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out of focus, eye to eye ‘til the gravity’s too much

The kind of song for when the horrors around you become too much

[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

Salt to the Sea

World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, many with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer to safety. Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people—adults and children alike—aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.

Possible Spoilers Below

Ruta Sepetys is one of my favorite authors of all time. I read Between Shades of Gray in the summer of 2013 and ever since then it has been one of my favorite books. Salt to the Sea has been on my to-read list forever and today I finally got around to it... and read it in one sitting. Clearly, I was just putting off a wonderful book. It was especially exciting to read about joana, who I had learned about from Lina in Between Shades of Gray. Although, it was incredibly unfortunate to learn that Lina and her family’s sacrifice was in vain and Lina and her brother likely did not survive. 

I love historical fiction, and it was so refreshing to read about an event that I knew nothing about, but this tragedy should certainly be better broadcasted and the victims properly mourned. The amount of tears I shed for the victims of this tragedy and the whole of the holocaust is countless. These topics especially touch me because I am half-Jewish and I have heard stories from my grandparents who were just children at the time. 

Florian and Joana’s tentative alliance which bloomed into eventual love was beautiful, especially the ending where florian seeks out Emilia’s fate. It was nice to know that despite their turbulent childhoods Klaus and Halinka were raised by people who knew and truly cared about them. Florian’s change of heart regarding revenge was also very inspiring. It was nice to see that despite enduring terrible travesty he was able to overcome his desire for revenge and move forward for his own sake.

Alfred, I found deplorable, he was brain-washed, but that to me is not excuse enough for his actions and lack of empathy for others and I’m sorry to say his death was not at all a loss. Emilia on the other hand was quite the loss, but her strength was commendable and it was pleasant that she was able to find peace after all that chaos and I hope that all those who lost their lives that night or in the events of those four years find their peace as well. 

The worst part of this book was the detail. She writes beautifully and in so much detail which is not a bad thing, but the horrors that animals and people suffer are so brutal that her incredible ability to bring stories to life in such detail is horrific when used on these stories, and all it is all I can do not to cry for the people who actually endured this. Their strength is remarkable. I hope that they can now rest. 

Much love

- R

[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

This quiet blue tomb of you

The kinda of song for days in the sun with nothing to do

[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

@sixofcrowsnet heist: fave underrated character

[ MATTHIAS HELVAR ]

❝ My ghost won’t associate with your ghost. ❞

[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

We ran these neighborhood streets

The kind of song for when you wanna relive those nights that seemed straight out of movies

[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

so help me god, if it is the last thing I do I will have a personal library with a sliding ladder

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[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

I’m sick of everything I’ve been around enough to get used to

The kind of song for when you just want to have some goddamn adventure

[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

The Princess Bride

What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince of all time and he turns out to be...well...a lot less than the man of her dreams? As a boy, William Goldman claims, he loved to hear his father read the S. Morgenstern classic, The Princess Bride. But as a grown-up he discovered that the boring parts were left out of good old Dad's recitation, and only the "good parts" reached his ears. Now Goldman does Dad one better. He's reconstructed the "Good Parts Version" to delight wise kids and wide-eyed grownups everywhere. What's it about? Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. A Few Giants. Lots of Bad Men. Lots of Good Men. Five or Six Beautiful Women. Beasties Monstrous and Gentle. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies, Truth, Miracles, and a Little Sex. In short, it's about everything.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW

Quite frankly, whether you want to or not The Princess Bride is a must read. As a childhood classic, it’s one of those books school will never force you to read, but it’s so deeply intertwined into pop culture, even today, that you absolutely have to read it. This is a book whose references will never die.

It’s been at least 8 years since I’ve watched this movie, so I went into this book with a little less than the basic knowledge, which is what I would suggest. It allows you to formulate your own opinions about the book and not just constantly compare it to the movie. However, I liked that I had vague visual and dialogical reference points.

The entire book was full of nostalgia for me, triggering memories, understanding references, it was a goldmine for my childhood. It’s the kind of read I would take on vacation, easy, especially if you’ve watched the movie, and light, slightly funny, but also has some angst, hope and of course, romance. It’s the kind of story I hope my children use to get into reading. 

I had two problems with this story. Only two things out of what was once 1000 pages, now reduced to just over 300. Firstly, I did not like the way Buttercup’s love was characterized and developed. I understand that everyone experiences emotion differently, but I did not like that the message it broadcasts is first that A) you don’t need love which rapidly switches to B) without love life is worthless and death is preferable. In my eyes neither of those statements are true and love is a relative factor, so even if they were true this is not a universal truth. 

Secondly, I despised the ending. I read to imagine, I read to dream, to hope, to escape, to enjoy. Some readers also write, but that creativity simply does not exist within me and even if it did, I like fact. I much prefer fact to my own ideas or the endless possibilities which exist. The open-endedness, but also clearly dire, ending to the book disappointed me greatly. I have not seen the movie in many years so perhaps this ending occurs in the movie as well, but I do not recall. Either way the ending of the book which is along the lines of “everything was great... until all our protagonists faced an issue and the prince started pursuing them.” Based on the nature of this book, it would suggest that once again they weasel out of a drastic scenario and ride off into the sunset. But i cannot, for the life of me, imagine how that would occur, or if it would occur at all. I desire a true and definitive ending, so that once and for all I can know how this tale ends.

