Steven > Recent Status Updates

Intro was kind of a slog just because of how scholarly the language was. It was still a fascinating overview of Daoist history though--I'm definitely looking forward to the 9 texts in the compendium

I'm currently feeling like the fiction novel I'm reading right now is not piquing my interest, so this will be a welcome non-fiction interlude. This first section is essentially the history of Daoism, which is very in-depth and scholarly (and consequently not super exciting)

I can already tell that this book is going to be excellent. I love Benebell's YouTube channel and she is just so, so intelligent and discerning.

We finally got to the reincarnation discussion! Beautifully explained, no less. Every time I open this book there's a new passage that is so eloquent and meaningful.

I think another thing that I'm noticing with this book is just how much talent it takes to produce a good story using the third person omniscient narrative voice. A lot of authors use this voice, but they don't do it in a way that constructs a good portrait of their characters. If you want to use third person omniscient, you have to have a fully fleshed out view of your characters and their purpose within the story.

This book is so unbearably beautiful. I'm only about a quarter of the way through and it's by far the best work of fiction that I've read this year, and maybe in my entire life??? All I can say is that I'm glad that this is a tetralogy, because I will be reading every book in the series

This book wins the award for "most creative and beautiful descriptions of teenage boys getting erections"

I'm not even a quarter of the way through this book and the thematic material is already so deep. The traditional Japanese misogyny that was a Meiji era reaction to Westernization is already at a high, and it's turning the main character into an incel, essentially. Yet, femininity is represented by the light of the moon, and it sets every male in the book on fire. I wonder how much of this book is autobiographical.

Well, I'm only 30 pages in, but I'm already loving this book. Mishima waxes poetic without being pedantic or pretentious, and in typical Japanese style, he describes the simple details of every day life with a rapture that encompasses the Zen philosophy of mindfulness. And this book is the first in a tetralogy!!!

Oh thank god. The prose in this book is immaculate.

I NEED this book to be good after reading two horrible books in a row. I've heard good things about Yukio Mishima's writing (even though we are politically polar opposites). I want Buddhist fiction; I want good prose; I want descriptive writing; I want a good story. I expect nothing less from a guy that committed seppuku after taking a general hostage and went out in a blaze of glory.