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https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7147930-daniel -- did 30 last year , going for 40 this year.
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Jan 2, 2014 05:38
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 11:09 |
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From the New Year 1. Big Sur by Jack Kerouac : Decently written self indulgent immature crap was my first reaction. I hate so many characters in the book and I assume its heavily based off of real people / events which probably fuels my dislike eve more. 2. A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov : A collection of short stories of a country doctor (surprise) in rural Russia. Strong first few stories and ending two , middle stories tend to become muddled together a bit but they are still enjoyable. The Doctor deals with ignorant illiterate peasants but the frustration shows for him , but the book doesn't mock them but "humanizes" them well. 3. The Sword and Sorcerer by Norman Winski : This is some 80s fantasy movie I havent seen , it shows. Its a fun read with the cheesy action movie in mind. 4. A Schoolboy's Diary and Other Stories by Robert Walser: As the title suggests its a collection of short stories usually in a rural setting. A lot of the writing is more about the journey than the ending. Walser does a great job romanticizing nature and the (presumably) swiss countryside. As the introduction to the short stories says , colour plays a big part in the book. 5. East of Eden by John Steinbeck : Uh this amazing , I was skeptical that I would enjoy it when it begins with different families seemingly disconnected. 6. An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield : A little too self helpy , the stories are cool though. Really Short Read. 7. Anchorboy by Jay Onrait : It was better than I expected. A collection of stories about his time in broadcasting. I love Jay (and Dan) on sportscentre , this book has a similar sense of humour. 8. Art History Volume I by Marilyn Stokstad : Probably a textbook for a survey course / introductory art history course. Read it because I know gently caress all about art history and want to fix that. 9. Tomorrow's Eve by Villiers de L'Isle-Adam : Very early sci-fi, about the creation of an android by Edison for a noble. Really more of a platform for the (conservative aristocratic Catholic) to spew hate about women. Its honestly impressive how much he seems to dislike women and a lot of other things. It "tells" too much and doesn't "show" eough. When the novel is "showing" its very good , too bad. 10. Polish Music since Szymanowski by Adrian Thomas. A look at polish classical / art music of the 20th century. Fairly in depth look at the stylistic markings of the big composers (Bacewiz , Lutoslawski, Pendercki and more), the musical trends during the tenure of the different composers, also the future of polish art music. Probably something about realism in the 50's too. 11. Lives of Girls and Women By Alice Monroe : A collection of short stories semi-related through the narrator. Follows the life of a young girl as she progresses into adulthood. Does a good job of painting mid 20th century small town Ontario. 12. Shadows in the Field : New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusiciology by various : A collection of 14 essays or so talking about various aspects of field work. 13. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens : I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would , although that began to taper off near the end of the book. If only Dickens wasn't trying to stretch out the word count sometimes it would be that much better. 14. The Sheep Look up by John Brunner : I picked this up on recommendation from that Apocalypse genre thread. I was blown away by how good this book is, it isn't nuclear war or some fantasy creature / space alien that does humanity (as we know it) in but just ourselves. The book takes shots at lovely government hypocrisy , naive idealistic groups like the ELF , lovely aid groups and their attitudes towards the people they are helping , class and race divisions. This book really has it all , it doesn't feel overly preachy because I'm not sure there is a message we are supposed to take beside "shits hosed". Well that's not entirely true , there are a few definite re-occurring causes for the larger events in the book. Lumius fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Mar 7, 2014 |
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Mar 7, 2014 18:00
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elbow posted:I haven't yet read this (though it's on my bookshelf) so I don't know how the book compares, but there is an excellent TV adaptation of this with Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe. I'll have to check it out thanks for the heads up. Also sorry for the slow reply, figured I'd wait until I read a few books. 15. Selected Stories by Robert Walser : Some really good ones (The Littler Berliner, Frau Wilke) but I didn't enjoy it as much as the previous one I read for whatever reason. 16. Berlin Stories by Robert Walser: Yes more Walser, library's overdrive system had it available right away so I figured why not. I'm really glad I dove into it quickly, This so far is easily my favourite Walser collection. Its not really all short stories , some are newspaper articles (apparently) and other really short vignettes. Walser really captures what it feels like to live in a city, his descriptions and observations just ring home. Again he loves his use of colour. Maybe 2 or 3 repeated stories from the "Selected Stories" anthology , but they were the better ones so I didn't mind the reread. "Fire" is really a stand out piece but I loved the entire thing.