Definitely a must read, but now I will forever be left with a question that will never be answered. 

Much Love

- R

[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

Wasted, I play the same part where I’m chasing your sick little heart

The kind of song for days when it feels like Friday

[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

There is nothing on this earth I love more than a beautiful library

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Souls Unfractured

"For fractured souls are like magnets. Drawn to collide into an impossible bliss…" Labeled a ‘Cursed’ woman of Eve from birth, Maddie has endured nothing but pain and repression at the hands of The Order’s most abusive elder, Moses. Now living with her sister in The Hangmen’s secluded compound, finally, Maddie, is free. Free from the suffocating faith she no longer believes in. Free from endless years of physical and mental torment. Just… free… At age twenty-one, the timid and shy Maddie is content to live within the confines of her new home—safe from the outside world, safe from harm and, strangely, protected by the Hangmen’s most volatile member; the heavily pierced and tattooed, Flame. Flame. The man who ceaselessly watches over her with his midnight dark and searing eyes. The man who protects her with a breath-taking intensity. And the man who stirs something deep within her numbed heart. But when circumstances conspire for Flame to need HER help, Maddie bravely risks it all for the broken man who has captivated her fragile soul. The Hangmen’s most infamous member, Flame, is ruled by one thing—anger. Plagued by haunting demons from his past, an all-consuming rage, and isolated by an abhorrent hatred of being touched, Flame's days are filled with suffocating darkness, pierced only by a single ray of light—Maddie. The shy, beautiful woman he cannot purge from his thoughts. The woman he has an overwhelming need to possess… ... the only person who has ever been able to touch him. Flame’s mission in life is to protect Maddie, to keep her safe. Until a trigger from his troubled past sends him spiraling into madness, trapping him in the deepest recesses of his disturbed mind. His Hangmen brothers fear that Flame is beyond saving. His only hope of salvation: Maddie and her healing light.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW

this book was just as good as the others, but in a wildly different manner.

It delved deep in to abuse and the dark pasts of both Maddie and Flame and is certainly not for the faint of heart, it is incredibly tragic, brutal and striking.

However despite all of this, this book was wonderful. Though the sense of sex and danger still remained this book did not display it nearly as much as the previous two. 

It was mostly about the recovery and journey to find themselves that Maddie and Flame shared. Less Maddie than Flame and was interesting to see that the ones who need help are not always the ones perceived as weak that we all need help at times and denying it will never help us.

The journey for Flame to recover showed that sometimes the things that help us recover are not the things we might want to face or do, but in the end finding yourself is never without a fight. It showed the vulnerability behind a facade.

The most interesting part was watching Flame tackle his self-mutilation and inability to touch, but also attacking the beliefs so engraved in his mind about the evil within him. It was inspiring and touching to watch him journey to fight back against his demons and defeat the memories. 

I think within this story the most significant part for Maddie were her drawings. She was abused and perceived as vulnerbale, but despite her pain she found solace in her sketches and it was truly the best part. That the vulnerable have strength, that we all have strength and there is no shame in needing help.

This story to me was less fiction about gangs and cults and more a symbol of defeating darkness.

Much love

- R

[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

I’ve got a list of things to tell you and some time to kill

the kind of song for when crazy adventurous dreams spiral out of control

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Heart Recaptured

Even salvation can be delivered through the love of the damned… Beauty can be a curse. Faith can be a cage. Only love can set you free. A few long weeks after being reluctantly ripped from the comforting embrace of her sacred prophet’s religious commune—the only life she has ever known—a terrified Delilah is thrust into a world enveloped by evil and swimming in sin. Steadfastly devout in her faith, and retaining the deep belief that her soul is innately tarnished as a branded ‘Cursed woman of Eve’, Delilah is determined to find her way home to her people in The Order and away from the corrupt and damned outlaw motorcycle club—The Hades Hangmen—who hold her at their secluded compound for her protection—a 'protection' she strongly resents. Delilah yearns to return home, convinced that only amongst her own people, and under the holy guidance of the Lord’s revealed prophet, can her Satan-spawned soul be truly saved. Conditioned her entire life to believe she is a witch... a life-long temptress… the devil’s whore... Delilah increasingly resents her beautiful face, her shapely body and her sensuous effect on men. But when a man of the motorcycle club—a deeply sinful yet stunningly beautiful man—is charged with her care, Delilah begins to see that this dangerous and moralless sinner from the 'outside' may offer her something she did not know could truly exist: unconditional love. Kyler ‘Ky’ Willis loves his life: a daily abundance of brotherhood, liquor, the freedom of the open-road and—best of all—his pick of hot women. Raised a biker brat and now VP of the most notorious MC in the States, Ky has no shortage of club sluts warming his bed; a situation he takes full advantage of… until a certain blonde enters his life… a gorgeous pilgrim-blonde he can’t get out of his head… a pilgrim-blonde he and his club recently-rescued from some backward religious cult… and a pilgrim-blonde he’s been ordered to keep the hell away from and his whorish hands off. When yet another in a lengthy line of drunken blunders forces Ky to reluctantly take charge of the pilgrim-blonde’s care, he realizes that there could be more to this woman than just supermodel looks and a stacked set of tits. He begins to see that she could be the woman who could do the impossible—tame his wild ways and capture his reluctant heart. But the unyielding bonds of Lilah’s past are strong, her ‘people’ determined and, with a new Prophet in charge and hell bent on revenge, they are mightily reluctant to let her go

