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All Nines posted:Just finished George Saunders's Tenth of December. I had to read it for a writing class I'm taking at the moment, and I was expecting a lot from it because of all the praise I've seen given for it. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have finished it. The two friends I've talked to about it so far disagree with me, but I thought this book was annoying as hell. I thought Saunders had a lot of good ideas in here - good stories to tell, especially the first and last stories, which would have been good if handled by any number of other writers - but his moments of plain pretty language (because I think he actually is pretty decent with words, which makes his style so much more disappointing) don't remotely justify his weird mutation of a vernacular that's already grating. My roommate told me he didn't think Saunders is as pretentious as a bunch of the other writers he'd read, but, to the contrary, I don't think I've seen this level of pretension since Franzen; it's tough to intuit that he might actually be railing against anything in particular on a consistent basis because no one actually puts words together the way he and his characters do. For some reason this reminded me of DFW, only the heart of it is buried under multiple extra layers of shallow, unreadable quirkiness. Sorry you didn't much like it. I love George Saunders. Maybe try some of his earlier short stories. The 400 LB CEO is great. Also, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline.
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Mar 19, 2014 20:18
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regulargonzalez posted:So I'm about 18% of the way through 2666. It's 'ok' but mostly boring. Does it pick up at some point? It's been a while since I read it, but I don't remember it exactly "picking up." However, eventually things and people start to connect and the last section of the book almost brought me to tears with how well everything came together. Also, it contains a long and somewhat repetitive section approximately a third of the way in (I think), which repeatedly describes brutal murders and their investigation and that was one of the most harrowing things I've ever read.
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Mar 19, 2014 21:26
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A little while ago I finished Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed. It's written in a very distinct style that makes it somewhat difficult to follow at times, but I found it fascinating overall. It's really caused me to take a second look at so many integral parts of "modern" culture and think of how and why they got that way. I'm seriously surprised this book isn't more famous, but in a way that actually ties in to a lot of its core themes. It's difficult to explain, but I highly recommend tracking down a copy and giving it a shot. It's unlike any book I've ever read, and it's pretty brief as well, only about 200 pages.
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Mar 19, 2014 23:52
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BrosephofArimathea posted:Started and finished Mockingjay last night. I know it's YA and all (I read it with my niece, who also thought it was dumb), but god drat what a loving mess of a book. The first third is boring, the second third is kind of okay (unless you are a redshirt introduced a page earlier), and the last third is just wtf levels of nonsense. It's nice to see someone else who thought that series was full of nonsense. The friend who suggested I read them still doesn't see anything wrong with them. I just finished The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling, and while I enjoyed the characters for the most part, I was disappointed by her use of the same plot mechanic to reveal each of the candidate's secrets. Surely, secrets can get out in other ways in a gossipy small town. It left me with the feeling that Ms. Rowling can't write a book without magic. I'm reading The Cukoo's Calling now, and I'm hoping I don't get the same feeling from it. So far so good though.
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Mar 20, 2014 08:00
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Stravinsky posted:It is so much easier to satirise and say that the last regime was bad then it is too be critical of the current one. Mo Yan already toes a very fine line and does not want to end up on the wrong side of the party. He gets flack for it though, but its really easy to be critical of these things when its not your life on the line. Remember that Master and Margarita was published well after Bulgakov's death. JuniperCake posted:Yeah, China still cracks down hard on dissidents. Between surveillance, threats of physical violence and disappearing people, it's not a safe place. Ai Weiwei, who is an artist of enough renown that the government commissioned him to help design the national stadium for the Olympics, was imprisoned for 81 days without any charges being filed. The government later downplayed the whole thing as "some kind of tax fraud matter". If they'd do that to an artist who is that much in the public eye, there is no chance for anyone else if they decide to be too direct in their criticism. Given that, I don't blame anyone for being careful over there. I had a suspicion that this may have played a big part in it right after I posted, to be honest. So a couple of fair points.
