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My Favorite Literary Heroines [ESP/ENG]

mairene1 — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 11:01:00 GMT

![Presentación Proyecto de Historia Vintage Marrón.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/mairene1/23xeoryrfT4Fe4H9btBkWjEwXamfrZ2zDUtLg58P1YrJAjaCxrfZX25oxT6A1Y4xVuDAh.jpg) (Cover designed by me in canva editor)

Portada diseñada por mi en el editor de Canva

I have previously talked to you about my favorite villains and even my literary crushes, explaining why they rank among my favorites; but today, I wanted to honor three of my favorite literary heroines—who aren’t strictly "heroines" in the traditional sense, yet stand out within the story due to their personalities, versatility, and independence.

Antereiormente ya les he hablado sobre villanos favoritos y hasta Crushes literarios explicándoles mis razones por las cuales están entre mis favoritos, pero el día de hoy quise honrrar a tres de mis heroínas literarias favoritas, que no son propiamente heroínas, pero destacan en la trama por su personalidad, versatilidad e independencia.

Anne de Green Gables

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/mairene1/23yd5byzzmhBE6y5LEe8CAiGYPRY6PJwsiNzr4dGDBEiM8q1UHh6YSRCd5QJMWzwrFYFV.png) [Fuente](https://es.pinterest.com/pin/263460646946193895/)

She is an unconventional heroine; she doesn’t fit the mold of the "perfect" protagonist. On the contrary, she constantly makes mistakes because she is quite impulsive—yet she learns from them. She is well ahead of her time and, as is often the case with orphans, remarkably independent. The skills she possesses weren’t simply granted to her for the sake of the plot; rather, they were forged by the very real circumstances that force a child her age to face life without any protection. She is not your typical "pretty girl"—in fact, she has a poor self-image and detests her most striking physical feature: her red hair. She has a deep hatred for injustice and is incredibly passionate; she lets her emotions guide her, experiencing them—even the emotions of others—with great intensity. Furthermore, she loves—or perhaps "adores" is a better word—reading and writing; she even founded a writing club with her friends, which shows she is a natural-born leader. But best of all, she possesses a boundless imagination that reminds me of myself at that age—a dreamer who is constantly inventing stories in her head and casting herself as the lead. How could one not love her?

Ella es una heroína no convencional pues no encaja en el molde de la protagonista perfecta, al contrario, comete errores constantemente porque es bastante impulsiva, pero aprende de ellos, es muy adelantada a su tiempo, bastante independiente como toda niña huérfana, todas sus habilidades las ha adquirido no por conveniencia de la historia, sino por circunstancias muy reales que conyevan a un niño de su edad a enfrentarse a la vida sin proteción alguna. No es la típica chica bonita, al contrario, ella tiene una pobre imagen de si misma y detesta su mayor cualidad física, (su cabello rojo) Odia las injusticias, es muy pasional con sus sentimientos pues se deja llevar por ellos y los vive con intensidad, incluso los agenos, además ama, no, creo que adora es la palabra adecuada, ella adora leer y escribir e incluso hasta fundó un club de escritura con sus amigas, lo cuál demuestra que es una líder innata. Pero lo mejor de todo es que ella tiene una imaginación desbordante que me recuerda a mí misma a su edad, una chica soñadora que no deja de invetar historias en su cabeza y hasta de protagonizarlas a través de su propia imaginación, así que ¿Cómo no amarla?

Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/mairene1/EoGrEwMQr8XUukS254bvaHYsv8yFPziFhQ7tcdPPYDCzcyemfzcox4vkXL6phkTfiHJ.png) [Fuente](https://es.pinterest.com/pin/941111653393760115/)

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Speaking of Love, Etcetera [Eng/Esp]

neuropoeta — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 10:29:33 GMT

My first encounter with Julian Barnes was through the back door, since I didn't start with The Sense of an Ending or Flaubert's Parrot, those novels everyone mentions with reverence, but rather I came to him through Love, Etcetera. It is a novel that was the second part of Talking It Over. I didn't know that because Barnes has the elegance not to require you to read the previous book and throws you directly into the ring of a love triangle already worn down by time, and I, as a novice reader, had to manage to understand the rules while the characters hurled sharp darts at each other.

