Vincent Virga

CW: pedophilia, incest, child abuse

I've never read a book that went from perfection to horrendous so drastically. Seriously, during the first few chapters I thought I would rate it 5 stars: the main character was relatable, the writing beautiful, the Gothic tone developing well, the references to other literature both in the style and by the well-read characters themselves smart.

The plot started to drag after Robert arrived in New York, but I thought okay, the beginning was so strong, surely show more it'll recover.

NOPE.

The plot for the remainder of the book was basically Robert pining by the sea and encountering ~*mysterious things*~ he doesn't question over and over again with no progression whatsoever. Halfway through the author introduces significant pedophilia and/or incest threads, because apparently pedophilia is the best way to show how much you love Ancient Greek culture? (?!?!?). These themes are discussed and/or engaged in as if they're no big deal by characters we're supposed to root for.

The great Gothic elements promised at the beginning just devolved into performative passages describing jealousy, murder, child abuse, and other gross things just for the sake of it. As a bonus, includes racism. I cannot begin to describe how ungrounded the narrative became. Do not recommend. show less

I stumbled across this in a used bookstore, and picked it up as d fun trashy read on the plane over to Japan. To my surprise, Gaywyck was anything but light reading!

It's apparently the first Gay Gothic novel, and it really feels like one - it's very dense, both in terms of the writing style and the plot.
All the reviews on here seem to agree on this one point: the book manages to be, on one hand, utterly Gothic, and ridiculous, full of overwrought purple prose, and at the same time, an show more engaging and moving novel. show less

Wildly over the top gothic romance with good twin/evil twin, people who are supposedly dead (only not) concealed rooms in a mansion, a wilting gorgeous librarian, a heathcliffian master of the house, hereditary insanity, set against luxurious, not to mention high-cultural-name-dropping, environment. Absurd and a joy.

"Cartographia," by Vincent Virga and the Library of Congress is an amazing volume that explores in depth the development of the art of cartogtraphy, map-making, from ancient times to the present. This handsome, over-sized, volume with full color photos of beautiful and rare maps throughout the ages, is a must-have for anyone interested in history, geography or maps.

The book is arranged in sections divided by region of the world (i.e. Mediterranean, Europe, the Americas, Asia, etc). The text show more is extremely informative, well-written and engaging, while also very concise and focused. The map photos are absolutely breath-taking! Apparently the U.S. Library of Congress map collection contains more than 4.8 million original maps, and more than 60,000 atlases from ancient times to the present- which is absolutely incredible in and of itself!

Some of the maps and sections I found most interesting were: the early maps of the "New World," with all their interesting speculations and inaccuracies; the maps of Egypt- both by the ancient Egyptians, as well as maps made by Napoleon's early 19th century expedition and others. This magnficient volume also includes some early road and transit maps made right around the time that the national highway system was beginning to take shape across America in the mid twentieth century.

I highly, highly recommend this excellent volume- not only for the amazing maps and excellent text, but also for a sense of perspective of how maps have been shaped by human cultural perceptions of those in power throughout the ages. It is also a great book for parents with school age children, or to display as a living room, coffee table conversation piece. Pick this one up, and enjoy! show less