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Mar 20, 2014 15:58
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TheTallMan posted:Sorry you didn't much like it. I love George Saunders. Maybe try some of his earlier short stories. The 400 LB CEO is great. Also, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline. I actually ended up having to read a few more of his stories for the class, too, and I actually liked "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline" for the most part because the stylistic quirkiness was mostly confined to dialogue and "he asked me to do [x], so I did [x]." But I couldn't stand "Sea Oak" or "Winky." I was also unfair to say, before, that it takes too much digging to get at the heart of things. If anything, looking back, he often has a character literally give the exact lines that demonstrate the point of the story . . . which makes his messages too transparent.  Also, given how far he is from being the first writer/artistic figure to decry consumerism, his constant returning to it also wore me down.I guess my final impression is: he has some cool ideas and can write well, so he should cut the stylistic affectations and thematic repetitiveness to let the ideas make their own meanings. All Nines fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Mar 20, 2014 |
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Mar 20, 2014 20:55
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I just finished off Starfish by Peter Watts. It's excellent and manages to convey the really weird atmosphere. Some of the setting elements suggest it's a distant prequel to Blindsight. However it's much more engaging than Blindsight. Then I read a few chapters of the sequel. It's awful. So I stopped. regulargonzalez posted:So I'm about 18% of the way through 2666. It's 'ok' but mostly boring. Does it pick up at some point? The first book is by far and away the best. I'd just give up if you want it to get better.
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Mar 21, 2014 09:53
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I just finished The Stranger Beside Me, a book about Ted Bundy by a crime writer who was friends with him. Baffling, sad, but sometimes, somehow, funny - jesus christ the guy had balls, he escaped from prison multiple times in the most ludicrous ways that made the cops look like god drat idiots, argued constantly with his lawyers and with the judge, committed seemingly impossible crimes, married his creepy girlfriend in the middle of a trial in which he received the death sentence and apparently somehow conceived a child with her while on death row, and posed for photos, smiling, with the decisive evidence (a mold of his teeth). Hard to believe this was a real person and that this poo poo really happened. Much weirder story than I thought it would be, even given it's about a serial killer.
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Mar 21, 2014 14:27
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Just finished Distraction by Bruce Sterling. Interesting world populated by cardboard cutouts of people. Dialogue was not terribly well done IMO. Will purge the memory of this with some Atwood methinks.
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Mar 22, 2014 01:40
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Five months to the day after it was released, I finished Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. The only really slow part came near the end when the main character is moping around his hotel room in a heroin-induced fog, but apart from that, it's without a doubt, the best book I've read in a LONG time. Edit: Also, all of my manhandling has left the jacket wrecked and with a bit of damage to the physical book. Soundtrack To Mary fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Mar 22, 2014 |
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Mar 22, 2014 22:49
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Soundtrack To Mary posted:Five months to the day after it was released, I finished Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. The only really slow part came near the end when the main character is moping around his hotel room in a heroin-induced fog, but apart from that, it's without a doubt, the best book I've read in a LONG time. I love this book, but I had same issue with the hotel part. Also I thought the event at the Museum in the beginning went on a little too long. That said it might be the best book I read in the last 10 years.
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Mar 22, 2014 23:25
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Just finished a few Dennis Lehane novels Started first with Mystic River. I had never seen the movie, wanted to, and spotted the book on kindle sale for like $2. The back cover synopsis made the novel seem pretty straight forward but I soon realized that the book was entirely character driven. Lehane does such a good job of creating a neighborhood that you can see in your head, with characters that you feel that you know. I felt personally attached to almost all three of the cast of main characters that the story revolves around. I looked at the casting for the movie before I read the book and I must say, it was cast perfectly. The entire time I read the book all I could see was Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins. I've seen Shutter Island but decided to read the book anyway. As with Mystic River, the movies are extremely faithful adaptations to the book: characters are hardly altered and the only extra scenes I could remember from either movie was short and only to keep the plot flowing. I must say, knowing the story of Shutter Island before reading did take some of the suspense away. It was still a very enjoyable read because you get to know the protagonist so well that you identify with him. On the surface, and I feel this is the same with most of Lehane's characters, he seems cliche: a war veteran US Marshal that's seen too much. But the depth written into it (as well as the movie) really makes for an enjoyable read. I'd recommend both. I put both down within the matter of a few days. Suspenseful detective like reads that aren't airport fiction.
