so near and dear to my heart. this book was so impactful on my love for religious studies and myth and storytelling. it affected me so deeply the way it handles topics like man’s relation to nature, human destiny, faith, culture, and the nature of truth and story. if i could choose a book to be curriculum it would be this one.
pi patel was among my first “literally me”s lol
Apr 20, 2024
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if this didnt fit the perspective of life changing for me i dont know what would, you will want to read it again and again
Feb 9, 2024
finished reading this like 2 weeks ago, PI.BKCLB read it a few months ago but i was waiting to get my hands on a physical copy. very worth the wait! a challenging read, some of it def went over my head but has such interesting things to say about creation, mortality and god.
Jan 28, 2025
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I want to thank Liv for giving me my favourite book.
Clarice has been my favourite author since I was 14, reading what she writes always felt like reading my thoughts and beliefs about life on a page as if they had been scooped out of my brain and elegantly placed in a book.
This is the only text I had never read and known to be her most regarded work The Passion According to G.H. takes the status of a masterpiece In the Brasilian Literature scenario. I wanted to make sure to read it when I felt ready, ready to say goodbye to Clarice, as I turned 21 one of my best friends gifted me this book and I knew it was time.
The history is simple, a woman is cleaning her house, and she finds a drawing, a roach and God. From there Clarice takes your hand and leads you into the journey of finding meaning.
According to Aristotle, the end of all human actions resides in the search for happiness. This book describes that in the most genius way. Heaven and hell are portrayed as being a place on earth, a place on us. I doubt that two people can read this book and tell you the same history, it is highly subjective you can take away from it whatever exists in your mind.
My biggest takeaway was that hell and even are inside of us, by wishing for things you don't have you must go through war to achieve them, war is hell. By wishing for things that you already have (like seeing your friends on the weekend, talking to your grandparents, baking a cake) you find heaven. Heaven is in the simple, it is in the recognition that you were given more than what you could have asked for. Love is the realization of getting someone you wished for through passion, it is tedious, complete and beautiful. You can find content in love, and you no longer wish.
That is what I read, but please don't let my blurry vision take you down a path. I am sure that if you read it your life and experiences would lead you to many different conclusions.
This is a book that I would love to give to everyone I know and ask them what it is about.
That is the beauty and geniality of Clarice.
"Humility is much more than a feeling, it is reality seen with a minimum of good sense".
Jun 8, 2024
Top Recs from @bisonspider
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study the folklore and myth of your actual local region. live your daily life under the logic of fairytales. communicate as heavily as possible in proverbs and riddles. humans are a storytelling creature and there is a reason these archetypes and motifs appear to humans across times/cultures/places
Feb 13, 2024
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Substack that emails you the entirety of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in real time. since the novel is composed of diary entries, it sends you the diary entries day by day so you can read it on the same timeline in which it takes place. it started earlier this month but it’s not too late to catch up!! or you could wait until next may. classics can be intimidating but this gives you the opportunity to read it in daily segments in your email and follow along in an immersive way :)
May 20, 2024
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lots of great recs here, but if you want horror that is more based in storytelling and has a bit more on its mind than just slashers or gore you should check out folk horror or older horror films from the 60s/70s. as others have recommended, The Wicker Man (1973) is a must. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) is also a classic. The VVitch (2015) is also fantastic as an intro to more conceptual horror. you said you wanted deeper cuts, so check out Viy (1967) or Alucarda (1977), both of which i’ve posted more detailed recs for on my profile. also!!!! i don’t know how you feel about silent/b&w films but Nosferatu (1922) is an all-time genre mainstay that still holds up. Ari Aster’s work is great but it’s probably more gruesome than you’re looking for. have fun!!!
Apr 24, 2024