The premise is simple and cruel: ten years after Gillian left Stuart for Oliver, his best friend, Stuart returns from the United States transformed into a successful businessman and once again circles the couple's life. What follows is not a comedy of errors, although it may seem so at times, but rather an emotional reckoning where no one has entirely clean hands.

What captivated me was not the plot but the form, since Barnes builds the entire novel on monologues that the characters direct at an invisible interlocutor, as if they were confessing before a psychoanalyst. That game of complicity made me feel uncomfortably close to their miseries because here no one is heroic: Stuart is a resentful man who disguises his desire for revenge as generosity, Oliver, the ingenious intellectual, reveals himself as a man exhausted by his own verbosity, and Gillian, the woman for whom both tear each other apart, is a mystery even to herself.

There were moments when Oliver's prose, with its overflowing erudition and impossible words, felt so tiresome to me that I wanted to skip his chapters, but there lies the trap, since Barnes does not do it on a whim. Oliver's verbosity is his armor, and when it finally breaks, I understood that I had been attending a theater performance where the clown removed his mask at the end.

Love, Etcetera is not a novel about love but about what remains when love becomes habit and resentment. Barnes does not judge his characters and limits himself to letting them speak, to letting them contradict themselves, to letting them lie and betray themselves in the same sentence, and that "etcetera" in the title acquires enormous weight at the end because it is everything that is not said and what is kept silent out of politeness or cowardice.

I closed the book with the feeling of having spied through the keyhole on something I shouldn't have, and even so, like the characters, I couldn't look away. If this was Barnes in his lightest facet, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to read him in his major works, but I'll tell you about that later.

📖 📖

_{✨ 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈! ✨
𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒕, 𝑰’𝒎 𝒂 𝑪𝒖𝒃𝒂𝒏 𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐’𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒂𝒓.
𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 100% 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏-𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 (𝒏𝒐 𝑨𝑰).
𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑳𝒖𝒎𝒊𝒊.
𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕? 𝑼𝒑𝒗𝒐𝒕𝒆, 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒚! 💛}

VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL

Hablando de Amor, etcétera

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A Colourful Language

litguru — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 02:18:54 GMT

I admire the capacity of certain historical figures who were able to focus on ambitious projects that led to the understanding of large volumes of information with easily graspable theoretical structures. Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), for example, brought hierarchical order to the natural world with a naming convention that laid the groundwork for the discoveries of scientists in a later era. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) brought order to evolutionary processes by structuring the biological traits of different species. Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) established the laws of inheritance and influenced genetics by analyzing the growth of plants in his garden at the abbey. Dmitri Mendeleev (1834-1907) used small cards to combine and recombine the known elements into a structure that we now call the periodic table of elements. One thing that you will notice is that these exploratory researchers came from scientific fields, which given their numerical accuracy and precision more easily lend themselves to systematic structuring than the more esoteric fields of art.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/Ep3gCvvDEaVG2xPF8PtCRspaeiyQzR8Grqo1CRW1QCkBrb4wX8nUhgQYZCmCp42YEiB.jpg

Enter Sanzo Wada.

Born in 1883 in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, he attended the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, where he studied western style oil painting. His work of art entitled “South Wind” earned him a scholarship to travel to Europe and continue learning about European painting techniques and theories. His work in painting, custom design, print-making, and more blended the artistic sense of Japanese aesthetics and the principles of western colour theory and practice. He won an academy award for his work on film custom design, making him one of the first Japanese artists to receive such an award in the United States.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/EoEqUWbDrT7su4gQZ4JPf8GiR42riTUvnFayaE3nEyxq6MQishqT9Crgiq8KyCYB9HK.jpghttps://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/EoEqaHPMugi122hv3P5uSPWWwhy6qLGfF8kPA2cawFCKJB1EP1q9Y92YHTBsWRkMo41.jpg

In Japan, he led the Standard Colour Association, and in 1933, he published a six-volume Dictionary of Color Combinations that were meant to be used in the kimono, textile, and design trades. The book contained colour swatches showing colour combinations based on his theoretical, empirical, and artistic sensibilities.