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Mar 24, 2014 03:00
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Just finished The Unremembered Empire today, part of the Warhammer 40k Horus Heresy series. If the ultimate fate of the series wasn't predetermined, I think it would have been a very interesting plot development and a good look at the politics of the Imperium. As it is, I feel it adds little to the series and the action plot feels very dumb and tacked-on for the sole purpose of adding some action no matter how nonsensical. Not the worst book I've ever picked up, but I recommend skipping it if you're reading the series.
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Mar 25, 2014 04:49
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I haven't finished the series yet but I was curious what people thought of the Game of Thrones series? I have them all available to me but I don't want to waste time with them if they aren't all I have heard them hyped up to be.
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Mar 25, 2014 05:32
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Drexith posted:I haven't finished the series yet but I was curious what people thought of the Game of Thrones series? I have them all available to me but I don't want to waste time with them if they aren't all I have heard them hyped up to be. They're good.
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Mar 25, 2014 05:55
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Books 1-3 were very fun to read, but I couldn't force myself to finish 4 so I just gave up.
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Mar 25, 2014 05:59
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DannyTanner posted:Books 1-3 were very fun to read, but I couldn't force myself to finish 4 so I just gave up. I loved books 1-3 as well, and found 4 and 5 a little harder to stick with, but very rewarding in the end.
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Mar 25, 2014 06:35
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Drexith posted:I haven't finished the series yet but I was curious what people thought of the Game of Thrones series? I have them all available to me but I don't want to waste time with them if they aren't all I have heard them hyped up to be. If you do read them, don't read the 4th and 5th books separately - there are a bunch of websites that have a recommended reading order that has you swap between books after certain chapters. Doing so makes it a lot more readable, as they aren't really paced well individually.
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Mar 25, 2014 07:23
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Piell posted:If you do read them, don't read the 4th and 5th books separately - there are a bunch of websites that have a recommended reading order that has you swap between books after certain chapters. Doing so makes it a lot more readable, as they aren't really paced well individually. Yeah he did a lot of geographic rather than chronological splitting and it ends up kinda weird. I recently finished The Last Dark so I have now read all of the Thomas Covenant series. I feel it was a correct ending if not necessarily a satisfying one if that makes sense. Kinda wanna read it all in one go now but I borrowed the Second Chronicles from the library way back when so there's three I don't own. Also the First Chronicles are really hard to get into a nice reading flow, Donaldson's writing style changed a lot since then.
