first entry + book quotes (#1)

Hello everyone! :D

This is my first blog post on here, and I might've planned to do a different type of introduction post initially, but i think blending it with a book themed one works well for me.

I had an idea that I'd do a book club/reading journal type post to keep track of the books that I've been reading, as well as find a place for keeping quotes that I like and maybe doing a bit of analysis (if anyone is interested).

This is the second book I've finished in 2025!!! The first was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, which I finished not too long ago. Sadly, I wasn't thinking ahead at the time to keep the hold on the library book and write down the quotes that I'd highlighted/annotated. Maybe at some point I'll get a copy and skim through it enough to pinpoint what I'd originally took note of.

The book in question is Lives of the Monster Dogs, by Kirsten Bakis. I'll just start with saying that this was an unexpected read, and if I remember correctly, something i stumbled on by accident. I WISH I could remember what search i made on libby to find this book. The concept of this book was strange to me when I looked at the synopsis, but deeply intrigued to know more about the humanoid "monster dogs". I ended up reading the prologue and first chapter aloud to myself before going to bed, and placed a hold on it shortly after.

Part of the 'blurb' underneath the title described the book as, "blending the gothic novel with bleeding-edge science fiction", which I consider to be fitting. Funnily enough, I couldn't help that one of the characters, Augustus Rank, deeply reminded me of Victor Frankenstein. It felt like a near companion piece to Frankenstein, which wasn't meant to be intentional whatsoever.

I can only say how much I loved it. I don't know if that's bias just because it's the second of the year (and i've got nothing really to base my enjoyment on), but it feels like something really special. Maybe not special to everyone, but special to me personally.

The other books I read this year will have to compete with this one. It feels like this book is going to stay with me for a long time. I'm absolutely certain it would be delightful on a re-read, as it's chock full of symbolism and dream sequences that I doubt I've fully grasped the true meaning of.

I don't want to jump the gun into the idea that I have to get my hands on a physical copy of the book just yet, however, I do think if I'm working towards the idea of having my own curated collection of books, this one deserves to be a part of it. A physical copy would also lend itself nicely to the mixed forms of writing in this book (ie. letters, diary entries, newspaper articles, a few poems and an opera).

Anyway, I've yapped enough already!

Obviously these quotes won't give much context to the original scenes, but hopefully they aren't too boring for anyone else to look at aside from myself! I'll try to keep it brief and limit it to the best of the best, but heaven knows i'll want to write as many down as possible. I do hope that someone (or my friends at least) will enjoy this post! 

"AUGUSTUS, YOU were wrong! Your dogs have forgotten you!" - pg. 36, prologue

"For a split second he touched another living creature; he touched its heart, and opened it, and blood spurted out.

As the bird died, the membrane closed up again, but there was a weak spot in it that Augustus could feel for hours afterward. He kept trying to evoke the surprise if the original tear, as if it were a sore spot in his flesh that he could not keep from touching." - pg. 64, chapter 2

"The robe was open a little in the front, and from her throat almost to the middle of her stomach a long, curving line of white skin showed. It reminded me of one of the paths in Ludwig's courtyard; there was something irresistible about its shape, like that of a road winding through hills." - pg. 114, chapter 3

"I am a dog. God help me." - pg. 140, chapter 4

"Now, my organs all exposed, she came forward and pressed herself wantonly against my open body, actually entering into the cavity in my flesh. We were then consumed by an explosion of fire, and the vision ended." - pg. 155, chapter 4

"I was not able to make an Answer

to you: Neither could I say any

Thing, but look'd with my Mouth

Open, like AUGUSTUS RANK

who it is said of him that he

Stuttered as a child, and could not

Speak, for you smell'd so Kind yo

me, that I like AUGUSTUS RANK

could not Speak." - pg. 232, chapter 9

"I was sad. I closed my eyes, and scraps of memories began to detach themselves from a hidden place and drift up past me, like ashes rising above a fire." - pg. 362, chapter 15

"Her face was so shortened and twisted with rage that she didn't look like herself at all but like a caricature of herself, a gargoyle, a monster." - pg. 403, chapter 17

"You are caught on something; you are resting on something, under the net of blood and gold. 

This is all I can tell you." - pg. 410, chapter 18