Saturday, February 28, 2015

Room by Book//The Picture of Dorian Gray



Dorian Gray was a classy character-- the type of man everyone would want to go to a party with. He had a brilliant circle of friends and they were all refined. The modern, refined feel I decided to throw in with the subdued colors and chandelier. However, I also wanted to put in a vintage feel with a classical couch, Victorian inspired throw pattern, and Mayan themed carpet. Overall, I have the vibe that Dorian Gray was an eligible bachelor who would've had a wonderfully decorated apartment.

Credits:
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (book cover)
Jacqueline Chandelier designed by Aerin from Circa Lighting
Bellflower Sofa from Apt2B
Matrix Black and White Rug from Thrive Furniture
Jacquard Wool Throw from Zara Home

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Amazon|Goodreads

Published by Penguin Classics Deluxe Reprinted November 30, 2010 (Originally published 1890)

224 Pages

Stand Alone Novel

Source: Library

Bookologist Analysis: The Picture of Dorian Gray is dramatic, it’s a wonder to behold. There’s a sense of when I was reading it I felt that I knew something deeper was going to happen at the end, but I wasn’t sure what would happen. This book tries to play tricks with my perceptions of the characters, yet each character has a different light each time I look.

Wilde's masterful and wonderfully entertaining exploration of art and morality, in a chic new deluxe edition Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman inthe eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The novel was a succès de scandale and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895. It has lost none of its power to fascinate and disturb.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a masterful piece of work that Oscar Wilde must have written to have me confused and yearning for a deeper understanding. It is meant to be a philosophical piece pushing at the edge of my mind, trying to point me in some direction regarding pleasure and beauty— after all which matters most in life?

Dorian Gray is a marvelous character to observe; his metamorphosis from an innocent naïve boy to a hardened man is extraordinary. I must say it took a little getting used to that I didn’t get to see this change over the years it occurred, but just seeing the before and after was a great literary device of Oscar Wilde. In the first few chapters of the book I didn’t think that I would enjoy the lack of action or great plot twists, but it’s the lengthy conversations of Lord Henry that really got me interested in how life is something to be used at one’s disposal or other’s disposal.


The rhythm to the book is also very perplexing as it doesn’t sound like an ancient bore that goes on for ages like many of the books from the time, rather Oscar Wilde writes with a modern flair. This makes The Picture of Dorian Gray easy to understand, so I didn’t I have to mouth the words as I have to with Shakespeare. In essence this book was a whirlwind of me questioning my out take on life, evaluating what are morals, and enjoying how Oscar Wilde challenged me.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

What are Feels?



I hear the term “all the feels” around the internet, slang, and text message.  If we follow Urban Dictionary, then feels is short for feelings— to evoke an emotional response. Yet almost always we hear feels refer to the pop culture phenomena.  Are they the shivers when you feel the income of a romantic relationship in books? The danger of dragons prowling around in The Hobbit movies? Or, maybe, the face palm when I know the character will do something stupid?

In context, I must come up with the definition of emotion, but hold on a minute don’t emotions equal feelings. I’ll concede to the Oxford Online Dictionary’s definition of emotion meaning “natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others”, but the dictionary gets even more exact by saying “instinctive or intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge.”  I would even hesitate that emotions are completely different from reasoning or logic and that we don’t need justification from our situation. The emotions we feel towards pop culture are simply the state our body automatically wants to put us.

So, does our body enjoy these shivering and nailbiting sessions we are forced into? I ponder this question about whether or not what I feel while reading a book is legitimate, after all they are caused by an inanimate objects that are portraying an animate people. These “emotions” are being caused by objects that have no business being a part of my cornered little part of the world. Yet still I like having these complicated parts of my life even further stretched by the fact of imaginary worlds causing turmoil in my stomach. I must point out however that the physical symptoms of these feelings are not imaginary— the butterflies are real.

In a culture dominated by teenage girls, myself included, the book blogging world even has some blogs that have spate ratings based upon feels. I look at those ratings as knee jerk reactions to the book— probably the best reactions to base a popular book rating on. Most of my reviews are based upon the book and what my initial reaction to book is. I don’t like the overdone synthesis of worldbuilding, plot, and character development that is often done in reviews. My own emotions, the portrayal of the problem in a complex way, and how the character becomes more mature is how I define a book.

In the end feels are not only the great buildup of pent up sighing and crying at the end of a book intensified by adolescent hormones, but rather also a process connecting with a book. With all the turmoil of teenagedhood I connect because of the feel. When I’m not necessarily good with people I can have real relationships with characters. The characters demand things of me— happiness, sadness, anger, nervousness, all part of a human experience that catch me from being emotionless.



Friday, February 6, 2015

January Wrap-Up

My apologies for the late round up. Bahhhh.... this was a bad month. Stupid history books. I'm currently reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde which is to die for. I have some good posts planned for February which will be fun!

Posts
Resolutions//Goals
Book Club//December: A Christmas Carol
Tag//Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award
MiniReview: Daunderlust
Meet the Book Blogger//Check-In

Books I Read
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Daunderlust by Peter Ross
Fat Envelope Frenzy by Joie Jager-Hyman
Trouble by Gary Schmidt
(put down/on a break from Team of Rivals)