Hello and welcome to my reading web log! This blog is my reading journey. Here you can find my book reviews, anything related to books, and even some of my original writing. Keep going down for posts and don't forget to look around the blog. Thank you! (this blog is best viewed in desktop mode/web version)
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| Mine |
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| That LED book light wasn't the greatest, but it's cute! I never seen them give one out before. |
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| Mom's prizes! |
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| Ale's prizes w 20! 🦮 |
Blood and Gold by Anne RiceThis Google Document was created on May 31, 2018 at 11:26 a.m.
I definitely got this book from an online used book website. Most likely DiscoverBooks.com.
This book had the cover come off because I brought it with me to read on our Mexico vacation, and sadly it was a bit dented. 😞
I think this book cover is the scene where Pandora sees Marius for the first time in a long time since they first separated in that ballroom.
The following is from a html file imported from my Kindle app. I first read this book on my phone using the Kindle app and these are my highlights.
Notebook Export
Blood and Gold (The Vampire Chronicles, Book 8)
Rice, Anne
Citation (MLA): Rice, Anne. Blood and Gold (The Vampire Chronicles, Book 8). Random House Publishing Group, 2001. Kindle file.
I just want to say that I didn't finish Blood and Gold in one month because the chapters were quite long and it isn't one of my favorite books in the series.
“Memory was a curse, yes, he thought, but it was also the greatest gift. Because if you lost memory you lost everything” (16).
“A long sigh escaped Thorne’s lips. He couldn’t prevent himself from smiling in gratitude, his eyes moist and his hands trembling. He searched the stranger’s face. He could find no evidence of dishonesty or cunning. The stranger seemed wise, and simple” (17).
This quote is from my Google Keep note collection. It was created December 19, 2017.
“‘My friend,’ Thorne said and then he bent forward and offered the kiss of greeting. Biting deep into his tongue, he filled his mouth with blood, and opened his lips over those of Marius.
The kiss did not take Marius by surprise. It was his own custom. He received the blood and obviously savored it” (17).
This was a really hot scene! ehehehehe
“He paused so completely it seemed that the memories were too hurtful to him. He was watching the flames as men do, and the flames did their reliable and eternal dance” (46).
“‘Bound with steel and with her blood and gold, perhaps” (56).
Aha! The title of the book in the book itself! Hehe!
“Thorne nodded again. It was as if the terrible battle was over. He had confessed his wrath and it was gone, and he sat still and simple near the fire, the warrior no longer. Such was the magic of words, he thought” (57).
“‘Let me try to tell my stories,’ Marius said. ‘Let my stories do what stories always do. Let them keep you from your darker dreams and from your darker journey. Let them keep you here’” (61).
“‘Don’t make a religion of reason and logic. Because in the passage of time reason may fail you and when it does, you may find yourself taking refuge in madness’” (70).
“Oh, the lies that I have told myself and others. I knew it yet I didn’t know” (95).
“Meanwhile, in my house, my banquets had become so famous that my rooms were always full. And no matter what my goal for any night, I commenced it among the warm company of drunkards who’d begun their feasting and quarreling before I ever arrived” (105).
When Marius opened up his house to mortals it really reminded me of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It’s like Marius was Gatsby and Pandora was Daisy.
“This path in the past is a path of pain!’” (133).
“I sat in sullen silence” (133).
“On he went with his walking, seeing nothing before him but memory, his thick black hair falling forward as he dipped his head under the weight of memories he bore.
His black eyes were lustrous in the light of the many lamps. But his expression was his finest feature” (134).
“But memory is desperate to leave us. Memory knows that we cannot endure its company. Memory would reduce us to fools” (134).
“...delightfully drunk” (162).
“...as I led them hither and thither” (166).
“The carpets strewn about were definitely Persian, that much I knew.
Of course the moment I saw the books, I was overcome with pleasure. This always happens with me. I remembered the library in old Egypt in which I had found the Elder who had put the Mother and Father into the sun. I feel foolishly safe with books which can be a mistake” (179).
“...and it struck me that he had for so long been the author of his own unhappiness, but now something was truly happening which might be a legitimate cause of his pain” (180).
“I kissed them both, as men kiss, roughly, with gruff and heated gestures and tight embraces, and then I was off on my own as I so longed to be” (223).
“But always, whatever your joys, whatever your misery, don’t put yourself in danger of the judgment of others. Measure your strength and take care’” (238).
“Meanwhile, in my house, my banquets had become so famous that my rooms were always full. And no matter what my goal for any night, I commenced it among the warm company of drunkards who’d begun their feasting and quarreling before I ever arrived” (105).
When Marius opened up his house to mortals it really reminded me of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It’s like Marius was Gatsby and Pandora was Daisy.
* To be honest, at this point I am 5 chapters behind (5/16/2023). I need to chill.
“...but I digress” (268).
“‘Marius de Romanus,’ I answered, making up the name at that very moment” (270).
So this is how Marius got his full name.
“...that I could scarce catch my breath or see the street before me, or even feel the air in my lungs.
I wanted him” (285).
“I was in love with the man. I could not deny it” (290).