I recently purchased a book of the same name that is based on Mr. Wada’s work. It contains various colour combinations as they appeared in the original volumes. I was thrilled to see an image of the those volumes in the book.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/Eo258RCebUeJvGc98N4xcSvhSrJAWZVXDB2C5NqwJMfJUbLvwLgcUbpionojXy6xQM9.jpg

The pocket tome is small and chunky with a soft cover that bends very nicely when you hold it. The cover is protected with a brown paper jacket with a simple design. You can find all the colour combinations online, but I think that holding the book in hand is a nice tactile experience.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/Eo8TJzMNoaMVi43cGfaeFVxJB7KYEe9Bm6ugJmV9DR6qCiMHwVhqKNzm1uQYguqqjUX.jpg

They didn’t have the English version, so I purchased the Japanese one. I figured that I could use a translation tool to read the Japanese characters. Thankfully, the Google translation tool does a good job of it, as you can see in the following screenshot.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/23tSsbyJ1veW1wUxUdYv5Drg2wCN9ZbBXbVRs4ULyo8sRtrZDvzr2oPyWvJFTFdRxftNM.jpg

What follows is a tour de force in eye-popping colour design with page after page of colour combinations as conceived by Sanzo Wada.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/EoK6qriqowQf3Ki2WFbZLU1JNzosXuyf4FykATtRELKyTZErFKDJyAk31B57RrgqENF.jpghttps://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/EokeUGEZG7hsGko8iyBvv2i7zvM4UuBYAaEMR8PpyutJmTD9Aa9444NzVD5GmLnfw36.jpg

Even without knowing Japanese, it is easy to discern what the book is about and its practical application.

The pages are glossy and nicely show the colours with their names in Japanese and English. I like translating the Japanese names because they are different from the ones printed in English and often with more poetic imagery such as "the color of the underside of the leaves." The following image shows a translated page with the Japanese text along the top.

![Google Lens Translations03.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/23zSG8AfjBP39nbHs8ZRqxWGX5Z4rGvfZbu5UKQoPa7eGP8pLCGhq1T1adyGe6gLpT965.jpg)https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/EoCi2aZWsDQ5XQn41UfEgJFB8f7LhwppnJeFzWyH32EdM2iFCTtzQAmtHgnt33Ph1L3.jpg

There are combinations 2,3, and 4 colours, 348 in total.

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[Book] Rebelión en la granja: Revolution to open your mind 💥

militadigital01 — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 01:31:03 GMT

Hello, dear community. I’ve been having some issues with electricity and internet in my area, but I’m back. Lately, I’ve been thinking about a few things, including this wonderful book that holds many hidden messages. This whole situation led me to read the book and watch the movie based on it.

Animal Farm—I don’t know if you’ve ever read it. Many years ago, I had the chance to read it and then watch the movie in detail. I felt so drawn into the story and identified with it so much that reading it was a very satisfying and entertaining experience at the time.

Hola querida comunidad, he presentado algunos inconvenientes con el tema de luz e internet en mi zona, pero estoy de vuelta, estos días me he puesto a pensar algunas cosas y entre ellas este magnífico libro que tiene muchos mensajes ocultos en su lectura, toda esta situación me hizo leer y ver la película que existe sobre ello.

Rebelión en la granja, no sé si lo has leído en algún momento, yo hace muchos años tuve la oportunidad de leerlo y ver luego la película con detalle, siento que me adentro tanto la historia y me identifico que fue muy satisfactoria y entretenida la lectura en su momento.

This story is nothing more than a life lesson about freeing oneself from thoughts tied to a life of oppression. When I read this book, I felt as though the history of my country was reflected in it, and little by little it opened my mind to everything. You can also see yourself reflected in many aspects of your life—it depends on the perspective you choose to bring to the reading.

