The actual gospel is rather short, with the bulk of the book being Leloup's illuminating interpretation. What struck is much of what Mary Magdalene meditates on is similar to Eastern and New Age spiritual schools of thought. From a modern perspective, the content of it centers around radical love for the self and others around you. Mary Magadelene argues that spiritual goal of a human is to become "fully" human, bridging all selves together. Divine knowledge and maintaining a personal relationship with the divine is the way to accomplish this. The concept of having an "intensity of life" resonated with me at all, because it's true––living a rich life is how you find freedom. Super metaphysical stuff all around.

It's crazy to imagine how modern Christianity would have looked if this (along with the other Gnostic gospels) was canonized. A part of me wonders is if it's because the focus is on a woman, and a woman who held great spiritual power at that.

There's so much to ponder and I'd love to write more about it on a longer blog text, but I need to continue mulling everything over. So much of the text and advice is quite practical... it's sad to think how it was hidden away for so long.

I found the prose and pacing of The Woaman in Me to be odd and disjointed. While it probably isn't fair for me to compare the writing of Spears' memoir to Jennette McCurdy's who is stellar at her craft, I do wish that Spears had hired a better ghostwriter to elevate this to a higher level, similar I'm Glad My Mom Died. Again that's just me being critical lol.

The prose in this is leagues above of what was in the original trilogy; Collins comes across as much more confident in her artistic choices which results in a more engaging and grounded world. She crafts a super strong narrative voice within Snow's character, resulting in an engrossing read as we watch for what narcissistic, possessive, or manipulative move he'll make next. The dysfunctionality in all his relationships did more for me than any of the ones in the original Hunger Games trilogy.

Speaking of. The doomed romance in this was a huge draw for me; the presence of a doomed romance at all is cause enough for The Price is Right ringer to start blarring but my excellent taste aside it's sooo compelling. Some readers have complained about the dysfunctionality of it and how quickly it developed, but it all makes perfect sense when considering the context and characters. It was built on trauma and manipulation from both parties. Snow conflates love and possession as well. His relationship for Lucy Gray, his love interest, could never work because of this, and she recognizes this at the very end. It's awesome that she values trust over infatuation. It's awesome that she recognizes how incompatible they are.

You can probably guess who my favorite character in this was LOL but seriously, you're telling me NOT to adore the charming and confident and clever Lucy Gray? She's sharp and perceptive and sassy while still choosing to be compassionate. The choices she made were fascinating, and I love how she represents a different (and very real) kind of power versus what Katniss has in comparison. There's more I could say but this review is long enough but... god tier character. New favorite, to be honest.

Biggest critiques are that the pacing in the final third was kind of weird until the end which made it bit of a slog and that Collins's references and tie-ins to the THG trilogy felt contrived, but it wasn't a massive issue for me.

Suzanne Collins, if you read this, I would read 534536 books about Lucy Gray ruining Snow's life. Hear my cries!!

I have mixed feelings about this. In my opinion, there's a lot of truth in the notion that patriarchy and cultural misogyny fuels burnout. Many women are taught to be people pleasers, constantly sidelining their own wants, needs, and feelings for the sake of others, their jobs... you know. This expectation, of course, is the perfect kindling for burnout. There's nothing wrong with this discussion. HOWEVER. I take umbrage with certain aspects of how the material is incorporated in the book.

First of all, I found the book misleading in regards to its content. Upon reading its title and blurb, you have an expectation that the book will contain multiple in-depth examinations about the science of stress, the stress cycle, and how to handle it. I hoped for in-depth studies about how stress affects the body and brain, what it looks like under the thumb of chronic burnout, chapters dedicated to different techniques and its science... all that fun stuff. What I discovered instead was a bunch of punchy platitudes rather than nuanced advice. It lacked new ideas and perspectives. The "case studies" used were actually like. Composites of women rather than the stories of actual people, which I found troubling as well. For as much as the book touts it containing the secrets to unlocking the stress cycle and "what" you should, it lacked little "how-to. " This could be due to a mismanagement of expectations on my part, so maybe I shouldn't be so critical about this part.

