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As I Lay dying one of the top 50 novels of all time...? Not my opinion.... is killing me...
Speeding through it ot get to this one:
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As I Lay dying one of the top 50 novels of all time...? Not my opinion.... is killing me...
Speeding through it ot get to this one:
Since this is book related. Just read about a new “hazard” of borrowing books From the library!?!
www.theguardian.com
Bed bugs in books close London library
Shutdown in Northolt comes weeks after the neighbouring central library was found to have the pests in its furnishings
It was good. I almost got lost in the manic scribble of a plot line. But it has such moments of flourish - beautiful descriptions of moments and places. Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty get along for most of the book but Dean descends into a bit of madness it seems. I would recommend to anyone. Kerouac has a wellspring of creativity derived from his adventures crisscrossing the United States always landing in New York, San Francisco, and Denver, and then ending up in Mexico City.
I'm onto The Will To Power by Nietzsche
Visited the library yesterday, to return some books, and collect a few that awaited me.
So I finished As I Lay Dying and am completely underwhelmed. It ends with what I'd call a joke*... which normally I'd find funny but the agonizing style** of the way this book was written, which could have been entertaining, but wasn't IMHO, really left me going "meh". His narrative style kept jumping around from character to character, which at first thought could be pretty entertaining but it kept me confused.
*
**Style - colloquialisms - While people from the south do have some very different accents Faulkner did a very poor job in interpreting them. Usually it isn't too hard to figure out what people are saying when this technique is used but man he came from left field for most of the novel.
*
The dad gets his new teeth which he'd been complaining about getting the entire book and ..surprise a new bride just days after his first wife and mother of his children passes away!
**Style - colloquialisms - While people from the south do have some very different accents Faulkner did a very poor job in interpreting them. Usually it isn't too hard to figure out what people are saying when this technique is used but man he came from left field for most of the novel.
Oh, yes.![51Hl+XkTWWL._SY445_SX342_.jpg]()
So I finished As I Lay Dying and am completely underwhelmed. It ends with what I'd call a joke*... which normally I'd find funny but the agonizing style** of the way this book was written, which could have been entertaining, but wasn't IMHO, really left me going "meh". His narrative style kept jumping around from character to character, which at first thought could be pretty entertaining but it kept me confused.
*The dad gets his new teeth which he'd been complaining about getting the entire book and ..surprise a new bride just days after his first wife and mother of his children passes away!
**Style - colloquialisms - While people from the south do have some very different accents Faulkner did a very poor job in interpreting them. Usually it isn't too hard to figure out what people are saying when this technique is used but man he came from left field for most of the novel.
I read that several years ago.
A veritable (sardonic) masterpiece of (more or less modern) Czech literature.
I'm in the middle of this...
...which reminded me of this...
www.simonandschuster.com
and this!
www.simonandschuster.com
I recommend the first for foodies and fans of Animal Farm (Orwell). The other two are exceptionally entertaining travelogues.
What's Cooking in the Kremlin by Witold Szablowski: 9780143137184 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
A New York Times Editors’ Choice “Entertaining . . . A heady mix of propaganda and paranoia . . . [Szabłowski writes] sensitively . . . not just about food but also its terrible absence.”...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
...which reminded me of this...
The Border
The acclaimed author of Sovietistan travels along the seemingly endless Russian border and reveals the deep and pervasive influence it has had acro...
www.simonandschuster.com
and this!
Sovietistan
An unforgettable journey through Central Asia, one of the most mysterious and history-laden regions of the world.Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikist...
www.simonandschuster.com
I recommend the first for foodies and fans of Animal Farm (Orwell). The other two are exceptionally entertaining travelogues.
Wow.I'm in the middle of this...
What's Cooking in the Kremlin by Witold Szablowski: 9780143137184 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
A New York Times Editors’ Choice “Entertaining . . . A heady mix of propaganda and paranoia . . . [Szabłowski writes] sensitively . . . not just about food but also its terrible absence.”...www.penguinrandomhouse.com
This sounds absolutely fascinating.
Must see if (whether) I can order it in my library.