I like the story’s progression, the development, the atmosphere, and the characters that were used metaphorically to represent oppression and symbolize many theories. It’s hard to see how these ideas come to resemble so many aspects of real life.

I feel that the unexpected twist in the book is very good, and that it didn’t happen suddenly but rather gradually—just as it has happened in many places.

Está historia no es más que una lección de vida para la liberación de pensamientos atados a una vida de opresión, cuando leí este libro sentí como la historia en mi país se veía reflejada en ella y poco a poco iba abriendo la mente de todo, en muchos aspectos de tu vida también te puedes ver identificado, depende del punto de vista que quieras darle a la lectura.

Me gusta el progreso de la historia, el desarrollo, el ambiente, los personajes que metafóricamente usaron para representar la opresión y simbolizar muchas teorías, es duro ver cómo se vuelven pensamientos de muchas cosas que se asemeja a la vida real.

Siento que el giro inesperado que dan en el libro es muy bueno y que no fue de golpe sino que fue progresivo como se ha vivido en muchos lados.

Seeing the revelation when the deal fell through—and realizing they would no longer accept what was being offered to them—was satisfying, even though there will always be losses—of life, material possessions, and more—that suggest this is necessary to achieve what was promised.

This book is full of joy, sadness, anger, hidden messages, and liberation—it’s a world of emotional ups and downs. My recommendation is that if, at any point in your life, you want to free your mind and see things differently, read it and relate it to something you’ve already experienced, and you’ll feel the emotional impact it leaves on you. I hope you like it and get a chance to read it, or if you’ve already read it and have any thoughts, I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Best regards!!!

Ver la revelación cuando se disuelve el trato y que ya no aceptarían más lo que les seguían ofreciendo fue satisfactorio, aunque siempre habrá pérdidas de vida, material entre otras, dan entender que es necesario para poder alcanzar lo prometido.

Este libro está lleno de alegría, tristeza, rabia, mensajes ocultos, liberación, es un mundo de emociones de sube y baja, mi recomendación es que si en algún punto de tu vida quieres liberar tu mente y ver cosas diferente léelo y asemeja a algo que ya tu has vivido y verás el choque emocional que te deja, espero que les guste y puedan leerlo o si ya lo hiciste y tienes alguna opinión, me gustaría leerte en los comentarios, saludos!!!

Translator of Deepl
Image created using Piscart and AI

Rating: 95/100

Originally posted through scrobble.life/books.

Book Review: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen [Esp-Eng]

jemima1996 — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 19:06:33 GMT

I read a good book a while back, Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. To be honest, I’d never heard of it before, even though Austen has several well-known books, and I really enjoyed reading it. What I really like about her books is that she has a unique writing style in which the third-person narrator seems to be having a conversation with the characters’ thoughts.

This somehow makes you feel as if they were close friends and gives you a sense of what the other person might be feeling. From my perspective, it’s impossible not to identify with them because of this, and the descriptions of the places, the families, and everything else are so specific that you can really feel in your own body what the atmosphere is like in each of these settings—and I love that.

The book, for its part, tells the story of a girl named Fanny, who has a truly complicated life in which everything around her seems to be going wrong. Chaos reigns in the place she must call home; there are many children around her going through the same situation, and parents who are emotionally unable to provide them with a good upbringing—which inevitably makes her life difficult and filled with many hardships and pain.

! [Spanish version]
Leí un buen libro hace un tiempo, Mansfield Park de Jane Austen. La verdad es que nunca había escuchado sobre él, aunque Austen tiene varios libros bastante conocidos, y sí disfruté de la lectura. Lo que me gusta mucho de los libros suyos es que tiene una forma particular de escribir en la que el narrador, que está en tercera persona, parece tener una conversación con los pensamientos de los personajes.

Esto de alguna manera te hace sentir como si se tratara de amigos cercanos y lo que el otro puede estar sintiendo. Desde mi punto de vista es inevitable no llegar a identificarse con ellos debido a esto, así como la descripción de los lugares, las familias y demás es tan específica que uno realmente siente en su propio cuerpo cómo es el ambiente en cada uno de estos sitios y eso me encanta.

