Ahh I've read 2 of her books and did not enjoy them at all. There's actually a good discussion of them going on here, if you're interested! There is so much ableism in her books, I find them very upsetting, though I know other people enjoy them. Thank you anyway!

Honestly the only good books with disabled characters I’ve read are Helen Hoang’s books, her main characters are autistic with various support needs and traits, she’s autistic herself so they’re done very well.

The part I loved was that all of her MC’s are independent and treated as adults- but they also have support needs that are shown and met by those around them.

And when I say it felt like pedophilia, I mean by the way she views him- as you said, she infantilises him a disturbed by amount and the way his disability is shown is horriblely written.

Oh it's not my favourite of his books, that one goes to Excession for the great depiction of the culture Minds, but use of weapons is about the horrific things people do during war and the story about zakalwe and the chair is just so dark, especially when you finally realise who is who...also I am 40 so no doubt I emphasise more with older characters

I have read like alot of books by him. However this one is the one that has stuck with me because of the reasons in my post. I love Use of Weapons but it just doesnt scare that much as it's science fiction and uses supernatural instead of being a close analysis of the mind of a young psychopathic teen boy. What did you like about Use of Weapon's subject matter? It was similar to his other novels...

Interesting take!

I've read a lot of his books but not this one. I think Use of Weapons had the most effect on me because the subject matter is also pretty extreme. He was a brilliant writer, one of my favourites, but he certainly got into some dark places in his writing, especially when it came to the human mind.

Have you read much else of his work?

I'm learning a second language at the moment and have progressed to the point where i'm able to read one of the most famous books written in that language after 1950. It's like their culture's equivalent of The count of Monte Cristo basically.

The book is written in vernacular, and much of the humor would survive translation pretty well because it's broad or low comedy. it's not really subtle stuff.

what would be difficult to translate is the cultural background material. the reader would have to have a pretty good grasp of the government and social structure of the story setting or else it can be hard to enjoy. there isn't a whole lot of world building so to speak, like the writer just assumes you know what's what because people in that culture generally do know it.

But for the classics written prior to the 20th century, translations are absolute crap. So I was trying (and failing) to read one of their greatest classics written in the 18th century, and took me hours to get through half a page. I consulted THREE English translations all from extremely reputable sources, and they all read totally differently. It was even hard to tell they were working from the source material! It would be a total waste of time to read it in any language other than the original. Although translations can help with comprehension and be used as a guide/tutorial of sorts.

This reads like a very angry twitter person, WTF is going on here?

I’ve not watched the documentary you mentioned but I object to the idea that Lovecraft really founded any genre. Sure, his mythos has a cool aesthetic which has been used by others but the idea of a that wisdom/knowledge is linked with madness. Just look at the Odyssey. Odysseus has himself chained to his mast to gain knowledge of what the siren song.

You’re totally right. Many of his stories fixate in the horrors of the ocean. I’d go as far to say that’s his defining aesthetic, though hardly and original one. See monsters are as old as time.

Basically, imo Lovecraft is a hack who is only famous because other artists drew Cthulhu to look cool.

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I disliked this book for infantilising Archer so much, and casting Bree as his saviour. I went back to look at my review and it was a pretty uncomfortable read for me when she kept calling him 'lost puppy' and 'little boy'. It's not a book I'd recommend for well written disability.

I do think calling it paedophilia gives the impression that anyone with mental or physical disabilities is a child, and incapable of having romantic or sexual relationships - which I don't think you were going for, but that's yet another stigma disabled people have to counter constantly, so I can see it raising some hackles. Archer's level of disability could have been written in an affirming way that gave him agency and self respect in relationships, I didn't see that here myself. I try to find authors who write this well without making disabled characters seem like charity cases or inspiration porn, but tbh I haven't found all that many. Any books you've enjoyed?

If you really want to learn more, I'd suggest reading one of ST Joshi's biographies about Lovecraft.

I Am Providence is the biography by which all others are judged. Some people find it a bit too detailed and/or dry but I'm not sure what some expect.

Lord of a Visible World is a curated selection of letters by Lovecraft, effectively an autobiography.

Nightmare Countries is a bit lighter weight than I Am Providence, some find it more palatable.

Additionally you may be interested in the Voluminous podcast by the HP Lovecraft Historical Society. They go in depth on select letters.

More to the point, you are not going to get good answers from youtube, twitter, reddit, etc on Lovecraft. The video you mention in particular is one example of a poorly researched essay that seems to pull more from popular (not necessarily factual) talking points on social media.

Lovecraft was inspired by many things and writers. Specifically when it comes to his monsters such as Cthulhu, the Deep Ones, Dagon, etc, you might say that his distaste for seafood had some influence. Some people will take that statement and hyperbolize it into 'Lovecraft wrote about things he was terrified of and he was terrified of fish!', that's nonsense, he simply didn't like eating it. Lovecraft was an avid enjoyer of aquariums. Unfortunately that blog's suffered from a couple migrations and the images are gone but the gist is there.

Bottom line though is if there's something you want to know about Lovecraft, you need to read a biography (and select ones at that).

One of the few books to make me cry. Absolutely fantastic read!

Oh wow thanks for the heads up

I feel like the baby was a kind of replacement for Ari. I think it was implied Antoine knew and it was kind of like why add more stress on top of the situation. Vianne even says how she and Sophie didn’t mention that time of their lives again because it was too painful. I also felt Vianne was kind of a jerk to her son. She really seemed to think lowly of him. It was a book which had a lot of sad moments and events. Strangely I didn’t really like the relationship with Isabelle and Gaetan. It felt forced and during the moment they really bonded, it got skipped in favor of just having them stumble upon Viannes home

I am suppressing this book in the deepest pits of my memory. The scene where she puts her hips on a pillow.... Yea... Yea. No.

I'm going to have to reread it, to be honest. I guess if this copy ever arrives, I'll have a good excuse to do so! I remember it being good, but a little convoluted and feeling like I missed something. And yeah, if I hadn't ordered it so long ago, I definitely wouldn't do so today, that's way more than I'd be willing to spend now

I was holding out hope for the crow one, dang.

Apparently there was a lot of sucking

My friend and I buddy read it last year for shits and we made up some chapters of our own in which Verity resolves a number of situations by taking it in her mouth

If you don't want to read bj scene just don't read any of colleen hoover books There is so much too much

Use your brain for good grasshopper. Fill it with knowledge.... rather than irrelevant inconsequential bullshit. :D

Now I want one, but can’t justify $135. Such a lovely book.

I’ve read his two most recent books (the crow one and the Irish one) and they don’t hold a candle to Little, Big.

I would recommend getting an eReader like a kindle. Because there is a built in dictionary where you can directly translate any of the words from English to your language.

It also has the English Oxford dictionary where you can build up your vocabulary flash card.

I would recommend even start with some children or young adult fiction (where the language is easier) just so you get the hang of the language and then you can progressively work towards harder books.

I am ESL as well and that’s how I progress (though I started when I was a kid so it was natural for me to start with Children and YA books).

Good luck!

I love annotating. I always mean to keep a journal, but never do it. Annotating has been a different sort of way for me to preserve a past version of myself between pages.

Most likely