I've worked in most of these countries, and thus, have experienced them, and know something of them, first hand....which reminded me of this...
The Border
The acclaimed author of Sovietistan travels along the seemingly endless Russian border and reveals the deep and pervasive influence it has had acro...
and this!
Sovietistan
An unforgettable journey through Central Asia, one of the most mysterious and history-laden regions of the world.Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikist...
I recommend the first for foodies and fans of Animal Farm (Orwell). The other two are exceptionally entertaining travelogues.
These books look exceedingly interesting, not to mention absolutely fascinating; must see if I can lay hands on them.
Have you read Imperium by Ryszard Kapuscinski?
Strongly recommended (by me).
All requested from my local library (who are obviously on holiday, and shall be until 2nd January; never mind, at least these reservations are now in the system); thank you for the recommendations.I'm in the middle of this...
What's Cooking in the Kremlin by Witold Szablowski: 9780143137184 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
A New York Times Editors’ Choice “Entertaining . . . A heady mix of propaganda and paranoia . . . [Szabłowski writes] sensitively . . . not just about food but also its terrible absence.”...www.penguinrandomhouse.com
...which reminded me of this...
The Border
The acclaimed author of Sovietistan travels along the seemingly endless Russian border and reveals the deep and pervasive influence it has had acro...
and this!
Sovietistan
An unforgettable journey through Central Asia, one of the most mysterious and history-laden regions of the world.Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikist...
I recommend the first for foodies and fans of Animal Farm (Orwell). The other two are exceptionally entertaining travelogues.
An absolutely fascinating work, one well worth reading.![220px-BraveNewWorld_FirstEdition.jpg]()
I think I'll give this one a go...
The romance element is, of course, risible and deeply dated, (as is the portrayal of women) but the world-building and imaginative interpretation of the ideologies that inform this world, are amazing, and profoundly thought-provoking.
I hope you enjoy those books as well! I'd be particularly interested in hearing your opinions about Erika Fatland's books at some point.
My local library has the Kapuscinski so I just put it on reserve. Looking forward to reading it!
I'm looking forward to reading them when I receive them.
With pleasure; I'll certainly offer my comments and thoughts when I have read them.
Excellent.
Kapuscinski writes beautifully, and I think that this is one of his best works.
I would also recommend Black Sea by Neal Ascherson which I think is superb, and exquisitely written.
![220px-BraveNewWorld_FirstEdition.jpg]()
I think I'll give this one a go...
Brave New World, 1984, and Animal Farm are three books that should be read together, one after the other.
And for dessert, follow up with Fahrenheit 451. All four books reflect on the modern world as it is today.
3/4 for me, I'll start BNW this weekend.
Do you have a suggested order for the first three? I think I would go AF (with a suggestion to learn a bit about Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky first for a richer experience), BNW, then NEF.
Why? Well, in addition to the progression of satirically bleak to bleak to extremely bleak, I think NEF is the work that is most relevant today with its themes of technological surveillance and stratified societies.
My personal suggestions re recommended reading order would be AF, first, followed by NEF, and then, BNW.
1984 and Brave New World offer an interesting and instructive pair of contrasting (but compelling) visions of bleak (in different ways) futures.
You'll find stratified societies, surveillance plus self-medicating atomised - and consumerist - societies in BNW; in some ways, this take on a dystopian future is every bit as unsettling as is that of 1984.
Well I actually read them in the following order: AF, 1984, F451 ...
UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There
by Garrett M. Graff
A very fair look at both the UFO phenomenon and the search for alien life. Neither debunker nor true believer. It's gettin good reviews from the New York Times, AP and Wall Street Journal, to name a few.
I'm with Carl Sagan. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Blips on a FLIR screen aren't enough. I'm still waiting for hard physical evidence.
Agree completely, and lovely to see a name check for the late, great, Carl Sagan.
I must say that I absolutely loved - and watched avidly - his TV series Cosmos (and what a soundtrack, thank you, Vangelis) when it was first broadcast.
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I saw him speak at Boston University in '79. I got an autograph. (The only one I ever asked for.) I loved the way he said "Pe-toon-eah".