El libro por su parte cuenta la historia de una niña llamada Fanny, quien tiene una vida realmente complicada en la que todo a su alrededor parece estar mal. El caos es lo que abunda en lo que debe llamar hogar, hay muchos niños pasando por la misma situación que ella a su alrededor y padres emocionalmente indispuestos a darles una buena crianza, lo que inevitablemente hace que su vida sea difícil y esté llena de muchas carencias y dolor.

Because of this, her aunt and uncle—who possess considerable material wealth—take her in as a way to help the family, bringing her to a very different home, full of people who grew up in a different reality. However, when she arrives at the mansion, the atmosphere is just as difficult—if not more so—than where she came from, since she always finds herself alone, with no one to trust or turn to for affection, and beyond that, she feels as though she isn’t welcome there.

Time passes, and the truth is that emotionally, everything remains the same for Fanny—until suddenly things change a little, as other distant cousins move into the mansion and everything shifts dramatically. This causes her to lose all hope of being happy, as she learns that the person she loves does not feel the same way about her.

But at the same time, another person—for whom she feels nothing—begins to take an interest in her and persistently tries to get closer, and this leads to a different kind of situation in which Fanny somehow finds herself trapped and judged by the rest of her family for not doing what was socially expected of her, which obviously causes her to experience even more emotional distress. Even so, our protagonist has a rather unique personality, and when you read the book, you can’t help but grow fond of her.

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Antología mínima: ¿cuántas facetas de un escritor caben en un solo libro? | Minimal Anthology: How Many Sides of a Writer Can One Book Hold?

vladimirmf — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 06:16:39 GMT

🇬🇧 In English

Hello, HiveBookClub community!

What can a small anthology tell us about a writer whose work fills volumes? At first glance, Antología mínima, by José Martí, seems to promise only a brief introduction to his writing. Yet a look at its table of contents reveals a much wider journey: poetry, political and literary essays, educational articles, personal letters, and accounts of his final days in the Cuban struggle for independence.

My copy was printed in Cuba in 1972 by the Cuban Book Institute. The back cover explains that selecting a representative sample of Martí's enormous literary production is no easy task. Even his collected works, spread across twenty-five large volumes in the edition mentioned there, did not include everything he had written. The purpose of this anthology is more modest: to offer readers a way into the most important or interesting parts of his work.

The table of contents shows just how varied that work is. The volume opens with a section titled En los Estados Unidos, containing writings about Henry Ward Beecher, General Grant, President Arthur, and the American centenary. These texts introduce us to Martí as a journalist and observer of political and social life.

The section devoted to La Edad de Oro takes us in another direction. Here we find stories and writings for children, including Tres héroes, Nené traviesa, Las ruinas indias, and the beloved poem Los zapaticos de rosa. This part reminds us that Martí did not write only about politics and the struggles of his time. He also understood the importance of communicating with children, encouraging their curiosity, and helping them discover the world through literature.

Poetry occupies another substantial part of the anthology. The index includes Ismaelillo, Versos sencillos, Versos libres, Flores del destierro, and Versos varios, alongside individual poems such as Cultivo una rosa blanca, Dos patrias, and Yugo y estrella. These titles alone suggest how much variety lies within Martí's poetic work, from intimate feelings and personal experiences to questions of identity, freedom, and human dignity.

One poem from Versos sencillos has always caught my attention. In section XXXIV, Martí writes:

¡Penas! ¿Quién osa decir
Que tengo yo penas? Luego,
Después del rayo, y del fuego,
Tendré tiempo de sufrir.

Yo sé de un pesar profundo
Entre las penas sin nombres:
¡La esclavitud de los hombres
Es la gran pena del mundo!

Hay montes, y hay que subir
Los montes altos; ¡después
Veremos, alma, quién es
Quien te me ha puesto a morir!

These verses begin with a refusal to dwell on personal suffering, but then turn toward a much larger concern. The pain that matters most to the speaker is the enslavement of human beings. That movement from individual hardship to collective suffering is what makes the stanza so powerful to me. It does not deny that personal pain exists; it places it beside an injustice that affects the lives and freedom of others.

