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I like the way you say the word “sexual.” Say it again.

project moon

13:45 well then you should read ''Against the Grain'' which is the Yellow book refrenced in Picture as his influence and decides Dorians outlook and indirectly actions

Reading out aloud has become a favourite way of absorbing more

hola me gustan muchos los libros de anne y los he leido varias veces pero al tener el derecho de no los editen a veces algunas partes son repetitivas y aburren como en taltos o el principe lestat y los reinos de la atlantida en cuanto a la serie me encanta los actores la manera ingeniosa en reinventar la historia fue genial no me importa si no lo siguen al pie de la letra para eso estan los libros es dificil adaptar libros al medio televisivo y cine y estoy de acuerdo de que talvez su hijo estaba a la altura del desafio como guionista me parece que le dan mucha importancia sino es igual linea x linea y seguire la serie porque haan hecho un trabajo exquisito en detalles en la produccion artistica musica y cinematografia y cumplen para mi enlos puntos principales de la cronicas vampiricas

Also hate that I'm a few years late for this discussion because I've been having such a hard time finding friends to relay all this to.

Its always somewhat disappointing when a writer brings in a new character to further the plot especially when they have never been mentioned prior. With that being said, mona and ancient Eveliyn are interesting characters. I feel like their purpose of the plot is to highlight the mentality the mayfair family must have to uphold the mayfair legacy as a whole. Monas character is uncomfortable, but since i know shes writen by a women its somewhat digestible. Although, women are also subjected to have internalize misogyny which is made apparently in all of AR works (im not judging and im not trying to make a feminist statement) Mona behavior is understandable. Horny 13 year old girls do exists rather we like it or not.😅 but her night with Michael and every other man/boy is a result the lack of supervision. Makes me sick when she discussed the difference between an older man and a youger boy 🤢 but luckly for us Anne Rice has created a works were we can discuss and analyze real life horrors such as in€est and rap3 and i dont believe she glamories these themes at all, but highlights them in away that helps us develop our moral judgment.

Crime and Punishment, as I see it, is a study of a self-centered life vs a God-centered life. One is hell and death, the other is saved life. And it is also the study of a certain type of person who has to follow sin to its ultimate destination in order to have no other place to go but to God. That type of person is under the delusion of self-sufficiency. FYI, the first half of it will induce insane nightmares, while the end of it has the power to restore your faith if you're open to it.

Excellent review. I especially agree with your critique of how Claudia is handled.

I enjoyed your breakdown on Dickeen's very underrated " Ye Olde Curiosity Shop." You have inspired me to reread it again. It's in the queue for my next read. I just finished rereading "Oliver Twist." You mention Oliver as a one-dimensional character, as do many Dickens enthusiasts. In my reread, I found him more rounded and believable than before. We must remember he was an orphan, brought up for 8 years without a mother, unloved, ill-treated, and without nurturing of any sort. Of course, he is emotionally stunted; yes, he cries a lot. I think we all would, don't you? But he also stands up for his mother ( as you mentioned), is brave enough to ask for "more please," stands up to the Beetle, resists becoming a thief on numerous occasions, and is tenacious about finding his benefactor after being stolen away by Nancy and Bill. Considering his age, upbringing, and circumstances, I see Oliver as well-drawn, believable, and sympathetic character Please give Oliver another chance. Again, thank you for your excellent post. Charles Dickins Lives!

Can’t believe I’m the only one here with Limbus brainrot.

