FRANCE, HISTORICAL FICTION, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, light reads, Longing, modern classics, Olivia, published in 1949, queer, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2021, ROMANCE, sapphic, SEXUALITY, teachers, unrequited love -
Maurice by E.M. Forster — book review
“No tradition overawed the boys. No convention settled what was poetic, what absurd. They were concerned with a passion that few English minds have admitted, and so created untrammelled. Something of exquisite beauty arose in the mind of each at last, something unforgettable and eternal, but built of the humblest scraps of speech and from…
1900s, 1910s, 20th century, 3.5 STARS, 3rd pov, academia, bad love, bildungsroman, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, British author, british classics, Cambridge, campus, class, CLASSICS, coming of age, E.M. Forster, Edwardian era, england, first love, Forster, Greece, greek myths, HISTORICAL FICTION, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, LONDON, Longing, m/m, male authors, masculinity, Maurice, morality, philosophical, published in 1971, queer, read in 2020, ROMANCE, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, Southampton, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unrequited love
luce [is reading] 