Some suffering belongs to one person, but injustice can become the sorrow of an entire world.

This is my own reflection inspired by Martí's poem, not a quotation from him.

The anthology also includes a section on literature, education, and painting. Its titles range from essays on Oscar Wilde, Darwin, Emerson, Walt Whitman, and several Spanish-speaking writers to articles such as Maestros ambulantes and Educación popular. There are also texts about exhibitions of Impressionist painters and works by other artists. This variety shows Martí's interest in ideas, culture, education, and the ways people understand the world around them.

Then the book takes a more personal turn with Cartas íntimas. Letters addressed to his sister Amelia, his mother, María Mantilla, and other people close to him offer a different way of approaching the writer. Essays and poems reveal ideas and emotions through carefully crafted language, while letters can bring us closer to the concerns and relationships of the person behind those works.

Finally, the section Diarios de campaña includes fragments of his journey from Montecristi to Cabo Haitiano and the account of his passage from Cabo Haitiano to Dos Ríos. These writings bring us closer to Martí's involvement in the Cuban independence struggle and to the final period of his life.

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Hive Book Club • The Daily Reads #4

hivebookclub — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 14:06:18 GMT

Hive Book Club • The Daily Reads #4

✨ Today’s Picks

Handpicked voices from the community, worth your time and your attention!

@ronnie10

have heard a lot about this novel. I thought that I will be taking some notes here and there. Maybe, highlight some conversation. But, it turns out different than expected. But, I would not say less than expected. In general, I enjoyed reading it.

[EN/PT] The Stranger - Review

@mairene1

On the other hand, Thumbelina represents resilience and the human capacity to bring out the best in oneself (when one chooses to). For instance, despite how sad she felt about her impending forced marriage to the field mouse’s neighbor, her heart did not grow cold. Even amidst fear, uncertainty, and sorrow, she tended to the swallow—caring for the bird without any thought as to whether it might prove useful to her later on; she simply did so because the gesture came straight from her heart. As it turned out, the swallow was deeply grateful; it recognized the kindness in its caretaker’s heart and acted accordingly. This gracious expression of gratitude served as a reward—one that Thumbelina had not asked for, yet one that she truly deserved.

Thumbelina [Analysis of the Tale] ESP/ENG

@jemima1996

This former Russian official clings to a life he no longer has, trying to solve problems that ceased to exist long ago. He remains so attached to it because he’s absolutely certain that if he does, his life will be set right, so he lives obsessed with things that, honestly, can never be changed—especially since he himself remains the same person, which is quite contradictory.

Book review - Notes from Underground by Fiódor Dostoyevski [Esp-Eng]

📌 Quick Note

Take a moment to support these writers by reading, commenting, and sharing your thoughts.

A new chapter begins. We are rebranding our community to make it fresher and this marks the beginning of a new era four our beloved community!

📚 Hive Book Club — Read. Reflect. Share.

Dr. Sleep by Stephen King

gooddream — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 04:53:51 GMT

After speed reading The Shining while visiting Mexico - it was the fastest I have ever read any book of that size - I was actually kind of excited to read the sequel to it that was written several decades after the original. The Shining wasn't King's first book, but it was close.

A lot can happen in 30 years or so between the books and it can't have been easy for Steve-O to come up with a story that already had a conclusion of sorts but he did it anyway.

I thought it was kind of surprisings because it doesn't seem like Stephen King to do anything that appears to be in the corporate interest so I actually had my doubts going into this about whether or not it was going to be any good.

As is the case with almost any King book, the prose flows well and the chapters are mostly the perfect length resulting in a book that is very easy to read.

However, in the end I was not very impressed with this one because a lot of seemed forced and also the story really drags in the middle almost like he didn't really have enough story but knew that this thing needed to be 500 pages long and therefore he made it so.

let's just say by the time the book met its obvious conclusion, I was extremely ready for it to be over with.