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Mar 18, 2014 04:22
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The Stone God Awakens by Philip José Farmer - This book was pulp-y weird and not that good. It could be fun but the MC was pinning for a cat girl the entire book. The Inhuman: Reflections on Time by Jean-François Lyotard - 20th century French philosphy , talks about AI , the Sublime and art , sometimes music. It's a collection of essays, I read one every few days. I feel like Lyotard has some interesting things to say but also purposely writes like a wanker (surrounds interesting points with a lot of bullshit). The Last Question by Isaac Asimov - Okay this is a 15 minute read max but it's so good. Heat death of the universe yadda yadda , read it. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett - I'm not a big mystery or noir reader. I picked it up because a local cinema was showing it as part of the book / film revue combo. I really really enjoyed this , the main character is pragmatic (a dick) and the ending is great. It was fun to see where a lot of noir / detective tropes developed from (a lady in trouble walks into a smoky detective's office). How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster - Its probably from Shakespeare or the bible. Think about what you're reading , idiot. Art History, Volume II by Marilyn Stokstad, David Cateforis, Stephen Addiss - Textbook I picked up for self interest. I feel like I have a baseline of art appreciation / knowledge, I should probably reread the last 2 chapters. The main thing I learned from this is learn the social/historical context of the painter to pick up on cool symbolism. Ironically , that type of analysis is exactly what this II volume series is missing. I wouldn't recommend it. Jakob von Gunten by Robert Walser - This is the 4th (and not last!) Walser book I've read in the last few months. It's the first novel of his I've read but it is very similar to his short stories. Walser's characters aren't realistic but they are alive , his descriptions (of anything) are beautiful. Dubliners by James Joyce - I picked this up because of the AWFUL BOOK OF THE MONTH. I'm a huge fan of short story collections , this was great. Dubliners was actually covered in the How to Read like a professor blah blah book , hint : its about paralysis or something. I feel like all short story collections start strong , meander in the middle and end strong. The last short story was so good. The Stranger by Albert Camus - My first Camus , it was a good choice. A strange mix of disgust and pity for the main character. Not my first novel dealing with existentialism so not as mind blowing as it could've been but I hope to read another Camus in the near future. The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights - It was okay , honestly a bit disappointing. The stories (until Sinbad) alternated enjoyable and tedious. Alibaba and the 40 thieves and Aladdin apparently aren't from the original cannon of tales , though they were easily the most enjoyable. Morgana was competent and brutal , good on her. The Whole Man by John Brunner - A deformed telepath comes to term with his own deformation and desires in his life. Not his best work , a transitionary period between his early pulp and really good stuff (the sheep look up etc). The Greek Myths 1 by Robert Graves - First volume of summaries of major greek mythical figures / stories. Comes with poor analysis , still fun to read some of it. The Lost Salt Gift of Blood by Alistair MacLeod - Everyone's favourite genre, Canadian Literature. A collection of 7 short stories about Cape Breton where Macleod lived for a time. Dark , wet , dirty and depressing is probably the best description. I think the stories were very strong but I was bothered by Macleod's writing. Something about his descriptions feels strange and maybe a bit stiff. Into the Slave Nebula by John Brunner - Rich dude finds out that slavery is bad , puply as heck but it was a fairly fun (and short) read. Its probably actually about racism. Lumius fucked around with this message at 01:34 on May 6, 2014 |
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May 6, 2014 01:28
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The Lais of Marie de France by Marie de France (surprise) - Very short stories / poems about adventurers , princesses and most importantly brittany. Basically super short fairy tales. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez - I enjoyed it but i feel like it's probably a lot better in spanish. Re-use of the character names didnt bother me that much (especially considering their thematic importance). With that said, I feel like i was hit over the head with obvious themes many many times. The very dense writing style is quite different from the very descriptive style of the other authors I've read in the last few months , so that was a bit jarring. The Assistant by Robert Walser - Another Walser book. I think this is probably my least favourite so far (which isn't saying much , because i still deeply enjoyed it). A man becomes a live-in clerk for an inventor / engineer. As with all Walser's books , nothing really happens but I feel like its missing many of the strong points of other walser short stories / novels, ie descriptions. None of the characters are particularly realistic but they have a certain depth to them. Walser is an author that if you enjoy his writing style , you will love his works (again because they really don't go