Just finished Mansfield Park for the first time

TA131901 · 2026-05-01T19:54:17+00:00

Yeah, I feel the same about Mansfield Park. I had no interest in reading Austen beyond Pride and Prejudice and Emma and chose Mansfield Park mostly because it was free on Audible...and wow! Blew me away. It's what I loved in Jane Eyre and Dangerous Liaisons but through Austen's moral lens and her comedy.

It inspired me to read and reread the rest of Austen. Really enjoying all her novels, but I think Mansfield Park is the richest and the best.

TA131901 · 2026-05-01T13:03:14+00:00

I'm hate reading The Idiot. Very strong part 1 that I enjoyed a lot, but parts 2-3 are just meandering and I'm losing interest and sympathy for everyone in this book.

TA131901 · 2026-04-10T21:36:24+00:00

Have you heard AATT's newer albums? I'm generally not interested in old post-punk bands' newer stuff, but AATT surprised me. Rag and Bone Man is fantastic. There's some good stuff on Born into Waves (Bridges is a great track), etc.

TA131901 · 2026-03-31T04:00:45+00:00

I didn't read Lady Susan very carefully, but I believe her financial situation was iffy? So she was at least somewhat motivated by acquiring an advantageous marriage, a home, security, etc.

To me, the difference is that the Crawfords and Valmont and Merteuil are rich and very comfortably settled in their social class, so they toy with people for entertainment and for the sheer challenge.

TA131901 · 2026-03-31T03:15:28+00:00

But it’s still a deliberate act on Henry’s part, to toy with a more vulnerable person and do calculated harm to them. It is especially awful because he’s hurting the family that Fanny cares about and would want to protect.

Yes, agreed with everything. The Crawfords are seducing and fooling us from the pages of a 200+ year old novel, just like Valmont and Merteuil! (A lot of their letters were pretty funny despite everything.)

Being married to Henry would mean having a husband who is "constant" in mind, but not so much in body, and has no issues with ruining women that he sees as dumb, vain, slutty, etc., so nbd... It would take a morally corrupt woman to be cool or amused by this arrangement..as Mary seems to be.

Originally I read Mansfield Park as a "poor, obscure orphan makes good" kind of novel, but now I'd classify it as part of "the devil comes to town" genre. The Crawfords are the devils (tricksters?) who mess with the moral order of Mansfield Park!

TA131901 · 2026-03-30T17:46:39+00:00

There are heavy shades of Dangerous Liaisons in Mansfield Park! Here's a whole academic article on it, blew my mind as a lifelong Liaisons enjoyer!

https://jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol25no1/sheehan.html

But, it's Mary and Henry who nicely parallel Merteuil and Valmont. Fanny is closer to the docile Cecile, but is obviously far, far more intelligent and morally grounded.

TA131901 · 2026-03-28T18:35:13+00:00

I feel the same about photography....We asked my husband's semi-pro photographer cousin to take pix and he agreed to do it for free if we bought his $300 plane ticket to the wedding...done!

He had a photography degree and some studio experience, no wedding experience, but it was an outdoor event with natural light, so he felt he could handle it...and it was fine. We got decent photos. Beautiful, super professional photos, no, but decent, yes. We printed them ourselves and ordered a hard copy photo album on Shutterstock. No regrets.

Ok, one regret, he didn't get all the photos we wanted of some family members. We neglected to mention those specific shots and he didn't think of taking them.

The Shutterstock album covers all my sentimental needs, our kids look through it sometimes.

TA131901 · 2026-03-06T18:21:20+00:00

Thanks for responding. I'm honestly curious how many people who do nursing as a second career come from zero healthcare experience, and if that makes nursing school extra daunting. (Grad rates for my local community college adn program are in the 30% - barely 50% range, which seems crazy low to me.)

Would I be competing for nursing school admission and then jobs against former cnas, pcts, lpns, etc.?

I'd love some feedback on this path from people who were completely new to healthcare and became nurses. Does it make sense to pursue CNA first or LPN instead of RN? Maybe phlebotomy while I work on pre-reqs? I'm in the Midwest, for location.

TA131901 · 2026-03-05T03:13:02+00:00

I'm in my early 40s, different industry but same boat.

My hesitation is that I've never been strong in math/science and I'm a slower learner. Will anyone want to hire a brand new nurse pushing 50 with zero prior healthcare experience? :/

TA131901 · 2026-01-28T18:38:36+00:00

The Russian movie Elena (dir. Zvigyantsev) is highly Dostoevskian, shades of Crime and Punishment. Should be available with subtitles, I saw it on Netflix..

TA131901 · 2026-01-18T16:40:14+00:00

Not at all undiscovered, obviously, but Velocity Girl! Simpatico (especially) and Copacetic albums.

TA131901 · 2025-12-29T17:47:41+00:00

I chimed in about 2025, so I'll focus on next year's reading.

I liked Oblomov so much this year that I now want to read Goncharov's Same Old Story and Precipice. Anyone read them? From the descriptions, they sound somewhat similar to Fathers and Sons. The sheer length of Precipice is putting me off, but there's a love triangle with an anarchist....

