My life seems to consist almost entirely of long train journeys at present, so I've decided to while away the hours by re-reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons, an old favorite of mine. Been about six years since last time, I think. Covered the first 110 pages so far. Nothing much to say except it's still amazing, still absolutely one of a kind. Any fan of Science Fiction owes it to themselves to read this.
I already have a pile of books to read over the next few months — which happens to include Simmons’ Drood — but I definitely plan on reading that series.
I was browsing amongst the books on display at the library, and picked up Gone With the Wind. Haven't read it in decades.
So I’m casually browsing books at the bookshop wondering what to read next, when the store assistant starts giving me recommendations. Store assistant: “What genre do you enjoy?” Me: “Fantasy” Store Assistant: “In that case you should read House In The Cerulean Sea. Is my favourite book ever!” Store Assistant 2 (approaches): “You should read House In The Cerulean Sea. Is the best book EVER!” So taking up the local bookstore recommendation, I’m currently reading House In The Cerulean Sea by T J Klune. And I’m not disappointed. So far.
McCammon’s Boy’s Life ended up being wonderful. It was reminiscent of a pair of Ray Bradbury books I’m very fond of: Something Wicked This Way Comes and Dandelion Wine. While I enjoyed McCammon’s story from start to finish, it wasn’t until the book’s second half, with its more heartsick and sentimental chapters, when I was convinced that I was reading something special. Rating: 4.5 stars Currently reading: Red Seas Under Red Skies by ScottLynch, and Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
A pamphlet called Rethink Humanity from an environmental think tank called RetinkX, and authored by James Arbib & Tony Seba. There are other contributors. Got through the introduction, then skimmed the rest for charts and stuff. There were some well thought out points, but I saw their basic thesis as Utopian pipe dreams. I have concerns about the environment, but am a bit too fatalistic about the human race's future to accept the notion that a small number of "Good Guys with Books" can come up with solutions that everyone will accept.
Debate room adjacent, but very few "serious thinkers" seem willing to address the elephant of overpopulation. The Horsemen will sort it out eventually though, no cause for alarm.
"The Marrowbone Marble Company" by M. Glenn Taylor (★ 1/2) "Notes from the Underground" by Fyodor Dostoevsky (★★★★★) "The Man in the High Castle" by Philip K. Dick (★★) ------------ "The Marrowbone Marble Company" by M. Glenn Taylor (★ 1/2) A man overcomes his demons from serving in WWII and finds his roots in Appalachia while fighting for desegregation. I didn't like this at all. It wrecked my word count for the month because it is the definition of a slog. I don't understand its purpose. I liked "Grapes of Wrath," which has a similar feel to this book, just poor people trying to find their place in a world that has rejected them, but it doesn't work here in the slightest. The following issues bother me: I don't understand the MC's motivations. Why is he noble while everyone around him is a racist POS? The racists are caricatures. They show up, drop an N-bomb to prove their bona fides, and sometimes they make threats. Then the scene moves on. Irritating omniscient POV. Characters often read each other's minds. I think it's a side effect of the omniscience. Gross imagery. There are a few literary books that do this (looking at you, "Stone Diaries"). By being "earthy" and telling it like it is, they think they achieve honesty. It's just too transparent for me. It's blatant affectation. I'm not impressed with the nonstop nose blowing, flatulence, incontinence, and scatological metaphors. There must be hundreds of them and they're exhausting. Every one of them is meant to be bold, but they just come off as artifice. At one point a guy vomits and the text eagerly describes his lunch. It's juvenile. Timeline rockets along. Scenes happen without any bearing. It reads like fanfic where the author is living vicariously through characters that only matter to him. Inexplicable characters. For example, the wife was raised in a wealthy househould. She marries the poor MC who becomes a drunk, and it doesn't have much of an effect on her. She's told they're going to live with hillbillies, and she's okay with that too. Applause light dialog. This is a rookie mistake and I'm surprised to see it so much here. A good stand-up comedian will tell you that you never laugh at your own joke. You do that, especially in text, and it's like an applause light. It's pathetic. (forums posts are exempt from this. It still may be pathetic though, haha.) I gave it a bonus half-star because I liked the cover. I'm so glad I'm done with this! ------------ "Notes from the Underground" by Fyodor Dostoevsky (★★★★★) A narcissistic nobody recounts moments of shame. This is supposedly a difficult read. I didn't think it was. It's definitely dense with content, but I loved it. The first quarter or so of the book is without setting and is just the MC explaining his own wretched nature. Maybe that slow start dissuades some readers. Many are put off by the loathsome MC. That's for sure. I found this character fascinating though. What a doofus. He's not likeable at all, but he's so completely realized that he has real presence. I can't stress that enough. The MC feels alive. When the book really starts, the giant paragraphs disappear and the MC has actual dialog. He explains several shameful episodes. He goes to a party he's not wanted at. He visits a brothel. My favorite bit is when he describes this tough soldier who always runs him off the path at the park. He resolves to run into this guy, just bump into him to prove his equal importance. He takes out a loan so that he can replace the raccoon collar of his coat. He buys fancy gloves. He has to look like he's important and not "vulgar." He