But on the subject of punchy platitudes... the tone wore me down further and further. The writing was, for lack of a better word, condescending. Every time the word "patriarchy" was used, it was accompanied by an ("ugh"). From there, the writing continues to be too-cutesy. This bothers me for a myriad of reasons. In my opinion, it underestimates the intelligent of its target audience––ie., women. As though that "real science" is just too hard to understand. Anti-intellectualism, especially anti-intellectualism geared around women, is an issue. And while I do not think that this book is as troubling as certain trends, it still bothers me that the authors felt the need to dress up its material in twee "#girlbossing through the patriarchy" language. Idioms like this and "the feels" and "*sigh*" and "hellz yeah" drove me absolutely crazy and bogged down the content. Others might not mind it, but I found it very distracting.

I don't want to discredit those who have read this book and find it helpful. I think it provides a solid baseline understanding of what stress and burnout is and how it works. We all have different tastes, but personally isn't speaking, this isn't to mine.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

It's incredible how almost a hundred years after it was first published, it remains as relevant and scathing as ever. So much of the book's enjoyment comes from how it's told––Fitzgerald weaves magic from his words. His prose is absolutely beautiful while still quite readable. Many passages are just achingly beautiful, which only adds to the melancholic tone throughout the novel.

What's so remarkable about The Great Gatsby is that despite its short length, its packed with layer and nuance. Not a single scene is wasted. In turn this allows for a rich variety of themes and readings to explore. Eventually I want to do a longer review talking about all of the, but for now I want to touch on what I focused most on this reading, which is how the narrator's sexuality affects perception on the story.

Nick Carraway is at the very least bisexual, if not outright gay. While brief, he has a sexual encounter with a man, and the way he views and describes other male characters is in a very sensual fashion. With this framework, we unlock like. The final boss of Great Gatsby interpretation. Our focus becomes less about Gatsby trying to win Daisy's affections while Nick just third wheels the entire time, but rather Nick's grief over Gatsby's death. He mourns over the senseless of it (and clout chasing in general) while denying his own sexuality. Since The Great Gatsby is framed as a retrospective written by Nick, we realize that he is no better than the other characters when it comes his own fixations on the past and idealizing figures in it. Nick's character is a master class of the unreliable narrator tbh. He's not an unreliable narrator in that he presents a mystery for readers to solve, but rather he keeps his secrets and we can't fully trust him to be fully honest. Thanks to Nick's infatuation over Gatsby, we are tricked into thinking that Gatsby is more morally righteous than the other characters, when that isn't the truth. Yet because of this narration, we are still swayed into it and left with a complicated mix of emotions! God tier stuff!!!

ANYWAY if you haven't read The Great Gatsby since high school then I highly recommend it. A few aspects of it haven't aged well but there's so much fertile ground to dig through that I definitely think it's worth revisiting.

Played the pixel remaster and steamrolled through thanks to me adjusting how EXP is distributed to cut back on grinding. What a charming game though!! The storyline and themes and sentiments were really sweet. To modern standards it may be simplistic but the game has so much heart in it that it can be overlooked. In retrospect it can be pretty kitch, but I don't mean that as a pejorative at all. I love it when all old RPGs start dumping about Crystals(tm)

The rotating cast is fun; each party feels so distinct depending on you have in it, which creates solid gameplay. Rydia is (of course) my favorite, but all the characters were charming enough. There's like... a lot I could say about Rydia especially lmao. A part of me feels like she needed an extra line or so to fully resolve her arc, but the bones are certainly there! Perhaps my answer for her is in the 3D remake.

Oh, and the soundtrack--banger after banger tbh. Many Final Fantasy titles get nominated for best OST in the franchise, but IV can get overlooked in this conversation! Which is a shame because it now has one of my favorites.

What fascinates me the most about FFIV is how thanks to its role as like the first "serious" title Squaresoft/Square Enix produced, they often look back and respond to it in the storytelling of their later games. Spoilers for FFIV and FFVII, but this is especially apparent in how death is treated in this game. There are constant sacrifices only for the character to return a few hours later, or they were not actually dead at all. This lessens the blow of the one permanent death in my opinion. It feels like that when they worked on Final Fantasy VII, they created a more mature and realistic framework of the emotional weight of Aerith's loss.

Overall a fun romp! I'm going to check out the 3D cutscenes tonight and see what other additions they had made.