Thank you so much for this great explanation

I think Anne Rice was a genius, but she was also crazy

I'm literally inspired by your analysis and the depth you described,now I'm your student and I'll just search for your channel from now on to learn something in depth 😊.Thank you for being here

i love your analysis of dracula a lot 💗💗💗💗

pls, continue ✨

🌹🦇 For your upcoming Q and A : 1. Since more and more people are listening to audio books as opposed to conventional reading, what long term affects if any will be on reading comprehension and analytical thinking as a whole ? The mind is exercised in a different way when we read than when we listen and do you think audio books will eventually replace conventional reading as the standard way to consume literature ? 2. Alot of people are very nervous about AI technology, are you one of those people ? The creative process, especially when it comes to writing and the arts in general could be drastically changed by AI both in the creation process of art/ entertainment along with how the industry is run. What do you think about all this AI anxiety ? 3. This is a non book related topic but you mentioned in the past that you are a fan of Joni Mitchel, what do you think of these other amazing and talented people of music : Annie Lennox, Stevie Nicks, and Siouxsie Sioux ? I love all three of these brilliant icons. THANK YOU JOSHUA for all that you do and I look forward to hearing your answers !

My favorite modern Gothic is "Let the Right One In", The Scandinavian film of the novel ( with subtitles) is stunning.

Dracula is so much more interesting than Frankenstein because it doesn't have the moralizing quality which infuses Mary Shelley's work.

Thanks for the breakdown! I love Udolpho, and I’m one of the readers who prefer the terror to the horror style. I agree with Radcliffe, terror opens the soul; horror shuts it down. I know Udolpho will be a slog at times. I’m committed to pushing thorough, and getting through some it on audible.

Just being honest: you lost me at that horrid mispronunciation of Miriam Margolyes’ name.

Jory is the child of Cathy and Julian. In the book pedals in the wind jory's hair is black like his father's Julian

No music please. It's distracting from your excellent analyses.

Since I've gotten older Persuasion has also taken the #1 spot for me. Emma is probably my least favorite, and I'm always genuinely perplexed when someone says it's their favorite Austen novel! It has a claustrophobic atmosphere for me (I always love it when the characters travel someplace like London, Bath, or Lyme) and it doesn't have the wonderful minor characters that P&P and S&S have. I don't even think it's that funny, aside from some of Mr. Woodhouse's lines. I actually think S&S is her funniest novel, I laugh out loud whenever I reread it!

I respectfully disagree with this review.

I pretty much agree with your ranking. Maybe I would have placed Queen of the Damned higher in the list, but I still have to read the last two books in the series. I would like to re-read them all, but I am a little bit afraid of doing it because I have a lot of memories connected to the series.

I've only read the first three but I liked Queen of the Damned the most (looooved the short stories and the concert bit) and TVL and IwtV about the same, TVL would have been above if not for that long ass boring Marius chapter though. Probably won't bother with the others though they all seem a little weird lol

Excellent! I was looking forward to this. I haven't read the series, but I own the first one (and the film). I've heard about the series in passing, but I've never felt drawn to Anne Rice, for some odd reason, which is why I was excited to hear your perspective and about your experience. I am curious about that alien race in 'Atlantis, but I don't know that I'll ever make the time to read past the first one. Time will tell. Thanks for sharing your views, and we'll see you in the next one. Cheers!

I've rea all the novels except Vittorio the Vampire. My ranking would place Merrick and The Queen of the Damned much higher on the list. ...Body Thief would be lower, largely due to the fact that this plot is very similar to one from the 1969 Dark Shadows storyline wherein Quentin Collins and Count Petofi switch bodies in order to escape the revenge of the gypsies. Flaws and all, Rices novels are among my all-time favorite reading.

I really liked your ranking and your points of view and I will take in consideration your observations as I move forward with the series.I have only read 8 books from Anne Rice but I will rank them anyway: 1.The Vampire Lestat( The Brat Prince talking about his Life, beautifully written, great backstory for the vampires ) 2.Queen of the Damned ( Although It is a mess I was entertained and liked the red head twins back story, Akasha one of the best villians ever) 3.interview with the Vampire ( Beautifully written but way to depressing ) 4.Mayfair Witches : The Witching Hour (Engaging and thorough liked the Family saga and the Talmasca parts in It ) 5.The Wolf Gift( the writing is not the best but the character is likeable and It is fast paced) 6. lasher( entertaning but It could've been shorter) 7.Pandora ( boring and Dull) 8.Servant of the Bones( boring and dull)

This is a great ranking, I’m actually reading the Vampire Lestat my first time and I’m truly enjoying 😀

very informative review.