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Mar 25, 2014 18:46
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Just finished On Such a Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee. This book feels like about 3/4ths of a masterpiece. It accomplishes the things that the best sci-fi accomplishes — its vaguely post-apocalyptic world feels fantastic yet oddly plausible, with just enough parallels to our world to raise uncomfortable questions without hammering you over the head with the symbolism. It touches on contemporary topics like income disparity, public participation vs. personal expression, the healthcare crisis and our approach to aging, and the post-9/11 bunker mentality without letting the big ideas overwhelm the story or letting things devolve to mere allegory. There's also an interesting framing mechanism — it's told from the point of view of the community the main character leaves at the beggining of the book as it comes to grips with her departure, and thus what it really becomes is a story of how a people interprets events and incorporates them into their unique myth structure. It's really fascinating, and timely. In some ways this is the best novel about the post-Great Recession world yet written. But its main problem is that it just kind of goes nowhere. Characters come into the story suddenly and leave just as suddenly, and its only a very few that get any sort of satisfying outcome. The main character's story also ends abruptly. While I'm all for ambiguous or open endings, it didn't feel like a true climax, narrative wise. The main character is also basically a cypher, so she doesn't really have any kind of character arc. I don't really come out of the book thinking she's in a different place than she was at the beginning. The community-as-narrator, interestingly, has more of an arc, but even there its not explicit enough how its changed, or what might happen next. I get the feeling that Lee wanted kind of the literary equivalent of Truffaut's freeze-frame on the beach in the 400 Blows: our hero, shattered by events, captured on the brink of terrible possibilities. I guess that works in film but it's harder to pull off in print. I'm all for ambiguous or open endings, but it requires a sense of climax that's lacking here. Don't get me wrong, On Such a Full Sea is still a very good book. But the weak ending I think holds it back from really being a great one. Baby Babbeh fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Mar 25, 2014 |
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Mar 25, 2014 19:19
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Jennifer Morgue: Second in the Laundry Files from Charles Stross. He seems to have got more comfortable writing and it shows as this book flows better and the characters feel a lot better made. Having grown up in Britain and have had ITV show them every saturday (it seemed) I really enjoyed the light and importantly context relevant Bond theme. Definitely gonna keep reading the rest of the Laundry Files series. Mindscape: It took me about 50 pages before I properly got into this book, after that I wa eager to find out more about the disparate groups left and how they interacted. I still am as whilst the character driven focus is enjoyable and the characters are all varied and interesting I really want more stuff about the cultures and societies etc. I did enjoy german being the 'mystic' language that the magical style society used. Bedlam: I feel like Christopher Brookmyre tries to put in more references than are needed in his books, it is more forgiveable given the story of this but he shouldn't need to reaffirm his intimate knowledge of videogames so often. Thankfully it does drop off nearer the end. Very scottish as always, fairly enjoyable if a bit rushed feeling near the end. The Gospel According to Loki: An easily readable take on Norse mythology as told by Loki.
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Mar 25, 2014 21:22
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Shugojin posted:Yeah he did a lot of geographic rather than chronological splitting and it ends up kinda weird. God those are still being written? I really enjoyed the first trilogy but the second really left me feeling empty afterwards. Of course this was way back in high school, and I read the second chronicles as they were published, so undoubtedly the cocky kid I was back then missed a lot. I should reread them but my tastes have changed a lot in what I like to read over the years so it would probably make everything a terrible disappointment /eeyoresay
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Mar 25, 2014 22:10
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Bilirubin posted:God those are still being written? I really enjoyed the first trilogy but the second really left me feeling empty afterwards. Of course this was way back in high school, and I read the second chronicles as they were published, so undoubtedly the cocky kid I was back then missed a lot. I should reread them but my tastes have changed a lot in what I like to read over the years so it would probably make everything a terrible disappointment /eeyoresay It's completely over, and as I recall the First Chronicles are more or less self-contained and the series was supposed to end there but Donaldson's editor kept bugging him and bugging him about sequels that kept getting worse and worse until he replied with "if I was going to write a sequel it would go like _____" and then he'd had the idea. This second idea comprises the Second and Last chronicles (7 more books, jesus christ) so if you thought the second trilogy ended poorly it's because it was never supposed to wrap things up. Of course after finishing it Donaldson proceeded to procrastinate a bunch and write other things until he realized he's pretty old at which point he set to work rather than die with it unfinished, which is why there was 21 years between the publication of the last of the second trilogy and the next book e: although I'm not sure how much I really believe that. I read it in an interview or a dust jacket or something but The Power That Preserves and The Wounded Land only have like one year between their publication sooo... e2: Basically I would recommend reading the first one again and if you are curious to see how the adventures of a thoroughly unlikeable rear end in a top hat end then yeah pick up some paperbacks or something. Shugojin fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Mar 26, 2014 |
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Mar 26, 2014 02:35
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Read Albert Speer's Spandau Diaries today. It's a really fascinating look at the man as he struggles to come to terms the guilt from his role in Nazi Germany and his personal association with Hitler. It's also got some interesting insights into the machinations of the Third Reich and the people running its government. Speer also describes his own programme to stay sane within the confines of Spandau, especially with how he deals with his fellow inmates, who give the impression of not liking him too much. The book provides a glimpse into his changing mental state, and you can really see the years start wearing on him. It's a good book, definitely looking forward to reading its companion Inside the Third Reich at some point in the near future.
