Got this crazy idea while trying to sleep and sadly liked it so seems wont get much sleep tonight... Sort of fun but also useful, basically you challenge the next person to review a book or a series, the person has to have read it to review it and than challenges the next person with a book or a series and so forth... Some basic rules: -No self published books as to avoid people naming there own books or books that are in just ebook format -Reviews should be min 20 words so to avoid short meaningless reviews like "i didnt like it", give us reason Think Daniel summed it up nicely: -No spoilers or as much as it can be done without spoiling it -To review you have to have completed the book, so dont review if you started the first chapter or reached half the book and dropped it -Try to remember this is a family forum so keep that in mind when naming titles (more might be added later on depending on feedback) "Guidelines" -Please dont discuss reviews here, if you didnt like someone's review take it elsewhere, so please try and keep it clean (man do i sound like a control freak :O) -If you want to review but fear someone will post the review before you i suggest the following: Post "reserved for (name of the title)" and bellow it the name of the title that you challenge the next person so they can start on the next one while you edit your own post and write the review at your own speed and comfort (please dont abuse this idea and leave your post unedited for more than an hour or days or weeks) -No need for a long detailed review but if you feel you have a lot to say about it than go for it Hope you like the idea as i look forward to see titles and reviews of books i never heard before, and am opened to suggestions is more rules are needed have fun and happy reviewing oh and... I challenge the next person to review "Jonathan strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clark"
Preserved for JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL by Susanna Clark. (Is this book really 2,000 pages?) I challenge the next person to review Utopia by Sir Thomas More.
I have the translation found in the Penguin Classics of Thomas Moore's Utopia. I really enjoyed Utopia, from what I remember, I read it early last year, I have a very good memory when it comes to books though. I really liked the feel of it most of all, it felt fantastical, almost like a Terry Gilliam cartoon I thought, and that definitely came through in the prose. The set up wasn't anything great, but the pay off made it worth it, and the real joy in this book is seeing how 'Utopia' worked. But I must be honest, it seemed like little more than a poor man's version of Plato's Republic to me. Though Plato's masterwork was more in favor of some sort of oligarchy of Philosopher Kings who would inbred to preserve the enlightened qualities of a philosopher class, and thus made it something of a fascist state not unlike the Indian social system, which I've read was an influence on the time thanks to Alexander of Macedon. Utopia, on the other hand, was more like a communist/socialist state, so there is an interesting dynamic there if nothing else between it and Plato. As I alluded to before, I'm not much a fan of the set up to this novel, and my main complaint with it is the sheer fact that the first part is utterly forgettable and I found the extra documents included in my edition far more interesting a set up than the actual first part set up. That said, I'm always slightly put off by this book by the utopian vision of Utopia. It might be because I grew up with the dystopian novels like H.G. Wells, Orwell and Huxley, but I'm always very cynical of an apparent 'perfect society'. Also, while I like Moore's intentions, some of his ideas - that are essentially a very early form of Communism - do put me off. I just don't think Utopia could actually work in practice, and I know that's the point, I'm well aware that 'Utopia' means 'No place'; but as intelligent as Moore obviously was, this line of thought would come back to bite us all pretty hard. He can't be blamed for it, but it must also be said, and I think will continue to blemish this actually rather good, and to be honest very fun book. 'Man is imperfect' is a point Moore could have made much better in another way, but the book was fun enough to merit its own existence. I challenge the next person to review Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