[src](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/Doctor_Sleep.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original)

The book follows up on "the shine" which was introduced in the original book and the film but not really dug into a great deal. Danny (the boy on the big wheel in the original film/book) is all grown up for most of this book and he is a recovering alcoholic dealing with his drinking demons and they are mixed in by the ghosts of his past, both literally and metaphorical.

He just randomly ends up in a town in the North East as King's books tend to, and it is here, as he is starting a new life sans booze, that he starts getting messages from a little girl who has a heightened level of his psychic ability. Her name is Abra (corny, like abra-cadabra) and she communicates with Danny using her powers. Abra is a more powerful version of Danny and Abra is able to see vast distances in order to discover that there is a group of immortal creatures that are preying on people like her and Danny and mostly they go after children who have mild "Shine" to them. Abra can see how this group, who calls themselves "True Knot" hunts, kidnaps, tortures and consumes children who have shine abilities.

Of course these somehow all get tied back to the Colorado hotel where the Shining originally took place.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this story it's just that it takes so damn long for anything to actually happen. Abra becomes the main character rather rapidly, even though the book is meant to center on Danny. I don't have a problem with that either but what I do have a problem with is something that is a problem in a lot of King's later works and that is Stephen King, a 79 year old man, can't write about teenagers in a meaningful capacity and it is kind of embarrassing to read when he tries.

No one should expect a near 80 year old man to know what a teenager talks like or how they behave. That would be completely ridiculous. But you would think that someone with King's prowess would think it wise to at least consult actual young people in order to write them a little more accurately. I do not think that he bothered with this and therefore ended up taking little catch-phrases of the youth such as "awesome sauce," and then just threw that around all the dialogue that Abra makes in the story. It's stupid.

I am detached from teenage culture as well but I am 40 years closer to being a teenager than King is and I know cringe when I see it. Virtually all of King's attempts to sound like a hip teenager read exactly like you would expect an 80 year old to relate to such things: it just sounds awkward and forced. King is trying to be hip in a way that is 30 years too late and when I read Abra say "cool beans" I wanted to throw the book across the room but didn't because it was on a Kindle and those are expensive.

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Dark Summer: only one person knows what happened that night in a remote village in Sardinia..(ENG/ESP)

noemilunastorta — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 19:01:24 GMT

Good evening, blog friends! I’m back to review a book by an author I truly admire, Vera Buck. I was particularly intrigued by this one because it’s set in Italy—specifically in the Barbagia region of Sardinia, an ancient land steeped in tradition, superstition, and a rich history. The narrative unfolds through multiple perspectives, but the central protagonist is Tilda, a woman living alone who decides to purchase a house for the nominal price of one euro in an abandoned Sardinian village. Seeking a fresh start in a remote location, she hopes this isolated spot—far removed from the reach of the internet or telephone—will be the perfect place to begin anew. However, the village seems to be under a curse; no one dares to approach it because, years earlier, a horrific massacre took place there. The locals believe the site is haunted—most notably by a weeping mother and other restless spirits. Undeterred by these superstitions, Tilda begins renovating her home. The only other resident is Signor Silvio, a gruff, elderly man with a disability who lives there with a caregiver. The second narrative voice belongs to Enzo, a journalist whose marriage is currently in crisis; he visits Silvio daily, determined to uncover the old man’s secrets. As the sole survivor of the village massacre, Silvio guards truths he refuses to share. Although Enzo and Tilda cross paths, neither manages to get a word out of the old man, who wants nothing more to do with the past.