anywhere). The original ending paragraph is far better than the one found in the novel, it really demonstrates what I find enjoyable about Walser's writing style. Not really worth putting into spoilers because again none of his works are plot driven at all. The translator Susan Bernofsky absolutely knocks it out of the park. " When they had reached the road down below, Joseph Stopped, took one of Tobler's cheroots out of his pocket, lit it, and then turned around to look at the house one last time. There it lay above him, silent in a wintry isolation, as if it felt cold. From the neighbouring chimneys, delicate columns of blue-tinged smoke rose up, dispersing in the gray air. The landscape appeared to have eyes, and it appeared to be closing them, filled utterly with peace, in order to reflect. Yes, everything appeared a bit pensive. All the surrounding colours appeared to be gently and sweetly dreaming. The houses resembled slumbering children, and the sky lay, friendly and weary, upon all things. Joseph sat down on a rock beside the road and gazed back at it all for a long time. Fleetingly he thought once more of the woman, the children, the garden and all those mornings, noons, evenings and nights, the voices that for so long he had found familiar, Tobler's voice, the smells wafting from the kitchen that had given him such pleasure, all this he now saluted in his thoughts, and then the two of them walked on." The Tanners by Robert Walser - Waler's first book published in 1908 (I think). It's semi-autiobiographical in a loose dreamy kind of way. The main character Simon Tanner is basically an unemployed care free young man. Book heavily features his relationship with his siblings and walks through nature / moving from poor job to poor job. The main character is similiar to Joseph from the Assistant and the lead from Jakub von Gunten, a naive but earnest young man. "I’m still standing at the door of life, knocking and knocking, though admittedly none too forcefully, and breathlessly listening to see whether someone will decide to open the bolt and let me in. A bolt like this is rather heavy, and people don’t like to come to the door if they have the feeling it’s just a beggar standing outside knocking. I’m good at nothing but listening and waiting, though in these capacities I’ve achieved perfection, for I’ve learned how to dream while waiting. "
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May 25, 2014 22:51
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The Rites of Ohe by John Brunner - John Brunner and Robert Walser have dominated my reading over the past few months. This book is set up as a mystery / quest , dealing with the issue of communication problems between very different species. An earlier Brunner work so he wasn't at his best form yet (The Sheep Look up) but still an enjoyable read. Speaking to the Rose: Writings, 1912-1932 by Robert Walser, Christopher Middleton (Translator) - A collection of many different writings / musings of Walser , some if not all were written in microscript , never meant to be read by others. The writing is rougher and less edited which only makes sense considering the writing was (again) in microcript. A rough sketch of his last novel the robber is included. Probably the most profound piece (to me) in this collection is one where Walser is seemingly talking about his own writing , and how he prefers levity over dark and dreary subject matter. The Robber by Robert Walser, Susan Bernofsky - Written all in microscipt and it was thought that the writing was in some kind of code but it was in Sutterlin script (the standard style of German handwriting at the time). The writing varied from 1 to 2 millimetres in height. It wasn't published in German (its original language) until 1972). Just gonna drop a quote for it "Is it our calling to understand each other, or are we not, rather, called upon to misjudge one another, to prevent there being a surfeit of happiness and to ensure that happiness continues to be valued, and that these circumstances result in novels, which could not possibly exist if we all knew each other for what we are?" It is a difficult read with changes of perspective , lengthy tangents , detailed descriptions of mundane things and characters who are never revisited. Will have to re-read sooner rather than later. Definitely not a good starting point for Walser but a great end to his magnificent collection of writing. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells - I wish all sci fi was as pleasant to read as HG wells. Great story about the horrors of unchecked scientific exploration. Embarrassingly only my second HG Wells story!
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Jun 21, 2014 18:12
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 11:09 |
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I never really numbered my finished books in here but I finished the challenge, I hit 67/40 which is sort of surprising. Number 67 was the Polish Complex by Tadeusz Konwicki. It's set on Christmas Eve in cold war poland, specifically a line up for a jewelry store. It's pretty free with time, sometimes jumping back to the rebellion of 1863 and other times in history. I guess it feels like an author confronting what it meant to be, and what it means to be polish. It's pretty good and cool if you can pick it up from a library or something.
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Dec 29, 2014 05:46
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