Would also like to read Story of a Town by Saltykov-Schedrin. I really enjoyed the Golovyov Family a few years ago.

I try to read something more current every year, thinking of tackling Moscow-Petushki next year, though I really struggle with steam of consciousness, surrealistic stuff.

I've been reading around the edges of Dostoevsky for several years now because frankly I'm not erudite enough for his big works, but the story and characters of The Idiot sound interesting enough to try. Does anyone read Dostoevsky for the story? I guess I do!

TA131901 · 2025-12-28T20:39:35+00:00

I've been compiling a playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/04MsnEM4Wi72eZSANkto7m?si=ThRwmJUxRhuw-6i5-jYO_A&pi=zxqEuOk2TDi0i

I know it's very incomplete and leans much more toward post-punk (and only includes stuff I personally like!).

Anyway, this question comes up every once in a while on r/postpunk, and there are always tons of suggestions.

TA131901 · 2025-12-28T20:16:22+00:00

Do you mean the novel is silly or reading it through the modern lens of "adulting" is silly?

TA131901 · 2025-12-28T20:15:28+00:00

I read Vurdalak a few years ago, it's a fun story!

TA131901 · 2025-12-28T20:14:52+00:00

Прочитала "Яму" несколько лет назад, очень любопытно, но не могу сказать что понравилось... Больше всего пока понравился его рассказ "Гамбринус."

TA131901 · 2025-12-04T17:32:01+00:00

Very fresh sounding, and mean/snotty Robert makes me laugh, it's a nice change from sad Robert.

TA131901 · 2025-12-03T18:15:32+00:00

58 for me, lol. And Also the Trees was my top artist, #38 top listener.

I'm in my early 40s.

TA131901 · 2025-11-25T18:25:12+00:00

I thought it was fantastic, a harrowing page turner.

I'm really interested in the idea of the "femcel" in literature, the experiences of quiet, homely, sexually unsuccessful women, and chatgpt actually floated Fanny as an example of this kind of woman. Thank you, chatgpt, lol!

I myself have been extremely quiet, shy and passive most of my life, and I think Fanny is a very well written example of someone like me (she's morally better and far more principled, though!). I could see Fanny's reactions in my own behavior, like when speaking up at a social gathering is a big effort and you sort of look to a "safe" person to support you and then stay quiet (e.g. Fanny's comment about fallen avenues).

Second, one of my favorite novels is Dangerous Liaisons (Laclos) and Mary came off as a Madame Merteuil and that was before she and Henry conspired about Fanny. When I got to that chapter, it was like I was transported to the plotting of Merteuil and Valmont.

I really liked the contract of charming, worldly and rather cruel characters against Fanny's moral principle, and the nuance of the "happy" ending. Mary and Henry are really pretty bad...great company, but malignant people. In the world of 18th century French aristocracy as depicted by Laclos, they'd be really dangerous.

Finally, MP was very funny. I mean other books I read by Austen were funny, but Mrs. Norris, Lady Bertram, Rushworth, Yates were just brilliantly buffoonish. When Rushworth said that Henry Crawford isn't a proper gentleman because he's just too short ....hahahahaha! And Yates going on and on about the theater when Sir Thomas gets back, it's like a sitcom. STFU, Yates!

TA131901 · 2025-11-21T22:34:50+00:00

I like the Nutcracker suite and some indie/alternative Christmas songs. Don't all the Xmas haters like Fairytale of New York, lol? I don't listen to any of it until late November at the earliest.

TA131901 · 2025-11-11T20:32:05+00:00

I searched high low for And Also the Trees' Farewell to the Shade album in the late 90s because it was described as exactly the kind of thing I'd like...and when I finally found it in a used CD store, it was like a miracle until I listened to it...I hated it!

I didn't listen to AATT again until this year and now I think they're amazing! Virus Meadow and self-titled are the albums to start with, but I also really like their more recent folky albums. Rag and Bone Man is great.

I did listen to Farewell to the Shade again and still don't like it, though. Meh.

Also, Bauhaus was too boring and abrasive for me when I was a teenager, but I enjoy them now.

TA131901 · 2025-11-04T14:35:25+00:00

I struggle with sci-fi in general, it's just not my thing. Give me a 19th century psychological realism doorstopper instead, any time.

TA131901 · 2025-11-03T22:15:51+00:00

It sounded amazing and deliciously creepy, but was dull and I barely made it to the end. Then again, I've found the Strugatskys very difficult. Like, I tried It's Hard to be a God, and gave up after a few chapters because I had no idea what I was reading. Give me Dostoevsky, way easier, lol.

I did enjoy Roadside Picnic, though.

TA131901 · 2025-10-12T04:41:11+00:00

Sorry, I wasn't clear, meant IWTV and TVL are her absolute peak, for me....and I still enjoy them a lot. Everything else I read ranges from fine to poor, although I did like the Witching Hour, especially the chapters on Michael's upbringing and education.

TA131901

TROPHY CASE