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Mar 26, 2014 06:55
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My internet's been down a bunch lately, so I've been plowing through Robert Caro's LBJ biographies and finished Means of Ascent the other day. Compared to the first volume, it covers just a fraction of Johnson's life but it's a crazy read: Caro makes the 1948 election just crackle with energy, following it from a clash of political campaigning to a courtroom drama. The only drawback was how I didn't really like the way he paints Coke Stevenson: his racism is more or less dealt with once and never brought up again. Still, I enjoyed this volume a lot.
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Mar 26, 2014 15:46
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I finished EVE The Empyrean Age by Tony Gonzales. I enjoyed it as it's generally my kind of book, and I've been playing EVE lately, so it's easy to get an idea what the story is about when referencing game stuff. There's a whole slew of named characters and at the end of the book it's finally clear how they all interact for the story. Also amusing was how the story included some typical player mistakes, like not upgrading your backup clone.
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Mar 27, 2014 00:59
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Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding, 4.5 stars.my review on Goodreads posted:drat, that was fun. This was an uncomplicated, rip-roaring adventure story about air-pirates in a well-realised fantasy world. It had the vibe of the TV show Firefly, but its tone and character dynamics were different enough that it didn't feel like a clone. It also reminded me a bit of The Lies of Locke Lamora, with loveable underworld protagonists getting in over their heads in grander conspiracies. It didn't have the dark turn of Lies though; instead it kept the tone light throughout. That made this a book I can see myself coming back to when I want something cozy and fun to dip into.
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Mar 27, 2014 14:13
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I've been on kind of a sci-fi kick lately, so I to pick up Old Man's War by John Scalzi. The book was short, sweet, and pretty much a fun ride the entire time, though I was occasionally bored when it came to the sub-plot with John's formerly dead wife showing up as a member of the special forces. I really enjoyed how they discuss the different ways in which way would have to be fought on other planets against other species with completely different anatomies and mindsets than ourselves. I also thought the reliance more on genetic modification instead of machines was neat, though they didn't eschew technology completely. Not perfect, but definitely an enjoyable read. Next on my list is Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds.
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Mar 28, 2014 02:56
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The Corn King & The Spring Queen by Naomi Mitchison This was originally published in 1931 and republished in 1990. It's a historical fiction set in the Mediterranean in 228 BC. It has a large cast of characters but principally concerned with a Scythian family living on the shore of the Black sea in a village named Marob. We follow them around the Mediterranean region as they get involved with Sparta's wars against the rest of the Greek city-states. The book has a great sense of setting and really captures the feel of living ancient cultures. It's well worth of read if you enjoy historical fiction.
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Mar 28, 2014 03:37
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They Eat Puppies, Don't They? by Christopher Buckley. I was familiar with the author through the film "Thank You for Smoking" starring Aaron Eckhart as a charismatic and irredeemable lobbyist for the tobacco industry. This book was just as funny, if not more so, than what I expected. It is delicious satire and everyone's a target from the presidents of both the US and China to neocons to WASPs and everyone in between. The story is about a lobbyist for a drone manufacturer and a sexy not-Ann-Coulter neocon start a rumor that China is actively trying to assassinate his holiness, the Dali Llama, and the shitstorm that erupts. It is a thorough criticism of US/China relations and a whole lot of fun. Even if you're not into politics, read this as it's a whole lot of fun.
