Writing style.
I am down for any book, as long as the author can play with the language. It can be long winded as Wallace, or poignant like Vonnegut, or poetic and soft like Haruf, or dry and almost scientific like Asimov, or logic bending like Pratchett, but all these authors can use language like an instrument. This property doesn’t make a book easy to read, but makes it most definitely worth my while.
It is! I also find unsettling how human-like the cast looks, both with the eye and the position of the elbows…
Thanks… well, if there is no indoctrination people might even develop different opinions! /s
Is that a hyperbole or is this factually correct? :(
I started Blood Meridian by McCarthy. It was a Christmas gift from an American friend. I had never heard about it before then, and I went into it more or less blind. It’s a much bleaker read than I was expecting, but the language is keeping me hooked: it has been a while since last time I had to check the meaning of an English word, and this me taught me plenty.
On the side, I’m reading a German young adult romance novel to learn better German. It’s a light read, to nicely compensate and lift my spirits a bit.
From an academic level, he stands aside, presenting himself as and taking pride in being a “poet maudit”, a cursed poet. So his themes are very peculiar. But he also has a really good classical education, thus he builds very balanced verses, while often playing with the musicality of words.
For me, very personally, it sounds so incredibly good while being almost over the top dark and tortured. I love the contrast that creates.
The poem I particularly like is the one he chose as introduction of his works. It’s alluring, while alluding to the future corruption. I imagine it to be the call of a new drug.
A problem with poetry is that it cannot be translated, so I’ll refer the originals:
As an Italian, I’m most definitely biased, but the Divine Comedy, and mostly the Inferno, are worth a read if you are willing to read the notes (all the historical references are near-impossible to understand otherwise). Some sections are romantic, some politic/religious/esoteric, some epic, a couple really fun. There is a bit for everyone. The Paradise becomes more serious, concentrating most on religion and politics, and I found it less exciting.
Lol! My mum still asks both me and my husband (“techy” jobs according to her) to solve all her problems with computers/printers/ the internet at large/ any app that doesn’t work… the list is endless. I take it as a statement of how proud she is of me that she would still ask us first, even if we haven’t succeeded in fixing a single issue since the time the problem was an old cartridge in the printer some 5-6 years ago.
I think the Tiffany Aching quadrilogy is also great, a bit apart in the discoworld, sweeter and less irreverent.
I walked into a random bookstore and got advised to read “Rossignol” by Audrey Pleynet. As far as I know it has only been published in French, but I hope this is going to change.
It’s a short read, but absolutely amazing. A woman is on the run, and mixes memories of her past in a futuristic space station to flashes of her escape. Only slowly do all the pieces fall together, creating a tale with many emotions, strange characters and glimpses of a lively mixed station where all are welcome, but where tensions between groups are rising.
I loved it for the deep characterization of the main character, while all others are just fast drafts. I loved it for the sci-fi and the politics and the action.
I started it yesterday and already finished it.
Thanks for the extra info. In the meantime I finished the book, so I have a better outlook. At the beginning, the push is towards a revolution against the authoritarian regime, with some sprinkles of “workers unite”, so I expected to go more towards socialism. Then it becomes more clear that he is against all a d any government, even while accepting that it can’t work. Quite interesting overall!
Me too! I haven’t read the second one because I don’t want to invest too much in a series that doesn’t go anywhere (yet?). But as soon as number 3 comes out, I’ll read all of them.
I am reading “The moon is a harsh mistress” by Heinlein. It’s the first time i read him in the original language, and it’s glorious! He talks about a moon uprising against the earth government. The book reads a bit like a battle diary, at times quite dry. The part I love the most is how he plays with so many political and ethical concepts, like completely supporting prostitution. His extreme left tendencies are not hidden in this book. I’m enjoying it a lot!
I couldn’t finish Dead Souls. It’s supposed to be hilarious, but i just did not get it. How do you like it so far?
Yeah, I’m a competitive person by nature and I have to force myself to not keep track of how much I read. It’s silly, I like reading, I see no added benefits to reading “more”, I’d rather read more interesting things, even if slower. But if I keep too much track of my Goodreads account, I start competing with myself from last year and… it makes no sense! But little numbers growing is such a primal push.
Not necessarily literal winter, but when i need something cozy and comforting, maybe somewhat meditative, I always turn towards The Lord of the Rings. All the characters are so pure, and simple, the story is pretty, beautiful and calming, the evil so obviously evil. And the language, while maybe dry, is soothing and takes a lot from oral tales. It all makes for a comfort read.
Wow, that’s great news! Thanks for sharing! I read my father’s version, so definitely older than 1991.
I just started reading The Moon is a harsh Mistress, I’m hope it keeps up with the hype.
I randomly picked up “On”, an old sci-fi book I never heard of. While reading, I understand why it got lost in the mists of time, but it’s an okay read with an interesting idea: what if gravity went sideways?
Everything by Le Guin is pure gold! I will add this one to my reading list, but I lived “The Dispossessed “ as political science-fiction, while “the left hand of the darkness” explores gender and prejudices, and “earthsea” is a series of coming of age novels. Every is so good