My main criticism of Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom is that it felt like the only reason the characters were teenagers was so it could be classified as YA. The characters appeared to be in their early twenties.
My only criticism is that, in true YA fashion, none of the characters appear to be 17 years old. In my brain, I just envisioned them as 30 years old, and the scenario was complete.
Ooh, I actually need to think about this one, it's been a while... It must have been Little Women which I read for my Finnish course a while back. I'm a writer so I definitely need to read more (especially because my bookshelf is about to collapse!!) but I just can't seem to find time for it. I know I have more than enough but still </3
I'm reading, going by memory: The Hacienda, Isabel/Isabella Canas, which is gothic horror. A Lady for a Duke, by Alexis Hall, with a trans heroine. The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics, by Olivia Waite, which is Sapphic.
I’ve read a book called "Little Women" by Louise May Alcott. The novel is about four sisters, their life, friendship, growing up. In short, for me it’s a one-time book. Of course, today the book will seem very boring for modern young girls. There is not even a storyline here. Description of their boring measured life, their worries, children's desires. Although it would be useful for them to read, because children's selfishness is still relevant today. This book is also suitable for a more adult female audience, there is something to think about child-rearing. The story is not modern at all, and the book is not very exciting, but I do not regret having read it. A recommendation only for lovers of women's classics.
I read it as a kid, about age 10, and it interested me, though I have to admit that Little Men interested me far more, but both have to be seen knowing that they are passed through the lens of their time and are great examplets of the moralizing of certain definitions of virtue peculiar to the time, so it's important as with all literature, to separate for ourselves the wheat from the chaff and ponder the social, political, philosophical perspectives of the author's culture and era.
One theme neatly captured and worth discussing was the glamorization of tuberculosis (called consumption then) indirectly, as it was a serious public health concern that did indeed cause wasting and was, weirdly, embroidered into the cult of femininity in very unhealthy ways, giving rise to the elevation of extreme pallor, thinness, and weakness as romantically desirable conditions for women.
But it was also somewhat ahead of its time in depicting the March sisters as human beings, more or less, with personalities, dreams, fears, ambitions of their own (such as society allowed them: basically, marriage) and Jo's struggle in particular with being divergent to the gender norms of her society. In that way it could be seen as daring and progressive, for Jo as a character struggled in her identity and treatment by society, but was not punished for it by the author: she found someone who loved her as she was, and they were successful in running a boarding home for (mostly) boys.
The last book I read was the works of Edgar Allen Poe. Was revisiting his short stories for the first time since my early teens.
little men was better but to be honest I found them both preachy it was way to into interrupting the story so that they could
go on and on about what they felt is good and evil I was thinking I just want a story I don't care what you think is evil
fun fact Louise May is buried in sleepy hollow cemetery what a cool place to have your grave
I've recently read The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, which was a refreshingly original take on the vampire genre, surprisingly creepy despite the setting, and had some interesting commentary on race and the South.
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little men was better but to be honest I found them both preachy it was way to into interrupting the story so that they could
go on and on about what they felt is good and evil I was thinking I just want a story I don't care what you think is evil
fun fact Louise May is buried in sleepy hollow cemetery what a cool place to have your grave