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Mar 28, 2014 05:46
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Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll Alice encounters strange adults who spout nonsense and wordplay. She is their foil, their sensibility. In this way she is forced to grow up. The final page is a poem by Carroll (after the story) which ends with the verses: [referring to children] In a Wonderland they lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the summers die: Ever drifting down the stream Lingering in the golden gleam Life, what is it but a dream? Which is sweet but I'd say constant exposure to those manic Wonderland adults is what was causing the summers to die. I know I was getting pretty fed up with how difficult and pedantic those peeps were at conversation. Flip. Anyway, interesting imagery and a constant stream of characters taking turns of phrases literally. I rate it five squashed oranges. Lampsacus fucked around with this message at 12:21 on Mar 28, 2014 |
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Mar 28, 2014 12:14
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Lampsacus posted:Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll It's not just a poem, it's the dedication to the book in acrostic form. The first letter of each line spells "Alice Pleasance Liddell", the girl Carroll based Alice upon and wrote the book for.
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Mar 28, 2014 18:48
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Jedit posted:It's not just a poem, it's the dedication to the book in acrostic form. The first letter of each line spells "Alice Pleasance Liddell", the girl Carroll based Alice upon and wrote the book for. Also, the book is absolutely dense with references, many of which have to do with the new-fangled mathematical theories being bandied about at Oxford (aka Wonderland).
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Mar 28, 2014 18:56
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I just finished The Wise Mans Fear, it's the second book in the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. Overall I'm pretty happy with this book. It didn't go quite how I expected it to but I'm greatly looking forward to third book to the trilogy whenever it finally does release.
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Mar 29, 2014 22:27
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Just finished speeding through Ubik and A Scanner Darkly. Geez. I feel like I'm tripping balls. Gonna finish this history of Prussia I was nearly done with (Iron Kingdom) with the hope it straightens me out. Some stiff Brandenburg to get over this burnout psychosis. Also finished The Man in the High Castle but horrifying Nazi victory feels like a fond straightlaced harmless fading memory after Ubik and Scanner. Punkin Spunkin fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Mar 30, 2014 |
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Mar 30, 2014 11:55
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I just (very regretfully) finished the 2014 Campbellian Anthology. It was loving fantastic, so much good stuff that my Amazon wish list has been nicely replenished. This is only available online for a short time, so if you haven't grabbed it yet, do so! A couple of stories that really stood out: "Cabron" by Jose Iriarte, which I don't want to give too many details about. It seems to be moving along at a leisurely pace as a pretty standard horror story, and then... Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos. The anthology has a three-chapter excerpt, and I bought the full novel on Kindle. This is military sf, and so far, so good. Bonus: The hero doesn't have a treecat. Bonus 2: The hero didn't graduate at the top of his class. A lot of detail on the battles on this one, but it's well-written enough that even a non-military buff like me enjoyed it very much. (Bonus 3! I can lend this one on Kindle. First person who PM's me their Amazon email gets the loan.) Area 54 by Hunter Liguore. Just when you think you know what's going on... Tim Maughan had three stories that I liked very much, a more urban view of the future. There were even a couple of very decent superhero stories, I especially recommend "The Villain you Must Create" by Carlie St. George. While there were a few stories that were meh, overall, this was a most excellent collection and I can't wait for next year!
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Mar 31, 2014 01:13
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Ark Royal- by Christopher Nuttal. I go back and forth when reading, usually between something I've already read or something by my favorite author to sci-fi. I noticed on Amazon's list of sci fi that Ark Royal was a top seller in the category and for only $3 on kindle, why not? I've never really read any space operas, only seen movies of the genre but this falls perfectly into it. The story follows the captain and the executive officer of an older, nearly decommissioned star ship that is called back into service by necessity during a mysterious alien invasion of colonized worlds outside of the earth's solar system. I won't spoil it any more than that other than to say its a page turner. Just like I guess I'd expect with other space operas it doesn't have a huge amount of depth of plot, but action is extremely well written and the science used to justify a lot of the space travel and space combat isn't too bad. It doesn't try too hard or take itself too seriously. At the same time, for a book about war, combat, and military life, it isn't full of tired cliches that I find most space combat books are full of. I really enjoyed reading it and am moving onto the sequel.