I can understand why people dislike too many changes, but honestly i think that remixing the source material and playing around with the ideas is exactly what keeps art fresh and interesting. There is no such a thing as a truly "orignal" peice of art. Could you argue that they should have named it something else and simply have it inspired by Anne? Yeah sure. But in the end of the day i think its really important to not treat any art, no matter how old and beloved, like its a sacred text. Personally, i found the show to be much higher quality than the books. Jacob Anderson deserves all the praise for his immense talent - he made me fall in love with Louis immediately!

Catherine was an extremely unlikable charecter....like fuck you..😅😅😅

It's actually a great read and an intriguing story. Her origin is ancient Rome by the way, not Greece.

The first time I read this (or tried to) I was a teenager expecting a terrifying tale of horror, but my desire for schlock-shocker violence was so dissatisfied with this book, I wrote it off as a boring let-down. The second time I attempted to read it was the time I left a review for it on here: that was right after having been immersed in Nabokov and David Foster Wallace and my brain simply hadn't been in the right mood to appreciate it. Trying to listen to half of it via audio book didn't help either; especially with the thick 19th Century rural Yorkshire dialect of Joseph. Already knowing how the tale played out also meant it just felt like I was reading through treacle in order to cross the finishing line. I didn't give a fair or reasonable review. This time however, I went into 'Wuthering Heights' far better prepared than I had prior to my previous attempts. I had bought a copy of the Penguin Classics edition (which helpfully contains translation notes in the back to enable the Yorkshire parlance to make sense) and I jumped immediately into reading it, after having completed yet another re-read of 'Jane Eyre' which is one of my lifelong favourite titles. Already being in the early Victorian writing mindset, coupled with a good edition providing help with translation, meant that this time I settled into the windswept world of 'Wuthering Heights' with an enthusiastic, avid alacrity. This time the characters really came to life, jumped off the page, and felt fully realised. The reading now felt wonderfully descriptive: Romantic in style (if not romantic in the modern sense of the word) and whilst it was filled with unlikable characters, not all of them felt irredeemable. Heathcliff for example garnered far more empathy and sympathy from me than those whose pampered existences he had been plunged alongside. With almost everyone treating him like a leper from day one, by dint of his social standing...or lack thereof. I almost feel as though many of those whom he got back at, deserved his wrath and unchecked ire. Those younger and more innocent characters who come along later, perhaps not so much. But as the old phrase goes: _"Hurt people', hurt people."_ And that to me was the greatest takeaway from the novel. We may be imbued from birth with certain immutable characteristic and traits that will play a part in shaping who we are, but we are also the products of our raising and our environments. How then was the ignoble orphan - thrust into the claustrophobic confines of two houses up on the moors, and treated by many like some form of vermin - expected to turn out any differently than Heathcliff inevitability did? Those raised to higher-born statuses and positions of social rank; those steeped in more sophisticated tastes and imbued with more genteel sensibilities and manners, SHOULD have been brought up to know better and known the importance of tempering their behaviours with a more civilised, charitable conduct and grace. But if Emily Brontë showed anything with this thoroughly engaging book (which was quite a shocker back when it was first published) it was that no matter our breeding, we are all base beasts of the same species; only some of us are better able to cloak our wretched souls in the superficial trappings that onlookers (often mistakenly) perceive to be indicative of virtue. Now though, having read and truly been able to appreciate how whip-smart, well observed and great 'Wuthering Heights' truly is, I am fain to have once again returned to the book, only better prepared (with a good/helpful edition) and already happily ensconced in Brontë-land (thanks to 'Jane Eyre') with my frame of mind already steeped in the stylings of Victorian literature. This time around I have awarded it a solid 4 stars, and I know I will re-read it again in future. Books often need to come along and share their wit & wisdom with us, at a time when we are best prepared to read them. I buy books faster than I can read them (tsundoku is abundant throughout my house) but it just means that I know I'll have exactly the right book ready to hand, the moment the time is right for me to most benefit from its contents. I'm just really glad that 'Wuthering Heights' registered so deeply with me on that last/most recent attempt. (Third time's the charm, as they say.) I'm now planning to apply this same mindset to a few other books I have previously failed to click with, in hopes of having them also open up their treasures to me, in subsequent re-reads of their texts. And if anyone else reads this, knowing that they too have a handful of books they have been hitherto incapable of connecting with, or mining any magic from, maybe give them one last _"good old college try"_. Find copies like the Penguin Classics editions (which come complete with interesting introductions, are prefaced with extraneous peripheral information, include biographies, and noted paginations that take the reader to glossaries of terms and translated dialects) rather than opting for a prettier bound edition with fewer added helpful features. For your first proper read go with function over style; you can always get a fancier second copy later, should you fall in love with said book and know that you are going to re-read it time and again in future. (It's also less daunting to pencil in marginalia when using the kind of editions that are used for students to take notes in, whilst studying a text.) And just do everything you can to help you to more easily immerse yourself in the book in question. I know many readers/critics rail against "mood reading"; but when your wish is to tackle books of some greater import - of the 'Classics Canon' - and to feel like you didn't merely understand or appreciate the writing, but actually enjoyed the tales within, then finding little ways to achieve this will make all the difference. Novels are meant to be enjoyed as much as they are designed to educate or inform the reader. So do yourself a favour and make it so that you are in the best possible frame of mind to enjoy whatever it is that you wish to read. I'm now just sad to know that there were no other novels penned by Emily Brontë. But I do at least have a few other titles written by her sisters Charlotte and Anne that I am now very much looking forward to reading. Bex