“‘But your opinion matters to me. I find at moments I'm as fragile as glass’” (303).
“...things to do with blood and gold” (308).
The way the narrator of the audiobook said “blood and gold” made me feel like he was trying to tell the reader that this is why Anne Rice chose this as the book title.
“I could not confide everything to my diary. No, not everything by any means” (322).
“‘They may be dreams of the feverish mind. They may be phantoms wrapped in the garments of memory” (359).
“No matter how long we exist, we have our memories—points in time which time itself cannot erase. Suffering may distort my backward glances, but even to suffering, some memories will yield nothing of their beauty or their splendor. Rather they remain as hard as gems” (375).
“‘But … I’ve changed my clothes,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to get them bloody.’
I laughed. I laughed and laughed. The whole golden chamber echoed with my laughter.
She stared at me blankly.
‘Bianca,’ I said gently. ‘I promise you, I won’t spill a drop’” (432).
This part reminded me of when people were talking about how the characters in the book didn’t spill blood, but the characters in the AMC show spilt lots of blood for the theatrics.
“‘No, never stopped loving her. Impossible to stop thinking of her or loving her. Even the details of her remain with me. Loneliness and solitude have imprinted her most strongly on my mind. I see her. I hear her voice. She had a lovely clear voice.’ I mused. I went on” (444).
“‘Ah forever!’ I said. ‘I have such a love of that word, forever.’
‘Yes, it is a timeless word,’ he said, raising his mossy eyebrows as he looked at me. ‘Time is ours, but forever belongs to God, don’t you think?’” (470).
“As I moved towards the stars, the pleasure of the Cloud Gift was so divine that I almost lost myself in the rapture of the skies, dreaming above the isle of Britain, plunging to where I could see the land perfectly against the sea, not wanting to touch the solid Earth so soon or roam it so clumsily” (485).
I love how Anne Rice described the Cloud Gift here. I have always dreamed of flying and imagining her characters flying is cathartic for me. I love it immensely!!
“I looked about myself at the many bookshelves, and mused as I have often done on how all libraries subdue me and seduce me. I thought of books burnt and books lost.
May this be a safe place for books, I thought, this Talamasca” (489).
“I sat down beside her, folded her close and wrapped the fur cloak around us both.
‘You smell of the cold, good wind,’ she said. ‘Perhaps we are meant to be creatures of the shrine only, creatures of the cold sky and the inhospitable mountains’” (496-497).
I wonder what the cold wind smells like. It obviously smells good, but I imagine that the cold wind smells like a pine forest with a mix of peppermint and pinecones.
* I just wanted to say that the part where Marius met up with Raymond later on when he was eighty years old was absolutely so adorable and cute! Their relationship reminds me of Lestat and David Talbot. They are so sweet!
“I proposed to deal with this matter” (507).
“As for the other ancient one, she who had walked through the fire, I could not then imagine who it was though I think I know now. Indeed, I’m almost certain of it. I wonder what pulled her out of her secretive ways to visit some merciful release upon Santino’s followers” (516).
Who could this other ancient woman be? I think it might be Gabirelle or Maharet, but I’m not as certain as Marius. Someone on Reddit confirmed that is is Maharet, but I wonder why she would show herself to those vampires.
“Yea gods, I didn’t know!” (522).
“‘You and she are equals,’ he said. ‘I am but an instrument’” (533).
“I told myself anything I needed to keep my sanity” (534).
This quote is from my Google Keep note collection. It was created May 31, 2018. This by far is my favorite Anne Rice quote because I relate to it so much.
“‘But that’s just the point, you see,’ she said in a low compassionate voice. ‘I heard the things you said to her. And I’m leaving you’” (345).
I love when Bianca said, “...I’m leaving you,” in a soft voice. I was like dayum! But I totally get it, Bianca! Like wtf?! Marius basically said that he would leave Bianca just to be with Pandora again like she was nothing! I would too, girl! Hehe! XD Also, I didn’t like when Marius was forcing Pandora kind of and I didn’t like how he was being aggressive and so strong on her. It kind of reminds me of how Lestat would be with Louis if he didn’t want to stay with him.
* Damn! Chapter 32 was a lot! So much drama! While Marius was begging Pandora to stay with him I kept playing Nessun Dorma in my head because that song is the perfect song to play in the background of that scene.
“As for me, I was living alone in this house, enjoying a whole string of well-warmed rooms and libraries as I did my eternal reading and writing, as I watched films and documentaries which intrigued me mightily” (549).
❔ I had some questions while I read this book:
What is the difference between religion and a cult?
What is the pagan religion?
Thank you for this awesome review!I agree with you on how Thorne could have been optional because he feels like an intro & outro sort of thing to me. It's like Anne's other books about telling the story of a character. They always need a person to tell their story to instead of getting straight into their story. Personally, I like Lestat's way of telling his story where he talks to the reader, kinda breaking the fourth wall in the preface. By the way, I just finished the book like a few seconds ago, so I love it! I always watch reviews after I read a book. On to book 9 of The Vampire Chronicles! Yay!
