Hi, It's me, StoryDragon! I'm here to read and talk about awesome books. You might see me on the Fediverse on my Mastodon account too: @storydragon@dragonscave.space.
My previous Bookwyrm account was on wyrms.de.
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With an Introduction, Notes and Bibliography by Anne Varty, Royal Holloway, University of London.
Wilde, glamorous and notorious, more famous …
Content warning Shakespeare; beheading
Queen Margaret.
Off with his head, and set it on York gates; So York may overlook the town of York.
— Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare (Page 72)
Ah, what are they all nice to each other.
This really is a thought-provoking book, and I did quite enjoy most of it.
Content Warnings: War, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Grief. I was unprepared for the amount of loss in the end of the book. It made me enjoy the book less...
I did not enjoy the end...
'Gentlemen, the more words you employ to flatter the ladies the fewer you define. Your constant use of the English language is, in fact, doing it a disservice.'
— Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Page 233)
Lol.
Sarah never insisted on conversation and was unusually clumsy with small talk - she once responded to a comment on the weather by explaining the relationship between barometric pressure and rain - so our journey was silent for the crunch of gears and the occasional disparaging comment about other people's driving.
— Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Page 202)
Ah, recognizable... I know someone who might actually start explaining the relationship between barometric pressure and rain, on hearing someone comment on the weather.
Content warning The Dictionary of Lost Words - Spoiler; Maybe blasphemy?
[...] Your situation is not as rare as you might think. Many a young lady of means or education has found herself similarly inconvenienced. It is the oldest dilemma in history - the Virgin Mary, indeed! (Please don't read this aloud to Lizzie, I know she would not approve.) [...] Yours, Ditte
— Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Page 188 - 189)
Our thinking was limited by convention (the most subtle but oppressive dictator).
— Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Page 114)
Bondmaid was no fledgling word, and its meaning disturbed me. Lizzie was right; it referred to her as it referred to a Roman slave girl.
Dr Murray's rage came back to me then and I felt mine rising to meet it. It should not be, this word, I thought. It shouldn't exist. Its meaning should be obscure and unthinkable. It should be a relic, and yet it was as easily understood now as at any time in history. The joy of telling the story faded.
"I'm glad it isn't in the Dictionary, Lizzie. It's a horrible word."
"That it may be, but it's a true word. Dictionary or no, bondmaids will always exist."
— Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Page 113)
The Prestige meets What If It’s Us in Before We Disappear, a queer ahistorical fantasy …
Before we Disappear is a lovely book. I have read the last half of the book within a single day, I couldn't let it go. There are amazing plot twists too! I really recommend reading Before we Disappear.
With an Introduction, Notes and Bibliography by Anne Varty, Royal Holloway, University of London.
Wilde, …
Content warning Stanza on Tyranny
And yet perchance it may be better so, For Tyranny is an incestuous Queen, Murder her brother is her bedfellow, And the Plague chambers with her: in obscene And bloody paths her treacherous feet are set; Better the empty desert and a soul inviolate!
— Collected poems of Oscar Wilde by Oscar Wilde (Page 106)
With an Introduction, Notes and Bibliography by Anne Varty, Royal Holloway, University of London.
Wilde, …
Death is too rude, too obvious a key To solve one single secret in a life's philosophy.
— Collected poems of Oscar Wilde by Oscar Wilde (Page 99)
The Prestige meets What If It’s Us in Before We Disappear, a queer ahistorical fantasy …
I read the last half of the book in one day... Wow. Amazing story!
The Prestige meets What If It’s Us in Before We Disappear, a queer ahistorical fantasy …
"What are you so glum about today?" Ruth asked. "I'm fine." She threw me a skeptical frown. "No one who's fine ever says they're fine."
— Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson (Page 153)
Hmmm. I don't think I agree.