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Mar 31, 2014 03:29
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TheFallenEvincar posted:Just finished speeding through Ubik and A Scanner Darkly. Geez. I feel like I'm tripping balls. Gonna finish this history of Prussia I was nearly done with (Iron Kingdom) with the hope it straightens me out. Some stiff Brandenburg to get over this burnout psychosis. Ubik might be my favourite Dick novel. Don't remember Scanner but it, or Flow my Tears, is next on my pile of "to reads" after I finish the Atwood trilogy
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Mar 31, 2014 18:04
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Finished all the released Charles Stross' Laundry Files stuff, looking forward to when the next one is released in July. Down on the Farm and Overtime: Free short stories that go in the Laundry Files series about a asylum for ex employees and christmas. Both fairly light and silly with Overtime being the most light as it is the christmas one. Despite the short length they fit well with the proper books in the series. Equoid: A longer short story that was written later than the next book but chronologically comes after the first 2 and the mini stories. As such whilst it still is funny it also has more dark themes in it. Unicorns, especially the one in lovecraft's letter  The Fuller Memorandum: This book seems to be when the series add some more darker elements, thankfully they don't completely overwhelm the narrative. I was a bit put out near the end when Bob was full of power after the botched summoning until the epilogue that showed he wasn't permanently super powerful. The Apocalypse Codex: The idea of alien parasites going on about Jesus (even if it wasn't actually Jesus but a precursor to the apocalypse tickled me, the hospital ward they had was though. Definitely interested to see how Bob will be in the next book with his knowledge that he can do necromantic stuff in his head, even if he isn't that keen to use it so hopefully he won't become too 'powerful' for the setting.
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Mar 31, 2014 18:53
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I just finished a few books: Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. Upon first reading, it felt awfully utopian in its outlook, painting the world and the changes humanity undergoes before the end of the world with very broad brush-strokes. Then, after thinking about it a bit, I realized the underlying theme isn't the literal end of humanity, it's generational conflict. It's about that unsettling feeling parents get as they realize their children are growing up and don't value the same things they value, don't need the things they need, and in general can get by without the things those parents worked to build up for the next generation; as they face mortality they realize the extent to which they led their lives in vain. For such people it may as well be the end of the world. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. This one has been on my to-read list for a long, long time, and after a number of false starts over the years I'm glad to say I managed to finish it. After hearing a lot of people talk about how the "all there is to know in the world about whaling" sections drag it down, I was a little worried. But after reading the book, I actually appreciate that he spaced out those chapters in the way he did, bringing them up at relevant points to either illustrate or foreshadow events in the narrative. The narrative itself is quite entertaining, especially as it's being related by somebody I became increasingly convinced was full of poo poo. Certainly the technical issues of whaling had to be correct, or his BS story wouldn't hold up, but Ishmael clearly is somebody who'd rather tell tall tales than tell the truth. He even does so explicitly in one chapter, where he says "I'll tell you about this encounter with another ship, but I'm going to tell it the way I told others about it in a dive bar in Peru; that version was more fun to tell than what really happened". Also the sinking of the Pequod at the end, or rather the reaction of the people on board, seems incredibly suspect. After all was said and done, I really questioned whether Ahab was really all that insane or if Ishmael was simply ascribing to a rather stern commander traits and dialogue that would make for a more entertaining yarn. Well, it is more entertaining for all that, and I can certainly recommend the book. Having an unreliable, smart-rear end narrator with an affinity for puns and alliterative phrases adds to the enjoyment.
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Mar 31, 2014 20:46
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