Again, But Better by Christine RiccioAle and I were going through my "Want to Read" bookshelf here on Goodreads and we both decided to read this book for the month of July 2023.
I checked out the book from the Main Library on Tuesday, June 27, 2023 at 10:46 a.m. I held it there cuz there was a copy already in that branch. There were two copies available in their system, so Ale had to get a physical library card in order to borrow it. So she got her second library card on that same day! She said that she lost her first one when she was playing on the computers lol! XD
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| Ale said the bonus chapter wasn't worth it. It basically was just Pilot saying what he would have done if they didn't time travel. |
The book discussion will be on Wednesday (Shwednesday 😄) July 12, 2023 after we read the bonus scene at Barnes & Noble and read the epilogue. We will head to Pita Jungle with Mom for our discussion and dinner. Book club dinner!! Hehe!!
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| We ate shawarma at Pita Jungle to celebrate! It was good and yummy! |
Ale read last.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3RY0aGUOJbFStJCAGTvZ0a?si=1a171046775b4c2d
* What does shawarma taste like?
“Headphones are back in my ears. Nobody speaks to me, despite the tsunami spilling down my face. That’s the way it is on the Tube. You can always trust people not to talk to you.
Shame snakes through me. I made Pilot cry. Wendy doesn’t like me. I killed Sawyer. I didn’t stay late when there was a meeting I could have listened in on. I haven’t made any tea at the office. I have no connection to the internet. I told Pilot to go back to Amy! All my files are gone. I can’t reset. I ride aimlessly, switching lines every once in a while, feeling perpetually nauseated.
The sky is streaked in darkness when I step outside again. I exited at a stop called Bethnal Green. My eyes are swollen and raw as I roam the sidewalks.
At some point, I come to a halt, blinking at the building across the street. It’s … a bookstore? There’s a bookstore.
I swipe my face dry and cross the street. Inside, the air smells of wooden shelves, fresh paper, and a hint of must. I inhale it gratefully. The place is narrow, but there are two floors, and every inch is packed with book-laden furniture.
I explore thoroughly, slowly winding through the shelves, reading every title, running my fingers over spines. I pick up and caress books I’ve already read. I examine all the different editions of the classics. I haven’t picked up a book that wasn’t medically relevant in so long. When did I stop reading fun books? Two years ago? Before that? How did I let that happen?
My lip curls up the slightest bit when I finally stumble across the Harry Potter section. It’s been years since I’ve reread them. I miss them. I slide out the British edition of my favorite, Prisoner of Azkaban, and hold it to my heart.
I stroll around the store with it, hunting for the perfect reading spot. When I’ve scoped out the least visible nook between shelves, I slide onto the floor. As soon as my butt hits the ground, I’m gasping for air again.
I am stuck six years in the past.
I drop my head between my knees. This means I’m redoing the last few months of London in an internship where they don’t take me seriously, with no computer, and reliving the nightmare with my parents. I can’t do that. I can’t handle it. I don’t want to. I want out. I want to go home. I want to start over. I’ve lost my one connection to the rest of the world. This phone I have is a piece of crap. I can’t do any of my internet stuff without Sawyer. My body shakes.
I focus on the book in my hands. Breathe. My favorite book. I have my favorite book. An edition I don’t own of my favorite book. Breathe. I run my fingers over the British cover art. These are the stories that made me want to write stories. These are the stories that shaped my heart. I slowly pull open the cover.
My breath catches at the sight of a handwritten note. There’s a note in the book. I huff an airy laugh. I’ve heard of people doing this, leaving notes for strangers in Harry Potter books. I heave in more oxygen and dip closer to read the tiny, slanted handwriting.
Dearest Reader,
Even in the darkest of times, one must only remember to turn on the light.
Dreams live up in the highest of mountains; the pursuit is ominous, but without
them, we’re just asleep.
When you need it, Hogwarts will always be here to welcome you home. x
New tears slip down my cheeks. I read it again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. For fifteen minutes, I sit there and read it. Then I swallow hard, sniffle, close the book, and bring it to the register.
I have a fucking mountain to climb” (326-327).
I love this scene because Shane went to her comfort place when she was feeling really down and went for her favorite book. I really liked the inspirational quote inside her favorite book. I love it because it inspired her to get her life straight and right all her wrongs. I really love to see Shane focusing on herself again. Although she was happy with Pilot, I realized that she wasn’t doing what she loved to do before and was all consumed with Pilot and forgot about her own passions.
“‘You throw this education away, and you’re going to be living in a fucking box on the street! And don’t think for a second you’re going to be able to call me for help!’ His words thunder around the dining room.
‘Dad, why won’t you believe in me? Why would you say that? What have I ever failed at to make you think that would happen? I’m working so hard! I always work so hard!’” (337-338).
For real, no lie, no fooling, I shed a tear when I had to read what Shane said to her Dad. It was really sad that her parents would not accept her following her dreams.
“Leo
I’m gay” (340).
“Shane
… Call me, beep me, if you need to reach me =)” (342).
So cute! That’s like a voicemail sign off! XD :P By the way, I found the hex code for the pink version of this book: f8c0c1 = very light shade of pink-red.