Then there is a third narrative thread, one that reaches back into the past—to the years of the massacre. Franca, a spirited and enterprising young woman, leads a somewhat rebellious life, torn between her family and her circle of friends. Gradually, however, doubts begin to take root: no one can figure out where the money flowing into the village is coming from. At first, she pays it little mind, but when her male friends begin conspiring in secret, Franca feels compelled to find out why. She uncovers a harrowing truth: her friends have kidnapped a child—and it turns out that, for years, there have been several such abductions in the area, all involving ransom demands. In the present day, Tilda begins to fear her own home; it truly seems as though dark presences lurk there, and on certain nights, she hears the wailing of a woman in tears. To cope with her fear, she starts spending time with a local fishmonger, whose company helps lift her spirits. At the same time, she begins investigating the past alongside a journalist named Enzo—a man determined to unearth long-buried secrets and break through the wall of omertà (the code of silence) maintained by the locals. I won’t reveal any more, but rest assured: this is a highly intriguing and complex novel. It weaves between the present and the past, featuring strong female characters and vivid descriptions of the Sardinian landscape and its traditions. It blends elements of thriller and horror with a social commentary that exposes how some towns—much like many others in Italy—harbor illicit dealings and dark secrets (it is no coincidence, alas, that we are the land of the Mafia). It is a truly captivating book that certainly won’t leave you bored! Once again, Vera Buck has not disappointed me.

¡Buenas noches, amigos del blog! Vuelvo para reseñar un libro de una autora a la que admiro profundamente: Vera Buck. Esta obra me llamó especialmente la atención porque está ambientada en Italia, concretamente en la región de Barbagia, en Cerdeña; una tierra ancestral impregnada de tradiciones, supersticiones y una rica historia. La narración se desarrolla a través de múltiples perspectivas, pero la protagonista central es Tilda, una mujer que vive sola y decide comprar una casa por el precio simbólico de un euro en un pueblo abandonado de Cerdeña. En busca de un nuevo comienzo en un lugar remoto, espera que este rincón aislado —lejos del alcance de internet o del teléfono— sea el sitio perfecto para empezar de cero. Sin embargo, el pueblo parece estar bajo una maldición: nadie se atreve a acercarse porque, años atrás, tuvo lugar allí una terrible masacre. Los lugareños creen que el lugar está embrujado, habitado, entre otros, por una madre que llora y otros espíritus inquietos. Sin dejarse amedrentar por estas supersticiones, Tilda comienza a reformar su casa. El único otro residente es el señor Silvio, un anciano hosco con una discapacidad que vive allí junto a una persona encargada de sus cuidados. La segunda voz narrativa es la de Enzo, un periodista cuyo matrimonio atraviesa una crisis; él visita a Silvio a diario, decidido a descubrir los secretos del anciano. Como único superviviente de la masacre, Silvio guarda verdades que se niega a revelar. Aunque Enzo y Tilda llegan a cruzarse, ninguno de los dos logra sacarle ni una palabra al anciano, quien no quiere saber absolutamente nada del pasado.

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How To Get Member Role & Badge From Hive Book Club

hivebookclub — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:14:12 GMT

You ask, we deliver!

For quite some time now, we’ve been handing out member roles to those who have been with us from the ground up. Our criteria have always been pretty straightforward. We hand out the roles to those who are active members in our book club. However, due to upkeep and maintenance of the community that is quite laborious, we often overlook our community members who are deserving of this member badge.

After our 4th year anniversary, we’re currently in the work revamping our community and the way some of our initiatives are run. First, we currently have #mondayhivebookprompt and we often distribute quite a bit of hive in our reward pool. So, always stay tuned for those #mondaybook and don’t forget that we’ve enabled #snap where we also tip our community members who #snap via peakd in our communities.

![You'll get this cute bee!](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/hivebookclub/AJiuLiiQ4dyhwrgAPdahofpfu14iTrSaAhBgETUSLLWpaVaMvWUodC5fWVrFwfo.png)

Or this cute bee... we'll basically see which one works with peakd badge.

How do you get our member’s badge & Role ?

To be eligible getting our member’s badge & role here are some checklist that you can refer to.
· ✅Have written at least 10 book reviews (at least 500 words each) in our community.
· ✅Have engaged with our events (contest, weekly prompt or our themed post).
· ✅Have been subscribed for more than a year in our community.
· ✅Have not plagiarized or use AI to write the review.

Easy peasy, right?

Now, if you have met those criteria and we haven’t updated your role to “Member” please feel free to mention your name in the comment section and we’ll change it for you.

Last but not least, our current #mondayhivebookprompt is on-going, don’t miss the chance to get 6.5 Hive from us.

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