Until earlier today I was reading my way through Donna Tartt's The Secret History, but at page 401 (of the existing 628), I stopped and moved on to another book. Now, as I obviously cannot write a full review on the book, as I had planned to do had I finished it, I have decided to instead write an entry on why I will not finish it.
In the beginning, or, rather, all trough the first half of it, it was very interesting; lovely group of main characters (some more difficult to sympathize with/understand, but interesting nonetheless); nice, adequate descriptions; fantastic use of language; etcetera. I particularly liked the way the ending was spoiled in the beginning of the book, namely the murder of a major character (I do not consider this a spoiler as it is mentioned on the very first page).
Or, rather, what I thought to be the ending. As it turned out, the believed "ending" occurred halfway through the book. Up to the point of the murdering, it was all very interesting; exciting at times, more puzzling at others, as books goes. Sadly, after the murder had occurred, the reading experience went downhill. For a couple of hundred pages it was interesting to be given an insight of the aftermath of a murder, but after a while it grew very dull, in spite of the entrance of FBI and all that; dull, in fact, to the point where I did not even care about how this all would end, and the book mainly bored me, and, in my opinion, when this is how you feel about a book, it is better to put it down and perhaps pick it up later, instead of staggering on slowly and without interest. (My mother wisely informed me that this is also a healthy approach to have to e.g. relationships.)
So, to wrap this up, that is basically why I stopped my reading of The Secret History on page 401. This might mean that I missed out on a fantastic ending or the breathtaking event on page 402, but that is something I am willing to sacrifice; especially as I am already on page 101 in Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay.
19/12/2013
The Bird in the Birdcage
You have no idea
What it is like
To be me
Likewise,
I have no idea
What it is like
To be you
I am tethered inside my own, clustered mind
And I am afraid that if I ever were to leave
I would not find my way back
Into this clustered mind of mine
Maybe you feel the same
Or maybe you feel comfortable where you are
In your mind
Perhaps you are not tethered to yours
Perhaps it is not clustered
In which case, I wish I could be you
To know what it is like
To be where you are
Inside your free mind
As I have never been to such a place
Or perhaps
You do not wish
To let my clustered mind in
As yours is perfectly comfortable
Whilst mine is not
But I will never know
In fact
I have no idea
What it is like
To be you
Likewise,
You have no idea
What it is like
To be me
04/12/2013
"You CAN'T wear that item like that!"
Welcome to a brand new episode of Things That Bothers Me. This week: people giving too many shits about how other people chose to wear their items of clothing, because this kind of criticism is something that I see far too often. (It might be one of those things that aren't really worth being bothered by, but as it happens, it bothers me, so now I'm going to write a blog entry about it because I want to.)
Far too often I happen to come by people going 'I can't believe people can wear that kind of crop top in this weather!' or, as I actually heard today, 'You can't wear leggings with just a small shirt! Leggings aren't pants!'. These are examples of people giving way too many shits about what other people chose to wear. No, I can't see why someone would wear a crop top with an open jacket when it's winter outside because it must be bloody freezing; neither would I wear leggings with nothing but a small shirt to accompany it, but as it happens, the people wearing it would, and one hopes that the people with crop tops doesn't freeze too much. I myself am not completely estranged to more 'unusual' clothing, actually.
Frankly, what I or you would or wouldn't wear is unimportant when it comes to what other people wear. Because they are neither you nor me, and them wearing whatever they wear doesn't affect either of us more than we let it do. If someone wears something that makes them feel pretty and comfortable (or whatever feeling they're going for), let them. Nothing suits one better than whatever gives one confidence and/or makes one feel comfortable. This might sound like a real cliché, but it's a cliché for a reason. People knocking on other people's confidence even though it's really not their business is just plain sad. Seriously. Don't.
Sadly though, people don't always wear certain items of clothing in certain ways just because they like them. There is, of course, the issue of fashion. I can almost certainly say that some of the people who wear crop tops and leggings don't do it because they want to, but because it happen to be fashion. Possibly, these people (or at least some of them) doesn't feel confident in these clothes at all, which is really sad, since one should wear one feels like. But since one hardly can tell them apart from the confident ones by the same glance that it takes to judge them, skip the judging part. This is a different problem which also needs a different approach; criticising someone's clothes won't help anyone in any case.
So, basically, don't criticise peoples way of dressing even if it doesn't make sense to you, because it doesn't have to make sense to you. Odds are that the person you criticise hasn't dressed in order to please you, anyway.
Far too often I happen to come by people going 'I can't believe people can wear that kind of crop top in this weather!' or, as I actually heard today, 'You can't wear leggings with just a small shirt! Leggings aren't pants!'. These are examples of people giving way too many shits about what other people chose to wear. No, I can't see why someone would wear a crop top with an open jacket when it's winter outside because it must be bloody freezing; neither would I wear leggings with nothing but a small shirt to accompany it, but as it happens, the people wearing it would, and one hopes that the people with crop tops doesn't freeze too much. I myself am not completely estranged to more 'unusual' clothing, actually.
Frankly, what I or you would or wouldn't wear is unimportant when it comes to what other people wear. Because they are neither you nor me, and them wearing whatever they wear doesn't affect either of us more than we let it do. If someone wears something that makes them feel pretty and comfortable (or whatever feeling they're going for), let them. Nothing suits one better than whatever gives one confidence and/or makes one feel comfortable. This might sound like a real cliché, but it's a cliché for a reason. People knocking on other people's confidence even though it's really not their business is just plain sad. Seriously. Don't.
Sadly though, people don't always wear certain items of clothing in certain ways just because they like them. There is, of course, the issue of fashion. I can almost certainly say that some of the people who wear crop tops and leggings don't do it because they want to, but because it happen to be fashion. Possibly, these people (or at least some of them) doesn't feel confident in these clothes at all, which is really sad, since one should wear one feels like. But since one hardly can tell them apart from the confident ones by the same glance that it takes to judge them, skip the judging part. This is a different problem which also needs a different approach; criticising someone's clothes won't help anyone in any case.
So, basically, don't criticise peoples way of dressing even if it doesn't make sense to you, because it doesn't have to make sense to you. Odds are that the person you criticise hasn't dressed in order to please you, anyway.
03/12/2013
They say that the eyes are the windows of the soul
They say that the eyes are the windows of the soul
Which is incorrect
Yet, a small truth in it lies.
You see, in the eyes
You can see no soul,
But you can see the dreams.
As people believe
That they are safely concealed
Inside their minds,
They actually live vivid lives
Inside their eyes.
But then again,
What defines a soul
If not its dreams?
So maybe it is true
What they say
When they say that the eyes are the windows of the soul.
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