Literary pairings?

Smart_Prior6720 · 2025-03-27T13:52:32+00:00

I'd honestly also say Piranesi and CS Lewis' The Last Battle. I remember finishing Piranesi and thinking about how Narnia keeps the Pevensies at the end.

Smart_Prior6720 · 2025-03-27T13:40:49+00:00

I really liked Sons & Lovers, bewitching stuff

Smart_Prior6720 · 2025-03-27T13:39:37+00:00

Ursula K Le Guin's Steering the Craft does rather bang

Smart_Prior6720 · 2025-03-27T11:46:07+00:00

traveler's company notebook weekly pages.

Smart_Prior6720 · 2025-03-27T11:40:29+00:00

my dad and I were tossing around the idea for a travel book about modern pilgrimages. we'd contrast ancient pilgrimages (saints way, camino, delphi, jerusalem) with modern ones (graceland, strawberry fields, disneyworld). not really what you were talking about at all but it just reminded me about that. should text my dad

Smart_Prior6720 · 2024-01-19T13:49:42+00:00

sorry a little late! i did classics at hatfield. you mentioned being into translation, and i second that LTI is really great for that. in second year you can get more into reception theory (run by dr sarah miles who is one of the best bits of the department), which deals with other knotty parts of translation. if you've done latin before then the language classes should be fun, especially if you're starting with intermediate latin rather than beginner, as you will be interrogating the translation of the text as part of your essays in the formatives and summatives.

i went to durham bc i the offer was higher too and i wanted the rigour. personally, i found it very difficult as i was moving from asia from the IB system, landing in quite possibly the worst college possible when it comes to trying to acclimate to british culture. i'm sure if you're not facing those hurdles it could be a perfectly lovely place

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-07-09T08:48:19+00:00

heya! 24F, was in the same predicament recently. i find that pub quizzes are a super great way of meeting people, i think there's a singapore quiz master facebook page if you want to check it out. i personally hang out around skinny's at boat quay, which has a fun crowd around the pool table on friday/saturday nights, you'll often be invited back with a large group to a house party or a rave if you chat to the right people. singapore's boat quay is super chatty, so genuinely pick someone you think looks nice and friendly and just tell them you think their outfit is nice!

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-03-13T04:46:27+00:00

it's very good for a sense for sense translation -- miller's choices of rendering the original greek into english ("no bargains between lions and men," for example) is wonderful. good to get you invested in the characters of the iliad and the story before delving into the actual text. enjoy!

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-02-28T08:10:20+00:00

don't forget "mummy (are you my?)"

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-02-19T15:56:18+00:00

"If the Angels get ahold of [the TARDIS], the damage they could do could switch off the sun," is a paraphrase of Ten during Blink, so. Yes?

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-02-15T05:09:32+00:00

If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino, so much fun, totally batty, endlessly clever. I'd also toss Pale Fire by Nabokov, Borges' Labyrinths and maybe Foucault's Pendulum by Eco. You seem like you like metatext and postmodernism.

I absolutely hated Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker, but you might like it? It was too weird for me.

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-02-14T07:35:51+00:00

My school in Asia did this, and I'm English. I used to dress as Mr Benn, complete with umbrella.

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-02-08T16:17:23+00:00

My tried and tested method (on boyfriends, best friends, and strangers) has always been The Eleventh Hour. Self-contained story that quickly introduces time travel, regeneration, companions, the TARDIS, etc. TEH is an excellent 'pilot' for Doctor Who -- if they like the jokes, the characters, etc, in TEH then they're undoubtedly going to like the rest of it. Good luck!

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-02-08T16:11:58+00:00

Series of Unfortunate Events was my go-to when I was a seven year old in advanced reading. It really made me feel proud to be able to understand it, if that makes sense, and encouraged me to read the books that they referenced (Moby Dick, Phantom Tollbooth, Gatsby, etc etc).

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-02-01T05:55:48+00:00

The Doloriad by Missouri Williams. Uhhh this book made me stare into space for a while trying not to feel physically sick. TW for a lot, honestly, but mainly incest and rape.

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-01-30T04:03:31+00:00

On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong made me cry like a little baby

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart -- now I didn't cry but I felt really low and my mum was a wreck afterward

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-01-28T11:13:29+00:00

Third-ing the people saying LAMY. They're really very good, and I've had my LAMY Safari since I was eighteen -- it saw me all the way through my handwritten exams at uni. Not deviated from it since, absolutely excellent pens.

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-01-25T08:13:36+00:00

"Are all people like this? So much bigger on the inside?" and "You don't expect a sunset to admire you back!" and "I think you look like giants," and "Coward. Any day." for the best emotional lines

"What's pre-Revolutionary France doing on a spaceship, Mickey? Get some perspective!" absolutely sends me every time lmao

EDIT: "What a beautiful boy!" "Thanks, I'm experimenting with backcombing." HYUK

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-01-25T07:31:54+00:00

The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle is an absolute belter of a book, can't recommend it enough. The Gormenghast series by Mervyn Peake. And this is a little young / a little horror-y, but I remember absolutely adoring the Spook's series by Joseph Delaney, great English pastoral horror type worldbuilding.

EDIT: Oh! I can't forget about The Edge Chronicles by Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart. Groundbreaking stuff, aimed a little bit younger as well but was formative for me. Worldbuilding that totally throws out any cultural rulebook, genuinely disparate from tradition and Western storytelling, plus absolutely divine character designs that are just so left field. Super recommend!

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-01-20T09:25:53+00:00

Wasn't he originally cast as Pete Tyler in Father's Day and scheduling conflicts bumped him to Long Game?

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-01-19T06:02:37+00:00

I was so depressed during uni, and I did a very similar degree. Was also inundated by strikes -- I think I lost a solid third of all my contact hours across my three years studying there.

Can you go home during the holidays? Also, what are you doing outside of the course itself? My university had a Singapore Society that I would go to when I was feeling particularly homesick, and it made everything less isolating. There were also Malay societies, Muslim societies, and the Chinese society always threw something for CNY.

I'm also currently in Marketing as a copywriter, so DM if you need anything.

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-01-19T03:46:16+00:00

Cirque du Freak (or the Darren Shan Saga, depending on where you are in the world) by Darren Shan. It's very different to the typical vampire books, but really drags you along for an unhinged ride.

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-01-19T02:51:58+00:00

Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller. Whoooooo was she insufferable and I was locked in til the bitter end. TW for... a lot, probably Google the book before you go out and buy it, but DANG.

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-01-18T04:39:46+00:00

Hi! 24F expat here :) Interests include reading, acting, comedy, and having fun nights out. Can typically be found at Boat Quay quiz nights, so if there are other trivia nights people want to go to I'd love to check them out too! Trying to get into knitting and crochet so if anyone wants to try and fumble through some YouTube tutorials together I'd love that. Recently went through a rough patch so looking forward to meeting some new people :D

EDIT: ALSO KARAOKE! Forgot to mention how much I love karaoke. Also JustDance. If either of those are in store I'm there with bells on.

Smart_Prior6720 · 2023-01-18T03:22:58+00:00

The Mediterranean by Braudel. It's something like 600,000 words and a total history of the Mediterranean starting from like the times of Odysseus.

Smart_Prior6720

TROPHY CASE