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esther

I love reading, writing and fantasy.

1281 points

0% overlap
Level 4
Winter 2026 Readalong
Universe Quest: Lord of the Rings & Tolkien's Legendarium
My Taste
Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)
The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)
Babel
The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #5)
The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)
Reading...
Morgan Is My Name (Morgan le Fay, #1)
26%

esther commented on a post

9h
  • The Starless Sea
    Thoughts from 58% (page 288)
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  • Morgan Is My Name (Morgan le Fay, #1)
    Thoughts from 26% (page 91)

    Reading this has really made me realise how awful society has been to women in the past, and how we haven’t really progressed much. Sure, women can vote and have independence, but our worth is still largely defined by men, and our standing in relation to them. The reminders of patriarchal control in this book saddens me, but it mainly makes me furious at how certain people are causing backward movements in society, and women are no longer seen as independent, capable people, rather items that can be owned by men. I think that we, as a society, forgot all too quickly the amount of women and young girls who were forgotten by the world because of a more powerful man, and this book is a sort of homage to all of those women.

    I can’t wait to read more of this!

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  • esther made progress on...

    18h
    Morgan Is My Name (Morgan le Fay, #1)

    Morgan Is My Name (Morgan le Fay, #1)

    Sophie Keetch

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    esther commented on a post

    2d
  • Project Hail Mary
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  • esther wrote a review...

    2d
  • Project Hail Mary
    esther
    Jan 26, 2026
    4.5
    Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 4.5

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  • Project Hail Mary
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    2d
  • Project Hail Mary
    Thoughts from 76% (page 363)
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  • esther commented on readingwmycats's update

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    Level 3

    Level 3

    250 points

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    Post from the Project Hail Mary forum

    2d
  • Project Hail Mary
    Thoughts from 76% (page 363)
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    Project Hail Mary

    Project Hail Mary

    Andy Weir

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    esther commented on a post

    3d
  • Hamlet
    Thoughts from 44% (page 56) // Act 3, Scene 1

    Two notes:

    1. if you see this on your feed for a second time, im so sorry. i didn't know how to format my post right, messed it up, panicked, deleted the post and now have to write it all out again. yes, these are tears upon my face thank you for asking.
    2. this is my first forum post and i'm nervous and i just want to mention the length. i am aware it's egregious. i am many things but never brief. if there is a pagebound policy against such unorthodox length, someone please tell me.

    I like Ham Sandwhich. He's moody, a little sassy, and he's got some valid points (you're right, bro, your weird uncle-dad IS kinda shady.) BUT The way he treats Ophelia. It's rude and it's cruel and I won't have it and I won't excuse it. I also don't understand it...?? I'm of the opinion that Hammy is not actually Mad but is well, you know...hamming it up for the effect. I also think he really did love Ophelia. So to me the whole hallway/nunnery scene seems to come out of nowhere.

    If Hambo is in his right mind, and he DOES love Ophelia, why on the Good Green Land does he treat her the way that he does????

    Behold, My Half-Baked, None-Peer Reviewed Theory. When Hamsalad meets Ophelia in the hall, it would seem that he has become genuinely distressed. Distressed by what's happened (such as his dad being murdered), by the world in general (Denmark is to him a prison), and by his own person (he considers himself an ass See Act 2, Scene 2). The famous To be or not to be scene-in which he considers whether to, quite literally, be or not be-has just happened. Bro is going through some stuff. He then sees Ophelia, and tells her that he lied to her, he doesn't love her, and he could accuse himself of such things "that it were better if (his) mother had not borne (him)..."

    Herein lies my theory: What if Spamlet is acting like he loveth Ophelia not, as a way to protect her? By his letters, and hearsay, I consider it a truth that he loved her, but he is now so involved in sorting out his father's murder, that he has no time nor freedom to be with her. He thinks perhaps that he is not worthy of her (??). He is a miserable man who must pursue this vengeful quest unto whatever bloody end, and that is nothing for Ophelia to be a part of. He thinks he protects her from the situation, and from himself, a self-proclaimed ass, and "arrant knave". So. He acts crazy and Mean and Rude, all in the hopes that he will force her away from himself, damaging their relationship so completely that he will have removed her from harm's way and protected her. It's an Act, a put on show, an attempt to manipulate things the way he wants and needs.

    It gives me a level of satisfaction to think to myself that all the while Ham is going a-wall, inside he is crying, and his heart is being ripped to pieces but he has to say it because he's protecting her and I like it because it's really melodramatic and Sad and I love that.

    Is my theory sound? I know not. I understand Shakespeare very poorly. There is clearly a lot more going on in this scene than the little bit that I'm building my case off of. I have read precious little of what other, wiser, more learned people have to say on this topic. This is a flying-by-the-seat-of-my-breeches theory.

    I would like to add that a lot of Piglet's behavior towards Ophelia could just be good ol' misogyny. Yay! We also know that he seems to have a partiality towards the whole One Woman (My Mom) Bad. All Women Bad. idea, in which case, he probably would have said the same things to any person passing by who happened to be Not A Man, and Ophelia just happened to be in his line of fire. Go eat rocks, Hamlet.

    I do not excuse his behavior, I only use this theory to pretend that even while he was going on and on about the nunnery and all that, he had a half-ish ok reason for doing it?? Except he shouldn't have done it, and not to Ophelia, who happens to be one of two persons in this whole story that did not deserve such behavior. Hamleg should be in jail for this.


    Does anyone else have any theories as to why Hamlet was so cruel to Ophelia?

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  • esther commented on a post

    3d
  • Project Hail Mary
    Thoughts from 25% (page 121)

    This book is really shaping up to be interesting…

    It’s a bit difficult to understand all the science and technical stuff, but I figure if I just pretend to know I’ll feel really intelligent at the end 😉 (I was never good at science or maths, though 😞)

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  • esther commented on a post

    3d
  • A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
    have you enjoyed it?

    I really enjoyed it, devoured in a single afternoon after school, it was catching and absolutely not heavy to read. I still have to read the rest and I hope that they’re going to be as good as the first!

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    3d
  • City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1)
    Thoughts from 31% (page 158)

    I just finished part one and this is amzaing. I really like it! I think its simplicity makes it sk easy to read.

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    3d
  • The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)
    Thoughts from 73%

    I glanced at the sales tag on the valentine-shaped Honeymoon Special. “Does this one really have dynamic stabilizers to stop wave motion?

    someone forgot to remind rick riordan that this is supposed to be a kid's book 😭😭

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  • Post from the Project Hail Mary forum

    3d
  • Project Hail Mary
    Thoughts from 25% (page 121)

    This book is really shaping up to be interesting…

    It’s a bit difficult to understand all the science and technical stuff, but I figure if I just pretend to know I’ll feel really intelligent at the end 😉 (I was never good at science or maths, though 😞)

    6
    comments 7
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    4d
  • The Nightingale
    Thoughts from 5%

    This is a minor thing, but describing a character's height in feet when we're in France took me out of the story for a sec. I feel like it should be in cm or m, since that's what the character would actually be thinking

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