Catherine is like a Gemini, two sided personality.

Are there any commentaries written by Bram Stoker himself describing the story elements of his book? it would seem he would be the best as a primary source of material of study of this great piece of literature.

If you haven't already seen them, Shakespeare: The Animated Tales from the early 90s did Othello, as well as Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Richard III, and Macbeth. I believe most of them can be found on youtube. Other plays were animated for the series, but the animation style for these is spooky and suitable for this time of year.

Paglia’s university in Philadelphia imploded during the summer and shut down permanently. It’s been devastating to the academic community in Philadelphia, many school are scrambling to find placements for students. I have not heard what has happened to her, if she was forced into retirement, or if another university has brought her on board. She has been there for nearly four decades or more. It’s just inconceivable that this could happen to such an old and storied university, which Paglia was the jewel in the crown. Just say R&J at the Folger Library in DC, which owns more Shakespeare folios than anywhere else in the world. It was a stunning production, but modern with Juliet’s family being Puerto Rican and many of their lines were done in Spanish. The families were political rivals, perfect for DC and the elections. The actors were fantastic.

I first tried to read The Lord of the Rings when I was about 12 and it was definitely too soon! Tried again a couple of years later and didn't manage to make it to the Prancing Pony Inn because I lost the will to live in the Shire/Old Forest. Managed to read it when I was 16 or 17 and I'm so glad that J did because it has become one of my enduring favourite stories which I've re-read quite often. It's rich storytelling and world-building has inspired me in my own writing and has been a crutch I have leant on in rough periods of my life. I'm so pleased you enjoyed it this time around; audiobooks are fantastic.

