aclassicalmess's reviews
132 reviews

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

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dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste death but once.
Of all the wonders I have yet heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it come.
The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

The Figure in the Carpet by Henry James

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mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I could see meanwhile the torch she refused to pass on flame away in her chamber of memory - pour through her eyes a light that shone in her lonely house.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

‘If he be Mr Hyde,’ he had thought, ‘I shall be Mr Seek.’
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

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mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first half of this book, and then the revelation happened and now I’m grinning like an idiot and want to reread it again to see everything that I missed. This is everything a good mystery should be, absolutely fantastic.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

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mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I am no bird and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.
Borderlands / La Frontera by Gloria E. Anzaldúa

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emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

When I write it feels like I'm carving bone. It feels like I'm creating my own face, my own heart-a Nahuatl concept. My soul makes itself through the creative act. It is constantly remaking and giving birth to itself through my body. It is this learning  to live with la Coatlicue that transforms living in the Borderlands  from a nightmare into a numinous experience.

I had to read the first two chapters of this for my uni course and found it interesting enough to want to continue and I am very glad I did. I loved quite a few of the essays and learned a lot from them, the poetry section I was less a fan. But some of these essays feel like must-reads especially the first two and possibly the fifth one as well. 
The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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funny lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The acknowledged lovers laughed and talked, the unacknowledged were silent.
The Parthenon by Mary Beard

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informative slow-paced

3.5

Very glad I picked this up in a bookstore in Athens after having visited and been impressed by the architectural marvel that is the Parthenon. Can’t wait for my next visit and tell whoever I’m with random facts such as the fact that the Venetians shot 700 cannonballs at it.