ParchmentDragon

          The Golden Fleece by Robert Graves is a retelling of the ancient Greek myth about Jason and the Argonauts. The most popular and acclaimed version of this myth from antiquity is probably the epic poem The Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes, who lived in the 3rd century BCE. Graves took it upon himself, according to his very interesting introduction to this book, to compare and analyze existing versions of the voyage of the Argonauts and compose one compiled tale. His story is not supposed to only tell about the quest for the Golden Fleece, Graves also puts the Argonauts' voyage into a bigger religious and historical/mythological context, telling of how the Fleece came to be and why Jason was ordered to reclaim it from Colchis. So this novel does not start with Jason, but one or two generations before him, and tells of how the Olympic religious system developed. I can't really talk about how accurate all this is, as I am by no means an expert on an...

I saw this tag floating around the Internet, and since I've enjoyed quite a few books this year so far, I thought I'd participate as well :) Two questions aren't included here, as I don't have any fictional crushes and simply can't think of a book to movie adaption I enjoyed this year. But without further ado, here are some of the most amazing books I've read in the first half of 2017: This is such a difficult question, I've read a couple of amazing books so far this year! Ascendant's Rite by David Hair was brilliant and kept me reading very late into the night because I just couldn't put the book down. Then there was Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, which was just so funny, interesting and gripping. But there are two books that impressed me so much that I still think of them quite often. They are Emma by Jane Austen and Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb. I'm not going to try and choose one, that would be impossible. They were...

Dune  by Frank Herbert is a Science Fiction classic published in 1965. Usually, I'm not a big fan of this genre,  War of the Worlds  by H.G. Wells is one of the few sci-fi novels I've really enjoyed thus far. That's why this book surprised me so much. The novel mainly follows Paul Atreides, the son of Duke Leto Atreides. The story begins with Leto being granted the fiefdom over Arrakis, the desert planet famous for its production of the spice drug. This drug grants a small amount of the ability to look ahead in time and is extremely valuable. The Duke is aware that his being sent to Arrakis is a plot to destroy him, as he has long been entangled in a vendetta with his relation, the Baron Harkonnen. The Duke is also aware that the Emperor is somewhat concerned in this trap, but he nonetheless attempts to settle on Arrakis and dreams of setting up relations with the locals, the Fremen. Paul is fifteen at the story's beginning and we basically follow his journey...

⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Golden Bowl is one of James' later works, first published in 1904 and revised for the New York edition in 1909. The copy I read, the Everyman's Library edition, prints the latter version. This was the third full novel I've read by Henry James, and sadly it might have been my least favourite. It has the reputation of being quite difficult to read, and now I can see why. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy this story at all. First for the plot. I don't want to give anything away, so I'm going to be brief here (also, don't read the introduction of the Everyman's copy if you don't want to be spoiled). The Golden Bowl is the story of a father and his daughter and their respective marriages. The main theme here is betrayal and how it affects those involved, but the story also explores human relationships in general. We follow Maggie Verver, daughter of a very, very rich American in England, and her h...

I feel like this is going to be a very difficult book to review. First off, I should mention that I mostly listened to this on audiobook, which was fantastic. This might be one of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to so far, the narrator, Ralph Lister, does such an amazing job. His voice is extremely easy to listen to, and he somehow manages to give every character a different and suitable voice. I especially liked the voice he gave Kruppe, it was just so perfect for the character and often made me laugh out loud. He really made the story come alive and gave the people more substance and depth with his narration. So I really wa nt to recommend the audiobook here!  So now to the story itself. I don’t think I could explain it in any way. I knew going in that this is generally known as a very confusing book, and I now see why that is. Nothing is really fully explained, the reader is dumbed in the story and learns something here and there as he goes along. Maybe I’m not ...

I didn't read that many books this month, but there were a few I enjoyed quite a bit and some I didn't like at all, so there's a good mixture of opinions in here. I'm hoping to read a bit more this month, as the semester is coming to an end, but here's what I did finish in June:    Twelfth Night - Shakespeare 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟  This month I discovered that Spotify has all of Shakespeare's work, many of them are full cast dramatised versions and so I chose Twelfth Night . It was really good to listen to, the actors did a great job. I read the text version along because this was the first time I listened to a play, and the audio conveyed the humour and wit much better than only reading the texts. I'm hoping to listen and read to all of his plays in the future, it's just so much better than only reading it. Now to the play itself. I don't think this is my favourite comedy of his, that spot goes to Midsummer Night's Dream so f...

Hello there! I love seeing people's monthly book hauls on social media, they always give me so many new recommendations and often inspire me to read more. They're not exactly healthy for my wallet, but I guess a small addiction to books isn't the worst thing in the world, is it? Well, at any rate, I didn't actually buy that many books in June. When I just picked out what I'd acquired this month, I was surprised at how few there were. They are all really cool ones, however, and I'm very excited about all of them! So here are the few books I got this month, enjoy :) First off, here's a quick shot of all six books I got. That absolutely stunning Gryffindor edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone  is probably the most obvious one, as this month was the 20th anniversary of this amazing book. I can't believe it's already been 20 years! These house editions were all over the Internet, so I'm sure most people will know what they are...

Hello fellow book lovers! I saw this short book tag floating around on the Internet. It's very simple and quick, you choose any one book for each letter of your name, but I think it sounds like a fun way of hearing about random books and people's opinions on them. Unfortunately I was unable to find the original creator of this tag, the video seems to have been taken down. But still, here we go: Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb, one of my favourite books. I first read it in 2014 and again last year, it was even better the second time. This is one of those series where you need to form a connection to the characters first in order to really enjoy them, so the books get better with every read. Also, aren't these anniversary editions just perfection? I need to collect them all!   Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett. The Discworld novels are just pure fun and genius writing. The books of the witches collection are my absolute favourite...