Welcome to Litsy!

In this post-modern classic, nothing is what it seems. The main character, Nicholas Urfe, goes to teach on a Greek island, and is impressed by his erudite and art-loving host. But along the way, Nick becomes entangled in a labyrinth of truths and untruths, of the psychological games of a master trickster, which become increasingly dark and serious.

#1001books #Audiobook
(📸 Utrecht, Netherlands)

#TBR This book sounds really cool, I see it has some major mixed reviews tho, definitely going to give it a shot tho. Love this cover too

I haven‘t been watching the current season of “YellowJackets”. I plan to. In a recap it mentioned that the coach Ben was reading “The Magus” in a recent episode🤔. https://collider.com/yellowjackets-season-2-coach-ben-book-explained/

#QuotsyJul21 Day 28: #Painting

I was a bit surprised to see John Fowles in the Women's Fiction Classics. Granted, I haven't read The Magus, but in The French Lieutenant's Woman the title character was only there to prompt and further the development and journey of the male protagonist. Maybe Fowles does a better job of it in this one? I hope so, because I do like his writing. I guess he deals with gender issues and women's rights, he's just surprisingly male centric about it.

This should tell you what I feel about this book. But if this isn't enough, I'm more than willing to submit a thesis on this....on second thought, I have better things to do and more importantly, better books to read.

#3books #ihated

Ugh.... had to read Alchemist and Magus in school. I hated them. I read Eat Pray Love for pleasure and hated it.

A book I came across in a charity shop, it's popped up on my feed a few times through the years and the ratings are very good; anyone here read this huge book?

What were your thoughts on it?

#WeeklyForecast #Europa #NYRB

For those Europa fans, I just discovered that Hoopla has SO MANY Europa editions!!! So excited.

When people complain about mediocre white man classics, this is the book they mean. Average descriptions that think they‘re amazing, pretentious rapey self important protagonist (‘I‘m a connoisseur of women‘ 😐) predictable plot that doesn‘t hang together unless you‘re a racist 1960s dude who can‘t conceive of anyone more interesting to write about than a failed English teacher who doesn‘t understand why women don‘t like him.

“Alison was always female. She never, like so many English girls, betrayed her gender”

An oxford boy who‘s too intellectual to apply for jobs and earn money, puts no effort into chasing women (all of whom he despises) but is mysteriously a sex god, and who thinks he has a divine right to write poetry on the Mediterranean for a living, observes the woman next to him in bed.

Oh John Fowles I can FEEL how few ppl wanted to date you at school

Getting a moment of peace with coffee, zephyr and The Magus after a tedious job of cleaning radiators to prepare them for coloring 😌 After reading The Collector I thought this one will go as a page-turner too. But Magus isn't that easy to get through - the text is full of descriptions, allusions and metaphors. And a great deal of suspense too, though the pace is slow so far. #bookclub

The best novel I have ever read!

I‘m not quite sure what the problem was here, either the book was too long or the audiobook narrator too soothing; either way I found it hard to focus on the events. I never managed to connect with any of the characters, especially not the main character, so I wasn‘t really very moved by all the strange things that happened to him. Perhaps the whole premise was just too weird for my liking.

#johnfowles postmodern occult thriller mind-bender. I remember reading it in 2 days, feeling each subsequent chapter rip the carpet from under me, as the story asked - but never answered - the question “who is Conchin?” Freud, Crowly, Picasso?

#fiction #20thCentury #greece #postmodernism

A little shelfie of books by #johnfowles - one of my favourite writers.

This book...I slugged through the beginning of the book and eventually got sucked in by ‘The Magus‘ only to feel like I got thrown off the ride just as I was about to reach the end. I felt as manipulated by the author as Nick was by Conchis, was that the point?

Second-hand bookstore mini haul 😍

Sneaking in a little ‘me time‘. Love Saturday mornings 📖☕️❤️

#emojinov #🏝📚 @RealLifeReading
I read this on vacation many, many years ago... and I loved it.
It‘s a perfect beach read for me.... Page-turning, a doorstopper, set on a sun-drenched Greek Island, with a meaty, mysterious story to get stuck into....

Fowles is a very good writer and the construction of this novel is fascinating, layering plot twist upon plot twist to the farthest edge of believability. It almost works.

If I had read this at a younger age with the intense focus of summertime reading, this book would have blown me away. Now, though, it is not quite as all-engrossing as it needs to be too carry the plot and the narrator doesn't have the necessary depth. #1001books

Rereading for the third or fourth time. Hello, old friend.

Tumultuous love/hate relationship with this book. It was so long so long bui couldnt stop being interested even though I felt claustrophobic and antisocial. Like the main character i often wanted to quit the story, but I HAD to know how it turned out. And I'd guess a lot of people hate the ending, but i loved it (it was perfect). So-so cuz i can only think of 1 person (my sister @Jenncat1 ) who a) might plod through it & b)still like me

Opening line: "I was born in 1927." #themagus #johnfowles #panbooks #bookish #bookcover #firstline #bookgnome #book

3 1/2 ⭐. Rather a slow build up but the last 369 pages gripped me. #LitsyAtoZ F ✅ @BookishMarginalia

#aprilbookshowers These are some books I own that are #publishedinthe1960s. As I was going through my shelves, I discovered I have many books published in the 1950s and 1960s.

#day6 #aprilbookshowers #Publishedinthe1960s One of my favorites... published in 1965 .....

3.24 #springflingreading #farawayplace I love the Greek Islands so much, the food, the weather, the people, the water.... it's heaven on earth for me. So I love to read fiction set there... Top two are favorites... bottom two are recent additions to my #TBR thanks to Book outlet. 🌞🌊🌍💕

Think what it would be like if you got back to your island and there was no old man, no girl any more. No mysterious fun and games. The whole place locked up forever.

#day7 #seasonsreadings2016 .... some favorite reads #setonanisland .... 😊📚💕

I almost forgot today's photo challenge. For #threwitacrosstheroom, The Magus gets my vote. Arrogant, misogynistic . . . Need I go on? #photoadaynov16

The human race is unimportant. It is the self that must not be betrayed."

"I suppose one could say that Hitler didn't betray his self."

"You are right. He did not. But millions of Germans did betray their selves. That was the tragedy. Not that one man had the courage to be evil. But that millions had not the courage to be good.

Squeezing in a little lunchtime reading. #currentlyreading

I was born in 1927, the only child of middle-class parents, both English, and themselves born in the grotesquely elongated shadow, which they never rose sufficiently above history to leave, of that monstrous dwarf Queen Victoria.

Both #weird and #bythesea #somethingforsept. Fowles is an acquired taste, dark, experimental and post modern. A educated young man full of self belief and importance takes a role as a teacher on a small idyllic Greek island. There he meets the millionaire patriarch who through a series of increasingly dark games challenges his self worth and morality. I read this as a young man and it impacted me. Interested to re-read to see if it holds up.

I'm sure there are more but here's a stack I bought off my Litsy tbr list. #blameitonlitsy #somethingforsept

This cover is something else! To be fair it was originally published in 1973, & the '70's were...the 70's. But this cover is one of the ugliest I've ever seen! #uglycover #somethingforsept #septemberphotochallenge

#day29 of #augustphotochallenge is an #impulsebuy and this particular book had caught my eye so often but I never thought about purchasing it, placing it back on the shelf for another time. Picked it up about two years ago finally and still haven't read it. #augustofpages

Youthful existentialism AND TS Eliot? Be still my heart.

Slow day at work means breaking out the books👍

Currently reading. #postmodernism #Greece #johnfowles