tries for weeks to bump into the guy, but can't do it. He always veers away. One time he falls and the guy steps over him. Finally . . . And suddenly it ended most happily. The night before I had made up my mind not to carry out my fatal plan and to abandon it all, and with that object I went to the Nevsky for the last time, just to see how I would abandon it all. Suddenly, three paces from my enemy, I unexpectedly made up my mind--I closed my eyes, and we ran full tilt, shoulder to shoulder, against one another! I did not budge an inch and passed him on a perfectly equal footing! He did not even look round and pretended not to notice it; but he was only pretending, I am convinced of that. I am convinced of that to this day! Of course, I got the worst of it--he was stronger, but that was not the point. The point was that I had attained my object, I had kept up my dignity, I had not yielded a step, and had put myself publicly on an equal social footing with him. I returned home feeling that I was fully avenged for everything. I was delighted. I was triumphant and sang Italian arias. The more I think about the MC, the more I realize I've seen his neurotic type before. Spoiler: The ocean called, they're running out of shrimp ------------ "The Man in the High Castle" by Philip K. Dick (★★) After Japan and Germany win WWII and divide up the United States, men (and one woman) must fight to exist within the dystopia. This is a book with an awesome premise but no plot. I guess there are subplots, technically, but good luck caring about them. One guy wants to make jewelry and sell it. Another wants his shop to succeed. A woman pals around with a sketchy guy. Etc. The plots are somewhat related (the woman is the ex-wife of the would-be-jeweler) but they have no real bearing on each other. There's no "big picture." The only parts that interested me were the Jewish characters who were trying not to be noticed. Though they live in the protectorate of the Japanese-controlled West coast, they can easily be shipped off to the Germans. It's kind of weird that the one guy wants to be a jeweler. Isn't that a dead giveaway? It's so cliche. At least he didn't open a kosher deli. I understand there's a miniseries, and I'm pretty sure it's better than the book. If fact, this might be an ideal book to adapt because there's so many areas for improvement. Just keep the premise and build on it. So much could have been said. This book was clearly not plotted. It's a quintessential weak ending.
It seems that every Philip K adaptation is better than Philip K itself. All his shit feels rambling and plotless to me, which is very disappointing because his premises are fascinating. He comes off as more of an idea guy than a storyteller to me.
After reading Mrs. Dalloway I decided to read To The Lighthouse, which I finished a few days ago and am still thinking about.
Still staggering through Gone With the Wind. That is one long book: 418,053 words. (Of course, I counted them. You don't think I'd cheat by looking it up on Google, do you?)
I just finished James Patterson’s Humans Bow Down. For an AI-gone-wrong/ end-of-the-human-race novel it was pretty good. I don’t usually go in for the SiFi-ish stuff, but that was not a waste of a book. There are a few good bits of wry humor to the end of the world the way he tells it. I don’t usually go in for the zombie books either, but I’m six chapters into Jorge Sanchez’ Deadbreak. So far it’s pretty good.
Longest I ever read was James Clavell's Shogun. Twice. 428k. Been many years, so I felt justified to review the Wiki.
I’ve read Gone With The Wind twice. Once in my teens and then again another time in my late twenties. The first time I appreciated the romantic aspect of the story a lot more and the second time the historical aspect. It’s an incredible piece of historical fiction and I learned a lot about the American Civil War by reading it. It’s very powerfully written and earned Margaret Mitchell a Pulitzer. By the time you get to the end of the novel, however, you’ll notice the story isn’t finished. There has been a sequel written but not by the same author. It doesn’t resolve any of the unfinished conflicts, however.
I've read it approximately once a decade since I read it the first time when I was eleven or twelve, and have seen something different in it each time. I was so excited when the sequel was announced; my husband bought me the book for my birthday, a real treat since hardbound books were expensive and we weren't overly endowed with money. Scarlet was a huge disappointment that made me wonder if the writer had even bothered to read GWTW- her novel was just a watered down genre romance with a heroine who became enlightened, changed her personality, and got her man back. Much better was a GWTW spin off novel I read awhile back called Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig.
Gene Wolfe, The Shadow of the Torturer. It's fine. Suitably weird, but I dunno...the prose of this one just feels a bit clunkier than Nightside the Long Sun, the last thing I read by him which I really enjoyed.
Still staggering through GWTW. It's a fine book, but I'm having to resist the urge to skim as I near the end, which in this case is still a novel away.
I'm reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I like it quite a bit. It's very interesting and probably original. Footnotes are the coolest things ever; I always love it when nearly the whole page is a footnote, and now I can get that experience in a novel.
JS&MN is great, and the footnote thing is maybe more common than you think. Pale Fire consists of a very long poem in the middle, with a long intro and a lot of footnotes (or maybe endnotes), IIRC. Mark Dunn wrote Ibid a few years ago which is another novel written almost entirely as footnotes.
I started skimming the last 200 pages of GWTW, finally threw in the towel and returned it to the library. Things don't end well for anyone, and I wasn't in the mood for anymore death and despair. I need to find something like "The Happy Little Bunny" to read.
