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Oasx posted:I know that many people don’t like YA, but I still give a big recommendation to Railsea. Why Railsea is great: 1. There's an entire chapter just about the concept of ampersand. 2. It's a YA book about the evils of capitalism. 3. The Thomas the Tank Engine bit is really funny.
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Jun 4, 2023 15:20
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Alhazred posted:Why Railsea is great: The ending is just magic, the concept of a fake prosthesis, great monsters, some pretty subtle representation, good sense of humor… Railsea owns.
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Jun 4, 2023 15:48
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Xiahou Dun posted:The ending is just magic, the concept of a fake prosthesis, great monsters, some pretty subtle representation, good sense of humor…
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Jun 4, 2023 15:50
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Xiahou Dun posted:The ending is just magic, the concept of a fake prosthesis, great monsters, some pretty subtle representation, good sense of humor… I actually don’t like the end, but I usually don’t like the endings of any of his books, so Railsea is no better or worse in that regard.
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Jun 4, 2023 16:11
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Oasx posted:I actually don’t like the end, but I usually don’t like the endings of any of his books, so Railsea is no better or worse in that regard. I mean specifically that the capitalists are now ape people in top hats. The rest of the ending could've been a personal attack against my mom and I'd still love it for just that.
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Jun 4, 2023 16:39
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Just finished a re-read of Embassytown. It's so good. I love how the whole planet is a Geiger-ish biomech nightmare, but the narrator doesn't seem remotely upset by any of it. "They're free and they're ours." Great line.
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Jun 7, 2023 14:37
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I love the pure narrative balls to never, ever give a good description of the Hosts. wtf the is a "gift wing"
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Jun 7, 2023 14:43
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I've been trying to draw a Host for the last hour or so and it's not going well.
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Jun 7, 2023 15:26
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In my head they look like the Starship Troopers bugs plus a moth. I have aphantasia though so that ain’t worth much
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Jun 7, 2023 16:45
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i picture them looking like smaller versions of ebrietas, daughter of the cosmos from bloodborne
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Jun 7, 2023 16:46
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My go-to idea of what they look like is  https://outtherebooks.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/what-do-the-hosts-ariekei-from-embassytown-look-like/ Oasx fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Jun 7, 2023 |
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Jun 7, 2023 17:24
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Oasx posted:My go-to idea of what they look like is thats pretty much what i saw in my head
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Jun 7, 2023 17:46
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Yeah, that looks about right. Only a tiny bit... friendlier?
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Jun 9, 2023 12:25
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I picture them like... my mother in law!! 
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Jun 9, 2023 12:42
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https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/10/keanu-reeves-and-china-mieville-to-release-collaborative-novel-the-book-of-elsewhere
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Jan 10, 2024 21:18
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Well that's unexpected. Can't wait!
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Jan 10, 2024 21:24
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I am so confused and so excited for this
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Jan 10, 2024 21:54
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Oasx posted:https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/10/keanu-reeves-and-china-mieville-to-release-collaborative-novel-the-book-of-elsewhere Figured we were getting something like this.
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Jan 10, 2024 22:22
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Ok, I wasn't expecting that when I checked on this thread.
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Jan 10, 2024 22:48
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"China Mieville has announced an upcoming anthology of stories with great vibes that kind of don't end properly, where the real monster is capitalism and also a monster"
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Jan 10, 2024 23:28
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Premise reminds me of Alan Moore’s interpretation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
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Jan 11, 2024 01:36
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Doing another re-read of Embassytown and still enjoying the gradual worldbuilding and reveals that happen in the early chapters before The Event. I think what I find most enjoyable about those early parts of the book is that due to the fact that the entire book reads like a diary/biography written by Avice, there is a gradual reveal of some of the elements of the universe, especially in relation to the Ambassadors and who (or what) they actually are. I like how the writing manages to both give the illusion of normalcy since Avice is so familiar with the world of Embassytown, while still making it feel alien, since there are so many things that Avice talks about that always feel a bit off when you read about them, even when re-reading the book. I don't think I've ever re-read a book as many times as I have with Embassytown, which has kind of become a yearly (or less, if my reading queue empties) ritual for me.
Tekopo fucked around with this message at 11:54 on May 15, 2024 |
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May 14, 2024 15:15
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Same, it is extremely re-readable. I wonder if this is because the Hosts manage to be sinister, pitiful, powerful, generous, distant, naive, mysterious all at once. (Plus it nails the feeling of living in a very small town)
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May 14, 2024 22:27
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Tekopo posted:Doing another re-read of Embassytown and still enjoying the gradual worldbuilding and reveals that happen in the early chapters before The Event. I think what I find most enjoyable about those early parts of the book is that due to the fact that the entire book reads like a diary/biography written by Avice is that there is a gradual reveal of some of the elements of the universe, especially in relation to the Ambassadors and who (or what) they actually are. I like how the writing manages to both give the illusion of normalcy since Avice is so familiar with the world of Embassytown, while still making it feel alien, since there are so many things that Avice talks about that always feel a bit off when you read about them, even when re-reading the book. I don't think I've ever re-read a book as many times as I have with Embassytown, which has kind of become a yearly (or less, if my reading queue empties) ritual for me. My once a year read is Neuromancer, but in my adult life the only other book I have read multiple times is Perdido St Station. It's been my intention for a while now to revisit Embassytown, The City and the City and Kraken. As well as the Scar and Iron Council. Your comment about ritual strikes so true for me. Sitting down with Neuromancer is almost like therapy, I could probably write bits of it verbatim at this point. Embassytown was a hard book to read. Thinking back on it, I still don't have a good picture of what the aliens looked like. drat, did he succeed in really making aliens seem alien though.
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May 15, 2024 10:33
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mitochondritom posted:Sitting down with Neuromancer is almost like therapy, I could probably write bits of it verbatim at this point. I don't think I want to meet your therapist
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May 15, 2024 10:38
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mitochondritom posted:My once a year read is Neuromancer, but in my adult life the only other book I have read multiple times is Perdido St Station. It's been my intention for a while now to revisit Embassytown, The City and the City and Kraken. As well as the Scar and Iron Council. Your comment about ritual strikes so true for me. Sitting down with Neuromancer is almost like therapy, I could probably write bits of it verbatim at this point. I think the fact that the book can be a hard read ties into this as well: there's a lot of jargon and things that Avice just does not explain very well right at the start of the book, which you only start to understand through one of three means: Scile being told about them, Avice reminiscing of being a child and being told about them, or contrasts between life in the out and Embassytown. I like this structuring of the book, because it makes it clear that all of the fantastical, otherwordly things that she talks about are extremely normal to her, which adds up to making the Hosts, Embassytown and even the Terres living on the planet extremely alien to the reader.
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May 15, 2024 12:07
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mitochondritom posted:Embassytown was a hard book to read. Thinking back on it, I still don't have a good picture of what the aliens looked like. My dumb rear end sees the Starship Troopers bugs with pretty little fans
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May 15, 2024 13:51
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mitochondritom posted:Embassytown was a hard book to read. Thinking back on it, I still don't have a good picture of what the aliens looked like. drat, did he succeed in really making aliens seem alien though. This is my favourite take: https://flic.kr/p/9MLQbT
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May 15, 2024 17:23
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