I think It is convoluted and badly framed still. Sometimes there are too many layers of "flashbacks". It is understandable, but not very elegant in my opinion. I still believe thay Mr.Lockwood is pointless in the book and Nelly's narration is so prevalent that I don't see how Bronte is inviting us to question her version all that much, specially since most of the other sources back her up and she doesnt really hide her past actions that aren't exactly good. Yes, she biased. But overall, she is a reliable narrator. If there were more narrators (specially if some contradicted Nelly's version a bit more) It would make Mr.Lockwood's presence useful and interesting, but as It is I think It was a either a bad choice or a skill issue from the author.

I recommend octavia butler dawn!

(Melanie here) I just read Wuthering Heights for the first time. Your videos are excellent. I really enjoyed your insights.

TBH, the show surpasses the books (an ancient Rice fan) in many ways if one evaluates the narrative tecniques. The books are simply too incoherent to make a cohesive, interesting and masterful TV show. If Anne wanted total personal freedom, she should not have sold the books in the first place or made a clause about her own qualms in the legalities of it all and no one should care about what her son thinks about , as it irrelevant metric to the author's intent, if one's sole aim is to pursue that.Although we should not dwell too much on the author's intent, as every reader has their own understating of the text, and the meaning attained by the reader's response to the text and is never something that the author creates. Your arguments are suggestive like saying "Hamlet" can only be adapted in one perfect way which is funny because, I have seen a few of the most bizzare adaptations that are more true to the essence of the text than many of line to line adaptations. It's the storytelling of the series that makes it so exceptional, it absolutely grips the core of the story and its brilliant it did not go on the "copy-paste" route because it enriches our imagination to see these complex characters in newer ways, it forces us to ask difficult even radical questions that can be quite confronting to conservative minds. And most importantly, the medium of the narrative is changed from the epic format of the novels to a dramatic one, intrinsically leading one to editorialize the the source material which will automatically lead to prioritization of some attribute over the other, thus rendering your arguments as quite fallacious. AMC's show does a marvelous job, probably one of the most nuanced and thought provoking work of art balancing the delicate yet dangerous dance of modifying the source so as it can attain it's full potential as a cinematic experience.

This is basically a summary of all of the talking points of people who don't like the show. It's obviously not the book, but it's good on it's own. I would love more people to be interested in her books because of the series; her universe is too rich, and I'm not going to gatekeep new people appreciating her work.

I wonder about Fagin. Did he grow up as a street kid.Did he feel like the kids in his care were family? Did life and poverty create Fagin..Ok so you don't like the book by listening to you but I know Charles Dickens and you I have no clue who you are.

🦇🌹I completely agree with you. I defended this series when season one first appeared, I may have even said positive things about it here in your comment section but after the first season wrapped I thought it just didn't have the correct tone it should and if the writers/ producers intentionally took shots at Rice's writing style and perspectives that alone is a severe problem. The show comes of more silly than sexy and it feels like they just watered it down for the mediocre masses. It also has a YA vibe to it with their interpretation of Claudia which I for one don't appreciate. I refuse to watch any more it. You mentioned "Hannibal" and how great an adaptation it is from the novels and you are spot on ! That is how you do it. Did you know that Bryan Fuller was considered as a potential show runner but he declined despite the fact he is a huge fan of Anne Rice. He probably didn't feel he could add anything to it. Oh Joshua, What could have been ?!!!😂 If you think what AMC did with "Interview with the Vampire" was bad, an even worse travesty is how they handled "The Witching Hour" ! It has all the artistic integrity of a Hallmark movie. "Interview" should have been on Showtime and Neil Jordan should have directed it. He already has past experience with the material and he is accustomed to making episodic stories, just look what he did with "The Borgias". Thank You for listening to me rant. HAPPY HALLOWEEN JOSHUA !!!🎃🐈‍⬛

Dear Joshua! I was led astray for a while and you grew a beard. Either way, very fond of you. Long ago, Lord of the Rings meant a lot to me and still does. Frodo lives!

💯 agree. You nailed every point that disappointed me about this series. They had great source material to work with yet decided to butcher it and profit off her name. So disrespectful in my opinion. False advertising.