1) The great Victor Hugo fascination of 2013 continues -- I've been obsessively listening to the Notre-Dame de Paris musical for the last few weeks, because omg, it's so good. Just listen to this song.

I also read Claude Gueux, a short story from 1834 which foreshadows a lot of the themes of Les Misérables while contrasting it in interesting ways ( Read more... )

I've been thinking of rereading Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness for some time, so when I stumbled upon a second-hand copy of The Unlit Lamp, Hall's first novel (though it was the second one to be published, in 1924), I decided to give it a try. As it turned out, I'm very glad I did. It's not a very pleasant or happy story, but it's gripping ( Read more... )