AnnaMatsuyama

These are messages that books like this one sends:


A woman is a commodity, and no one wants a sloppy seconds, right? 


A man is a customer, so he should have sex and date women before marriage, so he could compare and choose best suited partner. 

***

Women who have sex before marriage are impure, polluted and immoral. 

They have gone astray. Deep down they have no self respect and men doesn't respect them either.

Chekhov is one of the best short story writers I know. His prose is beautiful but it's his characters that are unforgettable. 

But this story, I believe, will not stay in my memory because of some characters. Oh, no. This is going to be remembered mostly as "that story that is depressing as hell". Not that I haven't read realistic fiction before or more tragic tales than his. I just didn't expect that Ksenia will get nothing for her cruelty. Plus, it wasn't just a story about one family this one is a bit deeper that that, and in short "life sucks and only in fairy tales everyone gets what they deserve"

Cute but I've seen more kawaii illustrations on food packaging. And this volume was extremely boring, I didn't expect a page turner but I didn't expect yawn fest either. 

However,as the text is simple and repeating, and each page contains one comic strip it's quite good for those who are learning Japanese.

The misogyny is strong with this one. 

I'm not saying Andreyev was but he was portraying a society that was (and is). 

-1* for not including pictures. 

However, the recipes are nice, and the ones I tried were quick, simple and tasty.

Dick Whittington and His Cat
St Ives
A Hand in the Bird
The Tortoise and the Hare
The Price of Debauchery 
Physical Training
The Emperor's New Clothes
A Little Nut-Tree
The Dentist and the Crocodile
Hot and Cold
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Hey Diddle Diddle
Mary, Mary
Hansel and Gretel 
Aladdin and the Magic Lamp


Dahl didn't shy away from horror and violence in his stories for children, and in this collection of retold fairy tales he references to: sexual harassment (A Hand in the Bird, Physical Training, Hot and Cold), sex (Dick Whittington and His Cat, The Price of Debauchery, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp), adultery (Dick Whittington and His Cat) and few more things (class divide, cannibalism, abuse) one wouldn't expect to come across in a children book. 

Веселые годы, 
Счастливые дни – 
Как вешние воды 
Промчались они!

--Из старинного романса_

'Years of gladness,
Days of joy,
Like the torrents of spring
They hurried away.'

--From an Old Ballad_

Here's a love triangle that doesn't suck! 

To enhance the story: Tchaikovsky's The Seasons. April: Snowdrop 

Read in Russian. 

Unbelievably bad. I've read a lot crappy books and this one is definitely one of them. At first I was amused how bad it is but soon it was just annoying. My bad, I only later noticed that this is the same author who wrote Force of Law. 

Dialogues & writing are horrible. Sometimes, when a story is good I can look pass that but sadly not this time.

Without pictures. These recipes can be used as a rough guide but no more, IMO. Also not all of these recipes are quick and easy.

The recent posts about sexual abuse made me think more about it and today's Metro newspaper made me angry and sad. Why? 

Because of this: Mother jailed for having sex with eight-year-old boy more than 50 times. http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/19/loren-morris-mother-jailed-for-having-sex-with-eight-year-old-boy-4650947/ 

WTF? She isn't the boy's mother so it's completely irrelevant that she is a mother. She is someone's daughter, best friend and neighbour so what? 

Loren Morris, 21, slept with the boy for about two years starting when she was 16, a court heard.

It's not possible to have sex with a 8 year old child.

Sex is sex when it's consensual, all the rest is abuse or/and rape. 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)

A good introduction to Toulouse-Lautrec's art and basic outline of the artist's short life + 109 reproductions of portraits and posters. 

My copy: ibsn 9780099575139

An interesting account of the French Revolution and General Dumas life. 

My main complaint is that except for few maps there are no images, photographies or illustrations. I would've loved if the book had a picture of the sculpture of 3 Dumas (Dumas the general, Dumas the novelist and Dumas the playwright) by Alfred de Moncel. (In 1942 the Nazi melted it along with hundreds other of French statues.) 

The author was able to find & read letters by Dumas and I would have appreciated if at least one was photocopied and included, it would've been interesting to see the man's handwriting.

But as I said, nothing. 

Very disappointing. Even the man on the book's cover isn't General Dumas but his son "dressed up as his father, in full military uniform on a rearing horse."

I've suspicion that if I would read this book I would end hating it for the same reasons I hate The Last Samurai. 

No, thanks. 

Black Butler, Vol. 18, ch. 83-87

As I hoped this volume finished with that School Arc, then a filter chapter which was a great fun and a new adventure begins after the Queen sends Ciel to Germany to investigate mysterious deaths.

The new arc seems to be promising. A cursed forest, witches, werewolves and annoyed Ciel who doesn't understand a local dialect. Plus, we might see in future chapters Vincent Phantomhive's childhood friend.

Black Butler, Vol. 17, ch. 78-82

This one was just as boring as the previous volume. ;_; 

Hopefully, the next volume will conclude the School Arc and hopefully next arc is going to be better and darker. *fingers crossed*