Treadwell's is a sort of pagan/occult bookshop in central London - maybe consider dropping by if you're into that kind of thing.

FWIW, I'm not really into those topics, but enjoyed dropping in to browse anyway.

This book is riddled with insight and quotes from many of the philosophical, political, and business leaders throughout human history. If you call that 'selling shit' okay. You do you.

I don't read 'How to' books. A good novel teaches you more about friendship

So many good quotes.

I was made to read it when I was around 14 and absolutely hated it. I remember finding it very cumbersome to read and slow paced. A few years later I had the same issue with Lord of the Rings, though I found Jekyll and Hyde somewhat enjoyable.

Just wanted to state I remember reading your web novel a year ago on royal road and loving it! Amazing work!

If you think friends are something to win your social circle failed helping you develop into a decent human being.

You are reading for yourself, not for anyone else. You can consider it being read. However, I've been doing a project in my diary drawing a bookshelf full of the books I've read. Tho I only draw the fully finished books in them 🤷‍♀️ I could draw the unfinished books on it as well, bit I would feel like some kind of an impostor tbh

This is the my favorite book. How basil admired dorian will always stay with me

but what about crusoe?

Point taken. These books are useful for people who want to sell you shit.

That is one eggcellent book.

I really didn’t like this book. But I also abhor reading about the lazy lifestyles of upper class Europeans of this time. They literally just sit around eating and drinking for hours and I feel nothing towards them.

Are there any other xianxia novels that you could recommend/take inspiration from? From my experience, Sturgeons law REALLY applies to that category.

I feel like this is one of those books we should have left in the 1930s maybe. Or we should just remove the friends part from the title.

His short fiction is great. The way his children’s fiction can be a little twisted in a way that is right for children, his adult short stories are twisted in a way that’s right for adults. They’re delicious.

I meant, after she ran away from Mr. Rochester when the truth was revealed about his mad wife in the attic. She almost died in the field when a clergyman found her, and it turned out to be her cousin Saint John. I mean, what are the odds.

I bring this up every time this series is mentioned, but my biggest problem with this "trilogy" is that it isn't written like a continuous story, it's written like he wanted to turn it into a TV series. It's sooooooo episodic (or "side quests" as you say) instead of an epic narrative. Reading about Rothfuss shopping it around constantly makes me think that he purposely wrote it to turn it into television, and since he isn't getting a deal, he's not going to bother finishing it. It's an interesting story, but it grates on me a bit.

Odd take away, but you do you.

Phuc Tran does an amazing job in the prologue to “Sigh, Gone” (Prologue is entitled The Picture of Dorian Gray) in extending the themes of identify and allusion to the admittance of another Vietnamese refugee in his small-town.

After years, of dire-less attempts at American assimilation, the presence of Hoang Nyguyen (new refugee) takes on the fun-house mirror reflection of everything Phuc Tran attempted to discard in building new identify; thus the new student reflects the underlying (self-perceived) ugliness of his soul as a refugee.

> Hoàng was a fun-house mirror’s rippling reflection of me, warped and wobbly. I was Dorian Gray beholding his grotesque portrait in the attic, and I was filled with loathing. My disgust for Hoàng was complicated and simple at the same time: I was the Vietnamese kid at Carlisle Senior High School. Just me. Fuck that new Vietnamese kid.

> When Dorian Gray beholds his portrait in the attic and shows his friend Basil the horror of the painting, Basil is sickened. The portrait reflects the rot of Dorian’s soul, and it repels Basil just as I was repulsed by Hoàng.

That's a good idea! Thanks for the suggestion!

I always thought she went to her aunt, because she literally had no where to go, & she preferred it to Lowwood.

I have always been curious how other people perceived the Jane's name floating on the air to her which caused their reunion. Also her accidentally ending up in the care of her only blood relatives after she ran away from Mr. Rochester. Gothic mysticism or slightly annoying trope? I also wonder difference in perception between modern reader and her contemporaries, especially regarding those scenes. Perhaps you could look up some reviews from her time, and compare with opinions of your book club?

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It is also very horny

Chickens will eat each other, their babies and you, if you fell unconscious or died in their pen.