princess hippie

books, movies, perfume, music. current reads: ulysses, the picture of dorian gray

[stonecoldkillasworld]

to the woman i became after reading the awakening by kate chopin

[coquette-club]

Slewfoot

Connecticut, 1666: An ancient spirit awakens in a dark wood. The wildfolk call him Father, slayer, protector. The colonists call him Slewfoot, demon, devil. To Abitha, a recently widowed outcast, alone and vulnerable in her pious village, he is the only one she can turn to for help. Together, they ignite a battle between pagan and Puritan – one that threatens to destroy the entire village, leaving nothing but ashes and bloodshed in their wake. This terrifying tale of bewitchery features more than two dozen of Brom’s haunting full-color paintings and brilliant endpapers, fully immersing readers in this wild and unforgiving world.

[missinyouiskillingme]

“He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.”

— Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

[princess-hippie]

Help Wanted: Ulysses

I am currently dragging my way through Joyce's Ulysses (which is not to say I am not enjoying myself). I've been working on it since August of 2022. And I need help.

Does anyone have helpful insights or resources for tackling this tome? The annotations in my Norton critical edition are lovely, as are the handful of websites that compile notes and definitions. I love learning about the details.

But FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON.

I know it's a combination of "too much" and "not a lot," but I'm drowning here. Reading more than a page at a time feels like trying to hold on to a wet bar of lemon-scented soap.

Any information leading to the discovery of how to read this thing will be rewarded with endless gratitude.

[modely-way]

Carmen Candela for Teeth Magazine, photo by Paula Burbat

[aroseforcaulfield]

The nature symbolism in The Picture of Dorian Gray makes me go FERAL!!

The way that the nature similes and imagery start to become less and less prevalent as Dorian loses his humanity!! They go from almost multiple a page to barely one a chapter; the way he stops aging goes against the way that nature is supposed to go.

The way that a main character (Basil) who suffers at Dorian’s hand is literally shares a name with an aspect of nature!! Dorian has gone against the will of nature and is paying for it.

The fact that Dorian is offered and eats cherries the night before gaining his undying youth; in some mythologies, the cherry tree contains the elixir to give the gods their eternal life. To add on, cherries in literature usually represent immortality and youth.

The fact that the flowers in Basil’s garden represent romance/love/beauty/courage (roses), purity/innocent/spirituality (lilacs), pain/pleasure (pink-flowering thorn), and PENSIVE/FORSAKEN BEAUTY (laburnum). The way Henry rips apart SEVERAL pink daisies (represents gentleness and love) in the very first chapter. The way Basil keeps a book titled “Forest Scenes” in his house. Basil is a person who nurtures beauty and love and romance in the purest way he can and is hurt horribly by the way Henry poisons Dorian’s brain and rips him apart.

And that just SKIMS the surface. THE NATURE SYMBOLISM IN THIS BOOK!! I’M GOING TO EAT DRYWALL ISTG

[princess-hippie]

Truth

[brownbird04]

— Oscar Wilde, from the uncensored version of ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’

[princess-hippie]

Thank you to brownbird04 for teaching me that the uncensored version exists! A bit embarrassing for this avowed Oscar Wilde fan, but better late than never.

[sweetcherryblossomswrites]

[bookguide]

“…hearts, like flowers, cannot be rudely handled, but must open naturally”

— Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

[princess-hippie]

Tonight's movie: 3 Women (1977)

[princess-hippie]

House of Leaves—had to dnf. I was so excited to try it! And then all I was getting was "look how long I can stretch out this idea" in a failed satire of academia, plus I had to listen to an insufferable sexist talk so insultingly about women and refuse to see a therapist. I'm sorry, but this book was too self important WAY too soon for it to be any good to me. It isn't worth the frustration.

[obscurelittlebird]

Little Women (2019)

[vampirecorleone]

Horrorween Day 05 / 31: The Stepford Wives (1975) dir. Bryan Forbes: “I’ll just die if I don’t get this recipe. I’ll just die if I don’t get this recipe. I’ll just die if I don’t get this recipe.“

[nymphpens]

she's a 10 but she reads classic literature to escape the modern world

[princess-hippie]

Dear goodness.

I tried, okay? I tried to read it. But after the third time the protagonist referred to the family at the bodega as “the Egyptians” and a third of the way through the self-pitying book, I tapped out. I am all about unreliable, unlikeable main characters. However, the lack of self-awareness on the author’s part causes this book to be less than a commentary and not quite satire. 

Please note, this commentary is not coming from someone who does not have personal experience with abysmal mental health. My issue with the book is unattached from the real-life experiences of people going through massive depression. 

No hate to you if you liked it, but to me it felt ill-thought-out. A piece of recent fiction exploring the failures of rest cures and the abuse of medications could be amazing, but My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh isn’t it. At least not for me.

[princess-hippie]

"A healthy woman is much like a wolf: robust, chock-full, strong life force, life-giving, territorially aware, inventive, loyal, roving."

- Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., Women Who Run With the Wolves, pp. 11

[princess-hippie]

"A woman's issues of soul cannot be treated by carving her into a more acceptable form as defined by an unconscious culture..."

Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., Women Who Run With the Wolves, pp. 4