{"id":28099,"date":"2024-07-29T17:28:42","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T23:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/?p=28099"},"modified":"2024-07-29T17:34:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T23:34:47","slug":"finished-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/2024\/07\/finished-this\/","title":{"rendered":"I Finished this."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1000005770-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"771\" src=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1000005770-1024x771.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28100\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1000005770-1024x771.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1000005770-300x226.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1000005770-768x578.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1000005770-1536x1157.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What would you not have accomplished if you had been free?\u201d \u201cPossibly nothing at all; the overflow of my brain would probably, in a state of freedom, have evaporated in a thousand follies; misfortune is needed to bring to light the treasures of the human intellect. Compression is needed to explode gunpowder. Captivity has brought my mental faculties to a focus; and you are well aware that from the collision of clouds electricity is produced\u2014 from electricity, lightning, from lightning, illumination.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI too, as happens to every man once in his life, have been taken by Satan into the highest mountain in the earth, and when there he showed me all the kingdoms of the world, and as he said before, so said he to me, \u2018Child of earth, what wouldst thou have to make thee adore me?\u2019 I reflected long, for a gnawing ambition had long preyed upon me, and then I replied, \u2018Listen,\u2014 I have always heard of Providence, and yet I have never seen him, or anything that resembles him, or which can make me believe that he exists. I wish to be Providence myself, for I feel that the most beautiful, noblest, most sublime thing in the world, is to recompense and punish.\u2019 Satan bowed his head, and groaned. \u2018You mistake,\u2019 he said, \u2018Providence does exist, only you have never seen him, because the child of God is as invisible as the parent. You have seen nothing that resembles him, because he works by secret springs, and moves by hidden ways. All I can do for you is to make you one of the agents of that Providence.\u2019 The bargain was concluded. I may sacrifice my soul, but what matters it?\u201d added Monte Cristo. \u201cIf the thing were to do again, I would again do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCount,\u201d said Morrel, \u201cyou are the epitome of all human knowledge, and you seem like a being descended from a wiser and more advanced world than ours.\u201d \u201cThere is something true in what you say,\u201d said the count, with that smile which made him so handsome; \u201cI have descended from a planet called grief.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Friends, this was a fun summer read. My dentist recommended it after he realized that I was a reader. You never know where you might find a good book recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you decide to take on this mammoth book, I have two suggestions: First, read the Penguin Classics edition, as this translation is great, and second, keep notes on people and families. Begin with the four people who betray Edmund Dantes and their families and friends. Trust that each named character has a part to play throughout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What would you not have accomplished if you had been free?\u201d \u201cPossibly nothing at all; the overflow of my brain would probably, in a state of freedom, have evaporated in a thousand follies; misfortune is needed to bring to light the treasures of the human intellect. Compression is needed to explode gunpowder. Captivity has brought &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/2024\/07\/finished-this\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">I Finished this.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-life-according-to-angela"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28099"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28105,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28099\/revisions\/28105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}