Possible Spoilers Below

HOLY MOLY. i loved this just as much as the first one. It painted such a wild world of sex, alcohol, and unapologetic brutality. It isn’t exactly relatable, but it’s the kind of this you imagine being involved in, a badass biker with a hot partner fighting people, kicking ass and taking names. 

The underlying romance was a bit stereotypical, a manwhore is tamed by an innocent girl, but the surrounding plot is what made the story captivating. 

I sort of thought it was cool how Cole threw them together in an interesting way not just “there was an immediate connection and everything’s perfect”. There was conflict and they did not immediately take to each other which to me is more the reality of love. 

I thought it was cool also that the target of kidnapping was Mae and not Lilah, that it was an accident, it made the whole scenario that much more tragic for Ky, and as brutal as her torture was i appreciate the author’s choice of a delayed rescue and a suffering Lilah. It reflected the realities of life although the situations are not usually this drastic. 

It was heartbreaking to see Lilah so brainwashed, destroying herself to be free, but in a way I can respect that that is what she needed and it helped her to free herself from the confines of her mind.

I ate this book up and read it in a day, but there are truly no words for how I felt about it and as long as you can handle violent, and mature content I recommend it.

Much love

- R

[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

Is it also a beautiful nightmare on the other side

the kind of song for days when your peace is so close but yet so far

[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

It Ain’t Me Babe

Sinning never felt so good… A fortuitous encounter. A meeting that should never have happened. Many years ago, two children from completely different worlds forged a connection, a fateful connection, an unbreakable bond that would change their lives forever… Salome knows only one way to live—under Prophet David’s rule. In the commune she calls home, Salome knows nothing of life beyond her strict faith, nor of life beyond the Fence—the fence that cages her, keeps her trapped in an endless cycle of misery. A life she believes she is destined to always lead, until a horrific event sets her free. Fleeing the absolute safety of all she has ever known, Salome is thrust into the world outside, a frightening world full of uncertainty and sin; into the protective arms of a person she believed she would never see again. River ‘Styx’ Nash knows one thing for certain in life—he was born and bred to wear a cut. Raised in a turbulent world of sex, Harleys, and drugs, Styx, unexpectedly has the heavy burden of the Hades Hangmen gavel thrust upon him, and all at the ripe old age of twenty-six—much to his rivals’ delight. Haunted by a crushing speech impediment, Styx quickly learns to deal with his haters. Powerful fists, an iron jaw and the skillful use of his treasured German blade has earned him a fearsome reputation as a man not to be messed with in the shadowy world of outlaw MC’s. A reputation that successfully keeps most people far, far away. Styx has one rule in life—never let anyone get too close. It’s a plan that he has stuck to for years, that is, until a young woman is found injured on his lot… a woman who looks uncannily familiar, a woman who clearly does not belong in his world, yet a woman he feels reluctant to let go

POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW

holy moly. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I absolutely ate it up in less than a day. The gang and cult plot was just so interesting. I’m already interested in crime and crazy occurrences of our messed up world so reading it in a book just drew me in. Additionally it was so different from every other book I’ve ever read in the storyline ideas and so scarily realistic at some points that i could not put it down!!

I don’t have a problem with heavy profanity in my books or explicit sexual content, but if you do I do not recommend. The gang culture displayed in this book includes a surplus of both. Regardless it was a wonderful book without those aspects

I ABSOLUTELY LIVED FOR STYX’S DISABILITY. First of all disabilities are not represented enough in books as is, but to see such a struggle in a gang leader was so interesting and just goes to show that you can be anything no matter your struggles. It also brought on an interesting aspect regarding his communication with the club and Mae. 

Another thing that made the book so unique was the club culture represented. Now it may not be entirely accurate, I have no reference to compare it to, but it included stereotypical aspects as well as going a bit farther into what clubs may be like. It threw such a loop in to see how Styx worked around his anger instincts and gang culture safety to be with Mae and how she had to work around how she’d been raised in order to experience freedom and love.

110% recommend this book. I can’t wait to read the next ones and go more in depth into the other characters

Much Love

-R

[biblichor-lisztomaniac-blog]

Maybe that makes me a fool

The kind of song for rainy days curled up with books