Good Morning, Midnight | 
"...I know all about myself now, I know. You've told me so often. You haven't left me one rag of illusion to clothe myself in. But by God, I know what you are too, and I wouldn't change places..."
"This is another lavatory that I know very well, another of the well-known mirrors. "Well, well," it says, "last time you looked in here you were a bit different, weren't you? Would you believe me that, of all the faces I see, I remember each one, that I keep a ghost to throw back at each one--lightly, like an echo--when it looks into me again?""
"And, after all, the agitation is only on the surface. Underneath I'm indifferent. Underneath there is always stagnant water, calm, indifferent--the bitter peace that is very near to death, to hate..."
"And it can be sad, the sun in the afternoon, can't it? Yes, it can be sad, the afternoon sun, sad and frightening."
"Seriously, all the time I was in London, I felt as if I were being suffocated, as if a large derrière was sitting on me."
Today in odd similes.
#agameoffavorites A literary favourite of mine is Jean Rhys ❤️ I can‘t find any info at all on the books she read etc. but she must have liked Jane Eyre enough to write a retelling of it. Good Morning, Midnight is one of my all time favourites.
pickI love this book so, so much. I read most of it in undergrad, but I restated it and was so quickly reminded of how absolutely gorgeous this book is. I am in love with it.
so-soOh my. This book is stream of consciousness, which reminds me of Woolf, but about 200 times more depressing.
Sasha is depressed, alone, and drinking a whole lot in Paris. Sad encounters happen, coupled with even sadder flashbacks. The writing is very well done... but thank goodness it was short. 🙁
⭐️⭐️⭐️
This concludes my mini-readathon of #1001books for March. 😂
pickThis one‘s hard for me to review, it‘s sad and melancholy, it‘s about how you feel when life‘s warn you down, and you feel like every glance and whisper is against you. It may be a sad read, but it‘s beautifully written, about the time after war, the loss, the grief, the trying to reinvent yourself again, even if it doesn‘t work out. Also a great portrait of depression.
#Reading1001 #192019 #1939
“A room is a place where you hide from the wolves outside and that‘s all any room is.”
It seems such a dismal outlook, but it‘s true too... I can‘t wait to hide from the wolves with a bit of quiet and my book, but dang those wolves can be insistent and loud.
#Reading1001
So sad, and sadly true...if only she had lived and written today during the age of sex robots, basically her mannequins with a touch of robotics.🙄
#Reading1001
pickA sad but somewhat hopeful novel. The narrator Sasha (Sophia) marries, is poor and struggling, and is pregnant. After the birth her husband leaves her. This novel follows her struggles with grief, loneliness, and alcohol as she tries to shape a new life for herself. #1001books #reading1001
bailed#reading1001
Finally completed the first part (half) of my selected title for the #1001bookswap.
Excited to jot down notes in the shared journal.
Meanwhile I can't join the dots in Rhys' "terminally suicidal" recount. This is #1001books title for the March random selection that I came across in the GR group. It's too depressing as well as beyond my comprehension.
Starting my last March group read! Not sure what to expect from this, it‘s my first Rhys. #1001books #reading1001
#blameitonLitsy #TBR #ReadingResolutions
and the tagged book to be collected from the library for #1001books #MarchLineup
#santhiReads2018
#anditsaugust #needsmorelove
Here's a character that needed more love, sophia, a woman who spends 2 seperate periods lost in paris - and the authors life story similarly suggests a poignant story- a 5* read that i want to revisit.
I've spent Mother's Day rearranging books. I am reminded of my #jeanrhys obsession.
My friend said this reminds her of me. SWEET!
"I have been here five days. I have decided on a place to eat in at midday, a place to eat in at night, a place to have my drink in after dinner. I have arranged my little life."
My TBR's for December! It includes my last three books for my #readharder2016 challenge. #wanttoreadinDec #SeasonsReadings2016 @bookriot
Finished Burial Rites, it was wonderful. Bailed on my latest book club selection after 100+ pages. I love my book club, but lately the selections have been meh. Finally, I'm participating in a Jean Rhys reading week. I won a copy of this one from PenguinUK, and also planning to read Wild Sargasso Sea.
"There must be the dark background to show up the bright colors. Some must cry so that the others may be able to laugh the more heartily ..."
Jean Rhys was brilliant in portraying the inner lives of her characters - here she portrays a woman living a desolate life in Paris drinking and mulling over her past while meeting men in bars. It's darkly humorous and cuts to the core. Read as part of #ReadingRhys week
so-soJean Rhys is sometimes so confusing, it feels like I'd need to read this book at least twice to understand what is actually going on. Therefore it doesn't get a very high score, even though I couldn't stop quoting it.
"What happened to you, what happened?" he says, "Something bad must have happened to make you like this."
"One thing? It wasn't one thing. It took years. It was a slow process."
"You are afraid of me. You think I'm méchant. You do think I might kill you."
If I thought you'd kill me, I'd come away with you right now and no questions asked.
"It's a strange feeling - when you know quite certainly in yourself that something is for always. It's like what death must be."
"I have an irresistible longing for a long, strong drink to make me forget that once again I have given damnable human beings the right to pity me and laugh at me."
I'm really starting to like Jean Rhys, her writing is somehow dense in all its simplicity. There's something annoying about her main characters' constant helplessness though...
